|
Part 4 |
|
In a sleepy state of contentment, Daniel and Mac laid tangled together on rumpled sheets, bodies and arms entwined, hands gently stroking warm, sweaty flesh. Daniel had his head against Mac’s shoulder; his fingers were toying with the small valley of hair between Mac’s perfectly formed pecs. Normally this was the time that either one or the other, or both, of the men started talking about making more of a commitment to the relationship. In the sleepy, post-coital embraces, the romanticism of it seemed to make perfect sense - as they imagined a time when they wouldn’t have to say goodbye to each other for indefinite amounts of time or for what might be the last time –
Daniel’s fingers moved through the wiry chest hair then he turned his face and kissed the warm flesh. Mac’s fingers increased their caress and Daniel looked up and met the watchful brown gaze. As Mac’s fingers slid over his temple, brow then down his nose Daniel closed his eyes to enjoy the touch with a shiver. He smile and opened his eyes again. His smile soon vanished though when he saw the look in Mac’s eyes.
“I’ve got some bad news, Handsome…”
This was ‘not’ what he was expecting. He searched the compunction etched on Mac’s face and knew, without having to hear it, what the bad news was going to be. It was obvious Mac was going away again.
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
Daniel eased himself up onto his elbow now so that he could look down onto Mac’s face. “For how long?”
“I don’t-” Mac shook his head and the disappointment on his face smeared to a look of desperate regret.
Daniel caught his breath at that then blew it out in a soft huff through his nose. After a moment, he asked, “When did you hear?”
“Today. Around four.” Mac appeared to stop a moment before he added, “Do you have any missions coming up in the next few days?”
“No,” Daniel said, with a slight shake of his head. “Not in the next few days, at least.”
“Pity. Sometimes your missions take your mind off my not being here.”
Daniel smiled sadly. “Not really.”
Mac bowed his head and pretended to study the way his finger toyed with the tiny hairs on Daniel’s forearm, draped across his chest.
“Where will you go?” Daniel finally asked.
Mac gave another sad smile, tilted his head as if to let Daniel know he couldn’t say, then he moved the joined hands to his mouth and kissed each of Daniel’s knuckles tenderly.
“Can I say that this sucks?” Daniel groused, tugging the sheets over his wet, flaccid groin as he straightened up even more, sitting up on his own now.
“I know it does. I wanted to say no..”
“But?”
“But Pete..”
“Pete,” Daniel said softly, not bothering to hide his disappointment that Mac was again ready to drop everything and run to Pete’s side.
“Be fair, Dan. He needs me.”
Daniel nodded then sighed softly as he rubbed both hands over his face. “Why can’t I be all right with this?” He sounded more annoyed with himself than the situation this time.
“It’s okay. I’m not all right with this either,” Mac said, shifting to rest onto his thigh so that he could reach his hand and touch Daniel’s bent leg under the sheet. “It’s the last thing I want to do…Especially not tomorrow.." He searched the sad blue eyes. "I’ve had the best time here with you the past few days.”
Daniel cupped the smooth cheek and sighed resignedly. “Me too, but you’re right - this is our lives. This is what we do, this is who we are.”
“It still sucks.”
Daniel laughed, not very mirthfully, and then he reached and kissed Mac’s cheek. “Yes, it does.” They were silent a moment then Daniel added, “But I guess the up side is we’re still in that ‘can’t keep our hands off each other’ stage.”
“We may well still be in that stage if we’d spent every moment together,” Mac argued, and that made Daniel smile fleetingly.
“I’m trying to find the up side here, Mac.”
The older man gave a soft, but somewhat sad, laugh. “I’m sorry, Bud. You know how much I was looking forward to spending tomorrow with you.”
“I know-” Daniel acknowledged their six month anniversary with a nod. He turned his face to look back over his shoulder at his lover as he said, “Despite everything.. despite time.. it’s not getting easier, it’s getting harder to let you go.” The look he shared with his partner spoke volumes. Mac’s identical response confirmed Daniel’s own feelings.
Mac shifted and laid his bent leg over Daniel’s under the covers and he gathered the wide body into his arms and kissed Daniel’s temple. “As soon as I’m through I’ll come back..”
Daniel sighed loudly.
MacGyver also sighed. “This does suck, doesn’t it?”
“Big time.” Daniel smiled, despite the red nose and suspiciously moist eyes. They searched the other’s face then came together for a tender, breath-stealing kiss, achingly loving in its gentle delivery.
As Mac pulled back he swiped his thumb over Daniel’s reddened mouth. “Food?”
“Yeah, I could eat..” Daniel nodded and pushed back the sheets. He got up, fumbled around the untidy room and then grabbed some sweats from the drawers instead. He tossed a set to his lover, then grabbed his bathrobe and flapped into it, while leaving his shaving jacket for Mac to wear. Together they went out into the living area, arm in arm.
* The dinner was solemn. At one point during the second course Daniel reached across the table and gripped Mac’s hand. The brown gaze lifted and MacGyver gave his partner a sad smile as he pushed the food around his plate with the long pronged fork in his other hand.
“Don’t leave me yet,” Daniel said as he laced their fingers together and brushed his thumb along Mac’s long thumb, stopping to rub his pad over Mac’s large, square nail.
“Sorry.” The distracted man settled back in his chair with a deep growl. He rubbed his free hand over his eyes. “I just wish I didn’t have to go.”
“You’ll be back,” Daniel said with a forced smile before he forked some leafy green vegetable into his mouth.
“And then you’ll go.. and then I’ll go..” Mac muttered miserably. Daniel sighed and pushed his plate away, then tightened the grip on Mac’s hand as he leaned towards him.
“It keeps the spark in our relationship,” he murmured against the warm flesh on the inside of Mac’s wrist. He brushed his lips over the blue veins then closed his eyes as he inhaled the scent that was, quintessentially, Mac.
MacGyver made another deep sound at the back of his throat, this time it was closer to mirth. He clapped his other hand over the two on the table. “It’s only been six months. And in that time, how much time have we actually been together?”
Daniel reached his free hand out, lifted his goblet and saluted his lover. “It’s not the time in our lives, but the life in our times,” he said, wincing as he brought the goblet to his lips. “Or something like that.” He laughed softly.
Mac squeezed the hand holding his. “Or something..” He chuckled and drank also then he put the goblet down and bemoaned, “Why can’t I be more like you?”
“More like me?”
“Okay with this. Not torn up inside because we’re looking at another week apart..”
“A week?” Daniel looked crestfallen again.
“Maybe,” Mac said, with a shrug as he took another drink. Daniel blinked and looked down. SG-1 was due to go on a five-day mission at the start of next week. That meant it would be almost two weeks before they could be together again.
The older man reached for his hand again. “You’re not so okay with this – are you?”
Daniel tried to smile as he shook his head and said quietly, “No, I’m not.” He got up from his chair, picked up both plates and carried them to the kitchen. Mac soon joined him.
“Sorry,” Daniel said in a low voice as he stacked the dirty dishes into the dishwasher.
“For?” Mac brushed back the curtain of dark blond hair that shielded Daniel’s face.
“I’m meant to be supporting you.”
“Crap,” Mac said and eased himself between the counter and Daniel, his hands cupping the smooth face gingerly. “That’s crap and you know it! You know what? I’m glad that you’re not all okay with this. I’m glad that this bothers you, a little bit-”
“A lot,” Daniel said, flashing a shy smile.
Mac’s lips twitched in a smile, too. “Good. It bothers me a lot as well.”
Daniel tossed his head back, his mid-length hair fluttered from his face, and then he tilted his head slightly. In a disconsolate tone, he said, “But what the hell can we do about it?”
“There is one… thing..”
Mac was silenced by Daniel’s hand in the air. “Don’t say that.”
“Why not?”.
“We’re not ready for that,” Daniel argued.
“How much more ready do we need to be?”
Daniel slapped his palm over Mac’s mouth this time and looked him straight in the eyes. “It’s just been six months… we can’t really tell anything from that short time….” His grasp loosened slightly as he frowned and searched Mac’s eyes intently. “Can we?”
MacGyver smiled and shifted his face from the touch. “Are you trying to convince me, or ask me, because if you’re trying to convince me, you’re not doing a real good job there, Dan.”
Daniel smiled and some of his sadness lifted from his eyes.
“So, why don’t you remind me again how separation is good for us..” Mac said, tugging at the collar of Daniel’s bathrobe, pulling it open slightly. Daniel growled and tilted his head back to invite his partner to partake of his bared flesh.
“I don’t think I could sell it at the moment,” he murmured as Mac’s lips brushed his collarbone.
As his mouth skimmed over the warm, salty flesh, Mac said, “Then sell me on the idea of giving everything else up and coming here to be with you permanently.”
Daniel growled as his hands threaded through the long, blond hair, and his throat arched even more, craving the feelings that Mac was pulsing through him with his kisses. “Can’t.”
Mac lifted his face and looked into the darkened eyes. “Can’t – what? Sell me on the idea or..”
Daniel placed his hand against Mac’s shoulder and pushed him off gently, stepping back to add more room between them. “You can’t do that. You’d be bored inside a week.”
“I’m willing to risk it.” Mac shrugged.
“You’ll get tired of me.”
The trouble-shooter laughed and slipped his hand inside the neck of Daniel’s robe, rubbing the palm over the curve of the throat inside. “Yeah, right. Like that’s gonna happen..”
“It.. might,” Daniel moaned then said, “Mac, we’ve discussed this..” He tried not to allow his lover’s tantalizing mouth distract his thoughts, but with a flutter of his eyelashes, he gave into the sweet sensations tingling through him.
“Too soon. I got that.”
“Mac, I’m never at home myself.”
“That will work. This place isn’t really big enough for two at one time anyway..” He nibbled some more, despite Daniel’s growl. “It’s not like I’d stay in this place, pining for you..”
Daniel straightened up. “What would you do?”
“I can be quite handy around the house..” Mac suggested playfully.
Daniel grinned and laughed. “Yeah, I forgot. A shoebox and string and you’ll whip me up a nuclear reactor..”
“A microwave oven,” Mac corrected him, playing along.
“Same thing,” the anthropologist mumbled.
“Only when you cook- Ouch!” He flinched as Daniel playfully thumped him.
“You deserved that!” Daniel said, going back to the table and collecting up his goblet. He refilled both glasses and then he took Mac’s hand and led him to the bedroom.
As they settled on the bed together against the mountain of pillows, Daniel switched on the television with the remote and Mac settled the blankets around them snugly.
While they watched the mating rituals of Polar Bears in the Antarctic, Mac smoothed his hand up and down Daniel’s arm. “I could get a job around here,” he said during the first commercial break.
Daniel took a sip of his wine. “Where? MacDonalds? I can see you flipping burgers.” He laughed despairingly and twisted to put his goblet on the side table.
“Hey, I bet I could do anything if I put my mind to it. Flipping burgers wouldn’t be that bad,” Mac argued flimsily.
“Yeah, right!” Daniel snorted. “Knowing you, you’d have that place automated within a month and do yourself out of a job.”
Mac laughed and tilted his head back so that he could look into Daniel’s eyes. “I could try for a job inside the mountain,” he said, and this time Daniel saw he was serious.
He frowned and tilted his head. “It’s not that easy.”
Mac shrugged and straightened up a little, then twisted to retrieve his goblet from his side table. After a sip he said, “I’ve been there before..”
“Cheyenne Mountain Complex?”
“Yeah-” Mac put the goblet back again and turned to half lay against Daniel’s side. “Did a job for Phoenix in there once..”
“What sort of job?”
“Classified.” Mac shook his head.
Daniel shook his head as well, but it was with a derisive snort. “Well, you’ve got the obfuscating down pat, maybe there’s hope for you yet!” He upped the volume on the program once again.
Mac noted the discontent in Daniel’s tone and grabbed the remote to mute the volume. He could tell what was making Daniel most annoyed at that moment. “It’s not my fault, Dan.”
Daniel snatched the remote back again. “I know,” he said blandly and hit the volume button once again.
Mac crawled to the end of the bed, and hit the mute button on the unit. He turned back to Daniel. “What is it you do in the Mountain..?” He argued against Daniel's anger at his secrets.
Daniel rolled his eyes and tilted himself so that he could reach the remote around Mac and switch on the sound again. MacGyver remained in the bed with him for a few moments then he got off.
“Where are you going?” Daniel asked, as he watched him round the bed, tugging the robe on again.
“I just need to..” Mac tossed his hand around by his head, “Think..”
Daniel huffed loudly as he settled back against the pillows again, but his mind wasn’t on the program anymore. He knew the disappointment was what had made him so quick to anger at times like this. He was sick of losing Mac but scared to let him get closer. At least this week he'd hoped to have MacGyver around for a few more days, but now he’d be without him for almost two weeks. As he sat staring into nothingness, Daniel's eyes grew heavy and, without realizing it, he drifted off to sleep.
* It was the sound from the television that woke him some time later. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep but the program was different from the one he had been watching. A glance to the space beside him told him that Mac wasn’t in bed. He pushed back the bedding, not bothering with his robe as he padded, bare footed, to the living area.
In the darkened room
he could see Mac curled up on the sofa, his knees tucked to his chest.
Daniel squatted beside him and shifted back some of the blond hair that
shimmered in the moonlight through the window. Mac’s eyes slowly opened.
“Dan?”
“You fell asleep out here,” he said, helping Mac to sit up on the cramped two-person sofa.
“What’s the time?” the groggy man mumbled.
Daniel assisted him to his feet and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “I’m not sure. Just late.”
Together they stumbled back up the four steps and into the bedroom.
“I’m sorry..” Mac slurred as he flopped facedown onto the bed. Daniel stood above him and looked down. He squatted beside the bed and brushed back Mac’s hair so he could see his face. He didn’t say anything, though there was so much he wanted to say, instead he reached forward and kissed Mac’s temple before he scurried across the sleeping man and got into bed beside him. He covered Mac in the bedding as he spooned into him, enjoying the way Mac accommodated him and held his hand even though he was asleep. Soon Daniel drifted back to sleep, warm in Mac’s embrace.
* When Daniel woke the next morning the bed beside him was empty and cold. He gave a deep groan as he rolled onto his side, hugging Mac’s pillow to his chest. Just as his eyes lolled shut again they sprung open, and he twisted to look back at the doorway leading to the living area. There were noises; soft, careful, muted, as if someone didn’t want to be heard. He rolled back over and pushed the sheet from him as he stepped out of the bed. Tripping down the steps of the dais the bed was on he tugged on his robe and snatched up his glasses from the side table.
He cautious stepped down the four stairs then rounded the base of them to go into the tiny kitchen, hidden beneath the stairs of his apartment. Inside the room he could see the wide bare back of MacGyver as he stood at the stove, cooking. As he entered the room Mac turned, and his face lit with a smile.
“Morning,” Daniel mumbled as he allowed himself to be pulled into a rib cracking hug and, while Mac’s mouth kissed the curve of his neck, the younger man’s eyes shifted to the pan on the stovetop. “Bacon and eggs?”
“Hmm hum,” Mac murmured with lips brushing Daniel’s throat.
“I didn’t think you liked that kind of breakfast..”
Mac leaned back but didn’t relinquish the hold around Daniel’s waist. “Not the best thing in the morning, but I’m draining it well..”
Daniel arched a brow and reached his free hand around Mac to steal up some crisp bacon. He sucked his fingers as he said, between bites, “Taste great!”
Mac smiled and wriggled his hips just enough that the denim over his crotch brushed at the join of Daniel’s loosely fastened robe. “I know you like it so I thought it would be a great way to start our mini- anniversary.”
Daniel rolled his eyes as he sucked the juices of the bacon off his thumb then he mumbled, in dismay, “Well, thank you. Especially as it’s the only thing we’ll get to do on our mini- anniversary.”
Mac smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “It’s not like we won’t have other opportunities…”
Resolutely, Daniel shrugged then he rubbed the heel of his hand into his right eye, his glasses still dangling from his fingers. Mac’s eyes grew hungry at the sight. “Do you ever have an ugly moment, Dan?”
“Huh?” The rubbed eyes blinked to clear, and question.
“You-” Mac stepped back to look him up and down. “You’re gorgeous! Really,” he added when Daniel scoffed.
“Well, thank you,” the younger man said softly but in disbelief as he slipped his glasses into place on his face. “For not noticing the sleep in my eyes, my bed hair or my morning breath.”
That response made Mac laugh and hug him to his groin once again. The chocolate-brown eyes searched Daniel’s face, quite intently, for some time. “You don’t have sleep in your eyes,” Mac told him then lifted his gaze to Daniel’s hair. “Your hair screams ‘take me to bed’!’ He laughed then looked at the golden stubble adorning Daniel’s cheeks and jowl. “You have that sexy morning shadow,” he said as he brushed his thumb across Daniel’s jaw, then he looked him in the eye before closing in for a tender, deep kiss. Pulling back, he stated, “And no morning breath. Just bacon.”
“I’m trying a new brand of toothpaste,” Daniel quipped, with a half-shrug. Mac laughed.
“Works for me,” he said as he closed his lips over Daniel’s once again.
With deep contentment the men parted and Mac turned to tend to the food still cooking while Daniel poured orange juice into two glasses set up on the counter. Soon Mac passed over a plate and took his glass from Daniel and they went into the dining table.
As he buttered his toast, Daniel said, “I thought you were gone, when I first woke up.”
Mac shook his head as he chewed his food, then he washed it down with some juice. “I didn't need to leave until three this afternoon.”
“Three?”
“Yeah, but-” Mac shrugged. “I’ll go when you leave, of course.”
Daniel was drinking and shook his head as he swallowed. “You can stay, if you want. Relax a while.”
Mac’s gaze flicked up from the plate before him to Daniel’s face. “Wish I could say the same for you.”
“I have to go in to work. I’m sorry.”
“I know. Just saying I’d prefer it the other way..”
Daniel rose from the table, collected up his plate and kissed the top of Mac’s head as he passed him. “I know you prefer it the other way…” He said, full of innuendo. Mac laughed and turned his head to watch Daniel’s ass as he walked to the kitchen, deposited his plate then moved back through to the bedroom, trailing his hand across Mac’s shoulders as he passed behind him again.
* Fresh from his shower, Daniel leaned back against a kitchen cupboard, one bare foot perched on the other as he held a cup of coffee to his lips. He was watching Mac wash the dishes and telling him, between sips, about the day the plumbing exploded in his bathroom, flooding the apartment downstairs.
Mac was amused by the anecdote but still he mumbled, “You need to move, this place is a hazard.”
Daniel scoffed good-humoredly, “It’s fine! It’s just one broken water mains, in all the years I’ve been here.”
“Hey, I nearly break my neck every time I’m here – having to step over you.” He highlighted his statement by stepping across Daniel’s out-stretched feet as he reached for the refrigerator door.
“It’s small, I’ll grant you-” Daniel twisted and put the cup into the sink, ran water in it then dried off his hands on his pant leg. “But it’s fine for me.” He didn’t notice the look Mac gave him as he moved off out of the room and towards the living area.
He sat on the edge of the sofa and tugged on socks then his boots and called to the man, still in the kitchen. “Will you swing by after?” Meaning the job Mac was about to go on for the next week.
“That depends,” Mac said, carrying juice in one hand, and unfolding a paper with his other hand as he moved across the room to the single sofa seat. Daniel stood and stamped his foot into his boot.
“On?”
//On what state I’m in after the job//
“On where I end up and when I get back. If it’s close to LA I might go back for a while, check on Sam.."
//Rest, recuperate, resuscitate//
"...especially if I know you're not going to be here..”
Daniel nodded. Mac’s son had a right to see him too, he guessed. He just didn’t have to like it. “Well, call, at least. Let me know you’re safe.”
“Goes without saying-” Mac grinned as he folded the paper into his lap and bent his neck to look up at the man standing over him. “I guess there’s no chance of you getting home before three?”
Daniel rubbed his thick brow as he said, “Ah, no. I shouldn’t think so.”
“Worth a try,” Mac said, shifting the paper to the floor beside his chair before standing to face his lover. He cupped Daniel’s jaw lovingly as he met the blue eyes.
“Take care out there, okay?” Daniel said, his face trying to hold a smile.
“Always do,” Mac said with an assured smile.
“Dodge the bullets for me.”
“You, too!” He rubbed his thumb across the sharp edge of Daniel’s jaw.
Daniel’s mouth twitched just before he said, “God, I hate this moment the most..”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“And I’ll be gone,” Daniel said heavily. Mac gave a fatalistic shrug and Daniel acquiesced. The men came together for a tender kiss; slow, teasingly light across their lips before their tongues dueled and delved into the other’s mouth.
* Less then one hour later Daniel scuffled into the Briefing Room on Base. He looked slightly flustered and was still tucking his black shirt into his pant's waist as he crossed to the coffee machine in the corner of the room.
“Ah, Daniel..” Jack turned and saw his harried friend hastily adjust himself by tucking in the black tee-shirt inside his belt. “Running a little late, were we?”
Teal’c tilted his head and a smile shimmered on his full lips. “I hear you have a visitor at present.”
Daniel rolled his eyes then faced Teal’c straight on. “Yes. Not the reason I’m late, however-” He took his place at the table and flicked open the Mission profile. “There was an accident on the main road; I got caught up behind it.”
“Accident,” Jack asked, oozing disbelief. “Odd that we..” He wagged his thumb between himself and Teal’c, “came through there without any problem..”
“Seeing the way you
drive in the mornings Jack, maybe you were the cause..” Daniel
muttered under his breath. Before Jack could call him on the tease Sam
ran into the room, her booted feet clanging on the metal meshed stairs.
“Sorry I’m late. There was an accident on the main route..” She looked first at Daniel then at Jack when the two men made sounds. “What?”
“Nothing,” Daniel said then looked over the table at his friend. Jack returned a smile, this time though it was genuine, no tease intended. He seemed genuinely happy for Daniel. A smile flickered at the corners of Daniel’s mouth momentarily but as soon as Hammond entered the room, it vanished and he turned to concentrate on the Mission briefing. <<End of Part >>
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | More to come....
slidaproductions April2003
|
