Title: THE UNREACHABLE STARS 2 :
SHAKY GROUND
Author:
Imagine
Feedback: [email protected]
Rating:
PG13
Pairing:
J/D
Category: Slash.
First Person POV. Vignette
Date:
Status:
Complete
Series:
The Unreachable Stars
Season/Spoilers: Any
Archive: AlphaGate; Area 52; The Cartouche.
Anyone else please ask.
Synopsis: Jack wonders what is bothering Daniel during
the season of Goodwill.
Notes: Unbetaed, so please
forgive any slip-ups.
Warnings: None
___________________________________________________________
The Unreachable Stars 2
: Shaky Ground
by Imagine
I stare at Daniel as he
walks to his car. Not admiring for once,
threat assessing. There’s something
about the way he’s walking that just doesn’t seem right, doesn’t seem to fit
with what he just said. Daniel has two
walking speeds, hurry and saunter. Hurry
when he has a purpose, saunter when he’s thinking. He implied he has a purpose, so why’s he
sauntering?
Add that to how confused I’m
feeling ‘cause of the length of time Daniel stood on my front step. Five whole minutes, a damn long time when
you’re standing on the other side of the door waiting for that knock.
Something’s definitely
wrong.
Suddenly I panic, could he
possibly have guessed what I was planning to talk to him about and he’s
freaking out. Oh crap!
Wait, how can he possibly
know? I only decided last evening that I
couldn’t keep these feelings to myself any longer and I haven’t seen Daniel
since then. There’s no way he could know. Might be spooky the way he can sometimes tell
what I’m thinking, how I’m feeling, but he has to be in my presence for that to
work. Doesn’t he? Course he does, stop being….
“Jack?”
I look up to see Daniel
standing right in front of me, I was so self-involved I hadn’t even noticed
he’d come back.
“What’s wrong?” he asks me,
that concerned look in his gorgeous eyes.
But on closer inspection there’s something else, something deeper
causing that concerned look. That’s the
other half of the equation see, I can read him as surely as he can read me and
something’s really bothering him.
Shrugging, I tell him,
“Nothing. Come on in, dinner’s nearly
ready.”
“You cooked?” Daniel smiles,
humour lighting his eyes and he seems to visibly relax and I feel the pleasure
all the way down to my toes. It always
makes me feel good that I can make him smile; make him happy, even if just for
a few short hours. That thought makes me
wonder if I’m risking that by unburdening myself. Damn, why did I use that phrase? Now, I can’t help but consider if that’s all
it is, that I have this need to tell
him no matter if he needs to hear it!
Damn!
I realise he is still
staring at me, waiting for an answer. I
manage to smile and say, “Sure, it’s a special day so I’m pulling out all the
stops.” Special day? Yeah that was the idea. Now I don’t know.
Once inside, Daniel hands me
a small package, neatly wrapped in tasteful paper, subtle and understated,
rather like Daniel. “Don’t open it until
tomorrow,” he says, eyes cast downward.
“Okay,” I reply softly. “Is something wrong?” I blurt out. Crap I never meant to ask him that!
“No!” he replies, too
sharply. I raise an eyebrow and he
shrugs a little. “Not really,” he says,
trying to look casual – and failing.
I suddenly decide this is no
good. There is definitely something
wrong and it has to do with me. He stood outside for five minutes, why? And no matter that he denied it, he was gonna
bolt. Now he’s having trouble looking me
in the eye, and trying to cover it with smiles but other than that one moment
when I admitted I cooked, the smiles never reach his eyes.
With a sigh, I say, “Danny,
talk to me. I know something’s wrong.”
He doesn’t reply, doesn’t even look at me.
“It’s me, isn’t it? What’ve I
done? I didn’t mean…”
“No, god,
no! It’s not you, it’s me…”
He stops as soon as the
words slip out. He didn’t mean to tell
me that. He’s looking down again. What has him so worried?
Gently I say, “I won’t
understand if you don’t explain, Daniel.”
I step closer, “Trust me, Daniel.”
He looks up then, “I
do. It’s not…”
“Not what?” Suddenly, it hits me. “It’s not me you don’t trust, it’s you!”
Eyes widening, a dull flush
colouring his cheeks, he stares at me. Huskily,
he says, “I don’t trust myself with you.”
I can see the fear in
Daniel’s eyes at what he just confessed, but I do my best to let him see the joy
in mine. I smile, and say, “I trust my
life, my soul, my heart to you. I trust
you to love me…” Daniel gasps. I reach out and touch his cheek, “As I love
you.”
“Jack,” he breathes, staring
into my eyes, and this time the smile lights his whole face. “Oh god, Jack.”
“I thought I was on shaky
ground and all the time we were on the same path,” I confess.
Daniel leans his forehead
against mine, holding my gaze, “I thought you were so far out of reach, like
the pinpricks in the night sky.”
I grinned, “Daniel, we go to
those stars almost daily, together.”
“So, now we can visit them
nightly,” he smiles. Then he grabs my
shoulders, pulls me in as close as he can and his warm lips cover mine. Oh yeah, I’m already soaring!
Fin!
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