Jack knew that Daniel would come, because he always did. It happened every cycle he and Teal'c took a cycle off from this repeating time loop they were stuck in. If Jack didn't somehow, somewhere tell Daniel they were *already* studying the inscriptions, Daniel would always, inevitably come looking for him. Occasionally sooner, occasionally later, but eventually he would always come. Jack looked at his watch then looked up at the door. This cycle Daniel was right on time.
Jack knew what would happen next. Daniel would fumble with his books, talking fast, like there was only a limited amount of time in which to get the information out. What this Daniel didn't know, what he never knew, was there was an endless amount of time, because there was an endless number of cycles.
Sitting down next to Jack, Daniel opened his mouth to begin. Jack held up a finger and gave a slight shake of his head, making Daniel pause. This time, Jack decided, he would stop Daniel before he started. He wanted to make sure there was plenty of time to enjoy the gift. The same gift Daniel had given him and Teal'c.
"I know what you're going to say. We have to translate the stuff on the planet to find out what going on, but you can't do it yourself, so you're going to have to teach Teal'c and me how to read it, because we're the only ones that will remember," Jack said in one breath.
Daniel blinked and stayed silent. Jack was rather pleased that he had surprised him to the point of speechlessness. Lack of words was a rare thing for Daniel. "Am I right?" Jack asked almost gloating.
"Well, yes, at least the first part. I hadn't thought about the teaching you and Teal'c thing yet."
"Give it time, you would have." Jack could tell Daniel was waiting for him to do something; to get up, to talk - or something; when that didn't happen Daniel spoke again.
"So, shouldn't we get started?"
"No," Jack said firmly.
"No?"
"No! " Jack said even more firmly. "Teal'c and I talked it over and we decided to take this cycle off."
"You can do that, just take a cycle off?"
"We have before and nothings happened." Jack knew that statement would make his friend ponder, because it always did. After a moment, Daniel asked the usual question.
"Exactly how many of these cycles have you been through?"
"It's funny, you ask me that a lot."
"Really! And what's the answer?"
"You ask me that a lot too."
"Oh," was Daniel's only response.
Jack was excited. Fresh time was coming up. It was a new experience that hadn't been done, a new conversation that hadn't been spoken. Before, at this point, Jack and Teal'c had always left a bewildered Daniel behind; but this time Jack was going to take his friend with him, to wherever this time frame lead.
Jack watched as the curiosity build up in Daniel and waited for the questions that he was sure would come next, not because this had happened before, but because he knew Daniel.
"Where's Teal'c?" There was the first one.
"He said he had some things he wanted to do."
Then came the second, "And what kind of things *do* you do when you take one of these time cycles off?"
"Anything we want. You see it doesn't really matter, because whatever we do, no one remembers. It starts all over again in a few hours, for everybody but me and Teal'c that is." It was strange explaining Daniel's own theory to him. Jack waited for the idea to take hold.
"That's really quite an interesting thought," Daniel finally said.
"Yeah and I'd love to take credit for it, but it's not mine, it's yours," Jack didn't wait for that one to soak in. He was tired of explaining and wanted to get down to business. "You know Daniel, you're stuck in this cycle just like Teal'c and me, you just don't remember it. So I guess that means you could do whatever you wanted to as well, you just wouldn't recall what it was the next time all this rolls around."
Jack could see that thoughts were tumbling through Daniel's head and decided to prod him along. "So what will it be, since we're all taking this one off, what do you want to do?"
A small smile crept across Daniel's face, but it quickly disappeared, "We couldn't do what I want to do." His voice carried the sound of defeat and Jack didn't like that at all. He wouldn't let Daniel kill his plan before it even got started. Jack decided to press further.
"Tell me what your idea is anyway."
Daniel shrugged and started to explain, "There's a Dr. Kingston in town. I knew him from before. He was one of the leading opponents to my theories about Egypt and about any tie they may have had with ancient civilizations in South America," Daniel's voice trailed off and his eyes looked down, but Jack knew where his thoughts were leading.
"I thought you'd gotten use to that whole thing of knowing you were right but not being able to tell."
"I have!" Daniel said, his eyes lifting from the floor and grabbing onto Jack. "But this guy...the things he said... it went way beyond academic disagreement, it was - personal." It was clear in Daniel's words, whatever the memory was, it still stung.
"If you could do something, what would it be?"
"I'd love to show him the information on Hathor's sarcophagus. You know, the photographs, the cataloging, the carbon dating test - all the stuff they did before they sent it to me; the stuff that's been labeled as "interpreted inaccurately" now to cover the whole thing up. I'd love to show him all the information that the team who found the sarcophagus sent us and let him know the first reports *were* right, that *I* was right."
Revealing hidden truths was something Jack had never done before and wasn't sure he was ready to do now. But it was Daniel's wish, so he let the notion dance around in his head for a while. It could be called a breach of security, maybe even treason. On the other hand, the test results were already known, they had simply been discredited; so it wasn't like they would be releasing sensitive information. They wouldn't have to mention the Stargate project at all. Besides, in another few hours and no one would remember any of it anyway; and if, for some reason, another cycle didn't come, it sounded as if someone like this Dr. Kingston would never advertise the fact that there was proof out there showing he was wrong.
"I think we could do it," Jack spoke his decision aloud.
"Are you serious?" Daniel asked. Jack nodded.
"We could get into big trouble."
"Only if someone found out. But in a few short hours, no one will have any idea it ever happened. That's the best and only good thing about this whole cycle stuff,no one ever knows what you did in the last one."
"Not even me," Daniel said. Jack was disappointed that Daniel was taking the fun out of it.
"Maybe not the you in all the next cycles to come, but the you now will know.... if that makes sense."
Jack could see Daniel was thinking it over, "That's a pretty deep metaphysical thought, Jack." Jack could hear the 'for you' that went unspoken.
"Yeah well I guess traveling in a time loop will do that to you." Jack slapped his hand on the table to emphasize he was ready and that his decision to do this thing stood firm. "Let's go!"
Jack stood and watched as Daniel followed, but as Jack turned to leave he felt Daniel grasp his arm. When their eyes met Daniel asked, "When all this is over and we get you back safe, and I can remember what you'll be saying, maybe you can tell me that all this happened, that way I'll *kind of* have been there."
"Sure thing," Jack answered. He didn't tell Daniel, but Jack was already thinking, if all went well, maybe he'd even let Daniel do this again, in another cycle.
This is my first missing scene. It is also the first time I have tried anything that's kind of light. I normally only watch in syndication, but I have seen a few season 4 episodes this year, but I haven't seen them all. So I apologize for any inconsistencies.
© June 11, 2001 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.