Meditatio, by Stultiloquentia (G)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Jack and Teal'c friendship
Pairing: none
Categories: Jack and Teal'c friendship, Jack O'Neill, Teal'c, gen, character study, episode related
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: stultiloquentia
Author's Website: Stultiloquentia
Link: Meditatio

Why This Must Be Read: As I wrote when I first commented at the entry: Stunning. Evocative. Eloquent. Beautiful!

Stultiloquentia paints a rich, lush picture of Jack at home, utterly at peace, at the lake in Minnesota when he invites the team there post-Threads. This is the bones of the man, etched against water and sky and memory: character study at its finest.

And while Sam and Daniel still sleep in the cabin, Teal'c joins him at the dock in perfect companionship - spare words exchanged, with a wealth of meaning underneath.

This is mostly a Jack piece, with fond echoes of team; Teal'c is included only in the final paragraphs. But I rec it here for Jack and Teal'c friendship for the richness of those last lines, and the way both human and Jaffa are so exactly right.


Jack turns homeward and sees a figure sitting, straight-backed and cross-legged, on the end of Jack's dock.

"Morning," Jack breathes. Watches Teal'c's posture shift as he registers the word--not Jack's usual long distance hail, but a low curl of sound carried by the strange acoustics of the glassy lake. His head dips minutely, then he returns his gaze to the water, placid as a guardian at a shrine, as Jack brings himself home.

Daniel or Carter sitting on the end of the dock would have been a tacit rebuke: Why didn't you wake me? I would have come along. Jack has a lot of things he keeps to himself. Some things you have to keep for yourself. Teal'c, he thinks, would understand the difference.

Teal'c stays seated while Jack climbs out of the boat, watches with interest as his fingers deftly secure it to the dock: towline looped and pushed through the dock ring, second loop made from the loose end and pushed through the first, third for good measure, tug.

"Geek squad still asleep?"

"Indeed."

"Good. They deserve it."

"I believe we have all more than earned this respite, O'Neill."

For this, you can stay at my place.