Drops in the Ocean, by Scribe (PG-13)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Daniel Jackson

Pairing: reference to Daniel/Sha're
Category:  Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill, gen, Daniel/Jack friendship, humor, angst
Warnings: nudity, sort of
Author on LJ: unknown
Author's Website: Daniel's Diaries
Link to Story: Drops in the Ocean

Why This Must Be Read: I don't think it's possible to rec the Daniel Jackson category without at least considering one of Scribe's stories! Since I've decided this is S1 Daniel Day, I chose this lovely little poignant story for my Scribe rec of the month.

Daniel is staying in Jack's apartment until he finds a place of his own. He's not a bad houseguest, but there's one peculiarity that's driving Jack insane: while Daniel is clearly showering before breakfast every morning, Jack doesn't hear the usual grumbling from his pipes when the shower goes on. How is Daniel getting clean without using the shower?

After several days of this nagging enigma getting on his nerves, Jack resorts to underhanded tactics to discover Daniel's secret. The truth surprises him, and the reasons behind that truth move him deeply - as they do us. It's so easy to picture Daniel doing just this, especially in those first months after he returns from Abydos.

As with most Scribe fics, particularly the shower series, there's Daniel-nudity involved, albeit technically off-screen. Mostly, though, this story is Jack learning something new about Daniel Jackson.

Prior to Daniel's arrival, life in the O'Neill household had been straightforward. Jack would get up, head to bathroom, turn on the shower, then promise himself he'd call a plumber while his antiquated pipes squealed and groaned a protest at the hot water drilling its way through the house to the showerhead. Daniel, however, managed to arrive in the kitchen every morning smelling of vanilla and sandalwood shower gel, and with his long hair damp and tousled, without creating a repeat performance of the banshee opera. It was definitely a mystery - with a capital 'M'.

It would, of course, have been simple to ask Daniel how he achieved such a feat. However, there was something niggling at the back of Jack's mind that made him hold back the question; some inner sense that told him the enquiry would somehow be invading Daniel's personal space. Fortunately he'd managed to stifle that same inner sense in order to come up with a devious - one might even say cunning - plan. Others, of course, might just call it low-down and sneaky. Kawalski would probably just tell him he was acting like a pervert and should just go out and get laid. But then Kawalski's answer to everything was to go out and get laid, and even he would have to agree that wouldn't provide an answer to this particular conundrum.

So here he was. Lying in wait behind his bedroom door listening for the telltale sounds of bare feet padding along the tiled floor towards the bathroom. Fortunately he was a patient kind of guy because Daniel wasn't exactly regular in his habits - probably something to do with adjusting back to Earth's twenty-four hour days after a year of living on Abydos. Whatever the reason, there was actually no guessing when Daniel might get out of bed if left to his own devices. Jack really hoped today wasn't going to be one of those days that Daniel didn't surface until after noon.