Paths Diverge by Orca Girl (NC-17)

[green-grrl.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Jack/Daniel
Pairing: Jack/Daniel
Category: Slash, Episode-related, Angst
Warning: Sex, Language, Semi Non-con
Author on LJ: orca_girl
Author's Website: n/a
Link: http://orca-girl.livejournal.com/45297.html

Why This Must Be Read: Written for the 2006 Jack/Daniel Ficathon. Here is a different kind of Absolute Power fic. This story is a missing scene from the middle of Daniel's arc -- after the argument about the naquadah recovery operation, with Daniel still somewhat recognizable as Jack's friend and lover, but with the egocentric arrogance really starting to come through. It shows the tipping point, when Jack has to make a decision about whether he can live with the man he sees Daniel becoming. Daniel, unfortunately, makes that decision easier.

This is a superbly presented story from a new SG-1 writer. Even though it's written from Jack's point of view, it deftly treads the line of hinting that it's Daniel's nightmare, subtly enough to not intrude. The depiction of evil!Dr. Jackson in the making is spot-on accurate, and chilling. And painful for Jack. Really, thank goodness we know it's just a dream!

Excerpt:
“—I’ll have a word with the Joint Chiefs then, with the president – idiotic regulations, anyway – “

“Daniel!” barked Jack, and finally got the man’s attention. He didn’t want to know if Daniel actually thought that all it would take was a word from him, and the United States military would completely rewrite its policies on homosexuality. Worse, he didn’t want to find out that it might actually be true. He knew what a hard-on the Pentagon had for the big guns that Daniel had promised. But, no – Daniel was valuable to them, but not that valuable. Only in Daniel’s own head did he wield that much power. What scared Jack was the way the line seemed to be blurring for Daniel, how he seemed to think that they were all there living in the world inside his head, right along with him.

“What? Come on, Jack – you can’t tell me that isn’t what you want, too.”

There was a point, not very far in the past, when Daniel would have made that a question.

“What I want…”

Jack couldn’t say it – not without sounding like an idiot. He wanted that kid never to have shown up on Abydos. He wanted someone else to have been given the knowledge of the goa’uld. He wanted Daniel to be the voice of reason, of caution, when anyone from him to Hammond to the Joint Chiefs started talking about building weapons, about total war. He needed Daniel to be his opposite, his balance; the challenger who made him a better man.

But how stupid and selfish would that sound? Daniel had called him on it earlier and had neatly undercut Jack’s argument at the same time. He didn’t think that Daniel saying it made him a bad guy. He couldn’t imagine Daniel as a bad guy, was afraid even to try imagining it.