History (challenge: Down-time)


Daniel runs his finger along the row of spines, fascinated. "You've got quite a collection."

"The Tau'ri enjoy gift-giving. My collection of candles would be even more extensive, if they did not disappear with use." Teal'c's mouth twists, just a little, and Daniel wonders if Before he would've been able to tell whether that was amusement or irritation.

"I don't remember any… wait. Red Dawn? Why do you have a movie about Patrick Swayze saving America from the Communists? Why do I remember it?"

"O'Neill referred to it as a historical document. You disagreed." That's amusement - he's sure now. "Vehemently."


Haunted (challenge: Halloween)


"Like my costume, General?" Jack stops and spreads his arms, nearly spanning the corridor.

Jack's dressed normally as far as George can see, but six years as the SGC's commanding officer have given him a lot of practice dealing with confusion in a confident, forthright manner. "Costume, Jack?" he asks mildly.

"I'm a ghost, sir! One of the restless dead." Jack might be smiling, if you look at just the right angle. He lowers his voice and leans forward, as if sharing a confidence. "SG-1's full of 'em. Kind of creepy, if you think about it. Which I don't recommend."


On Schedule (challenge: Sam)


"Be right back," Carter said suddenly, pushing herself to her feet and brushing fine bluish dust from the seat of her pants.

Jack squinted at her through the dim evening light. "You feeling okay? You've been..." He waved his hand around aimlessly, then gave up and spat it out. "You've been peeing on the hour. It's weird."

Carter favored him with her most brilliant smile and wordlessly tilted a neatly pink-wrapped tampon in his direction.

"Go! Go. Have fun." Once she was gone, Jack leaned over toward Teal'c. "Does she do that just to freak me out? Because it's working."


Deserving (challenge: Narim)


"Hey." The Colonel's standing in the doorway, hands in pockets, looking... still, Sam thinks. Three days later, and he's stopped vibrating with the need to fix the unfixable. "I just talked with Hammond, and it's official. We've got Jonas for the duration."

She flattens her hands on the desk, nods. "I'm glad to hear it, sir. I think that's the right choice."

"Yeah, well. Kind of breaks our record of only adopting people who save our lives."

"That's not..." She trails off, wondering is it fair? "We offered Narim asylum, and it turns out he repaid us in the end."


Solid (challenge: Janet)


"Janet?"

Cassandra's standing in the doorway to the darkened family room, barefoot. The flickering light from the television makes her look a little unreal, like she's going in and out of focus.

Or possibly that's just Janet's vision. It's been a long day.

She mutes the sound and looks at her - daughter-to-be, and how unexpected is that? "What is it, sweetie?"

"I thought... I know Sam couldn't come, but maybe we could play?" She holds out the child's chess set Sam bought her, looking forlorn, and it's all Janet can do not to grab her and squeeze her into permanence.


Bias (challenge: Teal'c)


"You know why else Ishta likes her, don't you?" Syn'ac asked.

Because I'm good, Nesa thought. She bent her head over the inner workings of the staff and pointedly didn't look up. I'm better than you, and you're jealous, and I'm ignoring you...

"They're both Tau'ri-lovers, that's why."

"I am not!" Nesa shouted, abandoning all pretense of concentration. "And that doesn't even make any sense! Teal'c is Jaffa."

"Really?" Syn'ac tilted her head and smiled a bright, malicious smile. "Strange. From what I hear, he has been in the service of the Tau'ri for years. Traded one god for another."


Ice Cream (challenge: Sarah McLachlan lyric or title)


"I've decided that I miss ice cream," Daniel says.

"Ice cream?"

"Oh. It's, uh, a frozen dessert. Very cold, usually sweet, and it comes in, uh, different flavors."

Sha're frowns. "How do you keep it from melting during the day?"

"Well, we have freezers, which are... cold."

"And how do freezers work?" She's got her serious look on, the one that reminds Daniel of note-taking and front-row students.

"Well, there's a, um, a gas I think, that... actually, I don't know." Daniel smiles and kisses her temple. "Maybe it's magic."

"Magic is for children," Sha're declares, offended. "I know better."


The Man Upstairs (challenge: RDA or TR movie)


When George Hammond arrived at the SGC, he was a religious man, in an uncomplicated sort of way. He didn't attend church every Sunday - he couldn't bear the empty space where his wife should have been - but he went on Christmas and Easter and gave Tessa an illustrated book of Bible stories for her fourth birthday.

"They're living it," Daniel said, and that was all right because they were Egyptian. And then they weren't, they were Mayan and Norse and the Satan of his childhood, and nowadays Tessa's grandfather never reads her the story about the snake in the Garden.


Help I'm a Fish (challenge: RDA or TR movie)


"The good news is there aren't any physiological effects," Janet said.

"And the blue lightbulbs?" Hammond asked with forced calm.

"They were panicking, so we told them they were underwater, at which point Captain Carter pointed out that it didn't really look much like underwater. The blue lighting seems to have helped."

"Is it really a good idea to encourage them?"

"I'm hoping it'll just wear off. If it doesn't, we'll have to take steps, but... they're very convinced. Doctor Jackson spent half an hour explaining his pregnancy to one of the nurses."

"His..."

"He's convinced he's a seahorse, sir."


Myrrh (challenge: Christmas/The Holidays)


"Was Charlie still pissed about being Balthasar instead of Melchior?" Jack asks Sara. "Seriously, I'm thinking he might mug Derek and steal the gold."

"No, actually he - oh! Here they come."

Charlie's last, shorter than the other two boys, clutching a heavy-looking wooden box and dressed in what is probably the brightest purple robe Jack's ever seen. He's particularly impressed by the orange trim, in a half-admiring, half-horrified kind of way.

"No wonder he came around," Sara whispers, laughter in her voice. "There's no question whose son he is, is there? Hates hard-to-spell words, but loves those bright colors."


All For Our Country (Challenge: CSI)


"I envy you, Jonas Quinn," Teal'c says.

Jonas laughs. "Oh, yeah, giving up all this for politics."

"You desired the protection of the Tau'ri for Kelowna, and you have it. You yourself have been accorded a position of respect, with which you may do much good." Teal'c hesitates, just for a moment. "Also, you may return home with your soul... unstained."

"No," Jonas says, and it seems terribly important somehow that Teal'c, at least, understands this. "I'd do it again, for Kelowna. I'd walk right into that room with Daniel. And I don't think even a miracle wipes that clean."


The 6th Day (Challenge: The works of Don S Davis)


Sam thinks of it as a week, though of course the concept was foreign to Jolinar. The four of them, Jolinar and Rosha and Lantash and Martouf, had stolen a week from the Tok'ra in the wake of Netu. They spent the sixth day curled together, more symbiote than host, remembering when they lived in bodies that didn't love each other and counting their blessings one by one.

She likes to tell herself that it reminds her that she doesn't owe interest on Jolinar's debts. It's only during very dark nights that she admits it's her truest memory of love.


Sisterhood (Challenge: S6 or S7 episode tag)


"Teal'c owes that kiss to me, you know," Sam tells Daniel.

Daniel's very still all of a sudden, only his eyes moving as he stares at Sam.

"What?"

"Are you... jealous?"

"No! No. What I mean is I went through all that trouble breaking him in on the idea of a female warrior, and now Ishta's reaping the benefits. That's all."

Daniel frowns a little, surprised. "I never found Teal'c particularly sexist. I mean, consider Jaffa cultural attitudes..."

"...precisely my point..."

"Personally, I think he's been remarkably adaptable."

"I'm not disagreeing. I'm just saying the man owes me a thank-you."


Language (Challenge: Jell-O)


"I told you not to stay out on the beach all afternoon," Jack said, sounding smug.

Daniel looked up from where he sat in the shade. "Yeah. I was making good progress, but the sun's come around and I'm... taking a little break. My knees feel like Jell-O."

"Jelly."

"What?"

"Knees feel like jelly, not Jell-O."

"Who says?"

"They. You know, they. They say."

"Knees like Jell-O makes perfect descriptive sense. Just because you've got this attachment to a prescriptive idea of language--"

"You're just pissed off I edit your reports for grammar--"

"Damn Chicago Manual of Style," Daniel grumped.


Beyond the Sea (Challenge: X-Files)


George hadn't expected his last command to include the writing of letters of condolence. The first two were sad, but doable: Electrical malfunction, explosion. Explaining how a soldier was misplaced in Cheyenne Mountain was tricker, but explosion gave him the chance to add rubble and missing and, later, body not recovered.

He stopped giving cover stories after that. He wonders what the next of kin assume; do they think their loved one died overseas, far from their Colorado home?

The General knows the truth. Still, at times they blur for him into a single figure, lost somewhere in deep water.


The Dogs of War (Challenge: The West Wing)


Teal'c declared this is not the work of goa'uld weaponry and Daniel said so just a regular war then! with enough hearty false cheer that Jack walked away. Later, he sat in what had been the town's central plaza and coaxed a skinny mutt to his side. She was suspicious at first, but soon enough was licking PowerBar crumbs gleefully from his hand and expecting tummy rubs.

He had to throw rocks at her to keep her from following them back through the gate. She'd had a few good days, though, and Jack figured that had to count for something.


Redemption (Challenge: Redemption)


Everything that Jonas knew about her in the beginning was true. Kianna Cyr, twenty-six years old, engineering background, stellar marks, prestigious internships. She loves to swim, but hates swimming pools, because doing laps bores her. She's fascinated by naquadria, and engines, and structured poetry. She has an older sister and a younger brother-he met them last month, and liked them. She's even a natural blonde.

Nothing he knew about her was true.

Look, he thinks he ought to be saying, we got her back! Except how do you get someone back when no one even noticed they were gone?


What She Left Behind (Challenge: Tim McGraw)


The house looks exactly like it did when she and Jack left, though the kitchen smells of rotting meat. Sam opens up the oven, pulls out the roast, dumps it into the garbage. Despite the current lack of trash pickup she brings the bag out to the garage, just to get rid of the stink.

Remembering trash day was her job, before the attack. She'd traded Jack for laundry duty when she'd discovered that he could iron both well and quickly.

I'll have to get back into the ironing habit, she thinks, and for the thousandth time wants to cry.


Freedom (Challenge: regression or progress)


Teal'c was Teal'c: folded hands, perfect posture, level gaze.

Shame about the insanity, Daniel thought.

"You can't seriously agree with him, though. I mean, just think about how much stronger we are together than we are if we're separated. We're both in more danger now."

"We Jaffa have been as children for a very long time, Daniel Jackson. If we are to reach adulthood, we must find our own way, even if it is more dangerous than the one you would have us take."

"You're not leaving, though."

Teal'c smiled. "I am not. I have chosen my path."


Risen (Challenge: Without A Trace)


"So, Daniel," Jack said, "before the Nox... you know. Brought us back. Did you... see anything?"

"What, like the afterlife? Tunnel of light, that kind of thing? No. Boom, dead; hey, look, I'm awake and not dead." Daniel shrugged. "You get used to it. I don't remember anything from the thing with Ra either."

Jack grimaced, pushing that memory away. "So that doesn't bother you?"

"No, not really. Could be dead is dead. Could be we didn't get to see the afterlife because we weren't going there yet. It doesn't..." His voice gentled a little. "It doesn't prove anything, Jack."


Five Pictures That Will Never Leave the Mountain (challenge: alien races)


1. A close-up of Teal'c's pouch. The flaps are retracted, showing the symbiote.

2. Colonel Edwards and Iron Shirt, shaking hands and looking at each other with identical suspicious expressions on very different faces.

3. Sam on one knee in a field, with a red-headed not-quite-squirrel eating a peanut out of her hand.

4. Skaara, sitting cross-legged in front of the Abydonian DHD, exactly seven minutes before Apophis came through the Stargate.

5. A set of brilliantly painted murals. On the back, in Daniel's handwriting: history of city's rise? allegory? (P4Z-882) Underneath, in Jack's: The galaxy's answer to Diego Rivera.




Tactical Advances (challenge: damage)


"Christ," Jack said. "Hasn't anyone ever heard of blast doors?"

"No distress signal from SG-15." Carter, intent on the one working terminal, didn't even turn around. "Apparently something was sent through behind them."

"How's Hammond?"

"Alive."

"The gate?"

"Also alive, but I wouldn't try to dial out anytime soon."

Jack leaned over and peered through the shattered windows to see a twisted sculpture where the ramp had been and scorch marks streaking from floor to ceiling. If any bodies had survived the explosion intact, they'd already been removed. Judging by the damage, though, Jack didn't think that was very likely.



Neutral Ground (challenge: sushi)


Jack's a little late, and Sara must have been early, because there's already California roll for him and eel for herself. Jun's had been one of Sara's favorite places to go on Babysitter Nights, but she'd never managed to talk Jack into eating raw fish when it wasn't necessary for survival.

"You can't explain, can you?" she asks, resigned.

"No."

"The man I took to the hospital?"

"It's... complicated. I wasn't there," he offers, feeling like he owes her something.

"I forgot how big he'd gotten," she says. "I remembered him wrong, Jack."

"Yeah." Jack closes his eyes. "Me too."



Keeping Company (challenge: we were explorers once)


Every couple of months, Jonas has to refight the battle over his access to what he insists on calling the Gateroom, no matter its official name. It starts when the bureaucracy points out that Jonas doesn't need to be able to get to the Gate after-hours. Jonas replies by spinning elaborate what-if scenarios. He's ignored. Eventually he starts making noises about going back to Earth, at which point he gets what he wants.

It'd be so much easier if he could just admit that he misses the Gate. When he gets sentimental about it, though, they all think he's nuts.



Preparations (challenge: apocalypse or armageddon)


As a child, Sam firmly believed that nuclear war was coming, and she should be prepared. She made emergency kits and wrote an evacuation plan--on graph paper, to scale--for everywhere she lived between the ages of six and fifteen. It's important to think about these things ahead of time, she told Mark, sitting in the backyard of their house in Minot. Mark pointed out that they lived two miles from the base and they'd probably be vaporized in the first wave anyway.

Then he made her read Hiroshima, which she thinks was really kind of mean in retrospect.



Weather (challenge: succession or lost in space)


Teal'c steps into the chappa'ai in springtime, feeling the warmth of the sun on his hair and the hard stares of the priests on the back of his head. He emerges into blowing snow, and gives up enough of his pride to reach over and clutch his mother's hand.

They are... not welcomed, precisely, but Sho'lak has chosen their destination with care, and between her knowledge of Heru-ur's domains and her fervent declaration of belief in Apophis' supremacy among the gods she and her son are declared worthy of sanctuary. Status they have to fight for, that first, summerless year.



The Edge of the World (challenge: hunger)


Daniel's watched it more times than he can count. Six minutes and thirty-eight seconds of silent security camera footage, shot at a high enough angle that faces with which he is intimately familiar seem strange.

The dying man's face is unrecognizable, but then Daniel's never considered himself photogenic.

He wants to know what he was thinking during the last hours of his life so badly he can taste it, but the tape refuses to tell him more about himself than he already knew, and all Jack will share about that part of Daniel's life is that he wanted to go.



Invisible (challenge: Isolation or exclusion or solitude)


It's daffodil season back home, but on P5C-328--Elum, to the Tok'ra--it's summertime. The river and irrigation canals are outlined by green; this valley is still shaped around humanity, though the squat little town that sits where the river bends is empty now.

The Stargate is on the southern ridge, a dark circle against the gold of the grass. The hollows in the slope are beginning to fill with shadows, and Daniel can't tell if the rest of his team is up there. If he squints just right, though, he can see the Gateroom, hiding somewhere behind the hill.



Changes (challenge: mirror universe)


"Hey, you cut your hair," Sam says. She's surprised-as much by the fact that she had no idea this was coming as by the haircut itself. Usually she's the one who gets consulted about this kind of thing.

"It was time. I was trying to... hold on? To something gone? As if keeping such a little thing unchanged could shape the future. But I won't be that person again, even if we can remove the symbiote and return to Abydos. I am... much older now." Sha're smiles, a little sadly. "And Daniel will not care, once he comes home."


Politics (from a first line by Nostalgia) (gen, G)

Twenty percent of Americans have no health insurance. Or so Nyan says; Daniel doesn't follow Earth politics very closely nowadays, but Nyan has been pretending to be Canadian for nearly five years now and he says the Great Health Care Rant is one of his most convincing cover stories. Except for the time he tried it on an actual Canadian, but that's just one of the risks you take.

Daniel was off-world for the primaries, and didn't bother to vote absentee. Nyan was sort of shocked, but then Nyan still thinks the idea of political advertising is kind of cool.




Hope (from a first line by Tafkar) (gen, PG-13)

Hope stumbled home barefoot, a mocking crown of pohutukowa and orchids on her head, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind her.

She should've known better; the priests had already painted the invocation against demons on the door of the compound. She thought she should weep, but she was too cold for tears. Because of the demon, she thought hopelessly.

She could have used the knife that her family had hung beside the doorbell, but instead Hope went to the chappa'ai. She knew which symbols would bring the water, and she knew that nothing that sank below that surface returned.




Intermediaries (from a first line by fox1013) (gen, PG-13)

It was almost midnight, and if Jack ever again heard word one from anyone on his team about his lack of patience… well, there'd definitely be blood.

"Muppets, Daniel," he snapped, pitching both boots into the corner of the hut they'd been given for the night. "I've spent the last nine hours negotiating with Muppets."

"I think Muppets have to be made by Henson, don't they?" Carter asked, all innocence.

"Oh, definitely," Daniel said. "These were just, you know, regular puppets. I'll grant you it's an unusual cultural development…"

"Jesus fuck," Jack said, and pulled the covers over his head.




The Next Thing (from a first line by cofax) (gen, PG)

He will dream until he dies, because it's always been about dreaming, about the thing out of reach, about not being here, now.

Right now, Daniel is dying. He's dreaming, too, which seems… appropriate, somehow. And then I saw a bright light, he imagines himself saying on some late-night show. He'd laugh, if he weren't afraid of Oma's disapproval.

He thinks Oma's probably real. He's aware that he can't really back that up-it might just be misfiring neurons-but Pascal's Wager tells him to take her seriously. Besides, if he has to die, he'd rather die dreaming of more.




Tears (from a first line by splash_the_cat) (gen, PG)

"Can I see your license, miss?"

Cassie figures she should be getting ready to burst into tears right about now. Alyssa says she broke out the sniffles when she got pulled over, and it worked like a charm. But then Alyssa lives with her parents in a nice house on Mead Street, and getting a ticket would be a big deal for her. Cassie's going home to her second dead mother's picture and the ashes of her dead dog in the backyard, and she's cried too many of her lifetime's allotment of tears to waste any on a moving violation.




Acting Presidential (from a first line by Tripoli) (gen, PG)

Friday night they spend apart. It was Sam's disinvitation from the Presidential reception that morning that finally did it, pulled together all the little strangenesses and big policy changes of the past few months.

Jack asked Cassie to ditch her morning classes, introduced her to the President as the late Dr. Fraiser's daughter, watched her as she surreptitiously wiped the memory of the goa'uld's touch off onto her long grey skirt.

He'll take them out for pancakes Saturday morning and figure out how to fix it this time, but he thinks he's being watched, so Friday night they spend apart.




Next Step (from a first line by nel_ani) (Daniel/Sha're, PG)

He's had dreams about this moment; he's had nightmares about this moment. Abydos made it both better and worse. After that, at least he knew that Sha're was still there, intact, herself, and he hadn't known that before, not for sure.

But after that he knew for sure what was being done to her, too, and that knowledge is always there, twisting inside him. The implantation didn't destroy her mind, but what about what happened after? A tiny, shameful part of him is afraid to find out how she's changed.

For the first time, he's afraid to know what's next.




Paying Attention (from a first line by cdeacon) (gen, G)

Jack wasn't sure why it bothered him so much that he hadn't noticed Daniel was hurt. He'd had a lot on his mind, and SG-1 came back through on schedule and on their feet, without any indication from Carter that anything had gone wrong. So, hey, he hadn't found out until the next morning that the guy'd ended up with a cast on his wrist. Not a big deal.

When Carter showed up the morning after that with a two-day-old wound on her face, he knew there was something wrong. On the plus side, universe-jumping got him a get-out-of-guilt-free card.




Alien Challenge (from a first line by wiliqueen) (gen, G)

*Beep*.

"Um, what was that?"

"It was a beep, Daniel. Carter?"

"What?"

"What was that?"

"Well, sir, I'm pretty sure it was a beep."

"You pick now to dumb it down?"

*Beep beep*.

"Don't look at me. I didn't touch it."

"No, that was Carter's department this time. Teal'c? Anything look familiar to you?"

"It does not. The lights appear to be accelerating, however."

"Are we sure this thing isn't a bomb?"

"I'm not getting anything like the kind of energy readings that would indicate an impending explo-"

"GAME OVER."

"…is that alien nyah-nyah-nyah music? Oh, bring it on."




Aftershock (from a first line by Salieri) (gen, PG)

He could feel it, a fluttering sensation cascading along his skin, his bones, a sort of electric prickle, but not as sharp or hot.

Carter was watching him, though every time he looked over at her she pretended to be listening to the snake. Fraiser had been the one to ask whether Jack could sense them, and he'd answered honestly. He hadn't told her that when the blonde one had leaned close to palpate his scar, it had taken most of his self-control not to jerk away, and the rest not to feel the ghost of the dead goa'uld's hatred.




Possibilities (from a first line by elishavah) (gen, PG)

He was having that dream again, the one where the iris won't close. The strange thing was, that was always the end of the dream, rather than the beginning .Sometimesit just wouldn't close, at two o'clock on a Thursday; sometimes there was an open wormhole, and a mysterious signal; sometimes Colonel O'Neill's voice was riding radio waves across the galaxy to the SGC, saying "Close the iris, dammit, they're coming through!"

And then it stopped, every time, and left the General-not George-standing in the control room, staring at an open gate with an iris that wouldn't close.




High Alert (from a first line by agentotter) (gen, PG)

When he wakes, there's no momentary confusion, no gradual return to consciousness, no slow surfacing from dreams. The snake jerks him to full wakefulness from a state that's closer to "unconscious" than it is to "asleep," and Jack only wishes that he could be disoriented. It won't allow disorientation, because when it wants him it wants him immediately.

What he does feel is a split second of terror, because the thing's bringing him around for a reason and he's afraid, he admits it, he's afraid--but he's not on Earth, thank God, and there are no familiar faces here.




Change of Life (from a first line by tsiankiio) (gen, PG)

When he is awoken, the world has changed. Osiris sees it, blurry, during that first desperate lunge for safe haven, and sees it more clearly afterwards through the eyes of the host.

The buildings are strange-so much more metal than the Tau'ri would have had before, along with substances Osiris himself does not recognize-and even the smell of the air is different. Mirrors, at least, are the same, and he is prepared to see the female looking back at him once he finds one.

He is relieved that the host is beautiful. That, at least, is the same.




Compare and Contrast (from a first line by sage_theory) (gen, PG)

"So they finally had sex," Sam said.

"On-screen? Full-on..." Daniel trailed off, waving his hands around in a way that was presumably meant to imply hot monkey love.

"Oh, no. One kiss, bad lighting. But it was pretty clear." Her voice rasped a little; if Catch Daniel Up On Last Year Night went on much longer, she was going to need a lozenge. "The 'truth' never came out, though. Whatever that means."

"Three cheers for government secrecy," Daniel said, blinking innocently and stealing one of Sam's pretzels.

"Hey! They were an evil secret organization. It's a completely different situation. Really."




One Out of Three (from a first line by danvers) (gen, G)

Sam walked into her lab with the intention of doing some work, figuring stuff out, and avoiding explosions. She always put that last item on her to-do list, so long as she was on Earth and not wanting to blow anything up, because she thought it did her good to be able to go home at the end of the day with a check in the 'win' column.

She walked out that night having done one out of three, which wasn't bad, all things considered. And yeah, Siler might disagree, but Siler had volunteered to stand next to the device.




Battle Plans (from a first line by sef1029) (Sam/Pete, G)

"My love is like a red, red rose."

"Next," Sam said.

Daniel blinked. "What? You said you wanted simpler."

"Not that simple," Sam said, irritably. "It's... I don't know, cliche. Sounds like it's written by a nine-year-old. Next poem."

"It's not Burns' fault that the phrase got picked up..."

"I don't care. New poem!"

"Remind me why you're doing this with me instead of Pete?" Daniel asked, frowning down his nose at her.

Sam smiled, widely and insincerely. "Because he said he doesn't care what we use for the readings, and you know more poetry than he does. Next!"




Angle of Descent (from a first line by nestra) (gen, PG)

A fluorescent light buzzes overhead, flooding the concrete walls and floor with sickly gray light.

Daniel had started this journey six weeks earlier in a comfortable bedroom, with fresh flowers and, later, antihistamines. The move to a place that he thinks reminded him of a motel room had been accompanied by a shift from "you're not well enough to go out" to "you're in protective custody," and the questioning had intensified.

Everything he knows about himself, they've told him, so he has no experience with this kind of situation. He is, however, pretty sure that concrete is a bad sign.




Historical Accuracy (from a first line by Brighid) (gen, PG-13)

Once, a very long time ago, a girl got dragged screaming into hell...

Actually, Sarah didn't scream. She did say "oh, shit," because she'd made it all that time without ever damaging a valuable artifact, and there she was with newly-broken pottery on her hands. She was so distracted by this that she saw movement and felt the thing entering her body at the same moment, and so there was no time to scream. And it wasn't all that long ago, really, and she was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a 'girl'.

The hell part was true, though.




Decisions (for slyredfox, who wanted the whole team and nothing involving their day jobs) (gen, G)

"Oh my God," Sam whispered, horrified. "Did he really just ask for rainbow sherbet?"

"Well, you can't expect Teal'c to adhere to American expectations when it comes to food..." Daniel said gamely.

"You're putting sherbet in a banana split?" Jack said. "Teal'c, buddy, that's just wrong."

Teal'c turned around. "There is a moral stricture in America regarding the content of this dessert?"

"Well, no," Sam admitted, just as Jack chimed in with "Oh, yeah, absolutely."

"You have told me that rules are made to be broken." Teal'c turned back to the server.

"Well," Jack said, "obviously that was a mistake."




Exotics (challenge: Pretty Life)

George's wife had loved exotic plants. Not for her, the plain yellow daffodils everyone had; if she stooped to consider daffodils at all, they were big fluffy triple-petaled ones, in pink if possible. Mostly she loved to plant things that no one had ever heard of, and then give legendarily detailed garden tours to anyone who'd listen.

He did know that introducing offworld flora to Earth would be a very bad idea. Still, every now and then he saw a picture of something beautiful and completely, wildly alien, and he thought oh, Nancy would have loved that for her garden.




Speed (challenge: Addiction)

Breathe out, step forward, keep it steady so you don't trip at the other end. Looks like water, feels like prickly mist for just an instant, but once you're into it everything goes dead—no feeling, no sight, no taste no smell no sound. Keep moving, let your momentum carry you in, and it all comes back. Not real—you tried to bring a videocamera through once, and got bupkis—but it happens anyway, sound that you aren't hearing, the star-road that you can't see in front of you, the sheer velocity of wormhole travel.

Jack's always loved to fly.




Definitions (challenge: Unique)

"Okay, that's it," Jack said. "Stop right there."

Daniel checked his watch and wrote something down; statistics for Carter, probably. They had some sort of ongoing contest regarding their new kids' Presentations for the General, about which Jack did not want to know any details, because so long as he didn't know how to screw with their numbers he was free to stop New Girl as soon as the words 'most unique' came out of her mouth. Boring history was one thing, but Generals did not have to put up with incorrect word usage as far as Jack was concerned.




Locked (prompt: a scary thing in someone's peripheral vision)

We always are, whether in the being or the not-being. In the not-being, we are potential and possibility, closed and quiet, waiting to be. When we are in the being, we make the world, and we are the world, and we come and go from ring to ring and across the darkness where the others rest.

During those times, there is movement within us, unknown and unknowable. It is a condition of being. We do not look, but neither can we escape, and so it is not a few of us who would choose not to be if we could.



Send feedback to Katie

Home  •   Stories  •   Drabbles  •   Effluvia


Stargate SG-1 belongs to MGM and Gekko Productions. Material on this site is for noncommercial purposes only.