Home and Hearth
Sep. 3rd, 2011 07:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stringertheoryTitle: Home and Hearth
Rating: G
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Characters: Teal'c, Jack O'Neill
Word Count: 1869
Categories: friendship, humor, drama
Spoilers/Warnings: Set shortly after "Bloodlines" (1.12). Spoilers for same.
Summary: Written for the![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sg1friendathon: "Jack, Teal'c. 'For this you can stay at my place!'" Teal'c makes his first visit to Jack's house.
Edit: Almost forgot! Thanks to![[personal profile]](https://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lolmac for her beta, helping me make something decent out of this fic's dodgy beginnings.
Colonel O'Neill swept into his room with the barest hint of a knock. Teal'c looked up from the book in his hands, somewhat curious but not bothered by the intrusion.
“Colonel O'Neill.”
He waited for a response, wondering at the colonel's appearance in his quarters. He had not expected O'Neill to still be on base; when they had last spoken in the locker room, O'Neill had indicated his intention to return home as soon as he took a shower. The colonel was in civilian clothes, what appeared to be a hat held in one hand. He gestured to Teal'c with it as he returned the greeting.
“Teal'c.”
“Did you need something, O'Neill?”
The colonel waggled his head in a movement somewhere between a shake and a nod. “C'mon,” he said. “You're coming home with me.”
Teal'c rose from his chair, one eyebrow quirked. “Outside the base?”
“Yeah. I've cleared it with Hammond.” O'Neill ran his hands around the edge of the hat, making it slowly circle in his grasp. He did not look at Teal'c. “We're gonna go home and drink beer and watch baseball and tell war stories,” he said with a half shrug. “You know, all that manly... Jaffa-ly... guy stuff.”
“Am I to stay overnight?” Teal'c asked as he collected his jacket from the back of his chair.
“No,” O'Neill replied, regret and a little frustration creeping into his voice. “We haven't quite made it to the point that they feel comfortable letting you stay out all night.” The hat continued to make revolutions between his hands. “They'll send someone to pick you up and bring you back before curfew,” he said with the barest hint of a smile.
Teal'c shrugged into his jacket and stood before the colonel. “I am ready.”
O'Neill looked him up and down swiftly, a small frown on his face. “I suppose you are.” He gestured for Teal'c to precede him into the hallway. “Next on the agenda is to get you some civvies,” he said as they headed toward the elevators.
“'Civvies'?”
“Civilian clothes,” O’Neill explained, gesturing to himself. “Most people don't wear BDUs around everywhere. We'll have to get you some regular day clothes for when you go top-side.”
Teal'c pondered Tau'ri clothing and the purchasing thereof as the elevator glided upward. The implication that he would be leaving the base often enough to warrant such clothes was not lost on Teal'c. He hoped it would prove to be so; he greatly desired to see more of the world he now called home.
Before they switched to the elevator that Teal'c had ridden only once before, the one that opened to the surface, O’Neill handed him the hat he had been carrying.
“Better put this on.”
Teal'c turned the hat over in his hands first, studying its shape. It was very unlike the baseball cap General Hammond had given him for his first journey out onto the planet. This hat was the color of wheat and made of a much rougher material than the cap. It reminded Teal'c of the woven baskets commonly found in Jaffa homes. He ran a finger along the hat's brim—smaller than the one on the cap, but it ran all the way around the hat. Pulling on the hat and tugging it down so that it fully covered his tattoo, he turned to find O'Neill watching him.
“What is this type of hat called, O'Neill?” Teal'c asked.
“It's a straw hat,” O'Neill replied. He frowned up at it. “I don't know if there's a particular name for the style.”
Teal'c tilted his head in acknowledgment. O'Neill grinned at him as they stepped out into the fading daylight, but it was a faint substitute of his normal smile.
“It suits you,” he said.
Teal'c was still learning Tau'ri humor, but it seemed to him that O'Neill was both speaking sincerely and being humorous. He cocked one eyebrow and gave him a look from the corner of his eyes. The widening of O'Neill's grin—now closer to his normal one—told Teal'c he had interpreted the meaning correctly.
As they walked to O'Neill's vehicle, Teal'c leaned his head back to take in cloudless sky above. The sky of Earth was still a new thing to him, unremarkably similar to any other sky he had ever stood beneath or flown through, but made unique by the planet it surrounded. High above, he spotted the white trace of contrails streaking across the blue. He followed the trail of the plane, marveling at Tau'ri ingenuity, until his view of the sky was cut off by the roof of the colonel's truck.
They spent most of the ride to the colonel's home in companionable silence. O'Neill gave Teal'c free rein over the radio, and Teal'c amused himself by scanning through the channels. He stopped for a while on any tunes that interested him, pleased when O'Neill offered a personal story about the song or some bit of knowledge about the type of music. News reports and one baseball broadcast also prompted short pauses, but Teal'c always moved on, eager to experience more of this new and strange world in the short while he was allowed outside of the base.
In between switching stations, he took in the view outside the colonel's truck. He had seen little of the planet beyond what was shown on the television in his room, but he knew it to possess great diversity in its peoples and landscapes and structures. The city of Colorado Springs mirrored that diversity well, from large buildings that rose far above the streets, to bustling roadways full of cars, to tidy residential areas.
O'Neill took them into one such area, down a wide, gently winding road lined with houses. The home he stopped in front of was nothing spectacular, and Teal'c frowned at it as he exited the truck. On Chulak, the size of a Jaffa's home—and the treasures and amenities contained therein—were symbolic of that Jaffa's status. Teal'c's own home had been large and comfortable, a home worthy of the First Prime of Apophis. Teal'c had expected the same to be true for the Tau'ri.
As usual, his expectations had been subverted. The house in front of him was no larger or grander than many they passed along the road, and in no way rivaled some of the large, opulent dwellings he had seen on television, homes of such glory as would make the Goa'uld themselves jealous.
O'Neill's home did not indicate the quality and honor of the man who resided within it. The structure appeared very basic from the outside: low, long, and brown, it was very nondescript. The simplicity suited O'Neill though, and Teal'c followed him up the short path to the front door, curious as to what he would find inside.
From the door, a long hallway ran to his left and right. Before him, he spotted a dining area with a small sliver of what must be a kitchen visible just beyond it. What looked like a living area was off to his left, so he assumed the hallway to the right lead to sleeping quarters. As he surveyed the surroundings, O'Neill brushed past him and headed into the kitchen.
“Make yourself at home,” he called.
Shutting the door behind him, Teal'c headed to his left, down into the living area. Standing in that room, he understood why O'Neill enjoyed the home as he did—the view the room provided spoke much to O'Neill's love of the outdoors. Three of the walls were dominated by large windows that looked out on a green expanse of grass. Trees rose in the distance, providing a natural border to the lawn. Already they were casting long shadows on the grass as the sun sank behind them.
The furnishings in the room looked comfortable and slightly worn—“lived in,” O'Neill would say. As Teal'c lowered himself onto the sofa, the colonel reappeared from the hallway, carrying two bottles. He held one out to Teal'c as he joined him on the sofa. Teal'c stared at the bottle blandly.
“No, thank you, O'Neill.”
O'Neill stared at him in surprise. “No beer?”
“I do not partake of alcoholic beverages.”
“Really?”
“Indeed.”
O'Neill continued to stare at him for a moment before shaking his head and heaving himself to his feet again. Teal'c could hear his steps as he headed back into the kitchen and worried that he had insulted the colonel by not taking the proffered drink. The clink of bottle striking bottle sounded from the kitchen and Teal'c turned and lifted himself from his seat slightly to peer over the opening in the wall. He could see O'Neill standing in front of the open refrigerator, one beer still in hand as he surveyed the contents. After a quick scan he closed the door and turned around to find Teal'c watching him. He did not appear angry or offended, just somewhat confused, and Teal'c relaxed. O'Neill opened a cabinet and pulled out a glass, which he held up for Teal'c to see.
“Water?” he asked.
“That will be fine, O'Neill,” Teal'c responded.
He settled back in his seat and a minute later, the colonel joined him again, handing him a glass of water. A few ice cubes floated in it. Teal'c took it with a nod of thanks.
O'Neill took a drink from his bottle and picked at the label.
“I'm sorry about your son,” he said at last.
“As am I.” Teal'c bowed his head momentarily before raising it again to stare out of the windows. “But he will be free,” Teal'c said firmly. “It will simply take longer than I had hoped.”
“We'll save him,” O'Neill said.
Teal'c caught his gaze and nodded. “We have many to save,” he said simply. He quietened his own doubts and added, “And we will.”
They sat quietly, taking sips of their respective drinks, watching the shadows grow outside. When it was dark enough, O'Neill reached over and turned on a lamp. Teal'c blinked in the sudden light, his notice caught by how it reflected in the screen of a television in the corner. Remembering O'Neill's words, and wishing to provide the distraction for both of them, Teal'c turned to him.
“I believe you mentioned a baseball game, O'Neill?”
The colonel started slightly as though pulled from thoughts by Teal'c's voice. He glanced around and ran a hand through his hair distractedly.
“Right, baseball.”
Pushing himself off the couch, he retrieved a remote control and turned on the television. Pictures flashed by until the image settled on a field of green, seen from an elevated area. The small figures of men could be spotted on the field, which was surrounded by seats filled with more small figures.
O'Neill leaned back against the sofa with a sigh and gestured to the screen with his beer.
“Now, Teal'c, the real joy of baseball ...”
Rating: G
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Characters: Teal'c, Jack O'Neill
Word Count: 1869
Categories: friendship, humor, drama
Spoilers/Warnings: Set shortly after "Bloodlines" (1.12). Spoilers for same.
Summary: Written for the
sg1friendathon: "Jack, Teal'c. 'For this you can stay at my place!'" Teal'c makes his first visit to Jack's house.Edit: Almost forgot! Thanks to
lolmac for her beta, helping me make something decent out of this fic's dodgy beginnings.Colonel O'Neill swept into his room with the barest hint of a knock. Teal'c looked up from the book in his hands, somewhat curious but not bothered by the intrusion.
“Colonel O'Neill.”
He waited for a response, wondering at the colonel's appearance in his quarters. He had not expected O'Neill to still be on base; when they had last spoken in the locker room, O'Neill had indicated his intention to return home as soon as he took a shower. The colonel was in civilian clothes, what appeared to be a hat held in one hand. He gestured to Teal'c with it as he returned the greeting.
“Teal'c.”
“Did you need something, O'Neill?”
The colonel waggled his head in a movement somewhere between a shake and a nod. “C'mon,” he said. “You're coming home with me.”
Teal'c rose from his chair, one eyebrow quirked. “Outside the base?”
“Yeah. I've cleared it with Hammond.” O'Neill ran his hands around the edge of the hat, making it slowly circle in his grasp. He did not look at Teal'c. “We're gonna go home and drink beer and watch baseball and tell war stories,” he said with a half shrug. “You know, all that manly... Jaffa-ly... guy stuff.”
“Am I to stay overnight?” Teal'c asked as he collected his jacket from the back of his chair.
“No,” O'Neill replied, regret and a little frustration creeping into his voice. “We haven't quite made it to the point that they feel comfortable letting you stay out all night.” The hat continued to make revolutions between his hands. “They'll send someone to pick you up and bring you back before curfew,” he said with the barest hint of a smile.
Teal'c shrugged into his jacket and stood before the colonel. “I am ready.”
O'Neill looked him up and down swiftly, a small frown on his face. “I suppose you are.” He gestured for Teal'c to precede him into the hallway. “Next on the agenda is to get you some civvies,” he said as they headed toward the elevators.
“'Civvies'?”
“Civilian clothes,” O’Neill explained, gesturing to himself. “Most people don't wear BDUs around everywhere. We'll have to get you some regular day clothes for when you go top-side.”
Teal'c pondered Tau'ri clothing and the purchasing thereof as the elevator glided upward. The implication that he would be leaving the base often enough to warrant such clothes was not lost on Teal'c. He hoped it would prove to be so; he greatly desired to see more of the world he now called home.
Before they switched to the elevator that Teal'c had ridden only once before, the one that opened to the surface, O’Neill handed him the hat he had been carrying.
“Better put this on.”
Teal'c turned the hat over in his hands first, studying its shape. It was very unlike the baseball cap General Hammond had given him for his first journey out onto the planet. This hat was the color of wheat and made of a much rougher material than the cap. It reminded Teal'c of the woven baskets commonly found in Jaffa homes. He ran a finger along the hat's brim—smaller than the one on the cap, but it ran all the way around the hat. Pulling on the hat and tugging it down so that it fully covered his tattoo, he turned to find O'Neill watching him.
“What is this type of hat called, O'Neill?” Teal'c asked.
“It's a straw hat,” O'Neill replied. He frowned up at it. “I don't know if there's a particular name for the style.”
Teal'c tilted his head in acknowledgment. O'Neill grinned at him as they stepped out into the fading daylight, but it was a faint substitute of his normal smile.
“It suits you,” he said.
Teal'c was still learning Tau'ri humor, but it seemed to him that O'Neill was both speaking sincerely and being humorous. He cocked one eyebrow and gave him a look from the corner of his eyes. The widening of O'Neill's grin—now closer to his normal one—told Teal'c he had interpreted the meaning correctly.
As they walked to O'Neill's vehicle, Teal'c leaned his head back to take in cloudless sky above. The sky of Earth was still a new thing to him, unremarkably similar to any other sky he had ever stood beneath or flown through, but made unique by the planet it surrounded. High above, he spotted the white trace of contrails streaking across the blue. He followed the trail of the plane, marveling at Tau'ri ingenuity, until his view of the sky was cut off by the roof of the colonel's truck.
They spent most of the ride to the colonel's home in companionable silence. O'Neill gave Teal'c free rein over the radio, and Teal'c amused himself by scanning through the channels. He stopped for a while on any tunes that interested him, pleased when O'Neill offered a personal story about the song or some bit of knowledge about the type of music. News reports and one baseball broadcast also prompted short pauses, but Teal'c always moved on, eager to experience more of this new and strange world in the short while he was allowed outside of the base.
In between switching stations, he took in the view outside the colonel's truck. He had seen little of the planet beyond what was shown on the television in his room, but he knew it to possess great diversity in its peoples and landscapes and structures. The city of Colorado Springs mirrored that diversity well, from large buildings that rose far above the streets, to bustling roadways full of cars, to tidy residential areas.
O'Neill took them into one such area, down a wide, gently winding road lined with houses. The home he stopped in front of was nothing spectacular, and Teal'c frowned at it as he exited the truck. On Chulak, the size of a Jaffa's home—and the treasures and amenities contained therein—were symbolic of that Jaffa's status. Teal'c's own home had been large and comfortable, a home worthy of the First Prime of Apophis. Teal'c had expected the same to be true for the Tau'ri.
As usual, his expectations had been subverted. The house in front of him was no larger or grander than many they passed along the road, and in no way rivaled some of the large, opulent dwellings he had seen on television, homes of such glory as would make the Goa'uld themselves jealous.
O'Neill's home did not indicate the quality and honor of the man who resided within it. The structure appeared very basic from the outside: low, long, and brown, it was very nondescript. The simplicity suited O'Neill though, and Teal'c followed him up the short path to the front door, curious as to what he would find inside.
From the door, a long hallway ran to his left and right. Before him, he spotted a dining area with a small sliver of what must be a kitchen visible just beyond it. What looked like a living area was off to his left, so he assumed the hallway to the right lead to sleeping quarters. As he surveyed the surroundings, O'Neill brushed past him and headed into the kitchen.
“Make yourself at home,” he called.
Shutting the door behind him, Teal'c headed to his left, down into the living area. Standing in that room, he understood why O'Neill enjoyed the home as he did—the view the room provided spoke much to O'Neill's love of the outdoors. Three of the walls were dominated by large windows that looked out on a green expanse of grass. Trees rose in the distance, providing a natural border to the lawn. Already they were casting long shadows on the grass as the sun sank behind them.
The furnishings in the room looked comfortable and slightly worn—“lived in,” O'Neill would say. As Teal'c lowered himself onto the sofa, the colonel reappeared from the hallway, carrying two bottles. He held one out to Teal'c as he joined him on the sofa. Teal'c stared at the bottle blandly.
“No, thank you, O'Neill.”
O'Neill stared at him in surprise. “No beer?”
“I do not partake of alcoholic beverages.”
“Really?”
“Indeed.”
O'Neill continued to stare at him for a moment before shaking his head and heaving himself to his feet again. Teal'c could hear his steps as he headed back into the kitchen and worried that he had insulted the colonel by not taking the proffered drink. The clink of bottle striking bottle sounded from the kitchen and Teal'c turned and lifted himself from his seat slightly to peer over the opening in the wall. He could see O'Neill standing in front of the open refrigerator, one beer still in hand as he surveyed the contents. After a quick scan he closed the door and turned around to find Teal'c watching him. He did not appear angry or offended, just somewhat confused, and Teal'c relaxed. O'Neill opened a cabinet and pulled out a glass, which he held up for Teal'c to see.
“Water?” he asked.
“That will be fine, O'Neill,” Teal'c responded.
He settled back in his seat and a minute later, the colonel joined him again, handing him a glass of water. A few ice cubes floated in it. Teal'c took it with a nod of thanks.
O'Neill took a drink from his bottle and picked at the label.
“I'm sorry about your son,” he said at last.
“As am I.” Teal'c bowed his head momentarily before raising it again to stare out of the windows. “But he will be free,” Teal'c said firmly. “It will simply take longer than I had hoped.”
“We'll save him,” O'Neill said.
Teal'c caught his gaze and nodded. “We have many to save,” he said simply. He quietened his own doubts and added, “And we will.”
They sat quietly, taking sips of their respective drinks, watching the shadows grow outside. When it was dark enough, O'Neill reached over and turned on a lamp. Teal'c blinked in the sudden light, his notice caught by how it reflected in the screen of a television in the corner. Remembering O'Neill's words, and wishing to provide the distraction for both of them, Teal'c turned to him.
“I believe you mentioned a baseball game, O'Neill?”
The colonel started slightly as though pulled from thoughts by Teal'c's voice. He glanced around and ran a hand through his hair distractedly.
“Right, baseball.”
Pushing himself off the couch, he retrieved a remote control and turned on the television. Pictures flashed by until the image settled on a field of green, seen from an elevated area. The small figures of men could be spotted on the field, which was surrounded by seats filled with more small figures.
O'Neill leaned back against the sofa with a sigh and gestured to the screen with his beer.
“Now, Teal'c, the real joy of baseball ...”