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fandomweekly2024-07-12 09:34 pm
badly_knitted) wrote in fandomweekly2024-07-12 09:34 pm
Entry tags:
[#227] Blundering In (Stargate SG-1)
Theme Prompt: #227 – Spontaneous
Title: Blundering In
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Rating/Warnings: PG / None.
Bonus: Yes.
Word Count: 1000
Summary: Most of the time Daniel just doesn’t think things through before he acts, and now that spontaneity has landed both him and Jack in trouble. Not that Daniel seems at all concerned.
It was alright for Daniel; as a civilian, he wasn’t bound by the military’s strict rules and regulations. He wouldn’t get court-martialled if he threw the rulebook out the window and did things his own way. Lost, misplaced, abducted, locked up, or killed, maybe, but not court-martialled. In some respects, O’Neill envied him for that, although personally he preferred the rigid disciplines of life in the military. He knew what was expected of him and understood the penalties for not following the rules. It led to fewer unpleasant surprises.
That wasn’t to say he was incapable of acting spontaneously. Military personnel had to be able to deal with evolving situations and adapt their responses accordingly, but in most cases, it was better to weigh the available options before deciding on the appropriate course of action. Daniel seldom seemed to bother about such things, he just blundered in with a smile and a greeting, and more often than not, it worked for him. He was so effortlessly friendly, open and approachable that people instinctively liked him, even when they couldn’t understand a word he was saying. He never let language barriers get in his way, somehow always managing to find some way of communicating.
Jack tried his best to rein the archaeologist in. As SG-1’s commanding officer, he was responsible for Daniel’s safety. Hell, he was responsible for Daniel full stop. Someone had to be, because he was like an overeager puppy. Take your eyes off him for two seconds and he wandered off to investigate whatever caught his attention, not giving a moment’s thought to potential dangers. They visited alien planets, for crying out loud, many of which happened to be inhabited by folks with glowing eyes and snakes in their heads. Would it kill Daniel to wait until the area had been checked out before he started exploring?
Perhaps the worst part of the whole thing was that against all odds, and his own better judgement, O’Neill genuinely liked the guy. Okay, so it had taken him a while to warm up to young Doc Jackson when they’d first met; scientists and scholars were like an alien species, but then Daniel had proved his worth, saving O’Neill’s life. Besides, he was just so damned likeable! O’Neill didn’t have a clue what Daniel was going on about most of the time, partly because he tended to tune out what the younger man was saying, and Daniel’s lack of caution, not to mention any sense of self-preservation, confounded the hell out of him, but his heart was in the right place, even if his head was somewhere up in the clouds.
No part of being in the military had prepared O’Neill for being handler to a wayward archaeologist. He couldn’t order Daniel around like one of his subordinates. Well, he could try but it seldom did much good. There was little point in expecting obedience because Daniel’s brain didn’t work that way, and Jack couldn’t even threaten to throw him in the brig for disobeying a direct order. That only worked with military personnel. Liking Daniel didn’t keep O’Neill from wanting to strangle him at times, or tie him to something so he wouldn’t wander away and land himself in more trouble…
Like now.
“I knew this was gonna happen, and yet, here I am anyway,” Jack muttered.
“What?” Daniel glanced around from where he was investigating some carvings on a wall.
“Wherever we go, if there’s any way to get in trouble, you find it, and usually manage to get the rest of us involved as well.”
“Sam and Teal’c will find a way to get us out.”
Daniel’s faith in his teammates was admirable, Jack supposed, but still. “They wouldn’t have to if you hadn’t blundered in here in the first place. Couldn’t you for once stop and think before diving into the unknown?”
“But these carvings…”
“I don’t want to hear it, Daniel!”
“No, you never do. You’d ignore everything of cultural significance in favour of trying to get your hands on weapons and technology.”
“Because we need to arm ourselves against the Goa’uld.” Jack was trying to be patient, really he was, but Daniel had seen wall carvings and made a beeline for them like a dog after a particularly juicy bone, and Jack had gone after him because it hadn’t seemed a good idea to lose sight of him among the ruins, and then a heavy stone door had slammed down behind them, trapping them in this room…
“You know what your problem is?”
“Yes. You.”
Daniel shook his head. “All that military rigidity. Your mind is closed to so much you’ve forgotten how to be spontaneous, if you ever knew.”
“And you have zero impulse control! Being spontaneous out here can get us killed. Or trapped.” Jack gestured at the room they were in.
“Oh, no, I didn’t do that. You did.”
“Excuse me?”
“When you followed me. You passed through that beam of light. I didn’t.”
“So?”
“I think that’s what triggered the door mechanism.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
“Because I only just figured it out.” Daniel stood up, walked through the light, and the door obligingly opened. Before Jack could move, Daniel walked back through it, and it closed again.
“Daniel…”
“What now?”
“The door?”
“You don’t need me to open it. I’ve shown you how it works.”
“Did ya have to close it again?”
“I was just demonstrating. It’s not much different from automatic doors back on earth.” Daniel was already back looking at the carvings again in the beam of his flashlight, since the sunbeam, or whatever it was, didn’t shed much light.
Sending up a brief prayer for patience, Jack waved his MP-5 through the beam and with a grating sound, the door raised again, to reveal a startled Carter, and Teal’c, who simply raised an eyebrow.
“Colonel! We thought you were trapped.”
“Daniel found the doorknob.”
“Oh.”
“Try to keep him out of trouble.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The End
That wasn’t to say he was incapable of acting spontaneously. Military personnel had to be able to deal with evolving situations and adapt their responses accordingly, but in most cases, it was better to weigh the available options before deciding on the appropriate course of action. Daniel seldom seemed to bother about such things, he just blundered in with a smile and a greeting, and more often than not, it worked for him. He was so effortlessly friendly, open and approachable that people instinctively liked him, even when they couldn’t understand a word he was saying. He never let language barriers get in his way, somehow always managing to find some way of communicating.
Jack tried his best to rein the archaeologist in. As SG-1’s commanding officer, he was responsible for Daniel’s safety. Hell, he was responsible for Daniel full stop. Someone had to be, because he was like an overeager puppy. Take your eyes off him for two seconds and he wandered off to investigate whatever caught his attention, not giving a moment’s thought to potential dangers. They visited alien planets, for crying out loud, many of which happened to be inhabited by folks with glowing eyes and snakes in their heads. Would it kill Daniel to wait until the area had been checked out before he started exploring?
Perhaps the worst part of the whole thing was that against all odds, and his own better judgement, O’Neill genuinely liked the guy. Okay, so it had taken him a while to warm up to young Doc Jackson when they’d first met; scientists and scholars were like an alien species, but then Daniel had proved his worth, saving O’Neill’s life. Besides, he was just so damned likeable! O’Neill didn’t have a clue what Daniel was going on about most of the time, partly because he tended to tune out what the younger man was saying, and Daniel’s lack of caution, not to mention any sense of self-preservation, confounded the hell out of him, but his heart was in the right place, even if his head was somewhere up in the clouds.
No part of being in the military had prepared O’Neill for being handler to a wayward archaeologist. He couldn’t order Daniel around like one of his subordinates. Well, he could try but it seldom did much good. There was little point in expecting obedience because Daniel’s brain didn’t work that way, and Jack couldn’t even threaten to throw him in the brig for disobeying a direct order. That only worked with military personnel. Liking Daniel didn’t keep O’Neill from wanting to strangle him at times, or tie him to something so he wouldn’t wander away and land himself in more trouble…
Like now.
“I knew this was gonna happen, and yet, here I am anyway,” Jack muttered.
“What?” Daniel glanced around from where he was investigating some carvings on a wall.
“Wherever we go, if there’s any way to get in trouble, you find it, and usually manage to get the rest of us involved as well.”
“Sam and Teal’c will find a way to get us out.”
Daniel’s faith in his teammates was admirable, Jack supposed, but still. “They wouldn’t have to if you hadn’t blundered in here in the first place. Couldn’t you for once stop and think before diving into the unknown?”
“But these carvings…”
“I don’t want to hear it, Daniel!”
“No, you never do. You’d ignore everything of cultural significance in favour of trying to get your hands on weapons and technology.”
“Because we need to arm ourselves against the Goa’uld.” Jack was trying to be patient, really he was, but Daniel had seen wall carvings and made a beeline for them like a dog after a particularly juicy bone, and Jack had gone after him because it hadn’t seemed a good idea to lose sight of him among the ruins, and then a heavy stone door had slammed down behind them, trapping them in this room…
“You know what your problem is?”
“Yes. You.”
Daniel shook his head. “All that military rigidity. Your mind is closed to so much you’ve forgotten how to be spontaneous, if you ever knew.”
“And you have zero impulse control! Being spontaneous out here can get us killed. Or trapped.” Jack gestured at the room they were in.
“Oh, no, I didn’t do that. You did.”
“Excuse me?”
“When you followed me. You passed through that beam of light. I didn’t.”
“So?”
“I think that’s what triggered the door mechanism.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
“Because I only just figured it out.” Daniel stood up, walked through the light, and the door obligingly opened. Before Jack could move, Daniel walked back through it, and it closed again.
“Daniel…”
“What now?”
“The door?”
“You don’t need me to open it. I’ve shown you how it works.”
“Did ya have to close it again?”
“I was just demonstrating. It’s not much different from automatic doors back on earth.” Daniel was already back looking at the carvings again in the beam of his flashlight, since the sunbeam, or whatever it was, didn’t shed much light.
Sending up a brief prayer for patience, Jack waved his MP-5 through the beam and with a grating sound, the door raised again, to reveal a startled Carter, and Teal’c, who simply raised an eyebrow.
“Colonel! We thought you were trapped.”
“Daniel found the doorknob.”
“Oh.”
“Try to keep him out of trouble.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The End