figs_sg1_rec | A Million Days, by Tallulah Rasa

Rec Category: AU

Pairing: none
Categories: AU, Jack O'Neill, episode related, Jack and Daniel friendship, angst, character study
Warnings: insanely bored Jack with no consequences doing just about anything
Author on LJ: unknown
Author's Website: To Explore the Universe and Eat Pie
Link: A Million Days

Why This Must Be Read: I was so sure that this gem had previously been recced that I didn't even bother looking for it in the AU memories. Well, I've looked now, and it isn't, so…

This is Jack. This is Jack trapped in time with no future in sight, or past within reach. Any questions?

Tallulah Rasa, one of the queens of gen fic (even if, sad to say, she has greatly reduced the number of her stories available online), offers us an amazingly bleak AU look at a light-hearted, fan-favorite episode. What would have happened if something went wrong, and the time machine in Window of Opportunity couldn't be fixed?

If you take away the humor, WoO is a pretty dark story. Daniel (possibly) dies in the teaser; entire worlds have their very existence put on hold; and it's all happening because a single man is so grief-stricken that he's willing to put billions of lives on the line just to speak to his wife again. Now, take those elements, and add a Jack O'Neill who is stuck in an endless time loop that can't be broken.

Tallulah Rasa, recognizing how such an experience must impact on a human being, distills Jack down to his most basic elements, and it's only the unique friendship he shares with Daniel that keeps him even marginally sane – even if he abuses that friendship by dangling Daniel out a 14^th story window. And that friendship is written just beautifully; this is one author who has their complicated pushme-pullyou relationship down pat. The perfect example of this, included in the snippet of fic below, is when Daniel walks away, because he knows this is something he wouldn't have done on a previous loop, and that will make this something different for Jack, instead of being the same thing over and over and…

Oh, yeah. Those two are unique.

And so is A Million Days. One of my absolute favorites, and once you read it, I'm sure you'll add it to your list, too.

"Did you try calling Sara?" They're in Jack's office this time, just for a change of pace. Jack's not as comfortable in his own office as he is in Daniel's, but that's good. A lot of things are boring now; he's glad comfort isn't one of them.

"A few times," Jack says. "It was – some things you shouldn't do unless they're real."

"Yeah," Daniel says. He's looking around the room, maybe searching for something to talk about. "Um… have you… tried to hijack Air Force 1? Set off a bomb? Robbed a bank?"

"Yes," Jack says.

"Yes?" Daniel's head swings around so fast he almost loses his glasses. "Seriously? Really?"

"Yes, really, Daniel."

"Well, you can't just – tell me about it!"

"I've already done that a few times."

"Oh. Damn. I wish I remembered. Okay, what about—"

"You know what bugs me? There's no game on. It's not even hockey season."

"There's a really good documentary on the History Channel this afternoon, on—"

"You're not helping, Daniel."

Daniel looks at him for a long moment, nods, gets up from the hard plastic chair, and heads for the door. "I'm—I'm going to go."

"What? For crying out loud, Daniel, don't get your knickers in a twist. I didn't mean you had to leave."

Daniel turns around in the doorway. "Oh, I know. It's not that. It's just – I probably don't normally leave. I mean, I want to stay, and try to help, and I probably always feel like that, every loop. So, leaving – that would be different. It's something I can do to make this loop a little different."

Jack has to swallow a few times before he can say anything. "You're a nice man, Daniel," he finally says. "Exceedingly strange, but you've got a good heart."

"Yeah," Daniel says. He shifts the stack of files in his arms. "I hear that a lot."

"Seriously?"

"Well, I'm guessing," Daniel says with a smile before he takes off down the hall.