On the Road Again, by Mara Greengrass (PG-13)

[figs_sg1_rec]

Rec Category: Jack and Daniel friendship

Pairing: none

Categories: Jack and Daniel friendship, Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, gen, humor

Warnings: language

Author on LJ: marag

Author's Website: Diversions and Digressions

Link: On the Road Again

 

Why This Must Be Read: Picture Jack and Daniel, some time in early Season Seven, stuck on a diplomatic mission.

 

At the "Tarka Root Fair," no less.

 

Guess who's having fun, and who isn't?

 

And when they get stranded - and lost - and arrested...

 

There's humor, here, yes. But there's also stellar characterization, great snarky dialogue, and it ends with some painfully honest exchanges between Jack and Daniel.

 

I've had this one bookmarked for ages. Time for everyone else to enjoy it!

 

A small child sitting in front of them nearly spilled his drink over Jack's shoes. "So, tell me again why I'm sweating at the Tarka Root Fair?" Jack asked out of the corner of his mouth.

Daniel concentrated on neither laughing at him nor yelling. "Because the Minister wanted to be friendly and we're here to be nice?"

"So, tell me again why I'm sweating at the Tarka Root Fair?"

Rolling his eyes, Daniel wished for the eighteenth time Sam had joined him for this mission instead of Jack. She'd probably have been delighted by the charm of this event. (Granted, she'd most likely be itching to take apart the engines pulling the floats, to see how they were powered. But at least she wouldn't be complaining.)

He decided the wisest course of action was to let Jack stew in his own crankiness, while he enjoyed the spectacle. And what a spectacle it was, containing the charm and kitsch of a southern sweet potato festival with the fun of the fourth of July.

Minister Zee cheerfully explained everything, although he blushed a bit when the float of women dressed mainly in small strips of fabric rolled by.

Jack's eyes were half-closed as the parade proceeded, although Daniel suspected he was enjoying himself more than he was willing to admit. After all, the man was always a sucker for enthusiastic children and certainly not immune to the sight of women dressed in skimpy outfits.