"Hey Daniel, how was your walk?" Jack's voice filtered down from somewhere above Daniel's head. He glanced up and saw a sweat soaked but happy Jack O'Neil on the cabin's roof, enjoying the hell out of himself fixing the leak. He was wearing his oldest denim shirt, rolled up above his elbows and completely unbuttoned.

Jack wiped his hands on his denim-clad legs and began to clamber down the ladder. Daniel made his way towards the cabin, not looking any happier for his early evening stroll along the shores of the lake. They had been here for three days; Jack had hoped that being away from the SGC would pull his best friend and lover out of the depression he had fallen into lately. But nothing so far had seemed to work.

Daniel had never been comfortable with military protocol, hence the reason he never followed orders but their latest missions had pushed Daniel close to his limits.

Jack had never seen Daniel quite so upset. After they had finished clearing up the mess left in the wake of the android Reece, they had gone home and yelled the house down. In the end, Daniel had conceded that the situation warranted the action Jack had been forced to take, but that it wasn't something he himself could condone. And there was the essence of the gulf that separated them. Together on so many things, but so very far apart when it came to their respective jobs.

Oddly enough, Daniel's pure heart and steadfast determination to do the right thing, was part of what drew Jack to him. His soul shone out through his eyes and took Jack's breath away. And yet his duty to his country would always have to come first. His ability to separate his personal life from his duty to the flag was what had made him such an effective Special Ops soldier. It also made him, in his opinion, a complete bastard.

He reached the foot of the ladder and turned around, sitting on a rung to wait for Daniel to reach him. He took in the form hugging jeans, tight black tee shirt and tousled hair with one glance but his eyes lingered on Daniel's lips. The bottom lip was red and swollen, usually caused by Jack kissing the shit out of his lover but in this instance, Jack knew Daniel chewing on it while thinking caused it. He thought way too much, and he always chewed on that luscious lip when he was doing it.

Daniel reached the foot of the ladder and stopped a few paces short of Jack, wrapping his arms around his chest and looking at the ground. Jack sighed. Not good. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"Hey – I promise to take a shower if the smell puts you off that much."

The corner of Daniel's mouth quirked up and Jack relaxed a bit. So Daniel wasn't too far-gone into his dark mood. Jack reached out and hooked his fingers into the waistband of Daniel's jeans tugging him closer. Daniel offered a token resistance then sighing theatrically, he fell into Jack's waiting arms. They hugged each other fiercely for a moment. Then Daniel pulled back and ran his finger round the edges of Jack's ever-present dog tags.

"I hate these." He breathed. Jack smiled and closed his hand over Daniel's and the tags. They had both had a great deal of fun with the tags in the past so this was news to him.

"Hey, I apologised for using them to…!" Daniel's lips silenced Jack, making him forget instantly what it was he was apologising for. Several moments later Daniel drew back giving the metal a sharp tug.

"I hate what they represent Jack" he sighed sadly. Jack lifted the chain from around him neck, letting it drop into Daniel's hands.

"Then lets forget about them and what they represent. For the next three days, it's just you, me and the trout. No SGC, no Goa'uld system lords, no little grey aliens beaming me up without warning…" Jack cast his eyes skyward nervously at the thought.

Daniel turned sideways, leaning heavily against Jack's welcoming heat. The tags dangled from his fingers, catching the fading rays of the sun as it sunk below the horizon. He felt Jack's arms go around him. One hand squeezing his tense neck muscles, his lips burying themselves in his hair and he smiled.

They had the next three days to relax before the next mission to Kellowna and he intended to make the most of it. They might not be on the same page when it came to the use of force, but they had always managed to find a compromise before and they would again. They loved each other. They were alive, they were together and nothing would ever come between them again.