He wakes up early and starving - not surprising, since he'd hardly eaten the day before - but knows eating isn't going to be optional. It doesn't matter that the remains of his pretend dinner already turn his stomach as he tosses it in the trash - if he doesn't make an appearance at breakfast, it'll get back to Jack for sure. It's too early to go down right away, still a couple hours before Jack's morning cutoff of six am. He kills some time by wandering around the room, tidying and packing up his things which have managed to get spread everywhere while he's been living here full-time for three weeks.

At five-thirty it's still early, empty hallways on base early, but it's late enough that it won't be weird. He pulls on a clean uniform, stacks his stuff near the door in anticipation of getting to go home at the end of the day, and heads for the mess.

He only has to trade a few quiet "good mornings" with the skeletal staff on duty for those keeping red-eye early hours, but he makes sure the staff on the line see him fill a breakfast plate and wave goodbye on his way to his office.

They don't see him dump most of it in the first trash can outside the door, the smell of it overpoweringly nauseating. He takes the yogurt at least, and he still has a couple of granola bars left even though he hasn't been able to get to the grocery lately. That will take the edge off.

The coffee helps too, and he's happily settled in with a new and challenging project when Sam pops in.

"Earth to Daniel?" she waves a hand in front of him, and he lifts his head.

"Oh, hey Sam," he blinks up at her, and gets the impression from the bemused look on her face that she'd probably called his name several times.

"Hey," she flicks a glance over his work and then back up to his face, "I just came to tell you the General wants us in the briefing room, in about an hour. You want to grab some lunch first?"

"Nah," he shakes his head, "I'm just going to finish this translation first, but thanks."

"Translation, huh?" She looks more closely at the work he's doing, seeming to consider her words for a long moment before she says, "Daniel, you know the Colonel is going to ask if you had lunch."

Yeah, she really has no idea.

"I'm really close to a breakthrough on this," he forces a smile. "I've got a sandwich in my room that I didn't get around to eating yesterday. I'll be okay."

"Alright, if you're sure," Sam shrugs. "See you in a bit." It hasn't escaped Daniel's notice that she doesn't ever seem to get into trouble - when they both stride up to The Line, Sam always seems to know just how to toe it and back off, while he always seems to jump over it with both feet. He envies her that balance.

After working on his translation for a few more minutes, he does go looking for that sandwich he put away the day before. He even gets it out and forces himself to each about half, before he can't take the sight of it any more and shoves it back in the fridge. By the time he makes it up to the briefing room, Sam, Jack and Teal'c have arrived. But they aren't the only ones - SG-14 is also scattered around the room; Major Mackey talking with Jack by the windows, and the rest of the six-man team, including the two from the elevators, are standing loosely grouped near the table talking amongst themselves.

"Have a seat," General Hammond says, coming out of his office and gesturing at the table. "Now that everyone's here, we can begin."

Daniel hangs back and slips into the last available seat, since Mackey has already taken his usual seat beside Jack. Folders are passed around and they start to flip through them, but all attention is turned to Hammond when he begins to speak again. "SG-1, you've been asked to assist SG-14 on a reconnaissance mission. The planet they visited recently turned up a structure they believe was a temple, but has some intriguing pictures, and SG-14 would like some help in assessing what exactly they have found, and translating any inscriptions. SG-1 is going to join them and provide assistance with the exploration and assessment."

"There were no signs of habitation on the planet?" Sam asks, flipping through the pictures in the briefing folder in front of her. "Everything looks so...clean."

"No signs that we saw in four days, Captain," one of the men answers with a shrug. "Honestly, it's kind of creepy."

"Well the images are certainly promising, if Daniel and I can make heads or tails of what they mean," Sam agrees, showing one to Daniel who does his best to look interested, rather than like he'd rather be anywhere else. Down at the other end of the table, he catches one of his elevator friends lean over and whisper into a teammate's ear, scowling in Daniel's direction. Nobody else seems to notice.

"And you've been cleared to go off-world, Major?" Jack asks, fixing Mackey with a look that Daniel rarely sees aimed at anyone but himself. He likes Chris Mackey, he always has, but he didn't realize he was one of Jack's particular friends.

"Sir," the major in question complains, frowning.

"I'm just asking," Jack holds up his hands. "You were laid up for a good long while."

"An overabundance of caution," Mackey rolls his eyes with a deprecating grin, but the looks his team is shooting his way say differently. They are still concerned for their CO - which means he might be cleared for duty, but he isn't 100%. Daniel's heart sinks to somewhere down in the vicinity of his shoes. "When do we leave, General?"

"Colonel?" Hammond defers the question back to Jack, who in turn looks across the table towards his own team, and he doesn't need to vocalize the question on his face.

"I'd like at least the rest of today to look through these images, sir," Sam says, flipping over another page in her folder and passing it to Daniel, who stares at it with unseeing eyes. "If we can start to make sense of any of it here, we'd have a better idea whether we need to take any special equipment along."

When he doesn't add anything, Jack prompts him with an impatient, "Daniel?"

"Yes, um," he blinks, but the shapes on the page don't make any more sense than they did when Sam first handed it over. "I agree with Sam. I'd like to take a look at the pictures and footage first."

"Very well," the General nods. "You'll leave tomorrow at oh eight hundred hours. Dismissed," they stand when he does, Daniel shoving to his feel a few seconds after the rest, swaying awkwardly. "Jack, a word."

Jack trails George into his office and the door swings shut behind them. Sam's already gone, something in the pictures having piqued her interest but muttering about checking it against something they have in the labs, and Teal'c wasn't far behind her. Daniel makes a show of stretching out a kink in his back and then dawdling, gathering up the folder and the papers inside, giving SG-14 plenty of time to leave before he does. Mackey's men do troop out pretty quickly - but he lingers. One of them hangs back at the door, throwing a questioning glance back, but SG-14's CO waves the man on and then walks over to Daniel. "You seemed a little preoccupied today," he says neutrally. "Something wrong?"

"No," Daniel shakes his head, his grip tightening on the folder in his hands. "I guess I'm just...tired."

"Just so we're clear, I wouldn't have asked for you guys if I didn't want you along," Mackey continues. When Daniel doesn't say anything, he goes on. "So, no hard feelings, right?"

That just...doesn't make any sense. It feels like it should be Daniel's line, except he'd never say that, because Chris absolutely should be holding hard feelings for the way Daniel got him hurt and put them all in danger. He doesn't know how to respond, just looks stupidly at the other man for a minute, until the major rubs the back of his neck awkwardly and says, "I know the past couple of weeks have probably really sucked for you, but I promise that wasn't my intention when I made my report."

"Your...report?" Daniel echoes, and the man grimaces.

"I know the General asked me to leave some of the written reports intentionally vague," Mackey says uncomfortably, "but I had to be completely honest when I gave him my full oral report."

Daniel lets the folder drop to the table. "God, Chris, of course you did," he says, not quite able to look up into the other man's face. "I would never have expected anything else. I was stupid, I was wrong, and I'm so sorry you got hurt coming after me," he says, finally.

Mackey's brow furrows. "You were doing your job," he argues. "You thought that was the right thing to do - and our job was to protect you."

"I still shouldn't have...you gave me an order," Daniel forces out around the rising mortification of the situation. "Which I didn't follow, and you got hurt. I'm so sorry."

"All's well that end's well," Mackey says with forced casualness, reaching out to clasp a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "We're fine, alright? No hard feelings, no reasons for you to beat yourself up."

"I-I will do my best," Daniel says in a small voice, and it's at that moment that Jack emerges from Hammond's office, looking down at them in curious surprise.

"Everything ok, kids?"

"Yesssir," Chris shoots a quicksilver smile up at Jack, and Daniel is surprised (not for the first time) at how casual some of the military men can be in their chain of command. Sam, his other point of reference, is painstakingly and unfailingly polite and deferential. "I was just telling Jackson how glad we are he's coming along."

--------

"Are you just going to stand there all night?"

"Um," Daniel hedges, oh-so-eloquently. Jack, caught in the rare act of actually sitting at his desk doing paperwork, raises his head. His long, assessing look leaves Daniel feeling exposed. He shoves his hands in his pockets. "You know what, nevermind, maybe I'll go and-" He starts to turn and leave the way he came.

"Come in here," Jack spins his chair towards the door.

Daniel hesitates, and then takes the direct order for what it is, moving slowly towards the colonel.

"You okay?" Jack asks him.

"Me? Oh yeah, I'm fine." He tries for a smile, but it comes out a little stiff. Jack just looks at him. "I, um. I didn't know that Chris was out for so long. Did you know this is his first mission back?"

"Yes," Jack says. And, well, yeah of course he did. Daniel looks away, cursing how empty this little office is. Nothing to distract him. He moves his gaze to Jack's desk - it's hard to read upside-down and from this distance, but it looks like Jack's reading mission reports. Maybe SG-14's. "Major Mackey has been cleared for duty. Are you going to have a problem gating out with him?"

"No, of course not!" he protests, jerking his head up to meet Jack's eyes. There was a definite note of censure in his friend and commander's voice, there, and he is a little resentful that Jack could even think that of him, but after the last five weeks, he supposes some people might have some...feelings...about one another, if those people weren't him. "No, I'm glad he's okay."

Jack's pen taps on the desk surface, the silence between them a clear invitation (why are you standing here then...?) but when Daniel doesn't offer anything, except awkward silence, after a moment he ventures, "Did he give you a hard time upstairs?" His frown deepens at this thought.

"What? No, no, not at all," Daniel is quick to correct that assumption, his voice going higher with indignation.

"Then why did you come down here, Daniel?" Jack asks, with that finite, but incredibly long-wearing, patience that Daniel knows is generally reserved for him and him alone.

"I can't just visit a friend?"

"You can," Jack says amiably. "You don't. You never come to my office unless it's urgent. And you and Carter wanted this extra time to get a head start on tomorrow's science-y mumbo jumbo. So, spill."

"I was thinking..."

"A dangerous pastime," Jack quips, and Daniel's lips quirk, but don't make it into a smile.

"I was just thinking that...maybe it would be good for me to stay back on base tomorrow. Sam can get pictures of the inscriptions, and I can work on them later. I've still got that thing to look at for SG-3, and that one to translate for SG-8..."

"Hold it," Jack stops him mid-sentence. "You expect me to believe that you want to stay behind tomorrow, your first mission in five weeks, but there's nothing wrong?"

Well, no. He hadn't really expected it to work, but he'd decided to give it a try anyway. Daniel shrugs.

"Daniel..." Jack pushes out a sharp breath and runs a hand over his face. "I don't believe you."

"If the planet is uninhabited, it's not urgent. If there's anything interested in the translation of the inscriptions, everyone can go back later. I'm not needed tomorrow."

"You're 'needed' because you're a member of SG-1, and this is what you do, when you aren't acting crazy," Jack retorts. "Request to stay home denied, on the grounds that you haven't given me anything even remotely resembling a good reason."

"I just have other things to do that are more important," he tries one more time. "One more missed mission won't kill me, I'll join you guys next time."

"Bullshit," Jack says flatly. "Stop it. Stop lying to me. If you aren't ready to go through the Gate with us tomorrow, explain to me the real reason and we can talk about it. Otherwise, be ready to go at oh eight hundred."

Daniel sighs. He considers the seething guilt in his gut, that has been building and building. He opens his mouth to confess but...nothing comes out. He can't admit to Jack that he'd been right all along. "Alright. Well," he straightens his shoulders and starts for the door again, "I'll just let you get back to your reports." His tone isn't polite, but it's as if he's hearing himself from a distance.

"Daniel," Jack's now more than slightly irritated drawl gives him pause, enough for Jack to continue, "Shut the door and turn around."

He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and wills himself to walk away. Jack probably won't follow him.

He reaches out and closes the door, the snick absurdly loud, and turns around slowly, to find that Jack has risen from his chair. He puts a hand on Daniel's shoulder and turns him around, pushing him forward. For a confused moment, Daniel thinks they're headed for the door he just closed, but then they pass it and Jack walks him...into the wall. No. Into the corner.

"Jack!" mortified, he steps back and tries to turn around, but now Jack has a hand on both shoulders and holds him firmly in place.

"No, stay. You can stand here until you get bored enough or brave enough to tell me what it is that's bothering you."

"I'm not a...a misbehaving child," he hisses, pushing back and testing Jack's hold. "I'm not going to stand in the corner,"

"You can stand here and take the time to think," Jack has leaned in, his dangerous voice close to Daniel's ear, making him shiver. "Or we can talk about you lying to me, and then you can take the time to think."

Faced with the clear threat of coming back to stand in the corner after getting spanked, standing in the corner without taking a trip over Jack's knee suddenly sounds much more appealing. He didn't think of his withholding as lying, not really, but that won't stop Jack from treating it the same. Daniel relaxes in Jack's grip and after a couple of silent heartbeats, the colonel steps away, but from the sounds of it, he doesn't return to his desk.

The thing is, he has two problems, and he doesn't know where to start.

He feels awful about what happened to Chris, despite the Major insisting it's behind them. And he's mad - being 'grounded' should have taken care of those feelings. What's wrong with him that won't let it go? He doesn't want to get spanked, it sucks and it's not fair that a part of him needs that.

Not to mention he's mad that Jack was right. Mad that Jack didn't just...do it, and save them all this trouble and him several more weeks of feeling awful. Which isn't fair to Jack, because Daniel had been the one to say 'no', so he feels bad about that too. And Jack was right, all along; Daniel feels guilty about what happened, but he feels just as guilty because he knows that in order to get to the point where Chris got hurt, he'd broken several of his most important agreements with Jack, and it feels...unfinished to have never accounted for that with his commander.

His elevator friends from SG-14 are just the icing on the cake. He doesn't want to go off-world with them. Not for his own sake - he's used to be looked down upon by the military personnel, and disliked; but if they are prejudiced against him, if their anger with him clouds their judgment, what if something happens to the rest of SG-1? It would be safer for Sam, Teal'c, and Jack to go without him until this has some more time to blow over.

Which one is easier to admit to Jack? He has to acknowledge that he isn't getting out of this without telling Jack something. He doesn't want to get the men from SG-14 in trouble...they're entitled to their opinions, and the fact is, he did get their commander injured and he did act recklessly. They have every right to be upset.

He doesn't dare turn around, but his eyes move, searching for anything to look at that isn't the blank expanse of gray wall. "Do you remember," he starts slowly, "when you said you thought I was feeling guilty, and you thought I needed a...t-to be punished?"

"I do remember," Jack agrees.

"And I said I was fine."

"I also remember that," the older man says, his tone neutral.

"I...it was true then. Or, at least, I believed myself that it would be. So I wasn't lying."

"But...?" Jack prompts.

"But..." He swallows hard. "But you were right. And I wasn't ready to admit that, then. That I...that I might need - that. Or that I'd let you down, in addition to the General."

"Come here," his voice, even, gives nothing away and Daniel hesitates a long moment before slowly turning around. Jack is leaning against the front of his desk now, and he points to the space directly in front of himself with the air of someone used to being obeyed. Daniel reluctantly leaves what is now the safety of his corner, and makes his way over, stopping just outside of grabbing distance. He is, predictably, grabbed anyway; Jack leans forward and pulls him two steps closer.

"I wasn't trying to lie to you," he mumbles.

"No, and that's why I didn't call you on it at the time," Jack acknowledges.

"I don't really want to lie to you now either."

"I know. That's why you went in the corner and not over my knee immediately."

"It's hard to..." he trails off, looking down, but the guilt is gnawing away at his gut, and he knows it's only a matter of time before he confesses the rest. And if he doesn't do it now, it's most certainly a lie of omission, if nothing else, and Jack doesn't particularly differentiate between the types. "It wasn't Chris Mackey."

"Someone else was giving you a hard time?"

"Not directly,"

"Indirectly then."

"No. Just - well, yes. But...," he shakes his head, not wanting them to get into trouble with Jack. They have every right to be upset with his actions, and not want to ship out with him. He just shouldn't go, and that would solve the problem. "But, I think I understand why. Why they feel the way they do, so..."

"Daniel," Jack's eyes narrow. "Who's 'they'?"

There's nothing for it but the full truth now. Jack knows too much to let it go. "Lieutenant Flores and Captain Yang. And they haven't said anything to me, directly. Just...I overheard them a few days ago, and then in the briefing room..." he doesn't know how to rationally explain the distaste they'd looked at him with. He takes a deep breath, holds it for a minute. "They can think whatever they want of me, but if their dislike of me got any of you hurt..."

"What did you hear them say?" Jack asks, his tone low and dangerous.

"They were just talking. They didn't know I was there."

"What did you hear?"

"It's not important."

"Daniel," there's a snap to his voice now.

"Nothing that isn't at least partially true. I'm sure they aren't the only ones." Jack's hand on his hip twitches, fingers tapping in warning, and he decides he might as well keep talking rather than get swatted at. "That I'm a liability, and people get hurt saving me. That I have no place on a gate team, I'm just a civilian who doesn't know how to follow orders. That the only reason you haven't kicked me to the curb is you're going soft."

It shouldn't hurt again, second-hand, but even this clipped and impartial passing of the information makes his eyes prickle with horrifyingly embarrassing tears.

"They're wrong."

Daniel blinks, a little taken aback by the firmness of the statement, and the intensity behind the brown eyes holding his gaze.

"You made a bad call this time, that's true, but you generally have a good head on your shoulders...when it comes to everything except your own well-being, anyway. People get hurt because the job is dangerous. Their job is protecting you - or people like you - because you are a civilian, who is invaluable to this program and its mission." He tilts his head just slightly. "I can't even give them the part about not knowing how to follow orders. You do know how - you just choose selectively not to."

"Jack," he protests, feeling himself flush.

"Don't worry about them. Mackey and I will sort them out. It's not an acceptable attitude for anyone on the force, much less Gate team personnel, and if they can't get their heads out of their butts, they'll get reassigned. This is part of why the corporal punishment clause still exists in the military; so that everyone knows that mistakes have consequences, and then we move on. We don't have time for petty grudges when lives are on the line."

"But I didn't," he points out, voice barely more than a whisper. "I didn't get the full consequences for my mistake, this time."

"That's none of their business," Jack says firmly. "If it was good enough for the General, it was good enough for them. But yes, you and I have a separate set of unresolved issues. We're going to take care of that in just a moment."

He shouldn't be relieved, but it floods his muscles anyway, and he sags a little in Jack's hold.

"Anything else you need to tell me?"

He shakes his head.

"Alright," the colonel reaches for the button on his pants and he unfreezes long enough to snatch at his wrist.

"Here? Now?" his voice squeaks a little, alarmed. He'd expected to be escorted back to his quarters, or for it to happen at some predetermined later time.

"Here," Jack nods, twisting his hand to free his wrist with embarrassing ease and continuing as if Daniel hadn't protested, shucking the archaeologist's pants down to his knees. "Now. We've put it off long enough."

"Jack..." he glances at the closed door and away. He'd shut it when told earlier, but is it locked? Does it lock automatically?

"No one's going to walk in. This is my office, nobody comes here and if they do they'll knock," Jack answers, yanking Daniel's underwear down to meet his pants before he can think of another protest. And then he's tipping Daniel down over his hip, his body supported by the desk, and his bare rear exposed - with no time to waste, apparently, because Jack only takes long enough to hitch him slightly higher up over his leg before his hand starts to fall.

Daniel jerks a little, shocked despite the fact that he'd known this was coming. Jack isn't wasting time or energy on warm-ups today, it seems, and the next smack falls immediately after, just as hard, and then they just keep falling. Jack doesn't focus on any one spot, instead covering everything from the top of Daniel's butt to the tops of his thighs in burning handprints. Each new targeted spot seems to be picked at random, leaving Daniel guessing - and gasping, though he manages to hold mostly still after the initial shock.

"You've had more than enough time," Jack breaks the silence just before Daniel opens his mouth to plead with him to stop, punctuating his words with continued crisp swats. "To wallow in guilt. You're going to let it go after this."

"O-okay," he promises, his voice wavering.

"Next time you decide to break all three of our rules in one go," Jack admonishes, his hand now focusing on Daniel's sit spots and upper thighs in a horrid way that makes him start to wiggle and kick no matter his best efforts to stay still, "I'm going to spank you, whether you end up answering to the General or not."

"Okay, okay, please," he chokes out between yelps. "I'm sorry!"

"And the next time you decide to get all wrapped up in your head and try to shut me out," Jack continues, relentless, "I'm going to treat it like lying, and I will find a paddle."

"J-Jack! Please, okay, I'm s-sorrrry!" Daniel wails, the threat coupled with the stern displeasure in his friend's voice enough to bring forth the tears that have been threatening since he heard Lieutenant Flores' harsh words, and two resounding smacks fall, one on each of his sit spots, before Jack pauses. Where his free hand is wrapped around Daniel's waist, holding him in place, his thumb strokes back and forth gently across the bare skin of his side.

Daniel inhales wetly, and lays still over his lap, boneless and tired from his helpless - and useless - wriggling. Jack had held him in place without even getting winded. He doesn't let himself hope they're done, despite the inferno that has been lit on his butt, because Jack is still contemplatively quiet, and his spanking hand is resting hot and threatening on the crest of Daniel's butt.

"You don't put yourself in unnecessary danger," Jack says finally, and then the tightening of his grip around Daniel's middle is the only warning he gets before Jack lands ten hard, agonizingly slow and purposeful, spanks on the fullest part of his butt. Daniel's who body goes stiff as a board as he processes the first couple of spank and then he doesn't have much to think except that it HURTS and he wants it to stop.

"You follow direct orders in the field, from me or whoever the commander is at the time." The next ten are all aimed at his sit-spots and Daniel gives in to the catharsis of tears, collapsing unresisting across Jack's knee.

"And you don't lie to me, or to anyone else who might be leading your team." He has just enough time to gasp in a breath before Jack's hand comes down and covers the tops of his thighs in a rain of fire, and then it's over, and Jack is lifting him upright, wrapping both arms around him and tucking Daniel's face into the crook of his neck.

He's grateful for the position, not wanting to be seen, and Jack must realize that, because he makes no move to do anything but hold him through the tears and tremors, just occasionally murmuring soothing nonsense.

When the tears finally slow, Jack doesn't say anything, just waits for Daniel to be the one to pull back and straighten. He does, and then hurries to pull up his pants and underwear, despite having to gasp and bite his lip to ride out a wave of renewed fire as he does.

"Are we good?" the older man asks, and Daniel nods quickly. Jack doesn't seem to believe him though, because he leans forward and looks into his face, forcing him to meet his gaze. "Daniel?"

"Yes, Jack," he says, trying for reassuring, and it must work at least a little because Jack releases him. He clears his throat and looks away. "I'm sorry. Is-is that all?"

"Yeah, kid, that's all," Jack's expression has softened, and he stands up. He opens his mouth, and whatever he is about to say is interrupted by Daniel's stomach, which is loud enough to wake the dead. Jack raises an eyebrow. "Wow. When did you last eat?"

The joke, teasing tone and all, falls flat when Daniel just drops his eyes to the floor and winces.

"Damn it, Daniel."

"I'm sorry! Daniel defends himself. At first the research was time-sensitive and then...I tried, Jack, really I did. But the idea of eating was enough to turn my stomach."

"I should put you back over my knee," Jack mutters.

"Please don't," Daniel whispers, not even a little ashamed of his pleading. He's not sure his butt could take anymore today, and he doesn't want to be a baby, but...Jack grabs him before he can think too hard about it and tucks him under his arm, hand falling unerringly and hard. Despite the awkward angle, Jack doesn't have any trouble making each and every one of the dozen smacks land on that most tender spot where his butt meets his thighs, making him gasp and then begin to cry fluently.

"Next time, eat something, damn it. I will make it a permanent rule if I have to." Jack casts a critical look over Daniel, and then relents and tugs him back into his arms, leaving one arm slung around his shoulders as he reaches around and digs a protein bar out of his desk. "Start with this. It'll hold you over until we can get to someplace and sit down to eat."

"Yessir," he cries quietly, and Jack pauses to take a good long look at his face before tucking him back under one arm and his chin. "Okay, alright, take as long as you need. We're done," he says, rubbing a hand up and down Daniel's arm. "I'm tired, Jack," he admits.

"I know, kid. We're going to grab some food, and then you're gonna sleep, and tomorrow morning everything will look better and we'll go offworld. And Mackey and I will talk to SG-14 before we Gate out."

"Okay," he mutters and - surprisingly - realizes he believes it. They're gonna be okay.