Title: Following Orders

Rating: PG

Words: 618

Fandom: Stargate SG-1

Pairing: Jack/Daniel

Challenge: Use one of three words (ephemeral/manumit/scion) and one of three quotes (If you want to be listened to, you should put in time listening/It's kind of fun to do the impossible/To get your ideas across, use small words, big ideas, and short sentences) in a fic.

Summary: Jack gets angry when Daniel doesn't follow orders.

Notes: This was going to be much, much shorter. The bunny did not wish it so.

Jack didn't even knock on the door before he barged in, wearing a scowl like a storm cloud. Daniel sat at his desk, blinking at the abrupt intrusion. "Jack."

"Daniel."

"Jack."

Jack growled and slammed his palm into a clear space on Daniel's desk, leaning over to they were nose-to-nose. His eyes were dark and angry, and Daniel could see the tension in his shoulders and arms, the muscles knotted and stiff. Then, without warning, Jack consumed Daniel's mouth in a passionate, demanding kiss.

He drew away, leaving Daniel panting and no less confused than before. The archeologist straightened his glasses, which had been knocked askew by the unexpected kiss. "What was that for?"

"You failed to follow a direct order. Again," Jack said, spitting the words like they were meant to be poison. "You didn't listen to me and you almost got us all killed."

"That's a little extreme, don't you think?" Daniel asked dubiously. If Jack wanted an apology and promise to do better next time, he wasn't going to get one. He'd done what he thought was right and he was going to stand by his decisions.

"Daniel, there's a reason I give orders on the field," Jack snarled. "I see a way to get my team back home safe and sound, and I make sure it happens. I don't always have time to explain every minute detail to you."

"I follow your orders," Daniel said, capping his pen. He felt this might take a while.

"Only when it suits you."

"No true," Daniel refuted. "You think like a military man because you are a military man. That's not a bad thing. We need people who can think strategically, on their feet, in a confusing and dangerous situation. I think like an academic, a peacekeeper; I see the side of things you don't because your brain simply doesn't work that way. You see a way to minimize bloodshed to your own people; I think of ways to minimize bloodshed to both sides. We've been over this, Jack—I do the job I've been given just as you do yours. And when you don't listen to me, I have to do what I think is right."

"I listen," Jack growled, but his anger was slowly melting in the face of Daniel's cool logic.

"Only when it suits you," Daniel said, throwing Jack's words back into his face.

Jack shook his head, glaring at Daniel. "Don't change the subject. I'm not here to talk about my shortcomings—it's you who didn't listen to my order."

"If you want to be listened to, you should put in time listening," Daniel said, absently twirling the capped pen in his fingers.

"I listen!" Jack insisted.

"Oh?" Daniel asked dryly, raising an eyebrow. "Then what was going on the year before last?"

"Just an ephemeral stage," Jack said, waving it away as not important.

"Big word," Daniel said, injecting a touch of sarcasm into his voice. "Where'd you learn it?"

"None of your business," Jack answered brusquely. I think it was the word of the day a while back," Daniel teased. Jack crossed his arms over his chest. He was still angry. Daniel sighed. "Look, Jack, we have this same argument every time I do something I'm not supposed to. Drop it, please? You know my reasons, every single one. Can't we, I don't know, kiss and make up or something?"

The gleam in Jack's eye changed from angry to predatory in an instant. A grin crossed his face. "I'll take your 'or something', Jackson. See you later."

Then, just as suddenly as he arrived, he left.

Daniel was left blinking in his wake, wondering what he'd just agreed to.