Laughter. From Danny's office. Not something one hears very often. Especially as it's Danny-Boy who's laughing. I can't hold back a smile. He should laugh more often. I head in, curiosity not holding any fears for me, being a dog-person.
"Oh, Daniel...." I get no response from my giggling archaeologist. "What you up to?" He's alone in here, which is surprising, and he's at his computer. He looks up as I speak, eyes brimming with mirth.
"Hi Jack." He gasps before laughing again.
"Daniel?"
"Jack?"
"Daniel?"
"Jack?"
"What's so funny?" he takes a deep breath and gets control of himself.
"Well, Jack, I'm not sure if..." Immediately I tense. He was about to malign my sense of humour or my intelligence. He catches my glare and sighs. "Okay, but I don't think you'll laugh." He warns. I go around to join him in front of the computer. He pulls up his email page.
"I got back in touch with one of my foster sisters not that long ago. She's a sweet kid, wants to be an author or a journalist. She's at university at the minute, and in her spare time, she writes fan-fics."
"She writes what-whats?"
"Fan-fics, Jack. It stands for fan-fiction. They're stories written by the fans of certain shows, sometimes fixing things, or changing plots. She's into The Sentinel, and Quantum Leap mainly, although she has written in a few other fandoms."
"And, so, therefore?"
"Well, she sends me her stories sometimes to proof-read before she posts them online. And at the minute she's into a certain type of story." He hesitates, and I frown. "Slash fiction."
"What's that?"
"Well..." He looks into his coffee mug. "Ship means that you support a certain pairing in the show. Like..." he thinks for a moment. "What's your favourite TV show?" I look at him like he's crazy and answer in my best D'uh voice.
"The Simpsons."
"So, I could 'ship' Lisa and Milhouse." He grins. "You still with me?"
"Yeah..."
"So that's ship. And on the sites they represent that with Lisa/Milhouse. So, when different types of couples came up in stories, they decided that they would call that 'Slash'. So, Slash represents...erm... gay pairings." He pauses before saying it in a rush and takes a deep breath before continuing. "But, you can 'ship' a 'slash' pairing. Like you could be a Krusty/Sideshow Bob shipper."
I think you could fry an egg on my face, it's so red right now.
"What?"
"Yeah. And my foster sister is writing these stories." He grins, and somehow I think he's proud of her. "There's 'fem-slash' as well. Anyway, that's not what's so funny. What's so funny is that she's just started getting into the Wormhole: Extreme! Fandom." I wince. I have an uncomfortable feeling that I know where this is going.
"She didn't..."
"Yep. She has 'Colonel Danning' and 'Dr Levant' boinking like bunnies."He tells me with relish. I actually hear my jaw drop open. My mind goes completely blank and I have no idea what to say.
"And this is funny why?"
"Well, it's partly because of all the rumours on base. I mean most of the marines think we're already doing it. And there's a betting pool on when we finally come out." You couldn't fry an egg on my face any more. All the bloods drained away and I feel like I'm going to fall down. I quickly drop onto Daniel's sofa.
"There is?"
"Yep. Jack, you okay, you look kind of pale?" He turns back to the screen before I can answer. Not that I was going to answer. "Anyway, the really funny thing is that the episodes she's basing her stories on come straight from the mission reports that we let Marty see. And looking at it from an outside perspective, I can actually see why everyone thinks we're having sex. I can't believe it took me so long. I mean, my little innocent foster sister-" I snort at that. "-picked up on the subtext from a bastardized version on TV, where they are trying desperately to set Danning up with Stacy Monroe, even though it's obvious she's just got a bit of hero worship..." he turns back to me and frowns, good humour evaporating. "Jack, are you sure you're okay? You've gone awfully pale."
"I'm fine." I wheeze out. "they... they all think we're doing it?" I have to know. His turn to look uncomfortable.
"Yeah. From day one."
"Day one, huh?" I get up and head out, feeling his concerned gaze on my back. All this time I've been trying to keep it under wraps that I think Daniel's delicious, and they all think I'm screwing him anyway. I stop abruptly as a thought hits me. Why not? If they already think we're doing it, if people think we're doing it just from watching the show, then why should I keep my hands to myself? I have, for a long while now. First it was easy, we were looking for Sha're, and it wasn't until later that I realised I had feelings for my archaeologist. But it's been getting harder to deny my feelings. But why should I if half the base is convinced I've already acted on said feelings?
I do an abrupt about turn, heading back to his office.
"Oh, Danny.....!"
I'm going to have to get his foster sister's email so I can thank her.