Leap of Faith: Loyalty
by Bil!

T – J, S, D, T – Angst, Drama – Part 3 of 3

Summary: AU Shades of Grey. What if Daniel hadn’t been the one to draw the short straw? Jack’s teammates have faith in him even if he doesn’t seem to deserve it.
Season: Three.
Spoilers: Shades of Grey, One Hundred Days.
Disclaimer: Still not mine.

A/N: Some brief paraphrasing of the original episode occurs here: anything that looks familiar is written by someone who isn’t me.

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Loyalty
by Bil!

It was over. Jack stood in the gateroom, watching his betrayed NID ‘comrades’ being ushered away by the SFs and felt a surge of relief. No more lies, no more deceptions. His satisfaction at a job well done was overshadowed by apprehension as he turned to his stunned teammates. Now he just had to hope they would forgive him for the rotten things he’d said and done while he played his part. Frankly, he was pretty sure that going undercover and finding the thieves was going to prove to be the easy part of this assignment.

“Well done, Colonel,” Hammond said.

“Oh, it was nothing, sir,” he said flippantly. And if it didn’t cost him his team he might even be able to look back on the job with some kind of pride.

“So...” Daniel interjected. “Just to make sure I’ve got this right: This whole thing, starting with the appeal on Tollana – for which I did a lot of work, by the way – was—”

“Completely staged,” Hammond said. “Technology was being stolen from both the Tollan and the Asgard by what appeared to be SGC personnel. Several of our allies were intending to sever all ties with us. In the interest of diplomatic relations, Colonel O’Neill was ordered to infiltrate this rogue group and prove that the SGC was not in fact stealing from anyone.”

“Right,” Daniel said slowly.

Jack spread his arms expansively. “But now I’m back,” he said grandly. He would not beg; that wasn’t his way. He’d pretend nothing was wrong even if everything was.

“Our faith in you was justified, O’Neill,” Teal’c said solemnly. Startled, Jack read the truth of it in the man’s eyes and looked disbelievingly to Daniel and Carter. They agreed. It couldn’t be that simple, surely? But they were all three of them looking back at him complacently – and there was no forgiveness in them because they didn’t see any need for it. They accepted him back; they had never given up on him.

His duty hadn’t cost him his team!

Hammond had interpreted Teal’c’s words differently, though, and skewered Jack with a look. “You told them—”

Jack stiffened. “I followed every single one of your orders, General. Even when I disagreed with them.”

“Colonel O’Neill didn’t tell us anything, sir,” Carter intervened.

“No, nothing at all,” Daniel emphasised, scowling at Jack. Okay, so maybe there were still a few issues left to be worked out. Jack could handle that.

Hammond relaxed. “Good.”

“Good?” Daniel repeated with disgust.

“Colonel O’Neill, despite his – rather vehement – protests,” Hammond began severely (Jack tried not to look abashed, but it was worth it to get approving looks from Carter and Daniel), “was under strict orders. We wanted to ensure that your reactions to the Colonel’s behaviour were as they should be. And the Asgard insisted that Colonel O’Neill be the only one involved.”

“To ensure that our reactions were everything they should be?” Daniel repeated in disbelief. Jack almost asked if he’d been training to be an echo.

“With all due respect, sir,” Carter said, “had we been better informed we might have been able to react more appropriately.” Hammond looked startled by this unprecedented rebuke and she flushed but persevered. “We didn’t believe it, sir. We didn’t believe Colonel O’Neill was himself.” She looked at Jack. “No wonder you kept trying to get rid of me, sir. I assume your house was bugged.”

He rolled his eyes with mock exasperation. “You really can’t take a hint, can you, Carter?” At Hammond’s enquiring glance, he elaborated, “She visited my house with some message about them trusting me and told me she would follow me where ever I was going. She was completely ruining my image; I was just about ready to physically throw her out the door.”

“I seriously thought you were going to,” she muttered. Catching his look, she added, “Sir.”

Ignoring the byplay, Hammond sighed. “Very well, Colonel, you were right.”

“About what, exactly?” Daniel queried.

“Colonel O’Neill was very insistent that he be allowed to inform his team about the true nature of his assignment.” Jack grimaced, hoping Hammond wasn’t going to embarrass him further; he didn’t want his team thinking he was a complete sap. “Our allies, however, preferred that he and I alone know about this mission to ensure that no mole could learn of it, and so I overruled him.”

And Jack had obeyed. Duty first, always. (Although he had to admit that his and the Air Force’s ideas of duty didn’t always overlap.)

“So you thought one of us might be the mole?” Carter asked.

“Absolutely not,” Jack said immediately.

“SG-1 was at no point suspected of anything,” Hammond said firmly. “It was simply thought more prudent to keep as few people as possible aware of what was going on.”

“So you do trust us,” Daniel prodded.

“Of course I trust you, Daniel!” He’d always known that Daniel was going to have the most difficulty coming to terms with this. Teal’c and Carter understood the constraint of being under orders.

“Well, you can see where we might wonder.”

Jack rolled his eyes.

Travell appeared in the gateroom, looking like she was satisfied with Jack’s results. “Thank you, Colonel O’Neill,” she said, smiling austerely. “The Tollan appreciate your assistance in this matter.”

“Sure. No problem. Any time you got an infestation, we’re your guys.”

Before Jack could cause a diplomatic incident, Hammond interrupted smoothly, “Colonel, go and have Doctor Fraiser check you out. We’ll debrief tomorrow, oh-nine-hundred.”

“Yes, sir.”

“This way, your Eminence.” Hammond guided Travell out of the gateroom and left Jack’s team to escort him to the Infirmary.

“Um, sir, maybe we should go in before you,” Carter said as they left the gateroom in a pack. “Janet’s not too happy with you right now.”

“What? Why?” If his team, with way more reason to complain, didn’t hold it against him then why should Fraiser?

“You did not say goodbye to CassandraFraiser,” Teal’c informed him.

“Oh. Oh!” He hadn’t even thought of doing that, since he was planning on coming home again. He grimaced. Fraiser was not going to be a happy camper.

“Indeed,” Teal’c agreed.

“But you guys aren’t upset. Right?”

“We are not, O’Neill.”

He looked at each of them in turn, still not quite able to believe it was this easy. “So how did you know it wasn’t, you know, real?”

“We knew nothing, O’Neill.”

“Then why...?”

Teal’c gave him a ‘you poor, foolish human’ look. ‘You are our friend. We have faith in you.”

What could he possibly say to that? Jack didn’t know what he’d done to deserve such loyalty, but he was glad of it. More glad of it than he would ever be able to find the words to say. So he just grinned and shrugged.

Carter and Daniel went on ahead and managed to mollify Fraiser so well that after extracting from him a promise that Jack would visit Cassie very soon, she was only slightly more nasty than normal with her needles. His team waited around while he had his checkup, and he described some of what he’d seen and done while he’d been gone. They’d believed in him when he was giving them every reason not to. That was something special.

Released from the Infirmary with a clean bill of health, he headed for the surface, his team in tow. “So, who’s up for dinner? We could hit O’Malleys. Or how about a barbeque? Everyone at my place. We can invite Cassie and Fraiser, save my butt from Doc’s needles.” Daniel rolled his eyes while Carter ducked her head to hide a smile. He could have lost this; he was so glad he hadn’t. “My place it is. So, what’s been happening around here?” he added as they crowded into the elevator and he hit the top button.

Daniel’s eyes lit up. “SG-5 brought back evidence of a Mesopotamian culture that pre-dates everything we—”

Jack tuned out Daniel’s words, content just to listen to his voice as they rode up toward the surface. It was good to be back. “Hey, Daniel,” he interrupted suddenly, “why weren’t you the one to come visit?”

“I, er—”

“See?” Carter said triumphantly. “We said it should have been you!”

“Carter?” he prodded before Daniel could make the retort bubbling on his lips.

She blushed. “We... drew straws, sir.”

“Skewers,” Teal’c corrected calmly; Jack chose not to ask.

“You drew straws.”

“I lost,” she agreed, eyeing him warily.

The elevator came to a stop as he lost his ability to hide his grin. Relieved, his teammates spilled out of the elevator and headed for outside. Jack followed them through the corridors and took a breath of good old Colorado air. “Hey, Carter.”

“Sir?” She fell back to walk beside him.

Jack smiled at Teal’c and Daniel ahead, who were heatedly discussing the differences between skewers and straws. “Look, about Edora.”

“Yes, sir?”

He stopped and she stopped too, looking at him questioningly. “I just wanted to say, well... Thanks for bringing me home, Carter.”

Her face lit up. “You’re welcome, sir.”

They hurried after the other two and Jack smiled to himself as Carter embroiled herself in the straws versus skewers debate. It was definitely good to be back.

Fin