Pressure Wave

 

Title: Pressure Wave
Series Title: Fallout
Series Order: 2
Author: Ladyholder
Fandom: NCIS, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, JAG
Relationship: Tony DiNozzo/Jack O’Neill
Warnings: Character Bashing, Canon Typical Bullshit
Word Count: 13,241

 

Chapter One

 

“You know, when you said that you wanted to come home with me, I didn’t expect that I was going to get beamed down into my living room,” Tony said as they appeared in a flash of light. He scanned the living room and relaxed as he saw that everything was still locked up tight.

“Why deal with the insanity that’s traffic when I can take advantage of my options and get us home without having to deal with it?” Jack asked.

“And it means that you aren’t exposed to any reporters,” Tony surmised. At his partner’s nod, he smiled. “Good thing your people scanned to make sure that no one’s been in here. I was almost expecting to see Gibbs.”

“Well, that’s a boner killer. I don’t want to see Gunny sitting on your couch like a disapproving father waiting on his daughter coming in from prom,” Jack muttered. He turned towards the kitchen as he unbuttoned his uniform coat. “I’m going to pour myself some beer. Do you want any?”

“A glass of wine for me, Jack,” Tony called. He headed for his bedroom to get out of his suit. He’d been in it for over sixteen hours and he needed to be comfortable. A quick change got him out of his work clothes and into sweats and a t-shirt. Once he was comfortable, he wandered out and took his glass of wine from Jack. “I’ve laid out the set of your comfy clothes you left on the bed. I’m sure you want out of your uniform.”

“I do,” Jack agreed. He set his beer down on the counter and headed for the bedroom.

“I’ll prep dinner,” Tony said, raising his voice slightly so Jack could hear him as he reached the bedroom. Humming softly, he set his phone on the charger and opened both sides of his fridge. He had pasta in the freezer and all the ingredients for Alfredo in the fridge. “Comfort food it is.”

Tony had everything laid out and ready to cook by the time Jack came back out of the bedroom. “If you don’t want shrimp with your Alfredo, let me know now.”

“I’m good with shrimp,” Jack confirmed. He picked his beer back up and leaned on the counter to watch as Tony started cooking dinner. “You know, when I told my team you cook on a regular basis, they all agreed you were a catch and I should hold onto you. Pretty sure that’s when Carter did her first pass at a background check on you.”

“I figured someone on your team had. But I was betting on Col. Davis being the one to run the check. I did not expect it to be Sam,” Tony said. He expertly flipped the pan to stir his aromatics and added the shrimp to the rich mix of butter and garlic and started moving it briskly so everything cooked evenly. “Kusanagi was a surprise.”

Jack waggled his head from side to side before he pushed off the counter. “Davis is the one who ordered the in-depth review of what they found and gave me the NDA. If they hadn’t passed you, well… Anyway. Do we have any bread left?”

“We do,” Tony confirmed. “It’s in the bread box.” Cream, parm, and parsley went in next and it was time for him to taste everything. Humming softly to himself, he nodded. Only a few more minutes to get thick and bubbly. Sliding the pasta into the boiling water he had prepped, he set a timer so nothing overcooked.

“I’m not going for garlic bread, just some nice thick slices,” Jack said as he pulled the bread out to slice. “Oh, sourdough.”

Tony snorted softly in laughter as his partner sliced the bread. He kept the Alfredo moving in the pan and as soon as his timer went off, he took it off the heat before pouring out the noodles. Shaking off the excess water, he added it to the sauce and started tossing the whole thing together so everything was coated. “Plates?”

“On the counter,” Jack reported. “I’ve also set the table.”

“Excellent,” Tony said. It took only moments to dish up the pasta and he slid the plates across the counter before rinsing the pan out in the sink. One less thing to scrub after they finished eating.

By the time he got to the table, Jack had transferred the dishes and their drinks to the table and was waiting on him to sit. “Looks good.”

Tony could feel his ears getting slightly pink at the compliment. “Thank you.”

Conversation moved softly between them and they tried to keep the subjects away from work. Their whole day had been taken up with their new reality and taking a break from it was relieving. Tony finished his last bite as Jack used the last of his bread to clean his plate. “That was delicious.”

“Thank you,” Tony said. He leaned back in his chair to savor the remaining bit of wine in his glass. “So, what do you want to do with the rest of the night?”

“Well, unless the Ori come back, I have the rest of the night off and I can get beamed back to Homeworld in the morning,” Jack said. he smirked at Tony for a moment and Tony smirked back. “So.”

“So, I know what I want,” Tony started. He ran his tongue across his lower lip and eyed his partner. “I have to ask, are you game?”

“Hell yes.”

 

 

Jack slowly, carefully pushed his cock into Tony’s body, enjoying the way his muscles gripped him. Feeling his lover wrap around him in every way possible was always amazing. “You feel so very good around me.”

“Hnnng,” Tony moaned into his pillow as Jack pressed against his prostate. “Fuck!”

Laughing softly, Jack leaned forward and pressed a kiss between his lover’s shoulder blades. “Yes, I am.”

“Fucker,” Tony grunted. He clamped down on his dick just as Jack slid in again. “Stop teasing me.”

“Impatient,” Jack hissed. Gods, that felt good. He pressed in harder, faster, his skin slapping against Tony’s in a constant beat that chased his heartbeat.

“Like you aren’t?”

“Oh, I am,” Jack said. He stopped talking because he needed his air. Pleasure moved over him in waves and he kept chasing after the feeling. When it peaked, he could feel his muscles lock up as he pressed as deep as he could into Tony’s body. “Fuck.”

“Jesus,” Tony panted as his own orgasm hit. Jack could feel the ripples of it move through his lover as he came onto the towel below him.

Panting softly, Jack leaned against Tony’s back, pressing kisses against his shoulders as he worked to get his breathing under control. “Thank you.”

Laughing softly, Tony tilted his head to the side so he could look over his shoulder at him. “Utterly my pleasure.”

Snorting softly in amusement, Jack slowly pulled his cock out of Tony’s asshole. Sitting back on his heels, he took the time to make sure that he hadn’t given his lover too hard of a ride. While the tissues were a bit pinker than normal, everything looked fine. Since he was there, he ran his hands up Tony’s legs and gently massaged his ass. “Are you going to be okay going in to work in the morning?”

“I’ll be fine on all levels,” Tony reassured. “You didn’t do anything I didn’t want you to do, Jack. I’ll be able to do the job without any issues. At least physically.”

“You had better let me know if anything comes up that changes that. I’m not going to lose you to a bunch of homophobic assholes,” Jack warned. When his lover rolled over, Jack raised an eyebrow and then smirked when Tony flinched. “Hit the wet spot, didn’t you?”

“Asshole,” Tony muttered as he shifted slightly to the side. “Look. I’m the senior agent for MCRT. Gibbs is aware of you, and that you and I have been in a relationship for ages. He’s not going to let anyone give me any guff. NCIS has policies in place to protect anyone in an ‘alternate’ lifestyle.”

“Would it help if everyone knew you and I were together?” Jack asked.

When Tony paused, he stayed quiet to let his lover think things over. He had no idea what it was like working in law enforcement and he didn’t want to cause any more issues for Tony than he could help. They already had a profile around town, but it had been a very minor one. With the exposure of the SGC, that would have changed.

“I’m not planning on hiding our relationship, Jack,” Tony said softly. “If I get asked, I’ll confirm, but only if you are good with it. You have far more to lose than I do.”

Jack didn’t say anything for several seconds as he tried to figure out how to put his unease into words. The world had gone bonkers after the SGC had been exposed and letting Tony confront some of the insanity on his own made him uncomfortable. But he didn’t actually have much of a leg to stand on regarding Tony’s work situation. His lover wasn’t affiliated with Homeworld in any official way and thus his hands were mostly tied. “I’m not hiding you either from anyone. Just… Be careful. You know things have been weird and there’s no telling who has gone whack-a-doodle over the whole ‘aliens’ thing until they blow. And if you’re connected to me in their minds, they might try to push their luck.”

“Fair,” Tony allowed. He leaned up and pressed a quick kiss against Jack’s lips. “And I will be careful. Now. I want a shower and to get this towel off the bed so we can sleep. I have to actually be coherent before I leave in the morning. Some of us can’t get beamed into the office without breaking every brain in the place.”

Laughing softly, Jack returned the kiss before he pulled back. “Point. Come on. I’ll wash your back.”

 

 

“Agent DiNozzo.”

“Director?” Tony asked, glancing up at the mezzanine as he walked towards his desk. If he didn’t think the director would have a fit, he’d check his watch. Vance had to have gotten in extremely early since he was in at his normal time, and he was there an hour before the official start of the day. Utterly unusual.

The look the director was giving him was level and intent. “I would like to talk to you before the work day begins.”

“Right,” Tony said before he dropped his backpack down on his blotter. That would let Gibbs know he was in at least. He did keep hold of his coffee cup though. He had a feeling that he was going to need to solace that the caffeine offered. Heading up the stairs he raised an eyebrow as he saw his boss waiting for him at the top of the landing. “Director.”

“Agent DiNozzo,” Vance returned as he started walking towards his office. “So good of you to show up.”

Humming softly, Tony took a sip of his coffee and followed the older man into his office. Like hell was he going to offer any excuses for taking a day off. He’d gotten it cleared by his supervisor and his team had been off the case rotation anyway. When Vance took his own chair, Tony sat down in one of the chairs set out for visitors.

From the way Vance was frowning, he wasn’t happy that Tony had preempted his power move of directing him to sit. Amused at the thought, Tony took a sip of his coffee and savored the flavor. Jack was right, the beans they had found at their local coffee shop were excellent and he was utterly willing to buy them again. He didn’t even need to use the flavored creamer to take the edge off the bitterness of the coffee bean.

“Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Vance demanded.

“Nope,” Tony said before he took another sip.

“Your behavior reflects on this agency. I would like to know what you were thinking approaching General O’Neill as if you knew him at the Congressional Hearing yesterday,” Vance snapped.

“Hmmm,” Tony hummed. He cradled his coffee cup in his hands and tapped one finger against the wall of it. “Let’s see. I was thinking that I was going to listen in on one of the biggest news occasions of this century. Getting an up close and personal view of history is an amazing opportunity. I also wanted to keep an eye on any possible threats to the men and women in uniform whom I am sworn to protect. Finally, I was invited to attend by my partner and I went to support them.”

“Your partner.” Vance stared at him for several seconds before sitting back in his chair and pulling out a toothpick. Placing it in his mouth, he chewed on it lightly before he raised an eyebrow. “Dr. Jackson?”

“Daniel is a lovely man, but no,” Tony said with a smile. “If I wasn’t with my partner, I might ask Daniel out on a date, but to the best of my knowledge, he’s got a girlfriend.”

Vance moved the toothpick from one corner of his mouth to another as he digested that. “One of the soldiers from the SGC?”

“Nope.” Tony took another sip of his coffee and watched as Vance tried to avoid the most obvious choice. He really needed to make sure to tell Jack about this whole conversation because a) Vance’s whole attitude was irritating, b) Jack needed to know, and c) it was funny as hell that he wasn’t actually making the logical connection.

“None of the Representatives are single, and the aides don’t have the option to invite anyone to the hearing…” Vance muttered before he froze. “No.”

Swirling his coffee, Tony watched as Vance struggled to accept reality. Maybe he should throw the guy a bone? “Jack and I will be celebrating five years together in a few months.”

“You’ve been dating an Air Force General for five years?” Vance demanded.

“Jack was a colonel when I started dating him,” Tony admitted. He shrugged when Vance glared at him. “Not my fault you obviously didn’t read my actual file. I know, for a fact, that he is listed in my official file.”

“Your official file?” Vance repeated. “What official file are you talking about?”

“The one that Delores guards like a dragon guards her gold? Same as she does for every UA NCIS runs out of this office?” Tony asked. He suppressed a smirk as a wash of dark color moved up Vance’s cheeks. “She should have offered to bring the files up within days of you getting the directorship, Director.”

From the glare Vance was directing his way, he wasn’t happy at being caught out. Tony had only suspected that Vance hadn’t bothered to read his official file and with the way he was squirming, it was all but confirmed that he had ignored Delores when she had tried to do her due diligence. Decision made, Tony stood up. “You might want to read that file before you go any further with this discussion.”

Saluting the director with his coffee cup, Tony headed for the door. He wasn’t going to take the other man’s shit. Vance could just deal.

 

 

Chapter Two

 

“You’re late.”

“You’re overstepping again, McGee,” Tony snapped as he walked down the stairs. Gibbs was sitting at his desk and looked up from his monitor with an eyebrow raised. “Yeah, I’ll tell you later, Boss.”

“Sounds good,” Gibbs said before he turned his attention back to his work. “I expect your email is full, so you might want to clear it out.”

“Joy,” Tony muttered before he settled behind his desk and logged in. Opening his email, he leaned back to enjoy the last sips of his coffee as his inbox filled up. “Well, this is going to be fun.”

From the snort Gibbs let out, he had caught the sarcasm and was amused by it. Tony gave him a brief side eye before he started going through everything. Anything to do with a case got read first and he quickly knocked those out. Thankfully JAG didn’t need anything too obscure and he made sure to post their trial schedule to the team calendar so everyone was aware. Once his actual work emails were cleared, he turned his attention to the personal ones.

Muttering to himself in Mandarin, Tony read through each and every single email from his coworkers. The emails charted the progression of their descent into insanity as they had all watched the congressional hearing. When he hit the point where the hearing had been finished and he’d met up with Jack, he noticed that the tone of the emails had changed. There were several that expressed sentiments that set off his gut and he made note of their names. He would need to keep an eye on those folks because sentiments like they had expressed in their emails could backfire on someone. Badly.

When he hit the last email from Abby, Tony read it through and sat back, gobsmacked. Teeth clenched on his lower lip, he forwarded the email to Gibbs, making sure to put it as high importance. When the older man’s email pinged, he sat back to watch as Gibbs read it.

“Tony…” Gibbs said before he took a deep breath. “My office.”

“Right,” Tony agreed. For once, he really did need to talk to his boss and the elevator would have to do. Thankfully, the elevator car was on their floor and he stepped in as soon as the doors opened. Once he reached the back of the car, he turned around to lean against the wall and watched as Gibbs hit the emergency stop. “What the actual fuck, Boss?”

“Yeah,” Gibbs said. He ran his hands over his face and leaned against the wall by the stop. “Before we get into what the hell that email was, what happened with Vance?”

“Hah,” Tony barked out an unamused laugh. “Did you know he hasn’t read any of the files that Delores guards? Anyone with a restricted file in this location and potentially the whole agency, he’s missed.”

“Jesus,” Gibbs said before he pinched the bridge of his nose. “He’s been the director for almost 2 years now. Do you think that part of his issues with you is that he’s only read your public file and took his cues about you from that?”

“Well, it’s not like my public file is flattering, Boss,” Tony reminded him. “It’s a legend resource, not something that should be used by my bosses to asses my ability to do my job.”

“And here I didn’t think he was that dumb,” Gibbs bitched. He took a deep breath and held up a hand. “Now. Abby.”

Tony flinched at that. Abby’s email had been full of accusations and demands and some deeply problematic language. “She’s never going to believe that I didn’t know what was happening with Jack.”

“And yet, I am 100% certain that you didn’t know the meat of what he was doing,” Gibbs confirmed. “Because you can respect a security clearance and being told something is Top Secret.”

“Yup. I figured out enough to know that whatever Jack was involved in was deep, dark and more secret than I wanted to look at,” Tony confirmed. “I did run a background check on him. All it came back with was that he was a good man, who had fallen off the edge of the world as far as the mainline Air Force was concerned, but he was still active duty, just detached and he was based out of Colorado. No glaring issues, other than the cluster fuck of an op with Senator Kinsey that was publicly confirmed to be an op and he was cleared of any wrong doing. No parking tickets, no judicial dings, no reports of any bad behavior. Jack’s not a boy scout, but he’s not a scumbag.”

“I have no idea how you didn’t give in to your curiosity and dig like crazy with that as the whole of your background check,” Gibbs said. He grimaced. “I would have.”

“I got warned off,” Tony admitted. “It wasn’t subtle, but General George Hammond paid me a visit one night. I was informed that if I continued to dig, I would be putting Jack, the program he worked for, and the men and women in it, would be at risk. I promised General Hammond I would back off and I did.”

“Right,” Gibbs sighed at that. “And all of this, Abby would not understand.”

“I’m going to have to go down and deal with her,” Tony said. He pressed his hands to his eyes and pulled in a deep breath. “This is going to suck so badly.”

“It is,” Gibbs agreed. “I’ll go down after you have your talk with her.”

“Sounds good,” Tony said. He let his hands fall and stared up the ceiling of the elevator. “What a mess.”

“Speaking of messes, what’s up with McGee?” Gibbs asked.

Tony frowned as he thought of how his probie had been acting. “Best guess? I’m not staying in the box he put me in and he can’t stand it. The fact that I got very publicly pulled into something to do with the SGC? He’s not going to be thrilled with that. And when he figures out that I’m bisexual and my partner is the head of the SGC? Flailing is going to be the least of it,” Tony explained. “Anyway. Jack may end up requesting me to assist with the SGC to help them as they work on the declassification process only.”

“That’ll be fun,” Gibbs said. “Okay, so if that happens, who do you suggest I get in as my SFA?”

“Yates,” Tony said after several seconds thought. “Cassie has enough chutzpah to stand up to you as needed. And she’ll be able to deal with McGee and David.”

“That’s going to be fun,” Gibbs said with a frown. “Not her standing up to me, but McGee and Ziver butting heads with her. Any idea on when that will happen?”

“No, I don’t. If I had to say? I’d expect that one of the Marines from the SGC will be coming over sometime,” Tony said after several seconds thought. “That’s if Jack wants to be a little bit subtle. Otherwise? No real idea. But I can say for sure and certain, that David will not be included in anything that I get pulled for.”

“I wouldn’t expect her to be,” Gibbs said. He tapped the release on the brake and the elevator started back for their floor. “But you know she’s going to try to get all up in your business.”

“Christ,” Tony muttered. “Permission to shoot her down with prejudice?”

“Granted,” Gibbs said. When the doors opened, he headed out and Tony trailed behind him. Ziva had apparently arrived and she and McGee were busy whispering together. From the sigh Gibbs let out, he was as pleased as Tony was to see the two of them doing whatever the hell it was they were up to. “We’re off case rotation this week and part of next.”

“I saw,” Tony confirmed. His email had been full of case notifications and he needed to go through it and distribute it to the team. “We’re going to be very busy for the next few days.”

“Yes, we are. Update the calendar as soon as you can,” Gibbs directed. “But first, go deal with Abby.”

“Will do,” Tony confirmed. Tony turned on his heel and headed for the stairs. Tony tried to organize his thoughts and figure out what he wanted to say. Abby was a friend and he didn’t want to crawl down her throat at her message, but he wanted to make sure that she was aware that she had stepped over the line.

As he walked down the hallway to the forensics lab, Tony could hear the music leaking out the doors. Cocking his head, he tried to place it. As he entered the room, he finally figured it out. “You’re listening to ‘Where No One Has Gone Before’?”

“I think it’s on point,” Abby said. She turned to glare at him and crossed her arms. “Since there really are aliens and you know about them.”

“I found out the same way you did, Abby. By having a space ship fly overhead,” Tony protested. He kept his hands to his sides and made sure they looked relaxed. He wasn’t going to try to loom over her, but he was going to stand firm.

“You’ve been dating General O’Neill for the last five years, Tony! How could you not know?” Abby demanded. She waved her hands at him and then at the building around them. “You’re a cop, Tony. You’ve always told me that your curiosity is your most besetting sin. There’s no way you can tell me that you didn’t look into him to the point where you found everything out.”

Tony shook his head. “No. I know what Top Secret means, Abby. And so do you. When I was informed that every single thing that concerns Jack’s work fell under that? I made a choice to leave it alone and not look into where he worked or what he did. The only thing I did was make sure that he wasn’t wanted anywhere and that the bullshit story with Kinsey was cleaned up.”

From the shock crossing her face, she hadn’t expected that. “No.”

“Yes,” Tony fired back. “You need to think about the actions you hinted at in your email. If you try to hack your way into the knowledge you want, you’re going to get caught and then will be in trouble that none of us can get you out of. They protect the world, and their security will be on the same level. So will the consequences.”

“You can’t know that,” Abby said. She sounded slightly petulant to Tony’s ear and he moved closer to the computer she had been working on. Scanning it, he sighed. She was looking on the Darknet for information the SGC.

He slanted a speaking glare at her and reached for her mouse and closed down the window. “You are on a government computer, using the NCIS access, and you have a style. One that is known. For the love of God, Abby. Be patient. The information will be available to you eventually.”

“But not the juicy stuff,” Abby said with a pout.

“Anything that’s actually ‘juicy’, will be so Top Secret that you could get thrown into a federal hole so deep and dark you will never see daylight again if you actually see it,” Tony warned. He waved a hand at the computer and tried to convey his frustration. “You heard the testimony, I’m sure. Do you really want to try to take the SGC on?”

“I want to know!” Abby shouted. “And you…”

Tony cut her off with a sharp gesture. “I what Abby? I didn’t know before the rest of the planet! And I’m not letting you hack your way into another agency without a damn good reason. Your curiosity is not a good reason! You are a federal agent. You took an oath to protect this nation, just as much as I did. What you are trying to do could be seen as treason!”

“No,” Abby said, shaking her head. She flicked her fingers at the computer. “I just want to know.”

“You know I’m right. Think about it. Don’t hack anyone,” Tony ordered. He shook his head at her when her eyes filled with tears. “Crying isn’t going to get you anywhere, Abs. There is no wriggle room in this. You can’t get Gibbs to smooth things over. You do what you hinted at? No one can save you from the consequences of your actions. Think about it.”

Tony walked out of the lab and kept moving until he got to the elevator. A quick jab of his finger on the button, got the system moving and he could hear the carriage heading his direction. He did his best to keep his breathing even as he waited and as soon as the doors opened, he stepped inside and pressed the button for the right floor.

Ten seconds later, he hit the emergency stop, and stood in the middle of the elevator and hissed out every single curse word he knew, in every language that he knew. It didn’t help. He was still livid that Abby would disrespect him, NCIS, the SGC, and the government just for her fucking curiosity.

Breathing deeply, he checked his watch. He’d been in the office less than three hours. For fuck’s sake.

He hit the override for the emergency brake and got the elevator back moving. He still had work to do.

 

When he got back upstairs, he ignored the twittering happening around McGee’s desk. He quickly signed back into his computer and moved the email from Abby back to unread and moved on to the next set of emails. He pulled the team calendar up and started slotting both prep time and testimony times into the next few months. “Gibbs, the Abernathy Case is on the docket for next month. Rabb wants to talk to you on the first Monday of the month, I’m on the calendar for Tuesday.”

“About time,” Gibbs grunted. He glanced up from his computer and looked over at McGee and David. “Shouldn’t you two be working?”

“You’re not going to ask Tony why he was at the hearing yesterday? And why he approached General O’Neill and Dr. Jackson? Why he got called up to the director’s office?” McGee asked. He shared a look at David and turned to stare at Tony. “Isn’t that something that we should know about?”

“I know why Tony was at the hearing, I know why he approached O’Neill and Jackson and no, you don’t need to know,” Gibbs said bluntly. “I also know why Vance called him up. What you do need to know is when you need report to JAG so you can testify on a case.”

“We need to know how Tony’s actions will affect us,” Ziva cut in. “After all, he is a less than stellar agent, putting his butt into things that he has no talent for.”

Gibbs snorted and glared at her. “Try again, Ziver. If anyone on this team is a less than stellar agent, that would be you. You started out at rock bottom and have had to learn all the skills that Tony came into NCIS with and McGee learned at FLETC. Which, if you remember, we suggested you go to and Jenny declined.”

From the shocked look that crossed her face, Ziva was not expecting Gibbs to come down on her for her attitude. Tony barely glanced at her as he kept working on his emails. It had taken him months to make Gibbs see that her attitude was a hinderance to the team as a whole. And if Tony was being honest with himself, it hadn’t been him that had finally hammered the point home to Gibbs in a manner he couldn’t ignore.

That achievement he could lay at the feet of Pride. Tony had sent the man flowers and a bottle of rum in thanks. In return, he’d gotten an invite to lunch the next time he was in New Orleans.

“At any rate, you don’t need to know what Tony has been up to. I do, Vance does and we’re the only two who need to know. You should have emails regarding your upcoming testimony, so you will need to go over the case files to refresh your knowledge of the case and what happened. I suggest you get started,” Gibbs said evenly.

 

 

Chapter Three

 

Tony worked steadily through the morning. He wasn’t able to get away to go over to JAG to do his case reviews so he reached out to Rabb about using the video conference system to allow them to go over their cases. Rabb hadn’t been thrilled with the idea, but had eventually agreed.

“That’s the last case,” Rabb said. They had been holed up for several hours and Tony was looking forward to a late lunch once he was released. “Can we talk about something other than work?”

“Lemme guess, you want to talk about the hearing?” Tony said. He leaned back in his chair and fiddled with his pen as he stared at the screen showing the other man.

“Kind of,” Rabb said. He carefully closed the file in front of him and crossed his hands over the top of it. “I’m aware of the program that got exposed due to my position here at JAG, as is the Admiral. He’s aware that your availability may change due to it and is willing to work with you. Do you know if you will need a lawyer for anything?”

Instead of dismissing the question out of hand, Tony took the time to think it through. “I’m going to say that I don’t need one now, but if you are volunteering, you should stand by. Because my part in this hasn’t broken, that I know of, and we want to keep it that way. But all of us are realistic and acknowledge that what we want isn’t always what happens.”

“I’m glad that none of you are ignoring the possibilities,” Rabb said. He let his chair rock and stared at Tony with a small frown on his face. “I know there’s a lot of stuff I didn’t see on the rare times I was involved with them. I’m sure that you’re running right into that as well. Just do everyone in the whole program a favor and look over their information with the eye of the cop you are, because someone else and they won’t be doing it to protect them.”

“True. Do you want me to pull you in, when we get to the full review stage?” Tony asked. He figured that Sam would be moving the people she was concerned about off planet today. And all of the stuff that Daniel was concerned about would be leaving too. Everyone at the SGC was determined to buy enough time for those two events to be completed.

“Any idea on when that will be?” Rabb asked.

Tony shook his head. “No. And please tell the Admiral that he might want to be ready to have JAG’s part in this come out.”

“He’s going to be thrilled about that,” Rabb said after several seconds. He frowned as he stared into space and then shook his head. “Here’s to hoping that a reporter doesn’t try to corner him for answers.”

“Oh, damn,” Tony said, contemplating that scene. “That would not be good.”

“Funny, but not good,” Rabb agreed.

“Okay, I currently don’t have anything else, but I’ve got your phone numbers in case I need you,” Tony said, holding up his cell. “If something comes up with the cases, please let me know. I’ve got the schedule for when you need me in court, and I’ll be there, come hell or high water.”

“Sounds good. Good luck and I hope things are calm on your end,” Rabb said. He waved once before turning the video conference off.

Tony made sure to turn everything off on his end and gathered up the files he had used as reference when they reviewed the cases. Everything fit in a file box and he carefully placed the lid on it before picking it up. Once he turned the files back in, he needed to make sure to pick up some lunch.

 

“So that’s everything?”

“As best we can do for today,” Sam agreed. She waved a hand at the piles of paperwork in front of her before letting them drop. “We’ve been going through Daniel’s list, the actual inventory that Siler and Walter had been keeping and everything the various teams had labeled as dangerous. All of it has been tagged to go through the gate or onto the Daedalus out to Atlantis.”

“How long do you think it will take to get everything through?” Jack asked.

“Weeks,” Sam said grimly. “Even if we get the gate bridge up, the sheer cost of opening the gate is going to be high and we will need to fold the trips into our mission tempo. Having a space station in the middle of the trips will cause its own set of complications. The trips with the Booster are actually easier to hide because they just use a naquadah cell from a staff weapon and we have hundreds of those.”

“I’m not sure we have weeks,” Jack said after several seconds thought. “We’ve got a priority list and we need to get started on it.”

“Agreed,” Sheppard cut in. He was staring at the screen of his laptop and frowning. “Fox is hinting at them doing an expose on us. Pretty sure that they’ve got nothing of true import at this point, but the digging has started. If they put in a FOIA request, it’ll take time for them to get the information, but they might get lucky.”

“The Freedom of Information Act is a pain in the ass,” Jack huffed. “Okay. Start tonight and get the worst of the worst, off planet, along with our resident aliens. To cover this, ship some stuff out to Atlantis and label the whole thing as a resupply event. Also, let Walter know to adjust the timeline so it shows a max of ten minutes of gate time.”

“Will do,” Sam confirmed. She started typing at her laptop and stabbed a final key with a satisfied sound. “Emails been sent with the lists.”

“I’ll clean the servers of the communications in the next few minutes,” Kusanagi volunteered. “I’ve also been going over security for the SGC and we’re about as tight as we can manage.”

“Good,” Jack said. He leaned back in his chair and let it swing as he thought things over. “So, we’ve had our meeting with Congress. Chances on us going back again?”

Mitchell snorted once. “High. Higher than can be accurately measured.”

“Agreed. They’ll want us back. And they’ll want to get some of the Atlantis contingent in front of them too,” Daniel said. Like everyone else in the conference room, he had a laptop open in front of him, and his attention seemed like it was firmly captured by it.

“What’s got your attention, Danny?” Jack asked. He leaned forward to stare at his friend.

“CNN is doing biographies of the senior staff at the SGC. They started with you, Jack, and it was as factual as we could hope. They did mention Charlie. They did not mention Junior,” Daniel reported. He glanced up and grimaced at whatever he was seeing on his face. “Currently they are doing a report on me.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Jack hissed. There was no way that he could hide his son, but it pissed him off that Charlie was being used for ratings. “How factual are they being with you?”

“Weirdly factual. They’ve gotten interviews with my previous coworkers and my academic advisors, and most of them seem to be…,” Daniel cut himself off and frowned. “And there’s the crackpot commentary.”

“We’re going to have to get ahead of that. Because you know Congress is going to seize on that,” McKay cut in. He frowned at Jack and then turned his attention over to Sam. “Do we have any footage of a Ha’tak landing on a pyramid? Or maybe something showing Ra’s ship on Abydos?”

“We have video of each of those and several others besides, why?” Sam asked.

“Because the SGC can’t afford to have Jackson doubted. His work is the backbone of the whole program and having someone say that he’s a crackpot will cause issues,” McKay explained. “The worst that they will be able to say about me is that I’m an asshole. And that’s got nothing to do with my abilities in the scientific realm. Calling Jackson a crackpot means that the information he provides is doubted, distorted, or outright disbelieved.”

“Right. Which one of you wants to be the Spokes-Colonel?” Jack asked, looking from Sam, to Mitchell, to Sheppard.

“Since I’m the only one in a dress uniform, I guess it’s going to be me,” Mitchell said with a frown. “What do we want me to say?”

The next few minutes were spent hashing out the SGC’s response to CNN’s reporting. And working out responses to possible questions. Then Jack got the dubious pleasure of letting the President know what they were planning to do.

To say that Hayes wasn’t thrilled with the reporting, was putting it mildly. He was livid and Jack had to hold while Hayes snapped out demands to his staff so they could formulate their own response. “How are you going to respond to any questions about you and DiNozzo?”

Jack paused as he thought about Tony. “I’m not going to hide anything. And neither is he. We’ve both made peace with the idea of being outed.”

“Better warn him that you are doing this, then,” Hayes warned.

“Yes, sir,” Jack confirmed. He waved his personal phone at Sam and she grabbed it. Her fingers moved over the keys quickly and she flashed the screen at him. He nodded at the message she’d sent. “Sent.”

“Good. Let’s get ahead of this mess. Fucking declassification,” Hayes bitched before he ended the call.

“Well, the President is good with what we’ve come up with and he’s in a great mood,” Jack said with a grimace. “Davis? Can you get the process started to call a press conference?”

“Already started, sir,” Davis confirmed. “From the responses, it’s going to be a full house.”

“Wonderful,” Jack said. “Okay, I want Mitchell there, Sam, you and Sheppard need to go back to the Mountain and get into your dress uniforms, because I want you backing Cam up. Daniel? Do you want to be there?”

“No, I think it’s better if it’s strictly the military half of the SGC handle this. It’ll show how serious this is and the military has an institutional record of not tolerating crackpots, so having some of the most prominent colonels at the SGC there, will show how serious it is,” Daniel explained. “After the press conference, I’m going to need to do a series of one-on-one interviews to clear the air. That’ll be fun.”

From the grimace Sam was wearing, she wasn’t happy with the idea. “What’s the frown for, Sam?”

“I’m going to have to go with him. Both as a team member and as a fellow scientist. Damn it.”

“Better you than me,” Sheppard said quietly.

“You’re going to have your own version of this, Sheppard. Atlantis isn’t going to stay secret, and you know it,” Sam said with a slightly evil smile. She turned slightly and pinned McKay with the same smile. “Same with you, Rodney.”

McKay grimaced and then nodded. “Oh, I know. And I hate it, deeply.”

“Okay, everyone,” Jack said, clapping his hands. “Colonel’s, you’ve got your orders. Get with Caldwell to transport you to the Mountain and then back here.”

 

 

Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket when it pulsed in the rhythm he had assigned to Jack. Just wanted to warn you: We’re holding a press conference to get in front of the bullshit that is being said about Danny. Chances are good you’ll be mentioned, so be warned.

“McGee, where is the TV remote?” Tony asked.

“Why do you need the remote, Tony?” McGee asked.

“Not what I asked, McGee,” Tony snapped. He dropped his lunch at his desk before heading over to McGee’s. A quick glance showed the remote was off to the side and he snatched it up easily. “Thank you.”

Since Jack was going to be doing a press conference, Tony turned the TV to CNN and turned the sound up. The usual talking heads were busy chatting at each other and Tony checked out the ticker. Nothing was listed there. Since the chances of Jack misleading him was low, Tony kept to the station and pulled his lunch out of the bag.

“Why are we watching the news?” Gibbs asked as he walked in from his latest coffee break.

“Tony did it,” McGee said.

“Way to throw me under the bus, McGee,” Tony said, amused. It was easy enough to flash his phone at Gibbs and he shrugged as the older man raised an eyebrow in question. “Apparently something is happening soon. No timeline, though.”

“Let me know if that changes,” Gibbs decided.

“Pretty sure we’re all going to know without a problem, Boss,” Tony said, amused. He nudged the bag still on his desk. “Your meal’s in there.”

“Thank you,” Gibbs said as he picked his meal up. “Did you get everything hashed out with Rabb?”

“Yes,” Tony confirmed. “He’s aware of my updated security concerns and states that the Admiral is willing to work with me so there are no issues.”

“Good to know and I’ll thank him when I see him,” Gibbs said. He pulled his sandwich out unwrapped it. “Looks great.”

“What are you two talking about?” Ziva demanded.

“Lunch,” Gibbs said before taking a bite. When Ziva huffed at him, he raised an eyebrow at her. “That’s what you can know. Anything else? Doesn’t concern you.”

“Why aren’t you telling us what’s going on?” McGee asked as Ziva stalked out of the bullpen.

“Because there are things you don’t need to know, McGee,” Tony said firmly. “Gibbs has responsibilities due to his position with NCIS and so do I. You do not need to know everything that we do and we do not need to tell you anything.”

“Your position here at NCIS isn’t any different than mine. How can you have different responsibilities?” McGee asked.

Tony flashed Gibbs a pointed glare and then turned it onto McGee. “You do remember that I am the Senior Field Agent for MCRT, right?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” McGee asked, confused.

“Oh, my God,” Balboa muttered from his desk. He stood up and stared at McGee for several seconds before turning his gaze over to Gibbs. “Is he serious?”

Gibbs was staring at McGee with wide eyes before he shook his head. “It seems so.”

“What?” McGee asked. He frowned at all of them before turning to look at Tony. “I know you call yourself that, but…”

“I know you’re not going to say that I’m trying to blow my position up, McGee,” Tony snapped. “Because even you can’t be this oblivious. Before you stick your foot even further into your mouth, why don’t you look up the org chart for MCRT. And then the one for NCIS. Because I think you’ll find out exactly how much you just fucked up.”

McGee opened his mouth to protest and Balboa cut him off. “He told you to go look up the information McGee. I suggest that you do it. Because he does in fact, outrank you.”

“Do you think if I send up a write-up it’ll go through this time?” Tony asked. He was glaring at McGee as the younger man slowly turned to his computer and started typing.

“Maybe. Vance seems to think that McGee is the future of NCIS,” Balboa said. He snorted once before he shook his head. “At any rate, I wanted to ask… Why is the TV on?”

“I got a head’s up that there’s going to be another press conference from the SGC,” Tony said bluntly. “Given everything, I think it’s smart to watch it.”

“Agreed,” Gibbs said. He was glaring at McGee before he turned the glare on Ziva’s empty desk. “Now’s not the time to discuss what you mentioned, but I will want to go over all of that with you later.”

“Better late than never,” Tony mused. He leaned back in his chair and took a bite of his sandwich. “Rocky, you might want to pull up a chair and kick back while we wait.”

“Sounds good,” Balboa agreed.

Good afternoon, everyone. We’ve just been handed notice that the SGC will be holding a special press conference. We have several of our reporters heading to the Pentagon to see if they can get access. Of course, we will be covering this event live. We will update you as we get more information on when this even will start.

 

 

Chapter Four

 

“Okay, before we go out there, let’s check each other over, make sure we’ve got everything in place,” Cameron suggested. They were back in the main conference room at Homeworld and he had the binder that General O’Neill had used at the congressional hearings in front of him. He’d spent a few minutes flipping through it so he had some idea on how it was organized. Major enemies, minor enemies, Goa’uld tech, Ori tech, Ancient tech, Tau’ri tech, etc.

“Sounds good,” Sam agreed. She glanced down at her uniform and raised an eyebrow at it. “Does anyone have a lint brush?”

“Got it, Sam,” Daniel confirmed. He pulled one out of his briefcase and handed it over.

“Why?” Cam asked. He held his hand out for it when Sam finished so he could run it over his uniform.

“Because I was going to be in front of Congress and there is no way I was going to do that with schmutz on my clothes,” Daniel explained.

“Good call,” Cam agreed. He handed the roller over to Sheppard when he finished and stared. “You got your hair cut.”

Sheppard nodded once. “I did. What I can get away with on Atlantis or at the SGC is different than here. I took the time to shower off the hair while my uniform was being put together.”

“Good call,” Cam said again. “Okay, let me look you over?”

“Sounds good. Sam? I’ll check your uniform,” Sheppard offered.

“And I’ve got Cam,” Sam said. “Did you take a look at the binder?”

“I helped put that one together, so I’m aware of how it’s put together,” Sheppard said. “I really hope we don’t have to step in.”

“Me too,” Sam agreed. “But the institutional luck of the SGC does not really support that.”

“Fair,” Sheppard said. He raised an eyebrow at Cam. “Do I pass?”

“You do,” Cam said. He took a deep breath as he picked up the binder and then set it down. “Are we sure I should be the one taking the lead on this?”

“Well, technically, you are the third in command, so I guess it’s your job?” Sam said with a smile.

“The only reason it’s not you, is you said ‘not it’ faster than I did,” Cam said sourly.

“That helped, but she’s also in charge of all of the hard sciences in the Mountain,” O’Neill observed. “Daniel has all the soft sciences. Landry runs the Mountain itself and Sheppard has the military side of Atlantis, while McKay rides herd on the sciences out there, with Weir coordinates the whole thing. I’ve got DC and the IOA, along with Area 51.”

“Message received, sir. I’ll take my current position,” Cam said. He took a deep breath as Sam nodded her approval of his uniform. “Okay, I guess this is it.”

“It is.”

“Fuck.”

 

“Good afternoon, everyone,” Cam said. He stared out over the sea of reporters and took a deep breath. “My name is Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell. I am the leader for SG-1, the premier first contact team at Stargate Command. I am here to lay out the response that the SGC has to the biopic series that CNN is running.”

Cam scanned the room for a moment before he glanced down at the statement that Daniel had prepared for him while he was getting his uniform ready. “The SGC has, from the very beginning, hired the best and brightest scientific minds from around the world. They are the people who are the weird and the slightly odd to the mainstream scientists. But they are also the ones who put in the work and have taken the time to look at the evidence and formulate a theory that fits the evidence. They do not make the evidence fit their theory.

“Today, CNN ran a biopic on Dr. Daniel Jackson, with a special focus on his reputation before he entered our program. He is the backbone that the SGC has been built on. His theories have proven right, time and again. Has he been right 100% of the time? No. And we have never expected him to be right all the time. But we know that he will take the information that has been brought in and will use that knowledge to further our understanding of the galaxy at large.

“We, at the SGC are aware of the reputation that Dr. Jackson has in the archeological world. I believe the term used in the biopic today was ‘crackpot’. Well. Dr. Jackson was proven right on the first mission that he went on for the SGC. There was a overwhelming reason why cultures around the globe all built pyramids. Colonel Carter, could you please queue up the video from the first mission that Dr. Jackson and General O’Neill went on?”

The screen behind him lit up and Cam moved out of the way to allow the reporters and cameras to fully see the video from the Abydos mission. It showed Ra’s mother ship sitting on something. The film moved forward to show the ship taking off and the pyramid sitting underneath. There was a change in scenes and another view of the ship, only this time, it was in space and tilted so the empty area in the middle was easily seen.

“We know that one of the things that has been said about Dr. Jackson is that he believed that the pyramids of Egypt were landing platforms for spaceships. In fact, he didn’t say that. What he did say was that they were a great deal older than has been accepted. Stone is very difficult to date and the structures themselves are bare of any real clues. But, in a remarkable case of rumor being fact, one of our enemies did use the pyramids as landing platforms. He’s dead by the way.”

The video changed and more Goa’uld ships flashed across the screen. “These are all ships that our first enemy, the Goa’uld used. As you can see, they show what we would call an Egyptian influence. Why? Because they took our ancient gods and made them real. That was the true discovery from the first mission. Egypt was the first culture to be co-opted, but they weren’t the last. Many theories had to be looked at with critical eyes and reconsidered in light of the information discovered.

“Humanity was far more connected than modern archeologists thought. And it was all due to a parasitic race that found us to be useful hosts,” Cam said grimly. He flipped over the page and glanced at the words written at the end by General O’Neill. “In the end, Dr. Jackson and his ability to accept that the ‘proven’ theories he had been taught in school were at best incomplete, and at worst, utterly wrong, has saved our planet from destruction. So, the SGC and Homeworld Security are informing you that we will be standing behind him and all the scientists in our employ. Because they’ve proven their worth and we’re not going to let them get tarred with the epithet of ‘crackpot’.”

The lights came back up and Cam moved back into place at the podium and took a deep breath as he looked over the room. “I will now take questions.” The sea of hands that started waving was disconcerting. But he had to pick one, so… “I don’t know all of your names, so I’m going to point,” he warned before pointing at a woman in the second row. “You.”

“Jackie Everhart, Fox News,” the woman announced. At his nod, she smiled. “You stated that the SGC hires the best and the brightest. Given that, how can you justify hiring Dr. Jackson? His own colleges state that his theories were far outside of the norm.”

Cam stared at her for a moment before he snorted. “You did see the film we just showed, right? Dr. Jackson was proven right in his theory that the pyramids were constructed due to a related, world spanning, culture. The timeline he put forth matches up exactly with what was ordered by the Goa’uld. And it was backed up by their own records. We’ve read them, we have the internal papers detailing the proof and we’re in the process of going over all of those papers to make sure no classified material is exposed in them. Once that’s confirm, the SGC will be publishing them so the rest of the scientists on this planet can catch up.”

The hands that went up at that announcement were not a surprise. Cam suppressed a smirk and pointed at another reporter. “Gentleman in the fourth row, red tie.”

“Andrew Stewart, Colonel Mitchell, from CNN.” At Cam’s nod, he moved forward. “Thank you. I know that the biopic that was played on CNN earlier covered the early part of Dr. Jackson’s career. All of us saw the Bregman documentary and while it does touch on his job at the SGC, it doesn’t go into it fully. Could you please give us an idea of what Dr. Jackson is involved with?”

“With the understanding that some of Dr. Jackson’s jobs are classified, he is the head of our soft sciences division. This is the languages department, anthropology and archeology departments, and the history department. He also is a founding member of SG-1, the premier first contact team, is our first-tier diplomat and the person Earth goes to when we need a treaty drawn up,” Cam said evenly. He raised an eyebrow at the startled look the reporters were wearing. “Dr. Jackson has an IQ that is higher than Einstein. He is utterly capable of doing all of that and more. He’s just limited by the number of hours in the day.”

The room was silent for several seconds before another reporter put his hand up. Cam pointed at him. “Go for it.”

“Michael Smith, New York Times, colonel. You mentioned scientific papers that will be coming from the SGC as did General O’Neill in the hearing. Do you have any information on the topics that will be included?”

Cam glanced down the notebook, and quickly flipped to the relevant tab. “Okay, we’re expecting to have papers on anthropology, archeology, several in the linguistics fields on languages that are dead on Earth and living out in the galaxy. We’ve got some on new elements discovered, new engineering processes, on the celestial phenomena that have been discovered since we’ve traveled in the stars, and many, many more items.”

The crowd of reporters were quiet for several seconds and Cam took a deep breath. So far, he seemed to be doing okay. “Are there any further questions?” It took only seconds for the next batch of hands to go up. Cam scanned the room and pointed at the next reporter. “Lady in the fifth row, blue dress, red hair.”

“Madisyn Montgomery, Washington Post, colonel. Thank you for detailing the type of papers we can expect. I do have a question, but it is not related directly to this,” she said.”

Cam could feel the trap trying to be sprung, but he couldn’t see a way to get out of it. “Go ahead and ask your question, Ms. Montgomery.”

“Thank you, colonel,” Montgomery said with a smile. “When General O’Neill and Dr. Jackson left the Congressional Hearing yesterday, we saw that that there was a non-SGC party with their party as they entered their vehicles. We’ve done our research and have been informed that gentleman is Agent Anthony DiNozzo of NCIS, and he’s been dating General O’Neill for the last five years. Can you confirm this?”

 

 

Chapter Five

 

“What in the actual fuck?”

Tony raised an eyebrow at the shout from McGee. “I’ve never made a secret of who I’ve been dating, McGee. How you missed it is beyond me. Or maybe you’re surprised I like men.”

“I don’t care that you’re gay! You’re dating General O’Neill? Why didn’t you tell me?” McGee demanded.

“It wasn’t your business,” Tony snapped. “Now, shut up. I want to hear the rest of this news conference.”

From the arrested look on his face, McGee hadn’t been expecting Tony to fire back at him. McGee huffed and sat back, crossing his arms like he was sulking. Tony turned his attention back to the TV in time to hear Cam’s answer.

“General O’Neill and Agent DiNozzo have indeed been dating for the last five years,” Cam said.

“Thank you for confirming that, colonel. Do you know if Agent DiNozzo was aware of the SGC before the Ori ship skimmed the East Coast?”

“No. He did not know. None of the significant others of any member of the SGC was aware of the job their partners did before declassification, unless they were also a member of the SGC. That includes Agent DiNozzo. Every member of the SGC held to our oaths,” Cam said evenly. He held up a hand to silence the burst of noise from the reporters. “While it might not be considered ‘fair’ to some people, the SGC was the line in the sand between Earth and a hostile galaxy. Next question. Second row, green tie.”

“Andy Martinson, New York Times. Colonel Mitchell, do you know if there are any other ships approaching Earth?”

“The SGC is constantly monitoring the space around our solar system and the systems surrounding us using several methods,” Cam said. He frowned as he stared into the camera. “We have several functional ships that are also patrolling our local area as well as this system. If we do have any enemy shops enter our territory, we will know about it. As the rest of our fleet is repaired, they will join the rest on patrol.”

“Colonel, is the SGC building any additional ships?”

Tony frowned as he looked behind Cam and saw Sam’s face go blank. Not good. And Sheppard’s was just as blank. That silent clue did not make him happy.

“No. Currently, the SGC has no additional ships being built,” Cam said shortly.

“And why not?”

“Just like every other government program in the world, the SGC needs money to make things work. And then after that, we need qualified personnel to man any positions opened to the new subprograms,” Cam said. He raised an eyebrow at the stir his words were causing. “The SGC has been working under both of these constraints since it was opened. We had to sacrifice parts of other projects to get the funds for the ships we’ve got. And the personnel were culled from the SGC and some judicious recruiting.”

“That’s not good,” Gibbs observed. “Starving a program like the SGC of funds is just dumb.”

“The Bregman Documentary detailed exactly how certain parties feel about the SGC,” Tony reminded. “And the Congressional Hearing confirmed that there are some parties in government who think that ignoring what’s happening outside of our atmosphere is smart.”

“Poking other races can’t be smart,” McGee muttered.

“Exploring is what we do, McGee,” Tony reminded. “And making sure that our people are safe and well supplied is paramount. Starving the SGC of funds and personnel is just dumb.”

“Maybe,” McGee said. “If we hadn’t gone out…”

“McGee, did you not hear it when O’Neill said that Ra, Apophis, and more, knew where Earth was and they were planning on coming to Earth in their own ships?” Gibbs asked.

“Right, I forgot that,” McGee said with a frown.

“Shh,” Tony hissed.

“How many locations does the SGC have?”  a reporter asked. Tony had no idea who it was since he’d missed their introduction due to McGee and Gibbs talking.

Cam raised an eyebrow at the question. “The SGC has three facilities here on Earth and several others off planet.”

“How many people does that translate into?”

“One moment,” Cam said. He flipped the pages of his binder and nodded once. “The full complement of personnel attached to the SGC is a mix of civilian and military personnel for a total of three thousand, four hundred and three people. Those numbers cover our ships, the F-302 squadrons, the Cheyenne Mountain location, our other two locations here on Earth, and all our off-planet facilities.”

“That’s not a lot of people,” Gibbs said quietly. “Roughly the size of a small Army regiment. Given their mandate, I think they should be larger.”

“Agreed.”

 

“That’s going to bite certain people on the hill on the ass,” Jack said softly.

“Not like they don’t deserve it,” Daniel said. “We’ve been telling them for years that we need more ships, more personnel and more money to do this job and they’ve blown us off. If it takes some public shaming to get them to cough it up? I’m all for it.”

“You know the IOA is going to say that we set this up,” Jack said.

“Ha! Unless they knew we were going to have the biopics and how we were going to respond…” Daniel huffed. “Gah.”

“Fair,” Jack said with a rueful chuckle. When the red phone on his desk rang, he snorted. “Here we go. General O’Neill.”

A very pleasant female voice answered him. “General, please wait for the President.”

“This is fucked up, O’Neill,” Hayes snapped as soon as he got on the phone.

“Yes, sir, it sure is,” Jack agreed.

“One of your colonels is on national TV telling the whole world that the SGC isn’t being supported by the government,” Hayes bitched.

“Yes, sir, he is,” Jack said after a second’s thought. He wasn’t going to sugar coat what Cam was doing for anyone. Not even the President of the United States.

“Why?”

“Because it’s the truth, sir,” Jack said. He wasn’t going to require his officers to lie for the SGC if it could be avoided. “And you know that the press will find any weakness and exploit it. That’s why we’re telling the truth when asked and the answer isn’t classified. It may not always be the nicest truth, but the more we’re straight with the public, the more they’ll trust us, sir.”

“Not a bad policy,” Hayes mused. “This is going to light fires under certain parties. And cause some hard feelings.”

“Sir, to be blunt, we’re damn lucky that our other battles in this solar system were missed. The rest of them stayed outside of the planet’s atmosphere and we were able to explain things away. The Ori were going for a scorched earth pass and their hubris is the only thing that allowed us to win the battle. All of our other enemies stayed in space,” Jack said bluntly. “It’s only been in the last few years that we’ve had our own ships.”

“Point,” Hayes said. He was silent for several seconds before he spoke again. “I’m surprised that they asked about Agent DiNozzo.”

“I’m not,” Jack said. “Neither of us expected to be able to hide our relationship forever. The fact that we made it to five years is pretty amazing.”

“You’ve not been in the public eye for long, Jack,” Hayes said.

Jack hummed softly. “That’s true sir, but the only one who knew Tony and I were dating at NCIS is his team lead. Not even the agency head seems to have noticed we were dating.” From the snort Hayes let out, he was as shocked as he had been. “Anyway, we’re going to keep an eye on the reporting that’s been happening so we can keep ahead of any rumors or leaks that get out.”

“Good. Keep me up to date on any changes and if you have to have any more press conferences, I want to know so I’m aware. Because you know those vultures are going to ask me about this shit too,” Hayes said before ending the call.

“Well, that went as well as I could hope for,” Jack said. He dropped the receiver back on the cradle and leaned back in his chair. “The president isn’t too thrilled with Cam letting the financing secret out of the bag, but he understands why. And he’s surprised that Tony and I haven’t made the news before now.”

“You didn’t make the news because you were a hermit and Tony was one too,” Daniel reminded. “And when you went out, neither of you were interested in going where the press hung out.”

“Not my first impulse, no,” Jack agreed. “We also need to keep him updated on any other press conferences we hold. Were there any other intrusive questions?”

“No, we seem to have gotten off light,” Daniel said. “Cam called the end to the press conference and he’s heading back. Want some coffee while we wait for them?”

“Yes, please,” Jack said. He leaned back in his chair and let it rock back and forth as he thought over the day. When Daniel came back with two mugs of coffee, he smiled. “Thanks Daniel.”

“Welcome,” Daniel said before settling back into his chair. “This is a cluster fuck, Jack.”

The snort of laughter was involuntary and Jack placed his cup on his desk while he laughed. “God, Daniel. It’s always so weird when you curse.”

Daniel smirked and took a deep sip from his cup.

“General,” Cam said as he knocked on the door of Jack’s office.

“Colonel,” Jack said. He raised an eyebrow at the three colonels as they filed in. “How do you think you did?”

“I really, really don’t want to do that ever again,” Cam said bluntly. He placed the briefing binder back on Jack’s desk.

“You may have to,” Jack warned. “You’ve done it once and so; you may have to do it again.”

“Respectfully, I pass,” Cam said. He dropped down into the chair next to Daniel and held up his hands like he was trying to surrender. “I get that I can do it, because I just did, but we need a dedicated press officer.”

“And they have to be at least a Major, but a Colonel would be better,” Sam agreed. “And it can’t be me, Sheppard, or Cam.”

“I know that Paul is your XO here at Homeworld, but he might be our best bet,” Daniel suggested. At Jack’s frown, he shrugged. “Who else knows as much about the program than he does? Also, he’s articulate, good looking, politically savvy and knows what secret means.”

“Okay, I can see it. But this isn’t going to be something that I’m going to order him into. He might have someone else in mind,” Jack said with a frown. A quick tap at his desk phone connected him to Davis. “Davis, please come to my office.” As soon as he got his assent, he ended the call and took another sip of coffee.

When Davis walked in, Jack motioned towards the only free chair in the room. “What can I do for you, sir?” Davis asked as he sat down.

“Colonel Mitchel has decided that he is not going to be the press officer for the SGC,” Jack said. He waved at Daniel, Sam and Sheppard. “The other three aren’t in a position to do it either. Which means we need someone with rank, knowledge and ability.”

“And that leaves me,” Davis said. He cocked his head to the side and nodded once. “I can do the job sir, but we’re going to need more people here to deal with the amount of work we’re generating.”

“Well, given Mitchell’s answer to our funding question, he may have shamed the IOA and Congress into getting us the funds we’ve needed for the last few years,” Jack said. He flashed the colonel a speaking look and sighed at the grimace he got back. “Seriously, what did you expect would happen when you let them know that?”

“Honestly, sir, I wasn’t thinking of the political implications that Congress and the IOA were being a bag of obstructionist dicks when I let the public know that we were having to rob Peter to pay Paul to keep them safe,” Cam said bluntly. “Would I still do it now that I’ve had a chance to think about it? Yes, I would. Because it’s the truth. But I might have softened the announcement a bit.”

“Well, I’m not going to say that to the press. Because while it may be true, it certainly isn’t helpful to be that blunt,” Davis said dryly. “I’ll go over the binder Colonel Mitchell used today and add the bios for the major players at the SGC. I expect that Atlantis will come up soon, which means it needs to get added too.”

“I highly doubt that the hearing we had is going to be the only one, Paul,” Daniel said. “You know Congress is going to want to know more.”

Davis nodded and then shrugged. “Oh, I know, Daniel. I’ve reached out to some of the more friendly members of the Armed Forces Committee to get a heads up when they want hold the next meeting. I couched it as making sure that everyone is on planet. They were scandalized, but ultimately agreeable.”

“Sounds good,” Jack decided. “Okay, let’s hash out some answers to possible questions. We can add the answers and relevant facts to the binder and make a master and then ones that will work for Congressional meetings and one that will be for pressers. Also, we might want to get someone to figure out who is covering us at the major networks and newspapers.”

“Then we need some scratch pads and pens,” Sheppard decided. “Because I can’t type fast enough to keep up and we’re all going to have things we’re going to want to follow up on.”

“I’ll get some then,” Davis decided.

“Take them to the main conference room!” Jack called as Davis walked out of his office.

“I’ve got the coffee,” Daniel said. He grabbed Jack’s cup and headed for the door. “I’ll even be nice and ask the SGC to send over a selection of snacks. I’m sure someone is up topside and can beam it over.”

“He’s embraced the whole ‘highest ranked civilian’ thing, hasn’t he?” Sam asked. She snorted once at the dry look Jack flashed her. “You know I’m right, sir. He was a lot sweeter in the beginning.”

“He really wasn’t,” Jack remembered. “He just hid it better. He’s the one who helped me feed a nuke to Ra.”

Sheppard hummed softly “Really? Bet that went over well.”

“It was a blast,” Jack said with a grin.

“Sir,” Sam groaned.

Jack just laughed and remembered to pick up the binder on the way out the door. He still had a few hours of work to do before he could go home to Tony. Soonest started, soonest done and all that rot.

 

When the lock turned, Jack looked up in time to see Tony walk in. “You look like you had a rougher day than I did.”

“Eh,” Tony grunted. He dropped his keys in the basket by the door before heading for his gun safe. “Do I have enough time for a shower?”

“Yeah, you do. I’m not being too adventuresome over here,” Jack said. He smiled as he listened to Tony work to shed the day. He’d done something similar when he’d gotten in. Since he hadn’t done anything too outrageous or strenuous, he’d decided that making dinner was his contribution to their evening.

Humming to himself, he started throwing ingredients into the wok. Onions, bell pepper, diced garlic, ginger, garlic scapes, and cauliflower all got dropped in with some thin cut pork and stirred around until done just right. When the shower turned off, he quickly added the sauce he’d prepared to the wok and stirred it around, making sure to coat everything.

By the time Tony was walking out of the bedroom, he was plating the meal up. “Pork stir-fry with fried rice.”

“Smells awesome,” Tony said with a smile. “What do you want to drink?”

“I would dearly love a beer, but that’s going to have to wait for the weekend. I’ll take a soda water,” Jack said after a seconds thought. He pushed the food towards Tony before placing the wok in the sink. He’d be getting to that after dinner.

“Good call,” Tony agreed. Two of the good soda waters he kept on hand for meals were easily gotten and the table was complete. “How’s Mitchell?”

Jack took a bite of his food and nodded. It was good. “He’s very happy to have only done that once and he hopes never, ever again. Davis will be doing the job from now on.”

“Well, Paul’s been all up in your business for years, so I’m sure he has all the relevant information,” Tony said before taking a careful bite. “Delicious!”

“Thank you,” Jack said. “I had one of the lieutenants do the grocery shopping at Daniel’s suggestion. Right now, it’s probably not wise for me to be recognized.”

“Point. And I agree. Pretty sure that also goes for me,” Tony said. “CNN had several recaps of the press conference over the day and they flashed my picture up at various times. It’s a good thing I already knew my undercover career was done.”

“Are you mad?” Jack asked. If things had gone differently, he would have asked his partner if he wanted to get sucked into the insanity that was the SGC. Damn the Ori and their inability to not be assholes.

Tony shook his head. “No. I’m not. I don’t crave the rush of it and it’s rough on your mental health if you do it right. I have no urge to do it again.”

“You could always teach?” Jack suggested.

From the grimace Tony gave, that wasn’t something he was interested in. “Only if I have to. I’d rather solve crimes.”

“Are you sure you’re not a modern-day Sherlock?” Jack teased.

Tony snorted once and started to laugh. “I love Sherlock. The Hound of the Baskervilles from 1959 with Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and André Morell is excellent. Also, possibly part of why I became a cop.”

Their conversation continued, but didn’t touch on work for either of them. The time they had together was precious and neither of them were willing to squander it. Even cleaning the kitchen up was relaxing. So when they settled onto the couch, Jack didn’t protest at all when Tony queued up a very specific movie. “I’ve never seen this.”

“You’ll enjoy it,” Tony promised. He laid down on the couch and placed his head in Jack’s lap. “It’s very well done.”

“Sounds great,” Jack said. He let one hand run through Tony’s hair as the movie started. This was exactly what he’d needed. Peace and his partner.