Categories > TV > Stargate: SG-1 > We Shouldn't Keep Meeting Like This
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2001, Earth, United States, Colorado
So here he was again, O'Neill thought, probably for another fruitless interrogation session.
Harkness closed the book he was reading as soon as Colonel O'Neill entered the room. The one thing that had improved slightly had been the Captain's attitude. Again, it was casually polite, although the cheerful arrogance that had been so characteristic before was still nowhere to be seen.
Jack sat down at the desk. Harkness sat up on the bed. It was almost a tradition, now.
"So."
"So."
And the silence stretched...
"So, what are we going to do with you?" asked Jack.
"You couldn't just let me go, I suppose?" Harkness' mouth twitched into a faint approximation of a smile. Then he looked down. "Never hurts to ask."
"Where would you go? It's not like you have any family out there."
This remark made the Captain look up. "What makes you say that?"
By this time, the files were unnecessary. O'Neill had looked through them so often that he had memorized all the important parts, as well as the interesting ones. He reflected on the fact that he had a stack of files relating to dozens of different Jack Harknesses, not one of whom was supposed to be alive today. Well, the MIA from Vietnam might be, if he really had been missing and not killed. But that would make the man sitting in front of him a lot older. In his late fifties not his late thirties.
"Because, according to the files-" Jack broke off, asking the question he /really /wanted answered. "How come you don't age?"
That question caused a frown to appear on the Captain's face. "You want to run that by me again?"
"I saw you before. A long time ago. You don't look any different now than you did then.
"Colonel, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You and two others." Suddenly, O'Neill had Harkness' full attention, his blue eyes now enormous and fixed on the officer's face.
"Who?" asked the Captain in reply. He was trying to sound innocent, but failing miserably.
Hah! O'Neill thought triumphantly, so he had been pretending to be ignorant of the incident. Finally, a breakthrough. He resisted the urge to smile-almost. "Gotcha. Now how about you start...?"
The Captain was on his feet and closing in on Jack. There was almost a hint of desperation in the way he was approaching. Or was it malice? "Who, Colonel?" he demanded. "Who were the other two people?"
O'Neill got to his feet as well. He was not about to be caught sitting down. The guard near the door started to draw his weapon. The Colonel waved a hand, indicating that the guard hold his position. It was all too obvious that he had finally gotten through to Jack Harkness, and this wasn't an opportunity to waste. "A couple of Brits. A blonde girl, and a tall guy with dark hair. There was this sort of blue box--"
O'Neill was interrupted by Harkness' cry of triumph. Colonel O'Neill just caught a glimpse of the familiar huge grin before two hands seized either side of his face and he was on the receiving end of a kiss, full on the lips. There might have been a little tongue in it, too, but he was too stunned to notice.
Old combat instincts rose to the surface. Jack brought his hands up, then apart, forcing Harkness' grip open. As soon as he got a little room, he punched the other man's sternum, taking his breath away and propelling him backwards. The guard now jumped in, sidearm drawn, and kicked the Captain's legs out from under him. Then he put his boot in between Harkness's shoulder blades to keep him down and aimed the pistol at the Captain's head.
Harkness did not struggle any further. He stayed down, fighting for breath. It did not seem to affect the happy expression on his face. When he could speak again, he managed to surprise the Colonel with his words.
"My apologies, Colonel. I got carried away. But thank you."Jack was already halfway out the door, too shocked to continue the interview. He turned upon hearing Harkness' remark. This statement screamed for some elaboration."For what?" O'Neill asked cautiously.
"Hope."
Damn. Now he had to stay and listen. Somehow, he had gotten through Captain Jack Harkness' impregnable shell. O'Neill returned to his seat at the desk. "What were you doing here?" he asked. "Who were those people?"
The guard removed his foot to let Harkness up. He still kept his sidearm aimed at the Captain, who did nothing more than retake his seat on the bunk.
"I don't know what I was doing, Colonel. I haven't done it yet. But those two people are friends of mine. I've been searching for them in the biggest haystack imaginable." He paused a moment, leaning back against the wall. "No...bigger, actually."
"Oh, yeah? How big?"
"All of time and space," came the grandiose reply. "Or...London at some point after 2006. I don't know which is harder. But if you've seen me with them, that means I'm going to find them."
"You've lost me."
Harkness laughed. He seemed genuinely amused by this. O'Neill on the other hand, was not. "I'm glad you think this is funny," the Colonel said, not trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
The Captain stopped laughing, but was unable to hide his amusement. "Sorry. I don't suppose you see the humor in it." Then he made an attempt to become more serious. He closed his eyes, leaned back, and drew a deep breath as he collected his thoughts. "Okay. You obviously know how to work a Stargate. But, do you know how it works?"
"I don't. But I've got people who do."
"In general terms."
"You go in on one end, you come out the other."
"Yes. The Gates form a sort of tunnel that takes you through space, right?" Harkness paused, waited for Jack to reply, or at least nod, which he did.
"That tunnel can take you through time, too," Harkness said, surprising O'Neill. "If you have the right equipment, that is."
The Colonel groaned inwardly and sat back in his chair. Oh God, not this again! He had already seen all sorts of trouble involving time around the Gate. Hell, he had even traveled back in time himself. But that wasn't exactly what one would call reliable. "Been there, done that. About a thousand times over. I don't feel a particular need to relive Groundhog Day again."
"Groundhog Day?" The Captain gave him a puzzled look only to laugh again. "Oh, a time loop. No, nothing like that. Actually, the Stargates aren't really designed for time travel. They have too many limitations on where you can enter and exit. But if you can get into one of those 'tunnels' and exit another way, then you can travel in time. After all, time is just another point on the map."
"And you have a ship that can do that?" O'Neill asked, not yet willing to believe him. Surely he didn't mean that hodgepodge of technology they'd found with him. The one he'd escaped in the first time probably could have done something like that...maybe. But not the scrap pile he was using now.
"You'll forgive me if I don't believe you."
Harkness nodded, the familiar smirk blossoming on his features, bringing back the movie-star look. He had become more animated during this conversation than in any other over the past several days. Without preamble, he launched into a detailed explanation of the files Colonel O'Neill had on him, going on to include a few stories that had not made it into the files. The Napoleonic War, the American Civil War, the Boer War, and a few that the listening Jack had never heard of.
As the man on the bunk told his stories, the Colonel wondered if the man were a lunatic who actually believed he had done all these things, or... It was the "or"that O'Neill had difficulty getting his head around. That he was telling the truth. Jack was jolted from these thoughts when the man across the room asked, "Now do you believe me?"
O'Neill checked his watch and was startled to see how much time had passed. The stories had taken up much more time than he realized. Now he was going to be late for his briefing with Sam and the base techs about what they had learned about Harkness' goodies. "Yeah, I'll believe it. Now, I got to go. Are you going to be this talkative when I come back?"
Captain Harkness shrugged. "I've got nothing to lose anymore, do I?"
2001, Earth, United States, Colorado
So here he was again, O'Neill thought, probably for another fruitless interrogation session.
Harkness closed the book he was reading as soon as Colonel O'Neill entered the room. The one thing that had improved slightly had been the Captain's attitude. Again, it was casually polite, although the cheerful arrogance that had been so characteristic before was still nowhere to be seen.
Jack sat down at the desk. Harkness sat up on the bed. It was almost a tradition, now.
"So."
"So."
And the silence stretched...
"So, what are we going to do with you?" asked Jack.
"You couldn't just let me go, I suppose?" Harkness' mouth twitched into a faint approximation of a smile. Then he looked down. "Never hurts to ask."
"Where would you go? It's not like you have any family out there."
This remark made the Captain look up. "What makes you say that?"
By this time, the files were unnecessary. O'Neill had looked through them so often that he had memorized all the important parts, as well as the interesting ones. He reflected on the fact that he had a stack of files relating to dozens of different Jack Harknesses, not one of whom was supposed to be alive today. Well, the MIA from Vietnam might be, if he really had been missing and not killed. But that would make the man sitting in front of him a lot older. In his late fifties not his late thirties.
"Because, according to the files-" Jack broke off, asking the question he /really /wanted answered. "How come you don't age?"
That question caused a frown to appear on the Captain's face. "You want to run that by me again?"
"I saw you before. A long time ago. You don't look any different now than you did then.
"Colonel, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You and two others." Suddenly, O'Neill had Harkness' full attention, his blue eyes now enormous and fixed on the officer's face.
"Who?" asked the Captain in reply. He was trying to sound innocent, but failing miserably.
Hah! O'Neill thought triumphantly, so he had been pretending to be ignorant of the incident. Finally, a breakthrough. He resisted the urge to smile-almost. "Gotcha. Now how about you start...?"
The Captain was on his feet and closing in on Jack. There was almost a hint of desperation in the way he was approaching. Or was it malice? "Who, Colonel?" he demanded. "Who were the other two people?"
O'Neill got to his feet as well. He was not about to be caught sitting down. The guard near the door started to draw his weapon. The Colonel waved a hand, indicating that the guard hold his position. It was all too obvious that he had finally gotten through to Jack Harkness, and this wasn't an opportunity to waste. "A couple of Brits. A blonde girl, and a tall guy with dark hair. There was this sort of blue box--"
O'Neill was interrupted by Harkness' cry of triumph. Colonel O'Neill just caught a glimpse of the familiar huge grin before two hands seized either side of his face and he was on the receiving end of a kiss, full on the lips. There might have been a little tongue in it, too, but he was too stunned to notice.
Old combat instincts rose to the surface. Jack brought his hands up, then apart, forcing Harkness' grip open. As soon as he got a little room, he punched the other man's sternum, taking his breath away and propelling him backwards. The guard now jumped in, sidearm drawn, and kicked the Captain's legs out from under him. Then he put his boot in between Harkness's shoulder blades to keep him down and aimed the pistol at the Captain's head.
Harkness did not struggle any further. He stayed down, fighting for breath. It did not seem to affect the happy expression on his face. When he could speak again, he managed to surprise the Colonel with his words.
"My apologies, Colonel. I got carried away. But thank you."Jack was already halfway out the door, too shocked to continue the interview. He turned upon hearing Harkness' remark. This statement screamed for some elaboration."For what?" O'Neill asked cautiously.
"Hope."
Damn. Now he had to stay and listen. Somehow, he had gotten through Captain Jack Harkness' impregnable shell. O'Neill returned to his seat at the desk. "What were you doing here?" he asked. "Who were those people?"
The guard removed his foot to let Harkness up. He still kept his sidearm aimed at the Captain, who did nothing more than retake his seat on the bunk.
"I don't know what I was doing, Colonel. I haven't done it yet. But those two people are friends of mine. I've been searching for them in the biggest haystack imaginable." He paused a moment, leaning back against the wall. "No...bigger, actually."
"Oh, yeah? How big?"
"All of time and space," came the grandiose reply. "Or...London at some point after 2006. I don't know which is harder. But if you've seen me with them, that means I'm going to find them."
"You've lost me."
Harkness laughed. He seemed genuinely amused by this. O'Neill on the other hand, was not. "I'm glad you think this is funny," the Colonel said, not trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
The Captain stopped laughing, but was unable to hide his amusement. "Sorry. I don't suppose you see the humor in it." Then he made an attempt to become more serious. He closed his eyes, leaned back, and drew a deep breath as he collected his thoughts. "Okay. You obviously know how to work a Stargate. But, do you know how it works?"
"I don't. But I've got people who do."
"In general terms."
"You go in on one end, you come out the other."
"Yes. The Gates form a sort of tunnel that takes you through space, right?" Harkness paused, waited for Jack to reply, or at least nod, which he did.
"That tunnel can take you through time, too," Harkness said, surprising O'Neill. "If you have the right equipment, that is."
The Colonel groaned inwardly and sat back in his chair. Oh God, not this again! He had already seen all sorts of trouble involving time around the Gate. Hell, he had even traveled back in time himself. But that wasn't exactly what one would call reliable. "Been there, done that. About a thousand times over. I don't feel a particular need to relive Groundhog Day again."
"Groundhog Day?" The Captain gave him a puzzled look only to laugh again. "Oh, a time loop. No, nothing like that. Actually, the Stargates aren't really designed for time travel. They have too many limitations on where you can enter and exit. But if you can get into one of those 'tunnels' and exit another way, then you can travel in time. After all, time is just another point on the map."
"And you have a ship that can do that?" O'Neill asked, not yet willing to believe him. Surely he didn't mean that hodgepodge of technology they'd found with him. The one he'd escaped in the first time probably could have done something like that...maybe. But not the scrap pile he was using now.
"You'll forgive me if I don't believe you."
Harkness nodded, the familiar smirk blossoming on his features, bringing back the movie-star look. He had become more animated during this conversation than in any other over the past several days. Without preamble, he launched into a detailed explanation of the files Colonel O'Neill had on him, going on to include a few stories that had not made it into the files. The Napoleonic War, the American Civil War, the Boer War, and a few that the listening Jack had never heard of.
As the man on the bunk told his stories, the Colonel wondered if the man were a lunatic who actually believed he had done all these things, or... It was the "or"that O'Neill had difficulty getting his head around. That he was telling the truth. Jack was jolted from these thoughts when the man across the room asked, "Now do you believe me?"
O'Neill checked his watch and was startled to see how much time had passed. The stories had taken up much more time than he realized. Now he was going to be late for his briefing with Sam and the base techs about what they had learned about Harkness' goodies. "Yeah, I'll believe it. Now, I got to go. Are you going to be this talkative when I come back?"
Captain Harkness shrugged. "I've got nothing to lose anymore, do I?"
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