Being Reasonable

by rysler

Fifth in the Ten4Ten Series

* * *

Elizabeth wanted to shed her jacket in the oppressive evening heat, but Teal'c watched her closely, and she wanted to stay still. Staying as still as he was, perched on the ledge, overlooking the city, was impossible, but she wasn't about to distract him. Diplomacy was the art of waiting.

She waited.

He spoke. "Are you comfortable, Doctor Weir?"

"Yes. Yes, Teal'c. Thank you," she said. They could have no fire, though the cloaked cargo ship behind them had climate control. It was better to be warm. She had to acclimate. No good being surprised by the temperature of a room when she was supposed to be reading body language. "When in Rome," she murmured.

"All roads lead," Teal'c answered.

Rome, the birthplace of civilized and subtle negotiation, of backstab diplomacy and decadent imperial decay. Just like Goa'uld. The universe and its patterns were finite and measurable.

Though she'd never met any alien named Jupiter. She straightened the collar of her jacket. A breeze blew, warm air against her exposed neck. Already the sweat felt like a second skin. She could think through it. "Teal'c, do you know of any Goa'uld named Jupiter?"

"Saturn," he answered. "A fearsome and terrible warlord. Daniel Jackson asked me all I could remember, for his research. I have learned of the Greek and Roman gods, of the Asgard, Smarta, Perun and Veles. And Ra."

"What do you think of all that?"

Teal'c turned his head and smiled. He said, "That you and I have worshipped the same Gods. And that we were wrong." She nodded and opened her mouth to respond, but he went on. "This is why the Tau'ri are indeed the fifth race."

"Teal'c. Why us, and not the Jaffa?"

"We were slaves. You were free."

Elizabeth looked at her hands, folded on her knees. She said, "I don't think this plan is a good idea, Teal'c. Pretending you are a slave is--"

"Necessary. You are a woman, and represent your world. I am First Prime. You must show your dominance of me, and through that, of all Jaffa. This is how power is shown on this world."

"But--"

"When in Rome," he said, still smiling.

She knew when to surrender. She hugged her knees, and said, "I just want you to know, I, personally, am uncomfortable."

"I am not human," he said. "I was not one of those you enslaved."

"You don't really know that, Teal'c."

"Even if the Goa'uld used Earth to populate their forces, it would have happened thousands of years before the Maafa."

"You have been reading."

"One does not become First Prime through force, nor do does he overthrow a galaxy. It does take cunning," Teal'c said.

"But slaves can go where others cannot," Elizabeth said.

"And hear. And see."

Elizabeth sighed.

They watched the city lights flicker. There were no stars in the sky--the haze blocked them--and no guards patrolled this far out of the city bounds. It was a safe planet. The shipyards in orbit and on the ground that had fed the Goa'uld fleets had expanded with the number of independent traders in the galaxy, and the women who had overthrown Hephaestus were not interested in Jaffa. Elizabeth considered that, and said to Teal'c, "I thought they would have chosen Samantha Carter for this mission."

"She is not--" Teal'c hesitated, and then said, "Reasonable."

Elizabeth smiled, and said, "But I am."

"So I have heard."

She laughed.

A branch cracked on the cliff behind them, and she jumped. Teal'c put his hand on her shoulder. "It is just the wind," he said.

"Should you check it out?"

"It is just the wind. I know."

She nodded. Of course he would know. She resisted the urge to look behind her, to scan the darkness for shapes.

"Are you concerned, Dr. Weir?" Teal'c asked.

"No." She ran her fingers through her hair, and said, "I'm just--uncomfortable. There is so much trust we have to have, to pull this off."

"And you cannot negotiate with the matriarch if you are concerned about the weather," he said.

She furrowed her brow. "Yes," she said.

He nodded.

"How did you know what I was thinking?"

"It is a good tactic," he said.

"Elementary."

"We have one night, Dr. Weir. I have my doubts as well."

"But you came," she said.

"It is necessary."

A breeze blew, hotter than the one before, and Elizabeth took of her jacket. Her bare arms cooled to the air. She stretched. This was better than fighting the sticky air. She should have done it sooner. Acclimation.

Teal'c watched her.

She rolled her shoulders, feeling a bit self-conscious, and asked, "Are you hot?"

"I am adept at regulating my internal temperature," he said.

"Because you're an alien. Right. I always forget."

"You must not forget. Tau'ri's representation of the Jaffa is crucial."

"I know," she said. She sprawled onto her back, and frowned at the purple and grey haze overhead, and then rolled her neck to look at Teal'c. He stayed perched on his rock, as big as two statues, as chiseled, but alive. He exuded presence, which enveloped her, and spread past her, so that she felt shielded even though he was ten feet away. A breeze brushed her face, and she closed her eyes. "Teal'c," she asked. "Do you have any family?"

"Yes. But they are far away," he said.

She nodded, and breathed the thick air in and out. Her chest felt heavy. He asked, "You?"

"No. I--no. What I've had at home, I have always used to create something comfortable and stable. Part of good preparation and relaxation." She forced a laugh, wanting to say more, that the men got tired and left after a while. That she went and found another one who thought her work was interesting, or found her beautiful, and tried not to tell him too quickly that he was nothing, compared to her work.

With her eyes closed, she could imagine with impunity what it would be like to be with Teal'c, like they would negotiate together, partners in secret, giving and taking. Subtle signals leading to great things. A nudge, a touch, in sync. Him, rising above her, inside her, completely possessed by her, and the memory holding while they met with strangers, who did not know of the cord between them, and would be looking for ways to cut it.

She'd forgotten that he could read minds.

"In the Jaffa cities," he said, "The boys are encouraged to bond with each other in whatever combination works. The women are for--stability. But to trust your fellow warrior, you must love him or fear him, and Bra'tac taught us to fear only the Goa'uld, not our brothers."

Elizabeth opened her eyes, and found his face. He was looking steadily at her, only patience in his expression. Maybe he hadn't been assigned on this mission. Maybe he had volunteered.

"Teal'c," she said, reaching for his arm.

He slid off the rock and knelt next to her. He said, "There cannot be any distance between us."

"I know." She pulled him down. "I know."

He leaned toward her, and through her mind raced the kisses from the few men she'd been with, their pressure, their smell, their disappointments, and all the men and women she had refused--sex was too dangerous a tool to use in negotiations. It was a tool for war, a last resort. She had to respect someone in the morning to hand over a country to them. Then Teal'c's mouth touched hers and she forgot everything else.

An alien kissed her on alien soil in the alien heat and something inside her surrendered as she rose up on her elbows to kiss him back. Assimilation. Tomorrow would be easier. She parted her lips to Teal'c's thick tongue, let him push his thigh between her legs, and trusted him to chase away reason.

But the analytical part of her brain would not shut off. She noticed, as he undressed her, sliding her pants down her legs and gently squeezing each breast as he unclasped her bra, that he was practicing the subservience he would need for tomorrow. She wanted to tell him to stop playing a role, to be natural, to take her with force, so that she could forget about her job for one night on the greatest adventure of her life.

But he kissed her fingers, and knelt between her legs, and she relented. She held his head, and guided him with her voice. She had to trust that if someone came, he would know before she did. That the tension in the lines of his back weren't from passion alone.

She pushed at his shoulders, and he backed away. She sat up and pushed him backwards into the dirt, and straddled his waist. He was erect in his pants, underneath her. She missed the way his mouth felt already, but she went on. Her fingers dug into the muscles of his chest. His nipples tightened. His expression did not change.

"Teal'c," she said. She met his eyes. "This can be just about us."

He shook his head. "After," Teal'c murmured, "It will be different then."

She slid her hand over his crotch, and then unbuttoned his pants. He made no expression or movement as she slid his penis free from the cloth. She lowered herself, using her hand to guide him. She felt herself stretch, accommodating him, and it took long moments before he was fully engulfed. She put her hands on his shoulders, and his came to her hips, to help lift her and pull her down again. She kept her gaze on his as they moved together, neither trying to outrace the other. Each touch was a signal. She learned his.

Rocking against him, knowing that if anyone had asked her yesterday if he would penetrate her, she would have found it impossible, but all in Rome was different, she let the smell of his skin and the rough touch of his hands take her to a place beyond her reason. This might have been the way the art of negotiation gave birth to civilization; the joining of two people, the give and take, the potential creation of something beautiful. It became her beginning again.

END