The basis of this story is the effect of the aftermath of Hathor on Jack and how that event makes him seek assistance from someone. I liked that it actually dealt with Jack's violation by Hathor, which is something I don't recall happening too often. Many post-Hathor stories focus on Daniel's rape by Hathor and the fallout from that. In reality, what Hathor did to Jack - turning him into a Jaffa - was just as much of a violation. In the course of the story Jack suffers from nightmares, which trigger in him a feeling of loneliness, and end up making him face his fear - the simple fact that he was afraid. Jack is a man who prizes control of himself and of his circumstances.Many times during the series we see him complaining about a lack of control, which could be the basis for his extreme hatred of the goa'uld. They take control of a person. They take away a person's free choice, just like his captors did to him back in Iraq. Much of his dislike of the Tok'ra can be linked not just to disliking goa'uld but also to the fact that they tend to keep control over joint human and Tok'ra missions. Hathor literally had control of Jack. She may not have pushed him around by violence but her use of pheromones was worse. Violence he can fight. Violence he's used to. She used his own body and his body's responses against him, something that's an integral part of him and that he can't change or fight. He's a man and she used his maleness against him. During the course of his introspection he realizes that he wants to - and needs to - share his thoughts and feelings with someone. The problem is that he has no one. His behavior in the past - his need for control - has led him to push people away. It's easier to control yourself then to try to control others, so he's isolated himself. In the end, he realizes that there is one person he can reach out to, one person who would understand him and what he's feeling. And so he reaches out to Daniel, which is where the story ends. I can't really say that it needs to be longer, because more wouldn't necessarily be better. Just like in 'Fail Safe', where we don't need to see the team get home to know they made it, we don't have to see all of Jack's and Daniel's conversations to know that they had one. Jack is in character. He's not a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve or runs around begging for attention. He'd never go running to someone just to talk and he tries to work things out on his own. We see this in the show several times, in his reluctance to be hypnotized by Mackenzie and in his unwillingness to talk about Daniel's ascension. If something like being violated by Hathor was bugging him, he'd be damned before he'd ever admit it. He'd push it aside, hope that it went away, and would most likely bury his pain under a quip or two. The only thing that struck me as odd was Jack calling Daniel after only a night or two of nightmares. I can see him reaching out to Daniel but there's also a part of me that can see him ignoring it for days until he has no choice BUT to ask someone for help. Needing help, to Jack, equals weakness, and he'd do everything he could to avoid doing that. This is definitely a story worth reading as it's a good peek into Jack's mind. I don't know when it was written but if it was even a year or two ago it's an amazingly accurate peek into Jack's head, given all that we've learned about him over the last five years. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |