Work Text:
Saturday morning
Luxor hotel and casino
Las Vegas
Daniel groaned as the sunlight hit his closed eyes, accelerating the already rapidly pounding headache drumming behind his temple. He forced them open, then blinked in disorientation. Either he was dizzier than usual, or...
Oh. Right. He was inside a giant pyramid, so yes, the room really was sloping towards him. Well, that was a relief.
A wave of nausea hit then and he pressed one hand to his eyes. God, next time the new guy got it into his head to take off for Vegas to celebrate wrapping up a big case, he was going to ask--no, BEG--Jack to ignore him. Of course, now that the entire firm now knew he couldn't hold his liquor, it was a bit like closing the barn door after the horse had already escaped, but...
"Daniel?"
Daniel froze: suddenly acutely aware that he was naked. And lying next to someone else who was also naked. Someone with a very familiar voice...
A hand touched his shoulder and he jumped, spinning around to find himself face to face with Shari Alvarez, his barely legal--in more ways than one--legal secretary. The one who was working for him to earn enough money to pay him for straightening out her and her father's immigration papers. "Daniel?" she repeated.
Shit.
As if that weren't bad enough, there was something gold and distinctly ring-shaped on her left hand. Oh God. Dread growing in the pit of his stomach, he turned to glance at his own hand. Yep, ring.
Shit shit shit shit shit.
If Jack didn't fire him first, Sam was gonna kill him!
~*~*~*~
Friday night
"Okay, that's it. I think you've had enough." Senior partner Jack O'Neill snatched the drink out of his protege's hand, shaking his head in disbelief. He knew Daniel was an easy drunk, but this was ridiculous.
"Hey, I wasn't done with that!" the younger man protested in a slurred voice.
"Oh yes you are! You think I'm letting you get completely bombed and gamble away that nice big bonus I just gave you?" Jack handed the glass off to the bartender and started to steer Jackson away from the bar. He looked around for someone to take charge of him, frowning when no likely candidates appeared. Carter was chatting up Sheppard--big surprise there, if there was a man in the firm she wasn't sleeping with, he'd be shocked. Well, except for George--George was still an honorary uncle. Good thing Jacob had retired and wasn't here to see the rest of it. He felt a slight twinge of guilt at that, but hey, he was only human just like the rest of them.
Back to trying to find a keeper for Daniel...damn, too bad TC was still back in Denver, trying to get his boy out of juvie again. Even in this state, Daniel knew better than to try to pull anything on the big guy.
"Wasn't gonna gamble," Jackson protested grumpily. "'Sides, I haven't cashed the check yet. Saving it."
O'Neill rolled his eyes, mentally reminding himself to never let anyone from a rival firm get Daniel drunk--it could undermine their strategy on every case they had in the docket. "Whatever. I'm still cutting you off."
He almost let out a shout of relief when he finally spotted someone both willing and able to manage the younger man back up to his room. "Shari!"
Shari Alvarez, Daniel's secretary, looked up from her coke with a frightened expression. "Mr. O'Neill?"
He waved a hand. "Relax, I just need you to..." He glanced dubiously at Daniel. "...umm...think you could manage getting him up to his room in one piece?"
~*~*~*~
Saturday morning
"You did WHAT?"
Daniel pressed a hand to his head, grimacing painfully. "Not so loud, please?"
"I'll be as loud as I goddamned want to be," Jack shot back, running a frustrated hand through his short silver hair. "I told her to get you up to your room--where, between that bar and your room, is there a wedding chapel?"
"Ah, that was my fault...I think. It's still a little fuzzy."
The senior partner just stared at him. "Don't supposed you'd care to enlighten me?"
"I was hitting on her, okay? I was drunk, and I was hitting on her, and she told me her mother'd told her never to sleep with a man she wasn't married to, so drunk me decided it would be a good idea to go out and get married."
Jack raised both eyebrows. "And she agreed to this."
"Yeah." There was a beat while Daniel's face turned bright red. "After a few bottles of vodka from the mini bar, yes, she did."
"Daniel...you got a nineteen-year-old girl drunk and then MARRIED her?"
"She's legal!" Daniel protested. "Well...to get married anyway!"
"BARELY!"
Daniel sighed and dropped his face into his hands, removing his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose before looking back up at his boss and closest friend. "Look, what do you want me to do? If I divorce her or get it anulled, there's a chance she could be deported. Which is why I took the case in the first place."
Jack threw up his hands. "Does Carter know?"
"No, but I don't think she'd really be in any position to complain if she did. She's sleeping with pretty much all of us."
O'Neill shot him a surprised look at that. Daniel looked at him sideways. "Well?"
Embarrassed, the senior partner waved a dismissive but acknowledging hand. "So what are you going to do?"
"Umm..." Daniel dropped his eyes again and suddenly became very interested in cleaning his glasses with his tie. "Give it a few months, see how things work out and hope for the best?"
"Okay. It's your call." Jack shrugged, then pointed an accusing finger at his protege. "But remind me never to bring you to Vegas again."
Daniel looked embarrassed, but relieved. "I was, ah, actually kind of hoping you'd say that."