CHAPTER SEVEN
The next morning, Daniel decided that he'd better get some more groceries so that they'd have stuff to fix for the rest of the week. It was a sunny day, unusually warm for the time of year, so Sam chose to go with him, figuring that she could just wait in the car while he was in the store, then they could go somewhere for lunch. She was starting to get a little stir crazy being cooped up in the house all the time.
Daniel had just finished loading the trunk with his purchases when Sam heard him shout a warning. The next second, he shot past her at a dead run. And then she saw why. A little girl around five years old was standing in the center of the next aisle over, and a car was coming quickly down the aisle, showing no sign of stopping. Unable to do anything but watch in horror, Sam sat frozen as Daniel grabbed the little girl and tried to dive out of the way of the oncoming vehicle. There was the sickening sound of impact, then a loud crash.
"Daniel!" Sam screamed. She scrambled out of the car, heedless of the pain in her leg, and ran as fast as she could around the vehicles blocking her view. The car had crashed into a parked truck. With a small portion of her mind, Sam noticed that the driver was slumped over the wheel and appeared to be unconscious. There was no sign of Daniel or the child.
Terrified that she'd see her best friend's crushed body on the other side, Sam ran around the car, oblivious to the other people rushing over and the cries of alarm from witnesses. Then she saw him. He was lying on the ground between the car and one of the parked vehicles, his body curled protectively around the little girl. Neither one of them was moving. As Sam approached them, her heart in her throat, the child whimpered and then began crying. A moment after that, Daniel stirred. Sam went to her knees beside them.
"Daniel?" Sam inquired shakily. The archeologist groaned and started to sit up. "No! Don't move. Something could be broken. Just stay there."
"No, I'm okay, Sam. Just a little bruised." Daniel sat up fully, wincing slightly. He looked down at the little girl, who was clinging to him like a limpet, wailing at the top of her voice. He stroked her hair soothingly. "Shh. It's okay, sweetheart," he crooned. "You're safe now."
Just then, another voice rose above everything else.
"Lisa!" screamed a female voice. "Lisa!" A woman fought through the crowd. When she saw the child in Daniel's arms, she let out a shriek and fell to her knees beside them. She tried to grab the little girl, but Sam stopped her.
"No, don't!" she warned. "She might be injured."
"Lisa? Lisa, baby, are you okay?"
The child finally noticed her mom. "Mommy!" She pulled out of Daniel's grasp and flung herself into her mother's arms. The sobbing woman rocked her daughter, holding onto her tightly.
Daniel shifted his position so that he could sit up against one of the cars. Sam noticed that he was favoring his left arm and seemed to be having problems with his leg.
"Daniel, are you sure you're all right?" Sam asked, still terribly worried that he might be seriously injured.
"Yeah. The car didn't hit me, Sam. I just got a little banged up when I threw myself up onto the trunk of this car," he pointed at the one he was sitting against, "to avoid getting clobbered." He looked at the car that had nearly hit him. "How's the driver? I think he must have had a heart attack or something. I saw that he was slumped over the wheel as he was coming down the aisle. That's how I knew something was wrong."
"It looked like he was unconscious."
At that moment, they heard the sound of approaching sirens. A few moments later, emergency vehicles came hurrying down the aisle. The crowd moved back to let them through. EMTs and firefighters were soon swarming all over the place. One EMT knelt beside the little girl and her mother as another one went to Daniel.
"How are you doing, sir?" the man asked.
"I'm all right, just a bit bruised."
"Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to check you out anyway."
Daniel gave him a nod.
As the man checked the archeologist's pupils and vitals, he asked what happened. Daniel gave his account of the events.
"Okay, so where does it hurt?" the EMT asked.
"My left shoulder and hip," Daniel replied.
The EMT palpated the areas and asked a few more questions. "Okay, I don't think there are any fractures or dislocations, but you should go to the hospital just to be sure."
"How's the little girl? Is she okay?" Daniel asked.
The EMT turned to his partner, and they conversed in low voices. The man treating Daniel then turned back to him with a smile.
"She's just fine, thanks to you, just a little shaken up. You probably saved her life."
"And the driver?"
"I don't know. I'll go check and see what the other team has to say."
The EMT left to ask about the driver. He returned a few minutes later. This time, he was not smiling.
"Their guess is that the driver suffered a stroke. They're preparing him for transport now. It's impossible to guess the prognosis at this time." He studied Daniel closely. "Are you going to be able to stand all right with that hip?"
"Yeah, I've had a lot worse."
Daniel got to his feet with the man's help, then helped Sam up, whose leg was beginning to throb. The EMT noticed that she was in pain.
"Are you all right, ma'am?"
"Yes. It's an injury I received a few days ago," she replied. "I've already been treated."
A police officer came up and got Daniel's statement. Once that was done, Daniel went looking for and found his glasses, which had fallen off when he threw himself onto the trunk of the car. The glasses had managed to escape without a scratch, so he put them on. Then he and Sam headed for his car. They were stopped by someone calling out. They turned to see the mother of the girl he had saved running up to them. She came to a stop before them and grabbed Daniel's hands.
"How can I ever thank you for what you did? You saved my baby's life."
"You don't need to thank me," he told her. "I'm just glad that I was there to help."
The woman gave him a hug and kissed his cheek. "God bless you," she whispered. Then she returned to her daughter.
Sam gave Daniel a smile full of pride. "Come on, hero. We need to get you to Janet so she can look you over."
"I'm fine, Sam," he insisted.
"Uh huh. Even if that is true, do you really want to explain that to Janet when you come limping onto base Monday morning and she asks you why you didn't come in for an exam?"
Daniel thought about that. "Good point."
Sam watched him closely as he limped to the car. Noticing her regard, he smiled ruefully.
"I guess we're a matched pair now." He pointed at her left leg, which she was also favoring.
"Yes, I guess we are. So, does this mean that we'll be taking care of each other for the next few days?"
Daniel smiled. "Actually, once Jack finds out what happened, we'll be lucky if he doesn't try to make us both go to his house for the rest of the week to keep us out of trouble."
Fortunately, since it was Daniel's left hip that was injured, it didn't cause a problem with him driving, though he did drive one-handed most of the way because of the throbbing in his shoulder.
"Okay, what did you do to yourself this time," were the first words out of Janet's mouth when she saw the archeologist limp into the infirmary.
"Saved a child from getting hit by a car," Sam answered before Daniel could say anything.
The doctor looked at Daniel sharply, then ordered him to get up on one of the exam tables. She then got the whole story from him. Sam went and sat in a chair across the infirmary as the linguist was examined. He was then taken to X-ray. While he was gone, Jack showed up.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked. "I heard that Daniel got hurt."
Amazed at the speed of the base grapevine, Sam told her C.O. what happened.
Jack shook his head. "I swear that guy wears a magnet around his neck that attracts trouble."
"Well, if he hadn't been there, sir, that little girl would probably be dead. This time, it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. He did good, Colonel."
Jack nodded. "Yes, he did."
Daniel was returned a few minutes later. A short while after that, Janet came over.
"Well, he got off pretty lightly this time," the doctor explained. "His hip is only mildly bruised. It'll be sore for a couple of days, but he shouldn't have any real trouble with it. The bruise on his shoulder is deeper and more painful. It's going to be sore for a good week, but it isn't bad enough to require any special attention, except for him taking it a little easy on that arm. He is very lucky that he didn't get hit by that car. He could have been seriously injured."
"I don't think luck had anything to do with it, Janet," Sam told her. "It was Daniel's fast reaction to the situation and his quick thinking."
Jack smiled rather smugly. "Well, what do you expect? He had a great teacher."
The colonel insisted on taking his teammates out to lunch. Daniel hit the showers first to clean the grime of the parking lot asphalt off and change into clean clothes.
As they ate, Jack caught them up on news at the SGC, being careful, of course, to use the 'code speak' that they had created for situations when they were talking about such things in public where they might be overheard. He then asked if Daniel and Sam had done anything interesting. They were careful not to say anything about Pete's visit, neither one of them wanting to get into that conversation with the colonel.
After they'd finished eating, Jack just about ordered Daniel and Sam to come over to his house, just as the archeologist had predicted. They agreed, but made it clear that they would not be spending the night.
The afternoon was spent watching a hockey game, the colonel making a point of reminding his two youngest teammates that it was his house and his TV this time. Afterwards, he and Teal'c left to get dinner for everyone.
"How are you doing?" Sam asked Daniel. She had noticed him shifting uncomfortably a few times during the game and that he was still favoring his left arm.
"Okay. Just a little sore."
"Did Janet give you anything for the pain?"
"Just some Tylenol."
"Well, that must have worn off by now. I'm sure the colonel has some." She started to get up to go fetch it.
"I can get it, Sam."
"Daniel, you've been taking care of me for the past five days. The least I can do is go get you some Tylenol. Right now, you probably hurt more than I do."
She went and got the pills and a glass of water for the archeologist. Sam watched him down the medication, thinking about how much worse it could have been.
"This was a real close one, Daniel," she murmured. "If you'd been just a second or two slower, you probably wouldn't have made it out of the way of that car. For a minute, I—" She broke off abruptly.
Daniel gazed at her intently. "Sam?"
The major gave a sigh that was a little unsteady. "For a minute, I thought you were dead. I was afraid that I'd see your body—" Her voice halted again.
Daniel took her hand and squeezed it. "But I'm not, Sam. I'm fine. I may have used up another one of those nine lives of mine, but I'm fine."
Sam forced a smile to her lips. "Daniel, you must have way more than only nine lives. You used up that many a long time ago."
Daniel smiled. "Yeah, you're right. This was probably life number sixteen or seventeen."
"Or eighteen or nineteen."
They both laughed. Sam was the first to turn serious.
"Just don't ever run out of them, okay?" she said, her voice very quiet. "Not until you're at least ninety."
Daniel pulled her into a brief hug. "I'll do my best, Sam. But you have to do the same."
"Deal."
Jack and Teal'c returned half an hour later with dinner. They were all in the midst of eating when Daniel suddenly remembered about the groceries sitting in the trunk of his car, which was presently in the parking lot of the SGC.
"I completely forgot about them," he berated himself.
"Well, heck, Daniel. I can't figure out why. I mean, you only nearly got run over by a car while saving a little girl's life," Jack said sarcastically.
"I forgot all about them, too," Sam admitted.
"Well, most of the stuff will be okay, but the meat will be ruined," Daniel said. "I'll have to go shopping again in the morning."
"Ah! You're doing no such thing," Jack told him emphatically. "After I take you two back to Carter's place tonight, I'll take Teal'c back to the base and get the groceries out of your car. Whatever's salvageable I'll bring over in the morning. I'll go shopping and replace anything that went bad."
"What about my car?" Daniel asked.
"We can go get it in the morning when I bring the food over."
That having been settled, they finished dinner. It turned out that Jack had bought a pecan pie, which they all enjoyed afterwards.
"So, when are you two coming back to base?" Jack asked after taking a bite of his piece.
"Monday," the two scientists answered in unison.
Jack looked at Daniel. "You're going to be staying with Carter until then?"
"No, I'll be going home Friday night."
"Pete's coming over on Saturday," Sam explained, then immediately wanted to bite her own tongue out.
"Ah," Jack said, a wealth of meaning in that single word. "Soooo, I'm guessing he doesn't know that Daniel has been staying with you."
Daniel and Sam looked at each other.
"Um, well, he . . . kind of found out, sir," Sam admitted reluctantly.
Jack's arms crossed over his chest, his attention now focused with disconcerting intensity on the two youngest members of his team. "Oh, really. That must have been . . . interesting."
"You could say that," Sam muttered.
"All right, so out with it, Major."
"I'd really rather not, sir."
Jack's eyes narrowed dangerously. "He didn't do anything to hurt you, did he?"
"No! No, of course not!" Sam hastily told him. "He just got angry, that's all. After I talked to him for a while and explained everything, he calmed down. Everything's all right now."
"You sure?"
"Yes, sir, I'm positive."
Jack turned to Daniel. "Daniel?"
"I wasn't there, Jack. After Pete showed up, I thought it would be a good idea if I made myself scarce."
Jack's expression turned angry. "You left Carter alone with that guy?"
Before Daniel could reply, Sam jumped in. "Don't, Colonel," she said firmly, a hard, razor-sharp tone in her voice that shocked Jack. She'd never spoken like that to him before. "Daniel did the right thing in leaving. His presence would have made things worse. He had no reason to believe that I was in danger from Pete, which I wasn't."
Jack stared at her, surprised by the intensity of her defense of the archeologist. Something was going on here. He looked back and forth between Sam and Daniel, trying to spot something. Daniel's eyes were cast downward, his face wearing a neutral expression, the one that Jack always had a hard time seeing past.
"Is there something else you two should be telling me?" he asked.
Sam shook her head. "No, sir. Nothing else happened."
"Daniel?"
The archeologist finally lifted his head and met Jack's gaze. For a brief instant, the older man saw something undefinable flicker in Daniel's eyes. Then it was gone. "Everything's fine, Jack. No other problems."
Jack stared at him for several seconds. Daniel met his stare, not backing down. "Okay. But if there's a problem, I want to know about it, especially if it's something that could affect the team."
The scientists both nodded.
They all finished their dessert, then Jack drove Daniel and Sam back to Sam's place. The colonel told Teal'c to accompany her into the house. Daniel didn't have to be a genius to figure out that Jack wanted to talk with him alone.
Jack waited until the other two team members were inside, then he turned to the younger man. "Okay, what's going on?"
"Nothing's going on, Jack."
"Don't give me that. Carter just about jumped down my throat when I got ticked off that you left her alone with that Pete guy. I know she usually takes your side when we have an argument, but she's never reacted that way before."
"Well, I guess you need to ask her about that, Jack. Maybe it was because she knew that you were getting angry for no good reason again and wanted to stop things before they got started."
Jack studied his friend. The archeologist had adopted a defensive posture and was as tight as a bowstring. There was no doubt that something was going on with him. Jack just couldn't figure out what it was. One thing was for sure, though. The stony expression on Daniel's face made it clear that the man was not going to tell him what was up, no matter how much Jack bullied him. The colonel knew when a strategic retreat was in order.
"All right, Daniel. I won't push it, but if this is something that's going to cause a problem with the team, I expect you and Carter to work it out."
"There's nothing for us to work out, Jack. Nothing has changed from how it was before."
The two men went into the house. Sam's eyes immediately went to Daniel's face, then Jack's, trying to read their expressions.
'It's just my luck that I'm teamed with two . . . make that three men who could all win awards in the poker face category,' she grumbled to herself.
"Well, we'll let you kids get some shuteye," Jack said. "I'll see you tomorrow morning around ten. Come on, T. Let's boogie."
"What is 'boogie', O'Neill?" Teal'c asked as they headed out the door. Jack's reply was cut off by the closing of the door behind them.
Sam looked more closely at Daniel. "Daniel, is everything okay? The colonel didn't yell at you for leaving me alone with Pete, did he?"
"No. Everything's fine. He just wanted to make sure things were going okay. Excuse me. I need to use the bathroom."
Sam watched Daniel limp to the bathroom and shut the door. She had a feeling that something was still wrong, that something was still bothering him.
Sighing, Sam headed for her bedroom, wishing that he would confide in her. She recalled all the times that Daniel acted as her confidant. It was he who offered her advice and support throughout the incident with Cassie when they discovered that the orphaned girl was being used as a Goa'uld booby trap. He was the one Sam turned to when she learned that her father had cancer and again when Jolinar's memories were being uncovered during the mission to rescue Jacob from Netu. After Sam's kidnapping by Adrian Conrad, it was Daniel who sat with her as she confessed to him about the fear she'd felt. So many times he had been her listening ear, her shoulder to cry on, yet he so seldom opened up about his own pain and fear. Instead, he kept it all locked up inside. Sam wished that she knew a way to get him to let it out, to let her be as much of a confidant for him as he was for her. She couldn't help but think that if he told her what was bothering him, she might be able to help him find a resolution.
