CHAPTER THREE
If, a few months ago, anybody had told Jack that he was going to be nervous about a hand-to-hand combat workout with Daniel, he'd have called them nuts. But then, several months ago, Daniel hadn't lifted a barbell that would give Teal'c a hernia. Jack kept telling himself over and over again that the archeologist had not physically lifted that much weight, that his telekinetic abilities had done most of the work. He also kept telling himself that Daniel would not be using that ability in today's workout. In fact, that was the whole point of this exercise, to prove to Daniel that he didn't have to worry about accidentally using his abilities during a workout. But Jack was still nervous. He couldn't back out, though, for two reasons. Reason number one was his pride. Reason number two was that, if he did, it would show Daniel that he wasn't certain that the archeologist could maintain control, and that would do a number on Daniel's self-confidence. No, he had to go through with this. He just hoped that his own confidence in his friend's control would not prove to be misplaced.
Jack got to the gym about fifteen minutes before he was supposed to meet Daniel there. Teal'c was with him. There were a few people working out on the weights. Jack had decided that it would be best if nobody witnessed this workout just in case something went wrong. That was the reason for Teal'c being here. He would keep everyone out.
One by one, Jack asked the other men to leave. Though they were curious, they did so without question. The last man had just departed when Daniel came in. He looked around in surprise.
"Where is everybody?" he asked. "And why is Teal'c standing outside the door like a nightclub bouncer?"
"I figured that you might not want an audience for this," Jack explained.
"Oh." Daniel looked at Jack closely. "We don't have to do this, you know."
"I know."
Daniel gave a short nod. "So, um . . . are we going to do anything different?"
"Nope, same as always."
The two men got into position and began their workout. Three times Jack tried to get Daniel onto the mat, and three times the younger man dodged away from him. After the fourth try, Jack stopped.
"Daniel, you're running away."
Daniel cast his eyes to the floor. "I know. I'm just. . . ."
"Stop worrying, will you? It'll be fine. Now, come on. Let's do this right."
Daniel drew in a deep breath. "Okay." He assumed a combat-ready stance. Concentrate. He had to concentrate. As long as he stayed focused, paid attention, he would not lose control of his abilities.
That thought in mind, Daniel let everything else fade out of his awareness until there was nothing but him and Jack. This was not the first time that Daniel had focused his attention so utterly on something. He'd learned the trick many years ago and had used it more than once in his work, particularly when attempting to decipher some linguistic puzzle. Daniel knew that some athletes could do something similar, referring to it as being "in the zone," but this was the first time that he'd used the technique during a physical activity.
His mind focused entirely on Jack, Daniel waited for the man to make his move. It came an instant later. Three seconds after that, Jack was lying flat on his back after having been neatly flipped by Daniel. Surprised but unhurt, Jack held out his hand and let Daniel help him off the floor. Saying nothing, the men faced off again.
It was Daniel who attacked the second time. Before Jack even realized that he was vulnerable, Daniel had slipped under his guard and pulled him down to the mat, locking him into an unbreakable grip. Again, Jack said nothing as he rolled away and stood, though he knew that something was going on. Daniel had never taken him down two times in a row. Looking at Daniel's expression, he knew that the man was also aware that this was not normal.
The third time, Jack took the initiative first. He managed to get hold of Daniel and had him down on the mat. But, at the last second, before Jack could complete his move, Daniel somehow broke his hold, grasped his arm and flipped him over onto his stomach. Planting his knee in Jack's back and holding the older man's arm twisted up behind him, he wrapped his free hand around Jack's throat and applied just enough pressure to make Jack stop attempting to get free. Knowing that he was beat, Jack ceased struggling. Daniel instantly released him.
As Jack got up onto his knees, he looked at Daniel. There was an expression on the younger man's face that was part confusion, part fear.
"Daniel? What's going on?" Jack asked him.
"I, uh . . . I don't know."
"Well something is going on because you have never taken me down three times in the same workout, much less three times in a row."
"Don't you think I know that?" Daniel exclaimed. He got to his feet and walked over to where his towel was. Jack followed him.
"Daniel?" the colonel softly inquired.
"I don't know what it is, Jack," Daniel said quietly.
"Could it be that sixth sense thing?"
"Maybe. I guess. I just somehow knew what to do every time. It's like I was . . . 'reading' your body, sensing your weaknesses, how you were vulnerable. That last time, I knew that in the position you were in, your balance was off, and if I moved just so, I could get you off me. After that, I just used some techniques that you'd taught me to take you down."
Jack stared at him closely. "Anything else, Daniel? Because I gotta tell ya. If I didn't know better, I'd swear that you knew almost every move I was going to make before I ma. . . . Wait a minute. I don't know better, do I?" Daniel's silence answered him. "You were predicting what I was going to do before I did it, weren't you."
"Maybe a little, just . . . just a second before."
"Which would make it pretty darn near impossible for me or anyone else you were fighting to get the upper hand. You can't beat a guy who knows what you're going to do before you do it."
Daniel's head dropped. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry? What for? Daniel, this is fantastic. I'll never have to worry about you being able to handle yourself in a fight again."
Daniel shook his head. "I don't think it would be this way in a real fight. I was worried about accidentally using my telekinetic abilities, and I figured that if I was completely focused on you and the workout, it was less likely to happen. I zoned everything else out. I was so focused on you that I wasn't even aware of my surroundings. In a real fight, it wouldn't be that way. There would be distractions, other concerns."
Jack nodded. "Yes, you're right about that." He made a sudden decision. "I think I need to explain something to you, Daniel, probably something I should have told you a long time ago. Have you ever wondered why, after all these years of being trained by both me and Teal'c, you rarely ever managed to beat me?"
"Because you're better than I am."
"Yes and no. I have more experience than you, but the one thing that keeps you from being better at hand-to-hand is that you don't want to fight. You don't have the heart for it. You lack the . . . killer instinct."
Daniel stared at the towel gripped in his hands.
"You've always preferred the peaceful way out of situations, Daniel, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's saved our lives and the lives of others more than once. But your reluctance to fight hinders your effectiveness in hand-to-hand. Deep down, you really don't want to learn how to hurt and kill with your hands. That's contrary to who you are. And, until that changes, which, quite frankly, I hope never happens, you will continue to fight with less skill than what you would be capable of if you had a different attitude." Jack smiled a little. "Of course, that's not counting what you just did." He clapped Daniel on the back. "Come on. I don't think there's anything else we need to prove here today."
Sam walked arm in arm with Pete down the pathway through the park. Last night's date had been fun, and, because she was on leave today, Pete had asked her out again. They had just seen one of her favorite old movies at the theater that played the classics every weekday afternoon.
"That was great," she said.
"Yeah, it was okay," Pete responded, not very enthusiastically. "I mean, the company was fine."
Sam looked at him. "Oh, come on. How can you not like Singing In The Rain?"
"I guess I've always been more of a Fred Astaire fan."
"It's a classic," Sam objected. She couldn't believe that Pete hadn't liked it.
"Whoa. Whoa there, lady. I believe the term 'classic' is reserved for the likes of The French Connection, Dirty Harry, Serpico."
Serpico? Dirty Harry? "Cop movies," she stated with a mental shake of her head.
"What's your point?" Pete asked, apparently clueless.
"Daniel liked it," Sam said, then wondered why in the world she had.
Pete stared at her narrowly. "Who's Daniel?"
"A friend of mine at work."
"And you took him to see that movie?"
"Well, no, I rented it for one of our evening get-togethers."
Pete came to a complete halt, staring at her. "Evening get-togethers? How many of these get-togethers do you have with this Daniel guy?"
Sam looked at him in surprise. "Pete, are you jealous?"
"Well, I don't know. Do I have reason to be? How much time do you spend with this guy?"
"I spend a lot of time with him. We work together. And, no, you have no reason to be jealous. He and I are just really good friends."
"Ah, so is he gay or something?"
"Pete! Why on Earth would you think that? No, he's not gay."
"Married?"
"Widower."
"Short, fat and hideously ugly?"
Sam laughed. "Tall, well-built and definitely not ugly."
Pete was silent for a moment. "Okay, then I'm jealous."
Sam laughed again and resumed walking, Pete keeping pace with her.
"I still can't believe that you didn't like Singing in the Rain," Sam said. "It's romantic."
"Watching a man dance around in the rain with an umbrella?"
Sam felt a bit of irritation arise, along with a healthy dose of disappointment in Pete's attitude. "Just because there were no guns or car chases."
"Or nudity."
God, he was being such a guy! "Yeah, well your chances of that are slim to none now, buddy," Sam told him, not keeping the irritation out of her voice.
Apparently, that finally clued Pete in on the fact that she was not happy and that if he wanted to get anywhere with her, he needed to change tactics. "Have I ever told you what a good dancer I am?"
Normally, Sam might have been amused by Pete's response, but she was too busy thinking about something else. Daniel had loved Singing in the Rain. Afterwards, they talked about the movie and how great a dancer Gene Kelly was. Sam found out that, years ago, Daniel saw another one of Kelly's movies, Brigadoon. They got into an in-depth discussion on the science fiction element of the story about a little village in Scotland that disappeared into the mist every night as the people slept, only to reappear a hundred years later. The two scientists had fun discussing it from the viewpoint of their respective fields of expertise, Sam theorizing how it could be scientifically possible given what they now knew and Daniel giving an anthropological viewpoint on a culture virtually untouched by time. It was a fun evening.
Comparing Pete's reaction to Daniel's made Sam truly realize how unlike Daniel was from a lot of other guys. Sam was certain that there were plenty of other men in the world who enjoyed movies like Singing in the Rain and Brigadoon, but how many of them would have had fun discussing one like she and Daniel did? Sam knew without a doubt that, if she started theorizing about the probabilities of a time traveling Scottish village with Pete, he'd change the subject . . . just like Jack.
That thought really startled Sam. Pete was nothing like the Colonel. Granted, like Jack, he apparently didn't have much interest in scientific discussions since every time that she started in on one, he changed the subject as quickly as he could, but unlike Jack, he never cut her off or tuned her out.
So, okay, Pete wasn't like Daniel, who would usually listen to her scientific rambling and even throw out some thoughts and ideas of his own, but not every guy could be as brilliant and attentive as Daniel.
A voice penetrated through Sam's thoughts. "Earth to Major Carter. Come in Major Carter."
Startled, Sam turned to Pete. "What? Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I spaced off there for a second."
"You know, some guys would take offense if their date was to zone out like that in their company," Pete said with a smile, showing her that he wasn't mad. "So, were they good thoughts? Like perhaps of a romantic evening together at your place?"
"Nope. Sorry. Romance was not a factor in my thoughts."
"Darn! Well, you can't blame a guy for trying."
Sam and Pete walked the rest of the way to her house. When they arrived, Pete told her that he was wrapping up the case he was presently working on there in Colorado Springs and that he put in for a two-week vacation so that he could spend more time with her. Sam was pleased and flattered that he'd done that. The kiss they exchanged afterwards started getting a little more passionate than Sam was comfortable with, however, and she gently broke away. Pete, of course, was disappointed. She knew that he was eager to take their relationship further, but Sam was not ready for that. She wanted to go slow.
Even though it was only seven o'clock, Sam gave the excuse that it was getting late, and she had to get up very early. Unfortunately, this led to Pete subtly expressing his doubts regarding what she did at work. It was clear that he didn't believe the deep space radar telemetry cover story, probably partly due to the fact that Sam hated lying to him, and it showed. This was one of the biggest drawbacks of dating someone outside the program. No matter how much you might want to, you couldn't tell them the truth. Daniel had been lucky that he married someone from whom he didn't have to keep the secret. On the other hand, if he'd married someone here on Earth, chances are that she'd still be alive.
Wondering why Daniel was once again creeping into her mind, Sam said goodbye to Pete and went into her house.
Sam frowned at the monitor, trying to figure out where she'd made a mistake. Something wasn't right. Going through the lines of code, she finally found her error and saw how stupid a mistake it had been. Shaking her head, she corrected the error.
With a sigh, Sam closed her eyes and massaged her temples. She wished that Daniel was here. Considering that there was absolutely nothing he could have done to help her, that was an odd thought. Nevertheless, it didn't stop her from making the wish. Over the past three days, she'd barely seen the archeologist. Of course, one of those days was her day off, so she didn't count that. It was the other two days that were on her mind. She and Daniel usually got together for at least one meal each day, but he hadn't been in the commissary for breakfast on those two days, and he hadn't stopped by her lab to drag her away for lunch either day. Yesterday afternoon, Sam went to Daniel's office to see if he'd like to take a break and get some dessert, but he told her that he had a lot of work to do. She noticed that he seemed to be having trouble looking at her.
Sam had heard about how much weight Daniel lifted in the gym, and she had also heard an unsubstantiated rumor that he and Jack got into a hand-to-hand combat workout and that Daniel "cleaned the colonel's clock." She wanted to talk about these things with him, but she'd gotten the impression that Daniel didn't feel like socializing, at least not with her.
Sam didn't know what was going on. Had she done something to make him angry at her? She couldn't figure out what it could have been. She just knew that she missed her friend. That, too, was odd considering that there had been times when she hadn't seen Daniel for several days, like when he was on a mission with another team, and it had never been that big of a deal as long as she knew that he was okay. Yet, here she was, missing him when he was merely one floor away from her.
Daniel was not the only thing on Sam's mind. She'd also been doing a lot of thinking about Pete. Ever since she compared him to Daniel and found him a little wanting, she had been wondering if he was the right guy for her. Pete had wanted to go on another date the following night, but Sam told him that she needed to work late for the next two nights. That was sort of true since they were really close to getting the frequency jamming device finished, and she wanted to complete it. But the real reason had been that she wanted to take a step back for a couple of days and think about her future with Pete. Could she have a long-term relationship with someone who had no interest in the science that was so much a part of her life? This was a question that Sam had asked herself about Jack, and the answer had been one of the reasons why she never did more than briefly entertain the idea of resigning from the Air Force to be with him.
It was her conversation with the hallucination of Jack on the Prometheus that drove Sam to say yes when Pete first asked her on a date. She had finally admitted to herself that she held onto her feelings for Jack because it was safe. As long as she was holding out for something that was unattainable, she wouldn't be taking the chance of getting hurt by becoming involved with someone else and then losing them. She had lost so many men she cared about, the worst of which being Daniel, though she got him back.
Now, why would she be adding Daniel to that list? She never had romantic feelings for him, not like she did for Narim, Martouf and, for a brief time, Orlin. Yes, okay, so she was feeling some physical attraction to him, but that was totally different. He was, after all, a very handsome man. It was only natural that she'd wonder what it would be like to have se— Whoa! Since when was she thinking about sex with Daniel? Kissing. She had been wondering what it would be like to kiss him again, not . . . not that other thing!
Sam was glad that there was no one else around right now since her face was flaming with embarrassment. This was getting out of hand. First, she wonders what a passionate kiss with Daniel would be like, now she's wondering how it would feel to make love with him.
Sam got up from the desk and left her lab. She hadn't been very hungry this morning, so she chose to skip breakfast. Now, she decided that she needed something to distract her.
In the commissary, Sam saw Teal'c in line and decided to join him. And then she saw Daniel. He was sitting at one of the tables, his face hidden by his crossed arms, which were resting on the tabletop. Sam was instantly concerned.
She and Teal'c got their food and went over to the table. Sam sat down beside Daniel and gently rubbed his back. His head lifted, and he looked at her. Sam was distressed by his appearance. The skin under his eyes was puffy, the eyes slightly bloodshot. He looked exhausted.
"Daniel? What's wrong?" she asked. "You look like you haven't slept in days."
"I haven't. Actually, I have slept, but all I do is dream, every night, all night long. I haven't had a good, restful sleep in five nights." Daniel rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.
"You aren't still dreaming about Sarah, are you?"
"Actually, yes, I am, and it makes no sense. The dreams just keep getting weirder and weirder. In the one I had last night, Sarah gave me a stone tablet that had Ancient written on it, and I could read it."
"What's so weird about that? You can read Ancient."
"But I couldn't back then. I looked at the tablet and instantly knew that Medieval Latin was a derivative of the language. That's not possible, not if these are really dreams from the past. Besides, I am certain that Sarah never showed me a tablet with Ancient on it."
"Perhaps you are attempting to reveal something to yourself," Teal'c suggested.
Daniel looked at him. "Like?"
Sam realized what the Jaffa was saying. "Like something from when you were ascended."
"Such as you prior vision of Bra'tac and Rya'c in danger," Teal'c said.
"The tablet sounds like it might be similar to the one you found when you were on Abydos."
"That was to lead to the Lost City of the Ancients."
"But didn't," Daniel reminded them. "You think that, somehow, I know the location of the Lost City, and I just don't remember?"
"If you have the dream again, perhaps you should translate the tablet," Teal'c recommended.
Daniel looked at Teal'c and Sam. He nodded his head faintly, rolled his eyes upward, and dropped his head back onto his arms.
'Poor Daniel,' Sam thought. "Have you tried to put yourself into a deeper state of sleep with biofeedback?"
"No, I don't want to take the chance. Every time I've tried to do that, I ended up having a vision of some kind. I'd rather not tempt fate."
"Daniel, you can't keep on going like this. You need sleep."
The archeologist lifted his head again. "I know." He let out a sigh. "Okay, if it happens again tonight, I'll try biofeedback tomorrow."
Daniel dragged himself out of bed with a groan and stumbled to the bathroom. Another night of dreams. In this one, he had made a lot of progress with translating the tablet. It definitely had to do with the Lost City of the Ancients, which excited him greatly. The problem was that, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't complete the translation. His dream self had tried for hours, Sarah encouraging him patiently and faithfully. It was very frustrating.
Daniel took a very long, hot shower in an attempt to wake up. It helped only a little. Forty minutes later, after having consumed two cups of coffee and placing a third one in the cupholder of his car, Daniel pulled out of his driveway and headed for work.
Over the past few days, Daniel had been avoiding Sam's company as much as possible in a effort to protect himself from pain. The problem was that he missed the time he spent with her as a friend, their meals together in the commissary, their conversations in her lab or his office. Not counting that talk with her and Teal'c at breakfast yesterday, he hadn't spent any real time with Sam in four days.
Daniel knew that he couldn't keep this up. He could not cut off his friendship with Sam to keep himself from hurting every time she talked about Pete. Her friendship was far too important to him. Once he'd gotten rid of these persistent dreams and had gotten some decent sleep, he'd have to ask her if she'd like to do something with him.
Upon arriving at the base, Daniel went straight to his office, having picked up breakfast on the way. The day dragged on endlessly, mostly because he was so tired. Jack came into the office at one point and told him that he should go home and to bed, but the archeologist figured that, if he did, he'd probably just have more dreams. Instead, he planned on making himself so exhausted that he couldn't help but sleep deeply. He was intending to get in a strenuous workout at the gym tonight for that very purpose.
Daniel had promised Sam that he would try the biofeedback tonight. Between it and the exhaustion, he was sincerely hoping that his brain would finally decide to call it quits with the dreams.
Sam parked outside her house. She got out of the car and picked up her mail. She was partway up the walkway when she spied something on her porch. That something proved to be a single red rose and a note from Pete. The note read, "Dinner at eight, surprise to follow. Dress up."
Sam went inside and put down the mail. She got a bud vase and put the rose in it. As she looked at the flower, she tried to decide whether or not she should go on the date. She really did like Pete. He was a good guy. Only four days ago, she had been thinking that they might just have something good together. Now, she wasn't so sure. But, regardless of her doubts, she couldn't just break thing off cold turkey. Pete deserved better than that.
Deciding to give her relationship with him another chance, Sam went into her bedroom to decide what to wear.
Teal'c was in the gym when Daniel got there. There were also a few other guys there, every one of whom looked at the archeologist. Choosing to ignore them, Daniel started his workout, being very careful not to use his telekinetic abilities. He was actually pleased upon finding out that he really was no stronger physically than he had been before all this stuff started.
Teal'c was bench pressing when Daniel took a seat beside him and started doing some arm curls. After a moment, he began talking with the Jaffa about his dreams. This led to Teal'c doing an impersonation of Sigmund Freud, attempting to decipher the reason for the dreams, which resulted in the linguist feeling even more frustrated. After taking a shower, he went back to his office and worked for a couple of hours, then headed home.
It was way too late to eat, and Daniel wasn't hungry anyway, so he decided to go straight to bed. He was so tired that he thought for sure that he'd fall instantly into a deep sleep, but he'd thought the same thing yesterday. This time, he wasn't going to take the chance.
Though it had been a while since he used biofeedback, Daniel had no trouble quickly lowering his brainwave pattern down to a theta frequency. He then slowly lowered it further. At last he reached a low delta frequency. Instead of falling asleep, however, Daniel let himself float in a peaceful, trance-like state as the minutes ticked by, letting the balance of his mind and body be restored after all those days of little to no delta sleep.
Daniel did not know how long he was like that when he became aware of something. Even in this state of having no awareness of his surroundings, his sixth sense was telling him that he was no longer alone. Instinct took over.
Daniel's eyes snapped open, and, with a quick, fluid motion that would have made Jack proud, he rolled off the bed onto the floor and came up into a crouch. His eyes met those of the surprisingly familiar intruder.
"Well, good evening, Doctor Jackson," Osiris said with a smile. "What a shame that you had to wake up. I suppose this means that our time together is at an end."
