CHAPTER EIGHT
Daniel entered the brig, his teammates at his side. Osiris had asked to see him. Though he would rather have had nothing more to do with her, he was a little curious about what she wanted.
"Daniel Jackson. I am pleased that you have agreed to speak with me," the Goa'uld said.
"What do you want, Osiris?" Daniel asked.
She looked at the others with an expression of scorn. "What I have to say is to you alone."
"Too bad, because we're not going anywhere," Jack told her.
Daniel looked at him. "It's all right, Jack. She can't hurt me."
"Daniel."
"It'll be fine. I'll be out in a few minutes."
Jack hesitated before nodding. He, Sam and Teal'c then left. Daniel turned back to Osiris.
"Why do you allow those who are inferior command you?" the Goa'uld asked.
"I don't consider them to be inferior. They're human beings, just like I am, like Sarah is."
"Your powers make you superior. They are nothing, but you have the power of a god."
"Ah, now I'm back to being a god, huh?"
Osiris smiled. "Your power makes you great, Daniel. It could destroy the Goa'uld."
Daniel did not miss the fact that Osiris had called him by his first name. Already guessing that she was going to try to talk him into something, he remained silent.
"I know that is what you and your people want," she continued, "to see an end to the Goa'uld. I could help you. If you release me, we could work together to destroy the other System Lords. With my knowledge and your power, we would be unstoppable."
"And what would you get out of it?"
"I would only ask that, once Anubis is defeated, I be given the territories and armies he possesses. Such a small thing to ask." Osiris smiled again. "As a gesture of my good faith, I will even move to another host so that Sarah will be free. I know that is what you desire."
Daniel shook his head slightly. "Even if I was interested in your offer, Osiris, I know exactly what would happen if I took it. If we did actually manage to get rid of all the other System Lords, including Anubis, and you took over control of Anubis' armies and territories, sooner or later you'd target Earth. You wouldn't be able to stand having us around, and you'd know that, once we were gone, you could have everything, which is what you want. No Goa'uld can ever be satisfied unless they have it all. Not only that, you'd want revenge against me for beating you. So, no deal, Osiris. I'm not that stupid. Now, if this is the only reason why you wanted to see me, I'm just going to leave, because I have much better things to do."
Osiris' expression changed. "I will see you die, Doctor Jackson," she said, her voice now cold, hard and full of hatred. "I will see you suffer slowly and painfully."
Just then, two Tok'ra came in. Daniel met the Goa'uld's eyes one last time. "No, Osiris, you won't." Then he walked out of the room.
A few hours later, Daniel entered the infirmary. He went to the bed where Sarah lay. Sitting on the edge, he gazed down at her. She was free. Sarah was free. Though delighted, Daniel's joy was bittersweet. He was glad that he'd managed to do things right and make it possible for the Goa'uld to be removed from Sarah, but, at the same time, he couldn't help but think about how he failed to do the same for Sha're.
At that moment, Sarah awoke with a start.
"It's all right. You're safe." he told her soothingly, reaching out to touch her.
"Daniel?"
"I'm here," he said as she sat up. "It's all over." Their arms came around each. "You're free."
Sarah began to cry. "I'm so sorry."
"Shhh. It's not your fault.
"I couldn't stop it."
"We're gonna get you through this."
Daniel held onto her, stroking her back comfortingly. Now would come the hard part, trying to help Sarah recover from her ordeal and cope with what happened. He swore to himself that he would do whatever he could to get her through it.
Sam watched Daniel and Sarah from the doorway of the infirmary, surprised at the jealousy that she was feeling. Why on Earth was she jealous? There was no reason for it. For one thing, Daniel was just a friend, not a boyfriend, and, for another, he was simply giving Sarah comfort. They weren't romantically involved, hadn't been for years.
That's when an unpleasant thought came to Sam. Just because they weren't involved now didn't mean that they might not start seeing each other again. Unlike her situation with Pete, Daniel wouldn't have to keep the Stargate a secret from Sarah. She already knew all about it and the Goa'uld. That fact would definitely be an advantage to having a relationship with her.
Sam didn't understand why the thought of Daniel becoming involved with Sarah bothered her so much. He certainly deserved to have someone in his life, someone to love like that. So why didn't she like the idea of him renewing his romance with Sarah? Maybe it was just because Sam would always equate Sarah with Osiris.
Her jealousy couldn't possibly have anything to do with her own failed relationship with Pete, could it? Could she be so petty that she wouldn't want to see Daniel have a successful relationship with someone just because her own attempt at a relationship had failed? Sam didn't want to believe that.
Janet came up to Sam, her eyes on Sarah. "She's going to have a long, hard road ahead of her."
"Yes, I can imagine so. I remember what it was like to deal with having been taken as a host, and I was one for only a short while, and it was to a Tok'ra, not a Goa'uld. She's been a host for three years. Who knows how many awful things the symbiote made her do during that time."
"Daniel is determined to see her through it the whole way. He wants to postpone his vacation until after she's well enough to handle things on her own."
"But that could be weeks, even months."
Janet sighed. "I know."
Sam shook her head. "He's always doing that. He's always putting other people ahead of himself. Sometimes, I wish he wouldn't. He has gotten hurt so many times because of it."
"Yet he'll keep right on doing it."
"I know."
Janet turned to the major. "Are you okay, Sam?"
"Me? Sure. Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know. You tell me. When I saw you this morning, I could tell that something was wrong."
Sam gave a deep sigh. "I broke up with Pete yesterday."
"Why?"
"He ran a background check on me."
"What? Why did he do that?"
"Because he couldn't accept that I wouldn't tell him all about my job. He's a cop, and he let his curiosity take over."
Janet touched her friend's arm. "I'm sorry, Sam."
"Me too. But I know that it wouldn't have worked between us anyway. I was already having doubts before this happened."
"Oh?"
"Don't get me wrong. I liked Pete a lot, and I really enjoyed our time together, but we couldn't connect at all when it came to my love for science, and that is such an important facet of my life that I think that, sooner or later, the fact that I couldn't share that interest with him would have gotten frustrating for me. And there were other big differences between us that might have caused friction as well. I need to find someone who shares my passion for science or at least somebody I can talk to about it without them spacing off, or cutting me off, or changing the subject because they're bored or don't understand. I need a guy who really understands me and likes all of me for who and what I am, someone I can connect with, both emotionally and mentally."
Janet couldn't help but look over at the two people across the room. Everything that Sam had just said she wanted in a man was sitting right there beside Sarah Gardner. Janet knew what kind of friendship Sam had with Daniel. It was a very special and extremely close one. They were soul mates. Many people thought that you could only be soul mates with someone you were in love with, but that wasn't true, though Janet hoped that Sam was in love with Daniel, just as he was in love with her.
"Do you think that I'm asking for the impossible?" Sam queried.
Janet turned back to Sam, extremely tempted to tell her friend that she didn't have to look any further than the man sitting across the room. But she didn't have the right to do so. However, it didn't hurt to drop little hints.
"No, not at all," she replied. "I think that you could find the perfect guy if you just look in the right place. For all you know, he might be right under your nose."
Daniel got up and came toward them, a frown on his face. Sarah appeared to have gone back to sleep.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked him.
"Sarah told me that she thinks it would be best if she tried to get through this without my help," Daniel replied.
"Why?"
"Because I remind her so strongly of what happened to her. Whenever she sees me, she remembers what Osiris did to me, and that makes her think of everything else. I guess I can understand her feelings. Maybe it would be best for her to get help from someone who has no connection to what happened to her."
The doctor nodded. "I think you may be right."
"Do me a favor though, Janet."
"What's that?"
"Don't have her talk to MacKenzie. She needs someone who cares."
"I couldn't agree more."
Daniel and Sam left the infirmary and went to his office.
"So, how are you doing?" Sam asked. "This whole thing can't be easy on you."
Daniel sat down. "Oh, I'm all right, glad it's over."
"Yeah, I bet. I'm really happy that you saved Sarah, Daniel. It must make you feel good."
Daniel nodded slightly. "Yes, it does, though. . . ."
"You can't help but think about Sha're," Sam guessed.
"Yeah." The archeologist gave a sigh. "But I can't live my life dwelling on all the 'if-onlys' anymore. I did that for a lot of years, and it just made me miserable."
"I know what you mean. I have a whole lot of 'if-onlys' in my life."
Daniel turned searching eyes on her. "Is Pete one of them?"
Sam thought about it before answering. "Yes and no. I'm sorry that things didn't work out between us, and if it had ended another way than it did, I'd have been really upset. But it makes me feel better that it didn't end because I couldn't make it work," Sam smiled, "or because Pete ended up dead like just about every other guy I've been interested in over the last six plus years."
Daniel also smile. "Yes, that is a plus, especially for Pete."
Sam's smile changed to one of gratitude. "Thank you for staying with me yesterday. It helped a lot."
"I'm glad that I could help." Daniel's expression became very serious. "I'd do anything for you, Sam. You know that, don't you?"
Sam nodded. "I know, Daniel. I feel the same way."
The archeologist's eyes dropped from hers, focusing on something that was on the desk.
Sam took a seat, deciding to talk about something happier. "So, have you had any thoughts on where we're all going on our vacation?"
Daniel looked at her closely. "We?"
Sam smiled. "Uh huh."
"I wasn't sure if you'd want to go, considering what happened with Pete."
"No, I want to go, Daniel. It'll be fun."
The linguist rewarded her statement with a big smile. "Good. It will be great to have you with us. As to where we're going, I haven't given it much thought. Jack will probably nix just about every idea I have."
As if speaking his name had conjured him up, Daniel at that moment felt Jack approaching. Teal'c was with him.
"Hey, kids," the colonel greeted as he and the Jaffa came in a moment later. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Actually, sir, we were talking about where we're all going to go on our vacation," Sam replied.
Jack looked at her sharply. "All of us?"
"All of us."
A big smile lit Jack's face. "Sweet. So, where are we going?"
"I don't know, Jack," Daniel answered. "I guess we need to decide on a place that will make us all happy."
Jack shook his head. "No, this is for you, Daniel. You decide."
Daniel's eyebrows rose. "You mean you'll agree with whatever I decide?"
"Yep."
"I can pick anywhere?"
"Anywhere. Hammond said that we can even go off-world if we want to. He figures that the SGC owes you at least that much. Remember, though, that we only have a week, that is unless you've changed your mind about that."
"No, a week is long enough."
"Okay, so what's it gonna be? Where are we going to go?"
Daniel thought about it for a while. "Fishing," he finally replied.
The mouths of his teammates all fell open, even Teal'c's.
"Did you say . . . fishing?" Jack asked, hardly believing what he'd heard.
"Uh huh. Well, actually, I doubt that I'd be doing much fishing, but you can. Sam and I can go exploring, I'll have some artifacts to play with, and I'm sure that Teal'c will be able to find something to do, too."
"Daniel, where are you thinking of going?" Sam asked.
The archeologist smiled. "M4A-826"
Sam also got a smile. "Daniel, that's perfect!"
Confused, Jack looked at the two scientists. "What? What's perfect? Which planet is M4A-826"
"Remember the amusement park, sir?"
"The. . . ." Jack's eyes widened in remembrance. "You mean that place that was sitting right on the shore of that big, beautiful lake?"
Daniel nodded, smiling. "The lake with all the fish."
Jack's face split into a grin. "Daniel, I gotta hand it to you. I couldn't think of a better place to go."
And so it was that, two days later, SG-1 went to M4A-826. The planet was one of the addresses that Jack had input into the computer when he was carrying the knowledge of the Ancients in his mind, which meant that it was one the Goa'uld never visited. About a mile from the gate, there were some ruins that looked as if they had once been some kind of amusement park. SG-1 only had two days to explore the place last time, and Daniel always wanted to go back. So did Jack, but not because of the ruins. It was because of the lake beside which the ruins sat He'd wanted to fish that lake in the worst way, especially after he caught sight of the size fish it contained. Now, they were going to have a whole week there, and they weren't on a mission.
Upon arriving, the first thing SG-1 did was find a good place to set up camp. Because they were on vacation, they were not going to be living on MREs. Jack had brought a camp stove and lots of real food. He'd wanted to bring a BBQ grill along, too, but Hammond flat out refused to allow him to haul something like that through the gate. As it was, the general made noises about the four-man inflatable raft Jack had insisted on bringing, not to mention the lounge chairs, fishing gear, beer-filled cooler, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Because of all the camping equipment and everything else, it had been necessary to take a FRED along to carry it all. When Hammond started to complain, Jack just pointed at Daniel. The general took one look at the happy, excited glow on the archeologist's face and shut up.
The moment camp was set up, Jack was off fishing, claiming that he was going to catch their lunch. Sam, Daniel and Teal'c headed off to explore the ruins. When Teal'c chose to linger in the alien version of a fun house, Daniel and Sam moved on ahead. They discovered a maze and decided to split up and see who could find the end first.
After wandering around for about fifteen minutes and running into numerous dead ends, Daniel finally spotted the exit. He ran for it . . . and collided right into Sam, who had also been running to the same destination.
The two scientists nearly fell, grabbing onto each other to stay upright. His arms around Sam, Daniel looked into her eyes. The desire to kiss her rose up so suddenly and strongly that it took every ounce of willpower he possessed to successfully fight the urge. Instead, he released her and stepped back a pace.
Sam stood unmoving for several seconds. The feelings that just went whirling through her had left her deeply shaken. She had just come so close to kissing Daniel that it actually scared her to think about it. She had wanted so badly to pull his mouth down to hers and kiss him till they both couldn't breathe. Sam could not remember ever being hit that hard with desire. Feeling his firm, muscular body against hers, his arms tight around her, had sent her temperature up several degrees. And his eyes. They'd fairly burned into her, like twin lasers cutting through flesh and bone and into her soul. That look had nearly made her lose her head, sending a feeling rushing through her unlike anything she'd ever before experienced.
Desperate to put out of her mind what just happened, Sam said, "I guess it's a tie."
"What? Oh, um, yes, I guess it is," Daniel responded distractedly. "Come on. Let's get out of here."
