CHAPTER NINE
Jack watched Daniel, Sam and Teal'c as they approached. They had just spent several hours in the ruins, and, apparently, they'd had a good time, or at least Daniel and Sam had. Big smiles were gracing the faces of the two scientists, and they were talking excitedly about something. It was a sight that made Jack happy.
When he found out that Sam had broken up with Pete and the reason for it, his first reaction was a desire to find the cop and punch his lights out for hurting Sam like that. His second reaction was a silent shout for joy. It was Daniel who imparted the news, and Jack had asked him if he now intended to do something about his feeling for the major, such as asking her out on a date. Daniel's reply was that he wasn't sure yet but that he'd think about it. Jack had been afraid that the archeologist would chicken out and never say anything. Seeing them now, though, perhaps there was hope that Daniel would let his feelings for Sam be known. It was just a question of when.
The three members of SG-1 came up to Jack.
"So, did you catch anything?" Daniel asked, a hint of doubt in his voice.
Jack grinned. "As a matter of fact. . . ." He opened up the cooler he'd brought to hold any fish he caught and showed his teammates the three beauties he'd managed to land.
"Wow. You actually caught some," Sam said.
Jack gave her a glare at the note of surprise in her voice. "Yes, Carter, I did, and, if you'll give me a bit more time, I'll catch another one so that we can each have one."
"I couldn't possibly eat a whole fish, Colonel."
"Don't worry about that. I'm sure that Teal'c will eat whatever you don't."
"That is if Teal'c likes it," Daniel said.
"Who wouldn't like freshly caught trout?" Jack looked at the fish, which bore no resemblance to trout or any other fish he'd ever seen. "Or whatever these are."
"Are we sure they'll be safe to eat?" Sam asked.
"Carter, there's no way that I'm not eating what I catch. If you don't want to take the chance, you can eat something else, though you'll really be missing out. I, for one, am looking forward to cooking these babies up."
Daniel's eyes were full of humor. "Proud of yourself, Jack?"
"O'Neill does, indeed, appear to be quite pleased with himself over his successful capture of these aquatic creatures," Teal'c stated.
"Hey, watch it or I'm going to make you two clean the fish," Jack groused. He then told all three of them to leave him be so that he could get back to his fishing.
Jack did manage to land another fish, and all four of them dined on the fruits of his labors for lunch.
The colonel patted his stomach contentedly, an expression of smug satisfaction on his face. "What did I tell ya? Pure ambrosia."
"Well, I wouldn't go that far, Jack," Daniel responded, "but, yes, it was pretty good."
"Yes, it was," Sam agreed.
"Indeed," Teal'c added.
Jack's smile turned into a grin. "Great!" He stood and picked up his fishing rod. "I'd better get busy catching our dinner."
"Dinner? Jack, you don't expect us to eat fish for every meal, do you?" Daniel asked.
"Well, no, of course not. We'll eat other stuff for breakfast."
"Sir, as much as I enjoyed the fish, I really don't want to eat it twice a day for the next week," Sam told her C.O.
"Why not? You go on a fishing trip, you catch fish, you eat fish. That's the whole point."
"Did you not say that fish are not important in fishing?" Teal'c reminded him.
Daniel and Sam fought back smiles as Jack tried to figure out how to answer.
"Uh, well, yes, I did say that, and it is true," he finally replied, "but if you do manage to catch fish, then you're supposed to eat them."
"Why don't you just catch and release, Jack," Daniel suggested. "Lots of fishermen do that." When Jack began to object, Daniel continued. "I'm with Sam. I don't want to eat fish twice a day every day we're here. We brought a whole bunch of other food with us. There's no point in letting it go to waste."
Jack heaved a big sigh. "Oh, all right. If you want to eat something else for dinner, go ahead. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to go catch my dinner."
For the rest of the afternoon, as Jack fished, the others continued to explore the ruins. Sam stayed with Daniel as he went into full archeologist mode and tried to figure out the culture that had built the amusement park. She found herself fascinated by the way his mind worked to piece together all the information and clues he gathered and create a logical theory about who the people that had lived there were.
"The roots of the amusement park industry can be traced clear back to medieval Europe," he explained. "Places called pleasure gardens were built on the outskirts of many major European cities. They had live entertainment, games, dancing, fireworks and primitive amusement rides. They were extremely popular up until the 1700's, when a lot of them closed due to political unrest. Not all of them did, however. One is actually still in operation today, north of Copenhagen. It opened in 1583 and is the world's oldest operating amusement park. The thing is, though, that stuff like this," he waved his hand around at the huge rides, many of which looked similar to roller coasters, "didn't start coming into existence until the mid ninetieth century, although they had large ice slides in Russia as far back as the seventeenth century."
"So, what are you saying?" Sam asked.
"I find it hard to believe that the Goa'uld were still taking people from Earth in the mid-1800's, which means that this culture developed this kind of amusement park independently from Earth." He gestured at some faded writing on a sign. "I don't recognize this language at all. I have no clue to its origin. Considering that this was a gate address not included in the Abydos cartouche, it could mean that this was a completely alien society, though, judging by what we've seen, they must have been humanoid and around our size."
Sam nodded, agreeing with him. "Any idea why this place was abandoned?"
"Well, it wasn't attacked. There's no sign of damage anywhere. Judging by the condition of the ruins, I'd say that this place was abandoned around a hundred years ago. My best guess would be that they either simply left this area or that they left the planet. I do have another theory, though."
"What's that?"
"On the UAV footage, we saw several other large ruins, but none of them looked like cities, and there is absolutely no sign of any kind of habitations in the area, with the exception of those buildings that looked like they might have been hotels of some kind. That could only mean that nobody lived here, which would, in turn, mean that the people who came to the amusement park were transported from some other area. The closeness of this place to the Stargate makes me wonder if it was visited by people on other planets."
"Are you saying that you think this whole planet was like some kind of vacation spot, that no one actually lived here permanently?"
Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. I just know that it appears that there wasn't a community living within the area that the UAV covered. But, if this was just some kind of . . . of pleasure planet, it may be that whoever developed it simply stopped coming here for some reason."
Sam looked around with new eyes. "Wow. A pleasure planet. And here I thought that the people of Earth loved to have fun."
Daniel grinned. "Come on. Let's go see what else we can find."
With a matching grin, Sam took off with Daniel to continue their exploration.
Jack felt suspiciously like a pleased papa as he watched Sam and Daniel chatting animatedly by the fire. It was really good to see his 'kids' so happy, and it was especially good to see Daniel and Sam spending such quality time together.
As he watched them, Jack had noticed Daniel gazing at Sam more than once with an expression of adoration on his face. It had always been when she wasn't looking, but Jack was positive now that the archeologist would soon make his move on her, perhaps even before this little vacation was over.
While everyone else ate cold fried chicken for dinner, the colonel dined on the fish that he caught, repeatedly remarking on how good it tasted.
"I'm glad you like the fish so much, Jack," Daniel said in amusement. "I, on the other hand, am looking forward to a nice juicy steak tomorrow night."
Jack sat up a little straighter. "Steak?"
"Uh huh. Four of the steaks we brought aren't frozen, so we'll have to eat them soon."
Jack made a dismissive noise. "You can have steak any old time. How often do you get the chance to eat freshly caught bass?"
"I thought they were like trout, sir," Sam said, also amused.
"Whatever. It's fish, caught today. It doesn't get any better than that."
Daniel and Sam shared a smile, then resumed eating their chicken.
The next day, the scientists decided to go for a hike. They invited Teal'c along, but he had been talked into trying his hand at fishing in a body of water that actually had fish. Leaving the Jaffa to suffer the colonel's obsession alone, Daniel and Sam filled their backpacks with what they thought they'd need and went hiking up into the nearby hills. It was a wonderful day, the archeologist and astrophysicist thoroughly enjoying their time together. Sam found herself wowed yet again by Daniel's vast storehouse of knowledge, only, this time, by his knowledge of geology.
"I didn't realize you were a geologist, too, Daniel," she remarked after he'd explained about the strata visible within the face of a rock wall they passed.
"I'm not really, but archeologists do need to know something about geology. It was one of my bachelor's degrees."
Sam smiled. "And how many bachelor's do you have, Doctor Jackson?"
"Um . . . a few."
Sam's smiled broadened. Daniel, in fact, had quite a number of bachelor's degrees to go along with his impressive collection of master's degrees and doctorates. That was one of the things that attracted her to him most, the brilliance of his amazing mind. She always did think that smart was sexy. Though Pete was an intelligent man, he couldn't hold a candle to Daniel. Wondering why she was comparing Pete to Daniel again, Sam resumed walking, the archeologist at her side.
By the time they were heading back toward camp a few hours later, it was getting close to sunset.
"This was fun," Sam said.
"Yes, it was," Daniel agreed. "I guess the people who were here before recognized the value of having a good time. I honestly can't remember the last time I had a real vacation, one where I actually went out and did fun things."
"Me neither. How sad is that?"
"Pretty sad."
Sam smiled and turned to him. "So, what fun is planned for tomorrow?"
"Well, it was pretty warm today. If it still is tomorrow, I was thinking that we could go swimming."
Sam's eyes lit up. "Well, as it so happens, I brought my swimsuit."
Daniel's face split into a grin. "So did I."
Laughing, Sam and Daniel continued their walk back to camp, both of them looking forward to tomorrow.
The sun was just setting when the two friends arrived at camp. Wanting to see the sunset on the water, Sam went to the lake. Daniel hung back and watched her as the rays of the setting sun turned her hair to spun gold and gave her an almost magical appearance.
Jack came up beside him. "You really do love her," he said.
A small smile curved Daniel's lips. "Yes, I do. For a long time now, I thought that I'd never love like this again. I thought that Sha're would forever be the only woman I'd ever really love. But Sam, she. . . ."
Jack turned to him. "What?" he inquired encouragingly.
"She . . . completes me. Even though we're not in a relationship, she makes me feel so much more than I am without her. How is that possible? How can she feel like she's part of my soul when all we've ever shared was one brief kiss?"
Jack was curious about this kiss Daniel was talking about, but now was not the time to ask. "I don't know, Daniel," he replied softly. "I was never one who believed in that whole soul mates stuff. It always sounded too corny to me. But, if soul mates do exist, I'd have to say that Sam is yours."
"Soul mates."
"Yep."
Daniel looked at Sam again. "She is so incredible. But then, I probably don't have to tell you that. She's brilliant, compassionate, beautiful, loving. . . ." He smiled self-consciously and glanced at Jack. "Sorry. I didn't mean to, um . . . get mushy."
"Hey, don't stop on my account. I completely agree that Carter is an amazing woman." Jack looked at his friend. "I'm glad that you've learned to love again, Daniel, and I'm glad that it's for someone as great as Sam. And Daniel? Don't ever think that you don't deserve her, because you do."
The archeologist looked at him, surprised that Jack must have guessed what he was thinking.
"How did you know?" he asked.
"What, that you thought you didn't deserve her? I know you, Daniel. It was a no-brainer. So, when are you going to tell her?"
"I don't know. I guess I'll know when the right time comes. With Sha're it was so much easier. We were already married, so it was pretty easy for me to say the words. But Sam doesn't know I feel this way – or at least I don't think she does – and I'm. . . ."
"Scared?"
"Yeah."
Jack smiled faintly in remembrance. "I was terrified out of my mind to say the words to Sara, even though we'd been dating for a while."
"How did you do it?"
Jack's smile grew. "I ended up just blurting it out like an idiot over hotdogs in the park. She had mustard on her cheek, and she looked so cute. One second, I was telling her about the mustard on her face, and, the next, I was saying, 'I love you.'"
Daniel grinned at the story. "What did she say?"
"I think her exact words were, 'I know, silly. I love you, too.'"
Daniel chuckled. "How romantic."
Jack jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. "Hey, don't knock it. We were married six months later."
That evening, as Jack yet again ate fish, the rest of his teammates dined on steaks cooked over an open fire with onions and baby carrots. Jack kept glancing at their plates, the smell of the beef and onions making his mouth water.
"How's the fish, Jack?" Daniel inquired in a voice that sounded a tad more innocent than it should have.
"Delicious. Can't get enough of it," the colonel replied a bit too enthusiastically.
"That's good."
Jack glanced up and caught a smirk on the archeologist's face, also seeing one on Sam's features.
"Do you not grow tired of eating those creatures, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.
The widening of the smiles that Daniel and Sam were trying to hide ticked Jack off. "Nope, not at all, T. In fact, I'll probably be having fish every night we're here. I'm taking advantage of the bounties of this planet, as all of you should."
"No offense, sir, but, though I do like fish on occasion, I'd rather take advantage of the bounties of the grocery store," Sam responded.
Daniel's snort of laughter resulted in a glare from Jack.
"You people just have no appreciation for the finer things in life," the grey-haired man grumbled.
About half a minute of silence had passed when Daniel suddenly said, "So, Jack, did I ever tell you that I went fishing in the Nile a couple of times?"
Jack stared at him, open-mouthed. "You . . . you fish?"
"Uh huh. Sometimes on digs, it made more sense for us to catch our own food than to pack it in from the nearest town or village."
"You fish?" Jack repeated.
"I remember there was this one time that a friend of mine talked me into going deep sea fishing with him in the Red Sea, and I accidentally caught a shark. Then there was that time on the Amazon—"
Jack waved his hands about. "Whoa, whoa! Okay, let me get this straight." He paused. "You fish?"
Daniel looked at him, then at his other teammates. "Didn't I just say that?"
"Indeed you did, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c replied. "In fact, it appears that you have more experience in fishing than O'Neill."
"Why the hell didn't you ever tell me this?" Jack wanted to know.
"Because, if I had, you'd never have left me alone, Jack," Daniel told him. "You would have wanted to drag me off fishing every time we had leave."
"Of course I would. The Nile? The Red Sea? The Amazon? Damn."
"Yes, Jack, I've been fishing in all those places and more, but it's not my most favorite thing in the world to do. Most of the time, it was simply a way to feed myself and others on the dig. It's been at least ten years since the last time I picked up a fishing rod."
"We could go tomorrow," Jack said hopefully.
"Sorry, Jack. I've already got plans for tomorrow." Daniel paused upon seeing the disappointed look on his friend's face. "But there's always the next day."
Jack's face was transformed into a smile. "Sweet."
"I do not understand this fascination with fishing," Teal'c said.
"You didn't enjoy your experience today?" Sam asked.
"I did not."
"Oh, he's just sore because the only thing he caught was the size of a minnow," Jack stated. "I think he scared all the other fish away. They took one look at his frowning face and skedaddled."
Said frowning face frowned even deeper.
"I bet you'd like spear fishing, Teal'c," Daniel commented.
"You can do that, too?" Jack asked, amazed.
"I'm not talking about fishing underwater with a speargun, Jack. I'm talking about standing in a river with a spear in your hand and spearing the fish that swim by. And, no, I can't do that, though someone did try to teach me once."
"That does, indeed, sound most intriguing," Teal'c stated, thinking that it would take a great deal of skill to successfully catch fish in that manner.
"Well, maybe one of these days, you can try it."
"What about tomorrow?" Jack asked.
"I do not have a spear, O'Neill," Teal'c pointed out.
"We could make one. There are plenty of saplings around here. Just whack off the branches, sharpen the end to a point, and you've got yourself a spear."
"Actually, a lot of fishing spears have three prongs, but I suppose that would do," Daniel said.
Jack slapped Teal'c on the shoulder, grinning. "Okay, big guy. Tomorrow you get to go spear fishing."
Teal'c inclined his head, smiling faintly.
"You sure you won't join us, Daniel?" Jack asked.
"No, Sam and I are going swimming tomorrow."
A knowing smile curved the colonel's lips. "Ah. Sounds like fun. Hope you have a good time."
Knowing what Jack was implying, Daniel ducked his head to hide the faint tinge of color that came to his cheeks. He went to bed that night wondering if tomorrow would, indeed, be the day that he got up the courage to tell Sam that he loved her.
