CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
When Daniel arrived at Jack's the next day, Danny looked at him with an expression that was an odd mixture of hesitancy and hopefulness. At the first opportunity, Daniel got the boy alone.
"Danny, as soon as we get home, you and I are going to have a talk about what you did."
The boy stared at the ground. "Are you mad at me?"
"No, I'm not mad, but we definitely need to discuss this."
"I'm sorry. I just wanted you and Sam to be together so you'd both be happy."
Daniel gazed down at him. How could anyone be mad over something like that? He brushed a hand through the boy's hair.
"I know. Like I said, we'll talk about it later."
To say that the party was interesting for Daniel and Sam would have been an understatement. Neither one of them could get those kisses out of their mind, nor the fact that they would be going on a real date tomorrow night. They kept catching each other's gaze, and when they were close to each other, they both ached to touch. More than once, Daniel found his eyes straying to Sam's lips. They tried their best to curb their feelings, but it was a struggle. Thankfully, there had been a huge turnout for the party, so, between the crowd, and the noise, and all the activity, they figured that nobody would notice.
They were wrong.
Standing on his deck, beer in hand, Jack stared at the two youngest members of his team. At the moment, they were both helping with some of the younger children, and they kept sharing these quick little glances. Stranger still, it seemed as if they were making an extra effort not to touch each other. If they had been two strangers he'd seen on the street, Jack would guess that they were new lovers who didn't want anyone to know.
That thought made Jack stiffen. No, it couldn't be that. Daniel and Sam? Sure, they were very close friends, but that was all. There had never been any indication of more.
That's when Jack suddenly remembered Danny's questions regarding the rules about relationship. Now that he was really thinking about it, Danny had specifically asked if there would be rules against two members of SG-1 having a relationship.
Jack's eyes returned to Daniel and Sam. Was there something going on between them, and Danny knew about it? Damn. If that was true, this could be a problem.
That last thought was not born from Jack's own feelings for Sam. Though the ghost of those feelings still existed, he had put thoughts of Sam like that out of his mind a very long time ago. You could yearn for someone you couldn't have for just so long before you finally reached the point where you had to give it up, to stop torturing yourself and move on. Jack had moved on. Even if he was to retire and could then date Sam, he doubted that he would. The desire really wasn't there anymore. Besides, if he was honest with himself, he'd admit that it could never have worked out between them. They were too different, not enough in common, virtually no shared interests. What the hell would they have talked about over dinner each night? Jack knew that there had been an alternate version of him who successfully lived a year of marriage with that alternate Sam, but that was them, two people who had different life experiences and different viewpoints. For one thing, that Sam had never been in the military.
The issue of incompatibility did not exist for Daniel and Sam, however, just the opposite, in fact. No, they did not share all the same interests, but in regards to their personalities, they were very compatible.
Jack had a sudden thought. If Daniel hadn't been married when he and Sam met, what would have happened? Jack never forgot seeing the two of them bond intellectually right there in the map room on Abydos. He and Kawalsky had been left in the dust. If Daniel hadn't been married, would that bonding have gone a whole lot farther than friendship? Had it gone farther than that now?
Jack's thoughts were drawn away from Daniel and Sam by Danny, who ran up to him.
"Uncle Jack, can we play with the water guns?" the boy asked.
"I'm afraid that wouldn't be a good idea, Danny. A lot of people might accidentally get wet, not to mention the food. So, are you having fun with the other kids?"
"Yeah, although I wish that Kayla and Tessa were here."
Hammond's granddaughters were celebrating Independence Day out of town with their parents, so they couldn't be at this party. But there were a lot of other children, some around Danny's age, so he'd found plenty of playmates.
It had been necessary to tell Danny that a lot of the people who would be at the party didn't know anything about the Stargate or that he was a clone, so he'd have to keep those things a secret. It appeared that, so far, there hadn't been any problems. Watching Danny play with the other children had been enjoyable, but it couldn't help but make Jack wonder if Daniel ever played like that after the death of his parents.
That thought made Jack recall the last Fourth of July party. For him, Sam and Teal'c, it had not been a happy day. None of them had felt like celebrating anything. But this year was different. Not only were they celebrating the independence of the United States, they were also celebrating the return of Daniel into their lives. In four days, there would be another celebration, one especially for the friend who had returned to them.
Danny ran off to continue playing with the other kids. A few minutes later, General Hammond joined Jack.
"The party has turned out well," the general observed.
"Yes, it has, a good turnout. My lawn may never recover."
"I understand you had a little helper for the preparations."
"I sure did. Danny was a big help, eager to give me a hand however he could. He's just like Daniel in that way. Daniel may not be good at always doing what I tell him to, but if someone needs help, he's right there, doing all he can." Jack's eyes searched for Daniel and found him in a conversation with Janet. "I can't tell you how glad I am that he's staying on the team."
"We're all glad of that, Jack, just as we're all glad that he's with us on this Independence Day." Hammond turned fully to the colonel. "I understand that you're going to have a little birthday party for Daniel."
"Yes, sir. Last July 8th was a really bad day for us, so we want to make this one extra special. I've already begun making arrangements. In fact, I was intending to talk to you about this."
"Oh?"
Jack smiled. "Yes. You see, I have a plan."
Daniel made his way through the crowd to where Cassie was talking with a young airman, who appeared to be quite taken with the teenager.
"Excuse me," the archeologist said. "Cassie, could I speak with you for a moment?"
"Sure, Daniel. I'll talk to you later, Duane."
They walked into the front yard, which was empty of people at the moment.
"I was wondering if you'd be free to watch Danny tomorrow night," Daniel said.
"Um, sure. I don't have any plans. So, where are you going?" Cassie grinned. "Got a hot date?" The teenager had asked the question jokingly, so she was stunned by the look on Daniel's face in reaction to it. The girl's mouth dropped open. "You've got a date?!"
"Jeez, Cass. Why don't you yell that out a little louder? I don't think all the neighbors heard."
Cassie bit her lower lip. "Sorry. It's just that I didn't know you dated. Mom never knew about any girlfriends. She thought that you hadn't seen anyone since your wife died."
"Well, she's right. I haven't."
So, this was the first woman Daniel had dated in all these years? Now, Cassie was dying of curiosity. "So, who are you going out with?"
"None of your business."
The teen pouted. "Oh, come on, Daniel. You can't drop the bombshell that you've got a date, then not even tell me her name."
Daniel smiled sweetly. "Yes, I can."
Cassie punched his arm. "You're no fair."
"I'll tell you what. If things work out with this woman, then I'll tell you who she is. In fact, I'll even introduce you. How's that?"
Cassie was still pouting. "Well . . . okay, if you promise."
"I promise. But, like I said, only if it works out and we keep dating."
"So, this is your first date?"
"Yes. And that's the last question I'm going to answer about this."
The teen sighed dramatically. "Oh, all right. So, when do you need me?"
"I'm not sure. I haven't made the dinner reservations yet. I'll call you once I know."
"Okay." Cassie smiled. "This is great, Daniel. I'm glad that you might have found somebody."
The archeologist thought of something. "You're sworn to secrecy on this, Cassie. You can't tell anyone. If Jack found out, he wouldn't leave me alone."
"Darn. I was looking forward to seeing the look on Mom's face when I told her."
"Sorry. I don't want you to tell her either. She'd pester me incessantly, too."
"Can I be the first to tell her after you've told me who it is?"
Daniel thought about that. If he and Sam did enter into a relationship, there was a good chance that Janet would be one of the first to find out, especially since she and Sam were close friends. Frankly, Daniel was surprised that Sam hadn't spoken to the doctor about her feelings for him.
"We'll see. It depends on how things work out."
It was late in the afternoon before the party finally ended. Jack's teammates, Janet, Cassie and a few others stayed to help him with the clean-up. Jack noticed that things seemed to be back to normal with Daniel and Sam, which made him begin to wonder if he'd been imagining what he'd seen earlier – that is until the moment they accidentally bumped into each other. Sam lost her balance and would have fallen if Daniel hadn't grabbed her. For the instant that he held her, their bodies close but not quite touching, a look passed between them that Jack could not mistake. He knew what desire looked like.
The two scientists quickly drew apart and went about their business, but those couple of seconds were enough to confirm Jack's suspicions. So, what was he going to do about it? Confront them? The truth was that he really didn't know if they'd done anything, or, if they had, how far it had gone.
Jack's gaze went to Danny, who was helping Cassie pick up the litter scattered around the yard. There was one person who might know. Perhaps he needed to have a little talk with Daniel's young clone.
After the clean-up was finished and the others had gone home, SG-1 and Danny sat around the living room.
"So, did you have fun, Danny?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. Some of the kids were really nice. Tommy Hardwick invited me to sleep over his house."
"Really? That's cool."
Daniel smiled. "Yes, it is. Did he say when you could do this?"
"No, he said he had to ask his mom and dad first."
"Well, I'll have to talk to Captain Hardwick at work and see what he says."
"Speaking of sleeping over, I was wondering if you'd like to do that here again tonight, Danny," Jack said, figuring it would be the perfect opportunity to "grill" the kid over Daniel and Sam's relationship.
Danny smiled brightly. "Sure!"
"Are you sure you don't need to get other things done, Jack?" Daniel asked.
"I've got some running around to do tomorrow, but I can do that afterwards. I'll drop him off tomorrow morning around ten."
"Okay. That'll be fine."
"Thanks for hosting the party, sir." Sam said. "It really was a great party."
"Yes, it was. Which reminds me." Jack turned back to Daniel. "Though I was really looking forward to the singing waiters, I'm going to forgo it. I've made reservations at O'Malley's for their side room so that we can have some privacy."
The news brought another smile to Daniel's face. "We're not banned from there anymore?"
"Nope, the ban has been lifted. I pretty much swore on my life to the owner that we'd never again cause any trouble. I probably could have gotten it lifted sooner, but I never bothered trying until now."
Danny knew what a ban was and asked why they'd been banned from the restaurant.
"A few years ago, there was some trouble at O'Malley's that we were a part of, a big fight," Daniel replied. "The owner banned us from ever going there again."
"But, now, there's no more ban, so we can have some of their big, juicy steaks," Jack said with a grin.
"Sounds great, sir," Sam remarked.
A while later, Sam, Daniel and Teal'c left. Jack waited until after dinner before hitting Danny with his questions.
He patted his hand on the couch cushion. "Come sit down. I've got a question for you."
The boy took a seat.
"A while ago, you asked me some questions about the rules on romantic relationships between people at the SGC. You remember that?"
Danny started looking a little nervous. "Uh huh."
"When I asked you why you were asking those questions, you said you couldn't tell me because it was a secret. Is it still a secret?"
Danny nodded.
"Okay, what if I guess the secret? Would you be able to tell me about it if I guess right?"
Danny frowned, clearly thinking very hard about that. "I guess if you figured it out already, then it would be okay since it wouldn't be a secret to you anymore."
Jack nodded once. "Good. Okay, I'm guessing that it has something to do with Daniel and Sam." He watched the boy's eyes immediately drop to the front of his shirt as he began playing with a button. The reaction told Jack that he'd scored a hit. "I'm also guessing that they're more than friends now, that maybe their dating. So, am I right?"
Danny didn't respond for a while, then shook his head.
"I'm not right? Am I partly right?"
"I can't tell you. That would be cheating."
Okay, so Jack's guess would have to be exactly right. He could tell from the boy's reaction that this definitely had to do with Daniel and Sam. So, what if they weren't dating yet? Maybe this thing between them hadn't been resolved yet.
"All right, here's another guess. Daniel and Sam both like each other in a romantic way, but they're not dating yet. Is that right?"
There was a long silence, then Jack got what he'd been looking for, a nod of the head. He smiled. "So, now that I've guessed right, can you tell me about it?"
Danny thought about that long and hard. Since Jack had guessed the secret, it should be okay to tell him everything.
"Daniel is in love with Sam, and Sam has romantic feelings for him, too," he blurted out. "Daniel is really sad because he wants to be together with Sam, but he says they can't be because they're on the same team, even though it's not against the rules. But even when Daniel decided not to be on the team anymore, he still said that he and Sam were going to just stay friends because it would be better. But I don't understand why it's better if it makes them both unhappy."
Jack had a good idea what was going on. Because of the problems that being in a romantic relationship and on the same team could cause, Daniel and Sam were denying themselves what they wanted. They probably believed that, even if they weren't on the same team, it would be wisest not to mess with a good thing, namely, their friendship. But Jack knew that, if these feelings for each other were really strong, they were just going to keep making each other miserable by not doing anything about them. With Jack and Sam, their careers, the regulations and the importance of their job weighed heavily on the side of not doing anything about their feelings. Such was not the case with Daniel and Sam.
"I wanted them to be together, but I didn't know how to make it happen," Danny continued. "I thought that maybe if they went on a romantic dinner, they'd get together."
A grin began to form on Jack's face. Danny was starting to sound like a little matchmaker.
"I didn't know how to get them to go on a romantic dinner, so I called Roberto's restaurant and asked them."
Jack's eyebrows went up. "You called a restaurant and asked them how to make Daniel and Sam go on a romantic dinner?"
"Uh huh."
"What did they say?"
"They said that it would have to be a surprise dinner and that they'd help me. We made all these plans to trick Daniel and Sam into going out to dinner. Roberto sent flowers to Sam with a note that was supposed to be from Daniel, telling her to meet him at the restaurant, and a plant was sent to Daniel with the same note, but his was supposed to be from Sam. I asked if I could stay with you Thursday night so that they could go out to dinner. I called Sam to make sure she wasn't going to work late, and I told Daniel not to work late so that they'd both go home and get the flowers and the plant. And I got Sam's address from Daniel so that the restaurant would know where she lives, but I told Daniel that I wanted it so that I could mail Sam a letter."
Jack couldn't hold it in any longer. He started laughing so hard that he nearly fell off the couch. The thought of an eight-year-old planning out this elaborate matchmaking scheme with the owner of a fancy Italian restaurant was just too funny for words. Oh, man. Daniel and Sam probably never knew what hit them.
Jack finally got control of himself, wiping the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. Danny was staring at him quizzically.
"Sorry, I just think that's very funny. So, Daniel and Sam went out on this dinner you tricked them on?"
"Uh huh. Daniel knows that I was the one that tricked them. He said that he wasn't mad but that we needed to talk about it."
"So, you don't know how things turned out?"
The boy shook his head.
Jack thought about the whole thing. When he first got the suspicion that something was going on between Daniel and Sam, he'd thought that it would be a big problem, but would it be? If they couldn't set aside their relationship while on missions, then, yes, it would probably cause a problem, but if they could remain professional while on duty, there shouldn't be an issue.
But there was more to consider here than the issue with work. Both Daniel and Sam had suffered a lot of losses in their lives, and they deserved to be happy, to have somebody to love and to love them in return. Could they be happy with each other? Based on what Jack knew about their friendship, he guessed that they could be happy in a romantic relationship.
Of course, now, he was dying to know how the dinner went and if it had succeeded in doing what Danny hoped it would. Judging by what he'd seen during the party, something definitely happened.
"Okay, Danny, this is what I want you to do. When you find out from Daniel how the dinner went, you need to tell me."
Danny frowned. "I don't know if I should do that. Wouldn't that be kind of like tattling?"
"Nah. I already know the secret, so you'd just be keeping me informed, letting me know if we need to try something else to get them together."
Danny's eyes brightened. "You mean you'll help me get them together if this didn't work?"
Jack gave him a smile. "Sure, why not? It could be fun."
"Cool!"
Jack stuck out his hand. "So, partners?"
Danny shook his hand, grinning. "Partners!"
Sam called Daniel shortly after she got home.
"I didn't get the opportunity to ask you about Cassie at the party." she said. "Did you talk to her about babysitting Danny?"
"Yes. She said she could. You should have seen her reaction when she found out I was going on a date. Of course, she wanted to know who I was going out with."
"But you didn't tell her, right?"
"No, we agreed that we'd keep this a secret for now," Daniel responded.
"Right. Sooo . . . we're all set then."
"Yeah. Do you want to go to Roberto's again?"
"Um, maybe not on this date," Sam replied. "It might be a little. . . ."
"Awkward?"
"Yeah."
"I agree. Having at least half the staff aware that an eight-year-old fixed us up would be rather embarrassing."
Sam chuckled. "But we will need to go back there sometime. It really was nice of them to take the time to help Danny."
"Plus, the money they spent on the whole thing."
"I doubt that many restaurants would do something like that."
"Frankly, I'm surprised that they did it."
Sam grinned. "Well, you know what they say about the Italians and their views on love."
A rather heavy silence fell between them at the utterance of that last word.
"Uh . . . I'll, um, pick you up at seven, okay?" Daniel said.
"That'll be good. How should I dress?"
Daniel took a moment to answer. "It'll be a nice restaurant."
"All right. I guess I'll see you then."
Sam hung up the phone. She sat staring at it. Oh, boy. Tomorrow, she and Daniel would be going on a date, an actual, honest-to-goodness date. Part of her was incredibly excited. The other part was scared out of its mind. What if it wasn't good? What if they couldn't figure out what to say to each other and just sat there? They'd never had trouble finding things to talk about before, but they'd also never been on a date with each other before.
Sam wanted it to be a good date. She wanted a relationship with Daniel to work out. She wanted to spend her life with him, her, Daniel and Danny together as a family. And, maybe someday, they would add more members to that family.
'Whoa, there. Aren't I putting the cart before the horse? We haven't even had our first date yet, and I'm thinking about having children with him.'
Getting up to fix her dinner, Sam let her thoughts wander to a life spent with Daniel and how very happy they could be.
After Jack dropped Danny off the next morning, Daniel decided that it was time to have his talk with the boy. Danny was clearly nervous when the archeologist sat him down.
"You know what I want to talk to you about, don't you?" Daniel asked.
Danny was staring at his lap. "Because of the dinner at Roberto's."
"That's right. That was quite a plan that you and Roberto came up with. Sam and I didn't suspect a thing."
"Roberto said that we had to be careful so you wouldn't get suspicious." Danny looked up at Daniel. "You're not mad about what we did?"
"No, I'm not mad. Neither is Sam. We both know that you did it because you wanted us to be happy. But that doesn't mean that it's always okay to trick people like that. Tricking people can lead to problems and hurt feelings. It didn't this time, but if you did something else in the future, it could. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Danny's gaze had returned to his lap. "Yeah. I promise I won't trick you or Sam again."
Daniel gave him a hug. "Okay, now I have some good news for you."
"What?"
"Well, during that dinner, Sam and I did some talking, and we decided to go on a real date."
A smile beamed across Danny's face. "You did? So, you're going to be together now?"
"We don't know that yet, Danny. This is just the first step. We'll see how things go and take it from there. Our date is tonight, so Cassie's coming over to watch you. Now, she doesn't know that I'm going on a date with Sam, so you can't tell her."
"Okay, I won't," Danny agreed happily. He was so pleased that Daniel and Sam were going on a date and might get together. He'd have tell Uncle Jack as soon as possible.
