CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
By the time they got home from the party, it was way past Danny's bedtime, and the little boy was half asleep, though he still wanted to open the gifts he'd gotten. It turned out that, along with all the birthday presents for Daniel, there were quite a few for Danny as well. They were presently in Daniel's trunk, waiting to be brought in and opened. The archeologist told the boy that it would be much more fun opening them tomorrow, when they weren't so tired.
Once Danny was tucked into bed, Daniel returned to the living room. His teammates and Catherine were all there, having followed him back to his place so that they could talk.
"So, did General Hammond approach you?" Jack asked his youngest teammates.
"No, sir," Sam replied. "He's probably waiting until he can talk to us privately."
"Well, he asked me if I knew about it. I told him yes, but only since Friday. I made sure he understood that this is a new development in your relationship."
"Any idea on how he feels about it?" Daniel asked.
"No, he didn't give a clue."
"I'm guessing that he'll call us into his office tomorrow morning."
"I thought you were taking tomorrow off because of escrow closing."
"I won't be signing the papers until one o'clock. My plan was to get some work done in the morning, although, now, I'm almost wishing that I hadn't planned on coming in at all. I can just imagine what's going to happen there tomorrow."
Jack grinned. "Ah, yes. You and Carter will be the talk of the town. As soon as I leave here, I plan on dropping off the film Teal'c shot at one of those one-hour photo developing places that has a drop box so that I can pick the prints up first thing in the morning and have them in hand when people start clamoring for them."
Daniel stared at him. "You're really enjoying this, aren't you."
"Hell, yes. If Teal'c hadn't taken that picture of everyone's reaction to your kiss, I'd have grabbed the camera and done it myself."
"Not to change the subject," Catherine said, "but what's this about escrow?"
"Oh. I'm buying a house," Daniel replied. "This one is way too small for the two of us."
The woman nodded, then smiled. "That child is a pure delight, Daniel. I got the opportunity to chat with him a bit at the party. His knowledge of Egyptology is already quite impressive, and when he found out that I could speak German, he switched to that language and told me some jokes that a German man on a dig taught him. Don't worry. They were perfectly innocent."
Daniel also smiled. "Yes, I remember them. Hans was quite a character."
Catherine blinked. "Yes, of course you do." She laughed. "I actually forgot for a moment what Danny is, that all those experiences came from your memories. Your parents must have been very proud of you."
"They always told me they were. Their pride in me was one of the reasons why I was determined to be the best in archeology that I could be. I wanted to believe that they'd still be proud of me if they were here."
"I have no doubt that they would be, Daniel. I know that if I was your mother, I would be very proud of you."
"When do you have to go back home, Catherine?" Sam asked.
"Not until Saturday morning."
Daniel's expression turned regretful. "I wish I wasn't going to be busy with moving. I'd like to spend some time with you. I'd put off the packing, but my landlord is expecting me to be out of here by the middle of next week."
"I wouldn't expect you to put it off, Daniel. After all, you didn't know I was coming. But I'd be happy to help you move."
Daniel shook his head. "Catherine, I'm certainly not going to put you to work while you're visiting. That's out of the question."
"Are you going to have any other help?"
"We're all coming over as soon as we get off work on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday," Sam replied, "and we'll be helping the whole weekend."
The elderly woman turned back to Daniel. "Then it really sounds like you could use a hand until the weekend." Daniel was going to object again, but she didn't give him a chance. "Besides, it will give us a chance to talk. You don't expect me to just sit on the couch, doing nothing, while you run around packing boxes, do you?"
Daniel gave in. "All right, you win."
"Come on. Let's get those gifts inside," Jack said.
As the presents were put on the table, Daniel noticed that, instead of an individual gift from each of his teammates, there was a single one from all of them. He looked at them questioningly.
"We decided to pool our money and get you something special," Sam explained.
The box was very light, and Daniel wondered what was inside.
"Go ahead and open it," Jack told him. "I don't think Danny will mind."
Daniel unwrapped the box and opened it. He was surprised to see an envelope inside. He was even more surprised when the contents of the envelope proved to be airline tickets. His eyes widened.
"Egypt?"
"The last time you were there, you weren't able to enjoy it," Sam said, smiling. "We knew that you always wished you could go back there for fun, and we figured that Danny would love to go, too."
"The tickets are for November, which we understand is a nice time of year there," Jack told him. "You let us know where you want to go in the country and where you want to stay, and we'll make all the arrangements for hotels, car rentals, stuff like that. This vacation is on us. There's more in the envelope."
Daniel looked inside and saw that there was a folded piece of paper.
"That was a last minute contribution from Catherine."
Daniel unfolded the piece of paper and saw that it was a letter from Professor Harvard, a name Daniel recognized as a well-known figure in the archeological community. As he read the letter, his eyes got even wider.
"I still have a lot of friends in the community, Daniel," Catherine explained, "and many of them don't look down upon you and your theories. Professor Harvard is one of them. He will be in Egypt, overseeing a dig throughout October, November and December, and he would be delighted to have you and Danny spend a few days with them."
Daniel looked up at his friends, his eyes filled with emotion. "I . . . I don't know what to say."
"Thank you is more than enough, Daniel," Jack replied.
"Thank you," the archeologist said softly, yet fervently. "This is wonderful, and Danny's going to love it. We can visit some of the sites Mom and Dad worked on, and he can see how the digs have progressed in the past thirty years."
Jack wagged a finger at him. "Just remember, Daniel. Those tickets give you three weeks there. We want you back afterwards, so don't you get any ideas about staying."
Daniel smiled. "I won't, Jack. Though I will always love Egypt, I know where my home is."
Daniel was later getting to work the next morning than he had planned since it took a while to unwrap all the gifts, even with Danny's help. When Daniel told the boy about the tickets to Egypt, Danny was ecstatic and couldn't wait for the trip, though he said that he wished everyone else could go, too, especially Sam. Daniel had explained that, while Sam and Teal'c might both like to go, Jack would find a trip to Egypt terribly boring.
As Daniel and Sam had already guessed, the situation at the SGC was pretty interesting. From the moment they arrived at work, they were subjected to stares and whispered comments. Apparently, Ferretti had made a point of getting to the base very early and had already done a good job of spreading the news about Sam and Daniel, waving around the picture he had of them kissing.
As soon as Jack arrived, he brought the prints to Daniel's office, having gone down and snagged Teal'c first. Sam happened to be in the office.
Jack waved the pictures at them with a grin. "You're gonna love these." He pulled them out of the sleeve and spread them across the table. The first picture was of Daniel's entrance, taken from a different angle than Ferretti's had been. It showed the same stunned expression on the linguist's face. Daniel paid little attention to it, his eyes going straight to two other photos. One was of the kiss. Surprisingly, Daniel didn't feel as embarrassed about the photo as he'd thought he would be. In fact, looking at it, he decided it was a nice photo. He and Sam looked really good together. He'd have to get some enlargements made. Then there was the other photo. It had perfectly captured the look of stunned disbelief on everyone's faces. And, yes, they did all look like fish.
Jack pointed at that picture. "That could win a prize in one of those photo contests. I am so looking forward to showing it around."
"You're going to have to fight Ferretti for the honor," Daniel told him. "He's been waiting for these."
"Hah! Let him show everyone the pictures he took. Teal'c and I are hanging on to these." He looked around. "Hey, where's Danny?"
"Catherine's watching him," Daniel replied. "She called this morning and asked if I needed a babysitter. I decided that, since I'm only staying here half the day, it would be easier to leave Danny at home."
Daniel's phone rang. He picked it up and spoke to the person on the other end. As he hung up, he met Sam's eyes.
"The general wants us in his office as soon as possible."
Jack looked at the suddenly nervous expression on the faces of the two scientists. "Hey, don't worry. I'm sure he'll be fine about this."
Despite Jack's words, Daniel and Sam were still nervous when they entered Hammond's office.
"Please take a seat," he instructed.
"Sir, before you say anything, we want to apologize for not telling you about this beforehand," Sam said as they sat down.
"That whole thing last night was not planned," Daniel explained. "It was a spur of the moment decision."
"I suspected that it was," Hammond said. "I'm not upset about not being told about this before everyone else found out. Colonel O'Neill says that this change in your relationship is quite new."
Sam nodded. "We went on our first date on Saturday."
"And before then? Something must have taken place for you to realize that your feelings for each other had changed."
The couple exchanged a glance.
"We've both been feeling things for a few weeks now," Daniel replied. "We had decided not to do anything about it, but . . . circumstances changed."
"I see." Hammond studied the two of them. "As you may know, the fact that you are teammates does cause an issue in regards to this. There is the questions of whether or not your relationship will adversely affect your ability to act professionally on missions, not to mention concerns about command decisions on the occasions when Major Carter is leading the team. Obviously, the easiest thing to do is to transfer one of you off SG-1, but that is not something I want to do. So, I'm going to ask you a question, and I want a completely honest answer." The general studied them closely. "Do you feel that you can keep your relationship from affecting your performance on missions?"
"Obviously, we can't say with absolute certainty, sir," Sam replied, "but, yes, I think we can. Daniel and I had a strong emotional connection even before this started. We have loved each other as friends for all this time. It's never stopped us from doing what had to be done."
"And do you agree, Doctor Jackson?"
"Yes," Daniel answered.
General Hammond was silent for a moment. "All right. For now, we will keep things as they are. But I will expect you or one of your teammates to come forward if there are any problems."
Daniel and Sam relaxed.
"Thank you, sir," Sam said.
Catherine carefully wrapped the artifact in newspapers and placed it in the box. She had decided that, while she was here, she might as well get busy on helping Daniel pack. At the moment, she was working on his collection of artifacts and art objects from across the globe. Danny was helping. The boy knew how to properly handle the fragile artifacts, so she didn't fear that he'd get careless and break something.
Catherine was finding it quite fascinating to watch this little boy, to see a glimpse into what Daniel was like as a young child. Danny was extraordinarily intelligent and soaked up any knowledge she gave him like a sponge. No wonder Daniel had been able to amass such a staggering amount of knowledge and had twenty-three spoken languages to his credit by the time Catherine met him.
"You said you'd tell me about how you met Daniel," the boy said as he handed a statue to the woman.
Catherine smiled. "Ah, yes. Well, the very first time I saw him, he was giving a lecture in Los Angeles. You see, Daniel believed that the pyramids were much older than everyone thought they were and that they were not built by the Egyptians, and he wanted to prove it to the archeological community. That's what the lecture was for."
"Did they believe him?"
"No, they didn't. In fact, they laughed at him and all walked out."
Danny frowned severely. "That wasn't nice."
"No, it wasn't. I felt very sorry for him, especially since I was pretty sure that he was right."
Danny's eyes lit with interest. "He was?"
"Yes. How much do you know about the Stargate, how it was found?"
"Daniel said it was dug up on the Giza Plateau in 1928."
"That's right. I was there when it happened."
Danny's eyes widened. "You were?"
"I was a little girl at the time. I was there with my father. I'll never forget the sight of the Stargate being lifted out of the desert sand. None of us knew what it was back then."
"Wow."
Catherine smiled. "Many years later, when I was a young woman, I was involved with the project that was studying the Stargate, trying to get it to work. I wasn't directly a part of the project, but my father and my fiance were. The work was halted, though, after something happened."
"What?"
"Well, I was told that there was an accident, an explosion that destroyed the lab, and that Ernest, the man I was going to marry, had been killed. It wasn't until many, many years later that I found out that had been a lie. The team working on the Stargate had, quite by accident, gotten it to work. Ernest volunteered to go through the gate. None of them really understood how the gate worked, and it was a foolish decision. Immediately after Ernest went through, the gate shut down, and he never came back."
"Never?"
"Not until over fifty years later, when we found him on a planet where he had been living all alone all that time."
"He was all by himself for fifty years?"
"Yes," Catherine replied.
"He must have been really lonely."
"Yes, he was. He was so glad to see us when we arrived. Anyway, after Ernest disappeared, the project was shut down. It was eventually started back up again. Once we had a computer that could control the Stargate, we began trying to make it work, but, for two years, we failed. When the Stargate was found in Egypt, there was a coverstone over it. The coverstone had symbols on it that we couldn't translate. We didn't recognize them. The same symbols were on the Stargate itself."
"They're star constellations," Danny said. "That's what Daniel told me."
"Yes, we know that now, thanks to Daniel. But we didn't back then. We believed that, if we knew what those symbols were, it would help us figure out how to make the gate work. I decided that we needed somebody new on the project. I'd heard about Daniel. I knew about his theories on the pyramids. From tests that were run, we knew that the coverstone was far older than it should be, at least ten thousand years old. That and some other things we'd learned led me to believe that Daniel's theories on the pyramids were right and that he might be just the man we needed on the project."
"So, you brought him to see the Stargate?"
"Well, that was the plan, but, before we could tell Daniel about the Stargate, the military decided to make everything even more classified than it had been."
"I'm classified," Danny informed her, which earned a smile.
"Yes, I should imagine you are. Well, the military wouldn't let us tell Daniel about the Stargate because he didn't have clearance."
"Why didn't he have clearance if he was supposed to help you?"
"Because he was new on the project. I guess they weren't ready to trust him yet."
Danny frowned again. "But how could he figure out how the Stargate worked if he didn't even know about it?"
"That's a very good question. But you know what? He did figure it out."
"He did?"
"Yes, and he did it in only two weeks."
"But you said you'd tried for two years."
Catherine laughed. "That's right. Daniel proved to all of us how very smart he is. He figured out that the symbols were constellations, that their purpose was to chart a course to a certain point in space, and managed to identify the seventh symbol, which we hadn't been able to do. After he did that, the military gave permission for Daniel to see the Stargate."
"Cool."
"Yes. I was there when Daniel and Jack took their first trip through the gate."
"Jack was there, too?"
"Yes. Actually, he was the man who was brought in to take charge of the project for the military." Catherine's gaze grew distant with remembrance. "Jack was quite a bit different when I first met him. He wasn't the same man he is now."
"How come?"
Catherine studied the boy. "Do you know about Charlie?"
Danny shook his head. "Who's Charlie?"
"He was Jack's son. He was killed in an accident not long before Jack was put on the project."
Sadness filled Danny's eyes. "Jack's son died?"
"Yes, he did. I don't think he was much older than you when it happened. Jack was very sad. He didn't make jokes like he does now. He was very tough and serious and really not a very pleasant person. To be honest, I didn't like him very much. But, after he came back from that first mission through the gate, he gradually changed. He and I stayed in touch, and we became friends."
"Daniel said that he stayed for over a year on the planet they went to. That's where he met his wife."
"Yes, he did. He loved the Abydonians and their culture."
"Daniel's wife died."
"Yes, I know," Catherine responded somberly.
"Sam is the first person he's loved romantically since then."
Catherine smiled again. "Is that so? Well, I'm very glad that they love each other like that."
"Me too. Was Sam there when they went on the first mission?"
"No. She was part of the project, but she wasn't there at that time. She and Daniel didn't meet until a year later, when the second mission was sent to Abydos."
"When I'm an adult, I'm going to go through the Stargate," Danny stated.
Catherine ran a hand through his hair. "I have no doubt that you will."
When Janet asked if she and Sam could have lunch together, the astrophysicist was pretty sure that she knew the reason why. She was right. Not long after they sat down with their trays of food, the questions started.
"So, how long has this thing with you and Daniel been going on?" the doctor asked.
"We already told you that our first date was on Saturday."
"Yes, but that's obviously not when it started. There had to be something that came before that date. And I have to say that the kiss Daniel gave you at the party tells me that something more than just a single date has gone on between you." Janet stared at her keenly. "Unless that first date led to . . . something more."
Sam flushed. "No, that didn't happen."
"Well then?"
"All right. If you must know, Daniel and I have been feeling . . . things for each other for several weeks now, since about a week after we learned about Danny. We've, um . . . kissed before, several times."
"Yet you didn't start dating till now."
"We'd both decided not to pursue our feelings for each other. With us being on the same team, we figured it would be a bad idea. And we were worried that it would hurt our friendship if we tried and it didn't work out."
"But, apparently, you changed your minds."
"Yeah. We decided to take a chance." Sam smiled. "I'm glad that we did."
"You love him," Janet stated.
Sam's expression softened. "Yes, I do. I realize that, before now, I never really knew what it was like to truly love someone with my whole heart and soul."
"Well, I couldn't be happier for both of you."
Daniel left his office to grab a sandwich before heading off to the title company for the signing of the final papers. He was glad to get out of there and was even happier that he wouldn't be back for several days. Maybe by the time he got back, everything would be settled down.
Daniel had lost track of how many people had dropped by to express their surprise, delight, concerns, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera regarding his relationship with Sam. Apparently, the idea that two members of SG-1, the SGC's premier team, were now romantically involved was a source of much thought and speculation among the personnel. Daniel couldn't help but wonder how many new pools had been created today. He also had to wonder if anyone had won – or lost – any pools today.
"Daniel Jackson."
Daniel turned to see Teal'c walking up behind him.
"Hey, Teal'c." He waited for the Jaffa, and the two of them continued down the corridor.
"Are you departing?" Teal'c asked.
"Yes, pretty soon. I was just going down to the commissary to get a sandwich to take with me."
"You are most likely quite eager to take possession of your new residence."
"Very. It's going to be great not having to sleep on the couch or have Danny sleeping on it. And Danny will have a much bigger backyard to play in."
Daniel stopped at the elevator and pressed the button. He glanced at the man beside him. "Um, Teal'c, I haven't had a chance to ask you how you feel about my relationship with Sam. I know that you might be concerned about how it will affect the team."
"I have no such concerns, Daniel Jackson."
The archeologist stared at him. "You don't?"
"I have confidence that you and Major Carter will be able to conduct yourselves properly on missions, and I believe that the fact that you are now lovers will not harm the effectiveness of SG-1."
Daniel's face colored slightly. "Uh, we're, um, not lovers yet, but . . . but thanks. I'm glad to know that you have so much confidence in us."
"I also believe that your relationship will be a successful one. You and Major Carter have a strong bond of friendship and are alike in several ways, yet are not too much alike. You are . . . compatible. Books I have read state that such things help insure a strong, lasting, and happy relationship."
Daniel looked at the Jaffa in surprise. "You've read books on relationships?"
"Indeed. I was most intrigued to know how humans view courtship and relationships between males and females. The books were quite enlightening."
"I bet."
The elevator opened. Daniel and Teal'c stood aside to let someone out, then the archeologist got on. He held the door open as he said goodbye to Teal'c.
"I'll see you tonight, right?"
"Yes. I will be arriving at 1900 hours with O'Neill."
"Okay, I'll see you then."
When Daniel arrived home after going to the title company, he was surprised to see a new pile of filled boxes sitting beside the door.
"Wow, it looks like you guys have been busy," he said to Danny and Catherine.
The boy came bounding up to him. "Did you get it?"
Daniel grinned and held up a ring of keys, jingling them. "It's all ours, Danny."
"Yay, yay!" Danny shouted, dancing around. "Let's go show Catherine our new house!"
"Sure, why not."
The three of them got into Daniel's car and drove over to the house. As the archeologist unlocked the door and stepped inside, he smiled. This was their house, his and Danny's, and, maybe someday, Sam's as well.
As Danny grabbed Catherine's hand and began giving her a tour, Daniel looked around and began imagining the future. He saw himself, Sam and Danny all there together, living as a family. He saw other children, Sam with a baby on her hip, another child playing with Danny in the living room. He wanted that very much, even more than he'd realized until right at that moment.
Back when he and Sha're were trying to have a baby, Daniel had wanted it more for Sha're than for himself. He hadn't known if he was prepared to be a father. But everything was different now. Having Danny in his life had opened Daniel's eyes to the joys of being a parent. Yes, there were sorrows, too, but the joys far outweighed them. He wanted children, to have a chance to give them the kind of love that he didn't have after his parents died. He wanted to pass on the Jackson heritage to a new generation. But would he have that chance?
Choosing not to let that question dim his happiness, Daniel joined Danny and Catherine. They were in the bedroom that had a window looking out onto the backyard.
"Can this be my room, Daniel?" Danny asked. "You said I could have either of the littler bedrooms, and I want this one."
"Sure. Do you want a different color for the walls? If we're going to do any painting, we need to get it done before we move the furniture in."
Danny looked around at the light blue walls. "No, I like blue."
"Great. Then we need to see about buying you some furniture. You can have my bed since I'll be getting another one, but we need to get some other things for you, like a dresser and a desk."
Danny smiled brightly. "I get to have my own desk?"
"Of course, so you have a place to study and do your homework." Daniel paused. "And you have to have a place to put your computer."
Danny was now actually beaming. "I'm going to have my very own computer?"
"Yep."
"Oh, wow!" Danny ran forward and hugged Daniel tightly. "Thank you!"
The archeologist smiled down at him lovingly. "You're very welcome. Okay, let's go show Catherine the backyard. Then we need to get back home and do some more packing."
"That's not home anymore," Danny stated. "This is home now."
"You're right, Danny. We'll call the other place our old home. How about that?"
"Okay."
By the time Daniel's teammates arrived that evening, he, Danny and Catherine had made pretty decent progress in the packing.
Everyone decided that the best thing to do first was to load up the stuff that was already packed and get it over to the new house.
Jack, Sam and Teal'c had only seen the outside of the house and the backyard up till now, so they also got a tour once they arrived, again conducted by Danny. The boy excitedly told them that he was going to have his own desk and computer.
"Excited about having a desk. That is simply not natural for an eight-year-old," Jack said. He looked at Daniel. "But then, I shouldn't be surprised considering where his genetic material came from. Oh, well, at least he's also got a great backyard to play in."
Jack had already expressed his approval of the backyard, stating that they'd have to have a housewarming barbeque out there as soon as Daniel was all moved in.
Once the stuff was all unloaded, everyone headed back over to the old place, Jack and Teal'c stopping to get dinner for everyone on the way.
The rest of the evening was spent packing and talking. With all of them there together, the time went by fast, and they got quite a bit done.
"You know, I think we're going to get you out if here well before the deadline, Daniel," Jack remarked, looking about. "You haven't had a chance to collect a bunch of junk yet. A lot of this stuff we're packing is what I kept after you ascended."
"Ascended?" Danny immediately inquired.
'Oh, crap,' was the thought that went through more than one mind.
Jack met Daniel's eyes, silently apologizing and cursing his big mouth.
Danny looked at all the adults, seeing the expressions on their faces. "What's wrong? Why are you all looking like that?"
Daniel approached the boy. "Danny, there are some things we didn't tell you about that year I was gone away, things that are very hard to explain."
"It's something really bad, isn't it."
"Yes, some of it's bad, which is one of the reasons why I didn't want to tell you. Um, this isn't the right time to talk about it. Let's wait until after all the moving is done and we're in our new house. Then I'll tell you about it."
"All right."
"Okay, it's past time for you to go to bed."
Once Danny was in bed, Daniel came back out to the others.
"Crap, Daniel. I'm really sorry," Jack apologized again. "It just slipped out."
"I know. It probably would have happened sooner or later anyway."
"How much are you going to tell him?" Sam asked, worried about how Danny would react.
"Well, obviously, I'm not going to go into the gory details about how I . . . how I died. And I'm going to have to keep the whole thing about ascension as simple as possible. I honestly don't know how much of it he'll understand."
The mood was more subdued for the remainder of the evening. Everyone left at 10:30, Jack, Teal'c and Sam saying they'd return at the same time tomorrow. Catherine would be arriving in the morning.
Daniel went into the bedroom to watch the sleeping boy. How was he going to tell Danny about the events that had branded such a deep mark on Daniel's soul, that had so completely changed his life? Somehow, he would have to find the words.
With a sigh, Daniel turned away and headed off to bed.
