CHAPTER THREE
Daniel smiled as Jack recounted an amusing story from his first tour of duty. This was one the archeologist hadn't heard before. After all these years, the man still had a ton of adventures from his colorful past to tell them about, though he sometimes forgot which ones he'd already told them.
As Jack continued his story, Daniel looked about and realized that Sam wasn't there.
"Where's Sam?" he asked, interrupting Jack.
"I think she went out into the backyard."
"Oh."
Daniel kept listening to Jack, but only with a portion of his attention now. After a few minutes, he excused himself and went in search of his other teammate. He found her leaning against the railing of the back porch, looking up at the stars.
"Hey there. Get tired of listening to Jack's old war stories?" he asked as he went to her side.
Sam smiled faintly. "Well, we have heard some of them before."
"Yeah, but I always find it fascinating how the tales get more outrageous every time he tells them."
Sam's smile brightened for a moment, then disappeared completely.
"But that isn't the reason why you're out here, is it," Daniel said quietly.
Sam gave a sigh, her face turning away from Daniel. "No."
"Feel like sharing?"
Sam was silent for a moment. "I'm just indulging in some self-flagellation."
Daniel frowned. "What? Why? What for?"
"For leaving you on the planet when I shouldn't have."
The archeologist shook his head. "Sam, we all had good reason to believe that everything was going to be all right for at least the next several days. There was no indication that things were going to go sour so quickly. Besides, if anyone is to blame, it's me. I'm the one who insisted on staying there. If I had listened to you, I'd have been safe on Earth when the attack happened. I've certainly kicked myself more than once over that." Daniel looked at her intently. "But you know what? If I hadn't been there, if I had returned to Earth, then we wouldn't have been able to help get rid of Soren, and we wouldn't be in the position of being able to help Rand rebuild. I don't want to think about what would have happened if Soren had stayed in power. He would have systematically wiped out everyone who didn't bow down to him."
"Did you know that he refused our help?" Sam asked. "We offered him food and medicine in exchange for his help in finding you. He asked for weapons instead. He wanted to take over Caledonia, too."
"No, I didn't know that, but it doesn't surprise me. The man was a fanatic. He might have ended up wiping out what was left of the population of Rand, either by execution or because of disease and starvation. That's the future Leda thought was in store for them."
"How can someone be so fanatical that they lose all sense of reality?"
"I don't know. I just hope that none of his men were as fanatical. It's going to be hard enough as it is to rebuild the civilization. The last thing they need is another zealot trying to rise up in Soren's place." He studied Sam's face. "So, everything okay now? No more guilt trips? Because if you're going to be taking another trip, I'll have to tag along with you. We are teammates, after all."
Sam grinned. "Okay, no more guilt trips."
"Good. I think I'd like to stick around here for a while."
Silence fell between them. They both knew that there was something else they needed to talk about, but neither one of them wanted to be the first to broach the subject.
"Sam," Daniel finally said, "about what happened in my office."
"Daniel, you don't have to say anything. We were both pretty emotional, and, well, it just happened. We should both forget about it."
Daniel looked at her. "That's just it, Sam. I can't forget about it. I keep thinking about it, about how it felt. It felt . . . really good, and the truth is that I don't think I want to forget about it."
Sam met his eyes. "I know. I don't think I want to forget about it either."
They stared at each other for a breathless moment. Then, at the same time, they stepped forward and were in each other's arms again, mouths joined in a slow kiss. Daniel drew Sam in tightly to his body, feeling every inch of her against him. Wanting more, he slid his tongue across her lips, seeking entrance. Eagerly, she let him in.
The instant their tongues touched, they felt the little spark of fire within them flare into something hot and deep-burning. They both let out a moan and began searching each other's mouths with intense purpose. Daniel tangled a hand in Sam's hair and angled his mouth over hers, wanting to possess it utterly.
The couple was not aware that they'd moved until Sam found herself sandwiched between Daniel and one of the posts supporting the porch roof, their bodies pressed so tightly together it was a wonder they didn't meld with each other at the subatomic level. A moment after that, their lips separated. They drew in several deep breaths, filling their oxygen-starved lungs.
"I don't think I'm going to be able to forget about this, Sam," Daniel finally said.
"Me neither."
"We really shouldn't be doing this, should we."
"No."
Daniel searched her eyes. "Do you want to stop?"
Sam thought about it for a very brief moment, already knowing the answer. "No. In fact, that really is the last thing in the world I want to do right now."
With a smile, Daniel closed the distance between them. Sam wound her fingers in his hair and held his lips to hers, letting out another moan as Daniel delved into her mouth with all the passion and intensity of an archeologist digging into the mysteries of a great and wondrous archeological find. Then his lips left hers and made a trail to her left ear and down her neck. A little tremor passed through Sam's body. She felt incredibly aroused, and she knew that, if they were alone at her place, she would be taking Daniel into her bedroom right now.
It was that thought that made her realize they needed to stop what they were doing.
As if sensing her thoughts, Daniel pulled back and looked at her. "Sam—" he began.
A noise from the kitchen had them leaping apart. They turned to see the door open and Jack peek his head out.
"Hey, you two. Are you going to stay out here all night?"
"Um, no. We were just . . . talking, sir," Sam stammered.
"Well, the cake's all cut, so if you guys want a piece, come and get it."
"We'll be right there, Jack," Daniel told him. After the general left, he turned back to Sam.
"We need to talk about this, Daniel," she said.
"I know. But I don't think that tonight would be a good time to do that. The truth is that talking isn't what I want to be doing right now."
Sam blushed faintly. "Yeah, me too, which is why we really need to talk."
"Okay, how about Saturday? We're on leave this weekend, aren't we?"
Sam nodded. "All right. We can go to lunch . . . or something."
"Someplace public."
"I think that would be best."
Nodding, Daniel went inside with Sam, wondering what Saturday would bring.
After the cake was eaten, Sam and Teal'c decided to head home. Daniel was going to go, too, since he was pretty tired, but Jack had been sending him little hints that he wanted the archeologist to stay for a while.
"See you tomorrow, guys," Daniel told his two teammates, sharing a look with Sam.
"It is good to have you back with us, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c told him. "Your presence was deeply missed."
"Thanks, Teal'c. I felt the same way about you guys. It's good to be home."
Once they were gone, Daniel turned back to Jack, who was busy straightening up. The archeologist went and gave him a hand.
"Want another beer?" Jack asked.
"No, I'd better not. I've got to drive home, you know."
"Well, you could always sack out in the spare bedroom."
"Thanks for the offer, but, after five weeks of sleeping in another bed a few thousand light-years from home, wondering if I would ever get back, I'd really like to be in my own bed tonight."
Jack didn't say anything for a while, then, "Daniel, I—"
"Jack, don't," Daniel interrupted. "Don't say it."
"Say what? What do you think I was going to say?"
"Oh, that you're sorry. That you should never have let me stay on the planet, and it's your fault I was stuck there and almost got killed. That you wish you could have done something to get me home sooner. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."
Jack's mouth turned up at the corners. "Let me guess. You already had this discussion with Carter."
"Yep, and I'll tell you the same thing I told her. It wasn't your fault. I'm the one who insisted on staying. I put myself in that situation. Jack, you know me. If I'm determined to do something, it's pretty hard to keep me from doing it."
Jack snorted. "Try downright impossible most of the time."
"Exactly. I didn't want to leave because I thought I could help. Unfortunately, it turned out that I was wrong."
Jack shook his head. "Don't blame yourself for that, Daniel. If it hadn't been for Soren, I have every confidence that you could have eventually talked some sense into Rand and Caledonia. You forged a treaty with a bunch of Unas, for cryin' out loud. If you can do that, you can do anything."
"To be honest, Jack, the Unas were a whole lot more reasonable than Minister Treydan was."
Jack looked at Daniel closely. "You're not still feeling guilty over the fact that SG-1's arrival triggered the war, are you? Because, if you are, I'll say it again. Half the times we step onto another planet, we're involving ourselves in a situation that's really none of our business. That's just a part of what we do, and there's nothing that we can do to change that. Unlike in Star Trek, we don't have the luxury of not interfering with the cultures we meet. Usually, the second we meet people on other planets, something is going to be changed in their lives. Now, most of the time, the changes are good ones, like when we free people from the Goa'uld. But, sometimes, it's the opposite. This just happened to be one of those times."
"In my head, I know you're right, Jack, but that doesn't stop me from feeling terrible when I think about the fact that the war might never have happened if we hadn't gone there."
"Maybe, maybe not. It could be that they'd have blown each other to hell sooner or later anyway. That's something we'll never know. The point is that they all made the choices they did without our help. We didn't make the fundamentalists mount a revolution. We didn't make Caledonia send their missiles, and we didn't make Soren's forces fire Rand's missiles at Caledonia. And, most importantly, we didn't start the hostilities that made Rand and Caledonia enemies in the first place. They did all those things on their own, and, now, they have to live with that. Maybe this taught them all an important lesson about how stupid war can be."
"I hope so. I hope that Rand and Caledonia will finally be at peace."
Jack patted Daniel's shoulder. "Well, I'm sure you'll do all you can to see that that happens."
Daniel smiled. "Thanks, Jack."
"Think nothing of it. I may no longer be your team leader, but I'm still here to give a listening ear whenever you need one."
The archeologist nodded. "I know." He looked at his watch. "Well, I'd better get going. See you tomorrow." He went to the door, then paused. "It works both ways, you know." He looked at Jack over his shoulder. "I'm still here to give a listening ear, too."
Jack's mouth turned up in a small smile. "I know."
Giving him a short nod, Daniel left. Jack watched him leave, the smile still on his face. He may no longer be on SG-1, but they would always be his team and his friends. And, now that Daniel was back with them, his team, his family, was whole.
With that thought in mind, Jack went off to bed, looking forward to what tomorrow would bring for the first time in five long weeks.
Things were . . . interesting between Daniel and Sam the next day. When they first saw each other that morning, they didn't quite know what to say. After an hour or so of brief glances and uncomfortable conversation, they made a mutual, silent agreement that they would put aside what happened last night and treat the day like any other. Once that agreement was made, they found themselves slipping back into their ordinary routine, though the next few days were definitely not routine for Daniel, who was busy coordinating the relief aid to the people of Rand. He was also working on a peace proposal for Rand and Caledonia, wanting to lay the groundwork right away while he figured that the two nations would be most amenable to putting a complete end to the hostilities.
Fortunately, in regards to Rand's government, Daniel would be dealing with someone he already knew, namely Jared Kane. Being the highest ranking member of the surviving Rand military, Kane would presently be acting as the country's leader. Though he lacked the experience of Commander Gareth, Daniel believed that Kane would do a good job. He just needed to learn how to be a little more positive in his outlook.
As for the Caledonian government, Daniel didn't know who would be in charge. They had learned that Minister Treydan was dead, having died when the facility he was in was severely damaged by one of Rand's missiles. Though Daniel was sorry that the man was dead, he was not sorry that he wouldn't have to deal with the minister's inflexibility. Hopefully, whoever took Treydan's place would be more reasonable.
Sam was pretty busy the remainder of that week as well, being involved both with the situation in Rand and with other duties. Sam was thankful that she was so busy. Firstly, it enabled her to keep her mind off what happened between her and Daniel. Secondly. . . . Sam was ashamed to admit that she was avoiding seeing Pete. She was suffering more than a little guilt about what happened with Daniel, and she knew that, if she saw Pete, there was a good chance he'd be able to tell something was wrong.
Sam hadn't wanted to think about what she was going to do about this whole thing. She cared a lot about Pete. With the exception of Jonas Hanson, her relationship with the cop had lasted a lot longer than any other romantic relationship she'd been in. But then she thought about what she felt when Daniel kissed her. It had been . . . amazing, unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. Sam didn't understand what that meant. It was confusing and more than a little terrifying.
When Sam called Pete and told him that Daniel had been found and was all right, the cop had been happy for her. Knowing that she had leave this weekend, he asked her if she'd like to get together. When Sam told him that she was going to be spending some time with Daniel on Saturday, Pete said that he understood, but there was an odd tone in his voice. She told him that she'd give him a call Saturday evening.
It was Thursday morning when Daniel, Sam and Teal'c returned to Rand. They met Jared Kane on the other side, who immediately thanked them for the food and medicine that were being distributed among the people. He also thanked them for the continuing presence of SG teams on the planet. Having a military presence from Earth there had dampened any desire Soren's troops might have had to continue the revolution, especially since Colonel Reynolds of SG-3 had made it clear that any acts of hostility against the SG teams or the Rand military would be met with the full force of the U.S. military. He had been exaggerating, of course, but as he said to General O'Neill, nobody was going to be enlightening the fundamentalists to that fact. Jack's response to that had been, "I like the way you think, Reynolds."
For the first time, Sam and Teal'c got a look at the devastation wrought on the capital. It sent a shiver down Sam's spine to think that Daniel had been in the middle of that when the destruction occurred.
Kane took them to one of the centers that had been set up to distribute medicine, food and other necessities. The place was packed with people who, quite understandably, looked like they'd been through a war. Many of them were undernourished, others were clearly ill. It upset Daniel tremendously to see the suffering. He wished that there was something more they could do to help.
Seeing a familiar face among the group passing out food, Daniel smiled and headed over there.
"Hello, Leda," he said.
Kane's wife smiled. "Daniel. It's good to see you."
"I see you're keeping busy."
"Yes. There is so much to do. But we are all so grateful for the things your people have given us. I don't know what we would have done without your help."
"Well, I'm glad that we're able to do so." Daniel beckoned to his team. "Leda, I'd like you to meet my teammates, Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter and Teal'c. Guys, this is Leda. She's the one who took care of me while I was healing."
"It's nice to meet you, Leda," Sam said. "Thank you for caring for Daniel. He's very special to us, and we're grateful to you for helping him."
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "We owe you a great debt of gratitude."
Leda smiled. "Not at all. I gained as much out of it as Daniel did." She looked at the archeologist. "Daniel gave me not only his friendship but also hope for the future. That more than paid me back for the care I gave him."
Embarrassed, Daniel ducked his head.
Noticing the way Leda was looking at Daniel, Sam felt that twinge of jealousy again, only much stronger this time. 'Get a grip, Sam. She's a married woman. Even if she did go after Daniel, he'd never in a million years accept her advances.' That thought surprised Sam. Why should it matter to her what Daniel did and did not do in regards to his love life?
Leda noticed the look Sam gave her, easily recognizing it for what it was. She then turned back to the man she had come to care deeply about in the weeks they had known each other. She knew that they needed to talk, to settle some things.
"Will you be returning to your world today or do you plan on staying the night?" she asked.
"It all depends on how much we get done," Sam replied.
"Well, if you do decide to stay the night, you are more than welcome to stay at our house. I'm sure that Jared would be pleased to have you." She called her husband over, who said that he would be honored to have SG-1 stay with them.
After leaving the center, SG-1 split up. While Sam and Teal'c continued checking out the situation in the city and touching base with the other SG teams there, Daniel went back to the bunker with Kane and sat down with him to discuss the relationship between Rand and Caledonia. Kane was more than willing to stop all hostilities with Caledonia, wanting to put an end to the thing that had nearly wiped out the entire population on the planet. He had spoken with the man who took Minister Treydan's place and believed that the new leader of Caledonia was going to be a lot easier to deal with than his predecessor had been. Delighted to hear that, Daniel began discussing his thoughts and ideas for both nations.
Before they realized it, it was late in the afternoon. Sam and Teal'c joined them.
"So, how's it going?" Sam asked.
"Good," Daniel replied. "We've still got a lot to discuss, and we need to get Caledonia involved in the discussion, but we're making progress. How about you?"
"There is a lot of work to do. Our people have started organizing some of the locals to help build shelters for the homeless. They're using materials scrounged from the ruined buildings. They're also working on the water problem. There's a definite lack of clean water here."
"I'm afraid that the year to come will be a long, hard one," Kane said. "I am concerned about what the next winter will bring. As it is, the weather is presently cold enough at night that there have been a few deaths from exposure. The weather will be growing warmer soon, though. Hopefully, by the time the cold weather arrives again, everyone will have shelter."
"Don't worry, Jared. We'll make sure all your people have places to stay before next winter," Daniel assured him. He looked at Sam. "So, are we heading back home?"
"There are still some things I want to check on, so I think it'll be easier for us to stay here for the night and head out first thing in the morning."
A few hours later, Daniel, Sam and Teal'c were at the house that had been Daniel's home for five weeks. Over dinner, everyone talked about things other than the war and its consequences, wanting to get their minds off it. After the meal was over, as everyone else went to the living room to talk, Daniel helped Leda wash the dishes. There were things left unsaid between them that needed to be spoken.
"Leda, we never really got a chance to talk before I left," Daniel said after a few minutes.
"I know." Leda looked at him. "I'm sorry, Daniel. The way I acted . . . it was wrong of me. I was just so lonely. Jared and I had been drifting apart for so long, and it felt good to have a man's company, to have someone there that I could talk to. I fooled myself into thinking that I was developing . . . feelings for you. I do care about you, Daniel. You have become a dear friend to me. But I still love my husband very much. I realized that when I thought I might never see him again. I think that things are going to be better between us now."
Daniel smiled in relief. Though he cared a lot about Leda as a friend, that was the extent of his feelings for her. "That's good to hear, Leda. I'm glad."
"What about you, Daniel?"
"Me?"
"Yes. Don't you have someone? You never talked about your personal life the whole time you were here, except when you told me that you were a widower. Do you have someone in your life?"
Daniel gave a short laugh. "You know, if you had asked me that question a week ago, I'd have been able to answer with a definite 'no'. But now. . . ."
"What do you mean?"
Daniel shook his head. "Nothing. It's just that some things have been happening this week that are making me begin to question my feelings for someone."
"For Samantha?"
Daniel stared at her, stunned. "How did you know?"
Leda smiled. "I suspected it when I saw how she was looking at me."
Daniel frowned in puzzlement. "What do you mean?"
"Talk to her, Daniel. One of the reasons why my relationship with Jared suffered is because we stopped talking. Don't stay silent about what you're feeling for Samantha."
"Well, things are rather complicated with Sam. We're teammates, which makes everything tricky. And Sam already has a boyfriend." He shook his head again. "I really don't know what's going to happen with us. If we were smart, we'd forget all about it and just keep things as they have been all these years."
"But the heart doesn't always do what is smart."
Daniel let out a sigh. "No."
They finished the dishes in silence, then joined the others. A short time later, they all went to bed. As Daniel lay in the darkness of the room he'd spent so many sleepless nights in, he thought about what Leda had said. He knew that he and Sam needed to talk about what happened and try to figure out what was going on between them, but he wasn't sure if he was ready for what he'd learn.
Something he hadn't told Sam, something he wouldn't dare tell her, was that, ever since that night at Jack's, he had been having dreams about them making love. On several occasions he had been awakened in the throes of passion, his body filled with the incredible ecstasy of lovemaking with an imaginary Sam. Each time had made him feel so wonderful, yet it also frightened him. He had never meant for this to happen, and he didn't know how to make it stop.
Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Daniel turned his attention to Rand and Caledonia. It would be a very long, rocky road for everyone, but, in the end, he hoped that they would all learn a valuable lesson from this. If the horror of this tragedy taught them never to wage war again, then maybe someday, future generations would look upon this time as the dawning of a better day for their world. Daniel knew that he would not live long enough to see that day, but the thought still gave him hope, and, sometimes, hope was all anyone needed.
With the hope that the people of this world were going to be all right, Daniel closed his eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
