Title: Reflection
Author: GeekyDollie
Date: 2001
Rating: G
Summary: Daniel shows Sam an artifact with curious properties. (Daniel/Sam)
Spoilers: None
Author's Notes: This was written for my sister who was a D/S fan. I am not a D/S fan, but hope I did them justice!
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and the characters belong to TPTB of the Stargate franchise.
"Hey, Daniel, you're still here."
Daniel Jackson looked up from his lab bench to find Major Carter standing in the doorway. She leaned on the doorframe, duffel on one shoulder, grinning at him. He grinned back wryly.
"Oh, um… hi, Sam," Daniel stood straight and ran a hand through his hair. "Give me a minute."
Sam dropped her duffel at the door and picked a seat at the bench as Daniel started to clean up. "So how's it coming with the inscriptions?" She surveyed the mass array of artifacts strewn about. Several books were opened and stacked upon each other; the computer was running a series of permutations. Daniel pushed the stack of books to one corner of his bench and deposited several day-old coffee cups in the sink.
"Well, the symbols are similar, but the grammar structure is completely unfamiliar. For example, the symbols on this inscription basically say 'One millennium, over the water… grain rises to the sky'…"
"Something about a drought perhaps?" Sam interrupted.
"Yeah maybe, but then the next line says something completely out of context. It must be an ancient dialect." Daniel explained to Sam. She nodded in understanding and looked closer at the artifact he was pointing to. Anyone else would have stopped paying attention to what he was saying already, but Sam seemed genuinely interested.
One thing Daniel admitted that he admired about her was that she was always interested in listening to his findings no matter how dry they seemed. Maybe it took a fellow academic to understand, or maybe she was just damned good at pretending she understood. Nevertheless, he was just glad that she stopped by once in a while, she always helped him see things in a different way when he was stuck.
"We should get going, Teal'c and the Colonel are probably waiting," Sam reminded him as he finished telling her of his discoveries. They had been given several days of 'down-time' and they were all getting together for a beer in the city before going their separate ways. Sam hopped off of her chair and headed for her gear on the floor. She thought Daniel was right behind her.
"Wait, I want to show you this. It will only be a moment."
Sam turned to see Daniel still standing where he was, pointing to a flat object almost in an afterthought. Curious, she approached the bench again and looked at the shiny mirror-like disk. It looked so normal that she had to wonder what made Daniel so excited about it.
"Touch it," he instructed, and placed his fingertips on the surface as an example. Sam's eyes met his suspiciously, but she obeyed. Her fingers lightly rested on the disk, barely touching Daniel's. "Do you feel it? You can almost feel the energy."
Sure enough, Sam felt a sensation course up her arms, and it was not entirely unpleasant. The disk seemed to be vibrating under her touch. It was so enticingly dangerous and yet so curiously fascinating. Part of her thought that any second the disk would lash out with it's energy, but part of her wanted to delve into this sensation to discover what caused it.
"Did you test it for an electromagnetic field? What is its internal source of power?" Sam had so many questions, but Daniel had nothing for her. His eyes met hers with the same curiosity.
"I didn't think to look for a source…" his eyes narrowed slightly in thought. His voice was tinged with alarm, "It… it wasn't like this before."
"What do you mean it wasn't like this?
"I mean, I felt the energy before, but it's different this time… stronger."
"What does the inscription say?" she nodded to the symbols surrounding the disk.
"I'm not entirely sure yet. That word near your left hand means 'mirror' or 'reflection', but the rest doesn't make much sense."
Sam met his eyes uncomfortably. The disk had gotten intoxicatingly warm.
"Maybe we should stop. We should probably study this in the lab before we try this again. We have no idea what it does," she looked imploringly into Daniel's eyes. Their gaze froze for a moment, both reluctant to make the first move from this fascinating artifact.
Suddenly, Sam gasped as she felt the disk change. Her fingers remained on the solid, but her sense of touch was telling her that it was beginning to melt. It felt pliable beneath her fingertips. Yet when she looked down, the disk was still deceivingly the same. Her thoughts were in confusion. All the physics she knew could not explain this phenomenon. It appeared as if this artifact was losing atomic cohesion, but that would have needed a far greater amount of energy.
"Uh… Sam…?"
"Daniel…" Sam whispered. The room seemed to fade around the two of them.
For the moment, all Sam could comprehend, all she could focus on, was Daniel. She searched his eyes for some answer and found him doing the same. He looked as anxious and curious about this phenomenon as she felt.
Suddenly, her eyes widened as she realized that Daniel didn't only look anxious and curious, she could actually sense those feelings from him! Daniel's eyes reciprocated her surprise.
Sam's eyes were wild. Something was wrong. They didn't know enough about this alien technology! Just about anything could be happening to them at this instant, and they had no way of knowing what it was. They must disengage themselves from the disk. That would be the only thing to ensure their safety.
Sam tried to remove her hands and found herself fighting. It was as if her hands and arms were nightmarishly frozen. No matter what she did, nothing could remove her from the disk. The more she fought, the more the disk seemed to hold on.
"Daniel… fight it," Sam whispered desperately, perhaps more harshly than she intended.
"I can't… " Daniel was also visibly struggling.
"You have to. Just try to pull your hands away." Sam mentally told herself that she would at least keep from giving into panic.
Several moments later, both resigned to defeat. It was no use, struggling was getting them nowhere. Sam felt a sense of calm as Daniel explored the effects of the disk. Well, if Daniel wasn't afraid off by this alien technology, there was no reason for her to be frightened by it either, right?
It was just like him to let his curiosity take precedence in the face of danger, Sam thought. Daniel gave her a funny look. Sam swore that last thought was only in her head. Had she said it out loud?
Suddenly, Sam's eyes sharply met Daniel's as she felt a sensation course through her body. It felt familiar, yet it seemed induced through the disk. There was an unmistakable element of surrealism. It took her a second to place that emotion. It was not unlike what she felt years ago with her silly girlish crushes. It was the same feeling she felt, when she was thirteen, for the boy sitting 3 desks over. Sam immediately dismissed it. Yes, that's definitely what it felt like: a crush… but right now? For whom? Daniel?
Daniel saw her expression. He was sure she knew, just for a second, what he had been feeling for her for a while now. It was something he could never tell her in words, something he could never bring himself to say even if he had the chance. What would he even say? 'By the way, Sam, I'm in love with you'?
He suddenly understood the inscriptions on the disk as if inspiration struck at that instant. It told of a mirror or reflection of emotions, and from Sam's eyes, Daniel was sure that it was exactly that which was happening. There was no mistaking the anxiety in her eyes was caused by him. The disk must have been created for exactly the purpose of communicating to someone something that one could not describe in words. How one feels is universal, even if each party didn't understand language, the feeling… the essence of the thought would be the same.
He looked deep into her confused blue eyes and tried again to send his feelings towards her. If he didn't 'tell' her now, he may never get this kind of chance again. The world around him was faded. All he could see was this incredible woman in front of him, and he had miraculously been given the chance to finally tell her. He only hoped his assumption about this disk was correct. He only hoped that she would finally know how he felt…
Sam only stared back. She couldn't believe what she felt. Daniel was like a brother, a friend. Why would he be feeling this? Or was it her that felt it? And why now? It couldn't possible be real…could it? No, Sam resolved, it couldn't be real. It must have something to do with the electromagnetic fields of the disk or something. The disk must be sending some kind of oscillating current. Yes, that must be it…
Sam was so busy fighting the feeling she didn't even realize the effects of the disk had finally neutralized. She withdrew her hands as if she had just touched a hot surface. Rubbing her fingertips against her thumb, she didn't know what to make of the whole experience. She looked up to see Daniel still watching her.
"Sam?" Daniel ventured carefully, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah… yeah, fine," Sam swallowed, "You should probably have that thing sent up to the lab to get checked out."
"Um… right, the lab." He hesitated and started nervously, "You know… the disk… what we felt?…Did you…"
Sam looked away. What exactly had she felt? She turned to pick up her duffel just so as to avoid eye contact. She didn't know if she wanted to go where his question was leading.
"You know, Jack is probably waiting for us," she motioned to the door as casually as the situation would allow. Daniel stopped mid-gesture.
"Right… Jack," his heart fell. Boy, he had messed that up.
He started for his jacket, but as he turned back he could feel her eyes on him.
"I felt it too." Her blue eyes lingered on his for just a second before she left his office.
Quickening his steps, he followed her out.
FIN