Revealation:
Daniel Jackson felt rather pleased with himself.
He had just finished the incredibly difficult translation of the stone tablet that SG-15 had brought back from P8X 774. It had been a long time since something had challenged him in the way that this text had. It had tested his linguistic skills to their maximum, along with a good dose of his patience.
Why on Earth, or any other planet for that matter, would a cultivated society develop a language that had five different interpretations for almost every word?
His head still swam with the complexities of it all, even if the pounding headache it had caused him was slowly easing off.
He looked once more at his computer screen, matching the words depicted there against those he had written in his old, battered journal. Satisfied that they were correct, he saved the document and then printed off a copy for the official report. As he pulled the printout from the copier and fastened it to the file folder, he allowed a small smile of satisfaction to flit across his lips.
He felt a little hyper, the rush of his excitement at finishing the translation buzzing through his body. He needed to let out some of his pent up energy, discuss it with somebody who would appreciate the difficulties that he had faced.
In short he needed to talk to Sam.
Twenty minutes later Daniel was exiting the elevator on Sam's floor, his precious cargo of translated text safely in the custody of SG-15.
He still felt energised and he was looking forward to spending some much needed quality time with his friend. He was aware that he hadn't spent much time with her since her return from Area 51 and he had to concede that part of the reason was because of the ever present presence of Vala and her somewhat obsessive compulsive behaviour toward him. It felt as though he hardly got a minute to himself these days, he was either bailing her out of her latest piece of mischief or he was fending off her advances.
In fact he had been surprised by Vala's absence from his office for the whole of the morning. It had been a much appreciated Godsend, one that he had desperately needed in order to finish the translation, but he couldn't help wondering all the same where she had been.
Or who she had decided to plague with her presence today.
As he neared Sam's lab he picked up the sound of her soft voice. It sounded a little strained to his ears, her normally placid tones flecked with a hint of exasperation. He knew that sound, for it had been the tone that he himself had adopted on more than one occasion over the last year or so.
Guess his question regarding Vala's whereabouts had been answered.
Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter was having a bitch of a morning!
It wasn't being made any easier by the presence of the woman who was perched haphazardly on the edge of her workbench, fiddling with Sam's latest technological project, much to the Colonel's rising annoyance.
Vala draped herself across the workbench, reaching out toward the power unit that SG-15 had brought back from P8X 774. "So, Samantha," curiosity etched her clipped English vowels, "this tiny thing can power an entire city?" She quirked up an elegantly shaped eyebrow. "Do you know how much this would fetch on the open market?"
Sam rolled her eyes in irritation and continued typing up her analysis of the alien power device. Hopefully if she ignored her for long enough she might get bored and go away.
After all it always seemed to work for Daniel.
Vala pushed herself further along the bench, a slender hand picking up one of the machine's delicate power crystals. "I take it that this crystal goes here?" The hand with the crystal moved toward one of the open conduit boards that Sam had set up for her experiment. "I'm guessing that when it makes a connection with the dampening field it renders it…"
Abruptly, Sam looked up from her computer screen, just in time to see Vala inserting the crystal. "No, wait…don't." Sam's voice raised sharply, but her warning apparently went unheeded by the other woman because it was promptly followed by the sound of electrical wiring shorting out. Thick, acrid smoke issued from the now fried electrical board.
"Oh dear!" Vala grimaced sheepishly. "Was that me?"
"Isn't there some place you have to be?" Sam pushed Vala back from the workbench, her fingers gingerly raking through the now useless remnants of the alien device. "I'm sure Daniel would be glad to see you."
"Oh, he's too busy translating something or another." Vala waved her hand vaguely in the air. "You know what he's like when he is in full linguistic mode. I can hardly get a word out of him and he barely notices I'm there." She reached her hand toward the now blackened crystal, but Sam batted it away as though it were an irritating fly and Vala quickly snatched it back. "Actually, Daniel's the reason that I'm here."
"Oh lucky me." Sarcasm practically dripped from every word. Then Sam's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Are you telling me that Daniel sent you here?"
"No, silly." Vala lifted her eyes heavenward, studying the dull greyness of the concrete ceiling above her. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you..." There was an awkward pause. "...about Daniel."
"If you want to ask me if I think he will agree to talking to Landry about you living off base… I thought we'd already had that…"
"No," Vala interrupted, "it isn't about that. This is about something different." She turned and looked at the Colonel. "Something that I'm hoping as his friend you would know about."
Sam's eyes narrowed at Vala's comment. Did she really want to know what was on the alien's mind? After all Vala wasn't exactly the soul of discretion and whatever she was about to impart was going to be something personal about her friend and Sam didn't want to be drawn into something that Daniel might not want her being privy to.
"You've known him for a long time right?" Sam nodded her head warily. "I guess over the years you have learned a lot about each other, both in a professional capacity and a private one."
Sam sighed, running a weary hand through her hair. She didn't really have time for this. General Landry was expecting her report any time now. "Vala, just get to the point, what is it that you want to..."
"Is he gay?"
Sam felt her eyes widening as the words slammed into her brain.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well I've thrown practically everything in my armoury at him." Vala's tone became a little petulant. "I've tried subtle…not so subtle and downright full frontal attack and nothing." Her voice dropped lower. "I'd be better off trying to seduce a eunuch."
'Subtle?'
Sam didn't think that Vala even knew the meaning of the word. From what she had witnessed there was nothing subtle about Vala's intentions toward the tall archaeologist.
"Have you considered the fact that maybe he isn't interested in you?" Sam winced as the words came out a little harsher than intended, the comment more forceful than necessary, but she shrugged it off, putting it down to the fact that she had a right to defend her best friend from Vala's ever persistent onslaught.
"That's ridiculous, why wouldn't he?" Vala's tone was just this side of incredulous as though Sam had said something so outlandish that it beggared belief. "I'm attractive and I still have a body that men crave, which is more than I can say about some of the women on this base." She gave Sam's baggy BDU's a pointed look. "Besides as host of Quetesh I have learned a lot of different ways of pleasuring a man." Vala frowned, her eyebrows knitting into a long line. "Do you think that's the problem? Do you think he doesn't want to be with me because I was once host to a Goa'uld?"
"Vala, I know you haven't known Daniel that long, but one thing I can vouch for is that he would never hold that against you. You had no choice, no control over what Quetesh made you do, Daniel knows that."
Sam unplugged the destroyed circuit board from its main's adaptor and began fiddling with its circuitry. Maybe if she could jiggle a few wires and get a replacement crystal from somewhere, it might still be viable. She touched a couple of loose wires and grimaced, then again judging by the crispiness of the wiring, maybe not.
"You're right. What was I thinking." Vala jumped down from the workbench and paced the lab. "So I guess we're back to him being gay."
Sam sighed in frustration.
"Daniel isn't gay." The Colonel desperately needed Vala out of her lab, especially if she was going to finish the report for General Landry on time. She also needed some time to try and figure out how she was going to resurrect her project. "I think you've overlooked the obvious, he was married to Sha're."
"Oh, that..." Vala waved her hand in the air in a dismissive gesture. "From what I've heard it had all the makings of an arranged marriage, after all didn't her father offer her to Daniel as a gift?" Vala shook her long black tresses, sweeping them over one shoulder. " I'm sure it didn't mean anything and you know what Daniel is like, he probably agreed to the whole thing so that nobody lost face."
Sam's eyes glanced away from her destroyed alien power source to lock with those of her teammate."How can you say that!?" She was completely stunned by what she had just heard. " You're basing your assumptions on something you didn't even witness. I was there, I saw what he was like with her, the way he looked at her."
"According to that mission report, you were there for what... a few hours? Who' s to say that what you saw wasn't just some elaborate act, put on for your benefit?"
"Vala!"
There was a warning tone now in the Colonel's voice. How could she be thinking that? If she had been there, if she had seen with her own eyes what Sam had seen, if she had witnessed the passion in which Daniel had searched for Sha're after she was taken she would never have uttered those words.
"Okay, then Samantha, answer me this. In all the years since his wife's disappearance and her ultimate death, exactly how many other women has Daniel been involved with?"
"I wouldn't know!" Sam bristled slightly, feeling embarrassed by the question. "As his friend I don't delve into his private life and before you ask, I'm not prepared to make any assumptions."
"From what I can gather there were only really three." Vala raised her hand for emphasis. She tapped her index finger. "There was Hathor, although I can understand why he wouldn't want to be reminded of that conquest." She tapped another slim finger. "Then there was that silly girl that got him hooked on the sarcophagus." She tapped her ring finger. "Finally, there was that woman whose name I can't remember…you know…that destroyer of worlds woman." She lowered her hand and looked intensely at Sam. "Don't you see a pattern forming here? Each one hooked him in some way, they took the lead, he never once instigated the liaison. If you factor in the fact that he practically stumbled into his marriage…"
"Vala, that's enough!"
"Has he ever made a pass at you?"
"Excuse me!?" Sam didn't let the indignation slide this time. It burned hot with every syllable. This had gone far enough, she wasn't prepared to tolerate anymore of this.
"Has he?" Vala quirked a sharp eyebrow at her. "Has he ever done anything that could be construed as being inappropriate or sexually explicit toward you? "
"He's my best friend."
"Oh come now, Samantha." Vala threw her hands in the air in mock disgust. "He's a man, you're a woman, an attractive woman."
Sam glanced down at her baggy BDU's as she remembered Vala's comments of earlier.
"Oh come on, these things make every woman look like a Goa'uld tented city." Vala pulled at her own BDU jacket in distaste.
"Gee thanks, Vala."
"You're avoiding my question." Vala's dark blue eyes bored into Sam's. "Has he ever touched you or looked at you in a way that made you feel as though he wanted you, sexually I mean?"
"No." The answer came out as a soft whisper, but even to Sam's ears the note of disappointment in her voice was unmistakable, she hoped to God that Vala hadn't picked up on it. She averted her gaze from the other woman's and stood staring at the cold concrete floor. "He's never made a move on me, but like I said, we're friends."
She grimaced, damn that had sounded as though she was using their friendship as a means of concealing the fact that Daniel didn't find her attractive.
"Well there you go, I've proven my point." Vala twisted around and slumped down on the seat nearest the workbench. "He has to be gay."
"You haven't proven anything." Although still reeling from her admission to Vala, Sam felt that she had to put up some kind of defence on Daniel's behalf. "All you've proven is that neither one of us is his type."
"Of course we're not his type, his type speaks with a deep baritone." Vala sighed dramatically. "Let's face it. He's out of bounds. I've been wasting my time." She stood and dusted down her BDU jacket and pants. "Oh, well, never mind, plenty more fish in the sea. I'm going off to find something to eat. Want to join me?"
Sam shook her head.
"I've got to finish this report and deliver it to Landry."
"Catch you later then."
"Vala?"
Sam watched as her teammate turned back to face her, halting her movements toward the entrance of the lab.
"Please don't mention this conversation to anyone." The Colonel's words were a soft plea. "If you're right…then it's Daniel's business and nobody else has a right to know. If you're wrong it will cause him a great deal of unnecessary embarrassment."
Vala considered her colleague's words for a moment before nodding her head in reply.
"I won't breathe a word. His secret is safe with me."
Outside in the corridor, Daniel Jackson stood staring at the entrance to Sam's lab, his mouth slightly ajar, his mind processing the conversation that he had just inadvertently overheard.
Is that what Vala really thought, that because he didn't succumb to her various attempts to seduce him that he must be gay?
In truth he didn't really care what Vala thought, but the idea that Sam could subscribe to Vala's argument...
That curdled in his stomach like yesterdays soured milk.
It hurt way more than it should do and he knew it was because his feelings for Sam were so complicated.
He heard a shuffling of feet toward the lab's entrance and realised that Vala was making her exit. Not wanting to be seen by her, he ducked into the nearest doorway and hid in the shadows until she passed by.
He didn't move until he heard the familiar sound of the elevator arriving, followed by the doors closing and the unmistakable sound of the motor indicating that the elevator had started its descent toward the commissary.
Then he emerged from his place of concealment and headed back toward Sam's lab. He stopped in the doorway, watching her fiddling with the remains of her now defunct experiment, a deep frown of consternation furrowing her brow.
He tapped on the wooden casement around her doorframe.
"Hey."
She turned toward the sound of his voice.
"Hey, Daniel."
"Can I come in?"
"Sure." She looked back toward the blackened circuitry on the workbench and prodded it again with her index finger. "I have to warn you though…I'm not in a great mood at the moment."
"Experiment blow up in your face?" Daniel decided that it might be better to come across as oblivious as to the reasons behind her darkened demeanour.
"It was more like sabotage." She shrugged her shoulders in reluctant defeat and turned her attention back toward him. "So…what can I do for you, Daniel?"
"Nothing really." He shifted from one foot to the other, "I thought I might just come and shoot the breeze with you for a while." He saw her eyes widen in surprise and the gesture tore at him. He knew what she was thinking…when was the last time he had just turned up to simply chat. "I know… I know…it's been a while."
She nodded and he thought that he saw a hint of sadness in her eyes.
"In my defence…I've had mitigating circumstances."
"Let me guess they wouldn't have something to do with a former alien con artist who has the propensity to wreak havoc wherever she goes?"
Daniel nodded slowly, his eyes staying focused upon his friend.
"I thought you might like to know that I've managed to finish that translation."
Sam let out a soft whistle.
"I'm impressed, didn't you think that it was going to take you weeks to decipher it, weren't you even considering asking General Landry for an extension on your report?"
"Well luckily I found myself without any distractions this morning, so I was able to wrap it up pretty quickly. Even managed to get it back to SG-15."
"That's great, Daniel," Sam's focus returned to the doomed project on her workbench, "wish I could say the same."
"Anything I can do to help?"
"Not unless you happen to have a replacement alien power crystal secreted somewhere about your person."
Daniel made a show of checking through his pockets then shrugged apologetically.
"Sorry, I'm fresh out."
Sam rewarded his attempt at humour with one of her megawatt smiles.
God, he had missed those.
It had been so long since he had been on the receiving end of one that he had forgotten just how wonderful they were.
"Hey, Sam, what are you up to tonight?"
Sam scowled at her destroyed experiment.
"Well, up until a few minutes ago I would have said that I wasn't doing anything, but now it would seem that I'll be spending the evening here trying to resurrect this."
Daniel gently took the fried circuit board out of her hand and placed it down on the workbench.
"How about I take you away from all this." Sam gave him a hesitant smile and he couldn't help wondering if she was thinking back to her earlier conversation with Vala. "A meal and a movie, my treat."
"What's the occasion?"
"No occasion, I just want to spend a little quality time with you."
"I'm not sure, Daniel, Landry's going to want..."
"Give him your report and tell him that the project would have been viable except for an unforeseen complication. Come on, Sam, give yourself a night off."
"This from the man that pulls more all nighters than anyone else on base."
Daniel grinned at her.
"Even I like to play hooky once in a while."
She was torn, he could see it, torn between finishing her project and spending some long overdue downtime with him.
"Look, I'm buzzing from the exhilaration of finishing a complex piece of work. I want to celebrate a little..." He took her hand in his and caressed the back of it with his thumb , "there was a time, not so long ago, when going out together to celebrate an achievement would have been second nature."
Sam looked at him for a long time and he knew that she was thinking back to those many shared evenings.
"I've missed you too, Daniel."
There was a sadness in the smile that she gave him and it said more about the present state of their friendship than a thousand words ever could.
"Then spend the evening with me, Sam."
If she said yes then Daniel was hoping he could use the time to mend some of the bridges that had fallen into disrepair since her assignment to Area 51. He was also hoping that he might, in some tentative way, broach another issue, something that had been niggling away at him all the time that she had been away in Nevada.
At first he had thought that he had just been missing her company, that special camaraderie that they shared. He thought that it was because she was his 'go to' person whenever he had a scientific problem that he couldn't solve, but as the weeks of her absence turned into months he realised that it was something else entirely.
There was a huge gaping hole in his life that she used to fill, not only that but she had become an intrinsic part of his life, as necessary as oxygen to breathe.
Then one night when he hadn't been able to sleep the most profound of revelations had hit him and it had hit him hard.
There was a real possibility that he had fallen in love with her.
When she had first returned to the team he had decided that he would try and find out if there was any way that she might feel the same, but things hadn't panned out the way that he had hoped. Vala had disappeared into the Ori galaxy and from that point on the team had lurched from one crisis to another.
There was also no getting away from the fact that since her return they had been uncharacteristically uncomfortable around each other.
Things were not the way that they used to be.
Nor were they the way that he hoped they might be.
He watched her intently as she looked down at the workbench for a long time, her eyes moving from one piece of her ruined experiment to another.
Daniel bit back the sigh of resignation that he felt bubbling up inside him and prepared himself for the disappointment that he knew would come when she rejected his offer.
"You're right, it's about time I treated myself to an evening off."
He felt his eyebrows creep toward his hairline.
"Is that a yes?"
"Sure, Daniel, why not."
He knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he didn't care.
"Well in that case, I'll make reservations for Luigi's for seven. I'll pick you up at six thirty and we can catch a late show at the movie theatre, I'll even let you choose the picture."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Great, I'll go and make the arrangements."
With that he turned to leave, his feet briskly taking him back toward the threshold of her doorway, but there he promptly stopped and pivoted back around.
Her earlier conversation with Vala was still nagging at him.
Did she really think that he never noticed her?
"Sam?"
"Hmm?"
She was distractedly looking at the blown circuit board again, gingerly plucking at some of the blackened wiring in the hopes that it might be salvageable.
He came to a bold decision, one he hoped wouldn't backfire in his face as Sam's experiment had in hers.
"Sam do you think you could do something for me tonight?"
Still absently moving her fingers over the fried circuit board, she nodded toward him distractedly.
"Sure, Daniel, what do you want?"
Daniel took a deep breath and plunged into what he knew was unknown territory.
"That dress you wore at General Landry's New Year's Eve party, the black one that you complained was a little too revealing... do you think you could wear it for me tonight?"
Sam's head jerked upward with such force that he was amazed that she didn't sustain whiplash with the movement.
Stifling the smile that wanted to plaster itself right across his face, he turned back around and exited the lab.
Dinner at Luigi's had been delicious.
She couldn't remember the last time that she had eaten so well.
Daniel had really pushed the boat out.
It wasn't just the fine dining that had her feeling pretty good, it was Daniel's company.
She had forgotten how good it was to be with him like this, especially when he was in such an animated mood. It was just like the early days of their friendship, those nights when they would finish up late at the mountain and spend hours talking over some shared meal in a diner before going back to their respective homes.
Except tonight it felt different... tonight it felt more like...
A date.
For one thing she was sitting there in a dress that she would never have envisioned wearing for Daniel in a million years.
At least not until tonight, but now remembering the way that he had looked at her when he had picked her up, the way his eyes had travelled over her body, the way they had slowly looked her over from top to bottom and back again, she couldn't envision wearing it for anybody else.
"Has he ever touched you or looked at you in a way that made you feel as though he wanted you, sexually I mean?"
Vala's words came back to her with a vengeance.
She would have to re-evaluate that statement from now on because there had definitely been a sexual overtone in the way that he had looked at her tonight.
She had to admit that she had liked the feeling that washed over her when he had looked at her, liked the way that her body had reacted to the desire that she had seen in his eyes.
"Sam?"
She realised that she had been staring at her empty dessert plate and looked up to find Daniel looking concernedly at her.
"Are you okay?"
"Sorry, kinda zoned out there for a while."
His concerned expression turned instantly into one of amusement.
"I kinda figured that out, especially since you didn't answer my question?"
"What question?"
Daniel laughed softly.
"I asked if you wanted coffee or the bill," he pulled back the cuff on the dark blue suit that he wore and peered at his watch, "if we're going to catch a late movie I think we better go for the bill, don't you?"
Sam nodded.
"The bill it is then." Daniel gestured for the waiter before turning his attention back toward her. "Had any ideas as to what you feel like going to see?"
"I didn't really have much time to check the listings, so I guess we'll have to wait till we get there."
When Daniel finished up with the waiter they made their way outside to the parking lot.
Always the gentleman, Daniel opened the passenger door of his Jeep so that Sam could get in.
"How do you feel about going to see that new Jennifer Aniston movie?"
Sam halted with her body half in and half out the car.
"Since when do you like chick flicks?"
She was barely able to hide the amusement in her voice, he hated chick flicks, he was a typical guy when it came to them, he much preferred an action movie.
He looked sheepishly at her.
"I heard it was really funny, that's all."
He waited for her to get comfortable in the passenger seat before softly closing the door, as he moved in front of the hood, she thought she saw him mutter an expletive under his breath.
Sam waited until he took his seat next to her before commenting.
"Daniel, what's going on?"
He looked across at her, his face trying hard not to look as though he had been caught doing something that he shouldn't.
"I don't know what you mean."
He turned away, his hand fumbling with the ignition key as he tried to insert it.
Sam's hand came down over his, stilling his actions.
"I want to know what tonight is all about because I've got a distinct feeling that there's more to it than you're letting on?"
That got her a look that seemed somewhere between a deer caught in headlights and an unarmed archaeologist stumbling upon a platoon of Jaffa.
"It's not as though we haven't gone out for a meal and a movie before?" Daniel's voice had taken on a defensive tone.
"Uh huh, we have, lots of times, but then the meal was a shared pizza and the dress code was a lot more casual."
Daniel sighed, slumping back into his seat. His hand came away from the ignition, falling to rest softly on his knee.
"I missed you, Sam, when you were away. I know you had to go so that you could be near Cassie, but it didn't stop me missing you."
"I missed you too, Daniel."
Daniel sighed, closing his eyes.
"I just wanted to show you that I still appreciate you. I wanted you to know that even though sometimes it might not seem like it... that sometimes I might not show it, I haven't forgotten our friendship or what it means..."
Sam's hand came down to rest on his and she gave his fingers a soft reassuring squeeze.
"I know that things have been a little strained with us since I got back, but you didn't have to take me to a swanky restaurant to prove that we're still okay. A Chinese takeout and a rental movie would have been sufficient."
Daniel cut her a sideways glance.
"Yeah, but then I would have missed out on seeing you in that dress."
"Which brings me to my next question..."
Daniel shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat.
"Is it against the law for me to compliment you on how good you look?"
"No, it's not, but I'm just wondering why you feel that it's necessary?"
Daniel gave her an incredulous look.
"Do you honestly think that I don't notice you? Do you think that I go around in some kind of self imposed monastic haze whereby I fail to notice that a beautiful and desirable woman is working right next to me." He pulled a hand through his hair, sending it spiking up in all directions. "Jesus, Sam, don't you realise that there have been times when I can't help but notice you. Times when I have to fight with every ounce of my willpower not to touch you."
The look that she had seen earlier when he had picked her up was back, but the intensity of his gaze was stronger now and it bore right through her.
Her breath caught in her throat.
"I'm not blind, Sam, and contrary to what some people might think, I'm not gay either."
His eyes suddenly widened in fear as he realised what he had said.
"Oh My God!" Sam whispered, "You heard us."
"I can explain..." Daniel's face had taken on a panicked look, " I wasn't eavesdropping... I was coming down to tell you about the translation."
"So is that what tonight was all about?" Suddenly everything that had seemed wonderful about their evening together evaporated as an unsettling thought entered Sam's mind. "Is that why you had me dress up like this? To assuage your male ego?"
Sam forced herself to look away, forced herself to look out the side window as unwanted tears began to prickle against her eyes.
He had overheard everything, everything that she and Vala had spoken about.
Contrary to what he had said, tonight hadn't been about them at all, it had been about proving that Vala's assumption about him was wrong.
When it came down to it he was just a typical man.
She didn't know why that thought hurt so much.
"Sam, please let me try to explain..."
"Take me home, Daniel..."
"I can explain... it's not what you think..."
"Take me home... now."
Something in her voice must have gotten through to him because a moment later she heard the jangle of keys in the ignition and the sound of the engine starting. As the car pulled away from the parking lot, she let out a slow sigh and rested her head against the back rest.
She should have stayed in the lab with her ruined experiment.
He had to think fast.
In a few minutes they would be at Sam's house and then everything that he held dear would be in ruins.
He steered the car onto her street, his mind still in a state of turmoil.
In truth he didn't remember how they had gotten here, he must have been on autopilot because for the last twenty minutes all he had been thinking about was what an asshole he had been and how he was on the brink of ruining one of the most meaningful relationships of his life.
Sam's house came into view and he wished that he could just pause time or at least rewind it back twenty odd minutes to that moment before he had wrecked everything.
Reluctantly he pulled up at the curb, from the corner of his eye he saw Sam's hand reach for the door handle.
He heard the central locking engage without even realising that he had hit the button on the dash.
Sam turned to look at him, irritation emanating from her usual placid eyes.
"What are you doing?"
"We need to talk."
"What I need is for you to let me out of the car, Daniel."
"Not until we've talked."
"There's nothing to talk about, I understand everything perfectly, so just let me out of the damn car."
"No."
"Daniel!"
"Don't let tonight end like this, Sam, just hear me out, okay?"
Sam looked at him for a long time, her eyes smouldering with barely concealed anger, then she slumped back against the passenger seat.
"Fine, say what you have to say then I'm out of here."
Daniel let out a soft sigh of relief, he'd bought himself a few more minutes, now all he had to do was use those minutes wisely and find the words to make things right again.
No pressure.
Right?
Wrong.
Because for once in his life words failed him, his usually articulate brain couldn't think of one thing to say that would change what had happened.
The silence became unbearable and he could feel Sam slipping further and further away from him with each passing second.
"What I don't get, Daniel, is why you felt it necessary to ask me out tonight," Sam's voice broke through the uncomfortable silence, "if you were trying to prove a point, it should be Vala in this car not me."
Daniel closed his eyes at the unmistakable hurt that he heard in the cadence of her voice, a voice that sounded as though it was uncharacteristically fighting back tears.
He glanced across at her only to find her diligently staring out of the passenger window at the pathway that led to her house.
He reached out a hand and settled it on her shoulder, but when she flinched at his touch he moved it away.
"Sam look at me."
No response.
"Sam, I need you to look at me."
When she still didn't respond his own irritation, due partly at his own stupidity and partly at her bull headed stubbornness, spilled over.
"I don't give a rats ass about what Vala thinks, in fact she can go right on thinking what she does because that would be easier for me. I wouldn't have to keep on fending off her tiresome advances or trying to tell her in every conceivable way that I can think of that I'm not interested, but I do give a damn about what you think."
That got her attention.
She turned from the window, surprise written all over her face.
"Why does it matter so much what I think?"
Daniel couldn't help smiling at her.
Boy, she really didn't know.
He had to admit that this conversation wasn't exactly going in the direction that he had intended, so much for the idea of him tentatively probing the subject of their feelings for one another. If he continued down this path he would be taking a huge risk, especially if it didn't play out the way that he hoped it might.
Then again if he went through with this and Sam reciprocated his feelings...
"When you were away it felt as though an essential part of me was gone, it felt as if something vital was missing. The longer we were apart the worse it got until it was a physical ache. Our phone calls and video links helped a little, but as soon as they ended that dull ache would return. As the months passed I began to realise what it was that was causing me so much pain." Slowly he brought his hand up to rest against her cheek, grateful that this time she didn't try to pull away from his touch. "I realised that I can't live without you, Sam."
Over the course of their long friendship Daniel had catalogued in his mind pretty much every expression that Sam had, it had happened subconsciously, and he thought to a certain degree she had done the same with him.
It was one of the things that had helped them with their unique silent form of communication, when all they had to do while working on a joint experiment was look at each other in a certain way to know what the other was thinking.
But the look on her face now was a new one.
One that he didn't know how to read.
"It's not Vala I want, Sam, it's you."
He heard the gasp that left her lips and felt the shiver that accompanied it through his fingertips as they caressed her cheek.
"I want you to be my friend, my confidante. I want you to share my dreams, my aspirations. I want you to be the one that I laugh with, the one that I cry with. I want you to be the one that I entrust with my fears because I know that with you I'll be strong enough to fight them when they threaten to overwhelm me. " Daniel lifted up her hand to his mouth and tenderly kissed the back of it. "I've been lucky enough to already have most of these things with you. You know me better than most of the women that I have ever known. There has been something that I've secretly hoped for, but have been too scared to ask because I fear you might not be able to give it to me."
Daniel looked deeply into her eyes and said the words that he thought he would never have the courage to say.
"I want you to love me, Sam, the way that I love you."
The trembling in his hands seemed to spread to the rest of his body, he could feel his legs shaking, feel his breath coming in short, sharp gasps, feel his heart hammering against his ribcage as though it was trying to break out of his chest and fly away.
It was worse than any case of Fight or Flight syndrome that he had ever experienced.
Because this time there was nothing to fight and nowhere to run.
Of all the directions this evening could have taken, she would never in a million years have thought that it would have taken this unscheduled route.
Up until the point in the car when he had let slip that comment about Vala she had truly thought that the evening had been about them reconnecting, that it had been about them getting back to being comfortable around each other again after her prolonged absence.
She had been enjoying the evening in his company and if she was being honest she had even enjoyed his unaccustomed flirtatiousness. Then he had unintentionally made that slip up and everything had turned on its head.
His revelation had made her angry, angry that he might have used their friendship as a means for him to right whatever perception that he thought she and Vala had of him.
A perception that was totally unwarranted in her case.
She had just wanted to go home, get away from him, get into her house and use the darkness of her bedroom to let loose the tears that she had barely been able to conceal.
Then Daniel had thrown another curveball, one that she certainly hadn't seen coming.
He had confessed his love for her.
Told her that he wanted her.
Being Daniel he hadn't left much to the imagination.
"I know this might be a little hard for you to take in," Daniel's fingers returned to slowly caressing her cheek, "I never expected to tell you this, not now, not yet, maybe not ever. Tonight was meant for us to just get back into the swing of being close friends again."
"What do you mean by 'not ever'?"
Daniel sighed softly.
"My intention was to take it slow, build things up gradually, I was going to subtly try and find out if you had any feelings for me, other than friendship that is, if you didn't then my feelings for you would have remained a secret and we would just have continued the way we were."
Sam couldn't help it, she laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"You and Vala both need to look up the definition of the word 'subtle.'
Daniel smiled.
"Maybe you're right, but in my defence I panicked."
"Ya think?"
"I admit it wasn't my greatest moment, but I was scared that if you got out of the car and made it to your house everything that we ever meant to one another would have been destroyed. I couldn't take the risk of losing you, Sam."
At least she could lay that fear to rest.
"That would never happen, what we have, what we mean to one another is much too strong for that."
"You were angry with me."
"I thought you were using me, using our friendship to make a point. I thought you had me dress up so that you could assuage your wounded pride."
"Never. I'd never do that to you. I'd never do that to us."
"Then why did you have me dress up?"
A sultry smile crossed Daniel's lips.
"I really wanted to see you in that dress again, it's been driving me nuts since New Year's."
"Really?"
He nodded.
"Uh huh."
His caresses were beginning to distract her, especially as now his fingers were softly travelling back and forth across her bare shoulders and collarbones.
Sam took a deep breath and stilled his hand.
"I have to know whether it's really me that you want or whether all this could just be you projecting your feelings onto me."
The look that crossed his face tore at her heart.
She had to know, she had to be sure, she had used Jack as a safety net, she didn't want Daniel to be doing the same thing with her.
"How can you possibly think that after everything that I have told you?"
"Up until a few moments ago I didn't know what your feelings for me were? In all the time that we have known each other you haven't so much as uttered one thing that would make me think that you saw me as anything other than a friend. Now you tell me that you love me, that you want me, but we haven't so much as kissed."
"I'd be glad to rectify that."
Before she even had time to process his intentions he leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.
Oh God.
His lips were soft, his kiss gentle, but underneath the surface she could feel the desire that he was barely keeping under control, and that caused her body to react in a way that she had thought lost forever.
It was nice to know that her libido was alive and well, but right at that moment it wasn't helping matters.
She wasn't sure how she managed to do it, but somehow she managed to press her palm against Daniel's chest and softly push him away.
"Too much?" he asked.
'Not enough,' she wanted to reply, but she knew that if she said that it would only escalate the situation.
He reached out and tenderly pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life. I've spent too much time pretending, too much time wasting energy trying to ignore what I've felt instead of doing something about it. It took us being apart for me to finally admit to myself that I love you, but this isn't just about me. I've already told you what I feel, now I need to know what you feel because if you don't feel anything for me..."
Sam stilled his words with a finger against his lips.
"I owe you an apology."
Both of his eyebrows rose in a silent question.
"It was wrong of me to accuse you of not showing your feelings for me." A nervous laugh broke from her lips. "You weren't the only one hiding, Daniel, I was doing a pretty good job of it myself. I guess I was just as afraid that you wouldn't feel the same way and I didn't want to risk everything, so I pushed it down, hid it away and hoped that maybe one day I might find the courage that I needed."
Daniel mumbled something unintelligible against her finger.
Sam removed it.
"What did you say?"
"How long?"
Sam shook her head.
"What does it matter, it was too long."
Daniel looked at her intently.
"How long?"
Sam sighed.
"Five years, it'll be six come the fall."
She didn't need x ray vision to see that Daniel was doing a mental calculation in his head.
Suddenly his eyes opened wide at the realisation of what she had revealed.
"You're talking about..."
"Epiphanies come at the strangest times, don't they? "
"God, Sam."
"I was pretty stunned when I realised it myself... when I sat next to your bed and tried to say goodbye... everything just came tumbling out... you were dying inch by excruciating inch and there was nothing that I could do... I just hoped that you were conscious enough to hear what I was saying, but then in hindsight maybe it was better that you weren't."
"Why?"
"Because you would have had to make a choice. You would have had to choose between Ascension and me and how would I have felt if you had chosen a higher plain of existence?"
"Sam..."
Sam wiped away the tears that she hadn't realised she had been crying.
"Boy this is turning into some night."
"Sam..."
Something in the sound of his voice made her look at him and when she did she saw that tears were glistening in his own eyes.
"I would have chosen you."
"No you wouldn't have and a part of me knows that. You needed to get away, the team was falling apart, you and the Colonel were barely speaking to each other. You needed to find perspective, you needed to find a way to rededicate yourself and you did, Daniel. It cost me the worse year of my life, but I got you back in the end."
"I'll never leave you again, Sam, not if I can help it."
"I love you, Daniel." Sam exhaled sharply. "There I've finally said it."
His lips quirked up in a teasing smile.
"Five years. You've known that you love me for five years and you haven't so much as kissed me."
"I'd be glad to rectify that."
Sam leaned across the short distance that separated them and pressed her lips against his.
This kiss was different to the one that they had shared before, it was more intense, their mouths more hungry to taste one another.
Sam's hand slipped around the nape of Daniel's neck, pulling him further toward her, his hands encircling her shoulders as his fingers began a lazy caress of her skin.
When they pulled apart Sam smiled at him.
"I think it's time we got out the car."
"Are you speaking figuratively or literally?"
"Both."
Daniel reached toward the dash and popped the locks.
Sam waited for him to lock the car and together they made their way up the short pathway to her house.
"So is this coffee or..?" Daniel asked a little hesitantly, his arm coming up to drape around Sam's shoulders as he softly tugged her against him.
"Oh, this is definitely or..." Sam replied, as her own arm slipped around his waist.
Even though they had finally gotten out of the car, there was still a journey to be undertaken tonight, one that would lead to long awaited discoveries, it was going to be a journey that would change every facet of their lives.
For it was going to take them from friends to lovers.
The End