Pairing/etc: Daniel/Janet friendship, ~800 words
Rating/spoilers: PG-13. The Curse
Summary: Cassie gets a shock
Disclaimer: No profit is being made and no infringement is intended.

A/N: Written for meg_tdj as something to tide her over until I get back and do a proper one. I have started it but there ain't time to finish.
Thanks to Cole, beta extraordinaire.

xxxxxxx

Cassie kicked off her shoes and threw her school bag on the floor. She frowned. Something was different. She scanned around, then shrugged and headed into the kitchen to grab a drink and some chips. Jack would be coming 'round later to have dinner with her – always an adventure – but until then, she was stuck at home bored. There was homework, but she was savouring her current parentless situation. Her mom had gone with Sam and Daniel to Egypt and they weren't back yet. They'd gone totally out of the blue, so she assumed it was something important to do with the Stargate. Not often did it require her mom to go along though…

A noise broke in on her musings. She froze, head cocked for a moment, until it came again from upstairs. Then it hit her – what had been different when she got in – the drawer to the right of the door was ajar. She knew she hadn't left it open that morning.

She got up and tiptoed back into the kitchen to grab the rolling pin. Heart pounding, she made her way up the stairs, careful to miss the squeaky fifth one. Downstairs didn't look messed up apart from that drawer, but maybe the thieves had decided to check the master bedroom first. As she got closer, she pinpointed the latest creaking footstep noise to Janet's room. Fears confirmed, she gripped the weapon tighter. If this was Jack playing a prank, she was going to kill him. But no. Jack wouldn't hide in her mom's room.

She reached for the doorknob and, in one movement, twisted and pushed.

"I've called the poli—!" she yelled, her voice dropping off at the end.

Daniel was standing there, looking like a startled deer, with his hands on her mom's waist and a nasty bruise on his forehead. Janet, her cardigan bunched up so her stomach and part of her bra were exposed, was peering incredulously around Daniel's shoulder.

"Whoa!" Cassie managed. "Sosorry,didn'tknowyouwereback!" It all came out in one long word. She bolted down the corridor with a nervous giggle.

"Cassie!" Janet's voice followed her. "It's not what it looks like! Come back here…"

Yeah, right. They were getting it on. What had happened in Egypt? She wasn't entirely adverse to the concept, but man, did she have to witness it first hand? Yuck. She shut the door to her room and turned the music on loud.

xxxxxx

"Oh God, I am so sorry!" Janet pulled her top down as best she could.

Daniel couldn't meet her eye. "No, it wasn't your fault. She's going to think I'm a creepy man now, isn't she?"

Janet laughed, the blush in her cheeks receding. "No she won't. I'll explain and she'll realise that it was completely innocent. Besides, she knows me well enough to know that I wouldn't let any creepy men into my bedroom."

There was an awkward silence as they both considered that.

"Ah, I suppose I'd best go then. If you need any more help, just…well, maybe don't call me. Get Sam. Much less room for misinterpretation." He gave her a bashful grin.

"Hmm," Janet agreed. "And same with you: any headaches or nausea or dizziness, call me right away. I mean it." She eyed his forehead. Hand devices were nasty things. She had a new appreciation of that now.

"Yes M'am," he threw a mock salute.

They headed downstairs, Daniel calling, "Goodbye Cassie!" outside her room, making Janet wince.

"I'll see you on Tuesday, then," she said once they were in the hall. Before she could reach for the latch, she found herself teasing him. "This was nice, we should do it again sometime…"

He looked mortified all over again and she backpedaled.

"I'm sorry - it'll be fine. I'll show her the bruises as evidence of your innocence," Janet assured.

"Unless she thinks I caused them." Daniel muttered.

"You wouldn't be that rough with me." They both froze. Oops, had she said that out loud?

He laughed nervously, then waved. "Er, bye."

Janet closed the door after him. Egypt had been an absolute nightmare – Sarah and Steven and Osiris and her flaming hand device. But the quieter moments of the trip, particularly the flight back, had only enhanced the growing soft spot she was developing where Daniel was concerned. According to Sam, she had fallen asleep on his shoulder and he hadn't moved her or appeared bothered at all. To quote Sam, he'd looked at her tenderly and smiled to himself. Sam was known to exaggerate these things, but Janet had secretly been rather pleased. She could only hope she hadn't just scared the poor man off with her runaway mouth. Blame the drugs. She nodded to herself.

Now - to get the story straight with her daughter. Janet grinned again at the memory of Cassie bursting in clutching a rolling pin. She took a deep breath, winced as it pulled on her injury, and headed back upstairs.