Series: Idioms - A series of stand-alone stories based off random idioms.
A/N: All definitions can be found in From the Horse's Mouth by John Ayto.
Idiom: game over: said when a situation is regarded as hopeless or irreversible.
Game Over
When Vala declared that she was giving up on Daniel Jackson, no one had really believed her. Least of all Daniel himself. It was just another ploy in the game she was playing and he had refused to fall for it. For the first three months he'd waited around for her to start flirting with him again but it never happened. She'd started seeing other people and seemed perfectly content with her decision. But still he'd refused to think of it as anything other than a way to make him jealous, as just a part of the game.
About six months after her announcement, he came into her life. This...this other man. They'd clicked right away, always seeming to understand one another without words. Within a few weeks of knowing each other, they even had inside jokes. Everyone seemed to think they were perfect for each other. Everyone, that is, but Daniel.
When she'd come to his office that late summer evening and told him this other man had asked her out, he'd acted supportive of the date while inside he was steaming with jealousy. By then he knew he was in love with her yet still refused to tell her. What if she didn't feel the same way? What if he was just someone to toy with until something better came along? He knew he couldn't deal with that. But this...this was so much worse. He was consoled by telling himself that she wasn't the type to get involved in lasting relationships. She'd only end up breaking his heart. He'd continued to tell himself that even after she'd been dating this guy for several months. He remained outwardly supportive but it became harder and harder to see them together. Eventually he started refusing any invitations when he knew Vala and her boyfriend would be there. He'd closed himself off to everyone around him, becoming more and more bitter with each passing day. When the day he'd dreaded most eventually arrived, Daniel took her news with a partially numb heart. She was going to marry this other man and he hadn't done a damn thing to stop it.
So, here he sat, in the last row, watching her marry someone that wasn't him and he felt the final piece of his heart break. He'd let his one chance at happiness escape and knew he had no one to blame but himself. When the minister pronounced them man and wife, Daniel stood and left, not wanting to see them seal the union with a kiss.
The game was over and he'd lost.
The End