Tattered Threads of A Rope Still Strong

AUTHOR: Spacemonkey766

RATING: PG13

CATEGORY: angst, hurt/comfort, epilogue

DISCLAIMER: All characters in this story belong to MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret productions. I wrote this because I could. I'm not making money on this and I did this for people like me who cannot get enough SG-1 when the episodes are over.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

SPOILERS: Season 8 - Threads, Gamekeeper, minor Devil You Know,

SUMMARY: Daniel's back after Jacob's death and his guilt for not being there for Sam is eating him up. How will the two cope?

AUTHOR NOTE: I think Sam and Daniel are siblings in every sense of the word (except for the whole blood thing P ) In memory of Jacob Carter

"Okay Mark. I'll talk to you later. Love you. Bye." Samantha Carter hung up the phone. Her brother had called her cell phone to check up on her. He had come to Colorado three weeks ago for her father's funeral. He was coping well. So was she. Like she had said to Jack O'Neill; she'd already mourned Jacob years ago. Luckily, she had spent more time with him in these past six years than ever before.

She turned to her laptop to finish her work before she and the rest of SG-1 left for Jack's cabin. Daniel had just come back to them shortly after her father's death, which helped her handle it. So, to celebrate, Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, and herself would all be going to Minnesota and spend the week. The thought of the team spending the week together brought a smile to her face as she continued to type.

"Sam, " a voice called softly from the doorway. She looked up from her laptop to see Daniel standing halfway in the hall.

"Daniel," she smiled. Looking more closely, she noticed a shine to his blue eyes. Frowning at the tears that threatened to fall from Daniel's eyes, she became worried. "What's wrong?" she asked, concerned. Daniel closed the door as he entered her lab. He stood by the desk, his arms wrapped around his torso in the infamous self-hug posture that never feigned a good thing.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking anywhere but Sam's face.

"For what?" Sam stood up from her chair and moved to close to her friend, laying a hand on his arm.

"For Jacob." Sam's concerned features dropped to sadness in remembrance of her father and sympathy for her surrogate brother as Daniel spoke. "For not being here for you." Daniel's voice cracked as his eyes finally met Sam's, her own tears beginning to form. The tears finally fell from Daniel's eyes as he lowered them, staring at the floor. "And for bringing it up even though its probably the last thing you want to think about."

Sam half-smiled sadly at her distraught friend's last comment. She brought her hand to Daniel's face, lifting his chin so his eyes would meet hers. As he stared at her, Sam brushed his hair back in a soothing motion, her tears releasing.

"I'm sorry Sam," Daniel whispered. Sam grabbed Daniel in a tight hug, clinging to him as she broke down for the first time since her father's death. Daniel held onto her as if she was a life preserver as he drowned in his own tears. They stayed there standing, crying into each others shoulders and whispering words of comfort.

As both finally calmed down, they released their grip on each other. Daniel was the first to recover.

"C'mon," he said quietly, steering Sam to her couch. They sat down, facing each other and holding the others hands by their own. "I'm so sor…" Daniel was silenced as Sam put a finger to her lips.

"Don't, Daniel, " she said quietly, running her fingers through his hair. She loved Daniel. He was the little brother she never had. She couldn't help but to get all sister with him. "Don't say your sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for. I know that if you could be here, you would have been."

"But…"

"Listen to me, sweetie. You were dead, Daniel. That's a pretty sound reason to not be here. And just now, what you just did for me…that's enough."

"What? Make you cry?"

"Yes. I haven't had a real good cry about this yet. I really, really needed it." She smiled at him, grasping both his hands in hers again. "You're the only one I could do that with."

"I just…I just want you know that I am here," Daniel said

"Just like you've always been," Sam reassured.

"I know how hard it is…to not have….I mean to lose both of your….Fuck," Daniel said the last word with a whisper. He was having a hard time telling Sam what he needed to say. He was a linguist; talking was his forte. Yet here he was, unable to form a coherent sentence. Sam stroked his hand with her thumb, letting him know she knew exactly what he meant. He sighed. "What I'm trying to say is, if anybody here can help you get through this, it would be me. I know what its like. I can help… if you need me."

"Thanks, Daniel. But my pain cant compare to yours,", Sam said. She had lost her parents over a span of time. Her mother died in a car accident when she was sixteen. Her father had died over twenty years later. "I can't even begin to understand what your pain is like." Daniel had lost his parents abruptly. Both of them were gone in an instant. Daniel had only been eight and had seen it happen, only to see it again later in his life thanks to the gamekeeper. She had also witnessed it during their second year as a team. What she had seen had upset her; and they weren't even her parents and she wasn't a child, not like Daniel had been.

"Yea," Daniel agreed softly. "But the root of the pain is the same. We're both orphans now."

"No, Daniel, we're not. I've never been and you aren't anymore." She said firmly. "We have a family that loves us very much. As long as you, me, General O'Neill, and Teal'c are friends the way we are, we're family."

"Ever the optimist, Samantha Carter," Daniel smiled.

"Too cliché?" Sam smiled back.

"A little," Daniel teased before embracing his 'big sister', "but it worked."

"I'm glad you're here, Daniel," Sam said, closing her eyes and just absorbing her dear friend in.

"Me too, Sam," Daniel pulled away. "You gonna be okay?"

"You here for good?"

"As long as I can be," Daniel replied.

"Then I'm gonna be just fine. Thanks, Daniel."

"Yea, well…who was comforting who?" he laughed.

"Doesn't matter. I feel better. You feel better?"

"Yep."

"Then Dr. Jackson, your work here is done." The two got up from the couch and Sam patted Daniel on the back.

"Sweet." Both smiled as Daniel quoted everyone's favorite general. "Dinner?"

"You buying?"

"Uh.." Daniel thought. "We'll grab Jack. Now that he's got those stars on his shoulder, he's got a fatter paycheck," Daniel declared as he and Sam left her lab.

"Sounds good. Let's go get Teal'c." Sam grabbed her wallet to get her pass out to open the elevator. As she pulled the swipe card out, she saw a picture of her mother and father with Mark and Sam at her thirteenth birthday. She smiled. Next to it resided a picture of SG-1 at the first annual SGC barbeque. She closed her wallet and sent a silent "I love you" to her parents and went on with her life.