All That I Need by Betty Bokor
Sam/Daniel. Sam is in charge of Atlantis and Daniel goes to work with her for a while.
Spoilers: All seasons.
Disclaimer: The Stargate original characters belong to MGM/Showtime, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Film Corp. This was written strictly for the purpose of entertainment. No attempt at copyright infringement has been made.

All That I Need

Chapter 1

The news had been devastating for all the original members of SG-1 and also for many others at the mountain. Sam was already in Atlantis when the report of Jack's death had come and Daniel had obtained permission from Landry to tell her personally. He knew of the strong connection his two teammates had shared and he was certain that Sam would be deeply hurt to know that Jack was dead. He had tried to talk with Sam about her feelings for her commanding officer many times, but she had repeatedly denied them, hiding behind regulations that Daniel found unfair and futile.

Sam had taken the news stoically and had barely cried during the ceremony that took place in front of the Earth gate. After all, they had never found his body −and in the crazy world of the stargates and wormholes that was very good news− and, consequently, there would always be some hope that he was not inside his ship when it landed in a fiery crash against the surface of a remote planet. He was only supposed to be there as an envoy from Earth, a fairly well known face to add clout to the treaty. The details of why he had accepted the offer to fly the prototype that took him to his death were still not clear.

After Sam was back in Atlantis, Daniel could not shake the feeling that he had abandoned her in a moment of suffering and, without too much thinking, he requested permission to temporarily leave SG-1 and be assigned to the Pegasus Galaxy. He had plenty of reasons to ask to go to Atlantis, most of them related to the quest that his team was embarked on, and he had already proved that many of the resources found in the original Lantian home could be useful to them. He had not included among his motives the fact that long ago he had discovered that his feelings for Sam had grown far beyond the constraints of their friendship. He still felt guilty for having agreed to go on an extraordinary mission with Cameron and Vala the day Sam had left for her new assignment. He knew Teal'c would be up to the challenge of giving Sam the appropriate farewell in the name of all her teammates and he also knew he would not be able to completely hide the pain that the separation would cause him.

Now, he was trying to convince himself that he was in Atlantis for the good of Sam and not only for his hopeless need to be close to her. He was clever enough not to fool himself about his motivations, but he knew there was more to it than selfishness. He really wanted to help Sam mourn Jack. He was in pain, too, because, in spite of all the differences Jack and Daniel had had, they had found a way to help, support, and love each other in a manner that had always been a mystery to Jack.

Sam had welcomed him warmly, but had hurriedly left him alone with the excuse of her many obligations. Daniel felt that she probably was not ready to talk about Jack and, to give her time, he had accepted her pretexts without complaint. He spent most of his first day in the city fixing up his new quarters and his office and starting a catalog of all the resources he would be able to access.

Late in the afternoon, he felt a strong desire to go in search of Sam. The few weeks of separation had almost been akin to torture for him and the knowledge that she was so close now was starting to get on his nerves. He decided to take a walk around the city, or at least around the areas that were in the vicinity of his office. After a few minutes he came upon a room where Ronon Dex seemed to be practicing some fighting ritual. He stopped and observed. The Satedan soon felt the presence of the intruder by the door. He stopped his practice and turned around. He was surprised to see the new scientist on base observing his practice. He looked inquisitively at Daniel and waited for an explanation.

Daniel did not delay his response.

"Hi. I'm Daniel Jackson. We met before, if you remember."

Ronon acknowledged it with a movement of his head.

"I was observing you practice. That fighting style somehow reminded me of something Teal'c taught me," he continued.

Ronon shook his head in question.

"I can show you, if you don't mind," Daniel added. "Then you can teach me yours," he said as he put the papers he had in his hands on the floor against one of the walls. Then he took his glasses off and put them on top of the pile. "I only brought a couple of these. Better take care of them," he smiled.

Ronon smiled and assented with his head. He was thinking of what could be driving a geek −he was sure the term Sheppard had taught him applied here− to try to get into a fight with him. He also thought that it would not last long. He was not disappointed. Daniel had him on the floor before he could even begin his own attack.

"Sorry," the scientist said while regaining his breath. "Teal'c is a great teacher," he added with a smile.

"Who is this Teal'c?" Ronon asked.

"He's a member of SG-1, too. He's a Jaffa. When he started teaching me this, I was completely useless in this kind of fight. Not that I'm much better, now," he quickly explained. "I think I still mix what he taught me with what Cameron wanted me to do."

"Cameron?"

"Mitchell. He's the head of SG-1 now that Sam is here. He learned some fighting techniques from the Sodan that were very interesting. I saw some reminiscences of the Spartan method-"

"I don't know who the Sodan or the Spartans are," Ronon interrupted, "but what you just did here, that was interesting. Maybe you're right. I can teach you some of my moves and you teach me that."

"Why not?" Daniel said with a smile.

For a while they engaged in short demonstrations. Daniel also shared some of the techniques that Jack had taught him. He, Sam, and Teal'c had cleaned the floor more than once with the young archeologist, but that had been more than ten years ago. Everything had changed since then.

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