Author: MegTDJ
Category: Fluff, pure and simple
Rating: PG
Pairing: Daniel/Janet, UST
Spoilers: Daniel's haircut at the end of season 2.
Summary: The real story behind Daniel's haircut. ;)
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1, its universe and its characters are not mine. The story itself is, however, so please don't archive without my permission.
Author's notes: Yes, I'm still working hard on Mind Fever, but I suddenly got this plot bunny and just had to write it. There seems to be a 'thing' in Dan/Jan shipperdom regarding "Janet. Playing. With Daniel's. Hair," so what could be more perfect than addressing the whole haircut issue from the Dan/Jan perspective?
This is technically a part of my episode-behind-the-scenes series (which I will write one of these days!), and you can even consider it a bit of backstory for Mind Fever. So, when it comes right down to it, I haven't done anything wrong by spending a day working on this fic rather than Mind Fever... right? gets ready to run for her life just in case
By the way, the title is in reference to the Biblical story of Samson, whose great strength lay in the length of his hair. He was suckered into getting a haircut by his girlfriend, and all of a sudden he wasn't strong anymore. I thought it kinda fit this situation. So sue me, I'm in a silly mood today. ;)
Samson's Fall
"Ow! Dammit, that hurts!"
"I'm sorry, Daniel. I'm trying to..."
"OW!"
Janet sighed in exasperation as Daniel jumped to his feet, holding his head in his hands and shooting her a glare that could almost certainly kill. "I have to get it out of your hair, Daniel," she said in her best no-nonsense voice. "I have no idea what kind of effects this... gunk will have on you if you're exposed to it for much longer."
"Can't we try washing it again?" he implored.
Janet folded her arms across her chest. "You know that won't work, Daniel. We've tried every kind of shampoo or cleaning agent, and nothing is touching it."
Daniel moaned and paced across the room. "It came off my skin just fine," he said in a tone that could almost be classed as whining. "Why has it turned into glue in my hair?"
Janet resisted the urge to laugh at the sight of him as he paced her infirmary. He was wearing nothing but white infirmary scrub bottoms, and his hair was all matted and tangled with yellowish slime, not to mention still being wet from numerous washings. Not exactly Dr. Daniel Jackson's usual fashion statement. "It's alien goop, Daniel," she reasoned, mentally kicking herself when her tone held more amusement than she intended. "Who knows what it's capable of doing? As soon as we get the lab results back we'll know more, but just from the rash on your skin from where it touched you, I'd say it's not just your ordinary slime."
Daniel rolled his eyes and climbed back up onto the infirmary bed. "Fine," he sighed. "Let's just get this over with."
"Alright," Janet said, picking up the comb again. "I'll do my best not to hurt you."
"Whatever you say."
As she tried to work some of the gunk away from his scalp, she stole the occasional concerned glance down at his face. His eyes were focused on the floor, and he had the world's most sullen look on his face. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why. Sure, SG-1 had undoubtedly teased him about falling into a puddle of slime and getting himself absolutely covered in the stuff, but that was nothing more than he could handle - wasn't it?
"Are you okay, Daniel?" she asked.
"I thought that was your department," he muttered.
Very strange, she thought. Since when did Daniel get snappy with her? "It's only hair, you know," she said. "It'll grow back."
"Yeah."
She looked at him closely again, but he was still looking down. She gave her head a slight shake and reached for the scissors.
Daniel tensed as they passed by his line of sight. "You do know what you're doing, right?" he asked anxiously.
"Yes, Daniel, I know what I'm doing," she replied. "I cut my own hair, you know. Cassie's, too. And when I was younger, I used to cut my sister's hair all the time."
"Have you ever cut a man's hair?" he asked, looking up at her with wide eyes.
Janet laughed. "Relax, Daniel, I'm not going to give you a woman's haircut. Although, it would look really nice if I..."
"Hey!"
She laughed again at his indignant response. "I'm kidding, Daniel. Don't worry so much." She gave his shoulder an affectionate squeeze before she draped a towel around his neck and got straight down to business. "You know, I wouldn't think it would bother you so much, anyway, considering you've had long hair all this time," she said as the first lock fell.
"Yeah, well, long hair and a woman's hairdo are two completely different things."
"True," she conceded. "Can I ask you, though... why do you wear your hair long? I mean, it must get in the way when you're off world."
Daniel was silent for a long moment. Just as Janet thought he wasn't going to reply, he said quietly, "I don't know. I've just always had my hair this way."
"Forgive me, but that doesn't sound very logical to me. Things change so much between the time you're a child and you become an adult. Surely it's best to change along with them."
Daniel didn't reply. He sat completely still as Janet's scissors snipped away.
She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. This whole situation really did seem to be hard on him. If he'd had the same haircut for as long as he could remember, then she could sort of see why. He was leaving a part of his childhood behind.
Janet hated to admit it to herself, but she was feeling a little bad about it herself. As much as she had always felt he needed a haircut - badly - she had also thought his long hair looked rather... well, cute. She would miss it, strangely enough. It really seemed to suit him and his air of boyish innocence. Also, more than once she had found herself running her fingers through his long locks while he was unconscious in her infirmary. She loved the softness of them, and the way that one piece hung down over his forehead in such a cute way...
She gave herself a mental shake as she realized where her thoughts were leading. How could she let herself give in to her attraction to this man? For one thing, he was her patient, and for another he was married. In other words, "completely unavailable."
That didn't stop her insides from doing strange things when she cut away the hair from around his sweet little lobe-less ear, unfortunately.
"It was my mom."
Janet almost dropped the scissors at this unexpected statement. "It... what?"
Daniel sighed and looked down at his hands. "My mom used to cut my hair this way. She said it suited me. Made me look handsome." He gave a short, wistful laugh and looked up at her to gauge her reaction.
Janet was rendered momentarily speechless by the soft blue eyes that gazed up at her in such a beseeching way. He'd kept his hair long all these years as a tribute to his dead mother? Her heart melted at the thought.
Once he saw that she wasn't going to laugh at him, Daniel continued his reminiscing. "She used to tie a bandana around my head when we went off on digs so my hair wouldn't get in my way or... get all kinds of dust and grime in it."
"Sounds like that might have come in handy this time," Janet said, finally finding her voice and getting back to her snipping.
"Yeah," Daniel said quietly. "Damn." He took a deep breath and carried on. "When she'd tuck me into bed at night, she'd take it off again and tousle my hair to make me laugh." He smiled at the memory. "She loved running her fingers through it all the time, too. It actually got a bit embarrassing at times."
Janet couldn't help but smile along with him. "You have a lot of lovely memories of her," she said as she struggled to refrain from lacing her fingers through what was left of his hair while she still could.
His expression became pained in an instant. "Not a lot," he said. "Just a handful, really. She died when I was eight."
Janet had known this already, but didn't interrupt his reverie to tell him so.
"She had such a soft, gentle spirit. I remember that clearly. Both she and my dad had a tendency to get lost in their work a lot, but I never doubted for one second that they loved me more than anything else in the world." He looked down at the mass of hair that had fallen to the floor. "But you're right... it's stupid to hold onto something like that for so many years. I mean I was a kid. If she was alive today, she'd probably be after me to get a haircut, too." He laughed again, but the pain was still there in his eyes.
Janet crooked a finger under his chin and tilted his face to look up at her. "I never said it was stupid," she said softly.
Daniel forced a smile and took her hand in his. "No, I know. Thank you."
Even though she was wearing latex gloves, she still felt a crackle of electricity course through her hand at his touch. She sucked in a deep breath and tried valiantly to keep her emotions under control - until he spoke again.
"I think you're the only person I've ever known who never makes fun of anything I say or... interrupts my incessant rambling. You're always willing to listen whenever I need to talk. I really appreciate that."
She wished she could blame her sudden urge to kiss him on there being some form of aphrodisiac in the alien slime, but she knew it was doubtful that was the case. Ever since they'd almost lost him during the incident with Machello a few weeks earlier, she had been harbouring some rather unprofessional feelings for Daniel. She just wished they wouldn't strike at times like these. "Y... you're welcome," she stammered, pulling her hand from his and turning away as she felt her cheeks heat up. "Any time, you know that."
"I do. Thanks, Janet."
She cleared her throat and turned back around to face him, forcing her cheeks to fall under submission and cool down. "Okay, let's wash it one more time, and see what we're left with," she said, perhaps a little too brightly.
Daniel nodded and got down from the bed. Yet again, he leaned over the sink while Janet washed his hair - only this time Janet had to fight to keep from staring at the rippling muscles in his bare back. 'You're a doctor, Janet,' she chided herself. 'Stop thinking like a giggly schoolgirl.'
Once she was done, she handed Daniel a towel and he rubbed at his hair vigorously to dry it off. He then sat back down on the bed, and Janet took to combing it again.
"It's much better now," she said in satisfaction as the comb ran easily through his freshly cut hair. "Not a tangle or clot of goo to be found." She flashed him a smile, but his was clearly forced in return.
"Can I see it?" he asked.
"Sure." She crossed the room to fetch a mirror and brought it back to him.
Daniel took it from her and gazed at his reflection. He reached up a hand to gingerly finger the hair that hung down over his forehead. "It looks... good," he said.
She could tell he was just trying to be polite and not insult her handiwork, but she wasn't offended. She took off her gloves and laid a reassuring hand on his arm. "You'll get used to it," she said, "and if you don't, you can always grow it back."
"No," he said decisively, putting the mirror down beside him on the bed. "I'm leaving it short. If for no other reason than to finally get Jack off my back about it," he added with a glimmer of humour in his eyes.
Janet grinned and, without really thinking about what she was doing, she reached out and ruffled his damp hair with one hand while cupping his chin with the other. "For what it's worth," she said, "I think you look very handsome like this."
A slow grin spread across Daniel's face at this compliment. "Then I'm definitely leaving it short," he said.
Janet finally couldn't resist any longer when she caught a glimpse of the rarely-seen dimple in his right cheek. She leaned over and kissed it.
Daniel's mouth fell open in surprise at her impetuous action. Janet felt pretty much as shocked as he looked, too.
After a second of quick thinking, she patted his cheek and said lightly, "That's for a poor boy with no mother."
"Um... oh... thank you," he stuttered in confusion. He cleared his throat and rubbed his thighs nervously. "So, can I go now?"
Janet smiled and nodded. "Yes, we're done here. I'd like you to stay on the base tonight just in case, but other than that, you can get dressed and be on your way."
Daniel looked relieved at this, and gave her a grateful smile as she drew the curtain around his bed.
As soon as he could no longer see her, Janet let out a deep breath and slapped her forehead. 'I've really got to check that stuff for anything resembling an aphrodisiac,' she resolved. 'That's the only thing I can think of that would make me do something so stupid!'
"Janet?"
Daniel's sudden presence at her elbow a minute later made her jump half a foot into the air... or at least it seemed that way. She held a hand to her racing heart as she turned to face him. "Yes, Daniel?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he said, genuinely apologetic. "I just... I wanted to thank you... again... for... you know..."
"Don't mention it, Daniel," she said. "It's my job."
"The listening and understanding part isn't," he countered. "That whole thing with my mother... I'd never told anyone about that before. I'm glad I could tell you."
Janet was more touched by this than she cared to admit, even to herself. "I'm glad you could, too."
Daniel hesitated for a moment, looking intently into her eyes. Then he seemed to come to some decision in his mind, and leaned down to place a quick kiss on her cheek. "That's for a good friend with a listening ear," he said. "See you later, Janet."
Before her thoughts returned to coherency, he was gone.
She smiled to herself as she mulled over the events of the past few minutes. 'Yes,' she thought, 'it had to be the slime.'