Spoilers for Past and Present, which it takes place immediately after,and Forever in a Day

Note: technically, Daniel has short hair at this point in the show, but for my purposes, he's grown it out again.

Linnea left, with one long glance back at Daniel.

Poor guy, thought Sam. The first woman he falls for after his wife dies is the one called "Destroyer of Worlds." She remembered his impassioned pleas that Kira/Linnea had changed. You could call amnesia a fairly significant change, but Sam had not wanted to hurt the young archeologist anymore. He's gone through so much already…

Sam shook her head. Time to get back to work. They were scheduled for debriefing in an hour, so she had just enough time to go back to the lab and finish up in there.

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Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose, and tried to refocus on the tablet he was translating. You betrayed her, a tiny voice in his mind said, you betrayed Sha're. "No," he muttered, "No, it's not like that." He picked up his glasses and pushed the voice to the back of his mind. He closed his eyes and sat back against the chair. This wasn't working. Maybe he should take a page from Jack's book and go home to veg out with a pizza, beer, and TV.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Daniel set his glasses down and opened his eyes. "Come in."

"Hey Daniel. We're about ready for the debriefing. Think you can tear yourself away from your work?" Jack gestured to the desk with Daniel's current project spread out over it.

"Yeah." Daniel had to smile at Jack's attempt at humor. "I'll be there Jack. Let me just organize a few things."

Jack rolled his eyes at the thought of Daniel organizing anything, but he took the comment at face value and left with a little wave. "See ya in a few."

Daniel put his glasses on and began shuffling the papers on his desk.

It was going to be okay. With friends like Jack, Sam, and Teal'c he'd get through this. The voice was still there, in his mind, but the image of Jack O'Neill's smile stood guard over the despair and refused to let it free.

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General Hammond addressed the team. "So, we're sure that these…"

"Vians, Sir." Filled in Jackson.

"Yes. We're sure they won't be tempted to restore Linnea's memory now that they have the antidote to the amnesia?"

Jack spoke up. "Don't worry sir. We warned 'em what she's capable of."

Sam, seated across from him, heard him mutter "Destroyer of Worlds!" under his breath. She couldn't help a small smile from escaping as she turned to respond to the General. "We emphasized that it was her choice, and a necessary part of her continued existence on their planet."

Hammond nodded and looked around to the rest of SG-1 for any further comments. When there were none, he referenced his notes and moved on to the next item on the agenda. "Major Carter, did everything check out in the lab?"

"Yes, sir." Sam was about to continue when she was suddenly distracted by a reflected beam of light from Daniel's glasses. He had taken them off and put them on the table, the movement catching the light on their lenses.

"Carter?" Jack glanced at her. "Aren't you going to go into tiny detail about chemicals with names that no one can pronounce?"

"What? Oh yes. Sorry, sir." Sam shook her head to clear it. "Uh, yeah. Everything is accounted for, nothing was taken." Her eye was caught again by Daniel, this time his frown drawing her attention. They all knew that he still believed Linnea in her present form was completely different than the woman who had been called "Destroyer of Worlds."

"There was a small amount of a mixed chemical in a Petri dish which we couldn't identify, but we ran some tests and it's nothing harmful." Sam's attention, for the third time in the span of five minutes, was drawn to Daniel. Why had she never noticed how handsome he was? What! A warning bell was going off in the back of her mind, but it was being muffled by something else, and soon the conversation going on around her broke into her inner turmoil.

"…Thank you Colonel, I'll make sure Dr. Frasier hears about it." General Hammond faced SG-1 once more. "Does anyone have anything further?" He looked to Daniel and Teal'c.

"I have no further information to add." Said Teal'c.

"Nope." Agreed Daniel. "I think Sam and Jack pretty much covered everything. The Vians have everything they need to get their civilization back on track, so now it's up to them."

Sam shot a surreptitious look at Daniel, after having caught a raised eyebrow from Jack at her staring his way. Not only was Daniel Jackson intelligent, creative, and compassionate, he was also really quite attractive. He's also married! The warning voice in the back of her mind screamed, trying a different tactic, and not a subtle one. Unfortunately it backfired. Not anymore, he's not…Sam pressed a hand to her forehead. What was she thinking?everything.y mcuh to add dd?ng on around her broke into her inner turmoil.muffled by soemthing e and left with a little Daniel was one of her best friends! Yeah I like him, but not that way!

The General's "Dismissed" came not a moment too soon. Carter mumbled something about a headache and left the room at a quick walk.

Jack watched her go with puzzlement. What was with her? First Daniel going for a known homicidal maniac, and now Carter freaking out on him. Why can't I have a normal team once in awhile? He thought as he headed towards the gym. Would it be so hard to at least pretend to be normal every now and then? Oh well, at least it was never boring being on SG-1.

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Daniel stared after Sam as she rushed out of the briefing room. What's with her? She had been staring at him for most of the meeting, and it had unnerved him. Usually Sam was the solid one, who supported the team when Daniel or Jack was out of it. And there had been something else, and odd look in her eye at one point when he caught her staring at him. It was familiar, yet, he couldn't place it…Oh well.

He stretched and got out of his chair, ready to return to his examination of the tablet, when he noticed Teal'c was still sitting at the table. "What's the matter, Teal'c?" Daniel felt confident in his relationship with Teal'c to make that statement, despite the fact that outwardly Teal'c demeanor seemed just as expressionless as ever.

"I sense something is not right between you and Major Carter, DanielJackson."

"What? No, she and I are fine." He glanced at the door she had run out through. "Well, I mean, I can't think of anything…"

"Nevertheless, Major Carter is not herself. She was abnormally distracted during the debriefing session and rather vague in her report." Teal'c stood up and prepared to leave. "Somehow, you are both involved in this. I wish you luck, DanielJackson, in resolving it."

Daniel watched the large Jaffa go in silence. Sam was definitely acting strange, but what did it have to do with him? He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn't figure people out. I think I'll stick to archeology. At least most of that makes sense.

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Sam sat on her stool and tried to read the results of the chemical analysis she'd ordered for the unknown sample in the lab. But all she could think about was Daniel. "Okay, so we have the polysulphate compound, and a bit of magnesium chloride" she muttered, focusing with all her will on the words before her eyes…This was worse than the time she and Daniel had been trying to decipher the warnings on the DHD before they were all eaten alive by beetles!

Maybe she should just go talk to Daniel. Yes! A part of her mind leapt at the idea, like an excited dog on hearing the word "walk." The metaphorical animal was prancing around in her skull and it took a minute before Sam could talk it down so she could actually do anything. There's nothing going on, no reason to get excited! I'm just going to go run some ideas past him. They worked well together, and Sam genuinely enjoyed bouncing ideas off someone as intelligent as Daniel. And cute, too the traitorous voice in her mind said. This time, Sam didn't even bother telling it to shut up.

As she entered his dimly lit office, her heart began to beat faster. Annoyed at this, Sam set her stuff down on the nearest chair, and shrugged off her jacked, trying to be nonchalant about it.

"Hey Daniel. Whatcha workin' on?" He was bent over an artifact, his nose nearly touching the stone, and his rather long, unruly hair covered his face.

"Hmm, hi Sam. It's really interesting version on an early Sumarian dialect. It's got some symbols I've never seen before, at least not in this context…" He continued on, but Sam was no longer paying attention to his words.

She came up beside him, and stared fascinated at his hair. The light brown waves caught the light in the most intriguing manner. Without even realizing what she was doing, Sam reached out and ran her fingers through his hair.

Daniel was so absorbed in his work he almost didn't feel the slight caress.

"Sam, what-" He broke off as he realized what she was doing. Okay Jackson, don't freak out here, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for this. He turned around in his chair to look at Sam. "What's wrong? Did I have something in my hair?" He asked, smiling and trying to make light of the situation.

"No, your hair is fine." Better than fine… Sam smiled back at him. She'd never really noticed his eyes either! But how could she have missed those deep blue orbs?

She reached out to stroke his hair again and Daniel froze, completely at a loss for how to respond.

She brushed his hair to the side of his face, and slowly withdrew her hand.

"Uh, Sam…" He slowly stood up and backed away from her. "What's going on here? Why are you acting all…" This was totally unlike anything he'd ever experienced from Sam, but his gut seemed to recognize the situation. (Though with Hathor he'd been drugged, and he'd been genuinely attracted to Kira/Linnea, just not ready to do anything about it.) He continued backing up, hoping he was headed towards the door. He dared not look behind him, for fear of what inexplicable thing Carter would do next.

Sam followed his progression, and seemed oblivious to everything except Daniel.

-Thump- Damn. He'd backed into the wall. This could not be a good thing. Look, don't panic, you can handle this. It's just Sam. Just Sam. Or so he desperately hoped.

Samantha Carter didn't stop when the wall forced Daniel to. She stepped right up to him and put her hands on his chest.

"I never realized how handsome you are." She murmured, staring straight into his face. Daniel glanced frantically around the room, looking for a way out. "Uh, Sam that's great of you to say, but I really don't feel comfortable with this right now…" he mumbled, not really paying attention to the words, but still desperately thinking of how to divert Sam's attention.

He grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and attempted to gently push her away, but she wasn't having any of it. If anything, she pressed her body up against him even closer than before. Daniel did his best to sink into the wall behind him but failed.

Sam started to run her hands over his shoulders and chest, and he could feel her every curve as she pressed her length to his. Damn. This was going too far. He grabbed her wrists and held them between them. "I don't want to hurt you Sam, but please stop!"

She didn't seem to hear what he was saying, and only stared adoringly into his eyes. Then she sighed and rested her head against his shoulder, her wrists becoming less tense. Daniel felt a huge wave of relief wash over him and he released his hold. "Thank you. I like you a lot as a friend and teammate Sam, but…" While he said this, he rested his head against the cool wall and looked to the ceiling for inspiration. As soon as his attention was fully diverted, Sam renewed her advances. The word that came to Daniel's mind was assault. Am I being sexually assaulted by my teammate? Daniel gave up. Now she was nuzzling his neck. He couldn't take it anymore. Completely panicking now, he grabbed Sam's arms again and hollered "Jack! I need you! Jack!" in the hopes that somehow the Colonel would miraculously hear and come rescue him.

Shit! Sam had just kissed him on the jaw! Roughly he pulled her away from him on shock. "Sam!" She just looked up at him with her big eyes and didn't say anything. "Look, I'm sorry if I hurt you okay, but I had to something!" Her eyes started to fill with tears. "No, no. Look Sam. You're a very beautiful woman, but you're my friend! I-" Somehow he must've loosened his grip, because she was suddenly in his arms again, resting her head on his chest and clinging to him. Daniel spread his hands in helplessness and leaned his head against the wall.

Just then Jack came in the door, having heard Daniel's desperate plea as he was going to the lab to check on Carter.

"What's the prob-" He began, but stopped when he saw Carter and Daniel.

"Ah, sorry to interrupt." With an eyebrow raised as high as it could go, he meant to turn around and leave, but Daniel shouted "No!" with such a panicked look that Jack froze and came over to better evaluate the situation.

Daniel forcefully extracted himself from Sam's embrace and walker her over to a chair. "Stay here for a moment, okay? I'll be right over there with Jack." Sam seemed to be rather stunned, because she didn't protest, though Daniel had to pry her fingers off his t-shirt.

"Jack, I don't know what happened!" The young archeologist said in confusion to his friend. "I was just working on my project when Sam came in and started acting all weird."

Jack looked over at Carter, who was staring intently at the two of them. "I dunno, seems pretty normal to me. You aren't such a bad looking kid after all."

"No!" Daniel frowned in exasperation. "This isn't the usual Sam! I like her as a friend, but I don't like like her! And she's never before even shown an indication that she was interested in me until now!" He nervously ran a hand across his face and gripped his arms. "Look, she was pretty much-" he hated to use the word in context with his own teammate and friend "-molesting me, and wasn't responding to anything I said!"

Jack listened and stared intently at his young friend. "So she's, what? Drugged? Has an alien critter in her brain?"

Daniel sighed. "I don't know?"

"Why don't we just ask her?" Jack flashed a charming grin at Daniel before turning to Sam. "Carter. Come here a sec, would you?"

Daniel distanced himself a step.

"Yes, sir?" She walked up to the colonel and didn't give Daniel a second glance, even as he edged a bit further away.

"Why are you so interested in Dr. Jackson here all of a sudden?" Jack waved a hand at Daniel in reference, but Sam's attention never left his face.

"Oh, I'm not interested in Daniel anymore, sir." Carter said calmly, shocking them both. An image of Carter clutching Daniel when he walked in the door flashed through Jack's mind. It was immediately replaced by total shock, as Sam pulled his head down to hers and kissed him on the mouth.

Daniel froze, and he swore his heart stopped beating from surprise for a moment, as the astrophysicist gave her commanding officer a long, deep kiss. What in the seven hells is going on here! His mind refused to function and all he could do was stare in shock.

A few moments later systems came back online and Daniel was able to close the jaw which had dropped open. "Jack!" He called, but O'Neill didn't seem to hear him. In fact, he had actually brought his hand up to cradle Sam's head as the kiss continued.

"Sam! Major Carter!" Daniel tried again. This was beyond bizarre! Sure these two were married or engaged in both the alternate realities they'd encountered, but here? "Colonel!" He'd never noticed anything between them! (Then again, he wasn't particularly adept at noticing things when he was involved in a project, which was 90 of the time…)

The last shout seemed to bring Jack back to his senses. His eyes flew open and he pulled away from Sam with a deep breath.

Sam opened her eyes as well. "Jack?" She murmured softly.

Daniel's eyes were wide with horrified fascination as Jack stepped away from Carter and nervously ran a hand through his hair.

"Jack, what's going on?" Daniel asked, hoping someone would explain the situation.

"Uh…" For once, the sarcastic colonel was at a loss for words.

TBC...!

AN: There are two endings for this story, one serious, one not so much. Read both and tell me what you think! Thanks!