Missing scenes from Shades of Grey, prompted by noticing that Daniel isn't there when Jack "leaves for Edora" and Daniel's statement that the events took place over the course of a week. Also sets up a storyline I hope to make ongoing for them at an archaeological site off world. At this point there is one or two more scenes to add, so it TBC

Jillian had been anxious to return to P3K-901 but had wanted to wait so that she could be at the SCG when Daniel returned from Tollana. She knew how hard he had worked on the proposal Hammond had requested. She knew that deeply in his heart Daniel believed in the proposal, even if he had little hope of it working. The supplies she had requested had been delayed, which had given her an excuse for waiting.

Now SG1 had returned and word was spreading like wildfire that none of them had looked happy. Jillian tried not to look like she was hurrying towards Daniel's office. There was no need to add to the growing rumors.

She found him with his back to the door. His jacket was tossed over the desk in a rejected heap. There was a stiff line of tension across his shoulders and down his back and he was rather roughly yanking at his tie.

"Daniel?" she asked, hesitantly.

It was clear in his expression, when he turned around, that he was surprised to see her. He froze, with his tie half off and his fingers still around the knot.

"I thought you were on P3K-901," he said.

"If we're going to make any more progress there we need more oxygen tanks. I came back and thought I would wait to see how it went on Tollana," she paused.

Daniel didn't talk much about feelings, good or bad. But she had learned to watch his eyes. At the moment those eyes were made of shards of broken glass, brittle and bright.

She gestured with her head, backwards towards the door.

"The word out there is that SG1 is back and it doesn't look like things went well."

Daniel blinked.

"The word out there?" he repeated, "We haven't been back long enough for me to get my tie off!"

Jillian shrugged. "The rumor mill here has its own warp drive, Daniel. You know that."

In this case it hadn't taken more than watching the team stalk back through the Gate, without speaking, without greeting anyone, without even talking to each other but immediately going their separate ways. Jillian had seen Daniel come back from off world elated, exhausted, calm, indifferent and every emotion in between. She had never seen him come back shell-shocked and defeated. Hurt seemed to once again have slammed its merciless fist into Daniel's soul.

Jillian watched him carefully. Daniel seemed to consider that and then resumed moving. His tie came off and was tossed carelessly on the desk to join his jacket. He loosened his collar, took off his glasses – which he at least set down carefully – and then leaned on the desk as if he was exhausted.

He heard the rustle of movement as she approached him. Warm arms slipped gingerly around his waist. A soft breath of lavender surrounded and soothed him as she pressed her cheek against his back. Daniel turned again, leaned against the desk and wrapped both arms around Jillian's shoulders. He let his forehead drop until it was resting on her hair.

Daniel felt as if he had been swimming in clear water and was suddenly tangled in fishing nets. He simply had no way to process what Jack had done, or why he had let it happen. Instead he had obediently acquiesced when Jack told him to shut up, certain to the last that Jack had some reason, some logic, or some purpose to his actions that was not nefarious.

Over the last three years, Daniel had lost his faith in many things. But he had clung determinedly to his faith in communication; and to his faith in Jack O'Neill. Both things had been shaken to their very core.

He couldn't articulate what had happened; and mercifully Jillian didn't ask him to. It was too big a question, full of confusion and pain like tiny daggers.

She just stood still and let him hold her.

"Daniel" she said, softly "Can we fix whatever happened?"

"I don't think so," he answered, sounding numb."Not this time."

She felt the tenuous tremor that coursed through him, radiating from his chest. Jillian didn't know whether it was rage or revulsion, sadness or despair. She only knew that his arms tightened around her and he hid his face in her hair and there was nothing she could do.

(0)

Daniel felt a familiar rush of comfort at the sight of Jillian patiently waiting for him in the lab. By now the whole SGC knew what Jack had done and that he had packed and left. There was some relief in that for Daniel. If everyone knew he was spared from having to articulate the situation somehow. He wasn't sure he could force the words out of his mouth, in any language. SG1 hadn't managed to talk about it.

He was equally comforted that Jillian was just as stunned as everyone else, but less brittle than he was. It would help a lot if at least one of them wasn't going to fall apart. He sought her now as the ocean seeks the shore.

Cautiously, as if probing wounds still unhealed, he examined the concept. To his surprise he found something pure and bright and desirable. Seeing Jillian there, waiting for him, was just so damned easy. His eyes met hers across the sterile fluorescent-lit room and then she walked forward and drew him straight into her arms. He pulled her close and kissed her and though his hands were tangled fiercely in the sleek mass of her hair, the touch of his lips on hers remained gentle and chaste.

When they finally broke apart, she said, "Come back to PsK-901 with me. I'm going crazy wanting to show you what we found."

Daniel answered, "I haven't even had time to look at the preliminary reports. I only know they found a submerged city and that's how you got assigned the task of leading the team."

He saw the light of discovery and joy come into her green eyes and a genuine smile played softly with the lips that had just been pressed against his.

"It's like some cataclysm drowned Luxor and the Giza Plateau all at once," she said, in the misty voice of the archaeologist who was truly enamored with a find; smiling not at the carnage such an event must have caused but at the frozen piece of time waiting to be explored.

In spite of the circumstances surrounding SG1 Daniel felt a rush of matching excitement utterly different than the urgently male one she usually caused. A ray of light pushed at the night-dark shadow on his soul.

"Sam's already gone home for a few days. Teal'c asked to go hunt down Bra'tac. We're on stand down for at least two days. I don't think there would be a problem with me going with you."

Her smile widened. "So you're in?"

"I'm in," he said, and found he could even smile back a little."There's just one thing I have to do first."

"And that is?"

His smile faded and he drew in a breath as if it hurt. In a voice that sounded like a roll of distant thunder he said,

"I have to go talk to Jack."

(0)

The next time Jillian saw Daniel he was wearing his grey-blue uniform and carrying a backpack in one hand. He looked as if a thunderstorm had poured in, lashed him to the depths of his soul and rolled away again. Jillian swallowed and tried to smile brightly.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"More than ready," he said, flatly, "Let's get out of here."

(0)

Whatever Jack had said to upset him so badly, Daniel appeared to forget about it the moment he set foot on P3K-901. The words "tropical paradise" didn't begin to describe it. The Star Gate itself was on a cliff. Around them stretched nothing but Caribbean blue ocean and the sound of waves crashing relentlessly somewhere far below. A warm breeze stirred palm trees and tropical plants. The sun was drifting towards the horizon but there seemed to be a few hours of daylight still.

"Wow," Daniel said.

"I know," Jillian said, "Wouldn't you love a vacation home right here, with this view?"

"Big windows and a deck?" Daniel mused.

Jillian slipped her hand around his, linking their fingers.

"And the view from the top of that rise is even better. Then it's a two mile walk to the camp."

They walked casually up the path that led to the beach from the Star Gate, topped the rise and Daniel stopped walking as if he had hit an invisible wall. Jillian got a deliciously satisfied grin on her face.

"God," Daniel gasped.

"You're doing better than I did. I actually had to sit down," she said.

The water continued to stretch to the horizon, an endless vista composed of blue ocean and blue sky. But all along the coast of the island, ruins rose up like the skeletal bones of ancient Egypt. Tall columns of a temple and the needle point of an obelisk were closest to shore. Their shimmering outline disappeared into clear turquoise waters and Daniel thought he could also see the temple floor. The dark forms of divers moved in and out of the columns. Further out, where the water turned from turquoise to navy, Daniel could see the unmistakable top of a pyramid.

"God," he repeated, "Jillian, how do you even begin to study something like that?"

"We've got the grids established around the temple and the settlement surrounding it. At the moment we're working on getting everything photographed so we can create mosaics to study. We haven't moved anything yet," Jillian paused and sighed, "I won't tell you it isn't a daunting task, and I have no idea how long we'll have funding to do it."

Daniel hadn't taken his eyes off the incredible sight. He could see two standard issue Zodiacs anchored by the columns. The camp itself was also pretty standard military issue. There was the familiar pattern of large tents and Quonset huts, equipment covered by tarps and out in the open, ATV's and the trailers they pulled. Daniel could also see several personnel moving around and the constant sound of running generators filled the sea breezes.

"I'll talk to Hammond," he said, absently. "Your camp should be five times that size considering the magnitude of the site."

Jillian looked at him, wondering if even Daniel Jackson had the clout to get extra funds out of the SGC for a site that was unlikely to produce any superior technology.

"It isn't even all archaeologists down there," she commented, "We got a marine biologist and I managed to convince Hammond I needed SG8, so I've got Colonel Mallory in charge of the day-to-day things and Scotty Lawrence…."

"The astronomy whiz kid?"

"Yes. He's trying to get us a time frame for a work day. At the moment we're about four hours ahead of Standard Mountain Time, which is why it's so close to evening already," Jillian said, "and I could use a dozen more people who have some kind of experience with underwater sites. I spent almost all of the first day giving a crash course in what to do down there."

Daniel dragged his captivated gaze from the ocean and looked at her in dismay.

"Who did they send you?"

"Divers. They're all certified but none of them have ever been on an underwater site before. Right now they know how to lay out the grids and take pictures. They have no idea what they are looking at or for."

Daniel sighed and shook his head.

"On Earth you'd have a hundred universities lined up for the chance to fund something like this."

"We aren't on Earth," she sighed, "And even if we were there are a limited number of people we can tell and even fewer that will actually care."

She paused since there was nothing they could do at that point but shared the unspoken frustration. Sometimes Jillian adored being part of the SGC and sometimes it made her want to tear her hair out.

She shook off the somber mood first.

"We won't have time to actually dive the site before dark," she said, "but we can use snorkels to explore the temple tonight if you want. Tomorrow we can take a Zodiac out even as far as the pyramid if you want and do a proper dive."

"Yeah, I'd like to," he sounded distracted again, "Jill, have you been able to determine which god the temple was dedicated to?"

"That was pretty easy," Jillian answered. She pointed, "See the break in the columns in the center of the grouping and the dark shape inside it? We think there used to be a domed ceiling there. It was directly above a statue of the god the temple honors. I think we found the home planet of the jackal god. It's Anubis."

(0)

It took Daniel less than ten seconds to decide that the attire required for underwater archaeology was vastly more appealing than traditional archaeology. He had spent years in the desert, surrounded by people dressed head to toe in robes and anything else necessary for keeping covered in the relentless sun.

When Jillian came striding across the sand wearing nothing but a navy blue one piece swim suit than clung to her like a second skin, he decided that underwater exploration might be worth every danger it was fraught with. Daniel was more transfixed by the sight than he had been when he had first seen the submerged city.

In a galaxy of heavenly bodies, Jillian was a masterpiece – long, lean legs, curved hips, long waist, full breasts, lush, a rich combination of firm, and soft in all the right places. Daniel clenched his teeth and concentrated on breathing slowly. It didn't escape his notice that Jillian was gazing back at him as if she wanted to memorize him. Her eyes swept his face, his hair, his arms, his chest and shoulders. Daniel's skin burned from more than the heat of the sun.

Jillian smiled at him a little wickedly when they were finally face to face.

"I think it's a good thing you're staying the night," she said.

He wasn't sure he could speak at the moment and she changed the subject anyway. She handed him a snorkel mask.

"It's your prescription. I had it made for you."

She watched the surprised look on his expressive face and felt a small thrill trickle down her spine. He probably had no idea how gorgeous he was at the moment. His eyes were the same color as the brilliant turquoise sea. He was naked except for his glasses and the utilitarian navy blue swim trunks the military issued. There was always just so much of him when he shed his clothes. Muscles meshed from his deep chest to his broad shoulders to the proud column of his throat. The sun had turned the vast expanse of his skin the color of beaten gold.

"What?" he said, interrupting her rampant thoughts.

"You got a diving certification for me. I got you two diving masks so you can actually see when we're down there," she shrugged and smiled, "That's the snorkel mask. The diving mask is also blue, so we can tell them from the others."

Daniel took his glasses off and held the mask up to his eyes to look through it.

"Wow. That's amazing. Thank you."

Jillian looked down at the sand and hot color flooded her cheeks. "You have no idea how much it meant to me that you took the time to get that certification," she said, shyly.

She looked soft and vulnerable in that moment, fragile in a way that Daniel was shockingly familiar with.

Daniel reached for her, wrapping his fingers around the back of her neck and pulling her close. After all the things they had done with and to each other, in bed and out, he was oddly moved that it was still hard for her to put her feelings into words and give them voice. He had seen the joy in her eyes when he had shown the certificate to her, attached to a bouquet of white roses for Valentine's Day. He had felt it in the way her arms had gone around his neck as if he was something precious she never wanted to release, her body melted against his in delight and trust.

He hugged her with one arm, kissed her forehead and then let her go. If he held her for too long he was going to be seized by an almost desperate need to kiss her, and not in a way that was going to lead to them going snorkeling.

They dug the rest of the gear out of the backpack Jillian had carried down. They donned masks and fixed the snorkels and slipped on flippers. Daniel found a safe pocket on the side of it to stow his glasses and then they flopped awkwardly out into the surf.

Jillian swam like a seal, smooth and clean with a wild freedom he couldn't help but be caught up in. He was a bit surprised that she could hold her breath longer than he could, but it gave him a new goal. Tomorrow when they were scuba diving they would be able to talk. But right now they could only communicate by touch and expression.

Daniel's first experience with the sunken city of P3K-901 became measured in Jillian's hand guiding him to new and never-before-seen wonders; measured in the sparkle of her impossibly green eyes as she watched him trying to take it all in.

The statue of Anubis defined the word 'magnificent'. Whatever had been used to achieve the rich black color of the jackal was still gleaming, the gold touches still brilliant. The statue had once been holding something in its outstretched hand, probably a staff, but that had been swept away by the same powerful forces that had torn the roof off the temple. Jillian directed him to the front of the temple and the obelisk and pointed. There had once been two of them flanking the main entrance. The second obelisk lay cracked and broken on the sea floor, a silent testament to the destructive power of nature. Coral was beginning to grow on the lower portions of the ruin, as the creatures of the sea adapted to the changes.

The evening passed in shades of watery blue, in schools of brightly colored fish that darted among the ruins, in the joy of discovery and in the company of a woman who enchanted him like a mermaid. It passed with Jillian laying wonder after wonder before him like a gift. It passed without anything happening to remind Daniel of the events back home…

And that was the kindest gift of all.

(0)

Daniel gave Sam one more penetrating look that said he'd still much rather she had been given command and then marched out after Teal'c. The Jaffa had already vanished but Daniel hadn't intended to follow him. Teal'c would no doubt hide in his room in a deep state of kel'no'reem until SG1 was summoned for their next assignment. Daniel had no intention of hiding in his room, but he had abruptly decided that the exploration of Anubis' city needed his immediate attention.

He tracked Hammond to the General's office and hovered politely in the door for a moment.

"Are you going to try to convince me to promote Major Carter, Dr. Jackson?" Hammond asked.

He swiveled in his chair to regard Daniel frankly.

"No," Daniel let the word slide out slowly, nonconfrontationally. He slouched in the doorway to appear smaller. "I was hoping you'd let me use the Gate to go to P3K-901to check on their progress."

There was a moment of silence in which Daniel almost had to look away. Hammond knew why he really wanted to go there. He could tell by the shrewd look in the General's eyes.

"Dr. Jackson, do you have any idea what time it is on P3K-901?"

"Middle of the night?" Daniel guessed.

"Yes."

Daniel smiled a bit. "I don't think Dr. North will mind."

"No, I don't imagine she will," Hammond said, mildly.

"So, I can go?" Daniel really hoped he didn't sound like a teenager asking for the keys to the car.

"I'll give the order. Tell her I said hello."

Daniel managed to just say thank you and not 'thanks, dad', even though that's how it felt.

Forty minutes later, he had a backpack ready and was watching the Gate dial P3K-901.

(0)