Trying as hard as he could to work, Daniel was sitting at his desk in SG-1's shared laboratory with a pile of paperwork in front of him. There were files that he needed to go through and see if there were any planets that needed his attention. Then there were files from other teams and the archaeological work they had done. Early on in the Stargate Program, Daniel had put himself indirectly in charge of, not only all archaeological work, but also the other archaeologists. He knew of every member of the SGC, field or not-field based, that had any element of archaeology in their background. Daniel was fully aware that he was allowed a lot of lee-way by General Hammond, and others, but he still saw parts of the Stargate as his own personal amazing discovery. Whilst he would never remove a discovery off-world from someone, commandeering it for himself, he did want to be involved with every discovery. There was also the fact that not every team had an archaeological team member and then Daniel would double check their reports; his trust in himself exceeded that for others.

For certain members of the SGC, Daniel had a hand in their being brought to the SGC for their archaeological background, whilst the military archaeologists or linguists came to the SGC as possible unknowns to Daniel; although he would soon check out their records. Daniel had personally requested Doctor Balinsky be brought into the SGC and he had been aware of Satterfield and Carpenter when they were first ever assigned to SG teams and it had been his request of Carpenter that had got her assigned to SG-1.

Glancing across the room, Daniel's eyes fell on Carpenter's desk and he found himself further distracted. So much had changed since that first day that she had joined SG-1 in the briefing room. There had been no hostility directed at her, however, Daniel had been the friendlier of the three. Teal'c was his usual quiet self, waiting for Carpenter to prove herself to him. It had not taken her long to, and Sam had warmed to her fully only much more recently. He had always put that down to how Carpenter had been replacing Jack in some respects and then Sam had discovered that she was pregnant. Until recently, Sam and Carpenter had barely ever been on a mission together.

Carpenter had been working out of their shared office a lot less than previously and it did worry Daniel. He was not sure the full extent of what she had been through at the hands of Osiris, but he had faith in their friendship that she knew he was there for her. Her work had yet to suffer. Daniel still found himself unable to think straight and concentrate. Forcing his eyes back down at the open file in front of him, Daniel tried to read the first few lines. Within the first paragraph there was a reference to Osiris, and Daniel found his thoughts jumbled up again.

Sarah Gardner had been granted medical leave and had returned to England to visit with her family after her horrendous years long ordeal. He had barely heard from her in the two weeks that she had been out of the country and he was worried as to how she was coping. Offering to take leave to travel with her, Sarah had refused Daniel's offer promising him that she would be fine and back in Colorado within the month. She was far from fully recovered and, as such, Daniel put a lot of time and attention towards her. Sighing in annoyance, Daniel closed the file in front of him.

"Frustrated?" Looking up and at the doorway, Daniel smiled at Janet.

"Not in the mood to work."

As she stepped further into the room, Janet laughed. "Your desk," she waved her hand around, "is beginning to look worse than the colonel's." Daniel smiled in response. "You know, he's actually doing paperwork now?"

"That does surprise me." Even though he was travelling off world less frequently, Daniel would still never have thought he would see the day that Jack actually started doing his paperwork. Playing with Daniella was far too good an excuse for Jack not to have attempted to use. "So his time isn't consumed with Sam and Daniella?"

"Okay, I am not about to discuss his and Sam's personal relationship." Janet sounded incredibly uncomfortable about that. "But, yeah, he is in love with Daniella. So," she began after a slight pause, "seeing as you can't concentrate on your work, fancy some lunch?"

"May as well, I haven't got anything done."

"If that's how you respond to the ladies, Daniel, no wonder you haven't had a date in months."

As he stood up, Daniel sent her a confused look. "Huh?"

"You could sound a bit more excited about having lunch with your favourite doctor."

Falling into step with each other, they began the walk to the commissary. "There are a lot of doctors on base, you know."

Elbowing him slightly in the side, Janet laughed at him. "Yes, but I'm the one who, next time you end up in my infirmary, can give you pain meds or a placebo."

A short while later, Daniel and Janet entered the commissary, joining the queue to get some food. Glancing around the room, Daniel saw Carpenter sitting at one of the tables and he considered, briefly, that they could go and join her. He then remembered Teal'c's words that Janet did not necessarily like the lieutenant and had second thoughts about the situation. The decision was taken out of his hands when he saw two men sit down opposite her.

"How well do you know them?" Janet asked, seemingly out of nowhere, but she had followed his eye-line.

"Menard and Lorne? Briefly spoke to them on P3X-403, that's all. Why?"

"She's a big girl, Daniel, and she's allowed friends." Janet picked up a sandwich, putting one on Daniel's tray as she did so.

Meeting Janet's eyes, Daniel forced a smile. "I know that. It's just…" Distracting himself from the look on Janet's face, Daniel reached for a pudding cup and offered one to Janet. She shook her head.

"What?"

"A few months ago she refused to socialise with people on base and now she…"

"And now she is. Things change." And he did not like it when things changed too significantly. SG-1 and the SGC were the closest things he had to family and too many changes were not good.

FOLLOWED BY A MTFRIENDS CHAPTER