Author's note: This is specifically for Aleya. Thanks for your encouragement. Yes, I am in a fix, and definitely need the prayers. I don't want to give up on this story, but there is so much going on in my life that I'm having a hard time finding the peace to write this particular story. I've not forgotten, and I'm hoping to do a little better with writing it, rather than all my angsty Supernatural stuff, but it's hard right now. I wish I had another way to contact you, but this is the best I've got for now. Thank you.
After a shower and some breakfast, Daniel felt like a new man. Physically, anyway. Emotionally, he was still a wreck. How could he have hit Cam? I mean, sure, he had occasionally thought about it, especially when the man was at his most insufferably stubborn, but actually doing it sickened him. This guy was probably his closest friend after Sam and Jack. Could he not control himself any better than that?
But Cam had been rather insistent that he forget it. Being unable to do so, it seemed the next best thing to do was pretend he had. So Cam was fixing breakfast (frozen waffles this time, so very little risk involved), he was going to get dressed and ready and they were going to go ride horses. It actually sounded like fun. It had been years since he had been on a horse. As a kid, it had been a rare treat when one foster family or another would take him to the fair or a stable or something. But when he had lived on Abydos, their most common form of long-distance transportation was very similar to a large pony or a small horse called a shanin. And to his surprise, he found it was a lot of fun. And occasionally, on what he had then thought of as a bad day (but today seemed like a good dream), he would take off on Asha, his favorite shanin, and just ride into the desert.
Asha was the color of sand, and Daniel had imagined he faded into the desert he was around. For a little while, what he had seen as a tremendous burden of being the son-in-law of the leader had faded away and he could relax and feel completely at peace. A special kind of peace that he had never felt before or since. The smooth rhythm of the animal's pace, the fading scenery that became less and less important as they moved, and the simple tranquility of not having to be anywhere, think if anything, or deal with any imminent crises. God, he needed that kind of peace now. And maybe this was the way to find a little of it. He knew he would never again find the kind of peace –or love- he had found on Abydos, but this might take him back some.
Daniel was one of the few people who realized that Cam Mitchell was a lot more than the simple country boy he acted like. He may be the one to ask the most idiotic questions, be the gung-ho, "Let's re-enact the OK Corral, boys!" kind of leader, be the one sitting on the bench in the locker room playing his PSP an hour before a mission, but there was a lot more to him than that. He was also the one they couldn't lie to, the one that saw through every very well disguised "I'm fine", the one who would take a bullet for any one of them and not even begin to see that it might not be a fair trade. And he absolutely never, ever gave up on something once it got in his head. And now, it was in his head to get Daniel to be able to get some sleep. With a smile, Daniel had to admit that if he had been able to "get the band back together", surely he could pull off another miracle. And since it was in his head, he would move heaven and earth to make it happen. And Daniel certainly hoped that he could, because quite frankly, he couldn't handle this much longer on his own.
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"Her name is Rebel Princess," Cam explained, leading Daniel up to a beautiful buckskin horse. Daniel's face split into a wide grin as he noticed that she was the same color as Asha, except for the black mane and tail. Cam already had her saddled and tied to a fence post beside the barn by the time Daniel had finished his breakfast. Daniel had gotten out of the shower to find waffles on the table and a note saying Cam had eaten while he was waiting and had gone to get the horses ready. Daniel had inhaled his breakfast and headed for the barn.
"Interesting name," said Daniel. "What do you call her?"
Cam shrugged. "Usually Princess. Dad occasionally just calls her 'Dammit'."
Daniel snorted with laughter, and Cam grinned. "Literally. As in "Come here, Dammit!" and "Whoa, Dammit!""
Daniel stroked her head and scratched behind her ears. "Good girl," he said, and the horse nuzzled him back.
"Cool," said Cam. "She likes you. And this guy," he said, turning to the black and white spotted stallion beside him, "is Marker. See right here? He has a perfect question mark on his side." He pointed to a white spot in the larger black patch. Upon closer examination, Daniel agreed that it did indeed look like a question mark.
Daniel grinned, excited in spite of his exhaustion, the stress of the day, and the stress of punching his friend earlier. "So, where are we going?"
Cam shrugged. "Second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning?" Again, Daniel couldn't hold back a snort of laughter. "Well, I was thinking about riding the loop around behind the farm, over onto Larry and Wanda's then down through Cutler's place. It's about a four hour trip. But if you haven't done much riding, we can start smaller."
"Um, actually, I ride pretty well," Daniel said, taking a small amount of pleasure in Cam's surprised look. It wasn't often the he could surprise his friend. "A four-hour ride is nothing compared to what I used to do on Abydos."
"Really?" asked Cam. "Like, you could do longer?"
"Sure. We used to ride for two or three days to meet with other leaders and stuff." A wistful smile crossed his face, and a plan began to form in Cam's mind. "Or sometimes just for fun." That cemented it.
Cam's smile widened, and he tied Marker to the post beside Princess. "In that case, I got a better idea. Come on!" He was grinning like a ten-year-old boy as he rushed out of the barn, leaving Daniel to catch up.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"To get the camping gear!"