Sam headed toward the infirmary to visit Daniel. When she arrived, Jack was there.
"When you get better, you wanna go fishing?" she heard Jack ask.
"Maybe, I'll have to check my schedule," Daniel replied. She could tell he was a bit reluctant, as anyone would expect. Jack's fishing trip's could be described as....oh, a tad bit boring?
There was a moment of silence upon which she decided to make her presence known.
"Hey, guys!" she greeted, smiling gaily.
"Carter!" Jack said. He stood up to leave. "Daniel, I'll see you later."
"Kay, bye,"Daniel replied.
Jack walked past Sam, brushing her hand as he did so. It sent electrical waves through her body, a feeling most welcomed by now.
"Daniel, how's it going?" Sam asked, sinking into the chair Jack had so occupied. It was still warm, she realized...
"Good, good. Bit bored though. Janet won't let me do any translating. Do you think you could maybe.. you know?"
"Change her mind? No, no way. When Janet makes up her mind there is no changing it."
"True."
"When can you be on active duty again?" Sam asked.
"Well, I can leave the infirmary in two days, then two days off, so in roughly four days."
"Good!" Sam exclaimed. "We miss you out there Daniel."
"I miss being out there..."
Janet walked over.
"Hey, Janet."
"Hello, Sam. I'm going to have to request that you leave so I can check Daniel out."
"Okay." Sam stood. "See ya Daniel."
"Bye."
Sam turned and headed back to her lab where a certain Colonel was waiting.
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"Carter," Jack greeted as she entered her lab.
"Sir?" Sam asked, surprised.
"Are we still on for 1900 hours tomorrow night?" Jack asked, walking over to where she stood and wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Yeah," Sam said, trailing off. She couldn't meet his gaze.
Jack could sense hesitation.
"But... what?" Jack asked.
"Well...." Sam sighed, turning herself to face him. "What if someone finds out, Jack? What if we get into trouble and-"
Jack shushed her by putting his finger on her lips.
"No need to worry. No one will find out because we won't tell anyone."
"Okay." Sam seemed satisfied.
Jack kissed her tenderly, then left.
As she watched his lean form disappear, frustration boiled within her. She thought to herself 'Why do I always fall for the guys I can't have?'
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Vanessa entered the infirmary and went to sit by Daniel Jackson, who currently had his nose stuck in a book. He noticed her presence and cloed his book.
"Hey, Vanessa. How are you?"
"I am fine. Yourself?"
"Hanging in there."
There was a short pause in the conversation, before Daniel cleared his throat and asked,"I was wondering....would you like to come with us when we go to Atlantis?"
"I would like that. Very much so. Thank you." Vanessa smiled.
"Good."
Vanessa stood up to leave. "I must be going now. I am sorry that my visit did not last long."
"Oh, no problem."
"I will stop by later."
"Kay, see you then."
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Janet came up to Daniel with his clothing.
"You can change into these and leave," she said laying the clothes onto the chair.
"Okay, thanks."
Daniel slid off the bed and started to fall forward. Janet caught him and helped him sit on the bed.
"Guess it's been a while huh?" Daniel said with a small smile on his face.
"Yeah, it has."
"Hey, are you busy tonight?" Daniel asked.
"I don't think so. Cassie's at a friend's house. Why?"
"Dinner. Six. I'll pick you up."
"Okay. See you tonight." Janet got up and left him to change.
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Daniel was just about to leave for Janet's when he remembered something. He grabbed it off the table where it was sitting. He placed it gently into his breast pocket. He patted it once to make sure it would stay, then headed out to his car.
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It was 5:45 and Janet was still scrambling to get ready. She had tried on several different dresses but none seemed to be the right one. She finally settled for her black one that fit in all the right places. She quickly tied her hair up in a loose bun, but then decided otherwise and left it down. She applied some blush, eye liner, eye shadow and lip stick.
Now shoes. Should she wear her black ones, red ones? Heels, sandals? She dashed to her closet to see what she had. The first pair that caught her eye were the new ones she had bought for some event that she ended up not going to. They were black strap heels.
At six sharp, the doorbell rang.
Janet did a once over of how she looked. It would have to do. She quickly spritzed her self with perfume and ran down the stairs to answer the door.
"Hey, Daniel," she said as she opened the door to let him in. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
She then realized that Daniel was staring at her. "Daniel, are you okay?"
"Yeah." He stepped up to her and placed his hand on her cheek. "Janet, you are so beautiful tonight."
A blush crept its way to her cheeks.
"You are very handsome yourself," she said as she noted what he was wearing, a black suit and pale blue shirt, the first few buttons undone. She also noticed that he was wearing cologne.
He lowered his head and kissed her. The kiss was deep and filled with longing. Longing to be together.
After a bit, Daniel pulled away. "Well, we better get going if we want to make the reservations."
"Okay, let me grab my purse and we'll go," Janet said, still a little dazed from the kiss.
Janet grabbed her purse and they got into Daniel's car and drove away.
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Daniel pulled up into Janet's driveway. The evening had been wonderful. They had had a delicious meal and shared enjoyable conversation. It had come to an end much too soon.
They sat in the car, not wanting to leave each others' presence.
Janet broke the silence by asking, "Would you like to come in?"
"Yes, I would." Daniel turned the car off and got out. He went over to Janet's side of the car and helped her get out.
When they entered the house Janet asked. "Would you like anything. Wine, coffee?"
"Wine, please," Daniel answered as he walked over to the couch to make himself comfortable. He took off his jacket and hung it over the back of the couch.
Janet came back a few moments later with two glasses of wine and sat down by Daniel on the couch. She leaned into him and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
They sat in a comfortable silence for a while.
"You know, I don't know much about you, Janet," Daniel said.
"Well, what do you want to know?"
"About your childhood."
"I had two sisters, Gillian and Katherine. We lived in a small town in Ohio. My mother died when I was 12 from cancer. After that, my father took care of us. At 18, Gillian moved in with her boyfriend at the time. When I was 16, Katherine fell ill and died. That was really hard on me. We were very close. Gillian didn't come to the funeral. Last I heard, she was somewhere in Europe with her boyfriend. We haven't talked since."
"Wow," Daniel let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. "A lot of tragedies in your family."
"Yeah, that's how I decided to become a doctor. I didn't want people to suffer the way I did with death and illnesses. And I love helping people."
"What happened after Katherine died?"
"Well, I went on living life as a normal teenager. I had a lot of fun times. Lots of friends. Enemies too. I graduated high school and enrolled in Cadet Academy. I then met Joe, my ex. We married at 19 and I was pregnant at 20. I ended up having a miscarriage. That's when everything went downhill in our marriage. He started drinking. I then learned he had a drinking problem. A few months after he started drinking is when the abuse started." Janet started to get choked up.
"Janet, you really don't have to tell me about that f you don't want to," Daniel said, sensing her pain.
"I need to tell you." Janet looked up into his eyes.
He gave her silent permission to go on. She laid her head back on his shoulder and continued. "Almost every night he would come home drunk. He would get mad at me for the smallest things. He would do unspeakable things. After about two months of that, I told him I'd had enough and I filed for divorce. I graduated and went to work at Academy Hospital. Three years later I was recruited for the Stargate Program."
There was a moment of silence.
"I've never told anyone that much," Janet said quietly. "It feels good to get that off my chest."
Daniel kissed the top of her head and said, "I'm glad you told me."
"Me too. Now it's your turn. What was it like being in so many different foster homes?"
"Difficult to say the least. I never had time to make any real friends. School was hard. I was always behind. I tried to teach myself. As you can imagine, it didn't work out so well," Daniel laughed a little as memories came back to him. "All my families were very hospitable. All my 'siblings' if you will were fun to hang out with. At, 18 I moved into a apartment by Harvard and went to school there. Graduated and went to a different school to get my Masters then yet another school to get my doctorate in Archeology. I then went on to study the pyramids, wrote my theory, published it, got ridiculed, then was recruited for the Stargate Program."
"What about the many languages you speak?"
"I picked some up here and there. I taught myself most of them."
"Very impressive."
Silence settled over the two.
Daniel thought about how much he loved the woman beside him. He never thought it possible to love someone so much. If he was going to make his move, it was going to be now.
"Janet," Daniel said,"there's something I need to do." He carefully removed his arm from its resting place.
Janet sat up. "What?" she asked.
"This," Daniel said as he slid off the couch onto his knee in front of her.
Janet's eyes widened.
He took her hands in his.
"Janet," he started. "I have loved you for a long time now. I have had many near death experiences, but this past one hit home. I've tried to picture my life without you and have come up with nothing. I want, no, I need you in my life forever. I've been thinking about this over my time of recovery and I think we're ready."
Daniel reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a small, blue velvet box. Tears began to form in Janet's eyes.
"Janet Fraiser, will you marry me?" Daniel opened the box to reveal a small diamond ring.
The tears spilled down her face. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes, I will!" Daniel took the ring and slid it on to her finger. Perfect fit. He got about half way up and Janet threw herself around his neck. He sat down on the coffee table to prevent himself from falling over. Janet then proceeded to sit in his lap, still hugging him.
"When did you get this?" Janet asked.
"It was my mom's. That was one of the only things salvaged from the rubble."
"It's beautiful, Daniel," Janet said as she admired the ring.
"Just like you."
Janet blushed as she looked up and met his gaze.
"I really, truly mean that." Daniel brought his hand up to her cheek and traced the outline of her face. "You are the most beautiful person I have ever met. I am the luckiest man alive to have you as my wife."
Janet's blush deepened and her smile got even bigger. "You are the perfect man, Daniel." She leaned in and kissed him.
Daniel decided the table wasn't going to hold him much longer so he ended the kiss and lifted her up and sat down on the couch. Janet then kissed him again. She was leaning into him so much that he fell backwards into a laying position and she laid on top of him. The kiss ended much too soon. Janet rested her head on Daniel's chest. Soon the two were fast asleep.
