TITLE: Second Chance
AUTHOR: Sara
EMAIL: sara_basiuk@yahoo.com
CATEGORY: angst/adventure
SPOILERS: None really
SEASON / SEQUEL: Series 3 - I think!
RATING: PG
CONTENT WARNINGS:Daniel relationship ahead - not sha're
SUMMARY: Daniel's past catches up with him....
STATUS: Unfinished
ARCHIVE: Heliopolis
DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of
Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. We
have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever
has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original
characters, situations, and story are the property of the authors. Not to be
archived without permission of the authors.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is my first attempt at fan fiction, I had a story in my
head and decided to put it down on paper [well sort of]. Anyway feed back will
be greatly appreciated good or bad [though good feedback and encouragement will
be even more welcome].
This is the first of a two perhaps three part story. Hope you enjoy it!
Second Chance
Part One
"Daniel! Here now!" shouted Jack. Daniel crouched down beside him in the dense bushes.
"You see that temple?" Jack asked.
"Oh, yeah."
"Can you read the writing on the side Daniel?"
Sam and Teal'c joined them, "Nothing in the forest to worry about sir." She reported.
"Actually Sam I thing everything we need to worry about is in that temple." Said Daniel, "the writing is a derivative of ancient Greek, but from this distance all I can pick out is," he squinted, "Hades!"
"Isn't that Greek Daniel?" asked Sam.
"Yes, the god of the underworld. Doesn't sound good, I think we may have stumbled across another Goa'uld system lord."
"In my time as Jaafa I have never encountered the Goa'uld Hades, though I have heard of his cruelty." Teal'c commented.
"Oh, for crying out loud!"
At that moment a squadron of Jaafa came into sight walking towards the gate. One of them scanned the tree line; and spotted the team.
"Busted." Jack whispered, "on my signal run for it back to the gate."
"Jaafa! Kree!"
"Now!" yelled Jack, "Daniel dial it up! Carter get ready to send the code!"
Daniel began to dial earth's coordinates. Teal'c ran to give him and Sam some cover when a staff weapon blast barely missed the DHD.
"Daniel! Hurry it up!" With a whooshing sound the Stargate activated.
"Sam? The code!"
"Go Daniel, it's done!"
Sam and Daniel dived through the gate, closely followed by Jack and Teal'c. Three Jaafa made it through before the wormhole disengaged.
*******
The iris closed with a hiss behind SG-1. Second later there were three bangs.
"Colonel? What, may I ask, was that?" demanded Hammond.
"Jaafa jam?" Jack responded weakly.
"SG-1's de-briefing will be at 1600 hours."
********
Sam and Janet were talking in the infirmary; SG-1 were two days into the weeklong break General Hammond had *insisted* on. He thought that SG-1 were working too hard and assured them that more could be found out about Hades *after* the team had rested.
The fact was that beyond the SGC the team members had no life. Sam's father was a Tok'ra and she didn't know where he was most of the time, Teal'c had left his wife Drey'ac and son Ry'ac on Chulak when he had betrayed Apophis and joined SG-1. Jack's real family *was* SG-1. Then there was Daniel, who had spent three years of his life searching for his wife only to have her, his hope, his dreams, his happiness all cruelly snatched away from him in the time it took to fire a staff weapon.
*******
Colonel Jack O'Neill stormed into the infirmary.
"Sir?" Inquired Sam, "Are you looking for something?"
"Not something. Someone." He replied darkly before marching out of the room. Janet and Sam looked at each other, both coming to the same conclusion.
"Daniel."
"I wonder what he's done now?" Janet wondered as Sam crossed the room to the phone.
"Teal'c? Can you find Daniel please? The colonel is on the warpath and I think Daniel is first on his list." Sam listened to the answer, "thanks Teal'c."
********
Sam approached Daniel's office quietly. "Where's Teal'c?" said Janet. Sam pushed open the door. There she found Daniel. At his desk. Slumped over his latest translation. Fast asleep.
"He is *really* overworking himself." Janet commented.
Sam picked her way through the bombsite that was her friend's office. She prised the empty coffee cup from the anthropologist's hand; Daniel moaned softly but didn't wake up.
"Oh, Danny." Sam spun around to see Jack standing in the door. The anger in his face had gone, replaced by a deep concern for his friend.
"That's it, I'm going to go talk to Hammond." Jack said quietly and made his way back down the corridor, leaving Sam and Janet standing at the door to the office.
"Doctor Frazier, Major Carter. I am ready." Teal'c's deep voice boomed. Janet and Sam turned to see him, dressed in full Jaffa armour carrying his staff weapon, having misunderstood 'warpath'.
*******
"What's on your mind son?" asked General Hammond; SG-1 was his best team, the one with the most complex members and problems and the one he devoted the most of his attention to. Now he had one extremely agitated colonel pacing his office, and he couldn't help wondering what SG-1 would need now?
"Colonel O'Neill? What's the problem?" he repeated.
"It's Daniel sir, I know that SG-1 is on leave but he's got 11 SG teams constantly bring him stuff to translate and those goddamn rocks, um artefacts. He's working around the clock; it really isn't a one-person job. Sir."
"What are you implying colonel?"
"I'm suggesting, general that we recruit another linguist."
*******
SG-1 (minus Daniel) were sat in the briefing room. The table before them was strewn with folders, possible candidates for a 'translating' job at the military base beneath Cheyenne Mountain. So far each person had been rejected by the team for a variety of reasons ranging from, "too old" to, as Jack helpfully put it, "too dumb".
"How about this one sir?" said Sam holding out a file.
"Just *read* it to me Carter." Jack said wearily.
"Well, she's called Louise Williams, 34, Egyptologist, linguist, anthropologist and specialist in Greek mythology."
"Sounds good, sounds like a female Daniel."
"I to believe this Louise Williams would be an excellent choice." Teal'c agreed.
"Well people have we reached a decision? The president has agreed. All the people in those files can be recruited into the Stargate program as soon as you give the word. So who's the lucky linguist major?" asked Hammond.
"We think that Louise Williams will be the right person sir." Said Sam handing him the folder.
"I'll inform the president; you'll inform Dr Jackson."
*******
"Daniel." Janet shook him gently. He woke with a start, "Uh! What!" Janet smiled, "Welcome back!"
"Janet? How long have I " Daniel started, "Barely 6 hours." Sam said as she came in.
"Five hours? What! Why didn't you I have work to do!"
Sam sighed, "Come on Daniel, lets get you a coffee."
In the SGC cafeteria, Daniel slowly sipped the much needed coffee, Sam watched him with concern, there were dark rings around the young man's eyes and his hands trembled with exhaustion.
"Daniel, we decided that you needed help with the translations and artefacts." Daniel's head shot up, "not that there's anything wrong with your work, that's first rate, but it is too much for you alone." Janet added quickly.
"Exactly, so we found another linguist to act as your, uh, assistant, she's your age and apparently she's very good." Daniel sighed, "What's her name?" he asked.
"Louise Williams." Daniel almost jumped out of his seat at that, "Who?"
"Louise Williams," Janet said again, "Do you know her?"
"Yes, she'll be fine, yes, fine." Daniel said as he stumbled to the door, "I'm going home, I'll see you later."
"Wow! What was all that about Sam?"
"I think we're going to be finding out soon."
*******
Daniel dug his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door to his apartment; he was still reeling from what he had found out at the base today, Louise? Working with him? It had been almost 5 years since he had seen or heard from her. He didn't know how he was going to work alongside her. All the old feelings he hade hidden deep in the back of mind were painfully coming to the surface. He had met her on his first day of university at the coffee shop around the corner, they had become friends instantly, she was in most of his classes and shared his passion for ancient languages. They studied together at each other's apartments, talked long into the nights, it wasn't long before their relationship became more than friendly. They became an exclusive couple at the university. They were the perfect couple. It was only 2 weeks before graduation that things went terribly wrong between Daniel and Louise. He had noticed Louise getting secretive, always doing things without telling him, always too *busy* to talk. Then another friend, Claire, told him the bad news, "She's been seeing someone else. I'm sorry but it was only fair that you know. I'm really sorry Daniel."
That night they had argued terribly, each accusing the other of being unfaithful. That was the night they broke up. Confused and heartbroken Daniel had transferred to Los Angeles after graduation; desperate to leave Louise and the pain she had cause behind. Six months later, he met Catherine Langford.
*******
"Hey! Danny, it's not a good idea to sulk in the dark with the door unlocked. Any weirdo could get in!"
"Leave Jack." Daniel said.
"Ah, sorry, doesn't work like that! What's wrong? Is it the new linguist? You should tell me, she's coming tomorrow morning."
Daniel didn't reply.
"Danny look, it's not that we think you're not up to the job, you're more than capable, she's not a replacement just"
Daniel laughed, "No Jack I'm not jealous, you've got the wrong idea."
"Oh." Replied Jack, "well what is it!"
Daniel looked at jack for a long moment; and told all. Jack was speechless.
"She cheated? On you?" he managed to get out.
"Yeah, she did." Daniel said glumly.
"Well, how do you feel about her?" asked Jack.
Daniel studied the ceiling thoughtfully, "Well I think," he paused, "that, I still love her."
"Oh boy, do we have a problem." Jack said sourly.
"She may not feel the same." Daniel reminded himself and Jack.
Jack grimaced, "Well Danny-boy, you just keep me guessing don't you? Get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow morning, we'll see how things go."
*******
By the time Daniel had arrived the next morning Sam, Janet and Teal'c all knew about his history with the newest addition to the SGC, Sam and Janet both had a mission, to find out just how Louise Williams felt about Daniel. Teal'c, well, Teal'c was just confused.
At 0900 hours Jack and general Hammond went up to the surface to meet Louise. Jack took in all of her features in a glance, tall, about 5' 10'', shoulder length auburn hair pulled back into a clip, a slim figure wearing casual clothes, according to Hammond she had been brought her direct from a dig in Mexico, short denim shorts, boots and a sleeveless grey vest top. She was pretty no doubt with an air of intelligence and confidence.
Welcome to our facility, Dr Williams." Hammond began, "I trust you have signed the appropriate papers."
"Oh the, 'don't tell anyone, anything, classified, top, top secret; shoot you if you talk ones'?" she asked. Jack smiled he couldn't help liking her.
"Those would be the ones." He replied.
"Ok, so what's the big secret?"
"Well we'll introduce you to Dr Ja." Hammond started, "our linguist. First." Jack interjected.
********
Daniel, Sam and Teal'c were waiting in the briefing room when the General returned with Jack and the new linguist.
"Dr Williams, I'd like you to meet Dr Jackson." Announced Hammond. Daniel got up and offered his hand,
"Dr Williams." He said.
"Doctor Jackson." She replied shaking his hand.
Sam watched the awkward exchange with interest; she couldn't wait to hear Louise's side of the story.
*******
It had been a long day for Louise, she learnt that almost everything she had believed about the ancient Egyptians along with other ancient civilisations, found out of the existence of parasitic aliens called Goa'ulds who took humans as hosts and hundreds more on hundreds of planets as slaves. She had learnt that people on this base regularly travelled to other planets through a giant stone circle called a Stargate. It was like something out of a science-fiction program. Then to top it all of, here out of all the places in the world he could be Daniel Jackson had to be here.
Just looking at him had stirred up the feelings she had felt all those years before. He was just as handsome as she had remembered, maybe even more so, he had cut his hair short, it made him look much younger than he actually was. But he also brought back bad memories, she still couldn't understand how someone as gentle as Daniel could cheat, and to make it worse when she confronted him about it he ran away to LA!
*******
Sam could see Louise up ahead looking lost, "Dr Williams? What's up?"
Louise jumped, "Oh. It's Louise, and I've got nowhere to stay." She answered. That gave Sam an idea.
"Why don't you stay at my place then Louise? We can have a *chat*!"
"That would be great! Is it *Major* Carter?"
"No, it's Sam."
*******
"This looks like some sort of folk tale." Louise stated, poring over a stone tablet, one of ten that SG-8 had brought back from P5Z2445.
"Let me look," Daniel said. Louise stole a glance at him, it was only now whilst engrossed in his work that the awkwardness between them dissipated, he murmured the ancient words under his breath unaware of her scrutiny.
"Ha! Cinderella!" Daniel shouted triumphantly, he looked at her.
"Um, sorry. What?"
"The story. It's a variation of Cinderella listen,"
"Daniel shut up!" Jack's voice came from the door, "eat and rest, now!"
"But" Daniel protested.
"Now!"
*******
"Well she says that Daniel cheated on her." Sam told Janet and Teal'c in the cafeteria.
"Daniel? No I don't think so!" Janet replied, "That can't be true!"
"I do not believe that Daniel Jackson is capable of being unfaithful." Teal'c said stoically.
"Wait, apparently her friend *Claire* told her." Sam said excitedly. Janet smiled, " Ooh! Juicy! Isn't Claire the one"
"Who told Daniel Jackson the same thing." Teal'c responded.
"So jealously is the culprit!" said Jack as he sat down, they're coming now so keep it quiet, but I think we have some match-making to do!"
"Why would we wish to make matches O'Neill?"
"Shhhh!"
The two anthropologists sat and began picking half-heartedly at their food. There was an awkward silence broken by Jack.
"Barbecue, my place tomorrow night, SG-1's last night off. What do you say?" Sam and Janet smiled, "Great!" said Janet.
"Am I invited O'Neill?" Inquired Teal'c.
"Course! Danny? Louise?" Jack said hopefully. Daniel hesitated, "Um, I don't know Jack." Jack grunted, "Danny your rocks can wait a day, they're not gonna sprout legs and walk!"
"Artifacts!" Daniel and Louise yelled simultaneously.
Janet laughed, "Spooky!" Daniel got up,
"Well I better get as much as can done before tomorrow!"
"Attaboy Danny, enjoy yourself for once!" Daniel left the cafeteria, Louise followed.
"Barbecue sir?" questioned Sam.
"The perfect setting. Don't you think?"
"To get them back together? Is that the plan colonel?" asked Janet.
"Exactly."
General Hammond walked into the cafeteria, "Colonel O'Neill, I want to see you in my office immediately!" He roared and stalked out of the room.
"Sweet."
End of part one