FRIDAY.

"Daniel?" she said, suddenly.

"What? Who's Daniel?" Steven asked, bemused.

"A friend." She said, absently, then he realised she wasn't looking at him, she was looking over her shoulder, at the busy road. "Daniel, what the hell are you doing?" she shouted out, and ran past him, into the road.

Steven turned to see a man, young and looking lost, standing in the middle of the road. Sam ran into the road, obviously worried, and Steven felt a small stab of jealousy. She pulled the man out, to the side of the road.

"Daniel, what the hell were you doing in the middle of the road?"

Steven noticed she still had hold of Daniel's hand.

"I'm not sure. I came out for a walk, and got lost, and couldn't quite see where I was.." he said, trailing to a halt, obviously distressed.

"Daniel, where's your glasses?" she asked patiently.

"I'm not sure. I forgot..I don't seem to be used to wearing them anymore." He said, apologetically.

"Daniel, they're here, in your shirt pocket." She said gently, pulling them out and slipping them on his face.

"Thanks." He said, adjusting them, as Steven watched.

Steven was surprised. There was a new Sam here. Not the gentle, patient woman helping her friend (friend? He still wasn't sure about that), but the Sam he'd seen who'd dashed into traffic to save him. There'd been an edge there, only a flash, but something dark, dangerous had possessed her a second, just the second she'd needed to rescue her friend.

"Who are you?" Daniel was asking, looking at him.

"He's a friend." Sam said hurriedly, and Steven felt upset. Surely, after last night, he was more than a friend?

"Look, I'm sorry." Sam said, turning to Steven, "but I have to help him."

"Well, let me help.."

"No. he's not good around strangers. I'm sorry, but you'll have to go. I'll call you later, ok?" she seemed anxious to dismiss him.

"Sam, you can't just brush me off like that. Who is he? Why can't I help you? Is he an old boyfriend, or something? Sam, we can't keep secrets..."

"He's an old and dear friend, practically my brother." She explained, although her tone was short, and she was getting angry. "You can't help because you don't know him. As for brushing you off..well, I'm sorry, but some things are more important then your date. And secrets...we all have secrets. And there's no way I will ever tell you mine. Either get used to that idea, or get out of my life." And she turned back to Daniel.

Steven left, confused, hurt and lost. He'd only just found the woman of his dreams, and now he seemed to be losing her again.

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Sam took Daniel to a nearby diner, then called Janet to pick him up.

"Who was that man?" Daniel asked, as they sat in the sunshine pouring through the window. He looked so vulnerable, so lost, that Sam melted a little towards him.

"Steven. We're dating." She said.

"Oh." Daniel said, staring down at his coffee, then out of the window.

"Why were you out here?" Sam asked.

"I was trying to convince myself that I was really ok. I thought, if I could find my way back to my apartment..but I got lost. And everything was blurry, but I forgot about my glasses."

"Daniel, it's going to take time."

"Time for what? To get over what? I don't understand anything. Everything's different."

"Not everything.."

"Yes, it is. Even my office has gone. My place in SG1 has gone. There's people working there I don't know. My life seems to have changed, and I don't why. I've been gone for months, and no-one can tell me where I've been!" His voice was rising, stressed and shaking. "I don't know how this happened! I don't know why Janet won't let me leave the base! I don't know why you're pissed at me! And most of all, I don't why the woman I know is in love with Jack is dating some loser from Poughkeepsie!"

Sam took a deep breath as Daniel ground to halt.

"Better?" she asked.

"Much, thank you." He said, quietly, then looking up, he caught her eye. She was grinning, just a little, and he laughed. "Sorry. It's just...everything's so difficult right now."

"You'll understand, soon. I hope. And Janet..she's just worried something will happen to you."

"You mean like getting stranded in the middle of a busy road, and needing to be rescued." He asked, dryly.

"Mmm. And by the way..Steven's from Wisconsin, not Poughkeepsie."

"Yeah, but Poughkeepsie sounded better. Why are you with him, Sam? Honestly, what did happen between you and Jack?"

"Nothing. There was never anything there, Daniel."

"No, I know I remember that. I remember the way he only ever really smiled when you were around. He talked to me, we joked, but he only ever came alive when you walked into a room. You two were my hope. I fell in love, and watched the women I love betray me, or change, or whatever, but you two..you were constant. You were there for each others, always you made me believe in love..corny, I know, but it's true. How can that have gone?"

"Daniel, whatever we felt, we couldn't be together." She pleaded, not looking at him, fiddling with her coffee cup." The regulations."

"The regulations. I forgot they exist."he said, tiredly. "They seem kind of pointless, given the lives we lead. But still, love isn't just kisses, and holding hands on the beach. Love is...those moments of adoration, when Jack gazes at you, and you smile back. There's more love in those seconds between you two than there ever was for me and all those women."

"Daniel, just stop." She said, her voices cracking. She didn't want to be reminded. "Moments of adoration are all very well, but sometimes I just want to be held at night. Sometimes, I just want a kiss. Sometimes I'm so lonely I cry, and knowing that I'm loved by someone who cannot touch me does not help. I need a life outside the SGC, Daniel. I need what every other person can have. I want a everyday, normal life."

"Well, you can't have it." Daniel told her, his voice firm. "You're special, and Jack's special, and what's between you two is special, and if it makes life difficult, if it makes you cry, well, so what. At the end, when it all comes right, what you'll have will be better than anything the Steven's of this world can offer you. You can't have normality. You may think you want it, but after ten months, you'd coming running back to our difficult, awkward, extraordinary lives."

Sam said nothing, just stared at the man sitting opposite her, the late afternoon sun highlighting his blue eyes, his expression intense as he grasped his coffee cup, and in that moment, it all changed. Everything she thought, everything she believed about herself, changed.

"Daniel, at last." She heard Janet say, as if from a distance. "Sam, where ..Sam?"

Sam looked round, slowly, and her eyes were full of tears.

"Sam, are you ok?" Janet, said, worried.

"I think I've upset her." Daniel said. "Sorry."

"Don't be." Sam said. "It's ok. And I will tell you everything on Monday, Janet, I promise. I just need to get this week over with."

"Ok." Janet touched her arm briefly, reassuringly. Then she pulled Daniel up. He stood there, then did something he'd never done before. He bent down, and kissed Sam, gently, on one cheek.

"You'll be ok." He whispered. "I have always had, and always will have, utter and absolute faith in you."

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