Title: Heroes (9/10)
Author: Karen
Rating: R (for violence and some non-graphic sexual scenes. Whoo hoo!)
Pairing: D/J
Disclaimer: Not mine, not a one.
Category: Angst, Romance, Light Humour.did I mention the angst?
Spoilers: YES! Up to and including 'Heroes' and then we swerve merrily off
into my own little world.
Distribution: Ask and ye shall receive. If you want to.
A/N: This is an episode 'fixer' or 'what if'. I haven't seen the ep or read
a transcript, so it may be a little out of whack when the episode airs. In
my head, everything is hunky-dory and certain events never happen. Period.
Oh, and I'm working on the supposition that Cassie is a senior in high
school.
Dedications: This is completely and totally inspired by the wonderful D/J
vids at www.gypsy-gateway.com, specifically 'Words He Doesn't Say' and
'I'll Be Good To You'. Go check out the final one in the trilogy 'It Is You
(I Have Loved)' that's just been released! Wonderful, wonderful vids,
thanks for the inspiration and all your kindness to a D/J newbie, Amy.
Part 9.
It was nearly twenty-four hours later before Janet woke up and she woke slowly, fighting her way to the surface of consciousness. Janet frowned as she registered the feel of soft, warm sheets covering her body and concentrated on lifting her eyelids to stare blearily up at the ceiling above her head. Her frown of confusion deepened as she realised the ceiling above her was neither the SGC infirmary nor the familiar cream of her own bedroom at home, but a sharp, almost blinding, white in the sunlight streaming through the uncovered windows. Which were on a completely different side of the bed to where they usually were. Janet's hands fisted on the sheet covering her and her heart began to race as she realised she had absolutely no idea of where she was, she turned her head to see her own smiling face looking back at her from a photo frame beside a phone on a bed side table and that was enough to galvanise her into sitting up with a gasp of shock.
She stared around at the unfamiliar bedroom with worried eyes and then down at the wide bed she was on. A plain tan coverlet lay rumpled over her thighs and she gasped again as she saw she was clothed in nothing more than an over sized black vest top which, much like the rest of the room, definitely wasn't hers. "It's mine." Janet yelped and snatched the covers up to her chest at the sound of a male voice and then stared bug eyed at Daniel Jackson where he leant with arms folded over his chest against the doorframe. He slowly pulled a hand free, waved it at the room and then nodded at her. "You're in my bed."
Janet blinked. "What?"
"My bed." Daniel pushed away from the door with a jerk of his shoulder and walked forward, frowning slightly as Janet scooted back towards the headboard. "You're in my home."
"What am I doing here?" Janet eyed her former lover warily as he sat himself down on a chair at the side of the bed and then scowled as she finally realised that, aside from the vest she wore, she was naked under the covers. "Where are my clothes?"
Daniel shrugged. "They were dirty." He managed to control the shudder as he remembered the feel of the blood-stiffened cloth as he had peeled it away from Janet's unconscious body. "I put them in the incinerator."
Janet found herself nodding in agreement to his reasonable tone before his words fully registered. "What?" Acutely aware there was nothing between her butt and the mattress beneath her but the loose cotton top that was swamping her, her mouth dropped open in outrage. "You burned my clothes?"
Daniel could feel the flush working it's way up his cheeks as she stared at him in horror. "Uh-huh. That's my shirt you're wearing." He coughed uncomfortably as Janet looked down at the shirt falling off her shoulders and then back up at him incredulously. "Are you hungry?"
"No, I'm not damn well hungry, Daniel!" Janet flinched back as Daniel's hand reached out towards her and spat. "Don't even think about touching me. You said you were taking me home, I trusted you!"
Wincing at her accusing tone, Daniel tried to smile. "But I never said which particular home, did I?" The smile melted away as her eyes burned with betrayal and anger. "I just didn't want to leave you alone, you've been through so much."
"Don't give me that, you know Cassie would have been there." Janet's face paled as she remembered her daughter. "Oh God, Cassie. Daniel you have to take me home, I have to see Cassie."
"No, you don't." Daniel moved from his chair and perched on the edge of the bed to catch Janet's arm as she tried to scramble out from under the covers. "Jan, it's ok."
With reflexes she didn't know she possessed, Janet swung round and slapped Daniel so hard his glasses flew from where they were perched on his nose to smash against the wall. "Get off me! I need to get home."
"MOM!" Cassandra skidded to a halt in the bedroom doorway and clapped a hand to her mouth as she watched her mother draw back her hand to slap the stunned Daniel once again. "Mom, what's going on, are you alright?"
"Cassie?" Janet's hand fell as she saw her daughter in the doorway wearing a pair of pyjamas and her face still flushed with sleep. "Cass?"
Cassandra launched herself across the room into her mother's arms, ignoring Daniel as he scrambled hurriedly out of the way. "Mom!" She wrapped her self around her much smaller mother and burst into tears as she buried her face in Janet's neck. "Mom."
Janet's arms went around the sobbing girl. "Shh, honey, it's ok. I'm ok." Tears began to burn in her own eyes and then leaked from the corners as Cassie shuddered against her. "I'm ok." She squeezed as tightly as she could when her daughter continued to cry brokenly and began to sway awkwardly in a bid to comfort the distraught girl. "It's all over now, sweetheart."
Daniel stooped to pick up his glasses from the floor, ruefully rubbing his throbbing cheek as he looked at the cracked lenses before looking back at the two Frasier women crying on his bed. He shuffled his feet for a moment, arms aching to reach out and pull them to him, but at last decided that they needed a few moments alone. He backed silently away and then realised that neither of them were aware of his presence any longer anyway. With a last longing look towards his bed he turned on his heel to head for the kitchen and make some tea, with the vague idea that it might help soothe tear swollen throats if, and when, the mother and daughter ever managed to let each other go again.
*******************************
Over half an hour later, once Daniel had made tea for all and recovered from his own unexpected release of emotional tears in the kitchen, he carefully nudged the door open with his foot and edged into his bedroom. Two faces turned to look at him from where they sat side by side at the head of the bed, but while Cassie's lit up with a welcoming smile; Janet's was closed and wary as he walked forwards. "I, um, made you some tea. If you're up for it."
Cassie tucked her long legs out of the way and patted the mattress. "Put it here, Daniel." She smiled at him as he put the tray down and then caught his hand as he went to sit back in his chair. "I was just telling Mom how cool you were about taking me out of school and bringing us both here." Not seeing Daniel's pained wince, the young girl turned back to Janet's expressionless face and smiled. "He just marched into my classroom and told my teacher that he was taking me home and grabbed my bag and marched out again. Teal'c stayed with you in the car while Daniel had this HUGE argument with my principal and I thought he was going to hit him, but then we managed to get hold of Sam and she said it was ok and Daniel just scribbled his address down and told Mr Rogers that I'd be here if he needed any further information and dragged me out." Cassie sucked in a much-needed breath of air and continued without noticing the dangerous flash of temper in Janet's eyes. "We all came back here and then Daniel gave me and Teal'c his credit card to get some clothes because he said we won't be going home for a while and he put you to bed and stuff while we were out." Cassie idly picked up a sugar cube from the bowl on the tray and crunched down on it thoughtfully as she screwed up her nose. "He says I still have to do homework so I don't fall behind in my classes but I can definitely have a few days off school and just hang with you guys until you're better." Cassie smiled up at Daniel brightly. "Isn't he just the greatest?"
"Fantastic." The bite in Janet's voice had Daniel wincing again and Cassandra looking at her in surprise. Janet forced herself to smile at her suddenly uneasy daughter and shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry. I'm still a little tired, I guess."
Cassandra's face was instantly flooded with concern and she wriggled down from the bed. "Of course you are." Still clutching Daniel's hand she bit her lip guiltily. "I should have let you rest, I'm sorry." Before Janet could offer a protest the girl bent and pressed a kiss to her cheek and then just as quickly pressed one to Daniel's. "I'm going to go and ring Sam and tell her you're awake, then grab a shower and some breakfast. I'll check up on you later."
Acutely aware of Daniel's eyes on her, Janet reached for her retreating daughter. "Cassie, I didn't mean."
"Its ok." Smiling broadly Cassie waved a hand as she paused in the doorway and looked back at the two adults. "Just have some tea and get some sleep. You too Daniel, you sat up all night with her." The young girl turned to go and then paused once more, smiling shyly. "I'm glad you guys worked things out, I missed seeing you together." She flashed them a blinding smile and then disappeared out into the hall.
Daniel watched Janet as she stared at the spot her daughter had been and then turned suspicious eyes on him. "What exactly did she mean by that?"
Shrugging, Daniel prudently moved the tea tray away from Janet and onto the nearby dressing table in case she felt like hitting him with an impromptu weapon instead of the flat of her hand the next time and said calmly. "She's seems to have the impression that we're back together." He kept his eyes on the dark tea as he poured it out. "I didn't think it was the right time to set her straight, she was upset enough as it was."
Silence stretched in the room for long moments before Janet hissed. "Would you mind shutting the bedroom door, please? I don't want Cassie to overhear us." She narrowed her eyes as Daniel nodded before calmly putting down the teapot and walking to softly shut the door. He stood facing it for a moment before turning to lean back against it and cross his arms across his chest as he met her eyes and waited for her to begin. "What do you think you're playing at here, Daniel? What exactly gives you the right to take my daughter out of school without my permission and then tell her a pack of lies?"
Daniel's face tightened for a moment but he managed to say reasonably. "You were unconscious at the time I made the decision to get Cass and I felt she'd be better off here with me than with some sitter or at the base with the others." His chin tilted as he met her furious brown eyes with his cool blue ones. "And I didn't lie to her. She was distraught over what nearly happened to you and clinging to whatever she could to get her through a rough few hours. She assumed that as I was taking you both home with me that we were back together and I couldn't seeing the sense in upsetting her anymore than she already was by telling her the truth."
"Is that right?" Fine tremors of pure fury made Janet's hands shake as she clutched tightly at the cover on the bed and her voice was ice cold with disdain as she spat her next words at him. "And what makes you think that you have the right to make those kind of decisions for me and Cassie? The last I checked, you and I were nothing more than two people that work together."
Daniel's head jerked back as though she'd slapped him again before his skin paled with hurt. "We're more than that, Janet, you know we are. Even before things went wrong between us, we were more than that."
Janet snorted dismissively. "Check your realities, Daniel, because in this one we were never more than that. We worked together and we had recreational sex, that's all." Darkly pleased at the look of deep anguish in his eyes, she sneered spitefully. "The occasional good time between the sheets doesn't give you the right to cart me off to your house or give you rights to my child."
"Well, maybe I want them!" Daniel shoved away from the door and raked his hands through his already dishevelled hair. "Maybe I want the right to put you in my bed and collect Cassie from school if there's a need for it." He spread his arms pleadingly before him. "What was I meant to do, just leave you at the base, hanging around until Jack or Sam could take you home? There was no need for you to stay there and every need for you to be able to recover in comfort." He stared beseechingly at her. "I just wanted to take care of you for a change."
"Very noble." Janet forced herself to ignore the sudden clutch of her heart at his words and lifted her chin defiantly. "But I don't happen want that. What I want some clothes so I can get dressed and get my daughter and go home. My home." She deliberately looked away from him as she swung her legs to the floor and stood with a barely perceptible wobble. "So if you don't mind."
"That's not going to happen." Daniel made himself stay put as she swayed uncertainly by the side of the bed, aware that any move to aid her would no doubt result in an unpleasant physical altercation and he had absolutely zero desire to wear another one of her bruises. "I've told Jack that you're here and I'll keep an eye on you, you're staying until we're all satisfied that you're ok."
"The hell I am." Forgetting she was wearing just an over sized vest top that fell to the middle of her thighs and kept slipping off her narrow shoulders, Janet called on nearly seven years worth of experience of terrifying the SGC into medical submission and gave Daniel her best CMO's glare. "I'm going home."
"No." Daniel raised an eyebrow at her shocked face and clarified firmly. "Not a chance, get back into bed." He nearly smiled at the picture she made squaring off at him, looking for all the world like a mutinous teenager rather than a mature, capable woman in her thirties, but remembered just in time he liked his genitals attached to his body and instead pointed to the bed. "Now."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Janet shook her head incredulously and almost over balanced at the motion. "You have absolutely no right to."
"I LOVE YOU!" The frustrated and overwrought roar of sound burst out of Daniel's chest before his brain had finished forming the words and Janet stumbled back with a surprised yelp as he surged towards her. She yelped again as she tumbled back onto the bed and sprawled there staring up at the usually mild mannered Daniel as he took hold of her ankles in one hand to lift them and tug the cover free, then shoved her legs under it as he wrenched it up to her chin. "I love you and I love Cassie and that gives me the goddamned right to do whatever I think necessary to look after you." He took a deep steadying breath and ruthlessly reined in his temper as he realised her eyes were not just surprised but a little fearful of his sudden outburst. "I'm sorry, Janet." He reached out towards her and nearly cried as she flinched away from him. "Jan, come on, you know I would never hurt you. I'm sorry."
"Leave me alone." Janet pressed further back into the pillows as his hand hesitated and forced her voice to be steady as she whispered almost inaudibly. "I don't know you anymore. The Daniel I used to know would never do anything like this."
Keeping his eyes level with hers, Daniel lowered himself to the side of the bed and smiled carefully. "Wouldn't he? This is the same Daniel that went through the Stargate for over two years searching for his missing wife and then kept going to find and destroy the things that killed her, right?" He tilted his head to the side and the smile died as he looked at her pale face. "Or the same Daniel that saw the woman he loves shot by a Jaffa and risked everything including a valuable alliance with a trusted ally, and nearly shot Sam's father, just so he wouldn't lose her?"
Janet's throat closed over at the intense look in his eyes and she felt the unmistakable sting of threatening tears. "Emotional reaction to a near death experience. You're experiencing a classic case of misplaced emotion in response to a stressful situation. You would have done the same for anyone."
"No." Daniel shook his head and felt the faint tug of shame in his gut. "I didn't do it for the guy you were tending when you were hit. I left him in the mud to die like an animal because all I could think about was saving you." He met her wide eyes squarely. "And I can't even feel guilty about it because what I did brought you back to us and it's not you lying in the mortuary wearing a toe tag."
"You don't love me, Daniel." Janet shook her head and closed her eyes wearily. "In a couple of days you'll be over the trauma and we'll be back to how we used to be."
Despite the icy fist of terror that closed over his heart, Daniel managed to reply steadily. "No. I tried to tell you how I felt about you before we left but you brushed me off." He placed a tentative hand on her arm lying underneath the cover and felt a cautious swell of optimism when she didn't pull away from him. "I tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen to me. I love you."
Janet was aware that the words she had waited so long to hear from him should have more of an effect on her but all she felt was a wash of overwhelming exhaustion. She kept her eyes closed and rolled away from him onto her side to burrow into the pillows. "Go away, Daniel, leave me alone. I want you to call Sam and ask her to come get me and Cassie." She wasn't aware she was holding her breath until her lungs began to burn and then just as she felt she would burst the bed shifted underneath her as Daniel got to his feet. She could feel his eyes on her back but resolutely kept her eyes closed as the sound of his heavy footfalls trudging towards the bedroom door sounded in the room. When she heard him turn the door handle, she opened her eyes and said quietly. "Daniel?"
"Yeah?" Daniel turned to face the bed, face filled with wary hope.
"Thank you for saving my life." Janet stared sightlessly at her laughing face in the frame beside the bed for a moment and then closed her eyes slowly once more. "But, unless there's a professional reason, I don't want you near Cassie and I ever again. Now call Sam and ask her to come get us."
***************************
Daniel didn't call Sam, but he did succumb to the temptation to call someone else. One look at his best friend's haggard face told Jack O'Neil everything he needed to know about the current situation as he stood on Daniel's porch. "That good, huh?"
Daniel waved him wearily through the front door and then shut it behind his CO. "Oh yeah." He scrubbed a tired hand over his face and gestured vaguely behind himself. "Coffee?"
Jack followed Daniel's weary figure down the hallway and into the kitchen, jumping slightly as Cassie appeared out of nowhere stuffing a Twinkie hurriedly into her mouth as she caught sight of Daniel. "Opff!"
Daniel sighed as cream dripped down the girl's chin and she tried to swallow her cake. "Cass, I said something sensible for lunch." He peered over her shoulder quizzically. "Are there any left?"
Blushing slightly, Cassie shook her head and finally cleared her mouth. "No, sorry. Hi, Jack." She gave O'Neil a quick hug and then smiled happily up at him. "Mom's asleep right now but she should be awake soon, I bet she'll be glad to see you."
"Me too, kid." Jack flicked an affectionate finger at the tip of Cassie's nose and then dug in his pants pockets for his wallet. "Here, go down to the diner on the corner and get enough take-out for all four of us."
Cassie accepted the money with a roll of her eyes. "You just want me out of the way so you can talk about stuff you think I'm too young to know about." A sudden flash of fear had her eyes widening. "It's not mom, is it? Nothing's wrong with her?"
"Jeez, Cass, you think we wouldn't tell you?" Jack ruffled her hair and grinned at her. "There's nothing wrong with your mom. I need to brief Daniel on a few things but you can't be here 'cos it's."
"Classified." Reassured, Cassie rolled her eyes again. "When isn't it? Ok, I'll take my time. See you in a few." She blew a kiss to Daniel and then walked out of the kitchen.
Jack waited until he heard the front door slam shut before turning back to Daniel. "Ok, spill it, Danny."
"Nothing to say." Shoulders sagging with despair, Daniel leant against his work unit and wrapped his arms around his body tightly. "She hates me."
"She doesn't hate you." Jack punched Daniel lightly on the arm and crossed to switch on the coffee machine, realising just how serious the situation had gotten if Daniel had forgotten to do it. Jack had long held the private belief that it was actually one of the littler known rules of the universe that Daniel Jackson couldn't be within six feet of a coffee machine without it automatically turning itself on. He narrowed his eyes and checked the distance to Daniel, at least eight feet. Pleased his theory was holding, Jack turned with a grin and then remembered they were having a serious conversation. He frowned as he tried to remember where they were. Oh yeah. "You saved her life."
"Which apparently counts for nothing when she thinks you've been using her for casual sex for six months, you have no feelings for her, you take her kid out of school without her permission and you abduct her while she's unconscious and set her up in your home." Thoroughly miserable, Daniel scuffed an unhappy foot against the floor. "Whatever I say to her she just brushes off. All she wants is for Sam to come and get her and Cassie and take them away from me."
"But you saved her life and punched that Tok'ra." Genuinely confused, Jack put his hands on his hips and scowled on behalf of his friend. "And you were gonna shoot Jacob, and, hey, let's not forget the fact that you saved her goddamned life!"
Daniel rubbed a helpless hand over his sore eyes. "Still doesn't count when she hates you." He choked on a half laugh, half sob. "God, I suck with women, I just can't seem to get it right."
"Aw, Danny." Jack shifted uneasily from foot to foot. "Come on, that isn't true."
"Sha're, Hathor, Sarah, Janet." Daniel tried to pull off a careless shrug. "Are we seeing a pattern here?" He flashed a ghost of his old Daniel smile. "I suppose I should be grateful that Janet's just dumped me instead of trying to kill me as well."
"Listen to me, Daniel." Leaving the coffee forgotten behind him, Jack stepped up and took Daniel's shoulders in a hard grip. "Get a hold of yourself, pal. She loves you, she'll probably always love you, and all you need to do is convince her to give you another shot." He gestured sharply at his surroundings. "You did the right thing bringing her here, maybe a little OTT on the whole baser instincts deal, but we can work something out."
Daniel stared hopefully up at Jack. "Really, you think she still cares about me?" He frowned as he registered Jack's last words. "And what baser instincts?"
Jack released Daniel's shoulders and rolled his eyes. "For cryin' out loud, Daniel, for such a smart guy you can be dumb as a brick at times." He sighed at the expression of confusion on Daniel's face and explained slowly and loudly. "You brought her to your home, you put her in your bed, you got her kid from school without any real need to do so because anyone of us would have looked after her and put *her* in your home." The bewildered expression on Daniel's face didn't change and Jack threw up his hands. "Danny, I'll bet Janet's up there right now in nothing but one of your shirts, am I right?" Startled, Daniel nodded and Jack grinned in triumph. "Thought so. Buddy, you're marking your territory, you couldn't have made things any clearer if you'd have pee'd on them."
Looking alternately repulsed and fascinated, Daniel shook his head. "That's ridiculous, I wouldn't do something like that." Silence reigned as he thought over Jack's statement and then he felt a fierce flush sweep over his skin. "Oh god, you're right. I even put a shirt on her that I'd already used. I scented Janet!"
Mortified, Daniel buried his head in his hands and muttered under Jack's amused gaze. "I wouldn't let Cassie go home and get any of her stuff, I just sent her out to buy new things with my card and I told her that Janet didn't need anything, that she was ok." Wanting the ground to open up and swallow him, Daniel groaned miserably. "I might as well have put a leash and collar on her."
Jack chuckled despite his friend's misery. "You did good, kid." He clapped Daniel's shoulder and moved back to the coffee machine to start making their drinks. "Now you just need to go up there and make her realise that you really do love her."
"I can't do that now!" Daniel took his hands away from his face and blinked in horror at Jack. "No wonder she was scared, I can't believe I've done this to her after what she'd been through. Jack, you have to get her out of here!"
"Whoa, slow down there, Daniel." Jack put down the cream and resigned himself to the fact that the coffee was a way off just yet. "Before I come over all heroic and rescue the fair Doc from your oh so terrifying hands, let's just take a moment here, ok?" He waited for Daniel to look at him before pointing at the ceiling. "That's Janet Frasier up there, not some virgin kid from Nowhere, Illinois. That woman is as mean as a snake when she wants to be and I'm thinking it's unlikely that she's been reduced to a quivering mass of fear just because Daniel Jackson finally pulls his head out of his butt and tells her he loves her."
Daniel blinked. "Ok, when you put it like that it does sound stupid." He scowled slightly. "But it doesn't change the fact she told me to call Sam to come and take her away from me."
"Yeah, she's confused and she wants to hurt you like you hurt her." At Daniel's dubious look, Jack threw up his hands. "Danny, you have phones and Janet can still walk, right?"
"Of course." Daniel pointed towards the living room and then in the general direction of the bedrooms. "There's one in there and one by my bed." He paused. "Oh."
"Exactly." Desperately pleased with himself, Jack turned back to the long neglected coffee. "If she wanted out that badly, she could pick up the phone herself and call Sam." He tossed a teasing look over his shoulder. "Hell, she's got a whole mess of marines and one Jaffa who'd be only too happy to come rushing around here to the rescue and kick your ass even if Sam wouldn't. Which she's dying to, by the way."
Daniel stopped nodding in agreement and looked hurt. "What? Why would anyone want to kick my ass, I haven't done anything!"
"Au contraire, Danny boy, while you were busy making up your mind whether or not to tell the good doctor how you felt, she was busy taking it out on the rest of us." Jack winced. "And let me tell you, one of those little umbrella things in the hands of a screwed over Doc Frasier is not something you wanna see when you're bare-assed and at your monthly physical."
"Oh." Daniel winced. "Sorry." He scowled. "Hey, I did not screw her over!"
"Oh, you SO did." For the first time Jack looked seriously annoyed. "If it'd been anyone else pulling a number like that on Janet, he'd have found himself getting a beating on a dark night from a pissed off Colonel and Jaffa. Face it, Daniel, until today Janet's never even been inside your house and you were with her, what, nearly six months before she dumped you?" Pausing to let his words sink in, Jack began to pour the coffee and then continued. "But we figured you'd come around eventually and see things clearly, you just needed a little time."
Daniel opened his mouth to argue and then closed it again. "Shit." He dropped his head and stared at the floor. "Shit."
"Here." Jack handed Daniel his coffee and smiled sympathetically. "Don't sweat it, Danny, you came through in the end and whether Janet realises it or not she wants to be here and have you make it better." He took a sip of his own coffee and winced as he burnt his tongue. "I'll call Teal'c and get him to drop by Janet's and pick her up some of her own stuff, that's bound to help her calm down. All you have to do is choke down your caffeine and go up there and be a man." He smirked at Daniel's confused look. "Grovel, pal, grovel."
*************************************
Daniel took a deep breath as he paused outside his bedroom door and then straightened his shoulders as he rapped lightly at the wood. The silence stretched out until Janet's voice called hesitantly. "Sam?"
Daniel's mouth twisted at the hopeful tone of her voice and he gripped the door handle to push open the door. "No, it's Daniel." He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "Hi."
"I didn't say you could come in." Janet stood from where she had been perched on the end of his bed and made a hurried grab for the sweatpants she had liberated from his wardrobe as they slipped over her hips. "Get out, I told you I didn't want to speak to you."
"Well, that's too bad." Daniel tucked his shaking hands back against the door and leaned back with a shrug. "This is my house and my bedroom, I've got a perfect right to be in here."
"Daniel, I don't know what's gotten into you, but so far I don't like it." Janet stepped forward and glared at him, still keeping a tight grip on the waistband of her pants. "I told you I just want to be left alone. I don't want to talk to anyone but Sam."
"Sam's not here and I am." Daniel took a deep breath and made the leap from misguided man in love to arch villain, complete with a twirlable mental moustache. "And I'm not letting you out of here until we've talked things out."
Janet's mouth dropped open. "You can't do that!" She backed up a step as he shrugged at her again and repeated angrily. "You can't do that!"
"But I am." Daniel watched her as she stared incredulously at him and tried to smile. "All I want to do is talk, Jan."
"This has gone far enough." Janet shook her head in disgust. "I must have been insane to ever go anywhere near you." She looked wildly about the room and then remembered the phone. "I'm calling Sam myself."
Daniel's heart sank as he watched her trip over the too long pants legs in her hurry to get around the bed and to the phone. "It won't do any good." Janet grabbed for the receiver and held it up to her ear as Daniel concluded quietly. "I pulled the jack out downstairs, it's dead." His eyes widened as Janet howled furiously and heaved the phone at him. "Hey, watch it!"
"Just leave me alone!" Janet's temper spiked as she realised she was on the verge of tears and she shouted desperately. "I don't want you anymore!"
"I know, and if it stays that way then that's something I'll have to deal with." Shooting a last wary look at the tangled mass of wire and plastic on the floor that used to be his phone, Daniel stepped forward. "But I have to take one last shot at trying to get you back in my life, Janet. I love you and Cass too much to let you just walk out on me."
Shaking with impotent fury, Janet slashed a hand through the air to wipe away his words. "Don't. I don't want to hear it." She slapped at her photo on the cabinet beside her and sent it sailing over the bed to bounce off the wardrobe doors. "And don't use my daughter to get to me."
"I am NOT using Cassie!" Daniel's hands bunched into fists at his side as he felt the first stab of his own anger. "Don't ever say something so ugly to me again, I love her for who she is, not for what she can do for me."
"Well, that'll be a first for you, Daniel." Janet's mouth twisted with derision. "Your first unselfish emotion, tell me how does that feel?"
Daniel's temper went from smouldering ember to flash fire in under a second and he completely forgot he was trying to coax Janet into trusting him and back into his arms and life. "What the HELL is that supposed to mean?"
***************************
Jack opened the front door, flinching as Daniel's furious bellow echoed down the stairwell and he met Samantha Carter's decidedly unimpressed blue eyes glaring at him over the top of Cassie's head. "Ladies!" The bright grin fell off Jack's face as Janet screamed a curse that was unsuitable to be heard by his ears, let alone her impressionable daughter's, and punctuated her yell with a loud crash that heralded the end of Daniel's bedside lamp. "How ya doin'?"
"Sir." Carter's face was rigid with disapproval as she nudged Cassie and her burden of several greasy sacks of take out from the diner through the door and then shut it behind her. "I've come to see Janet."
A furious blend of Janet and Daniel's raised voices floated down the stairs, Jack coughed. "Ah, I don't think this is a good time, Carter."
Without taking her eyes off her uncomfortable looking superior officer, Sam gave Cassie a gentle push towards the kitchen. "Go get the plates out, Cass, I just want a word with Jack."
"What's going on?" Nervously Cassie looked at the ceiling and then at the two adults beside her. "Why is mom so mad?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure she can handle it." Sam forced a reassuring smile and finally took her eyes off Jack's guilty face. "Go on now, we'll be there in a minute. Go on." She watched as Cassie reluctantly walked towards the kitchen and then put her hands on her hips as she faced Jack again to say flatly. "Explain."
"I think you're forgetting who exactly the Colonel is here, Major." Jack raised an eyebrow and met Sam's eyes calmly. "I don't take orders from subordinates."
"We're on downtime and I don't answer to you now." Sam glared harder. "You assisted Daniel in hiding my best friend and her daughter and I want to know exactly what the hell you think you're playing at."
Jack managed not to wince that pulling rank had failed so dismally and instead tried a friendly punch to Sam's shoulder, grunting with surprise when Sam moved faster than Teal'c when a Star Wars movie was showing and gripped his wrist to spin him round and press him face first into the wall behind him. "Carter!"
"Don't even go there, Jack." Sam's normally pale face was bright red with strain as she fought to keep Jack's wrist pinned up between his shoulder blades. "I've been kept on base for over twenty four hours running into block after block whenever I tried to get out, going out of my mind with worry when I couldn't get hold of Janet or Cassie at their house and then to top off my day I get a call from Cass' school asking me to confirm she definitely won't be in for her field trip tomorrow. Only they asked for Major SAMUEL Carter who they'd spoken to the day before when he'd given permission for her to be removed from school by a Doctor Daniel Jackson!"
Jack stopped struggling and focused on Daniel's wall. "Uh-oh." He sighed, the game was definitely up. "Carter, if you'll just quit it with the Xena impression then I'll tell you everything, ok?" He waited patiently while Sam forced herself to calm down and released him and then turned with his patented, good ol' boy, charm the birds out of the trees grin firmly in place. The grin never failed him. "Carter, come on, what harm did it do?" The grin flashed charmingly and then withered and died before the flamethrower of Sam's wrath. Goddamit the grin failed, that never happened! "They just needed some time to talk."
"Does it sound like Janet wants to talk?" Sam impatiently blew her bangs out of her eyes and threw up her hands in disgust. "I can't believe you pulled this crap! Of all the stupid plans you and Daniel have cooked up between you over the years this has to be the most.." She stopped short as a knock sounded at the door.
Almost pathetically grateful for the interruption, Jack jumped past her and flung open the door with a wide smile.which quickly disappeared when he saw Teal'c standing on the doorstep holding up a bag stuffed full to bursting with women's clothes. "I have brought some of Doctor Frasier's clothing as requested, O'Neil." A faint flicker of confusion passed through the Jaffa's eyes as he saw Sam's livid face appear over the Colonel's shoulder and when another loud chorus of yelling sounded from upstairs, Teal'c put two and two together and wasted no time in shoving the bag into Jack's arms. "It would appear I have called at a bad time. Please send Doctor Frasier my best wishes."
Teal'c's impressively speedy retreat was brought to a shuddering halt by the crack of Sam's icy cold voice. "Get back here, Teal'c." She glowered at the warrior as he turned on Daniel's front path and looked back at her. "Get in here right now!"
Jack and Teal'c exchanged long, forlorn looks before the warrior heaved a sigh and retraced his steps towards the house. Sam cocked an eyebrow as Teal'c hovered on the doorstep and jerked a rigid thumb over her shoulder. "Kitchen. Now." She waited until both men trudged unhappily past her and then slammed the front door shut with all her strength. "You guys had better have been taken over by aliens again or you're both in a world of trouble."
End Part 9.
Part 9.
It was nearly twenty-four hours later before Janet woke up and she woke slowly, fighting her way to the surface of consciousness. Janet frowned as she registered the feel of soft, warm sheets covering her body and concentrated on lifting her eyelids to stare blearily up at the ceiling above her head. Her frown of confusion deepened as she realised the ceiling above her was neither the SGC infirmary nor the familiar cream of her own bedroom at home, but a sharp, almost blinding, white in the sunlight streaming through the uncovered windows. Which were on a completely different side of the bed to where they usually were. Janet's hands fisted on the sheet covering her and her heart began to race as she realised she had absolutely no idea of where she was, she turned her head to see her own smiling face looking back at her from a photo frame beside a phone on a bed side table and that was enough to galvanise her into sitting up with a gasp of shock.
She stared around at the unfamiliar bedroom with worried eyes and then down at the wide bed she was on. A plain tan coverlet lay rumpled over her thighs and she gasped again as she saw she was clothed in nothing more than an over sized black vest top which, much like the rest of the room, definitely wasn't hers. "It's mine." Janet yelped and snatched the covers up to her chest at the sound of a male voice and then stared bug eyed at Daniel Jackson where he leant with arms folded over his chest against the doorframe. He slowly pulled a hand free, waved it at the room and then nodded at her. "You're in my bed."
Janet blinked. "What?"
"My bed." Daniel pushed away from the door with a jerk of his shoulder and walked forward, frowning slightly as Janet scooted back towards the headboard. "You're in my home."
"What am I doing here?" Janet eyed her former lover warily as he sat himself down on a chair at the side of the bed and then scowled as she finally realised that, aside from the vest she wore, she was naked under the covers. "Where are my clothes?"
Daniel shrugged. "They were dirty." He managed to control the shudder as he remembered the feel of the blood-stiffened cloth as he had peeled it away from Janet's unconscious body. "I put them in the incinerator."
Janet found herself nodding in agreement to his reasonable tone before his words fully registered. "What?" Acutely aware there was nothing between her butt and the mattress beneath her but the loose cotton top that was swamping her, her mouth dropped open in outrage. "You burned my clothes?"
Daniel could feel the flush working it's way up his cheeks as she stared at him in horror. "Uh-huh. That's my shirt you're wearing." He coughed uncomfortably as Janet looked down at the shirt falling off her shoulders and then back up at him incredulously. "Are you hungry?"
"No, I'm not damn well hungry, Daniel!" Janet flinched back as Daniel's hand reached out towards her and spat. "Don't even think about touching me. You said you were taking me home, I trusted you!"
Wincing at her accusing tone, Daniel tried to smile. "But I never said which particular home, did I?" The smile melted away as her eyes burned with betrayal and anger. "I just didn't want to leave you alone, you've been through so much."
"Don't give me that, you know Cassie would have been there." Janet's face paled as she remembered her daughter. "Oh God, Cassie. Daniel you have to take me home, I have to see Cassie."
"No, you don't." Daniel moved from his chair and perched on the edge of the bed to catch Janet's arm as she tried to scramble out from under the covers. "Jan, it's ok."
With reflexes she didn't know she possessed, Janet swung round and slapped Daniel so hard his glasses flew from where they were perched on his nose to smash against the wall. "Get off me! I need to get home."
"MOM!" Cassandra skidded to a halt in the bedroom doorway and clapped a hand to her mouth as she watched her mother draw back her hand to slap the stunned Daniel once again. "Mom, what's going on, are you alright?"
"Cassie?" Janet's hand fell as she saw her daughter in the doorway wearing a pair of pyjamas and her face still flushed with sleep. "Cass?"
Cassandra launched herself across the room into her mother's arms, ignoring Daniel as he scrambled hurriedly out of the way. "Mom!" She wrapped her self around her much smaller mother and burst into tears as she buried her face in Janet's neck. "Mom."
Janet's arms went around the sobbing girl. "Shh, honey, it's ok. I'm ok." Tears began to burn in her own eyes and then leaked from the corners as Cassie shuddered against her. "I'm ok." She squeezed as tightly as she could when her daughter continued to cry brokenly and began to sway awkwardly in a bid to comfort the distraught girl. "It's all over now, sweetheart."
Daniel stooped to pick up his glasses from the floor, ruefully rubbing his throbbing cheek as he looked at the cracked lenses before looking back at the two Frasier women crying on his bed. He shuffled his feet for a moment, arms aching to reach out and pull them to him, but at last decided that they needed a few moments alone. He backed silently away and then realised that neither of them were aware of his presence any longer anyway. With a last longing look towards his bed he turned on his heel to head for the kitchen and make some tea, with the vague idea that it might help soothe tear swollen throats if, and when, the mother and daughter ever managed to let each other go again.
*******************************
Over half an hour later, once Daniel had made tea for all and recovered from his own unexpected release of emotional tears in the kitchen, he carefully nudged the door open with his foot and edged into his bedroom. Two faces turned to look at him from where they sat side by side at the head of the bed, but while Cassie's lit up with a welcoming smile; Janet's was closed and wary as he walked forwards. "I, um, made you some tea. If you're up for it."
Cassie tucked her long legs out of the way and patted the mattress. "Put it here, Daniel." She smiled at him as he put the tray down and then caught his hand as he went to sit back in his chair. "I was just telling Mom how cool you were about taking me out of school and bringing us both here." Not seeing Daniel's pained wince, the young girl turned back to Janet's expressionless face and smiled. "He just marched into my classroom and told my teacher that he was taking me home and grabbed my bag and marched out again. Teal'c stayed with you in the car while Daniel had this HUGE argument with my principal and I thought he was going to hit him, but then we managed to get hold of Sam and she said it was ok and Daniel just scribbled his address down and told Mr Rogers that I'd be here if he needed any further information and dragged me out." Cassie sucked in a much-needed breath of air and continued without noticing the dangerous flash of temper in Janet's eyes. "We all came back here and then Daniel gave me and Teal'c his credit card to get some clothes because he said we won't be going home for a while and he put you to bed and stuff while we were out." Cassie idly picked up a sugar cube from the bowl on the tray and crunched down on it thoughtfully as she screwed up her nose. "He says I still have to do homework so I don't fall behind in my classes but I can definitely have a few days off school and just hang with you guys until you're better." Cassie smiled up at Daniel brightly. "Isn't he just the greatest?"
"Fantastic." The bite in Janet's voice had Daniel wincing again and Cassandra looking at her in surprise. Janet forced herself to smile at her suddenly uneasy daughter and shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry. I'm still a little tired, I guess."
Cassandra's face was instantly flooded with concern and she wriggled down from the bed. "Of course you are." Still clutching Daniel's hand she bit her lip guiltily. "I should have let you rest, I'm sorry." Before Janet could offer a protest the girl bent and pressed a kiss to her cheek and then just as quickly pressed one to Daniel's. "I'm going to go and ring Sam and tell her you're awake, then grab a shower and some breakfast. I'll check up on you later."
Acutely aware of Daniel's eyes on her, Janet reached for her retreating daughter. "Cassie, I didn't mean."
"Its ok." Smiling broadly Cassie waved a hand as she paused in the doorway and looked back at the two adults. "Just have some tea and get some sleep. You too Daniel, you sat up all night with her." The young girl turned to go and then paused once more, smiling shyly. "I'm glad you guys worked things out, I missed seeing you together." She flashed them a blinding smile and then disappeared out into the hall.
Daniel watched Janet as she stared at the spot her daughter had been and then turned suspicious eyes on him. "What exactly did she mean by that?"
Shrugging, Daniel prudently moved the tea tray away from Janet and onto the nearby dressing table in case she felt like hitting him with an impromptu weapon instead of the flat of her hand the next time and said calmly. "She's seems to have the impression that we're back together." He kept his eyes on the dark tea as he poured it out. "I didn't think it was the right time to set her straight, she was upset enough as it was."
Silence stretched in the room for long moments before Janet hissed. "Would you mind shutting the bedroom door, please? I don't want Cassie to overhear us." She narrowed her eyes as Daniel nodded before calmly putting down the teapot and walking to softly shut the door. He stood facing it for a moment before turning to lean back against it and cross his arms across his chest as he met her eyes and waited for her to begin. "What do you think you're playing at here, Daniel? What exactly gives you the right to take my daughter out of school without my permission and then tell her a pack of lies?"
Daniel's face tightened for a moment but he managed to say reasonably. "You were unconscious at the time I made the decision to get Cass and I felt she'd be better off here with me than with some sitter or at the base with the others." His chin tilted as he met her furious brown eyes with his cool blue ones. "And I didn't lie to her. She was distraught over what nearly happened to you and clinging to whatever she could to get her through a rough few hours. She assumed that as I was taking you both home with me that we were back together and I couldn't seeing the sense in upsetting her anymore than she already was by telling her the truth."
"Is that right?" Fine tremors of pure fury made Janet's hands shake as she clutched tightly at the cover on the bed and her voice was ice cold with disdain as she spat her next words at him. "And what makes you think that you have the right to make those kind of decisions for me and Cassie? The last I checked, you and I were nothing more than two people that work together."
Daniel's head jerked back as though she'd slapped him again before his skin paled with hurt. "We're more than that, Janet, you know we are. Even before things went wrong between us, we were more than that."
Janet snorted dismissively. "Check your realities, Daniel, because in this one we were never more than that. We worked together and we had recreational sex, that's all." Darkly pleased at the look of deep anguish in his eyes, she sneered spitefully. "The occasional good time between the sheets doesn't give you the right to cart me off to your house or give you rights to my child."
"Well, maybe I want them!" Daniel shoved away from the door and raked his hands through his already dishevelled hair. "Maybe I want the right to put you in my bed and collect Cassie from school if there's a need for it." He spread his arms pleadingly before him. "What was I meant to do, just leave you at the base, hanging around until Jack or Sam could take you home? There was no need for you to stay there and every need for you to be able to recover in comfort." He stared beseechingly at her. "I just wanted to take care of you for a change."
"Very noble." Janet forced herself to ignore the sudden clutch of her heart at his words and lifted her chin defiantly. "But I don't happen want that. What I want some clothes so I can get dressed and get my daughter and go home. My home." She deliberately looked away from him as she swung her legs to the floor and stood with a barely perceptible wobble. "So if you don't mind."
"That's not going to happen." Daniel made himself stay put as she swayed uncertainly by the side of the bed, aware that any move to aid her would no doubt result in an unpleasant physical altercation and he had absolutely zero desire to wear another one of her bruises. "I've told Jack that you're here and I'll keep an eye on you, you're staying until we're all satisfied that you're ok."
"The hell I am." Forgetting she was wearing just an over sized vest top that fell to the middle of her thighs and kept slipping off her narrow shoulders, Janet called on nearly seven years worth of experience of terrifying the SGC into medical submission and gave Daniel her best CMO's glare. "I'm going home."
"No." Daniel raised an eyebrow at her shocked face and clarified firmly. "Not a chance, get back into bed." He nearly smiled at the picture she made squaring off at him, looking for all the world like a mutinous teenager rather than a mature, capable woman in her thirties, but remembered just in time he liked his genitals attached to his body and instead pointed to the bed. "Now."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Janet shook her head incredulously and almost over balanced at the motion. "You have absolutely no right to."
"I LOVE YOU!" The frustrated and overwrought roar of sound burst out of Daniel's chest before his brain had finished forming the words and Janet stumbled back with a surprised yelp as he surged towards her. She yelped again as she tumbled back onto the bed and sprawled there staring up at the usually mild mannered Daniel as he took hold of her ankles in one hand to lift them and tug the cover free, then shoved her legs under it as he wrenched it up to her chin. "I love you and I love Cassie and that gives me the goddamned right to do whatever I think necessary to look after you." He took a deep steadying breath and ruthlessly reined in his temper as he realised her eyes were not just surprised but a little fearful of his sudden outburst. "I'm sorry, Janet." He reached out towards her and nearly cried as she flinched away from him. "Jan, come on, you know I would never hurt you. I'm sorry."
"Leave me alone." Janet pressed further back into the pillows as his hand hesitated and forced her voice to be steady as she whispered almost inaudibly. "I don't know you anymore. The Daniel I used to know would never do anything like this."
Keeping his eyes level with hers, Daniel lowered himself to the side of the bed and smiled carefully. "Wouldn't he? This is the same Daniel that went through the Stargate for over two years searching for his missing wife and then kept going to find and destroy the things that killed her, right?" He tilted his head to the side and the smile died as he looked at her pale face. "Or the same Daniel that saw the woman he loves shot by a Jaffa and risked everything including a valuable alliance with a trusted ally, and nearly shot Sam's father, just so he wouldn't lose her?"
Janet's throat closed over at the intense look in his eyes and she felt the unmistakable sting of threatening tears. "Emotional reaction to a near death experience. You're experiencing a classic case of misplaced emotion in response to a stressful situation. You would have done the same for anyone."
"No." Daniel shook his head and felt the faint tug of shame in his gut. "I didn't do it for the guy you were tending when you were hit. I left him in the mud to die like an animal because all I could think about was saving you." He met her wide eyes squarely. "And I can't even feel guilty about it because what I did brought you back to us and it's not you lying in the mortuary wearing a toe tag."
"You don't love me, Daniel." Janet shook her head and closed her eyes wearily. "In a couple of days you'll be over the trauma and we'll be back to how we used to be."
Despite the icy fist of terror that closed over his heart, Daniel managed to reply steadily. "No. I tried to tell you how I felt about you before we left but you brushed me off." He placed a tentative hand on her arm lying underneath the cover and felt a cautious swell of optimism when she didn't pull away from him. "I tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen to me. I love you."
Janet was aware that the words she had waited so long to hear from him should have more of an effect on her but all she felt was a wash of overwhelming exhaustion. She kept her eyes closed and rolled away from him onto her side to burrow into the pillows. "Go away, Daniel, leave me alone. I want you to call Sam and ask her to come get me and Cassie." She wasn't aware she was holding her breath until her lungs began to burn and then just as she felt she would burst the bed shifted underneath her as Daniel got to his feet. She could feel his eyes on her back but resolutely kept her eyes closed as the sound of his heavy footfalls trudging towards the bedroom door sounded in the room. When she heard him turn the door handle, she opened her eyes and said quietly. "Daniel?"
"Yeah?" Daniel turned to face the bed, face filled with wary hope.
"Thank you for saving my life." Janet stared sightlessly at her laughing face in the frame beside the bed for a moment and then closed her eyes slowly once more. "But, unless there's a professional reason, I don't want you near Cassie and I ever again. Now call Sam and ask her to come get us."
***************************
Daniel didn't call Sam, but he did succumb to the temptation to call someone else. One look at his best friend's haggard face told Jack O'Neil everything he needed to know about the current situation as he stood on Daniel's porch. "That good, huh?"
Daniel waved him wearily through the front door and then shut it behind his CO. "Oh yeah." He scrubbed a tired hand over his face and gestured vaguely behind himself. "Coffee?"
Jack followed Daniel's weary figure down the hallway and into the kitchen, jumping slightly as Cassie appeared out of nowhere stuffing a Twinkie hurriedly into her mouth as she caught sight of Daniel. "Opff!"
Daniel sighed as cream dripped down the girl's chin and she tried to swallow her cake. "Cass, I said something sensible for lunch." He peered over her shoulder quizzically. "Are there any left?"
Blushing slightly, Cassie shook her head and finally cleared her mouth. "No, sorry. Hi, Jack." She gave O'Neil a quick hug and then smiled happily up at him. "Mom's asleep right now but she should be awake soon, I bet she'll be glad to see you."
"Me too, kid." Jack flicked an affectionate finger at the tip of Cassie's nose and then dug in his pants pockets for his wallet. "Here, go down to the diner on the corner and get enough take-out for all four of us."
Cassie accepted the money with a roll of her eyes. "You just want me out of the way so you can talk about stuff you think I'm too young to know about." A sudden flash of fear had her eyes widening. "It's not mom, is it? Nothing's wrong with her?"
"Jeez, Cass, you think we wouldn't tell you?" Jack ruffled her hair and grinned at her. "There's nothing wrong with your mom. I need to brief Daniel on a few things but you can't be here 'cos it's."
"Classified." Reassured, Cassie rolled her eyes again. "When isn't it? Ok, I'll take my time. See you in a few." She blew a kiss to Daniel and then walked out of the kitchen.
Jack waited until he heard the front door slam shut before turning back to Daniel. "Ok, spill it, Danny."
"Nothing to say." Shoulders sagging with despair, Daniel leant against his work unit and wrapped his arms around his body tightly. "She hates me."
"She doesn't hate you." Jack punched Daniel lightly on the arm and crossed to switch on the coffee machine, realising just how serious the situation had gotten if Daniel had forgotten to do it. Jack had long held the private belief that it was actually one of the littler known rules of the universe that Daniel Jackson couldn't be within six feet of a coffee machine without it automatically turning itself on. He narrowed his eyes and checked the distance to Daniel, at least eight feet. Pleased his theory was holding, Jack turned with a grin and then remembered they were having a serious conversation. He frowned as he tried to remember where they were. Oh yeah. "You saved her life."
"Which apparently counts for nothing when she thinks you've been using her for casual sex for six months, you have no feelings for her, you take her kid out of school without her permission and you abduct her while she's unconscious and set her up in your home." Thoroughly miserable, Daniel scuffed an unhappy foot against the floor. "Whatever I say to her she just brushes off. All she wants is for Sam to come and get her and Cassie and take them away from me."
"But you saved her life and punched that Tok'ra." Genuinely confused, Jack put his hands on his hips and scowled on behalf of his friend. "And you were gonna shoot Jacob, and, hey, let's not forget the fact that you saved her goddamned life!"
Daniel rubbed a helpless hand over his sore eyes. "Still doesn't count when she hates you." He choked on a half laugh, half sob. "God, I suck with women, I just can't seem to get it right."
"Aw, Danny." Jack shifted uneasily from foot to foot. "Come on, that isn't true."
"Sha're, Hathor, Sarah, Janet." Daniel tried to pull off a careless shrug. "Are we seeing a pattern here?" He flashed a ghost of his old Daniel smile. "I suppose I should be grateful that Janet's just dumped me instead of trying to kill me as well."
"Listen to me, Daniel." Leaving the coffee forgotten behind him, Jack stepped up and took Daniel's shoulders in a hard grip. "Get a hold of yourself, pal. She loves you, she'll probably always love you, and all you need to do is convince her to give you another shot." He gestured sharply at his surroundings. "You did the right thing bringing her here, maybe a little OTT on the whole baser instincts deal, but we can work something out."
Daniel stared hopefully up at Jack. "Really, you think she still cares about me?" He frowned as he registered Jack's last words. "And what baser instincts?"
Jack released Daniel's shoulders and rolled his eyes. "For cryin' out loud, Daniel, for such a smart guy you can be dumb as a brick at times." He sighed at the expression of confusion on Daniel's face and explained slowly and loudly. "You brought her to your home, you put her in your bed, you got her kid from school without any real need to do so because anyone of us would have looked after her and put *her* in your home." The bewildered expression on Daniel's face didn't change and Jack threw up his hands. "Danny, I'll bet Janet's up there right now in nothing but one of your shirts, am I right?" Startled, Daniel nodded and Jack grinned in triumph. "Thought so. Buddy, you're marking your territory, you couldn't have made things any clearer if you'd have pee'd on them."
Looking alternately repulsed and fascinated, Daniel shook his head. "That's ridiculous, I wouldn't do something like that." Silence reigned as he thought over Jack's statement and then he felt a fierce flush sweep over his skin. "Oh god, you're right. I even put a shirt on her that I'd already used. I scented Janet!"
Mortified, Daniel buried his head in his hands and muttered under Jack's amused gaze. "I wouldn't let Cassie go home and get any of her stuff, I just sent her out to buy new things with my card and I told her that Janet didn't need anything, that she was ok." Wanting the ground to open up and swallow him, Daniel groaned miserably. "I might as well have put a leash and collar on her."
Jack chuckled despite his friend's misery. "You did good, kid." He clapped Daniel's shoulder and moved back to the coffee machine to start making their drinks. "Now you just need to go up there and make her realise that you really do love her."
"I can't do that now!" Daniel took his hands away from his face and blinked in horror at Jack. "No wonder she was scared, I can't believe I've done this to her after what she'd been through. Jack, you have to get her out of here!"
"Whoa, slow down there, Daniel." Jack put down the cream and resigned himself to the fact that the coffee was a way off just yet. "Before I come over all heroic and rescue the fair Doc from your oh so terrifying hands, let's just take a moment here, ok?" He waited for Daniel to look at him before pointing at the ceiling. "That's Janet Frasier up there, not some virgin kid from Nowhere, Illinois. That woman is as mean as a snake when she wants to be and I'm thinking it's unlikely that she's been reduced to a quivering mass of fear just because Daniel Jackson finally pulls his head out of his butt and tells her he loves her."
Daniel blinked. "Ok, when you put it like that it does sound stupid." He scowled slightly. "But it doesn't change the fact she told me to call Sam to come and take her away from me."
"Yeah, she's confused and she wants to hurt you like you hurt her." At Daniel's dubious look, Jack threw up his hands. "Danny, you have phones and Janet can still walk, right?"
"Of course." Daniel pointed towards the living room and then in the general direction of the bedrooms. "There's one in there and one by my bed." He paused. "Oh."
"Exactly." Desperately pleased with himself, Jack turned back to the long neglected coffee. "If she wanted out that badly, she could pick up the phone herself and call Sam." He tossed a teasing look over his shoulder. "Hell, she's got a whole mess of marines and one Jaffa who'd be only too happy to come rushing around here to the rescue and kick your ass even if Sam wouldn't. Which she's dying to, by the way."
Daniel stopped nodding in agreement and looked hurt. "What? Why would anyone want to kick my ass, I haven't done anything!"
"Au contraire, Danny boy, while you were busy making up your mind whether or not to tell the good doctor how you felt, she was busy taking it out on the rest of us." Jack winced. "And let me tell you, one of those little umbrella things in the hands of a screwed over Doc Frasier is not something you wanna see when you're bare-assed and at your monthly physical."
"Oh." Daniel winced. "Sorry." He scowled. "Hey, I did not screw her over!"
"Oh, you SO did." For the first time Jack looked seriously annoyed. "If it'd been anyone else pulling a number like that on Janet, he'd have found himself getting a beating on a dark night from a pissed off Colonel and Jaffa. Face it, Daniel, until today Janet's never even been inside your house and you were with her, what, nearly six months before she dumped you?" Pausing to let his words sink in, Jack began to pour the coffee and then continued. "But we figured you'd come around eventually and see things clearly, you just needed a little time."
Daniel opened his mouth to argue and then closed it again. "Shit." He dropped his head and stared at the floor. "Shit."
"Here." Jack handed Daniel his coffee and smiled sympathetically. "Don't sweat it, Danny, you came through in the end and whether Janet realises it or not she wants to be here and have you make it better." He took a sip of his own coffee and winced as he burnt his tongue. "I'll call Teal'c and get him to drop by Janet's and pick her up some of her own stuff, that's bound to help her calm down. All you have to do is choke down your caffeine and go up there and be a man." He smirked at Daniel's confused look. "Grovel, pal, grovel."
*************************************
Daniel took a deep breath as he paused outside his bedroom door and then straightened his shoulders as he rapped lightly at the wood. The silence stretched out until Janet's voice called hesitantly. "Sam?"
Daniel's mouth twisted at the hopeful tone of her voice and he gripped the door handle to push open the door. "No, it's Daniel." He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "Hi."
"I didn't say you could come in." Janet stood from where she had been perched on the end of his bed and made a hurried grab for the sweatpants she had liberated from his wardrobe as they slipped over her hips. "Get out, I told you I didn't want to speak to you."
"Well, that's too bad." Daniel tucked his shaking hands back against the door and leaned back with a shrug. "This is my house and my bedroom, I've got a perfect right to be in here."
"Daniel, I don't know what's gotten into you, but so far I don't like it." Janet stepped forward and glared at him, still keeping a tight grip on the waistband of her pants. "I told you I just want to be left alone. I don't want to talk to anyone but Sam."
"Sam's not here and I am." Daniel took a deep breath and made the leap from misguided man in love to arch villain, complete with a twirlable mental moustache. "And I'm not letting you out of here until we've talked things out."
Janet's mouth dropped open. "You can't do that!" She backed up a step as he shrugged at her again and repeated angrily. "You can't do that!"
"But I am." Daniel watched her as she stared incredulously at him and tried to smile. "All I want to do is talk, Jan."
"This has gone far enough." Janet shook her head in disgust. "I must have been insane to ever go anywhere near you." She looked wildly about the room and then remembered the phone. "I'm calling Sam myself."
Daniel's heart sank as he watched her trip over the too long pants legs in her hurry to get around the bed and to the phone. "It won't do any good." Janet grabbed for the receiver and held it up to her ear as Daniel concluded quietly. "I pulled the jack out downstairs, it's dead." His eyes widened as Janet howled furiously and heaved the phone at him. "Hey, watch it!"
"Just leave me alone!" Janet's temper spiked as she realised she was on the verge of tears and she shouted desperately. "I don't want you anymore!"
"I know, and if it stays that way then that's something I'll have to deal with." Shooting a last wary look at the tangled mass of wire and plastic on the floor that used to be his phone, Daniel stepped forward. "But I have to take one last shot at trying to get you back in my life, Janet. I love you and Cass too much to let you just walk out on me."
Shaking with impotent fury, Janet slashed a hand through the air to wipe away his words. "Don't. I don't want to hear it." She slapped at her photo on the cabinet beside her and sent it sailing over the bed to bounce off the wardrobe doors. "And don't use my daughter to get to me."
"I am NOT using Cassie!" Daniel's hands bunched into fists at his side as he felt the first stab of his own anger. "Don't ever say something so ugly to me again, I love her for who she is, not for what she can do for me."
"Well, that'll be a first for you, Daniel." Janet's mouth twisted with derision. "Your first unselfish emotion, tell me how does that feel?"
Daniel's temper went from smouldering ember to flash fire in under a second and he completely forgot he was trying to coax Janet into trusting him and back into his arms and life. "What the HELL is that supposed to mean?"
***************************
Jack opened the front door, flinching as Daniel's furious bellow echoed down the stairwell and he met Samantha Carter's decidedly unimpressed blue eyes glaring at him over the top of Cassie's head. "Ladies!" The bright grin fell off Jack's face as Janet screamed a curse that was unsuitable to be heard by his ears, let alone her impressionable daughter's, and punctuated her yell with a loud crash that heralded the end of Daniel's bedside lamp. "How ya doin'?"
"Sir." Carter's face was rigid with disapproval as she nudged Cassie and her burden of several greasy sacks of take out from the diner through the door and then shut it behind her. "I've come to see Janet."
A furious blend of Janet and Daniel's raised voices floated down the stairs, Jack coughed. "Ah, I don't think this is a good time, Carter."
Without taking her eyes off her uncomfortable looking superior officer, Sam gave Cassie a gentle push towards the kitchen. "Go get the plates out, Cass, I just want a word with Jack."
"What's going on?" Nervously Cassie looked at the ceiling and then at the two adults beside her. "Why is mom so mad?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure she can handle it." Sam forced a reassuring smile and finally took her eyes off Jack's guilty face. "Go on now, we'll be there in a minute. Go on." She watched as Cassie reluctantly walked towards the kitchen and then put her hands on her hips as she faced Jack again to say flatly. "Explain."
"I think you're forgetting who exactly the Colonel is here, Major." Jack raised an eyebrow and met Sam's eyes calmly. "I don't take orders from subordinates."
"We're on downtime and I don't answer to you now." Sam glared harder. "You assisted Daniel in hiding my best friend and her daughter and I want to know exactly what the hell you think you're playing at."
Jack managed not to wince that pulling rank had failed so dismally and instead tried a friendly punch to Sam's shoulder, grunting with surprise when Sam moved faster than Teal'c when a Star Wars movie was showing and gripped his wrist to spin him round and press him face first into the wall behind him. "Carter!"
"Don't even go there, Jack." Sam's normally pale face was bright red with strain as she fought to keep Jack's wrist pinned up between his shoulder blades. "I've been kept on base for over twenty four hours running into block after block whenever I tried to get out, going out of my mind with worry when I couldn't get hold of Janet or Cassie at their house and then to top off my day I get a call from Cass' school asking me to confirm she definitely won't be in for her field trip tomorrow. Only they asked for Major SAMUEL Carter who they'd spoken to the day before when he'd given permission for her to be removed from school by a Doctor Daniel Jackson!"
Jack stopped struggling and focused on Daniel's wall. "Uh-oh." He sighed, the game was definitely up. "Carter, if you'll just quit it with the Xena impression then I'll tell you everything, ok?" He waited patiently while Sam forced herself to calm down and released him and then turned with his patented, good ol' boy, charm the birds out of the trees grin firmly in place. The grin never failed him. "Carter, come on, what harm did it do?" The grin flashed charmingly and then withered and died before the flamethrower of Sam's wrath. Goddamit the grin failed, that never happened! "They just needed some time to talk."
"Does it sound like Janet wants to talk?" Sam impatiently blew her bangs out of her eyes and threw up her hands in disgust. "I can't believe you pulled this crap! Of all the stupid plans you and Daniel have cooked up between you over the years this has to be the most.." She stopped short as a knock sounded at the door.
Almost pathetically grateful for the interruption, Jack jumped past her and flung open the door with a wide smile.which quickly disappeared when he saw Teal'c standing on the doorstep holding up a bag stuffed full to bursting with women's clothes. "I have brought some of Doctor Frasier's clothing as requested, O'Neil." A faint flicker of confusion passed through the Jaffa's eyes as he saw Sam's livid face appear over the Colonel's shoulder and when another loud chorus of yelling sounded from upstairs, Teal'c put two and two together and wasted no time in shoving the bag into Jack's arms. "It would appear I have called at a bad time. Please send Doctor Frasier my best wishes."
Teal'c's impressively speedy retreat was brought to a shuddering halt by the crack of Sam's icy cold voice. "Get back here, Teal'c." She glowered at the warrior as he turned on Daniel's front path and looked back at her. "Get in here right now!"
Jack and Teal'c exchanged long, forlorn looks before the warrior heaved a sigh and retraced his steps towards the house. Sam cocked an eyebrow as Teal'c hovered on the doorstep and jerked a rigid thumb over her shoulder. "Kitchen. Now." She waited until both men trudged unhappily past her and then slammed the front door shut with all her strength. "You guys had better have been taken over by aliens again or you're both in a world of trouble."
End Part 9.