Author's Note: You asked for it, you got it, but I'm afraid this didn't turn out quite like I wanted... Dig in through this chapter... the next one should be better and a little bit more involved.
Daniel climbed out of the lower room of the temple and yawned. Somehow, even though he had slept for quite awhile, he felt extraordinarily tired. Even now, he had taken an uncharacteristic break from examining the little bits of writing that were found next to the half-sphere to get a cup of coffee. As he stepped out into the afternoon sunshine, his eyes immediately focused on two familiar people:
"Sam?" he questioned. "Murray?!"
Both Sam and Teal'c smiled when they saw their missing team member. Teal'c cocked his head.
"Daniel Jackson." He greeted.
"Jack?" Daniel turned to the colonel.
Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I put in a call."
Sam smiled all the more brightly. "I wanted to get a look at that sphere you found." She supplied.
"And we couldn't leave Murray out of the fun." Jack jumped back in. "The really good news is, now you've got all the time you need." He explained. "You can play with rocks and read squiggles all you want."
Daniel unconsciously clenched his jaw; he wasn't necessarily unhappy that the rest of SG1 had arrived – in fact, it was almost comforting, as they seemed to function best together... but he was beginning to feel increasingly uneasy in this place, and he couldn't quite put a finger on why.
Jack picked up on Daniel's unspoken concern and immediately tried to placate it. "Lighten up, Daniel." He slapped the archaeologist on the back. "This'll be fun."
Daniel raised his eyebrows skeptically and crossed his arms.
"You know all those weird stones Elena and Otto have been looking at? We'll build a tower..." Jack enthused, holding out his arms in an indication of size as he walked away.
Teal'c nodded his head and smiled again, following the colonel.
Sam gave Daniel an encouraging kind of smile. "If you can't beat 'em..." She squeezed his arm lightly and also followed after Jack.
Daniel stood, watching his team for a moment before dropping his head in defeat and stepping in line a bit behind Sam.
***
As it turned out, Jack hadn't been serious about building a tower, for which Daniel was eternally grateful. Instead, after dropping off Sam and Teal'c's gear, the other two members of SG1 had been shown the temple and the storerooms, also being introduced to the members of the archaeological team. Teal'c and Otto seemed to be some kind of crazy, antithetical kindred spirits; Kurt was thrilled to meet more friends of Daniel; Bailey was conceited and superior as ever, apparently thinking he had more people to impress; Bernadette was still prodding for answers; and Elena was focused on one member of SG1 in particular.
As soon as they had stepped into the storeroom she was working in, the older woman pounced.
"Daniel," she patted his arm gently. "You must introduce me." Elena gave what she must've thought was an inconspicuous wink. "Who is this beautiful girl?"
Daniel smiled at the ground. "Elena, this is Sam Carter." He looked Elena straight on. "She's a friend." Daniel continued his introduction, "Sam, this is Dr. Elena Perez."
"Dr. Perez, it's good to meet you." Sam politely replied, holding out a hand to shake.
Elena took the offered hand in both of hers and held on. "Sam: that's a nickname for Samantha?" she asked.
Sam nodded and kept smiling, finding Elena incredibly warm and sweet. "Yes, ma'am."
"A beautiful name for a beautiful woman." Elena complemented. She leaned in closer to Sam. "We must sit and talk – tonight - at dinner."
"I would like that, Doctor."
"Please, Elena." She instructed, finally releasing Sam's hand.
"And, this is Murray." Daniel presented, as Elena stepped closer to the large man.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Aren't you a beast!"
Teal'c raised an eyebrow.
"I am not an animal, Dr. Perez." He intoned.
"Of course not, dear;" Elena chuckled a bit. "I bet you're as gentle as a Teddy Bear!" she nodded approvingly.
"Neither am I a stuffed child's toy." Teal'c replied.
Not knowing quite how to respond, Elena smiled awkwardly, and an uncomfortable silence fell over the group.
"Oh!" Jack jumped in to end the conversation that seemed to be getting weirder by the moment. "Look at the time!" he made a great show of looking at his watch. "Daniel, I think you and I were gonna do dinner tonight... let's get on that, huh?" He turned to Teal'c: "Murray, ya big Teddy Bear!" he exclaimed. "Carter, you can help too." Jack turned and left the storeroom.
Daniel pursed his lips and stared at his feet.
Sam smiled pleasantly, nodded a good-bye, and followed Jack.
Teal'c tilted his head, eyebrow still raised in confusion, and followed Sam.
Daniel finally looked up at Elena, who was still very perplexed at Murray's lack of understanding common slang.
"I'm just gonna –" Daniel gestured aimlessly before sticking his hands in his pockets and following after Teal'c.
Elena took a deep breath, frowned slightly, and went back to work.
***
Having just served herself a plate of food, Elena spotted the young woman she'd met earlier in the day. "Samantha." She called her, waving a hand. "Come, sit with me."
Sam obliged, skillfully balancing silverware, plate and cup as she made her way to the older woman.
As soon as Sam sat down, Elena began the interrogation. "So how is it that you know our Daniel?"
Sam took a sip of her coffee. "Well, uh, we work together."
Elena smiled. "It's a good way to get to know someone." She winked. "Daniel's very special."
Sam smiled; she found Elena very sweet and very amusing – the woman liked to wink a lot... "Yes, he is."
"Are you... involved?"
"With Daniel?" Sam was a little taken aback. "No." she replied immediately. "No. We're..." she searched for an appropriate term, but settled for: "...very close friends."
Elena frowned a little, then tried a different tactic. "It's too bad; you compliment each so other well." Just as Elena was about to say something else, Daniel himself appeared. "Daniel!" she exclaimed.
"May I sit for a moment?" he asked, pulling a canvas chair over.
"Of course." Elena attempted to cover her shock.
Daniel smiled knowingly. "Elena, you wouldn't be asking Sam to, I don't know, marry me or anything like that, would you?"
Elena put a hand to her heart, doing her best to exude innocence. "I would never do such a thing, Daniel. Where he gets these ideas..." she trailed off.
Daniel turned to Sam, who was now smiling as well, observing the relationship that the Daniel and Elena shared. "Anytime we work together, I always end up hearing about at least one beautiful young woman I absolutely have to meet." Daniel explained.
Elena looked lovingly at him, placing a hand on his knee. "I'm only looking out for you, Daniel."
"Yes. I know that." Daniel answered warmly, standing back up. He turned to go back to the conversation he'd been having with Kurt, but paused. He was about to speak, but instead just shook his head and smiled even more broadly.
"Such a wonderful boy." Elena admired, as both women watched him return to his own seat and pick back up with Pendry. "So..." Elena broke the brief moment of silence. "Samantha... tell me, is Daniel not... your type?"
"We work together." Sam answered, thinking that answer would be sufficient.
"Many couples work together." Elena pointed out. "Many couples find each other through their work. Kurt found his late wife that way: she was a physical anthropologist. They worked together in Egypt."
"He was married." Sam returned.
"Kurt?" Elena questioned. "Yes. Lovely woman."
Sam shook her head. "I'm sorry, I meant..." her voice softened. "Daniel was married."
"Daniel?" Elena was joyful for a moment, then picked up on Sam's subtlety. "Was married, but no longer?"
"She... passed away." Sam confided. "A few years ago. They were only married a short time, but he loved her... very much."
Elena suddenly looked very sad. "She must have been very special if she caught our Daniel's attention," she reflected as she watched Daniel; it was evident, even without hearing his words, that he was speaking to Kurt with a great deal of passion about something.
Sam nodded, following Elena's gaze. "I didn't get to know her that well; I wish I would've gotten that chance... but she certainly did have his attention, and he had hers."
Author's Notes: Okay, so... like I said, this chapter didn't turn out like I intended, and it's actually a little awkward, but I kept it in, even though it doesn't really do anything for the plot (with the exception of getting Sam and Teal'c to the site, which was rather anticlimactic; sorry). There were lots of little things that I thought were important to the characters: Teal'c's reactions to Otto and Elena (I got a huge kick out of imagining Teal'c and Otto getting along really well; Teal'c, by the way, is incredibly hard for me to write for... as is Sam a little... I suppose that's just 'cause they don't have many obvious, typical things they do, unlike Jack and Daniel... at least in my opinion); playing with the closeness of the Daniel/Sam friendship; Elena's reaction to Daniel being married... all things that were very important to me that I couldn't quite figure in to the rest of the story, because I'm not nearly crafty enough. Again, I'm a dialogue person - I come up with lines and then try to fit them into the plot; this is evidence that it doesn't always work.
You also may have noticed that I'm trying to avoid a specific timeline here; I don't really know where this story falls into the arc of the show... you can decide that for yourself, I guess, although I am gonna say it's after the third Season, since obviously Sha're is dead (that, and I really like Daniel's hair short as opposed to long).