Chapter 3: Appreciation

Three hours later, Jack O'Neill awoke with the sunrise and yawned quietly. He looked at the now dead fire and around their campsite, all of his senses suddenly on alert. He noticed that Teal'c was still asleep but what alarmed Jack was that he and Teal'c were the only ones there. Both Sam and Daniel were nowhere to be found.
"I wonder where the hell Carter and Daniel are. It's not like either of them to be awake so early. After I go and clean up a little I'll go and look for them. This is a peaceful, deserted planet, after all, so it's not like they can get into any real trouble." Jack thought to himself as he stood up and stretched, heading to the lake to clean himself up.

As Jack approached the clearing, he realized that he had inadvertently killed two birds with one stone. Upon entering the clearing, he saw Daniel sound asleep on the grass and his arm was around Sam who was sleeping on her friend's shoulder. He shook his head and smiled as he quietly approached.
"Well, what do you know? I wonder how they ended up all the way out here though. Ah well, I guess it doesn't really matter too much. Since we are on downtime and don't have any pressing issues to deal with and there are no Goa'uld around to pose a threat, I might as well let those two sleep for a while longer. No need to wake them when they seem so comfortable." Jack thought as he momentarily knelt down beside Daniel, gently removing the younger man's glasses while taking extreme care not to awaken him or their friend who rested in his arms. For all the activity, Sam made no movement or indication that she was even aware of Jack's presence and Daniel's only response was a quiet sigh as he stirred slightly. Then he placed Daniel's glasses on the grass near where he slept, washed his hands in the lake, and silently headed back to camp to start breakfast.

Back at their campsite, Jack had just got another fire going to make the breakfast when he heard Teal'c begin to awaken. The Jaffa sat up and looked at his friend.
"Good morning, O'Neill." Teal'c said cheerfully.
"Morning, Teal'c. I just started making breakfast." Jack smiled, looking up momentarily from what he was doing to glance at his companion. "Something wrong?"
"I have only just noticed that you and I are the only ones around, O'Neill. Major Carter and Daniel Jackson appear to have gone missing. I believe we should go and search for them."
"That won't be necessary, Teal'c, because I already found them. When I woke up this morning I noticed that they were gone and I went to clean up at that lake over there before I went to look for them and I found them both there. They were both sound asleep on the grass so I didn't wake them. I figure they'll come meandering back here before two long."
"As long as everyone is all right, that is the only importance." Teal'c retorted in the Jaffa manner of speaking that never failed to both interest and amuse Jack.

At the same time, at the edge of the lake, Daniel stirred and opened his eyes as he slowly came awake. At first, he took a look around and was confused because he wasn't sure how he had come to be where he was.
"Hmm. I wonder how I got here. Maybe I was sleepwalking. No, wait, I came out here looking for something. I guess I must have sat dozed off." Daniel said quietly to no one in particular.
When he felt the warm sensation of breath on his neck and noticed that he had his arm around Sam, Daniel thought back through the sleep induced haze in his mind and remembered what had happened earlier. He had awakened back at camp hours before to find Sam gone. When he had left to search for her, he found her here sitting by the lake. He also remembered that after a little urging, she had told him about her nightmare and what she believed to be true about what had happened to him over a year before. After locating his glasses where he didn't remember laying them and putting them on, Daniel released his grip on Sam and sat up slowly, silently cursing himself when she stirred and opened her eyes.
"Hmm?" Sam said sleepily as she looked around. "Daniel?"
"Hey. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's okay. Thanks for being here for me when I needed a friend earlier. I appreciate it. I don't understand how we got like this though."
"You're welcome. After you told me about everything I was holding you trying to calm you down and you fell asleep on my shoulder. Then I leaned back on the grass so you could be more comfortable and I guess I must have nodded off as well. I think either Jack or Teal'c were here at some point while we were sleeping, though."
"How do you know?" Sam asked.
"Well, I didn't take my glasses off before I fell asleep but when I woke up a few minutes ago they were laying beside me. Since I didn't do that, it has to mean that one of them had to have come across us and taken off my glasses while I slept. It was probably Jack. So do you feel any better?"
"Yeah. I really do. Actually, earlier when I told you about all of that, it was the first time I had been able to talk about it to anyone since it happened. It was about time I let that beast out of its cage. I appreciate you letting me burden you with my excess baggage."
"I'm just glad I was able to help you get that off your chest. I could see how badly it upset you and I can't imagine how it must have felt carrying that around inside your heart all this time. For the record though, you weren't a burden to me and you never will be. You're my friend and friends help each other through hard times. So I don't even want you to worry about burdening me if you need to talk about something, okay." Daniel said softly.
"Okay. Can I ask you a favor, Daniel?"
"Yeah."
"Well, could you keep what we talked about between us? I'm just not sure the Colonel and Teal'c would fully understand and I don't think I could explain it again."
"I won't tell another soul what you and I discussed. It says strictly between us. If anyone else find out, they won't hear it from me, I promise."
"Thanks, Daniel." Sam whispered as she gave her friend a hug.
"Sure. Anytime. Hey, why don't we head back to camp. I'm pretty hungry and I'm sure someone had started breakfast by now. Besides, Jack and Teal'c will probably get concerned if we don't get back soon."
"Okay. Let's go."
Sam took Daniel's hand and allowed him to help her off of the ground and they walked slowly away from the lake. As they headed back to camp together, Sam felt confident and safe in the knowledge that Daniel Jackson wouldn't tell anyone else what she had told him. That she could trust him fully with her secret. It was the first time in several years that she had allowed herself to fully and completely trust someone and, now that she had, she was glad it was Daniel.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this fic. I wrote it to get some raw emotions off of my chest because next Friday is the 3 year anniversary of a tough time I went through and a Stargate story seemed to be the perfect way to sort out the feelings. Anyway, please review and let me know what you thought of it.