Disclaimer: Not mine - which is good, cuz I can't afford to pay 'em.
A/N: I thought I'd wait until I got some reviews before I posted the next chapter, but I'm impaitient. The voices are telling me what to put in the next 'episode' but I want to get this completely finished first.
Summary & Episode Spoilers: See previous chapter...
Chapter 2
Before I met her, I had heard Claire described as brilliant. They left out beautiful and tenacious and hard headed. She challenges nearly everything I thought to be true about ancient Egypt, making me really work to prove I am correct. When I do prove it she concedes only a little less than graciously.
I find myself having unprofessional thoughts about the petite archeologist. If these thoughts were confined to late at night or in my dreams, I wouldn't worry about them. But, I find myself distracted as we work together. I have difficulty concentrating on my work – Claire's eyes twinkle with amusement everytime she catches me in a daydream.
I have been on many expeditions. By far, this is the one I have enjoyed the most.
--From the diary of Dr. Melbourne Jackson
Daniel spent the next week relishing the return to pure archeology. He and Eve spent nearly every waking minute together. If they weren't exploring the tomb, they were pouring over notes and reference material.
The morning at end of the first week dawned bright and sunny. Virgil caught up with Daniel as they made their way to the showers.
"So," Virgil said. "How are things going?"
"Great," Daniel replied. "It's been a long time since I encountered a language I couldn't read. This has been fascinating."
"And you're making progress?"
"Oh, yeah. Eve works harder than I do. I can barely keep up with her sometimes."
"That's Eve, alright. So, you do remember that we have a banquet in the city this evening, right?"
When Daniel just gave him a blank look, Virgil laughed. "Big party, you'll get to see all of your friends," Virgil prompted.
"Oh! Oh yeah. Right." Daniel nodded. He'd only seen Jack and Teal'c for a few hours since they'd arrived on Vedra. He hadn't seen Sam or Janet. "Wow, time flies and all that," he said.
At lunchtime, Virgil shut down the dig and gave everyone the rest of the day off. Eve protested, stalking off when Virgil overruled her. Daniel found her in her tent, reviewing notes from that morning.
"Hey," he sat down on the cot and pulled the computer out of her hands.
Eve frowned at him and moved to the other side of the room to flip through a notepad.
"So are you coming tonight?" Daniel asked.
Eve threw up her arms, gesturing to the piles of notes, artifacts and data disks. "I've got so much to do. If I take tonight off, I'll get even farther behind."
"The tombs been here for thousands of years," Daniel said. "I don't think it will go anywhere if you take one night off." Daniel repressed a shudder; he sounded just like Jack!
"Daniel you don't understand," Eve said. "For the first time in my life, people are taking me seriously. I can't screw this up!" She struggled to hold on to her composure, but not before Daniel noticed tears brimming in her eyes.
"Hey," he said softly, crossing the room to pull her into a hug. Part of his mind warned him that he'd just crossed a professional line, but the rest of him found that he liked the way she felt in his arms. "It's okay," he crooned. "I think that you need to take tonight off." He released her enough to tilt her head up so she could look in his eyes. "Tonight you'll go and talk with the other historians. You'll impress them the way you've impressed me."
Virgil walked into the tent. "We've got to get going if we're going to be on time," he stopped when he saw that Daniel was in the tent, holding his sister. "Oh."
"Okay," Eve said, not taking her eyes from Daniel's. "Let's go."
When they reached the city, Daniel was taken to the apartment where he met up with his friends. They spent a couple of hours catching up.
Sam filled Daniel in on her theories regarding the Vedran's technology. "It's like they've been living with this level of technology for centuries and are just now getting close to catching up with it."
Janet spoke. "Their medicine is way off for their level of technology. They don't even have x-rays or antibiotics. I'll give them credit for a sterile operating environment, but other than that it's practically barbaric."
Daniel pondered what they were saying. "I need to speak with Eve about this," he said. "She thinks that the Vedran's technology didn't come from the Vedran's themselves, but rather another race that lived a long time ago; the race that built the city we're excavating now."
"That would make sense," Sam said.
Later, when Jack, Daniel and Teal'c were getting dressed for the banquet, Daniel observed, "Sam and Janet look exhausted."
"Yeah," Jack agreed. "They've been working almost non-stop since we got here. You, on the other hand, look like you're having a good time."
"I miss being an archeologist." When Jack looked puzzled, Daniel explained. "I do hit and run archeology. I'm not out there, every day with my hands in the dirt discovering history."
A limousine-like vehicle met them outside and took them to the banquet. The hall was decorated with fresh flowers and lights. The SGC personnel were escorted into a roomful of people. Formally dressed servers circled the room with trays of appetizers.
Chancellor Claudius found them and began introducing them around the room. Daniel nodded politely and shook hands with the dignitaries; but his eyes searched the room.
He saw when Virgil entered, dressed in his official government robes. Just a few steps behind came Eve.
Jack walked up to Daniel and used one finger to push Daniel's mouth closed. Jack let out a low whistle. "Yeah," Daniel agreed.
Eve wore a knee length dress in a silvery blue color. The dress skimmed her slender figure, the sleeveless bodice showed off her toned arms and shoulders. Her hair, normally pulled back into a braid was loose and fell in gentle waves down her back. She was clearly uncomfortable in the formal setting.
"Go for it, big fella," Jack muttered as Daniel made his way across the room.
"Eve," Daniel said when he reached her.
Her eyes lit up and she gave him a nervous smile.
"You look," he paused, searching for the word, "beautiful."
She ducked her head, shyly. "Thank you."
"Dinner is served," a man called out from the archway to the dining room.
Everyone was escorted in and they took their seats. The SGC personnel were seated according to their profession. Janet was seated with the medical personnel; Sam with several university professors and engineers; Jack and Teal'c were seated with the chancellor at the head table and Daniel was seated with history professors, Virgil and Eve.
Virgil offered to trade seats with Daniel so that he was seated next to Eve. In hindsight, Daniel thought, that may not have been the best idea. All through the four- course meal he was distracted whenever their knees bumped. He was afraid the esteemed professors of the Vedran university would think he was a scatterbrained idiot the way he kept losing his train of thought.
After the meal was over, everyone adjourned back to the front room. As soon as he had the opportunity, Daniel asked Eve to meet his friends. He placed his hand on the small of her back as he guided her to where SG-1 was gathered.
"Everyone," Daniel said. "This is Eve."
"Let me guess," Eve said. "Colonel O'Neill," Jack nodded. "Teal'c," Eve fumbled a bit on the strange sounding name. "Major Carter and Doctor Fraiser." Daniel beamed with pride when she got everyone's face matched to the correct name. "Daniel talks about you all the time."
"Nice to meet you," Sam said. Everyone echoed her sentiments.
They chatted for a while before Claudius came and stole them away for one last round of introductions before the party broke up.
Back at the hotel, SG-1 and Janet gathered on the couches in the sitting room and spent some time talking. They all teased Daniel about his relationship with Eve. When Sam and Janet began to fall asleep sitting up, they all went to their separate rooms for the night.
Daniel was up first in the morning, he broke into the supplies and started to brew some coffee. He'd just poured his first cup when Janet came out into the sitting room. Daniel poured her a cup and handed it to her as they sat at a small table. "Good morning," he said.
"Good morning," Janet replied. They sipped their coffee quietly for a few minutes. "I liked Eve," Janet said finally.
Daniel looked up from the notes he was reviewing. "Yeah?"
Janet smiled. "Yeah." Janet's brown eyes filled with concern. "How serious are you?"
"Serious? About what?"
"About Eve," Janet said. "What are you going to do when we go home next week?"
"That would be quite a long distance relationship, wouldn't it?"
Janet laughed, but quickly quieted down when she remembered that people were still sleeping.
"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it," Daniel shrugged.
Janet reached across the table and placed one of her small hands over Daniel's. "We just want you to be happy."
Daniel gave Janet's hand a squeeze. "Thanks, Janet." They shared a smile before lapsing into silence again.