Sam couldn't believe how quickly everything in her world had come crashing down around her. She'd just paid a quick visit to the Alpha Site to see her father and find out how work was progressing on the prototype of the weapon they believed could destroy Anubis' new super soldiers. Little did she know that she'd picked the very day Anubis would attack the off-world base.
She'd managed to escape, but had spent hours trying to get away from the super soldier that was chasing her. Thankfully Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c had arrived just in time to kill it before it killed her.
As if that wasn't enough, when she'd returned to the SGC injured, beaten down, and utterly exhausted, her father had come to her infirmary room to tell her goodbye. Their alliance with the Tok'ra had gone down the drain, and because of that, she wasn't likely to see him again in a very long time. Could things get any worse?
Apparently, they could.
"Sounds like Daniel's been quite a handful for Fraiser the past couple of days," Colonel O'Neill was telling her. "He's been really moody, depressed, keeps hallucinating all the time..."
Sam's blood seemed to freeze in her veins at this announcement. "Was it something I did?" she asked anxiously. "Oh God, I was in a hurry to finish his treatment so I could prepare for my trip to the Alpha Site! Did I do something wrong?"
"Relax, Carter. Carmichael says it's probably just a side effect of the healing process. Nothing to worry about."
"Still, I've got to go see him," she said, trying to get out of her infirmary bed. "Maybe I can fix it again."
Colonel O'Neill prevented her from getting up with a firm hand on her shoulder. "Doc said bed rest for at least twenty four hours. It's too soon for you to do anything about it now anyway."
Sam sighed and obediently sank back against her pillows. "Tomorrow's Wednesday, right?" she asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"I'm due to give him another treatment then. Will that be possible?"
"You'll have to ask Doc Carmichael about that," he replied. "You've got a concussion, though, Carter. Do you think it's wise to do intricate work on his brain so soon?"
Sam bit her lip as she thought this over. He had a point there.
"We'll be seeing them on Friday for Fraiser's birthday party anyway," he said a moment later. "I think it can wait until then."
"They're still having the party?"
"Yep. It'll be good for Fraiser to be surrounded by her friends for a while. You and I'll have to brainstorm once you're out of here, see if we can come up with a good idea for a present that'll knock her socks off."
"That'll be great, Sir." She forced a smile for his benefit, though she was still concerned about leaving Daniel in his condition for that long.
"And hey, don't forget to bring Pete," he said as he stood up from his stool and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "We can finally hang out with him in a place where he won't get shot."
Sam couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sure he'd love to come, Sir. I guess then Cassie can finally meet him."
Colonel O'Neill flashed her a pleased smile. "Sweet. Well, I'd better let you rest," he said, edging towards the door. "See you later, Carter."
"See you later, Sir."
She watched as he left the infirmary, her smile fading as he walked away. She just couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something terrible could happen before she could fix whatever it was that she had screwed up.
Janet woke up in the middle of the night with the eerie feeling that she was being watched. She was sure it must have just been a feeling left over from whatever she'd been dreaming about, but she was hesitant to open her eyes anyway. She hated to think what she might find.
Suddenly she felt a puff of air that was unmistakably someone breathing in her face. Her heart started pounding in fear, and as she opened her eyes she found herself looking straight into someone else's.
Janet let out a strangled cry and rolled to the side, falling from the bed and landing on her backside on the floor. She jerked her head up to look at the bed and saw Daniel peering down at her over the edge. "What the hell was that?" she cried, gasping for breath and shaking like a leaf. "You scared me half to death!"
Daniel shrugged, and even in the semi-darkness Janet could see that his expression was completely devoid of emotion. "I was watching you sleep."
"Couldn't you have done that without getting right in my face?" she demanded. She'd been dealing with his eerie behaviour for two days now, and it was starting to drive her mad. Ever since their trip to the SGC, he'd swung back and forth between being sullen and moody to being downright creepy. She'd caught him staring at her many times with a cold, hard look on his face, and if she'd asked him why, he would either shrug and turn away or just ignore her question completely. She was beginning to think she should have taken Colonel O'Neill up on his offer of taking Daniel back to his place.
A trace of a smile flickered across Daniel's face at her question, making him seem almost menacing as he stared down at her. "Probably."
Janet flinched as he moved closer to the edge of the bed, lifting himself up onto his hands and knees. To her surprise, he then reached his hand out to her.
She wasn't sure what to do. She didn't trust him as far as she could throw him at the moment, but he seemed to be genuinely offering his assistance. She looked closely at his face and saw nothing there to signify that he had anything but the most innocent of intentions, so with a sigh she grasped his hand and allowed him to help her to her feet.
Once she was standing, he let go of her hand and returned to his side of the bed, sitting up against the headboard with the blankets pulled up to his waist. She climbed in beside him, keeping a wary eye on him at all times. It was situations like this that made her wish Leroy was still sleeping with them at night.
"Did you hurt yourself?"
Janet stared at him long and hard, trying to figure out whether he was really concerned or just making fun of her. Unable to tell for sure, she answered carefully, "No, I'm fine. Thank you."
He nodded. "Goodnight, then," he said as he squirmed down into a laying position and turned his back to her.
Janet wasn't about to let him get away with it this time. "Wait a minute, Daniel. Why were you hovering over me like that? Do you know how frightening that was to wake up to?"
He slowly rolled over onto his back and turned his head to look at her. After a long pause, he said, "I can't remember how old you'll be."
Janet wasn't sure whether this was his answer or his way of changing the subject, but she decided to answer him anyway. "I'm turning forty."
Even in the dark, she could see that his eyes narrowed at this statement. "You're older than me, too?"
She wasn't sure what to make of this, so she spluttered for a moment as she tried to come up with a response. "Only by nine months," she finally said.
He didn't miss a beat. "Do you think I aged a year when I ascended?"
"Uh... probably not... I don't know." She was growing more and more confused with every word he said.
"Then it's two years." He sounded almost victorious.
"That's not the point, Daniel," she said in frustration. "Age has never mattered to us."
He shrugged and looked up at the ceiling.
"What do you mean by I'm older than you, 'too,' anyway?" she asked as she realized that he'd said it like it was one of many strikes against her.
Daniel gave a heavy sigh and fidgeted a little. "Well... first of all, you're my doctor..."
"Was."
"You're about a foot shorter than me..."
"Ten inches."
"And let's face it, Janet, you're not exactly my type."
"I wasn't aware you had a type."
"Well, I do. I may not remember everything about my life, but I do remember that I had a type. And that I usually went for women who were younger than me."
Janet snorted. "Oh, and Ke'ra-slash-Linea was so much younger than you."
"Who?"
"Never mind," she said with a sigh. "Why are you saying all of this?"
"Because I still don't understand how this whole thing happened. I don't understand why I'm here."
It sounded like he was starting to become agitated again, so Janet knew not to push him too far. She couldn't resist just asking one little question, though - "Do you want to be here?"
The room suddenly became deathly silent, and Janet held her breath as she waited for his answer.
It never came. After a minute or so, he turned back onto his side, and within moments seemed to fall asleep.
Janet lay awake for the rest of the night thinking about the whole thing. She knew that Daniel's brain chemicals were in a horrible mess - Andrew had told her as much when he'd called with the results of Daniel's tests on Monday afternoon - but surely now that his memory was returning, if he had ever really loved her he would feel something for her again?
Unless he'd been stating a fact the other day when he'd suggested the reason he'd returned her affection was because he was desperate. It had been over six years since he'd had a woman in his life, after all, as Sha're had been gone for two years before she'd actually died. Maybe he'd just been feeling lonely, and being with her had seemed a better alternative to living alone, or getting involved with any of the other women he knew.
Maybe he still harboured feelings for Sarah, who had been freed from her Goa'uld captor a few months after he had entered into this relationship with Janet. What if at the time he had decided to honour his commitment to Janet only out of the goodness of his heart, but now didn't see the point anymore? What if he'd actually been having an affair with Sarah this whole time, and that's the relationship he was clinging to as his memories returned? He had spent an awful lot of time alone with her just after she returned to Earth. She had moved back to Chicago a few weeks earlier, but maybe they had kept in touch somehow...
When she realized how absurd this whole thought process was, Janet forced herself to stop analyzing the situation. Daniel was still healing, and there were still patches of his memory that were a complete blank. He'd come around eventually. He had to.
The rest of the night seemed insufferably long to Janet, but the next day, Wednesday, felt even longer. In between hallucinations and temper tantrums, Daniel was moody and irritable and just plain annoying. He complained of a headache, but knocked the bottle out of her hands when she went to give him a painkiller. His coordination was off, so he couldn't seem to tie his shoelaces properly, and he hurled his shoe at the wall in frustration after his tenth failed attempt. He forgot a word while he was trying to tell her something, and ended up yelling curses at himself instead. He didn't like what Janet made for dinner, and when she refused to make him anything else, he dumped his plate in the sink and stormed out of the room. It was all Janet could do to keep herself from bursting into tears of anger and despair.
His hallucinations didn't seem to frighten him anymore - they made him angry. He got into a habit of rushing into his office when they would start, and Janet would hear him cursing and sobbing and throwing things until they finally came to an end. A few minutes later, a sullen, exhausted Daniel would emerge and go back to whatever he'd been doing before it started. Janet sneaked into the room at one point to put his most valuable belongings into safe places so they wouldn't be broken. If he noticed that they were missing, he never mentioned it.
By nightfall, both of them were so tired that they were asleep within seconds of getting into bed. Janet slept so soundly that even Daniel's nightmares didn't wake her, for which she felt guilty when she woke up and saw that he had obviously had another restless night.
Then the whole routine began again.
The only thing for which Janet could be grateful on Thursday was that Colonel O'Neill came by for a short visit and told her to take off for an hour or two while he stayed with Daniel. Janet was only too happy to comply. She only had time to take a much-needed trip to the grocery store, but even that was enough to lift her spirits.
Momentarily, at least. As soon as she returned home, Daniel's sulky face brought her right back down again.
Before he left, Colonel O'Neill took her aside to have a private word with her about what had happened while she'd been gone. It was the usual stuff - he'd hallucinated, lost his temper, locked himself in his office for a few minutes, nothing new. Colonel O'Neill was surprised by her lack of a reaction, but soon this seemed to make him realize just how bad things had become.
"Listen, Doc," he said, rubbing his hand over his hair, "I know this whole party thing is probably an added stress you don't need right now, but I just want you to know that you don't have to lift a finger tomorrow. Carter, Teal'c, and I have got it covered. We just want you to relax and have a good time, okay?"
She smiled up at him, knowing how much the three of them cared about her and Daniel, and that he wasn't making an empty promise. "Thank you, Colonel. I really appreciate that."
"I'll even keep an eye on Daniel for you while everyone's here. I doubt he'll be feeling very sociable, and I wouldn't want him taking it out on you."
"That won't be necessary, Colonel. I'm sure he'll be fine." The words were out of her mouth before she realized how untrue they were.
He gave her a dubious look and a slight shake of his head. Then he walked through to the living room to say goodbye to Daniel.
Daniel was lying on the couch with his hands behind his head, watching some kind of cartoon. Janet couldn't believe how much TV he had been watching the past few days, but she didn't say a word about it. At least if he was watching TV he wasn't under her feet.
"See you tomorrow, Daniel," Colonel O'Neill said, tapping Daniel's elbow as he walked by. "Remember what we talked about."
Daniel glared at him. "My short term memory is fine, thank you. Goodbye, Jack." He turned back to his cartoon with a slight huff.
Colonel O'Neill rolled his eyes and bent down to wrap one arm around Janet's back. "Call me if he gets to be too much," he said into her ear.
Janet nodded, and he stepped outside without another word. She stood at the door watching as he got into his truck and drove away.
She didn't even bother trying to drag Daniel's attention away from the television once Colonel O'Neill was gone. He completely ignored her, so she returned the favour. The silence was actually a welcome treat.
Janet sighed as she let Leroy in from the backyard and watched him settle himself
under the kitchen table without trotting off to see Daniel. She tried to remind
herself, though, that the damage that had been done to their happy home wasn't
necessarily permanent. Even if Daniel never loved her again, things would settle
down and they would be happy again one day. She was sure of it.
To be continued...