It was wrong to see him so close to tears and want to hug him and somehow make everything better. Not that there was anything wrong with wanting to comfort a friend who was suffering far more than he rightly deserved, but there was definitely something wrong with wanting to kiss him in a not-so-friendly manner and help him forget his sadness. He'd just lost his wife, for God's sake, a woman who he had loved far more than Sam had ever loved anyone, far more than she was even sure she could love anyone. His capacity for love was greater than any she'd ever seen, and the way he'd committed himself to finding Sha're and saving her...
But it was because he could love so much that he was now hurting so much, and because he'd dedicated his life to this cause that he was lost without it. It was because Sha're was gone that those tears were trying to force their way through his poker face. She was sure he was thinking about his wife, so how could she be thinking such thoughts at a time like this? What kind of person was she, to not be focused solely on helping him through this, the way a friend should?
She was his friend, and that was good, but sometimes she imagined being not-friends, more than friends. She imagined how it might feel to kiss him, to wake up next to him, to hear him say her name with something more than platonic affection. It hadn't mattered before because she'd known perfectly well it wouldn't happen; he was so devoted to his absent wife that nothing short of mind-altering alien technology would make him consider another woman.
Now that obstacle was gone, but she shouldn't, couldn't be thinking that that was a good thing. An innocent woman was dead and Daniel was broken and she wasn't happy, but a part of her that refused to be silenced was saying that maybe now she had a chance. Except she knew she didn't because, wife or no wife, Daniel would never think of her the way she was trying not to think of him. She didn't know why she was so sure of that, but he'd never given her even the slightest reason to believe otherwise.
And even if by some chance she was wrong and she wasn't the only one feeling this feeling, nothing would come of it. It wasn't technically against any regulations she was aware of, but that was because the regulations didn't take into account the possibility of archaeologist/linguists who, based on their job description, might as well be military. How could you make decisions in a combat situation about the life of someone you loved?
Loved? She already loved Daniel, and the rest of her team, and how much of a difference did it make whether the love was platonic or romantic? But still, she knew it was a bad idea. This was all just a bad idea at a bad time, and she was going to drop it and concentrate on doing whatever she could to help Daniel.
She walked over and gave him a hug, and his arms tightened around her and she held her breath in hopes that time might stop there, just for a moment. Then she let go.