SG13 The Suicide Squad

by Cesar A

First in series. Prisoners form SG-13, the lives of the members of SG-1 and the SGC will never be the same again. Characters from JAG and West Wing appear.

5. Part 5

Chapter 9: Interludes 2

Gabriel groaned and shifted in bed, suddenly a blinding pain shot through his side making him freeze in position. It took several moments for Gabriel to remember what happened, the last thing that he remembered clearly was his chute giving way and falling for what seemed like forever, but was probably a few seconds, then nothing. Opening his eyes, he squinted against the light that was threatening to cause his head to explode. He tried to raise his arms to cover his eyes and noticed to his horror that only one of his limbs responded, he then also noticed that his other arm was beginning to throb in a way that promised a lot more pain to come. Shielding his eyes with his one good hand, he heard a voice protest.

"I have to check your eyes Gabriel, now cooperate." The voice ordered

Instantly Gabriel relaxed, he knew that voice; he knew that the owner of that voice would never intentionally inflict harm upon him.

Daisy jumped up when he first began to wake. Looking at her watch, she could see that it was three in the morning and knew that if he was waking up now, it was because his meds were wearing off. Soon Gabriel would be in a lot of pain. Immediately she began to go over him again, to make sure that he was all right. Gabriel began to protest against the penlight, she asked him to stop, and to her utter surprise, he did.

"Daisy?' he mumbled his mouth like cotton

Daisy raised a straw to his mouth and watched as he drank his fill, which wasn't more than a few swallows.

"Daisy" he said clearer, opening his eyes he saw her concerned face standing over him "That bad?" he asked, he tried to move his legs and found that he couldn't, his eyes opened wide in shock, "Oh God no, I'm paralyzed." He began to panic

Daisy grabbed his shoulders trying to force him to lie still "No Gabriel, you're not paralyzed. You broke your legs their in casts. Please Gabriel you are going to hurt yourself even more." She pleaded with him

Gabriel began to relax as her words sunk in "I'm not paralyzed?"

"No, you're not." Daisy told him running her fingers through his thick dark hair

Gabriel shut his eyes, "Thank God." He murmured feeling the pain in his ribs then opening his eyes again "How am I?" he asked

Daisy explained everything to him, his injuries and his prognosis. She couldn't, wouldn't lie to him, not now. He was hurt and he needed her, and he would need her for support in the weeks to come. To help him deal with what was ahead.

"Are you in pain?" she asked "And don't you dare try to bullshit me either Gabriel, or I will knock you out." She told him holding up a needle.

"It's not too bad now." He admitted "But it promises to get worse." Looking around he saw that he was in one of the private rooms for patients that were going to be in the infirmary for a while.

"Where's the bathroom." He asked

Holding up a bedpan, Daisy smiled "Here it is."

Gabriel blanched the moment he saw it "You've got to be kidding me."

"How are you going to walk to the bathroom in your condition?" She asked him reasonably

"Oh God" he murmured embarrassedly "Couldn't you just roll me to the bathroom, I got to pee."

Picking up a receptacle, she held it up "Got one just for that purpose" she smiled as he turned pink "Let me help." Daisy reached for the sheets covering him.

Gabriel made a grab for the receptacle and instantly regretted it, his side exploding in pain again.

Daisy suddenly got angry again "Damn-it Gabriel, you have nothing that I haven't seen and been intimate with before. Besides I'm a trained doctor, I think that I can handle your bodily functions." She said furiously, he was acting like a child.

Gabriel turned away from her, "I'm sorry Daisy, I'm just embarrassed that's all." He said turning even redder

"Here" Daisy went to the door "I'll lock the door for you, no one will come in and catch you peeing."

Daisy pulled the blankets down, maneuvered him into the receptacle, and waited until he was done. Grabbing a tissue she wiped him clean and noticed to her delight that he was becoming excited. Daisy squeezed gently and was rewarded with a groan of pleasure.

"Oh God Daisy don't do that." He protested weakly

"Do what?" Daisy began to smile and stroked his length

"That, what you're doing." Gabriel shut his eyes, the pain in the rest of his body disappearing immediately. God it had been ten years since anyone other than himself had touched him this way. Gabriel had almost forgotten how good it felt, suddenly Gabriel felt the intense need to touch Daisy, to feel her naked body in his hands.

Sternly Daisy leaned over him until their lips were inches from each other "I am your personal physician Gabriel, it's my job to see that 'all' your needs are met."

"Do you do this for all your patients?" he asked groaning in pleasure.

"Only you, my love." She whispered and kissed him deeply

It was just noon when Daniel walked into the restaurant where he agreed to meet Sarah. Looking around he spotted her and she him, waving at him, Daniel waved back and made his way to the table. Sarah stood up and hugged him kissing him on the cheek.

"How are you Sarah?" Daniel asked a moment later as they sat down "Commander Rabb, nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you too." Rabb smiled, already liking Daniel, for what he did for Sarah or tried to do.

"I'm fine" Mac looked around and saw that Daniel was alone, was she wrong about him and that Major. Did he think that this was a date to try to get back together again? What she wanted to say to him was hard enough without that coming into the picture.

Daniel took his seat and smiled "I'm sorry Sam couldn't come, she promised the daughter of a friend that she'd take her shopping today." He explained

Sarah relaxed a bit, glad that she'd been right "I hope you don't mind, but I invited some friends of mine to join us." Knowing that she needed all the moral support that she could possibly muster. Mac had spoke to Harriet and Bud the night before and they had immediately volunteered to come.

Daniel shrugged "I don't mind at all" he said a bit nervously wondering if he should have taken up Jack's offer to come with him.

Mac blushed "Two of our colleagues came up yesterday to help with our investigations and I invited them to join us. Here they come now."

Daniel turned and saw a young couple dressed in civilian clothes coming to the table.

Mac made the introductions "Harriet and Bud Roberts, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson."

Smiling Daniel shook hands "Harriet, Bud a pleasure to meet you."

"Dr. Jackson, Commander Rabb good to see you." Bud shook hands with both

"Just call me Daniel", he told them

"A pleasure Daniel." Harriet shook hands with the handsome young doctor and as she sat threw a smile at Mac who blushed pink

"So you two knew each other in college?" Harriet began wanting to know the whole story

"Yes" Daniel smiled at the young woman "Sarah was just starting her freshman year, and I was beginning graduate school."

"What kind of doctor are you?" asked Bud curiously

"I have PhD's in Linguistics, Ancient cultures specializing in Egyptology, and anthropology."

"Three PhD's!" Harriet asked surprised and was even more surprised by the fact that Daniel wasn't bragging, just answering Bud's question.

"Yes, I was an overachiever in school." Daniel blushed

Mac smiled remembering the conversations they used to have "Too young to date college girls you mean." Then explained "He was sixteen when he went to college, got his bachelor's and Masters by the time he was nineteen, PhD or at least the first one by twenty-one."

Daniel blushed but pointed out "Well you haven't done so bad look at you Lt colonel by..."

"Don't you say it." Mac warned him

Daniel held up his hands "the time that you are still very young."

"Better." Mac smiled "So what are you doing these days, I mean I thought that you were teaching at a university, and digging holes in the sand in Egypt."

Daniel sighed unhappily at the memories "It was agreed that I should leave the teaching profession."

"You agreed to that?" Mac asked surprised, she knew that he loved to teach

Daniel shook his head drinking some water "No they agreed that I shouldn't teach anymore."

"Daniel what happened?" Mac asked wondering what possibly could have gone wrong.

"I bucked convention." Daniel shrugged "I called into question some of the very basic theories that all historians believe. I was ridiculed, censured then fired, after that, the archeological community shunned me for my beliefs. No one would give me a grant to try and prove my theories, after my last attempt to find a backer I was homeless." He left out the part that all his theories had since then been proven right.

"Oh Daniel I'm so sorry." Mac truly felt for him, she knew what he'd been through in his life. She also knew what archeology meant to him and to be shunned by the profession must have been hard.

Daniel waved it away "It's okay, I'm pretty much over it now. I got lucky, that same day I lost my apartment, I was offered a job out here to do some government work, I took it and I'm still here six years later. I'm really happy now." He told her with a genuine smile

"So what do you do for the government?" Harm asked curiously

Daniel shook his head "Well it's sort of translation work, sorry I can't go into detail but it's classified."

"What other languages do you speak?" Harriet asked curiously

Daniel blinked "Well let's see..."

Mac laughed holding up a hand before Daniel could start to list each one of them "I think it would be easier to tell her that you speak 23 languages."

Harriet and Bud's eyes bugged out "23 languages?"

Daniel shrugged "24 actually, I just learned sign language. It just seemed to come natural to me." He told them truthfully

"So" Mac clapped her hands together "Didn't you ever marry, have children?" Mac asked knowing what a wonderful father he would make.

Daniel knew the question was coming, after all this is why he came, to talk to Sarah about, their lives since they'd last seen each other. Still it was hard especially in front of three strangers.

Daniel sighed as he began to tell her "I was married for awhile, her name was Sha're. We met in Egypt."

Mac could see this was a painful subject for him "Divorced?" she guessed

Daniel leaned his elbows on the table suddenly finding the table cloth fascinating "No, she was kidnapped a year after we were married." He told them shocking the group into silence "I spent the next two years looking for her. She died." He admitted quickly

"Oh my God Daniel, that must have been terrible." She said grabbing his hand "Why didn't you ever call, tell me."

Daniel shook his head, he couldn't tell Sarah about the stargate or that Sha're was from another planet, and he hadn't been able to tell anyone outside the project.

"I found her in time to watch her die." He said bitterly, the others watched him sadly "I was pretty much a wreck for awhile, but my friends helped me through it, my family helped me through it." He corrected, then to their utter surprise Daniel completely changed in an instant "But hey that was a few years ago, I'm happy now."

Mac had to smile, she knew, just knew it "You found love again, that Major."

"Sam? Yeah." Daniel couldn't help but glow at the thought of her and no one at the table could help but notice "We started out as friends, she was the only one who could put up with my ramblings about ancient cultures and I was the only one who listened to her theories in astrophysics, she's a doctor also." Quickly Harm threw a glance at Mac and she nodded, that made two historians and two astrophysicist's, what could they be doing?

Daniel continued oblivious to their shared look "I can't tell you what it was like to find someone, especially in the military who was just as excited as I was at a new discovery. The nights we spent pouring over books, throwing theories at one another over coffee at three in the morning. Soon she was one of my best friends. She helped me look for Sha're; Sam was there for me in so many ways. She made sure that I would sleep every few days, even when I didn't want to." Mac nodded, she still remembered his nightmares about his parents. Remembered him waking up in the middle of the night too afraid to go back to sleep "She made sure that I ate at least one meal a day and she forced me to talk about anything and everything. New discoveries, languages, history, anything to get my mind off of my fears, my failures as a husband, even if it was just for a few minutes." He admitted to her

Mac stared at him, knowing it must have been hard, but how could he blame himself "How could you say that Daniel, you couldn't have known at the time."

Bitterly he told her, told her things that he was afraid to tell Sam, how could he tell Sam when his greatest fear was that he might fail again, fail Sam at the very moment that she needed him the most.

Daniel's eyes burned with pure hatred, Harm blinked, this was not the man that Sarah had described as 'Wouldn't hurt a fly' right now, Harm knew that if that kidnapper walked through the door he wouldn't be alive long.

"I didn't protect her, Sarah. I wasn't there to protect her when she was being raped. All I could do was hold her while she died giving birth to his child. Promising her to make sure that the child would be safe."

Mac shivered at the anger he displayed, Daniel had changed over the years. In most ways he was the same, but still he hated himself for failing to protect his wife.

"Daniel, I can't say that I understand what you went through. But I know you Daniel, I'm sure that you did everything that you could to find her. Just like I'm sure that you protected her child." She tried to comfort him.

"It was the least that I could do." He mumbled

"The man who did this, did they catch him?" Mac asked hoping that there was at least closure for him

"Oh yes we found him." Daniel said softly

Sarah smiled holding up her hands "So he's in jail and the child is safe."

Daniel shook his head "He's dead." Daniel told her flatly, "He will never harm anyone ever again."

"You mean you killed him?" Mac asked softly, looking over to Harriet and Bud. She'd forgotten they were even here, she was sorry now that she had invited them.

Daniel's eyes snapped open "Not personally, no. Although I would have, gladly." Daniel told her trying to figure out a way to explain it "He was an Egyptian terrorist, he killed or hurt a lot of innocent people. I helped the authorities to track him down using my knowledge of the land and the people. They tried to take him in for trial, but he preferred to go another way." Daniel shrugged, well it was close to the truth.

Mac was relieved to hear that "I'm sorry Daniel, I should have realized that you wouldn't do such a thing."

Blowing out a relieved breath, she smiled and changed the subject to something more pleasant. "So tell me more about Sam."

Again the instant her name was mentioned Daniel lit up "Sam is the first person I actually don't have to speak to, to have her understand me completely." Daniel paused and became serious again "She was with me when Sha're died and she helped pick up the pieces. For nearly five years we worked side by side helping each other through some rough times mine and hers, she's been dealt some hard blows herself. Some where along the line, I don't even really know when, I fell in love with her, I couldn't picture a single day going by without seeing her, being near her."

"So you told her and you're living the happily ever after?" Mac asked truly happy for her friend knowing that if anyone deserved a happy ever after it was Daniel.

Daniel cocked an eye at her "Come on Sarah, when did anything happen for me easily. No, I think I fell for her even before my wife died. After two years I was losing hope of ever seeing her again, everything that I did, everyplace I looked seemed to just make the distance seem that much farther. Then came a woman who was brilliant and beautiful. I can't even begin to tell you how guilty I felt, as if I was being unfaithful to my wife. How many times I tried to stop myself from looking and feeling the way I did for Sam. After my wife died and some time had passed I finally admitted to myself how much I loved Sam, I still didn't tell her. I couldn't believe that a woman like her could ever fall for a guy like me, you know a geek." He said with a smile.

Harriet looked at Daniel and saw an extremely handsome man with the brightest blue eyes, who was smart and obviously sensitive all in a nicely put together package. A geek never. Looking at Mac she saw that Mac thought the same thing. However, Sarah also knew Daniel and the low self-esteem that he felt for himself, re-enforced by some of those foster parents he'd lived with who tried to put down a little boy because he was obviously so much smarter than they were.

Daniel laughed "Two years later." He told them "I finally got the courage to tell her, after I found out that the man, my other best friend, who I would have sworn she loved, she actually didn't love."

"How did you find out?" Harriet asked

Daniel laughed harder, still unable to get that picture of Jack and Janet in the parking lot out of his mind "We caught him necking with a woman in a parking lot and Sam wasn't mad. She was happy for him, so I took a chance and I told her how I felt. What really shocked me was that night I found out that she'd been in love with me for nearly as long as I was in love with her." Daniel shook his head "Imagine, two of the smartest people in the country couldn't figure out something so basic. However, at first there was the fact that I was married, and then she was afraid that I wasn't over my wife. Then she thought that I could never love her, that I would always see her as a friend. I thought that I wasn't good enough for her; I thought that she was in love with Colonel Jack O'Neill. That was six months ago, I haven't looked back since." Shaking his head "I'm talking too much, come on Sarah now it's your turn. Why haven't you married and had a bunch of kids by now.

There was one thing that Sarah had to say to him, one thing that she had waited over a decade to say. Sarah had told Harm the truth, one of the reasons they broke up was because of her joining the service. But it wasn't the main reason. The main reason was that it had been her fault, her drinking in those days had gotten bad, and it just got worse as time went by. How many times had Daniel carried her back to her dorm and put her to bed. How many times had she woken up with a hang over to find Daniel sitting in a chair worried to death about her a cold wet rag in one hand and aspirin in the other, dark circles under his eyes. The many times that he'd begged her not to drink anymore and she had laughed at him, questioned his manhood because he didn't drink. Sarah wondered bitterly how many scars she had personally given him.

"There is one thing Daniel." Taking a deep breath she let loose "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what I did to you."

Daniel shook his head "Sarah you don't..."

Sarah held up a hand needing more than ever to get the weight off her chest "I do, I loved you Daniel, but back then I loved the bottle more." She smiled bitterly her tears falling.

Harm, Harriet and Bud wisely kept their mouths shut, they all knew Mac was a recovering alcoholic. Obviously, the drinking had started young. What they didn't know, except for Harm, was that it drove away the man she loved. A man who might have been her husband and father to their children, if circumstances had been different. Marriage had been discussed as a possiblity after graduation, but Sarah's drinking had ended those dreams forever. Life would be very different for the both of them now, if only Sarah hadn't ruined it all with her drinking.

"And I will never forget the fact that you tried to help me." She smiled holding his hand

Daniel shook his head bitterly "I'm sorry too, I'm sorry I failed you too." He told her

Sarah felt like she'd been slapped, it had been her problem, she drove him away. She could still remember that night so vividly. The last time that he'd tried to help her, to tell her how much he loved her. And she remembered how she had treated him that night.

"Please Sarah, let me help you." Daniel begged her "We can go to AA take a meeting."

Sarah was tearing his apartment apart, flinging his books everywhere "Where the fuck is it Danny!" she demanded feeling the clawing in her stomach.

"I threw it away, I poured it all down the sink." Reaching for her, he tried to hug her tears stinging his eyes "Please Sarah you have to stop this you're killing the both of us."

Roughly she pushed him away, slapping him across the face "You bastard, how can you say you love me and do this to me!" she demanded angrily

Daniel ignored the stinging of his face "You don't need the liquor, let me help you."

Sarah laughed "You! Help me! Hah that's a laugh." She taunted him pulling off her dress she stood before him naked roughly she grabbed him below the belt making him wince.

"You just want to fuck me." She told him "Well okay fuck me to your heart's content, just give me a drink." She begged

Daniel backed away, he no longer recognized this woman in front of him "I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore Sarah, I want to help you. But all you do anymore is hurt me."

"Fucking whimp" Sarah snarled feeling the crawlies in her belly begging for alcohol. Grabbing her dress, she quickly put it on and left. It was three hours later that he found her passed out again, where she didn't know. She remembered waking up in her bed and finding him standing over her protectively as always. She recalled the things she had said and done the night before, before she got drunk.

"I'm sorry Daniel." She croaked wiping the tears that sprung into her eyes

Daniel tried again, begging tears running down his face "You need help, Sarah. I can help you we can get you help. You don't have to go through this alone."

Ashamed she began to cry, "Just go Daniel, please, just go."

And he had gone, soon he tried to call her, and she refused to answer his calls. Sarah avoided him at all costs and continued to drown her sorrows with more alcohol and it got worse and worse. Until the day, that Daniel couldn't take it anymore and left.

Looking back now Sarah wondered why he had stuck it out so long. Now she knew, he thought that it was all his fault, that somehow he drove her to the drinking. That was just like Daniel.

"Oh no Daniel, you didn't fail me." She protested hoping she could heal some of those old wounds "You tried to help me, you protected me." Sarah shivered "I don't even want to think about how many times I passed out and left myself vulnerable to be raped or killed. You took me home and nursed my hangovers, and I treated you like shit for it. I'm a drunk Daniel, you didn't do it to me, I did it all on my own. It took me a long time to crawl out of the bottle but I did. But not before I hurt many people, you included. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry and I hope one day you can forgive me." She told him wiping away her tears.

Daniel grabbed her hand and smiled "You were forgiven a long time ago." He said simply knowing she needed to hear it

"Now about you not being married." Daniel continued as if nothing had ever happened

Sarah wiped her tears away and held his hand tightly "Thank you."

Bud and Harriet let out a sigh of relief, both of these two had been through a lot. They were both amazed at how quickly they both recovered now and continued to chat as if nothing had ever happened. Harriet understood that it had been like two festering boils. One hers, one his, meeting again after so many years they had lanced those boils and let the poison out. Now they could rebuild their friendship. Harriet waited until she could find a place to jump in and helped them both change the subject.

Sam came out of the dressing room wearing a sexy black dress, looking at her watch, she saw that it was nearly two and Daniel would be here soon to pick her up. Going to the mirror, she looked at herself and did a little twirl. She felt giddy, like she was on cloud nine, especially after last night. She got aroused just thinking about it, the way that Daniel made her feel, the way he looked at her the way he touched her. It was almost dawn before they had gone to sleep, and Sam fell immediately into a deep dreamless sleep, only to wake up a few hours later still in Daniel's arms. Getting out of bed, Sam made her way to the kitchen to put on the coffee, knowing that it was a sure way to wake her sleeping prince. Turning on the stereo, she found a station that played forties swing music. Just the right upbeat music to start the day with, she'd never been this happy in all her life. Sam wanted to run up to the roof and scream from there, that the man she loved was Doctor Daniel Jackson.

The phone rang as she plugged in the coffee pot, spinning around she danced across the floor and picked it up.

"Good morning, and what a beautiful morning it is." She answered the phone brightly

"Sammy?"

Sam smiled "Good morning Daddy."

Jacob was extremely puzzled "Since when are you a morning person, little girl. I remember having to put dynamite under your bed to wake you up." Although Jacob could guess the reason, talking to his daughter about her sex life was not one of the things he cared to do.

Still smiling Sam did a twirl opening the fridge and getting out the milk "I'm just very happy this morning Dad."

"That's good Sam, I just wanted to call and invite you and Daniel to dinner tonight."

Sam smiled "You haven't interrogated my boyfriends since high school."

Jacob protested half-heartedly "It's not an interrogation, I just want to know the boy's intentions."

Suddenly Sam became serious "Daddy don't put him on the spot like that." Sam warned not sure how Daniel would react to something like that "It took me a long time to get him even to look at me as a woman, and not just another study buddy."

"I'll be gentle." He promised "But if this is as serious as I think it is, I just want to get to know him better, that's all. So are you interested?"

Sam shivered as she felt Daniel's arms slip around her waist from behind and his lips on the back of her neck "Just a sec dad, someone's at the door." Putting the phone down Sam turned and kissed Daniel for all that she was worth. Leaving Daniel standing there as if hit by truck.

"Oh hi Daniel." She spoke loud enough for her father to hear "I'm just on the phone with my father, he wants to take us out to dinner tonight, what do you think?"

Jacob covered his mouth; Sam would have to practice trying to be deceitful. Still he decided not to say anything, Sam also obviously had a problem speaking to her father about her sex life. Thank God!

Daniel was still too stunned by the power of her kiss to say anything, Sam slapped his arm playfully and he snapped out of it.

"Uh, sure, anything you say." He said lamely

Sam picked up the phone "Dad, Daniel just came over, we'd love to come to dinner."

"Great I'll come by your place around seven?"

"Perfect. I'll see you then, bye." Sam waited then hung up the phone

"Wow, that was some kiss." Daniel smiled putting his arms around her waist

Sam wrapped her arms around his neck "That was some night, last night. Where did you ever learn those things?"

Daniel smiled blushing "Well, the Kama Sutra is technically an ancient Hindu text which I studied carefully, as well as some of the Egyptian and Chinese and...."

Sam laughed, "I get the picture" kissing him again she nuzzled his neck "I'm just glad that you are such a studious guy."

Wrapping his arms around her tighter, he smiled "Oh we haven't even scratched the surface yet." He promised

"Holy Hannah" Sam shivered her mind boggling at the possibilities "Coffee?"

Daniel quirked an eyebrow at her

"I know stupid question." Sam laughed as she pulled out two mugs and poured coffee into them.

Spinning again Sam stared at her reflection.

"Wow!" Janet nodded her approval of both the dress and her friend's good mood "You will knock Daniel for a loop with that dress."

"It does look good on me, doesn't." Sam announced proudly nodding at her reflection in the mirror.

Janet did a double take; did Sam just say that she looked good in a dress? Janet knew her friend very well; she knew that Sam was a beautiful woman. But Sam had trouble seeing that sometimes, not that she thought that she was unattractive, but the men that Sam had chosen previously especially that son-of-a-bitch Jonas Hanson had made her feel inferior. So much so that sometimes, up until today that is, Sam had a hard time seeing herself as a beautiful, desirable woman.

Janet turned to the two girls with her, who were both smiling approvingly at Sam's dress "Why don't you girls go hit the Gap, we'll be there in a few minutes."

Cassie's eyes lit up "Sure mom, come on Josie. I saw this sweater that would look great on you."

Both girls took off at warp speed in search of the perfect sweater.

Janet came over, pulled Sam into a dressing room, and closed the door.

"Janet?" Sam said surprised

"What is going on Sam?" Janet smiled staring at her taller friend

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked

Taking a seat she looked up at her friend "Do you love Daniel that much?" she asked seriously

Sam sat down facing Janet "You probably know that I wasn't feeling all that great last night."

Janet nodded "Cause Daniel wanted to see an ex-girlfriend."

Sam shook her head "Not just that, first I came into the briefing room arm in arm with Naream, then later that crack I made about some marriages not lasting two years?" Sam said meaningfully

Janet's mouth opened wide "I didn't even pick up on that. How did Daniel react?"

Sam grabbed Janet's hand tears threatening to spill over "Oh Janet I felt so bad the moment I said that. I thought that he would hate me, so I ran before he could say anything. All I could think was what would Jonas have said about a crack like that."

"And?" Janet prompted

"Daniel was livid." Sam held up a hand to stop Janet's next comment "Not about the crack I made, but that I had compared him to Jonas."

"Ohh" Janet said beginning to understand, and happy that Daniel was the type of man he was.

Sam smiled as she continued "He said that he knew that Jonas had used my love against me, and that he would kill himself before he ever did anything like that to me."

"Good boy." Janet thought to herself and made a note to give Daniel a big hug

"Janet the things he did to me last night." Sam shivered again at the thoughts

"Rocked your world huh?" Janet smiled

"I lost count after the eighth time the earth shook." Sam admitted leaning her head back against the wall closing her eyes just remembering.

"Eight orgasms?!" Janet's eyes bugged out, what the hell was Daniel doing to this woman, and could he give some to Jack!

Sam shook her head "That is when I lost count, and you know me Janet, I love to count." Suddenly the tears that she'd been holding back began to spill, tears of joy "He said that last night was for me, because I deserved all the love and pleasure that he could give me, that he could wait, everything was for me to show me how much he loved me. He made me believe that I was beautiful. No man has ever treated me like that, he did the most erotic things that I could ever imagine some of which I never imagined." She admitted

"What!" Janet was desperate to know; maybe she could get Jack to do the same

"The first time that I you know."

"Came." Janet said bluntly wanting to get to the good stuff

Sam chuckled at her friend's coarse language "Yes, anyway, he ordered me to look into his eyes."

"What?" that didn't sound so sexy.

"Then he whispered, do you see yourself in my eyes, do you see how beautiful you are, do you see how beautiful you are to me, how much I love you." Grabbing Janet's hands, "I came like I've never came before." She told her friend

"I can imagine" Janet sighed, who would have thought that Daniel would turn out to be so sexual and sensual. There was more to the quiet archeologist than she had ever imagined.

"Then" Sam continued

"There's more?" Janet sat open mouthed

Sam smiled "That was just the first one."

"Oh my." Janet sighed

"You said it girl, he stripped me naked and laid me on the bed and he just stared at me for the longest time. At first, he didn't even touch me and I began to feel self-conscious and tried to cover up. He begged me not to, he begged Janet. He said that even with all the languages that he speaks he couldn't come up with words to tell me how beautiful I was. But I could see it in his eyes, how much he wanted me, how much he loved me. For the first time in my life after men like Jonas, who would fuck me and then go to sleep not even caring if I got off, I felt like I was desired, I felt special and he made me feel beautiful. The reason it was so special was because he gave me something no man has ever given me."

"What?" Janet asked making sure to give Daniel the biggest hug he's ever gotten for making Sam feel this way.

"Men like Jonas and the few others I've been with, always held the sexual power over me, I had to do the things that pleased them and if they felt like it they would try and satisfy me, they all failed Janet." Sam admitted her secret to her best friend "Last night Daniel could have done the same thing, and I wouldn't have cared, I wanted him that badly. But something happened last night, the moment I even thought of something that I wanted, a position that I would enjoy, I'd tell him and he fulfilled it for me. Last night he gave me that power over him, I could have done anything that I wanted to. He didn't even care if I took care of him or not. Last night I could have rolled over and gone to sleep if I had wanted leaving him frustrated. Do you know how powerful I felt, how awed I was at the trust that he gave me."

Janet shook her head "I can only imagine." Although Jack was a generous lover, and he excited her like no other man, her ex-husband included, Jack had never surrendered himself or let himself be so completely vulnerable to her.

Sam wiped away her tears and continued, "After that I realized that I didn't care if he saw Sarah Mackenzie, or if he had dated her for twenty years. He is mine, heart and soul, and no one can take him from me."

"Sam, I can't tell you how happy I am that you've found a man like that." Janet smiled at her friend "I know what you've been through, in some ways I've been there myself. I'm just happy that after your string of bad luck, that you've found love."

Sam wiped her tears away and laughed "In some ways it's funny though, you know if you'd told me six and a half years ago that I would fall head over heels in love with a book worm archeologist, instead of a Rambo type of guy, I would have laughed in your face. Now I can't imagine my life without him."

Janet stood up "Come on and buy that dress, and let's go meet the girls."

Quickly Sam changed back into her jeans and t-shirt and carefully hung the dress back on the hanger. Both women stepped out of the dressing room and found themselves surrounded by women. All of which were smiling at them.

"Which one of you is Sam?" one of them a tall busty red-head asked

Sam flushed crimson thinking that all these women had overheard her talking about Daniel in such a way

"Sam!" A voice called out, the entire group turned and saw a handsome young man walking towards them

Smiling Daniel came up to her and kissed her, then he noticed that all the women around them were giving him some strange looks and a red-haired woman was licking her lips staring at him.

Ignoring the looks he smiled at Janet taking the dress from Sam and holding it for her "Hi Janet, Jack's parking the car, he said he'd meet us in the food court."

Sam blushed again knowing what these women must be thinking just by the looks that they were throwing at Daniel. Some of them were old enough to his mother! And that redhead was just begging to be knocked out, "Come on Daniel, we better catch up with the girls."

Shrugging he threw his arm around her shoulder, automatically Sam's arm went around his waist protectively.

"I just saw them they're in the food court stuffing their faces, they told me where to find you guys. You ready, or do you want to try some more stuff on?" he asked patiently

"He's even willing to wait while she shops!" One woman observed wistfully

"What?" Daniel was about to turn, when he felt Sam pull him towards the cash register

"Come on Daniel, suddenly I'm hungry." Sam said turning a brighter shade of red

"Me too" Janet agreed quickly hiding a smile behind her hand, she waved goodbye to the other women.

Daniel shrugged "After you ladies." He knew that he was missing something but didn't know what.

As Sam and Janet and Jack ate lunch Daniel sat drinking coffee telling them about his lunch with Sarah.

"So she bought a couple with her?" Jack asked surprised

Daniel nodded "And her partner commander Rabb, I think that she was disappointed that Sam wasn't there."

"You did explain didn't you?" Sam hoped he had

"Of course I explained." Daniel smiled happily

"You seem very happy." Jack observed

Daniel put down his cup smiling "We cleared the air between us, I think that we could actually become good friends again."

Taking a bite of her pizza, Sam had to ask, "Why did you two break up in the first place?"

Daniel shrugged "Sarah when I first met her was eighteen, young, beautiful and full of life. But as I found out later she also had a drinking problem."

Sam put her slice down staring at Daniel "You mean she's an alcoholic?"

Daniel nodded "Recovering ten years sober, the last few months we were together were the worst. I usually had to carry her back to her dorm and sit up to make sure that nothing happened to her."

"It must have been hard." Janet observed wondering what that must have done to a young Daniel

"Very" Daniel admitted to them "She was the first girl that I'd ever loved and it killed me to watch her destroying herself with alcohol. Soon after that I stopped trying, I just couldn't take it anymore. It bought back too many memories of some of the foster parents I had." Shrugging his shoulders, he emptied his cup, the others staring at him. Daniel, for being a linguist was very tight-lipped about his youth and just now he had given them all a brief glimpse at just some of his life.

"For a long time I felt guilty because I wasn't able to help her stop. It's one of the things we talked about actually. She asked me to forgive her for the things she'd done."

"And did you?" Jack asked wondering if he was strong enough to do what Daniel did so easily. Reminding himself that tonight he had to thank Janet properly for smacking him in the head with reality, from pulling him back from the abyss.

"Of course." Daniel told him, as if there couldn't be any other answer

"I told her about Sha're, Apophis, and before you say anything Jack. I didn't tell her the exact truth, but a variation of it. I told her that Apophis was an Egyptian terrorist who had taken Sha're away from me and that I helped the authorities to track him down."

Jack sighed relieved "Good, I'd hate to have to explain that one to General Hammond."

Sam laughed as she picked up her empty plate to throw away "Okay Daniel, come on its time for you to buy a new suit."

"I have a suit." Daniel protested, "It's a very nice suit, it's comfortable."

Sam shook her head "That's the point, you've worn that suit out. You need a new one."

Daniel got up hesitantly "Why have you never mentioned this before?" he asked her

Sam smiled impishly at him eyes sparkling "That's because we weren't together before." She told him breezily "Now however, how you look reflects on me."

Janet and Jack laughed as the two scientists made their way to the men's dress store bantering back and forth.

"Oh they are going to be a constant source of entertainment." Janet observed

Jack chuckled shaking his head, "You're right there, come on baby. Let's get the girls and go see a movie."

"Okay" Janet smiled getting up

Jack stopped her for a moment, Janet looked surprised at him.

"I just wanted to say thanks." He told her

"What for?" Janet asked confused

Jack stared at her sheepishly, "For hitting me over the head with reality."

Janet smiled at him tenderly "I love you Jack, how could I not do that for you."

Jack smiled at her ruefully "You didn't have too, a lot of others wouldn't have. That's my point, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you Janet." He whispered

"So how are you feeling Sarah?" Harm asked as he watched his partner staring out the sunshine on the terrace a legal pad in her lap. Harm knew that her mind was a million miles away and no where near the cases at hand.

Mac turned and smiled "I feel good Harm. Really and truly happy."

Harm sat opposite her and studied her "You know you could have told me earlier, I could have helped you track him down sooner."

Sarah sighed "I guess that I didn't really want to think about it, about him." She admitted shivering "To know that I am capable of inflicting such pain on another human being, on someone that I loved. Then after all this time to find out that he felt like he failed me." Sarah shook her head.

Harm smiled at her "We've known each other for a long while now." He began "I think that this is the first guy that you dated that I actually like."

Mac slapped him with the legal pad "Daniel is a good man, I'm just happy that he's finally found someone to love."

"Even though that someone is not you?" Harm had to ask her feeling more than just a little jealous

Mac smiled shaking her head at the very thought, "That was a long time ago, we've both changed. Him especially, all the pain he's endured all of his life. Watching his parent's die, the foster homes, and later losing his career then his wife. I'm amazed that he isn't in a padded room by now. I know that I probably would be."

Harm nodded in agreement "You're right there.'

There was a knock on the door, and Mac yelled out to whoever it was to come in. Harriet and Bud walked in and found the two senior officers sitting on the terrace overlooking the pool.

"I got some of that information that you wanted sir."

"That was fast Bud." Harm smiled sitting up

"What information?" Mac asked confused

Harm smiled at his friend "I asked Bud to look up some of the names we heard. Daniel Jackson, Major Samantha Carter, Colonel Jack O'Neill."

"Why would you do that?"

Harm smiled at her "Come on you're not the least bit curious." He teased her.

Mac held out for about a minute "Okay, let's have it."

Bud cleared his throat "Doctor Daniel Melbourne Jackson."

"Melbourne?" Harm snickered

Mac slapped his arm "It was his father's name."

"Oh." Harm shut up "Continue Bud."

"PhD's in yadda yadda yadda, ah here it is. Lost creditability with the scientific and archeological community for his theories that the ancient cultures of earth were influenced by extra-terrestrial beings."

"UFO's" Harm laughed

Harriet looked over and handed Harm an old archeological magazine "He wrote an article about it. I have to admit, it made me question a few things."

"Like what?" Mac asked taking the magazine

"Well, in there he poses questions that archeologists and historians still can't answer. Like how did we develop language skills? It is agreed that we went from basically savages to a culture with a complex written and spoken language in a couple of generations from basically living in caves to building the pyramids, how? They were barely civilized people and yet they built such marvels. Marvels that until recently we ourselves couldn't have built with all of our technology. He also poses the question how is it that the first pyramids of Egypt were built so perfectly and yet the later pyramids were all built smaller and shoddily in comparison. He postulates that the reason was that the alien influence by that time had left and took their technology and knowledge with them. He has similar questions about other cultures, the Greeks, Romans, Incas, the Aztecs. I don't know if I believe it but it made me think."

"Anyway" Bud continued "He was recruited to work for the government, by a Catherine Langford. After that nothing."

"Nothing as in you couldn't get anymore or nothing as there is nothing to find?" asked Harm

Bud stared at him shrugging his shoulders defeated "What I mean sir, is there are maybe a handful of people in the country if not the world that knows what Daniel Jackson is doing for the government. I couldn't even get his tax returns."

"What about Major Carter?" Mac asked, she couldn't help but be curious about Daniel's new love.

"Major Samantha Annie Carter." Bud pulled the file "Daughter of General Jacob Carter."

"As in the man we are supposed to be interviewing in two days?" Harm asked surprised

"Yes sir." Bud continued "She also has a doctorate in astrophysics, whatever that is exactly."

"That is the study of the physics of space." Harriet said shocked things beginning to click in her head

Bud nodded understanding a bit more "Okay, ah, she was also a fighter pilot during the Gulf war, good service record, high marks from all her CO's. Tried repeatedly to get into NASA, then later after she was stationed at Cheyenne Mountain she was accepted into NASA and she turned it down. She has also had some special forces training."

"Why would she try so hard to get into NASA and then turn it down?" Harm wondered

"Maybe she wanted to stay near Daniel." Mac pointed out reasonably

"Maybe." Harriet said thinking "Or..."

"What?" Harm asked

"Let Bud finish first sir." She said

"Colonel Jonathan O'Neill" Bud picked up the file and whistled impressed "Started out a pilot, went into Special Forces, then later Black-ops, half his service record has been sealed top secret. Medals and commendations coming out his ears. Would have made general except that he seems to have a problem with authority. Other than that he is a top-
notch officer, oh there was something else. There was a period a few years back when he retired early, his son accidentally shot himself with the Colonel's service pistol and died. He was twelve."

"Oh that's terrible." Harriet felt sorry for the family

Bud nodded in agreement, he couldn't help but think how he would feel if that had happened to his own son "Yeah, after that he was reprimanded several times for drunkenness, public fighting, and for volunteering for every suicide mission available, his wife left him. His psych report at the time listed him as suicidal, which made him ideal for some special missions. Then six almost seven years ago he was recalled to duty and went to Cheyenne mountain, he's been there ever since."

"Anything else?" Harm asked noticing that everything seemed to revolve around that mountain.

"One last thing, I was searching through some old files in the computer looking for anything referencing any of the three names and I came up with something." Flipping through the pages he found it "It was for the joint chiefs, a short e-mail, it was buried deep in the files and I guess someone forgot to erase it. 'To Admiral Covington, from Major General Hammond, SG 1 consisting of Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Sam Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c have disobeyed orders and have gone through the 'gate' to see what Apophis is up to. Will file complete report soon.' End of e-mail.

"Who is Apophis?" Harm asked, "Could he be this kidnapper Jackson was talking about?"

Mac was lost in thought remembering the past, remembering all the times that she'd help Daniel with his doctoral thesis and quizzing him before tests. "Apophis was the ancient Egyptian god of night."

"How did you know that Colonel, it took me twenty minutes to find that out." Bud looked crestfallen

"I dated a man who is an Egyptologist." She reminded him gently

"Daniel." Harriet smiled "Holy shit he was right."

"What?" asked Harm surprised he'd never heard Harriet curse before

Harriet sat up excitedly, "Look at the facts sir. A brilliant linguist and historian who believes that aliens came to earth and influenced our history. An astrophysicist, who studies space, yet refuses to go to NASA. A black-ops colonel who comes out of retirement to lead this SG 1. Apophis Egyptian god of night."

"What are you getting at Harriet?" Mac asked confused

Harriet looked excited as she pointed out the obvious, "They have found someway to travel into space probably has to do with this 'Gate' that is what the 'G' in the email probably means. Sky Gate, Stellar Gate, StarGate...ah."

Harm smiled indulgently "Harriet, isn't that stretching things a bit far?"

"Is it?" She asked, "Why then is a suicide squad formed in a place like Colorado Springs. Are there mad terrorists running around out here? Especially a squad that consists of a historian, another astro physicist and a medic, two snipers."

"Oh God, I think you're right." Bud sat down suddenly

"What?!" Mac asked shocked to see Bud's stricken face

"Commander remember when you called and asked me to do a recent search on Doctor Fuentes?"

"Yeah"

"Well as part of it I went and spoke to his professor who helped him get his doctorate. He was more than happy to help if it meant a chance that Doctor Fuentes might be released. He even gave me a copy of Dr. Fuentes's doctoral thesis." Reaching into his briefcase, he pulled out a thick folder and handed it to Harm.

Harm opened it and dumbly read "The influence of extra-terrestrial beings on the ancient cultures of earth."

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington D.C.

Josiah Bartlett closed the folder he'd been reading and shook his head amazed. Looking at his chief of Staff Leo McGarry, he threw the folder on the desk.

"You mean he wrote this before he ever heard of the Stargate?" he asked amazed

"Yes Mr. President." Leo smiled "Just like Daniel Jackson." He knew how the President felt about that young man.

President Bartlett stood up stretching his back "Incredible, that two men from such diverse backgrounds as these two. Who in fact never met, could come up with virtually the same theories."

Leo nodded in agreement collecting the folders to file away in the pentagon safe "And even more remarkable that they are both correct."

Bartlett chuckled "While everyone else is wrong." Sitting back down he swiveled his chair to face Leo "You know when I was in school I loved history." He began

Leo already knew that having been told hundreds of times, but he pretended not to know "Really Mr. President."

Bartlett continued staring out into space, "Yes, I got good marks in that as well. Now to think that everything that I thought I knew was wrong." He shook his head

"Not everything." Leo told him "Just some of it." He said leaving the oval office

President Bartlett turned towards the window and whispered "The most important parts." Bartlett still remembered when he took office and was reviewing with the joint chiefs about covert military operations and he came across the stargate files. After having gotten over the initial shock and disbelief, he had agreed that it was vital to not only America's future survival but also the worlds. The billions spent for this project was a small price to pay for such security, and for the potential yield of knowledge. He'd demanded and received many reports of missions, the joint chiefs thought that was to make sure that the money was being spent wisely. The real reason though was that he was utterly fascinated by it. Enthralled with the very idea of stepping through a doorway and being hurtled through space to step onto a new world, with different peoples, with their own languages and customs. Soon President Bartlett had ordered that he only wanted to see SG 1's mission reports because of all the teams, SG 1 was the most interesting. Colonel Jack O'Neill, from what he read and was told, the man would be a general by now if he could only control his sarcastic mouth that got him trouble too often. He read the original mission reports of the Abydos mission, it was strange he thought. A career black-ops officer, hard nosed and from the reports suicidal, because of what happened to his son, had volunteered to go through the gate and if he found resistance to blow the gate up with a tactical nuke. In addition, an archeologist and brilliant linguist who could read hieroglyphics as easily as he read the New York Times working together. Bartlett also remembered seeing the changes in the language that both men used in their reports over time. At first it was obvious that O'Neill had no use for Jackson and had absolutely no respect for him, in one report he even referred to the scientist as "super-geek". Then later when everything had gone wrong on Abydos, Jackson jumped in front of an energy weapon to save O'Neill's life and died doing it. If it hadn't been for that amazing sarcophagus Daniel Jackson would still be dead. After that though he could see the change, O'Neill wrote with the beginnings of a grudging respect for the young man that continued to grow through the reports, to now where he wrote about him as if he were not only his best friend but like his son even though there was only ten or fifteen years age difference. Daniel Jackson's reports however were truly incredible, the things that he had discovered, the artifacts the scrolls everything that had proved that the young man was not crazy but in Bartlett's opinion the most brilliant historian and visionary in history. And as always the price that he had paid for those discoveries. Bartlett had read those as well, the loss of his wife and subsequent possession by a Goa'uld, her death by a friends hand the same friend who chose her for an evil false god before finally changing sides. Could he be that forgiving if someone had done that to his wife, could he not only forgive the man but also call him a friend, he didn't think so. That mission report had spoken volumes to him about the type of man Daniel Jackson was. He had read all the versions of it what had occurred. Secretly Bartlett had hoped that Daniel Jackson would find his wife again and find a way to dispossess her of the malevolent creature that had so cruelly invaded her body. The romantic part of him wanted Jackson to succeed, to have that fairy tale ending. To ride away into the sunset with the beautiful princess by his side and whisk her away to his castle and live happily ever after. Sadly, that wasn't the case; reality is not often that kind. O'Neill's report spoke about how he'd failed his friend, Major Carter's report spoke about how heartbroken she was for him, Teal'c although formal, spoke about how hard it had been to kill her, but he did it only to save Jackson's life. However, Daniel Jackson's report was one that Bartlett could never forget "My wife Sha're is dead, my friend Teal'c was forced to kill her to save my life I'm glad it's over, now she is free and will never be in pain again." Yes, the man who opened the stars for the human race paid a high price for his discovery. Yet, the man went on, Bartlett was amazed at his resiliency, his deep faith in people, that they were innately good and decent because he was. That is why Bartlett wanted him on SG 1 and at the SGC, they needed a man like Jackson, who didn't believe that every problem could be solved by more ammunition and bigger bombs, but by thinking, questioning. What surprised Bartlett was that both Major General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill agreed, well at least to a certain degree. The man who is a magnet for trouble, who from what he read in the reports had disappeared, gone invisible, was thought dead, was dead on a couple of occasions, who had been tortured, beaten, raped by a female Goa'uld, locked into an institution by his own friends who had mistakenly believed he'd gone insane. It was inconceivable to Bartlett that such a man still had faith, that the very foundations of his beliefs had not been shaken to their very cores, again Josiah Bartlett wasn't sure that he could be the same. However, Daniel Jackson was and is the same, Bartlett could tell just by reading his reports and that of Jack O'Neill.

That thought made him chuckle, from the way O'Neill describes Jackson he is like an overactive two year old in desperate need of Ritalin when it comes to a new discovery. Jackson has to touch everything, is happiest when he finds a ten thousand year old tablet with glyphs on it. In addition, O'Neill has to try to rein in that enthusiasm, Bartlett knew that it must be one hell of a challenge to restrain the overanxious archeologist. Picking up another file, Bartlett frowned, there was something that puzzled him of late. In the reports that he read, he thought that he could see a change in the relationship between Major Carter and Daniel Jackson. When he first began to suspect something he had ordered SG 1's service records, before that he had always imagined them in his mind's eye as he did with any book that he read. Putting the faces to the names to the characters, the faces that he thought belonged there. Now he needed to see them for himself, to satisfy the questions now running through his mind. O'Neill pretty much lived up to his expectations, grizzled, but still handsome, a man who would look good in a dress uniform. Teal'c was also, how he'd imagined the Jaffa, tall, well muscled with a stoic look to him and serious face. Major Samantha Carter had been a pleasant surprise; Bartlett had always pictured a plain woman who wore glasses and definitely no make up. Just like Miss Kosnansky his fifth grade teacher. An intelligent woman but not one to send the pulses of men wildly racing. Imagine his surprise when he saw a beautiful young blonde woman with dancing blue eyes. Daniel Jackson was another surprise, Bartlett had always pictured him as an anemic scholar, who wore glasses and carried an inhaler. Daniel Jackson did wear glasses but he was also young and handsome, he'd showed the picture to his wife who nodded appreciatively and to his daughter who called him a hunk with soulful blue eyes. Yes Bartlett could picture many young college girls signing up for archeology 101 for the chance to be near Daniel Jackson. Reading the file again Bartlett put it down again, he was no fool he could read between the lines even if others couldn't. There was a deep friendship there, that had been obvious from the beginning, but over time, Bartlett could sense a change in attitudes. During that incident with the crystal skull, Bartlett could see that Samantha Carter was very cut up about it, O'Neill even wrote about her obsessive behavior to try to save her friend. Then there was that thing with the alien Machello, when Dr. Fraiser described Major Carter as obviously feeling alone, and helpless to help her friend and had to watch him die in the old aliens body. Bartlett wondered if Daniel Jackson knew that Samantha Carter had gone into therapy for a while to get over that one, Bartlett didn't think so. Then on the other hand the report about the alien girl Cassandra, Bartlett could almost see the pen shaking in the hands of a certain archeologist as he described his fear when Carter refused to leave the girl even though there was very little time before the bomb that had been placed in the girls chest was to go off. The emotion that Jackson wrote about when Samantha Carter had been possessed by a Tok'ra. His obvious anger and dislike of the alien Martouf. Was there also perhaps a slight twinge of jealousy there as well?

"There is unrequited love there if I'm not mistaken." He thought

A part of Bartlett hoped there was and that they'd see it through, another part of him dreaded it. If that ever happened he might have to order a restructuring of SG 1 and he didn't want to do that. From the reports of General Hammond, SG 1 was the backbone of the SGC, Bartlett remembered the pride that the general wrote with, when he asked for volunteers to go after SG 1 possibly on a suicide mission, and even before the general could finish his statement, all the other SG teams took one step forward. Ready to die if need be to save the legendary SG 1. The other part hoped that the two young people would wake up and see what he could plainly see in their reports. These two people have endured much for their country and they deserved to have a happy life together, regulations be damned.

Josiah Bartlett's mind began to roam again freely on a random course. Oh but to travel through the Stargate just once in his lifetime! To go to Abydos perhaps, perhaps he could sit and talk to Kasuf, Jackson's father in-law. To learn about the man and his people, people from earth, who up until six years ago were slaves. To see how they were adjusting to newfound freedom, to see if there was anything that could done for them. To tell him how sorry he was for the loss of his daughter. He also wanted SG 1 to escort him and show him around, he wanted to see for himself if O'Neill was as tough as he claimed to be or was he a mother hen, as Bartlett perceived him. To talk to Teal'c personally and get first hand knowledge about this enemy they were up against, to actually see a larval Goa'uld in the Jaffa's pouch. To talk to Samantha Carter about the Stargate and get her impressions on how it works the physics behind it. But most especially to talk to Daniel Jackson, to learn the truth about history. To meet this remarkable young visionary who had bravely bucked convention and was proven right, although he could never tell the scientific community about it. To touch these artifacts for himself, to feel history in his own two hands, to see the cartouche room that Jackson had discovered there and not just see a video of it. It's impossible, but what a dream.

"Wait a second." Bartlett said aloud to himself "Why is it impossible, after all I am the President of the United States."

Picking up the phone, he called Leo

"Leo?"

"Yes Mr. President?" Leo asked putting up a hand to stop CJ from going on.

"I want to go to Colorado Springs." He stated simply

"You're kidding right Mr. President?" Leo hoped, but he knew how the President felt about that project

"No I am not, I don't mean right now Leo." He said exasperated

Sighing in relief, Leo went on "When would you like to go sir."

Pulling out a calendar Bartlett looked through it "I'm pretty booked up right now, don't I have a vacation coming up?"

"Yes sir that is scheduled for eight months from now." Leo confirmed looking at his own calendar

Coming to his decision Josiah Bartlett smiled contentedly "Good that gives you plenty of time to plan this out."

"Plan what out sir?" Leo asked confused about what the president was talking about

Josiah Bartlett smiled "My vacation on Abydos, with SG 1." He said and hung up

"Holy Shit!" Leo said hanging up the phone, looking around he knew he wanted to throw something

"What?!" Asked CJ worriedly wondering what the hell just went wrong to upset Leo so badly

"You!" Leo pointed to Sam Seaborne

Sam looked up surprised "What? What did I do?" he said looking around the blank faces around him

"And you!" he pointed to Josh Lyman

"What!"

Getting up Leo closed the door leaving only the executive staff inside

Mimicking the two voices from a couple of years ago "What's wrong with the President wanting to see the Stargate files." Then he turned to Josh "Yeah it will keep him occupied, besides he loves that historical stuff."

"What is it Leo?" CJ the president's press secretary asked

Leo took a deep breath and tried to calm down "That was the president." He said

"We gathered that." Josh pointed out

"He wants to start planning his next vacation."

Sam nodded "Yeah that's in eight months?" he said shrugging towards Josh

Looking at both men, he said "He wants to spend it on Abydos with SG 1."

"Oh Shit!" Sam and Josh said in unison

Chapter 10: Recovery

Daisy paced back and forth in Janet's living room, gathered before her was Janet and her friends in SG 1. Looking at her watch again she saw that it was almost time, that they would be here soon, too soon. Biting her thumbnail, she looked worriedly to Janet.

"It's going to be Okay." Janet promised, "You are going to be just fine, and we are here to back you up."

"Okay" Daisy nodded "I can do this." She announced the others knew that she was speaking to herself

"Of course you can." Sam put an arm around her "Now take a deep breath and relax."

The doorbell rang

"Oh no they're early." Daisy panicked her newfound courage disappearing instantly

"I got it." Cassie ran down the stairs having spotted Josie coming "Hi Josie, Mr. Tanaka, please come in."

Both bowed to her and entered

"So everything fit?" Cassie asked remembering the previous day's shopping trip

"Yeah, everything is perfect. Thanks." Josie smiled at her friend

"Daisy!" Josie ran forward hugging the taller woman

Chun-li entered the room and bowed to everyone "Hello."

Josie felt Daisy stiffen at her touch, looking up she saw the look on her face. She knew immediately something was wrong. She began to back away tears beginning to form.

"Daddy's dead isn't he." She asked suddenly terrified

Cassie saw this and grabbed Josie's hand giving her support.

"No" Daisy said quickly "Your father is very much alive."

"Then what's wrong?" Josie asked looking at her uncle who was now staring at the group as well.

Janet saw that Daisy was in trouble and jumped in "Your father had an accident."

Josie's hands flew to her mouth and Cassie threw her arms around her supporting her

"How is my grand nephew?" Chun-li asked worriedly

"He was hurt pretty bad, but the good news is that he will heal, with time." Sam chimed in

"How bad?" Chun-li asked again

Daisy stepped forward "His legs are both broken, his left arm and wrist, and several ribs."

"What happened?" Josie asked then looked at her uncle Daniel "Was it doing Rambo stuff?"

Daniel couldn't lie to the girl "Yes." Then stood up "We're here to take you to see him, if you want."

Josie nodded wiping her tears away "Can Cassie come?" she asked needing the support.

Janet saw that in the short time together, Josie and Cassie had become very close "Of course she can. Come on let's go see your father."

Gabriel smiled when he saw Josie come into the room alone "Hi pumpkin."

Josie stared at her father and began to cry

"No don't cry." Gabriel asked her "Come on, come over here and sit by me."

Josie sat on the bed and as gently as possible wrapped her arms around her father "Oh daddy, what happened."

Gabriel smiled running his fingers through her long hair "I had a fall that's all."

"From where the top of the empire state building." The girl asked incredulously

Gabriel had to smile the girl wasn't too far from wrong "You know I can't tell you that." Gabriel sighed "But I'll be up and around soon enough." He promised

Josie shook her head "And what, you'll go do whatever it is your doing again, and maybe next time you won't come back."

"I have to do this." He told her "It's the only way that I'm ever going to be free."

"I hate this place, I hate everyone here!" Josie screamed

"Don't hate them." Gabriel told her hugging her as tightly as his ribs would allow, "They are good people here. They care about me, and about you."

"Why couldn't you just have been a mail boy, like grand father asked?" The girl asked miserably.

Gabriel laughed at that "They told you about that huh?" at her nod he continued wiping the tears from her eyes "Well if I hadn't joined the service I never would have met your mother, you would never have been born." He pointed out

"Life sucks!" Josie protested angrily

Gabriel frowned at her swiping the hair from her eyes "No it doesn't, it just doesn't always go as plAnnied. There is an old saying 'life is what happens while you're busy making other plans.'" Wiping at her tears he smiled "Now no more tears, I'm okay. I'll be laid up awhile but I'm going to be fine." He promised her

"Okay." The girl laid her head on her father's chest hugging him carefully afraid to let go

"What is the prognosis for Gabriel?" asked Chun-li when Josie had gone in

"Difficult to say right now." Janet told him truthfully, "Gabriel is going to need intensive rehab to build up his legs and arm to be strong again."

Chun-li nodded "I will take care of that." He promised already making plans

"You are a physical therapist?"

"In a way." Chun-li told her "I know what it will take to make him strong again. When can I begin?"

"Ten to twelve weeks for his legs, six for his arm. By then his ribs should be healed as well."

"Good, I will need an area outside to train him. The air will do him good."

"I think that can be arranged." Jack nodded; he'd have a talk with Kennedy. Find out once and for all if the man was as decent as he was pretending to be.

"Good" Chun-li announced grimly "I will be ready." He promised and entered the room.

Daisy looked unhappy, Janet noticed immediately

"What's wrong Daisy?"

"Chun-li said he was going to train him." She said

"So?" Janet asked "Isn't that what we want?" still staring at her frightened friend

Daisy shrugged still worried, she remembered the things Gabriel had told her about his original training sessions with the old master "Chun-li is a little harsh in his methods."

"How harsh?" Janet asked suddenly worried

Daisy stared at her friends "You think those SEAL instructors were tough, wait till you see what this little old man is capable of doing." She warned

FIFTEEN WEEKS LATER

Gabriel landed with a thud on his back again, wincing he turned over and began to try to get up using his right hand.

A cane flew through the air sweeping his arm from beneath him causing Gabriel to fall on his face again.

"Use your left hand only." The old man ordered

Sam and Daniel winced again, Daisy had been right; Chun-li was a hard taskmaster.

Slowly Gabriel put down his left arm and began to try to lift himself, his wrist was burning with the exertion of the angle it was in.

"Get up I said!" THWACK the cane came down on Gabriel's buttocks

Grimacing in pain, Gabriel stood up on very shaky legs.

"Now walk." Chun-li ordered pointing towards a table and bench

Tentatively Gabriel began to move forward, barely lifting his legs he shuffled a few steps. The look on his face told everyone watching that he was in agony. Suddenly his legs buckled and he collapsed again.

"UP!" Chun-li ordered swatting him with the cane again causing everyone to jump "You will make it to the table then you can rest." Chun-li told him "Fall again and I will beat you. Do you understand?'

"Yes uncle." Gabriel grunted as he used his left arm again

"This is barbaric." Janet told them wincing at the pain in Gabriel's face, then watched sadly as Daisy ran away in tears.

"Gabriel told us not to interfere." Daniel pointed out "He knows what he's doing." At least Daniel hoped he did.

Gabriel stood up again, and forced himself forward, shuffling towards the table where he could sit.

"Lift your legs more." The old man ordered

Obeying he lifted his legs as high as he could, which wasn't more than an inch off the ground. Taking small steps that way he paused several times to catch his breath and then continued on to the table. Finally when he thought that he was going to pass out from the pain he reached the table and practically fell on it exhausted, tears in his eyes.

Chun-li came to him "You walked twenty feet today." He said angrily "You should be ashamed, you are Tanaka! Push the pain away it is an encumbrance. Push it to the back of your mind, tomorrow you will walk forty feet." He ordered, "Now meditate, close your mind to the pain."

Gabriel closed his eyes and began to breath deeply, his face began to go slack and he began to relax into his mediation.

Chun-li smiled as he walked away and sat down by SG 1 "He is still strong." He told them "He will recover quickly I think." He said confidently staring at his nephew.

"Did you have to hit him with the cane?" Janet asked seriously

"Yes" Chun-li answered simply "You will see, tomorrow he will walk forty feet without falling, he will begin to do push ups with his left arm. Small ones at first to loosen his wrist, later hard ones to build his muscle. What concerns me most is his legs, we must get him moving before the muscles die. Excuse me I am going to massage his legs." He told the group

Chun-li was right, Gabriel did walk forty feet the next day without falling. After that each day Chun-li ordered Gabriel to double the distance, first it was forty feet, the next day eighty feet, the next one hundred and sixty and so on. By the end of the second week of training Gabriel was running, a slow painful shuffle that wasn't more than a fast walk, and he didn't go far but he ran.

"It's incredible General." Janet reported as ordered "Gabriel is up to walking over a mile and just today he jogged fifty feet. Chun-li's methods are harsh to say the least but they are effective. Regular re-
hab would still have him trying to walk between parallel bars."

"How's his arm?" Kennedy asked glad that he had waited to call the joint chiefs

"Getting stronger everyday." Janet shook her head "Don't get me wrong sirs, there is a lot of pain involved. But so far Gabriel hasn't complained once and he just keeps improving."

The weeks passed quickly and Gabriel became stronger and faster with each passing day. What he endured however was far from pleasant. It was the fifth week when a limousine pulled up to the gates and five oriental men stepped from it. All dressed the same in black and all had grim expressions.

"Oh oh..." Jack looked over staring at the faces approaching "This does not bode well." He told the others, all of whom agreed.

Chun-li met the men and talked to them quietly in Japanese. The men bowed to their elder and approached Gabriel. Then they attacked, Gabriel blocked the first few blows, but his body was still too weak and he still didn't move fast enough and the blows rained down on him. Still Gabriel never gave up, he kept fighting them until finally he collapsed, blood coming from his nose and mouth. Immediately the men stopped, bowed to Gabriel and said something to him and groaning he answered them back in Japanese.

"Return tomorrow, same time." Chun-li ordered and the men left

"What did they say Daniel?" Sam asked him shocked watching Janet going over to check on Gabriel. By her posture, Sam knew that the small woman was pissed.

Daniel shook his head sadly, sorry that his friend had to go through this, "We are sorry for hurting you, it is only to make you strong." Daniel explained, "Gabriel said that it was okay, he understood and was grateful for their concern."

Jack looked on incredulously "He thanked them for kicking the crap out of him." He said angrily

Chun-li went over to his nephew, helped him up, and began to talk to him and showing him what he did wrong.

The same men returned everyday and everyday the same result, Gabriel lying on the ground bleeding. The only difference was that with each passing day his attackers didn't fair as well. Each day one of them left limping or holding a tissue to his nose something. Everyday Gabriel moved just a little faster, hit a little harder, Chun-li would always smile and say 'you are making progress'.

By the tenth week Gabriel was doing complicated handstands and balancing his weight on his left arm and wrist, after this he began to do complicated flips and rolls, and running the mile in just over three and a half minutes.

Unfortunately, for Daniel, after the first couple of weeks, Chun-li also took over his training as well, since Gabriel wasn't up to it yet. At first, Jack had to laugh as he watched his space monkey climbing up and down trees and doing the same rolls and flips as Gabriel but definitely not as gracefully. More often than not Daniel would wind up on his butt. It was during Gabriel's twelfth week of training when Daniel was tested as well.

"On no" Janet moaned, "here comes the limo." She was used to it by now, but she definitely didn't like it, but Gabriel had begged her not to interfere with the training. Janet hated it, but she also knew that Gabriel was working against the clock. The Joint Chiefs were getting a bit antzy wondering why SG 13 wasn't going on any missions. And Kennedy was running out of excuses, Gabriel had to be ready soon or go back to prison for immediate execution of sentence, and Janet knew that execution was the right word.

Sam sighed knowing what was coming "Well he almost had them yesterday." She said a hopeful tone in her voice.

The door to the limo opened up this time however six men exited the vehicle.

"Six!" Janet exclaimed, "He almost beats them and they have to bring more back-up." The six men walked over to Chun-li and bowed he spoke to them as usual this time however one moved away and sat on the ground and began to build a fire once it was burning something was placed into it which began to smoke. Satisfied with his work the man sat down and waited.

The five men began to surround Gabriel, this time, for the first time Gabriel didn't wait for them to attack. Instead, he went on the offensive. The battle was tense and longer this time, Gabriel refused to give up. SG teams and other personnel stopped from their daily exercises of running around the track and came over to watch, they had watched in the beginning as well. However, they had stopped weeks ago, none of them took pleasure in watching an injured man being beaten down. Gabriel fell again, this time though instead of staying down, he called on vast reserves, reserves of strength that he'd been afraid to use until now. In a burst of power and speed, Gabriel flipped back up to his feet and was airborne almost in the same motion. It was so graceful so fluid that some claimed his feet had never even touched the ground. His foot connected across one mans head and he dropped like a stone. Spurred on by this change of events, people on the side lines started cheering Gabriel on. One by one, they came at him and one by one, they fell by the wayside, until only one remained. By this time Gabriel was hitting his stride, his breathing was relaxed he was shuffling his feet; it looked like he'd gotten his second wind. Gabriel knew different though, he now understood why he had lost so many times, and now that he understood, he would not lose again.

Smiling grimly at the last man, he said, "You want some, come get some."

The man attacked, but Gabriel was a blur of motion. It was over in seconds. Only one man was left standing and that was Gabriel.

Bowing to the men "Thank you", he said from the bottom of his heart.

They helped each other up, returned his bow, and headed back to the car.

Gabriel walked over to the table where SG 1 sat and took the towel that Janet offered him.

"You did great." Sam smiled happy for him "You finally beat them."

Gabriel shook his head "I should have beaten them weeks ago."

"Yes you should have." Chun-li said smiling as he came over to them "But finally you understand."

Gabriel smiled putting a hand on the old man's shoulder "Yes, I was afraid."

"Who wouldn't be five on one." Janet said checking his bruises

"Not about the odds." He told Janet "I was afraid to push myself to my full potential. I was afraid that I wasn't ready, that I would never be the way that I was ever again."

Chun-li nodded seriously, "Yes and that fear would always hold you back. You had to forget it, get past it and fight. And you did." He smiled proudly at his nephew.

"What's he still doing here?" Jack asked as he stared at the still sitting man who patiently waited "Don't tell me you're going to fight again?" he asked Gabriel

Gabriel stared at Daniel "He's not here to fight me." He said softly hoping that Daniel was ready

Jack and Sam both understood immediately "Oh no, no way" Sam stood up angrily

"Danny is not fighting that guy." Jack said immediately

Chun-li bowed to Gabriel and then to Daniel "Prepare." He said and walked towards the other fighter

Daniel stood up and faced the group "I'll be all right." He promised them "Worst that happens I get my butt kicked."

"Don't do this Daniel." Jack told him as he watched the other guy beginning to limber up hands and feet moving fast and hard. Some of the moves were becoming just blurs of motion.

Gabriel moved to Daniel grabbing hold of his shoulders he looked into Daniel's eyes. "Remember what we have taught you, you are ready for this." He promised "Move always move, never give him an open easy target, and watch, watch him like a hawk openings will present themselves to you even when he attacks. Tako is a kung-fu fighter, you are Ninjitsu, look for the vulnerable that is what we do, take what we have taught you and make it your own. Most important, don't think just do, let your subconscious mind free to help you." Slapping Daniel on the shoulder, he pushed him forward.

"Don't think?" Jack stood up worried "He's screwed."

Daniel bowed to the other man who then bowed as well. The two men began to circle each other, both wary, neither knowing exactly what to expect from the other. Both men took their time; they both knew that they were not in a hurry, being in a hurry is what got you hurt. Daniel began to go through everything that Gabriel and Chun-li had told him.

"You can be a mouse or a lion. It's up to you." Gabriel had told him

"Seems like I've always been the mouse." Daniel smiled

Gabriel smiled slapping him on the shoulder "Good, mice are fast, smart, they are flexible and for their size they are strong."

"What about being the lion?"

"Lions sleep twenty hours a day, they wake up to eat and fuck, and they rely on brute force. Trust me be the mouse. After you learn that you will learn to be the tiger, then if you are lucky you may become the dragon."

"How long will that take?" Daniel asked curiously

Gabriel smiled "It may take a lifetime." He said, "I'll let you know once I get there."

By this time word spread like wild fire that Daniel was about to fight someone. Everyone who could make their way topside was there. Sam quickly looked at the gathering crowd; she could have kissed Jack when she saw that he was taking bets that Daniel would be victorious. General Hammond who because of rank was quickly allowed forward to where SG 1 was standing.

"What's this about Daniel getting into a fight." He asked immediately wondering what could have caused the quiet archeologist to get into a fistfight.

Jack pointed, "Well it hasn't started yet, sir. Yeah McCarthy, you're covered for a hundred."

"Oh yes it has." Gabriel said proudly "And he's winning."

Chun-li smiled at Gabriel "Daniel is doing well, he is not allowing Tako to draw him out."

"Tako is getting nervous as well, he'll attack soon." Gabriel nodded towards the other fighter who was beginning to shift his weight a little too often.

"This is a test of some kind?" Asked Hammond

"An important one." Gabriel nodded, his eyes never leaving the combatants "If he passes, he will be samurai and then he goes to the next level in training."

"How do you know he's winning?" Sam asked neither man had yet to throw a punch.

Chun-li sat down next to Sam and patted her knee "A fight is 90 percent mental only ten percent physical. To win you not only have to defeat your opponent physically but mentally as well." Chun-li explained

"Ah. Here it comes." Gabriel warned the others.

They looked over and saw what Gabriel meant, Tako was shifting position and his face became more determined. Then he rushed Daniel and began swinging.

Daniel waited patiently he was in no rush. Wait for your moment; make him make the first move. He knew when Tako was going to attack; he saw the change in posture. Daniel remained calm and didn't change a thing in what he was doing. Lulling the other man into a false sense of security. Then Tako attacked. Daniel dodged, weaved and moved no thoughts were coming into his head. He saw, registered, and moved accordingly his only thought to watch and wait for the opening. He knew it would come he just had to wait for it. Finally, Tako moved back a step and as fast as a whip his foot came up to kick him.

"Now!" whispered Gabriel from the side, only Sam heard him

The kick was fast, but not fast enough. With no conscious thought Daniel bought his hand up and blocked the kick side stepping Daniel quickly dropped to one knee and delivered a perfectly placed punch into the other man's testicles then rising up quickly in the same movement he gained momentum and bought up his elbow catching Tako square on the chin. The man went down like a rock.

Jack was shocked, he'd done it, Danny actually beat the guy with hardly any effort at all. Turning back to the others who were just as shocked, he held out his hand.

"Okay pay up you guys." He announced, well of course he bet on Daniel

Gabriel stood up as the people around him applauded

Daniel walked back over; he was sweating and exhausted "God that was hard."

"I know, it'll get easier I promise" Gabriel said "But you did it, you won, now we go to the next level."

"Great" Daniel smiled excited and full of excess energy

Gabriel saw that the five men he'd fought helped their fallen friend and began to approach the old master. The two men on the end each were holding a long black lacquer box.

"Everyone be quiet." Gabriel told the group "Daniel come with me." He said

The two men walked towards the group of warriors, Daniel was confused but followed Gabriel's lead. Gabriel bowed to them, as did Daniel, then sat down on the floor on his knees. The others watched wondering what was going on.

For the sake of his friends, Chun-li held the ceremony in English.

"Who is it that approaches with a student?" He asked loudly

Gabriel bowed his head "I, Gabriel Michael Fuentes Tanaka present and petition the elder of the Tanaka clan with a student."

Chun-li returned the bow "Who is this student who has been deemed worthy."

Gabriel nodded and Daniel bowed "I, Daniel Melbourne Jackson."

Chun-li turned and faced his senior students "Kintaro, is he worthy?"

The senior student bowed "Yes master, Daniel Jackson is worthy." He said holding out a white parchment with a stylized emblem on it, he handed it to Chun-li.

Chun-li raised the parchment over his head so that all could see.

"I, Chun-li Miyamoto Tanaka, elder of the Tanaka clan, find you Daniel Jackson worthy. From this day forth, you are Daniel Melbourne Jackson Tanaka, from this day forth you are Samurai and full member of the Tanaka clan." He told him handing him the parchment

Daniel was speechless; he took the paper from Chun-li on the complex folded envelope stood out the Japanese symbol of Samurai.

"Place it beside you on your left." Gabriel whispered to him

Doing so Daniel stared at Chun-li again.

The man named Kintaro held one of the large black lacquer boxes open in front of Chun-li. Reaching in the old master drew out a beautifully decorated katana.

"This is the weapon of a samurai, it is also the soul of the samurai." He began and drew the gleaming blade "This blade was forged by the great master Mishimusu five hundred years ago. He named this blade 'Wisdom's Song', wield this blade with honor samurai and honor our code." He said sheathing the blade, he handed it to Daniel along with the short sword.

Gabriel smiled at his friend's expression of confusion and pride that he'd been so honored

"And as for you Gabriel Tanaka." The old man smiled

Now it was Gabriel's turn to look surprised.

Chun-li opened his shirt revealing a burn mark on his upper chest, it was of a dragon.

"For one thousand years, the masters of the Tanaka clan have received the Dragons breath." He told him "Are you ready?"

Gabriel's breath caught in his chest and bowed "No master, I am unworthy of such a title."

Chun-li smiled and nodded to Kintaro "That my grand nephew is the right answer."

Kintaro walked over to the fire and pulled out a metal rod that had been burning in the fire. It's tip fiery red hot, he handed it over to Chun-
li, pointing to two of the other students they stepped behind Gabriel each grabbing hold of one arm.

Chun-li walked forward and raised the brand pressing it hard into Gabriel's chest. Smoke and burning flesh quickly filled the area as Gabriel gritted his teeth in pain. Chun-li removed the brand and another student came forward and poured water on the burn. Gabriel looked down and saw the mark of the dragon on his chest.

"From this day forward." Chun-li began "Gabriel Tanaka is given the rank of Master in the Tanaka clan."

The other black lacquer box was placed in front of Gabriel, inside were the silk robes of a master in the clan.

Gabriel bowed "I shall try to prove myself worthy of this great honor."

Chun-li returned his bow and motioned the two men to stand.

"You did very well Daniel Tanaka." Chun-li smiled shaking his hand "Continue to train him well Gabriel."

"I will uncle, and uncle thank you." Gabriel told him sincerely bowing reverently to the old man

Returning the bow, he smiled "For what?" Chun-li turned around and went to collect Kintaro and the others and go home.

"I'm going to go shower." Gabriel told Daniel picking up his box "Go to your adoring fans."

Blushing Daniel moved over to Sam who smiled "You did it."

"I did." Daniel said still not quite able to believe it.

Sam knew "You better believe it." Hugging Daniel, she quickly let him go remembering that the whole of the SGC was out here. "I just can't believe it, Daniel the samurai."

Daniel held up the sword "I can't believe it either."

"Hey Space monkey" Jack slapped him on the back clutching a fist full of bills "Dinners on me tonight." He laughed counting his winnings.

"What you bet on the fight?" Daniel's eyes opened wide

"Hey I did bet on you." Jack shrugged counting the money with a smile on his face

"I know, I'm just surprised that you bet on me to win." Daniel was touched by his friends confidence

Jack faced his friend putting a hand on his shoulder "Chun-li thought you were ready, Gabriel thought you were ready, you said you were ready, and hey I trust you." Jack smiled proud of his friend "Hey you know that these guys don't just hand out five hundred year old swords to just anyone." He told him "You earned it my friend, I'm really proud of you." Jack threw his arm around his friend "How's about Mexican for dinner."

"Sounds good." Daniel smiled heading for the mountain

"Hey on your way pick up Sam would ya." Jack called out for everyone else's benefit

"Sure, I'll even bring Teal'c." Daniel promised shaking hands and accepting pats on the back for his victory.

"Where is Teal'c by the way?" Jack asked surprised that Teal'c hadn't shown up

"I am here O'Neill." Teal'c announced finally able to get through the crowd "I was having a hard time getting up front. Doctor Frasier's nurses would not let me pass."

"Figures." Janet laughed and turned towards the mountain as well.