He found out Talis was a neat freak, when she started cleaning his apartment while he was off world and she wasn't. They had exchanged keys, so he didn't mind, she never messed with anything important, he just found it amusing, since he wasn't such a neat person.
He felt they had reached a serious point in their relationship, when she had asked him if he would look after Zoë if anything happened to her, then told him to think about it and come back to her. It hadn't taken him long to know that if anything happened to her, he would have no problem caring for Zoë, that way he would still have a piece of Talis, plus he loved the little girl. They had drawn up the paperwork for that just a few weeks ago.
Daniel pulled into her driveway, and heard squeals coming the back. He let himself into the backyard, to see the little girl running through the sprinkler, and her mother was chasing her making growly noises.
"How are my girls?" he announced. Talis looked up at him and smiled as he walked closer. Zoë saw him, let out a shriek and ran to him. Holding onto his leg, she looked up at him with Talis' eyes.
"Da, up!" she demanded. He swung her up, and settled her on his hip, walked up to her mother and kissed her. Zoë leaned in and kissed them both.
"That's new." Daniel grinned.
"Oh, she's full of all sorts of new things, aren't you Zoë?"
"Say," he said pulling her closer, "I was thinking you and I could go grad a bite to eat, and leave the Z-monster with Cass."
"That sounds like a plan Dr. Jackson, are you gonna call?"
"Already did."
"Well now, I think I should go get ready then."
"Wear something accessible?" he said leering at her, she shook her head at him, and walked inside. Daniel got to work getting Zoë cleaned up, and making the rest of his phone calls.
After dinner they were walking back up to the front door. Daniel had paid such special attention to her all evening. Talis had decided that she was going to invite him to move in with her and Zoë. He opened the door, and gave her a little push to get her inside, that's when everyone yelled surprise.
"Daniel what's going on?" she asked bewildered. She turned to look at him, and found him with a rose in his hand, "Daniel?"
"Talis, I got everyone here tonight, so I could ask you to marry me." He said, everyone else had gotten quiet. Daniel pulled out a small jewelers box and opened it. Talis found herself staring at a Marquis cut emerald, with baguette diamonds on either side.
Daniel dropped to on knee in front of her, "So will you marry me, let me be a father to Zoë, and a husband to you?"
Talis dropped to her knees, facing Daniel, " Oh Daniel, yes." she cried and pulled him into a kiss, everyone behind them started clapping. Daniel took the ring from the box, and put it onto her finger. "It's a perfect fit." she whispered.
"Just like us." he said and hugged her close.
Daniel moved in right away, and they started planning their wedding. They wanted to wait until both Arch and Ben could attend, plus Shannon had just had the baby, a boy they named Jackson Tal Chambers, and Talis had decided to have Sam, Cassie, and Shannon as her attendants. They had decided to get married in their home, with just a small group of people in attendance.
They had set the date for December 1st, which gave them three months to plan.
Daniel was off world with SG-1, and Talis was called in for an emergency. She met General Hammond in the briefing room to be filled in.
General Hammond looked at SG-2, and began "SG-15 was pinned down on PX5-741retrieving some very important intel, we sent SG-4 in for rescue, but now they're pinned down as well. We've gotten brief radio transmissions between fire fights, but the team is running low on ammunition, and there are injuries. We've contacted the Tok'ra for assistance, as well as trying to contact the Asgard, so far nothing. We're counting on you. The plan is for you to take The Serendipity, free up the road to get those two teams through the gate, then come home. Lt. Arch Starling will be joining you for this mission, seeing as he's one of the two people that know the ship the best."
"What type of hostiles General?" Feretti asked.
"Jaff'a, we aren't sure which Goa'uld they work for, but right now we really don't care, we just want our soldiers back. Dismissed."
The team headed to the Alpha site and boarded The Serendipity. "Ok girl, time to go to work."
Talis said running her hand along the controls. "Archamedes, it's time to fly."
"Gotcha boss."
They entered hyper space and headed to the coordinates given. The Serendipity entered the atmosphere of PX5-741, and started working on locating the Stargate, and the pinned down soldiers. Feretti was in the turret getting ready to clear the way. The SG teams on the planet started moving towards the gate, dragging the wounded, as Talis put the ship between then and the hostiles. They were dialing the gate when two deathgliders approached firing at them.
"Feretti!" Talis shouted in warning. Feretti responded by firing at them.
"We're taking hits boss, " Arch yelled from the back.
"I know, they're almost through though." She called back, and the ship was rocked with another hit, "Done, we're getting out of here." Feretti kept firing, as Talis piloted the ship heading out of the atmosphere. Lt. Sadler looked up here, "Starling, there are two scoutships heading for us."
"Shit," she muttered. "Ok, new plan, as soon as we hit the end of the atmosphere, we're hitting hyper. We go to a planet with a known gate, we land, I shield the ship, and we go home, to come and play another day."
The team was tense, as she piloted to avoid taking anymore damage. They hit hyper and headed to a planet that Feretti remembered as being uninhabited but viable breathing conditions. The ship was rocking as they exited hyper space.
"They didn't follow us." Feretti breathed a sigh of relief, and there was a loud pop from the back and a scream. Sadler and Anderson, the other member of SG-2 pulled Arch from the engine area, spraying the back with a fire extinguisher. Talis reading the controls, knew they were in trouble. Feretti looked up at her from Arch's side, "His hands are burnt up."
Talis took a deep breath. "Change of plans Major." She said leaving the controls to walk over to him, "We have to get you to the pods. You'll end up on the planet, you can find the gate and get home. Arch needs medical care."
"Starling, there are only four pods." Feretti said looking at her.
"I understand that sir. You, Sadler, Anderson, and Lt. Starling, are taking them."
"No Talis," Arch cried in pain, "What about you?"
"This is my ship, Archamedes, I'm not leavin' her, I'm landing her."
"Starling, there has to be another way...I'll stay." Feretti began.
"No sir, our stabilizers are out, we're going to crash. The four of you are taking those pods sir. I'm not leaving my ship! Don't make me put you in that pod sir. Do you understand me?" her eyes glittered at him.
"You're a good person Starling, a good soldier."
"No sir, I'm a good pilot, a good smuggler, and a damn good mother. You tell my daughter I love her, and you tell Daniel Jackson I love him." She watched as they put Arch in the first pod, and ejected it.
Another fire had broken out as they entered into the atmosphere. "Go!" she screamed at them. She watched the last three pods deploy, and fought to keep control of her ship. Screaming, she fell to the planets surface.
SG-1, got through the gate joking around.
"Why is everyone so serious?" Jack asked. Realizing that the people around them were really not happy people.
General Hammond walked up to them. "There was an emergency, while you were on Argos, checking in with the natives," he began.
Arch walked around the corner, being supported by Feretti and Sadler. His hands were wrapped in gauze, there was soot covering his face and clothes, and tears were streaming down his face.
"Where's Talis?" Daniel asked starting to feel ill.
"SG-15 and 4 were pinned down. SG-2 went in with Lt. Starling to get them out, they took damage, Captain Starling determined that they would get to a planet, set down and use that planet's gate to get home. When exiting hyper space, one of the ships buffers that had taken damage exploded, injuring Lt. Starling. Capt Starling stayed with her ship, while making the others use the escape pods. The ship crashed on the planet's surface."
Daniel's knees gave out and he fell to the ground. Arch started sobbing harder, "I tried to make her listen, she wouldn't, she said she wasn't leaving her ship."
Tears were streaming from Feretti's eyes. "I told her she was a good soldier, a good person. She told me to tell you and Zoë that she loved you."
"No!" Daniel said staggering to his feet, "No, you take me to that planet, I have to find her. She's probably hurt and all alone and scared. She needs me to find her." he turned to face Jack, who was looking at him with sorrow in his eyes, Sam had started crying, "No, we have to find her Jack. We have to."
"Son, we've already scoured the planet, we found the wreckage, there was blood but no body." at the hope in Daniel's eyes, the general continued, "There's no way she could have survived. They've taken the wreckage back to the Alpha site."
Daniel continued to shake his head, starting to cry he just kept repeating no, over and over.
They sedated Daniel, Sam went to pick up Zoë and bring her back to the base. Jack had gone to Alpha site to check on the wreckage. When he got back he went straight to Sam and held her, not caring who saw.
"There's no way, Sam," he choked, "All that ripped metal, all that blood, just no way."
"We have to be there for Daniel now, Jack. He's going to need us. Zoë and Arch are going to need us too."
Jack walked over to where Daniel was sleeping, holding little Zoë close to him. "We have to notify Ben and Shannon too."
"General Hammond already took care of it. They're on their way. It was supposed to be a surprise, but Ben was being transferred to SGC. He couldn't wait to tell Talis." As she said her name, Sam started sobbing again.
A week later they held the memorial service. Daniel stood stoically, holding Zoë close to him. She didn't understand what was happening, just that every one around her was so sad, and she couldn't find her mother. After the service he took her home. Jack and Sam were staying with him for a while. He appreciated it. Zoë kept toddling through the house, sticking her head in doors, calling for her momma. Daniel had lost weight, and he knew his friends were worried about him. He was glad he had agreed to take care of Zoë. It gave him a reason to get out of bed every day. Knowing he still had a little piece of her with him.
Ben was assigned to SG-2. The one month anniversary of the crash came, and they all met at O'Malley's to drink to Talis's memory. Halloween crept up, Daniel dressed Zoë up as a ladybug, and tugged her to the neighbors houses for candy. He took pictures. She grew more like her mother every day. She called him Daddy, and grinned her mothers same crooked grin. It pierced his heart every time he saw it.
He had gone to see The Serendipity, several weeks after. Seeing all that torn metal, he knew that what they told him was true. She was gone. General Hammond was having the ship rebuilt. He figured Talis would've liked that.