"Hey Daniel wait up" Sam called as she jogged to catch up to her friend in the corridor at the SGC.
"Oh hey Sam" he said absently, a far away look in his eyes.
"What's up? You were practically walking into the walls" she commented.
"I've just got some things on my mind that's all" he answered.
"Did you find out what your, uh..." Sam fought to think of the right thing to call Liz.
"My ex wife?"
"Yeah," Sam said sheepishly, "did you find out what she wanted?" Daniel chuckled puzzling Sam.
"Yeah, I met with her yesterday and we talked and stuff." he began as they entered his office. Sam sensed he wanted to tell her something, so she remained silent and let him talk.
"And she asked me to take in our daughter" Sam choked on the coffee she had just taken a sip of.
"You saw Rachel?!" she exclaimed with wide eyes, wiping some coffee from her chin that had leaked from her mouth. Daniel nodded with a large smile.
"Why does your ex want you to take her?"
"Liz is in the end stage of cancer and doesn't want Rachel to see her die"
"Oh, that's so terrible. Isn't there any sort of treatment she can take?" Sam asked. She had lost her own mother at an early age and would hate to see any other young girl suffer the loss.
"No, she's tried everything and the doctors don't think there is anything else they can do for her" he replied, a hint of sadness in his voice.
"So what's Rachel look like?" Sam said changing the subject.
"She's about five and a half feet tall, blond hair like yours, blue eyes… and that's about it." He said. Sam rolled her eyes at her typical male friend... of course he would only notice the basic features the girl had.
"Sounds like you'll have to scare off the hordes of boys that'll be after her" Sam joked.
"I'll do my best," he said with a small grin. He was actually going to be able to do the things fathers get to do.
"Are you going to take time off to get her settled in?" Sam queried.
"Yeah, I'm going to go talk to General Hammond in a few minutes about taking a couple days off at the end of the week… and I have to arrange my work hours so that I'll be home more often when Rachel is." Sam nodded. She knew that Daniel cutting back on work was inevitable as soon as he'd told her Rachel was going to stay with him.
"So less missions with SG1 I guess then huh?" Daniel nodded hesitantly. He loved being on SG1 and discovering new cultures on different planets but Rachel would probably only be around for a couple more years before she went or college or university or moved out, and he wanted to be there for her as much as possible.
"Well I'm very happy for you Daniel, you deserve this" Sam said patting his arm before she got up and left the room to leave Daniel to go to Hammond.
-
"Hey Daniel, how'd it go with Hammond?" Jack called, catching up to his younger friend on the way to the commissary.
"Fine Jack," Daniel replied as they walked avoiding running into a bunch of new recruits getting a tour of the base. "He said I could take as much time off as I need to get Rachel settled in, and that we can talk later about reducing my hours here." He pushed his glasses up on his nose.
"Good stuff… so has the kid spoken to you at all?" Jack joked, having noticed Rachel's aversion to talking to Daniel.
"Not really" Daniel answered back honestly. "But she'll have to talk to me eventually" he pointed out hopefully.
"Yeah…" Jack muttered, "eventually".
-
Daniel walked up the front steps of his ex-wife's house. He was there to pick up Rachel and get her moved in to his apartment. He looked back at Jack's truck he had borrowed, in case Rachel had a lot of stuff to move, and then back at the door just as it opened revealing an even sicker looking Liz.
"Liz, you don't look so well" he said, knowing she was past needing people to pretend she was fine and tell her she looked good.
"I'm okay" she smiled, letting him in the house.
"Rachel, Daniels here. Are you ready?" she called up the stairs. A few moments of silence passed before they both heard the teenager's footsteps down the hardwood stairs.
"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to yell" Rachel grouched adjusting her backpack on her shoulder. She brushed her hair from her eyes and looked dully at her parents.
"Ok, let's go" she said dismally to Daniel. She picked up one of the nine big boxes that were sitting in the hallway and walked out the door.
"Quite a few boxes" he commented.
"Mostly her books, she reads almost as much as you did when I met you" Liz said.
"Take good care of her Daniel" Liz said quietly, looking down at the floor. He sighed inwardly, and stepped forward pulling Liz into a tight embrace.
"I will, I promise," he swore, and he intended on keeping his promise. Neither adult saw Rachel standing in the doorway watching them hug.
She stared sadly at what could have been.
Shaking her head she cleared her throat, alerting them to her presence, and came in and got another box. Daniel and Liz pulled away and looked at the teen. Liz thinking about the daughter she was losing, again. And Daniel about the daughter he was finally gaining.
"Hey am I gonna get any help?" Rachel inquired. Snapping out his reverie Daniel nodded and went to get a box to bring out. Liz went and sat on a chair on the front porch and watched as her first love helped move their child out of her home. She let one tear escape down her cheek and then quickly wiped it away, telling herself to wait until they'd gone to cry. After a couple more trips in and out of the house, the truck was loaded and Daniel and Rachel were standing before Liz on the driveway.
"Bye sweetie" Liz said, pulling her daughter into a bear hug. Rachel didn't hug back, just stood there stiffly.
"Bye" Rachel said quietly, as her mother released her.
"Bye Daniel, it's been good to see you again" Liz pulled him into a hug again. Daniel frowned, Liz seemed to be saying good-bye, but he was going to make sure that this was not the last that Rachel or he saw of Liz.
"Got everything?" he looked down at Rachel. She nodded, blond hair swaying slightly. "Okay, then let's go" he grinned.
Liz moved back to the front porch and watched as Daniel started the truck and pulled out of the driveway. She smiled and waved and stood watching, as they disappeared around the corner, before she went inside. She fell to her knees just inside the door and cried harder than she ever had before. She had just lost her world.
-
"Guess we'll have to get you a bigger bookshelf huh?" Daniel commented, as he watched Rachel try to find places for the left over books that wouldn't fit in the already huge shelf. She shrugged and went back to putting her stuff away.
"So… are you doing anything tonight?" he asked curiously. It was a Friday night and he assumed that she would try to stay out all night doing god knows what.
"Goin out" she answered not looking up from unpacking her computer from its box.
"Where?"
"Dunno yet" she pulled out a tangle of power cords and stood there untying the knots patiently.
"With who then?"
"People" Daniel sighed… this was going to be harder than he had thought.
"Do these people have names?" he inquired.
"Yes"
"And they would be?"
"Why do you care?" she looked up accusingly, her voice raising a notch. Her mom had never spent this long trying to find out where she was going and with whom.
"Cause it's my job, so who are you going out with, and when will you be home?" he said sternly. Rachel regarded him carefully for a moment.
"When do I have to be home?" she asked.
"Well I'm not going to give you a curfew, but I would like to know who you'll be with and where you're going"
"No curfew?"
"Nope" Rachel didn't say a word for a few moments as she continued to untangle the power cords. Finally pulling the last two cords apart she looked up at Daniel who still was leaning on the doorframe waiting for an answer.
"I'm goin to the movies, with a couple friends… Evan and Derrick."
"Okay, have fun" he said, and left the room. Leaving Rachel standing there with her mouth hanging open. That was it? He wasn't going to interrogate her about her friends for hours? This man confused her. He was supposed to be mean and domineering, that's what parents were. Shaking her head she continued to hook up her computer.
Daniel walked into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. His approach was working. If he didn't seem too forceful or controlling, maybe, just maybe she would open up to him and they might actually get along.
-
Daniel was flipping through an archaeology magazine when he heard the front door open. Glancing at the clock he was pleased to see it was only midnight. He turned his head to see Rachel enter and shut and lock the door.
"How was your night?" he asked. Rachel came in the room and leaned against the doorframe. She shrugged in response.
"Did you have fun?" he tried. Again she shrugged as an answer.
"…Can you speak?" he sighed. She smirked and shrugged her shoulders once again before pushing off the wall and going to her room.
"G'night" she called as she shut her door.
"Night" he said quietly. She was going to be a handful, Liz was right. But he was definitely up for the challenge.
More soon people.
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