Daniel Jackson swung the front door open and quietly stepped into the house. It had been a long day, and he was grateful to be home. As he shrugged his coat off and turned to hang it on the nearby hook, he noticed a familiar figure sitting alone in the dark.

"Janet?"

Her only answer was the stony silence that followed.

"Why are you sitting in the dark?" Daniel asked, reaching to turn the living room lamp on.

Warm light filled the room around her, yet she still said nothing.

"Come on, Teal'c, talk to me." Daniel said playfully.

That was definitely the wrong thing to say. Storm clouds filled her eyes, and Daniel swallowed involuntarily. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd done...but being on the receiving end of Janet's temper was never a good thing. That's when he noticed her outfit. She wore a sleek, form-fitting black dress that stopped just above her knee. Her auburn hair was elegantly swept up in a clip; loose wisps of hair framed her lovely face. God, she looked breathtaking.

And suddenly it hit him. Dinner. It was their 6-month anniversary and they were supposed to go out tonight. Janet had even left work a little early to get dressed.

And dressed she had been. For nearly five hours.

"Oh, God, Janet." Daniel breathed.

Silently, Janet rose from the couch and brushed by him, not even meeting his eyes as she walked towards the stairs.

Daniel let out a tired sigh. This hadn't been his day at all.

"Janet? Wait!" He called after her retreating figure. She didn't even pause. "Dammit Janet, I'm trying to explain!"

With that, she stopped in the middle of the staircase, and then whirled around to face him. Her arms were crossed and she was wearing her no-nonsense expression.

"Well?" She said expectantly.

He opened his mouth to answer, but she exploded before he ever started to speak. "No, let me guess, Daniel. You were back on the base working on some stupid alien device. And it was so intriguing, and so you just had to spend five hours studying the damn thing! The very five hours I've been here alone waiting for you on our anniversary. Is that about right?"

"Why are you giving me a guilt trip?" Daniel countered, his own voice rising in anger. "Yeah, I got caught at work. It happens. Happens a hell of a lot more to you than it does me, come to think of it. So, yeah, I missed one dinner because I had work to do. It was important!"

Janet glared down at him. "I thought I was important to you too, Daniel. Obviously, I was wrong!" With that Janet stormed the rest of the way up the stairs and slammed the bedroom door so hard the pictures on the wall shook.

Daniel's eyes rolled in the back of his head as he pinched the bridge of his nose. No, this definitely had not been his day at all.

"Daniel, hurry up!" Jack barked into his radio. "We don't have all day!"

In a daze, Daniel realized he'd been staring off again. Jack probably thought he had purposely wondered off to go inspect something of interest. If only. Daniel sighed and hurried to catch up with his team. Fortunately, Sam had bent down to collect some soil samples, so the others hadn't gotten too far ahead of him.

When Daniel had rejoined the group, they continued on their way. P3X-290 was a nice enough as far as planets go. The terrain was a little rockier than most, but the blue sky, the shinning sun, and the large field lined by a forest of trees made the planet seem rather peaceful.

"Where is it, Carter?" Jack asked.

Sam quickly conferred with the small device she was holding. "About two clicks east of here."

"Damn UAVs, why can't they ever have a soft landing? You know, the kind that doesn't require us to go looking for them?"

"Well, sir, it might've had a softer landing if you hadn't grabbed the controls from me."

"Easy..." Jack said in a warning tone, but there was a hint of a smile in his eyes. "Let's just find the damn thing so you can fix it."

"O'Neill!" Teal'c called from up ahead. "I believe I have found something."

Jack, Sam, and Daniel quickened their pace as they walked over to where Teal'c was standing. The field they'd been walking across took a sudden drop and spilled into a low valley plain that was nestled between a large rocky hill and the forest.

Looking down at the valley below, it was obvious to Daniel that this place had once been a settlement of some kind. Descending the steep ridge as carefully and quickly as possible, SG-1 went to get a closer look. Vegetation had overgrown much of what was there, but the rocky ground remained somewhat charred, as if a great fire had swept through the area many years ago.

Amazingly, the forest of trees seemed to be unaffected by whatever devastation had occurred. Walking closer to them, Daniel theorized that perhaps the wind had blown the fire away from the forest. Or maybe rain had extinguished the fire before it could reach the tree line. As Daniel continued searching the area for clues, he noticed there was a lone tree that stood out a few feet away from the others. As he got closer, something else caught his eye. Fascinated, Daniel hunched over the tree trunk and began running his fingers along the carvings in the wood.

"Hey guys!" Daniel called. "Come take a look at this."

It didn't take Jack, Sam, and Teal'c long to reach Daniel's side. Wordlessly Daniel pointed towards his find.

"Croa'tan." Sam read aloud. "What does that mean?"

Daniel's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to think. Leaving Earth while Janet was not speaking to him seemed to have completely shot his ability to concentrate. And spending the whole night on the hard couch hadn't exactly helped either.

"Something...I know I've heard it before, I just...I can't quite place it." Daniel sighed. "Teal'c, have you ever heard of anything like this?"

Teal'c peered at the carving quizzically and tilted his head in thought, "I have not, Daniel Jackson."

'At least this gives me something other than Janet to focus on.' Daniel noted briefly as his mind started whirling, trying to figure out where he'd heard of another similarly mysterious carving.

Jack sighed loudly as he snapped the case of his watch closed. "Well, kids, I hate to interrupt, but we'll just have to save this for another...team. We need to get going before it gets dark."