Chapter Three

I'm sorry, I know I said light-hearted, but this is me! To all my old readers, you should have known it was coming. To all my new readers, you should have read my profile, the bit where it says I specialise in angst. But never fear, they'll get it together… eventually.

Samantha woke up feeling very relaxed and very comfortable. Slowly she became aware that it had been a long time since she had woken up in a man's arms and though it felt very pleasant, she knew there was something not quite right about it…

She realised that, at some point during the night, she and Daniel had ended up spooning, with her back pressed against his chest, and his one arm wrapped around her waist securely. It was very comfortable, more so then it should have been – if Hammond were to see them now, he'd blow a gasket.

Mind you, if Tiegan were to see them now, she'd be green with envy, every doubt she'd had about their relationship evaporating. Pity.

Reluctantly, Samantha pulled away from Daniel. She had hoped not to wake him up, but no such luck. Her movements – like an animal trying to get out of a steel trap, the way Daniel had his arm around her – caused him to wake up. For a few seconds, his mind dwelled on how comfortable it felt to be so close to a woman – and they he realised that he was that close to Samantha, which was definitely not appropriate.

Funny, when he thought about it later, he realized that his first thoughts wouldn't have been of Sha're. He was only a little disappointed that the only proper thing to do was quickly retreat to their sides of the bed.

"Sorry," he said. "Don't know how that happened."

Samantha shrugged. She felt somehow less now that she was no longer cuddled up to Daniel. There was a part of her that wanted to throw herself back in his arms. She repressed that part. "No harm done," she quipped.

They had their showers and dressed and went into the kitchen to find Lachlan and Sarah making breakfast – apparently their specialty, from the delicious smells that were wafting through the house.

"This should just about wake Tiegan up," Sarah commented wryly. Tiegan was notorious for being asleep or otherwise absent when it came to such things as making breakfast and other household chores. "Just in time to eat."

"And I bet she'll find herself otherwise occupied when it comes to the dishes," Daniel quipped.

"Something like that," Sarah agreed.

Samantha and Lachlan went to set the table, which gave Daniel the opportunity to talk to Sarah privately. "How come you guys still keep in touch with Tiegan?" he asked. "She doesn't seem very nice."

Sarah laughed. "That's a very diplomatic description," she said. "It's Tiegan who keeps in touch with everyone else – I think because she liked to lord her success over all of us. We never hear the end of all the government secrets she knows – what's so funny?" she asked when she caught Daniel smiling to himself.

"Nothing I can tell you," he said. "But let's just say Sam and I know much cooler government secrets." He looked sheepish. "I probably shouldn't have said that."

"I won't tell anyone," Sarah said. "And for what it's worth, it's good to know there are some things even Tiegan doesn't know. You know, you and Sam are really good together – we don't see much of her boyfriends, she works so hard and I think guys are intimidated by a woman as smart as she is – hell, Tiegan's intimidated by her, that's why she's such a bitch."

"I noticed," Daniel commented dryly. He had a feeling he could really like Sarah – and Alanna – especially if he had the opportunity to know them away from Tiegan. As far as Tiegan was concerned, he only had three more days to put up with her.

True to Sarah's prediction, Tiegan showed up just as breakfast was being served. She had clearly been up for some time, because she was stylishly dressed and perfectly made up – you'd think she was going to a formal dinner and not just breakfast at home with old friends.

"How did everyone sleep?" Tiegan asked, looking directly at Samantha.

"Fine," Samantha purred sweetly, deciding to bend the truth a little, "it's so nice to fall asleep in Daniel's arms."

Sarah laughed out loud, Alanna tried hard to supress a smirk and Tiegan cowled. "Too much information," she snarled. She wasn't exactly a gracious loser. Daniel's rejection of her yesterday had been a blow to her ego – men never rejected her!

Tiegan had planned the day out to the last minute, which she explained to everyone after she returned from filing and painting her nails – a job of extreme emergency which came up just when the table was being cleared and volunteers for washing the dishes being sought. All day the eight of them trekked to the various attractions, to lunch at an upmarket restaurant where the waiters fawned all over Tiegan.

They got back to the house late in the afternoon. Tiegan took a 'rejuvenating nap', dragging Phillip with her, and the other six of them retreated to the courtyard, where their noise could be ignored. Tiegan loved for people to know what a healthy sex life she had.

"He's the biggest womaniser," Alanna piped up knowingly.

"Because she's such an angel," Sarah added. "The two of them deserve each other."

"She came onto me yesterday," Daniel admitted. "Whenever everyone else was napping, I came out to read a book. I think she was waiting for me."

"That doesn't surprise me," Sarah said. "She could never stand it when one of us had a better-looking guy then her." She leaned back in her chair. "God, it's peaceful without the two of them. We need to do this more often, just the six of us."

"Agreed," Daniel said, momentarily forgotten that four days was long enough to pretend to be in a relationship. When Tiegan wasn't around, he enjoyed himself. Sarah and Alanna were terrific women, and their boyfriends were good fun too. And it was so easy to be with Samantha, it almost felt like they were together. His mind kept going back to waking up with Samantha in his arms. He had no idea how it had happened, but it had felt so right. He'd been sorry he'd pulled away.

Immediately, he was sorry he'd thought such a thing. No way could he and Samantha be together. It was fraught with complications. And Jack would kill him.

Samantha went into the kitchen to put the percolator on to make coffee. She watched her friends and their boyfriends and Daniel from her vantage point and smiled to herself. Daniel was doing far better then she had imagined. Sarah and Alanna loved him, and they were convinced Samantha and Daniel made a great couple. Samantha felt a twinge of guilt, but decided she wasn't hurting anyone. And she was really sticking it to Tiegan.

Daniel's 'agreed' comment had surprised her – she would have expected him to make some vauge, noncommital response. Instead, he had seemed quite keen to see them again – which, of course, was impossible, but still… for some reason, she could easily imagine she and Daniel hanging out with Sarah, Alanna and their boyfriends.

Don't be silly, she chastised herself. This is just pretend, on Friday it will all be over. He's just doing you a favour. That, and Tiegan's thoroughly pissed him off, I think he likes sticking it to her as much as I do.

As if she knew she was being thought about, Tiegan materialised in the kitchen. Actually, she had been waiting to get Samantha alone. It had disgusted her the way Daniel had been all over her yesterday – all over Samantha, when he had rejected her so totally! If the rejection wasn't bad enough, that he had to reject her for such a plain Jane drove the knife in further. Well, she'd get to the bottom of it.

"You and Daniel make quite the couple," she said snidely.

"Thankyou," Samantha said, pretending she hadn't heard the snideness in Tiegan's voice.

"Quite a couple," Tiegan repeated, "for the fact he still has a ring tan."

For a split second Samantha felt panic flood through her. She forced herself to relax. "Really, Teegs, if you'd just asked I would have told you Daniel was married. I knew her actually, he was distraught when she died a few years ago. That's the kind of guy he is, absolutely devoted to the woman he loves. We haven't been together very long – not in the sense you mean – that's why he still has a ring tan. Which brings me to my questions – you must have been looking awfully hard to see something like that. One would almost thing you were trying to trip me up."

Tiegan glowered. "He came onto me yesterday," she blurted out. Samantha figured she had to be desperate to resort to an untruth like that. "When you were asleep. He told me what you didn't know wouldn't hurt you. I'm only looking out for you, Sam. You always had such poor judgement in men."

"You meant when you came onto him," Samantha corrected. "You thought Daniel wouldn't tell me something like that? Clearly, you're judging everyone by your own standards – which have never been very high, I must admit."

That Samantha refused to be riled up or admit anything infuriated Tiegan. She knew something was wrong. Samantha Carter did not land men like Daniel Jackson. Tiegan landed men like Daniel Jackson. It wasn't fair, it wasn't right.

With a shriek, Tiegan lunged at Samantha and soon the two women were on the floor in an old-fashioned catfight that sent everyone else running into the kitchen. Lachlan and Daniel separated them, with Phillip nowhere to be seen, no doubt gone to check out the local talent, as was his style. Alanna and Sarah tried to look disapproving as they communicated with each other with glee in their eyes. It was always a treat when someone provoked Tiegan out of her cool demeanour.

"Sam, go to our room now," Daniel ordered Samantha. "And you," he said menacingly to Tiegan, "I don't know what you said or did and I don't particularly care. But if you upset her again you'll answer to me." There was a dangerous glint in his eyes that made Tiegan think the best thing to do at that particular moment was look contrite.

Daniel followed Samantha a few moments later. She was pacing across the floor, very worked up. "Hey," Daniel said, trying to stop Samantha mid-pace ; she stopped violently, facing him. Her eyes spat anger. "What the hell happened?" he asked.

"She's a mean-spirited cow!" Samantha yelled.

"I could have told you that," Daniel said mildly. "And you might want to keep your voice down before she hears something she can use against us. What exactly did she do?"

"She worked out that you used to be married, and made a big deal out of it… then she said you'd come onto her, and when I told her she was full of crap, she attacked me. I was only defending myself."

Daniel smirked. Samantha had a military standard of 'defending herself' ; what she'd been doing was closer to kicking Tiegan's ass. "I wish you hadn't provoked her, but I suppose she had it coming."

"Damn right she had it coming."

"Do you want to go home?"

"Now that I've kicked her ass? No way. I want to watch her spew. She knows she can't do anything but glower, it'll be fun to watch."

Daniel sighed. "You're playing with fire, Sam, why don't we quit while we're ahead?"

"She insulted me. She can't stand the fact that you're better looking then Phillip, who, by the way, is a womanising ass. Right now I bet he's trowelling the bars for fresh meat. Every time we get together, she goes on and on about what a fantastic marriage she has, and now she's made an ass of herself. I like having the upper hand for once. I want to stay and enjoy it."

Daniel sighed heavily. He knew better then anyone that once Samantha had made up her mind she would stick something through to the bitter end. "OK," he said warily. "But if this ends badly, you've got no-one to blame but yourself."

Smiling gratefully, Samantha hugged Daniel. "You've been terrific," she said.

"No problem," he said dryly, hugging her back. He ran his hand down her back and was surprised at how tense she was. Clearly, this thing with Tiegan was bothering her more then she was letting on. "Sam," he said, "take your shirt off and lie face-down on the bed."

She pulled away from him and looked aghast. "Daniel!"

He looked indignant. "That is not what I meant," he said crossly, a little offended that she thought so little of him. He might be having inappropriate thoughts about her but that didn't mean he was going to act on them. "I only wanted to give you a massage. You feel really stressed."

Samantha looked sheepish. She really should have known better then to assume Daniel was coming onto her. It was just because she'd been having inappropriate thoughts about him that her mind jumped to the obvious – and wrong – conclusions. "Sorry," she said. She turned her back to Daniel and began unbuttoning her shirt, slipping it off her shoulders. She lay on the bed face-down as Daniel had told her to.

Daniel straddled her and ran his hands over her back. "Sam," he said evenly, not wanting to give her the wrong idea again, "I'm going to unclip your bra, it's too hard to do it properly."

It felt strange to be in such an intimate situation with Daniel. When you were in a life-or-death situation, you often had close physical contact and you learnt not to care about it. But this was different, probably because without the adrenaline rush that came from staring death in the face, she was very aware of the fact she was half-naked with Daniel on top of her. But her apprehensions quickly dissipated when Daniel touched her. He knew what he was doing. She could feel her concerns melting away, although that could also be Daniel's soothing presence. She gave a little sigh of contentment.

"Enjoying yourself?" Daniel asked, just a little smugly when he heart Samantha sigh.

"This is wonderful," she admitted. "You're a man of hidden talents. Where did you learn this?"

There was a pause before Daniel said, "Sha're. They had a big culture of natural therapy on Abydos." For some reason, he felt uncomfortable bringing up his late wife with to Samantha.

Samantha felt the tiniest twinge of jealousy when Daniel mentioned his late wife. She ignored it and focused on the matter at hand. She hadn't realised how strung out she was from dealing with Tiegan, and Daniel was making it so easy for her to relax…

After fifteen minutes, Daniel realised Samantha had drifted off to sleep. He was pretty pleased with himself and glad that he'd been able to make her relax, God knew she needed it. He would never understand why women felt the urge to one-up each other to the bitter end – he would have walked away years ago. But that was Samantha's choice, and he'd agreed to come with her, so he figured he owed it to her to stay.

He pulled a spare blanket from the linen closet and draped it over her, leaving her to sleep. He went into the kitchen to make himself a coffee then into the lounge room to drink it.

Tiegan was nowhere to be seen, and Phillip was presumably still out on the prowl, but Sarah, Alanna, Lachlan and Arthur were there. "How's Sam?" Alanna asked as soon as she saw Daniel.

"Sleeping," Daniel said. "Where's Tiegan?"

Alanna shrugged. "Probably gone to find Phillip."

"Or beat him at his own game," Sarah piped up. The two women shared a knowing look. Tiegan and Phillip's 'open marriage' was an old story.

Alanna turned to Daniel. "You know, she's normally not this mean," she said. "I think you being here has really bothered her."

"Me? What did I do?" Daniel asked. Apart from rejecting Tiegan's come-on, and she'd shown her animosity towards Samantha long before that.

"She's always gloated to Sam that she's got a better life – a better job, a better man. She can't stand that Sam's found someone who's better look then Phillip, is clearly mad about her – and has a Doctorate, too. That's a bit of a sore point to Tiegan, she was never as smart as Sam."

"She sounds pretty insecure," Daniel noted.

"She is," Alanna admitted. "She makes herself feel better by bringing other people down. That's why she's being such a bitch, because she's known Sam's got one up on her."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Daniel said dryly. Not that he considered it difficult to be a better man then Phillip King.

"It's obvious you care a lot about Sam to stay with her through this," Sarah piped up. "If it was me and Lachlan's friends were acting like Tiegan is, there wouldn't be enough money in the world to make me stay."

"Yeah," Daniel said, choosing his words carefully so he could tell the truth without directly admitting to their non-existent romantic relationship, "I care about her a lot."

The five of them talked casually for an hour and Daniel was beginning to feel sorry that he and Samantha weren't in a real relationship, and that after this week he would most likely not see these four people again because he really liked them. The easy atmosphere was broken by the front door being opened and then slammed shut, followed by stomps in the front hall – heavy boots and stiletto heels – and Tiegan and Phillip entering the lounge room, looking stony. Clearly, they'd had a bitter fight about something and were struggling to look cheerful – and failing miserably.

The noise woke Samantha up, who realised that she'd fallen asleep. She assumed it was Daniel who had covered her up – he was such a sweetheart. She smiled when she recalled how good it had felt when he'd been massaging her back. She had to find a way to make it up to him, although she was beginning to think she was too far in his debt to ever do that properly.

After a few seconds, she realised the noise was being caused by Tiegan, who had returned with her husband. Knowing she wasn't going to get any more sleep, Samantha got up and got dressed, heading for the lounge room.

Everyone but Samantha – including Tiegan – noticed the way Daniel smiled when he saw Samantha. He shifted over on the couch so Samantha could sit next to him. "Sleep well?" he asked innocently.

"Fabulously," she said honestly. She turned to her friends and said, bragging just a little, "Daniel gives the best massages, so relaxing, put me right to sleep."

Tiegan glowered and Samantha rested her head against Daniel's chest. She liked the smell of him, although she wasn't analytical enough to realise it was because she liked Daniel, a lot, and therefor liked everything associated with him.

"What's up with Tiegan and Phillip?" Samantha asked Daniel when they were in his car, driving to the restaurant Tiegan had chosen for dinner that night.

"I guess they had a fight," Daniel said. "They came in just before you got up – I guess they woke you up – and they both looked absolutely furious."

"Trouble in paradise," Samantha couldn't help but gloating, the stresses of dealing with Tiegan long forgotten.

Doing their best to ignore Tiegan and Phillip, dinner was a pleasant affair. They lingered over coffee, made all the more pleasant by Tiegan announcing they were 'tired' and were going home (a cover up for the fact she was bored with intellectual conversation and wanted to have sex) and leaving the six of them to it.

After they got home, Daniel and Samantha stayed up for another few hours talking until they drifted asleep. At some point she ended up lying against him with her head on his chest. They had been through a lot that day and being in such close proximity seemed more natural then it had that morning.

Listening to his heartbeat was quite soothing. Or maybe it was just being with Daniel that was soothing. Samantha had never thought about it before, but now that she did, she realised there had been dozens of times when she had found Daniel's presence soothing. He always knew how to do things without pissing a whole lot of people off, which was more then could be said for Jack most of the time. Yes, Daniel was definitely the right person to bring to this week away – and it certainly helped that, when provoked beyond endurance, he was perfectly capable of holding his own in provoking back. God, she loved him.

As she drifted off to sleep in the security of Daniel's embrace, she wondered if she meant that sentiment for real or not.

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Like they had on Tuesday morning, on Wednesday morning Daniel and Samantha woke up in each other's arms. She was curled up in his arms like she had been when she fell asleep, only it felt more natural this morning then yesterday morning and she was reluctant to leave the security of his arms.

Daniel woke up slowly, aware of the weight on his chest. Funny how it felt more natural to be this close to her then it had yesterday – but then, they'd really bonded yesterday. At least Tiegan was good for something.

As the day wore on, he became more and more aware of how easy and comfortable it was to be with Samantha. He had never thought about it before, probably because they'd mostly been in official situations, but he and Samantha were very close and these last two days had only made them closer. He felt more comfortable about her then he had on Monday, and the affection he showed her came easier until it felt natural to kiss her cheek, stroke her hair… mustn't think inappropriate thoughts, he kept telling himself.

As the day wore on, Samantha because more and more aware of how easy and comfortable it was to be with Daniel. She'd never thought about it before, probably because they'd mostly been in official situations, but she and Daniel were very close and the last two days had only made them closer. She felt more comfortable around him and started to look forward to his little displays of affection – his lips on her cheek, his fingers through her hair… mustn't think inappropriate thoughts. Not that she did anything to discourage his affection. She quite liked having his arms around her when they sat on the couch together, the gentle tone he used whenever he spoke to her, his affection kisses – and not just because it made Tiegan glower…

If Samantha had been a little more insightful, she would have realised Daniel's affection was directed only at her, without thoughts of Sha're and with little thought of proving Tiegan – that was just a bonus. But she wasn't that insightful, so it never occurred to her that the connection – and the chemistry – between her and Daniel was steadily growing…

That day Tiegan's opinion was overridden and they decided to have lunch at home. Alanna was slicing bread when disaster struck. She was distracted by Tiegan whining about the amount of fat in salami and cut deeply into her hand before she realised her hand was in the knife's path between it and the chopping board. There was blood everywhere, although Samantha could see it was 'just' a deep cut, there were no cut nerves or exposed bones. It was something she could take care of herself with her basic medical training. "Daniel," she said evenly, "go and get the first aid kit out of my bag." The Stargate Command had the best first-aid kits, and given the program went through seventy billion dollars a year, she figured they wouldn't miss one. Which had proven to be a wise decision.

Daniel dashed into their bedroom and rifled through Samantha's suitcase. He found the first aid kit easily enough, and yanked it out of the case.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw, tucked in the side of the first-aid kit, Samantha had stashed condoms and lubricant.

He complete forgot that there was a bleeding woman in the kitchen waiting for the first aid kit. Although he himself – and Jack, and every other male who travelled offworld – carried them with him offworld (an unspoken necessity that Hammond had insisted on, he didn't want any intergalactic paternity lawsuits) Daniel had never thought of it applying to women. He knew they had their shot things but that was mostly in the event of rape.

The way he saw it, she had packed condoms 'just in case'. Despite his promise not to think 'inappropriate thoughts', every moment of intimacy they'd shared in the last forty-eight hours came flooding back to him. His friendly kisses and caressing which she had accepted with that sweet little smile of hers, the way her fingers curled around his when he went to gold her hand, the way she rested her head against his chest… he stole another glance at the box of condoms and despite himself, he had a vision of Samantha rolling one on him and positioning herself to accept him…

"DANIEL! What the hell are you doing it there?" Samantha's voice snapped him out of his reverie – and, mercifully, killed any thoughts and his physical reaction to them. Grabbing the kit, he rushed back into the kitchen. Samantha grabbed the kit off him and immediately began working on Alanna's wound. "What took you so long?" she asked Daniel while she concentrated on the cut. It was deep, but not deep enough to need stiches, she decided – she had seen enough bad wounds and picked up enough from Janet to know that.

"Just got distracted," Daniel said vaguely. It was enough for Samantha, who was more concerned with Alanna then him. Despite the fact there was a woman bleeding and in a lot of pain in front of him, he was distracted by Samantha. God, she was beautiful. He licked his lips, which had suddenly become very dry.

Samantha fixed up Alanna's hand OK and gave her a small amount of morphine to help with the pain. Tiegan, the cause of the aggro, was nowhere to be seen, neither was her husband, which was cowardly on her part but no-one was complaining. The six of them sat down to lunch and then coffee over a long, friendly discussion. This, really, was why Samantha had wanted to come.

"You did great today," Daniel said late in the afternoon after they had retreated to their own bedrooms for a nap before dinner. Samantha was trying to get some rest, but she was too wired up. She was lying on her back on the bed, staring up at Daniel, who was propped up on one elbow looking down at her, smiling at her with affection and approval. Even though she was wired from her impromptu medical procedure, which she had to admit, she got a buzz from, she found being alone with Daniel quite relaxing, even more then being with him with the others. Maybe she could fall asleep after all. She wouldn't mind falling asleep in his arms again.

"It was nothing, just a cut, I've seen worse," she said. But it was nice to be appreciated, by both Alanna, who couldn't stop thanking her over lunch, and Daniel.

Daniel reached out to stroke her hair. She loved the way he stroked her hair, she loved the way he touched her fullstop. Daniel knew far more about women then he was given credit for – and, most importantly, how to treat them respectfully. Sha're had been an incredibly lucky women. Like always when she thought of Daniel's late wife, Samantha felt a little twinge of jealousy which she ignored.

"You still did great," he said. And before his courage failed him, he leaned down to kiss her.

He hadn't realised how much he'd been thinking about kissing Samantha until he'd done it, but when he did, he realised it was exactly as he'd imagined it – dozens of times. Her lips felt exactly as he'd imagined, soft, sweet, vaguely like the vanilla-flavoured lip balm she used…

For a split second, Samantha kissed him back and in that moment it was fantastic. And then it occurred to Samantha that she was kissing her subordinate. And she pushed Daniel off her.

The moment she pushed him away, Daniel scrambled off the bed. "I'm sorry," he said. "That was way out of line." He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand so he wouldn't be distracted by the lingering taste of her.

Samantha should have left it at that, it wasn't like Daniel would make the same mistake twice, but for some reason, she was annoyed at him. How dare he be so out of line? How dare he make her aware of how attracted she was to him? How dare he open such a can of worms? "What the hell were you thinking?" she demanded irritably.

"I'm sorry," he repeated lamely. "I just, uh, I just – "

"You just what, Daniel?" Samantha demanded.

"Just that before, when I was getting the first aid kit, I found your condoms and I thought – "

"You thought I brought them because I planned to sleep with you?" Samantha asked. Daniel just stood there, looking thoroughly ashamed and refusing to meet her eyes. That wasn't exactly what he'd been thinking, but since she'd put it like that, he felt thoroughly rotten. "You carry condoms with you," she pointed out.

"That's different, I'm a guy." The words were out before Daniel could think about them ; otherwise, he would have known better then to say such a chauvinist thing to Samantha.

It was an argument that never failed to annoy Samantha. It was OK for men to carry condoms, then they were being responsible and that was admirable, but when it was a woman, she was just begging for sex. Her initial anger at Daniel kissing her was combined with self-righteous feminist anger. "You mean, because you're a guy, women are just throwing themselves at you?"

"That's not what I meant," Daniel said. "I just – look, I made a mistake."

"Damn right you made a mistake," Samantha said. She was being unreasonable, she knew, but she was angry at Daniel – angry that he'd exposed their obvious attraction (obvious to everyone but her, that was) and angry that he'd reverted to chauvinistic clichés. "You think just because you're doing me this one favour that I'm going to sleep with you?"

The vehemence in her voice made it sound like it would be just about the worst thing that could happen to her, and it pricked Daniel's male pride. "And that would be such a terrible thing, wouldn't it," he said sarcastically. He headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Samantha asked, sounding far too possessive for her liking.

"Out," Daniel replied. He was not staying here with a woman who treated him like a leper over one little kiss. Jesus Christ, it had been a kiss and he's apologised, what more did she wanted? To put me in my place, that's what, he thought. She'd made it very clear that she had no interest in him – although she could have sworn she had kissed him back, just for a second.

Before Samantha could say anything else, Daniel was out of the bedroom and out of the house. He quickly got into his car and reversed out the driveway and started down the street. He didn't care where he went, only that he wasn't around Samantha.

His pride hurt. He didn't care that Samantha hadn't been interested – he could have gotten over that easily enough – he could have chalked up her supposed interest as crossed signals – but for her to act like he was so beneath her, like she wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. She had slept in his arms the night before, wasn't that a decent indication that she was interested? She could have just said no, but instead, she'd acted like he'd had some nerve in kissing her. No bloody wonder she was known as the ice queen around the base.

He drove around aimlessly for a while before finding himself passing a bar. It was as good a place as any to hang out for a while, and he drove into the carpark and made his way inside.

It was a decent enough bar, clean with no riff-raff. While it wasn't the standard someone like Tiegan would expect – or, rather, demand – it was good enough for Daniel. He went up to the bar and ordered himself a drink.

He sat at the bar drinking slowly for a while, thinking about Samantha and silently fuming that she'd reacted the way she had. All she'd had to do was say he'd gotten the wrong idea and he would have left it at that but no, she'd had to act like he was an untouchable or something – good for pretending to be her boyfriend, but not actually being her boyfriend. And what was so wrong with him, anyway? Daniel didn't have a whole lot of experience with women, but he'd had no complaints. Well, Sarah had complained that he as hardly ever around, but he had proven the opposite with Samantha well and truly. She'd had no right to act so outraged. She could have just said no, she didn't have to attack his ego like she had.

He dwelled on it for a while until an attractive woman in her mid twenties sat next to him. "You know," she said in a pleasant, almost flirtatious voice, "it's bad for the ego to drink alone."

Daniel took a good look at her. She had dark brown hair and brown eyes with a deep tan – nothing like Samantha. That was good. He took her words as a cue. "Can I buy you a drink?" he asked.

She smiled sheepishly. "Was I that obvious?" she asked.

"Just a little," he admitted, but there was no reproach in his voice. Here was a woman who didn't take herself too seriously. "But you're right, it's bad for the ego to drink alone. So have a drink with me, my shout."

The woman smiled. "Lemon, lime and vodka," she told the bartender. To Daniel she said, "I'm Sheryl."

"Daniel," Daniel said. She had a nice smile. He had a feeling she would be good for his ego.

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Samantha had no idea where Daniel had gone, only that he wasn't at the house. She had tried calling his mobile, but he had turned it off.

She had reacted badly, she knew that. It was just that he had unnerved her, the way he had kissed her… the way it had made her feel. She had the funny feeling that if she hadn't stopped it there and then she would have ended up having wild, passionate sex with him, and that, she tried to convince herself, would have been an unmitigated disaster.

It would have been an unmitigated disaster because no way could they stay on the same team after that, and Jack would be pissed that they'd broken up the excellent dynamic that was SG-1. It would have been an unmitigated disaster because work romances meant people were always talking about you, and Samantha hated to have her personal life talked about. It would have been an unmitigated disaster because – because – Samantha struggled to come up with reasons who it would have been an unmitigated disaster.

It didn't help that while her brain was trying to convince her that a relationship with Daniel would have been a terrible idea, her body was still savouring the taste of his kiss and her heart was crying out to have him close by. She realised just how close they had become in the last two days that she missed having him around – more then she'd thought she would. Much more.

She wanted him to come home. She wanted to apologise.

She wanted him to kiss her again.

But she'd wounded his ego, she knew, and he wouldn't be coming home anytime soon. Oh, God, what had possessed her to act so rashly?

As the late afternoon became evening and the evening became night and Daniel was nowhere to be found, Samantha started to worry. She secretly called the police station and the hospitals and was told there was no-one of that description who'd been brought in or apprehended. Which meant he was out there somewhere, probably having a good time – without her. She didn't know weather to hate him or feel that she'd asked for it.

The hours wore on to past midnight, and Daniel still wasn't home. Finally Samantha decided to go to bed. If Daniel got home before morning he could always call her to get her to open the door – although she was so mad right now, she might not answer the phone.

It was funny how, after just two nights, it was hard to sleep without Daniel. She missed him. She wanted him back. And if he was with another woman, she wanted him to rot in hell.

After lying awake for two more hours willing Daniel to come home, Samantha fell into a restless sleep.

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Daniel and Sheryl hit it off immediately, and neither of them was drunk. He'd had a feeling he knew where the night was heading, and he vowed neither of them would be drunk. Anyway, he still had to drive home and he'd kept track of how much Sheryl was drinking, which wasn't much. So she wasn't into drunken sex either. Good. Daniel had never had to resort to plying a woman with alcohol to get laid, and he wasn't about to start now.

He found her attractive and easy to talk to. After two hours, he had almost forgotten Samantha's blunt rejection of him, certainly enough for him to notice that Sheryl was quite an attractive woman in her own right – and she'd been sending out strong signals all night. And she made it clear in a dozen subtle ways that she wasn't interested in a relationship (which was good, because he made it clear he was only here for another two days). Two grown adults who found each other attractive. What was wrong with that?

When it got close to midnight, he offered to drive her home. It was clear what he actually meant. She accepted gratefully, and it was clear what she meant by that. When he came to her house, she invited him inside for coffee. "I'd love to," he said.

He watched her start to make coffee. He had never had a one-night stand before and wasn't exactly sure how to go about it. God, she was attractive. He could honestly say he wasn't acting out of spite or revenge, although he had a feeling Samantha wouldn't see it that way. Well, he'd deal with her in the morning.

He walked up behind Cheryl, putting his hands on her hips. She didn't object, rather, leaned into him, her back pressed against his chest. It felt nice… sexy. Daniel began to kiss the back of her neck. She murmured appreciatively and for some insane reason Daniel felt the urge to blurt out, "I've never done this before. A one-night stand, I mean." His male pride had been battered once today already, he was not going to give this woman any impression that he was a virgin.

She turned around to face him, a playful smile on her face. "You know, I chose to sit with you because you seemed… nice. And damn attractive. And… I thought you'd be good in bed," she added provocatively.

She certainly knew how to stroke his ego. He wrapped his arms casually around her waist, drawing her close to him. "Really? What gave you that impression?"

"You looked… studious. Like you take pride in your work… all your work."

If she was trying to boost his confidence, it was working. "I take a lot of pride in my work," he said in a low voice as he lowered his mouth to kiss her…