WHAT'D I MISS: PART FOUR
This chapter is dedicated to everyone who has been confused over Sam and Jack's relationship, or lack there of, over the last 8 years of the show! Especially during times when you watch an episode like 'Divide and Conquer' and wait anxiously for a week for the next episode, to have Jack and Sam act as though the last episode never happened!
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Previously: Trying to figure out some way to get his friends out of any possible trouble, Daniel thought of Jack's words the night before as General Hammond turned his gaze to Daniel. Looking at the general, Daniel mentally scolded his two friends for causing him to lie as he stuttered out, "General, it's not what you think!"
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General Hammond looked at the young archaeologist with a confused expression. "What do you mean it's not what I think?" He asked.
"Uh, well….it's just….uh!" Daniel, for possibly the first time in his life, could not think of what to say!
"Daniel. I think that General O'Neill is comforting one of his subordinates who just lost her father." Hammond said to Daniel in a very believing tone.
Daniel looked up at Hammond, completely perplexed! 'Is that really what he thinks! Or is he just covering for them?' Daniel just stared at the Head of Homeworld Security.
"Are you okay, Dr. Jackson?" General Hammond asked him after a few seconds in obvious concern.
"Uh, yeah, fine." Daniel managed to croak out. "I, uh, yeah…..comfort, Jack…..He was….uh." Daniel didn't know what to say! He scratched his head as if that would help him form coherent sentences….nope! "Sam…..she, her dad. Uh, Jack is comforting her. Uh, me too! She was here, right here and crying and I was comforting her and now Jack is and her dad and all…." Daniel knew very well that he sounded like an idiot! But, for some reason, he couldn't stop talking!
General Hammond continued to look at Daniel in confusion. "Well, I think we should go on out, don't you, Dr. Jackson?"
Daniel looked up and saw that at some point, Jack and Sam had pulled apart and were now watching General Hammond and Daniel on the other side of the door. "Uh, yeah! Okay." He said, opening the door for the general.
Daniel was confused! Jack and Sam were acting as if they were not just caught in the act of an intimate moment by their commanding officer! And, said commanding officer was acting like it was perfectly normal for Jack to be hugging his female subordinate whom he has harbored feelings for, well, for a long time! 'This is NOT right!' Daniel mentally shouted. His confusion getting the better of him. 'What about the rules and regulations! Why are they all acting like this is perfectly normal! What the heck is going on!'
"Daniel, are you okay?" Sam asked him.
Daniel stopped his mental debate and stepped back into reality. He focused on Sam and realized that while General Hammond had hugged Sam and shook Jack's hand, starting up a conversation, Daniel had remained just inside the door, frozen in his position. "Uh, yeah." Daniel finally managed to get out and stepped onto the back porch.
"You sure, you were looking as if you were somewhere else there?" Sam asked, taking a step closer to him.
"What?" Daniel asked, obviously not quite out of his head yet.
"You're spacing out, Daniel!" Jack put in. "Are you sure they didn't mess with your head when they ejected you from the 'all glowey club' this time!" Jack asked his friend, teasingly.
"Oh, sorry! Just tired, I guess." Daniel brushed off and took his seat. After one more concerned glance towards Daniel from the other three, they picked back up their conversation.
A few minutes later, Mark and Amy had joined the rest of them on the porch, and shortly after that Teal'c and Cassie had arrived. Daniel had remained quiet for most of the afternoon, watching his two friends and wondering why no one else seemed to see what he so obviously did!
He was standing with Teal'c and Cassie as Cassie regaled them on her most recent college experience and explaining, in great detail, the basics of a 'toga party' to Teal'c. Who, of course, found the unusual earth custom, very interesting. Jack and Sam were standing, very close to each other, a few feet away talking with Mark and General Hammond. Twice now, Daniel had watched Sam laugh over something and turn her body into Jack's! It had been at least three times now that Jack had reached up and stroked Sam's back for a few seconds at a time! And, if Daniel wasn't mistaken, both times that Jack had handed Sam another bottle of beer, their hands lingered together much longer than necessary!
'Why are they being so blatantly obvious!' Daniel wondered, starting to worry that this all might be some bizarre, yet very vivid, dream. 'Maybe I'm still ascended!' Daniel considered. 'Maybe none of the last few days really happened! Maybe replicarter is still in my head making all this up!' Daniel looked around worriedly. 'Everything feels real.' He reached down and pinched himself on the arm. 'Ouch! Okay, maybe I'm awake! Or maybe that really doesn't work!'
"Daniel! What are you doing?" Cassie's voice broke through Daniel's mental ponderings.
"What?" He asked, looking up at the young woman.
"What are you doing? Did you just pinch yourself?" Cassie asked, bemused.
"Oh, uh, yeah." He answered, lowering his head in embarrassment.
Cassie laughed out loud and Daniel thought he might have heard a noise similar to a snicker escape the large jaffa. Daniel looked back towards Jack and Sam and saw Jack's hand, once again, on Sam's back.
"Do either of you think things are kind of weird here, tonight?" Daniel asked.
Cassie followed Daniel's gaze and then turned back to the confused man. "Are you talking about Jack and Sam?" She asked.
Daniel looked at Cassie. "Well, yeah. They're acting all close and right in front of General Hammond."
"Did you ever stop to think that their closeness has nothing to do with sex?" Cassie asked him. "They have known each other just as long as you and Sam have, if not a little longer. After all the life and death situations they've been through together, they have the right to be close. There is nothing wrong with Jack being here for Sam and comforting her after losing her father."
Daniel looked at Cassie, taking in everything she just said. "You really think there is nothing going on with them?" He asked her, incredulously.
"Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. But, that is irrelevant at this point. Jack is comforting Sam through a tough time. No one is going to accuse them of breaking frat regs. Especially not General Hammond." Cassie explained to the still, somewhat confused, Daniel.
Daniel looked back at Jack and Sam as Cassie's words seeped into his head. 'Could I really be putting more into this than what there is?' He wondered. 'Was Jack really telling me the truth when he said there was nothing going on? Even Sam tried telling me there was nothing going on? Am I just some hopeless romantic? No, that's not it! But, Sam called him Jack! But, then again, everyone here besides Teal'c calls him Jack. Hmm, am I really that desperate to see Sam and Jack get together that I'm making their looks and touches more than what they are? Should I really be talking this much to myself!'
Daniel looked back at Teal'c and Cassie. "Okay, I'm dropping it. For real, this time." He added, looking up at Teal'c. "You're right! I'm reading way too much into this. Even if there is more going on, it's none of my business."
"Indeed." Teal'c replied. Cassie just grinned.
As the day progressed, their lunch get-together, turned into dinner and before long, dusk had fallen on the small group. Hammond had made his way to his daughter's house. Kyle and Abby were still playing video games. Mark and Amy had gone inside, they were not quite used to the cooler Colorado evenings, compared to California weather. Cassie was chatting on her cellphone to one of her friends and Daniel and Teal'c were talking about Ry'ac on Sam's back porch.
Jack and Sam had mysteriously disappeared, and Daniel, the curious space monkey that he was, felt compelled to go hunt them down.
Daniel had walked around the side of the house when he heard soft whispering. Trying to be quiet, but, after two beers and the simple fact that Daniel never really learned stealth, he wasn't successful, at all. Just as he rounded the corner, Jack and Sam came into view. Daniel looked at them for a few seconds, noticing how Sam's face was quite flushed and Jack's hair was more messed up than usual. In fact, Daniel noted, Sam's hair was a little messed up as well. "Whatcha doin'?" Daniel asked, looking from Jack to Sam and back again.
"N-nothing!" Jack asked, shuffling his feet and moving further away from Sam.
Daniel looked at Sam. Her face was still quite red and she had a very guilty look on her face. "You sure?" Daniel asked, enjoying the flustered state of Jack and Sam.
Sam visibly swallowed and glancing quickly at Jack, Daniel noticed her cheeks flushed a little more as she quickly looked away. "Uh, yeah, Daniel." She said quietly, finally moving away from the side of her house and walking past Daniel.
"Uh, Sam!" Daniel said, as Sam passed him.
"Yeah." She said, turning back around to face him.
"You might want to rebutton your shirt, they're crooked." Daniel said smugly, pointing to Sam's shirt where the buttons were not lined up correctly.
Daniel watched Sam's face flush even deeper and heard Jack groan behind him. Daniel smiled the biggest, brightest smile ever. 'Not sexual, my ass!'
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a/n: I wrote this chapter to try and describe the frustration all of us Sam/Jack shippers go through! Especially with Season nine and us having to try and figure out for ourselves what the subtle hints they keep throwing us mean. Plus, it is really fun to write Daniel confused! You should try it, it puts you in an instant good mood!