Not recommended for S/J shippers
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
The atmosphere as they finished up their Jello-O was strained. Those sitting at the tables around them had been staring at them, mostly covertly, from the time they entered the dining room. Daniel was dressed like someone going to a Renaissance fair and there was the atypical presence of a child. After the incident with the knife, politeness evaporated and people just stared openly and with a certain hostility. The staff of the SGC didn't take kindly to people holding knives on their co-workers. Cam doubted that very many of them recognized Daniel. There had been such general respect and fondness for him three years ago, there might have been excuses made if they had.
Once they had finished, Daniel stood and picked up his son. He started to walk away, leaving his dishes behind. Sam said, "Are you too good to bus your dishes now?"
She really wasn't taking his return well, Cam thought. He wasn't sure he had the why of it totally figured out. He waited with interest to see what Daniel would do. "It didn't occur to me," he said. "A thousand pardons." He bowed slightly, shifted the child to one hip, and gathered everything up on the tray which he carried to the busing station with one hand.
They made unhurried progress up to the level of the conference room. Cam wasn't worried about being late. He had keyed in on Daniel's comment about the meeting not starting without him. He had a wild suspicion about Daniel's role in the delegation, but it was so wild he didn't want to voice it.
They entered the conference room, Mitchell and Sam going first. Inside two elderly but vigorous men were seated at the table with General Landry and a member of the State Department. Cam thought, the special accommodations for the councilors were more likely as a sign of respect than from infirmity. Two very large bodyguards stood relaxed but ready on either side of the room. When Daniel and his son entered, the councilors rose and bowed slightly, while the bodyguards executed very deep bows. Daniel acknowledged the signs of respect with a regal nod and seated himself at the table between the two councilors, his son on his lap. Sam and Mitchell took chairs next to Landry.
Landry said, "Dr. Jackson it's good to see you again. Your councilors have explained your role on their world to us. Would you prefer that I address you by your Linteri title?"
Daniel smiled pleasantly. "It is of little matter. Dr. Jackson is fine." He then translated the exchange for the benefit of his party.
Mitchell nudged Sam. Her mouth was hanging open. She closed it and tried to make her face expressionless. She wasn't doing very well, he thought.
"And this young man would be the King?" Landry asked, smiling at Davi.
"Yes," Daniel said. "May I introduce you to King Davi." The little boy smiled at them, unimpressed by his own importance.
So he was right, Cam thought triumphantly. Daniel is the Regent. He knew from the background material he had received that the Regent was an absolute ruler. It mattered little that he was not the King, except that he would eventually have to step down in favor of his son. That was at least 16 years away though.
The negotiations progressed with Daniel stopping to translate every few sentences. The councilors spoke only very occasionally and Daniel never translated their words back into English. It gradually became apparent that things were not going well. Eventually, Daniel said, "It appears to me, General, that the Tauri are prepared to offer the equivalent of junk jewelry to my people in exchange for biological technology that would be of great value to you. We are not naïve late stone people prepared to sell you Manhattan for a few glass beads. I suggest we adjourn this meeting and your government consider what else it is prepared to offer. My son and I wish to see something of the planet. We can reconvene in three days and see if anything has changed." He translated all this, leaving Landry and the State Department representative, Martin Johnson, without an opening to speak until he finished.
"See here, Dr. Jackson, we are not going to be blackmailed by anyone. I would also suggest that you remember who you are and where your loyalties belong," Johnson said, as soon as he had an opportunity.
Daniel stood. His eyes flashed. "I know quite well who I am. I am responsible first and foremost for the King and secondly for the well-being of His people. We will be returning through the gate immediately. Do not think to interfere with us. We have biological weapons on our persons that will not harm us but will kill everyone within a large radius if we choose to use them."
Although the bodyguards had not understood his words, they had understood his body language. They moved forward and radiated menace. The councilors stood swiftly and the entire party prepared to leave the conference room.
Johnson looked ashen. He had completely miscalculated to whom he was speaking. "My words were ill-advised and I apologize for any offense. It is just that we believe that this agreement is very important to both our worlds. Please sit back down and let us try to find a compromise."
"I think not," Daniel said. His eyes bored into the State Department representative. He had never taken them off him since the man had made the comment about his loyalties.
Landry spoke, "Dr. Jackson, it truly would be in your interest as well as ours to continue to talk. Could we consider some future meeting?"
Daniel relaxed slightly. He looked briefly, if unreadably, at Mitchell and Sam. "If you wish to send SG-1 to us in one week's time, we would be willing to continue to talk with them. I would ask that they be appropriately empowered for such dealings."
Daniel and the Linterians did leave then, walking through the gate without a backwards glance. As he had passed Sam and Mitchell leaving the conference room, Daniel had said, quietly, "It was a pleasure to see you. Please give my respects to Teal'c, General Hammond, Jack, and Carolyn."
As they reconvened for a post-mortem and planning for the next steps with Tealc now included in the deliberations, Cam brought up that farewell. "There must still be some of Daniel left under all that for him to have made that personal statement."
"The man is a damn traitor," Johnson said.
"I don't know about that," Landry said. Cam was a little surprised at his defense of Daniel. "He wasn't so much working against our best interests as he was trying to protect theirs. To be completely honest, we weren't offering them very much, were we?"
Eventually Johnson left. The others were still sitting in the conference room. They had dealt with many shocks and surprises over the years, but this one was near the top.
Sam said, "I didn't want to say anything in front of that ass from the State Department, but I think I understand some of this. Daniel had a terrible childhood because his grandfather refused to take him after his parents died. Probably the single most important thing to him would be that no child of his be left to the mercy of who knows what because he refused to be there for him. I bet you anything that he had some brief thing with, I don't know, the Crown Princess or something, and when he went back he found out she was pregnant. He took the leave of absence so as to not abandon the child."
Mitchell added, "He did say that the mother was gone, whatever that meant."
"It's not like the kid would be out on the street," Landry said, wryly.
"No, but he could have come under control of a Regent who didn't have his best interests at heart, maybe one who would see to it that he didn't make it to adulthood so that the Regent never had to relinquish power."
"Will it really make any difference for us to go in a week for negotiations as DanielJackson suggested," Teal'c asked, "if the government does not approve any other offer?"
Landry chewed his lip and then said, "I'm sure they'll up the ante a little and, if you are there, maybe you can eventually get through to Daniel, remind him of who he really is and who we really are. Even if we don't have the most advantageous deal with them, still all the planets that don't include the Wraith or the Ori or others of that ilk need to bond together."
Mitchell, Teal'c, and Sam went to Sam's equipped with a couple of six-packs of beer that evening. They couldn't seem to stop talking about Daniel and the situation, turning it over and looking underneath to try to understand. Cam brought up one additional detail they hadn't talked about yet. "Teal'c you should have seen the once over he gave Sam when we first saw him. He made some comment about how beautiful she was too."
Sam muttered, "It was really weird and I wish he hadn't of done it."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly. "Do you really think that is the first time he noticed what you look like, ColonelCarter?"
"What are you talking about, Teal'c?" Sam protested. "Daniel was always my best friend. We were completely comfortable around each other. Sex never got in the way."
Teal'c said, reminding Cam that he frequently didn't give Teal'c credit for just how perceptive he really was, "Perhaps, he simply never told you of his interest or allowed it to show because he thought you would not welcome it. Now he cares little for what anyone thinks and he is used to taking what he wants."
Sam was just staring at him. Cam said, "You know, when we go there in a week, if Teal'c is at all likely to be right, you best work out how you're going to handle it."
Teal'c said, "I have been around many absolute rulers. You do not simply tell someone like that to how do you say it, 'Bug off.'"
Sam said, "THIS IS DANIEL, people."
They all sat for a moment, drinking their beer, totally engaged in this novel scenario. Cam thought, it's interesting to me Sam that you seem to find sex and friendship incompatible. Makes me wonder about your dynamic with Jack. Maybe that's just sex. When he thought about how little the two were likely to have in common, that made a great deal of sense. He lamented that women were such complex creatures, at least the women he seemed to end up dealing with. Carolyn Lam was the center of most of his fantasies, but he couldn't get anywhere with her. She had so many issues from her relationship with her father, her parents failed marriage, and her own brief and disastrous marriage during medical school, that she didn't seem to be able to have a relationship under any rules he could accept. The three month disaster between them a year ago proved that. The wild thought occurred to him—Daniel found someone on that planet, maybe I can too. Right, he thought, next you're going to be reading romance novels.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
When Cam and Teal'c had left, Sam called Jack. It was late by then, but Jack didn't seem to get more than five hours of sleep on the average and often called Sam virtually in the middle of the night. It didn't seem to occur to him that maybe she might be sleeping.
"Did you hear about Daniel?" she asked.
Jack had made sure that he was in the pipeline for any interesting information from the Mountain. "He was back, he was mean, and he left." Jack sounded a little strange. The words were the usual sarcasm, but she thought she detected a something upset or uncomfortable. She decided to go with the flow, rather than ask him directly. That usually didn't work anyway.
"Not exactly," she answered.
"He was definitely back and he's definitely gone, so you must be quibbling about the 'he was mean.'"
"Look, we weren't making a particularly advantageous offer to them and Daniel knows enough about us to spot it, that's all."
Jack exploded, "Sam, the man is one of us. He should be protecting us before he protects some benighted group of aliens."
Sam was troubled. She could understand where Jack was coming from, where the State Department representative had been coming from, but it didn't seem quite that simple to her. "Jack, Daniel's been ascended and even before that, he was always one to look for some greater justice, right? He never wanted us to take advantage of anyone. He was our conscience, remember?"
"So how did he look?"
Sam was a little bewildered by the sudden change of subject. "He looked fine, I guess. Healthy."
"Healthy, but not hot?"
"Jack, we've had this discussion more than I really want to. I have no idea why I accidentally called you Daniel, one time, ONE TIME. Believe me, I didn't think 'hot' when I looked at him. To tell you the honest truth, I mostly felt sad. He didn't look like our Daniel at all what with the long hair and the earrings and the flowing cloak."
"Sounds like he looked like a damn girl," Jack said.
Sam thought about correcting him, but was quite honestly tired of the whole entire discussion. "Look, Jack, I have to there in a week and deal with him. I don't think this conversation is going to help me do that."
Jack was silent for a moment and Sam thought she heard a voice at his end, someone talking to him. Jack said, sounding very sad, "Look, Sam, it seems like there's a lot lately that you aren't very happy with me about. I wrote you a letter, but since you haven't mentioned it, I guess you haven't gotten it."
"Noooo," Sam replied. She had a sick feeling, but no choice but to ride it out.
"We need some time apart. We need to see other people. It's in the letter," Jack said.
"Would one of the other people by any chance be there right now?" Sam asked.
"Sam, I'm sorry if I hurt you," and he did sound very sorry, "but this is best for both of us." She said nothing and he sighed and hung up.
She had the strangest sensation. She was feeling very emotional, that was a given, but what was the emotion? She couldn't be sure. It wasn't overwhelming, devastating sorrow. It wasn't even anger, despite the fact that he obviously hadn't let the bed cool between lovers. Puzzling over it, she went to bed and, to her surprise, fell asleep quickly. She dreamed that she was going through an immense building, a palace, looking for Daniel. She kept opening doors but she couldn't find him. She woke up in a sweat wondering if he was really there to find and why, in her dream, she never looked for Jack.