Chapter Six

The elevator doors slid open, revealing a handsome man with blue eyes, dark hair, and glasses who was characteristically reading something from an open file. At the soft sound of the doors opening, his head raised slightly to see a certain red-headed engineer entering the lift. His eyes quickly found the words lining the page still poised in his hands, avoiding the green eyes of his ex-girlfriend upon his face.

"Good morning," she said when the doors closed once again.

"Uh, good morning," he mumbled in reply, not lifting his head from the report in his hands.

Shaking her head, she folded her arms across her chest and turned toward the man next to her. "Okay, Daniel, this is ridiculous. I've been here for six months, and we've barely said two words to each other."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Well, looking at me would be a good start," she replied accusingly as he felt her stare boring into the back of his head.

Sighing, he closed the file and met her gaze with his own. "Happy now?"

"It's a start." Just then, the doors opened, and he made a move to exit the lift. She followed him out the door and down the hall. "Don't think you're getting away that easily."

"You call that easy?" Daniel muttered to himself as he stepped into his office, leaving the door open for Nicole to follow.

This comment did not escape the ears of the formerly powerful being who, upon hearing the words, took a defensive stance next to the door, her arms crossed and her eyebrows lifted in disbelief. "At least I'm making an effort here."

"An effort to do what?"

"To be friends, Daniel. That's all I want. I'm not here to torture you or make you feel badly, despite what you're thinking."

Removing his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose slowly, Daniel replied, "Don't presume to know what I'm thinking."

Nicole sighed and dropped her arms, settling into a stool by the work table. "Okay then, what are you thinking?"

Ignoring the question, the archeologist replaced his glasses and asked one of his own, "Why do you want to be friends?"

"Because it's you and me, Daniel. I don't want to spend the rest of my six months here feeling as if you hate me the entire time. I don't feel that way about you at all."

"I don't hate you."

"Then stop acting like you do."

Breathing deeply to control his temper, Daniel turned to her and whispered in a low tone, "I'm not the one who ended things here, Nicole. Not really. You could have come to see me, explained the situation. I'm sure we would have no problems now if you had done that."

"Don't you think I considered that? But it was almost a year after the fact when I found out that you didn't remember anything about the time you were ascended, including how you told me we were over. At that point, I couldn't just drop in and tell you, so I left it to Sam. Bad decision, I know, but I couldn't risk coming to see you."

"Why not?"

Nicole sighed and tucked a stray hair behind her ear, a classic sign of discomfort for her. "Because I knew I wouldn't be able to tell you what had happened. The moment I saw you, I would have wanted to start things back up again, I know I would have."

This seemed to take Daniel by surprise. Shaking his head, he moved closer and sat down slowly onto a stool next to her. "Why didn't you ever tell me this before? Or Sam? I'm sure she could have explained that situation to me."

"I didn't want to admit that you still had that kind of power over me." Her eyes raised, and she found them locking with blue ones she knew too well. "It took me a long time to get over you, Daniel."

The man finally smiled for the first time since they had begun their conversation. "Getting over you wasn't easy, either."

A small smile crept onto Nicole's face, and she looked away, breaking eye contact. "So are we okay now?" she asked quietly, her eyes focusing on the table ledge before her.

"Just one more thing."

"And what would that be?"

Removing his glasses again, Daniel closed his blue eyes and took a deep breath. "How are things with Cameron?"

"Why? You still interested?" Nicole asked, her eyebrows raised, and her grin diving further into her cheeks, causing her few freckles to stand out more than usual.

"Are you?" Daniel came back quickly with a smirk to rival the woman beside him. Their eyes met, conveying their joke from one to the other, and they both began to laugh softly, feeling the tension between them begin to melt away.

Nicole shook her head and took a few controlled breaths trying to calm herself. Breathing deeply, she finally managed to ask, "Seriously, why do you ask about Cameron?"

The archeologist nodded and replied, "Because I'm concerned about my friend."

"Me?"

"Cameron."

"Oh," the red headed woman replied. All at once, understanding spread over her features, and she turned to look sharply at the man seated beside her. "You think I'm going to hurt him like I did you."

Daniel shrugged. "I know you. You don't want to stay here, as a mortal, for the rest of your life. Are you going to try to tell me that you're actually considering remaining human once your punishment is over?"

"He knows I'm going to change back into a Q, if that's what you mean."

"So then things aren't serious between you two?"

"I don't see how that is any of your business."

Sighing, Daniel stood up and began to pace the length of his office. "You are just so damned selfish, Nicole. You don't have to be around the man for more than two seconds to realize how much he obsesses over how wonderful you are or how lucky he is to have you in his life. If that's a man who knows you're leaving, then he's sure got everybody fooled."

"Well, I told him even before we started dating that I was leaving and nothing could change that. It's not my fault that he's chosen to conveniently forget about it."

"No, nothing's ever your fault, is it?"

Eyes flashing, Nicole rose to her feet, her anger so apparent it couldn't have been more evident if there had been flaming arrows shooting from her eyes. "You think you have all the answers, don't you, Daniel Jackson? You have me pegged as a self-righteous bitch, even after I confessed quite a few of my shortcomings. We're never going to get beyond that, are we? Back to when we first met, are we?"

Daniel sighed and shook his head, holding up a hand to stop the woman's ranting. "Okay, back up. I'm sorry for implying that you don't take responsibility for your actions. But could you please explain to me how you can let Cameron fall head over heels for you but don't even consider the fact that you're going to leave him in only six months?"

"Leave him? I never said I was going to leave him."

"But you said-"

Nicole shook her head furiously, cutting off the archeologist, "I said I was going to become a Q once again. I never said I was going to break up with him."

"That doesn't make sense."

"What? Dating someone of a different species? Come on, Daniel, you and I did it for a little while, Sam's done it, Jack's done it, and there's probably dozens of more examples of SGC personnel who have dated non-humans."

"Don't you remember why you asked to be transformed into a human when we were dating?"

"To be with you. It was kind of difficult with my family breathing down my neck, and it was easier for you to not worry about me if I was human. Besides, you probably had a problem with me being smarter than you or something."

The archeologist peered at her disbelievingly over the rims of his glasses. "You don't remember, do you?"

"Nope," she answered in a regretful tone, suddenly finding the black tabletop very interesting again. "Remember I was a Q at the time . . . limited memories and all."

"I see," Daniel replied slowly. "Well, the reason is a little more complicated than anything you mentioned. You're right, we did try to have a relationship when you were a Q, but after a while it just didn't work."

"Why not?" He shot her another disbelieving look, at which she replied, "Come on, I would really like to know. It's apart of my past, too."

"It didn't work because of what you were."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I have this theory – which you eventually agreed with – that Qs by nature are selfish creatures. This theory was formed by the patterns of your behavior. After spending weeks at a time here on earth with me, interacting with humans, you were sweet, caring, even selfless at times – basically like you are now – you know, human. But after spending any amount of time out with Teeny, somewhere out in the universe, you would come back and behave like a completely different person."

At this point, Nicole whispered in return, "Let me guess, I was selfish, domineering, and hurtful toward you?"

"Yeah. Is it coming back?"

"Partly." She sighed and slumped back into the stool, leaning on the table for support. "But Daniel, things were different after I became human. I was human for over a year before Teeny changed me back into a Q. From then on, I used my abilities to help others."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, Sam told me why you were being punished, and I understand that you're trying to change for the better. I just think that it's part of being a Q to be selfish, partly because you can have whatever you want and partly because the elders indoctrinate that in you. Think about it, you were punished for doing something nice for someone else."

"No, I was punished for the mass exposure I caused for my kind . . . but it's true that they don't like us to use our abilities to help others. It is kind of against the rules."

"See?"

Nicole sighed and placed her head in her hands, her hands threading through the thick locks of her hair. "I know, Daniel. I know I'm just deceiving myself thinking that I can make much of a difference as a Q. But it's not that easy just to give it all up. You have to remember that."

"Of course I remember. I remember lots of tears and sleepless nights. I remember times you wanted to kill me for convincing you giving up your abilities was the right thing to do. I remember all the horror you went through before and after the decision, but I also remember something else."

"What?" The red haired woman asked, lifting her head a little.

Daniel's lips pulled upward slightly as he leaned toward her across the table. "You eventually came to the conclusion that you had done the right thing. And you have to admit, you were happy as a human, just like you're happy as a human now. Am I right?"

A soft smile appeared on Nicole's lips as she backed herself away from the table and crossed her arms over her chest. "There's a flaw in your thinking, Dr. Jackson."

"What's that?"

"Even though I am human now, I have the knowledge that I won't be this way indefinitely. They're changing me back in six months."

"Yeah, but are you even thinking that when you're with Cameron?" The woman lost her smile and shifted her eyes away from the archeologist. "I've got you there, don't I?"

Still avoiding eye contact, Nicole shakily answered, "I'm not ready to make that decision just yet."

"No one's pressuring you," Daniel answered softly. "But I think I need to tell you that it will have to be made eventually."

Her green eyes locked with his blue ones as she shook her head back and forth slowly. "I know," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

Walking through the grey corridors of the SGC, Nicole hoped she would not run into anyone she knew. It had been a close call in Daniel's office, but she had held in the tears and made the fastest exit she could recall. Still, she knew her eyes were probably all red and anyone who knew her well would be able to tell she was distressed. For the first time in six months she wished she had her Q abilities, at the very least they would have helped her to calm down and erase any evidence of the unshed tears. What she really wanted to do, though, was flash herself out of the star system and allow the tears to flow on some uninhabited planet none of the SGC staff had ever heard of.

"Nicole!" a very familiar voice reached her ears, causing her to stop her forward motion and turn slowly.

Cameron was approaching her quickly with a group of blue aliens. "Shit," she muttered under her breath and took several deep breaths to compose herself.

Apparently this didn't do much because his expression changed once he saw her face. His pace slowed and the smile that usually plastered his face disappeared. "Excuse me a moment, please," he said to the aliens and moved to his girlfriend's side.

"Did you want me to meet them?" she asked, in hopes of avoiding the conversation all together.

"In a minute," he answered in a hushed tone, cupping her cheek in his hand. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just had a rather intense talk with Daniel."

"What did he say?"

She waved him off, noticing how irritated the aliens were beginning to look. "We can talk about it later, Cameron. I think you should get back to your tour."

"Okay . . . you're sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. Why don't you introduce me to our guests?"

He nodded, leading her over to them. After the introductions, one of the aliens commented with wide eyes that seemed to rake up and down Nicole's body, "You have beautiful girlfriend, Colonel Mitchell."

Cameron regarded the alien with narrowed eyes and a suspicious expression. "Uh . . . thanks."

Nicole stared into the big glassy eyes of the alien and began to feel light-headed. Turning toward her boyfriend, she felt her feet begin to slip on the floor beneath her. "Cameron," she whispered before she collapsed into his arms unconscious.