Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Author: aynat (©Tanya Long)
Description: It's seems to Lisa like she's experiencing the world for the first time. Everything is so new and confusing, but surely with the Daniel she knew nearby it'll be easier. Right? Follow up to Season 8 finale Moebius.
Spoilers: Well... anything up to the end of Season 8 is fair game for this story. Major spoilers for both parts of Moebius.
Spoilers: Well... anything up to the end of Season 8 is fair game for this story. Major spoilers for both parts of Moebius.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Stargate SG-1 characters. I make no money from this, it's purely for fun.
Author's Note: I had to turn to the official Stargate forum for thoughts on Daniel's favourite book. I'd like to thank Senior Member Ali888 for her suggestion of using Tolkien.

When Sam walked into the room she didn't expect to see Lisa curled up on the floor in the corner. Walking towards her the young woman looked up and smiled.

"Hi," she said, "it's your turn huh?"

"I-I guess so," Sam stuttered. "I'm Samantha Carter, but I guess you already knew that."

"Yeah, I did," Lisa said brightly. "But besides that there's lots about you I don't know."

"Yeah, Daniel explained how your mother and I differ," Sam said as she sat down on the chair. "I actually don't really have any questions for you, I just wanted to meet you."

"No problem," Lisa said as she stood and stretched. "But really, there must be something you want to know."

"I'm still trying to absorb everything Daniel has told me," Sam admitted. "It's a lot."

"I suppose it is," Lisa agreed.

"So is there anything I can do for you?"

"Well, there is actually," Lisa admitted. "Daniel was going to bring me something called 'The Simpsons' but never got around to it. My dad really insisted I see it. Ever since I was born I had it described to me, I'd really like to know what it was he was going on and on about."

"I can definitely do that," Sam said, and stood up. "In fact, I'll go take care of that right now."

Jack grunted as he pushed the door open further. His arms were full with a television and he was balancing a dvd player on top. He was sure it was going to fall on the floor any second from now. He smiled when Lisa jumped up and gave him a hand before he dropped anything. Standing back up he stood in shock when Lisa straightened and saluted him.

"What's this?" he asked. Lisa just shrugged.

"Habit," she said quietly. Jack looked at her from the corner of his eye. "I always saluted my dad," she admitted. "It was an ongoing joke with the two of us."

"Ah," he said as he set about to set up the television.

"What is this thing?" Lisa asked as she peered over Jack's shoulder at what he was doing.

"A television," he said as he jumped up. "It's what you use to watch the Simpsons on." Reaching over to the dvd player he pressed play. Lisa sat down on the cot, mesmerized by the colourful, moving pictures on the screen.

"That's incredible," she said under her breath. "I mean, it's been described to me, but to actually see it... I never had anything to compare the descriptions to, so I couldn't really picture it."

"Yeah, it's a great way to waste some time," Jack said hastily as he pulled the chair up. He began pointing some of the main characters out. "Daniel said you were named after the Simpsons?"

"Dad felt it was a nice way of making a point that I wasn't meant for 3000 BC," Lisa told him. "He really hated that I grew up there."

Jack nodded. He could just imagine how he would have felt. Pointing to a small figure on the screen he told her that was who she was named after. Lisa began to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Dad tried to draw her," Lisa said. "In the sand, like how Daniel taught me the alphebet and stuff. But apparently dad was a really bad artist."

Jack pulled his shoulders back. "An artist can't do everything," he said. In defence? It felt that way, but Jack didn't see why he would be defending... himself? Her father? He didn't know how to categorize him, and with perfect timing that's when Lisa asked the question.

"So what do I call you?" Jack looked up, surprised. "I know I don't call you dad, please don't worry about that. I mean, is it Jack? O'Neill? Mr. O'Neill? General? General O'Neill? Homer?" Jack began to laugh.

"Though I kind of like Homer, let's just stick with Jack," he said. Lisa smiled.

"OK, and what about Sam... should I call her that or would she prefer something else?" Lisa asked. "I forgot to ask her when she was here."

"I'm fairly certain she'll be comfortable with Sam." Lisa nodded that she understood. "So I wanted you to know that I don't feel you're a security threat, at least not one that needs to be kept locked up. You can't leave the base, and you will always have a guard on you, but you're welcome to move around the base a bit if you like." Lisa smiled again.

"Thank you."

Daniel hurried to catch up when he saw Lisa walking along the hallway. "Stretching your legs a bit?" he asked when he was beside her.

"I wanted to see around," she told him. "Now that Jack says it's ok I thought I'd have a little look."

"I'm not busy right now," Daniel said. "Would you like me to show you around a bit?"

"You know what I would love?" Lisa asked as she stopped and turned to face Daniel. "To see ocean, forests, mountains, everything."

"Well, you can't leave the base," Daniel pointed out. Lisa rolled her eyes.

"I know that," she told him. "But you... he... told me about pictures. Can you show me pictures?"

Daniel stared for a moment before closing his eyes tightly and chuckling to himself. "Yes, yes, of course I can show you some pictures," he said when he opened his eyes. "Why don't you come with me to my office?"

She's like a child in a toy store, Daniel thought as they walked in and Lisa's eyes widened. She turned around slowly taking everything in. Walking to the bookshelf she smiled.

"Books!" she exclaimed as she traced her finger along one spine after another. "You told me all about them," she said quietly. "They always had some sort of mysterious appeal to me."

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked as he came up behind her. Lisa turned to face him and Daniel took a step back when he realized how close he was.

"You always described them to me," she said excitedly. "You told me that they could make you go somewhere else just through words. I understood what you meant because your stories did the same thing to me. But books had this appeal because they were something that everyone took for granted except me. I'd never seen them."

"Well you're free to borrow any if you like," Daniel told her. "Or I can get some from the library if there's something else you're interested in reading about."

Lisa smiled. "I would love to read 'The Hobbit'." Daniel laughed.

"That's my favourite book," he said quietly as he walked over to his desk and open a drawer. Pulling out a paperback book he walked back over and handed it to Lisa. She took it and ran her hands over the cover slowly, like she was trying to memorize how it felt in her hands. "My dad read me this when I was younger, and after he died I read it all the time to forget that he wasn't there."

"I know," Lisa said quietly. "My first memory is of you telling me this story. And as I grew up you would always make mention of this book, and how you wished you could read it just once more." Daniel nodded slowly as tears burned the back of his eyes.

"Well, if you promise to take good care of it you're welcome to borrow it," he told her. Lisa shook her head and handed it back.

"I appreciate that," she said. "I really do, but as much as I would love to read that I don't think I can."

"What do you mean?" he asked. "I thought I... he... taught you to read?"

"You did," she assured him, "but without any books or anything, all we had was sand, and it was really difficult for you to teach me how to interrprut a lot of the style and grammar. I can probably make the words out fine, but it would just be hard." Daniel nodded. His knowledge of languages made him well aware of what she meant.

"Well, how about I read it with you?" he suggested. "I haven't read this in so long, it would be good for both of us."

"You don't have to do that," Lisa insisted. Daniel shook his head.

"Really, I would enjoy it," he told her. "I really love this book."