Chapter 2

"What the hell's wrong with Daniel?"

Carter looked up from whatever test she was running on her new alien gizmo. "Sir?"

"Daniel," Jack repeated. "He's been sulking all day. What's the matter with him?"

Carter shrugged and turned back to her work. "I don't know, Sir," she said. "Maybe he and Janet had a fight or something."

Jack shot her a dubious look and started fiddling with one of the doohickeys on her desk. "Daniel and Fraiser fight? I thought they were the poster couple for 'happily ever after.'"

Carter looked up at him and smiled. "Nobody's perfect, Sir," she said.

Jack cocked an eyebrow and conceded the point. He hadn't really considered that Daniel's attitude might be due to a problem at home. He'd just assumed it was something someone hadn't let him do here on the base. She'd certainly given him something to ponder.

Not that he really wanted to think about Daniel's personal life. He shook himself out of that train of thought and went back to playing with the doohickey. It was quite an interesting doohickey - blinky lights, parts that spun like little windmills, and other cool stuff - so it took him by surprise when someone suddenly came up behind him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sir," Fraiser said, looking flustered and embarrassed as she hovered in the doorway of the lab. "I didn't realize you were in here."

Jack looked back and forth between her and Carter a few times, not quite understanding why his presence would throw her off guard like that. "I just stopped by to see what Carter was doing," he said. "I was just... leaving."

Fraiser looked suspiciously relieved as he moved towards the door, and stepped aside so he could go past her. "Thank you, Sir."

Jack shot Carter a questioning look over Fraiser's shoulder, but she looked just as puzzled as he was. Still, he knew better than to stick around to find out what was up with her. If she was there for girl talk, he was so outta there.

He'd just entered the elevator and punched the button for Level 27 when it hit him - Daniel was sulking, and Fraiser was acting weird. Yep, they were definitely having a fight.

"Damn," he muttered. As much as he hated heart-to-hearts, Fraiser was talking to Carter right now. It was only fair that Daniel get to talk it over with someone, too. Wasn't it?

He muttered a few more choice swear words under his breath and punched the button for Level 18. May as well be on the safe side, he thought. Worst case scenario, Daniel would either snap at him and tell him to mind his own bee's wax, or unload all kinds of personal information on him that he didn't really need to know. Either way, he could handle it.

Maybe.

The elevator stopped all too soon, and Jack forced his reluctant legs to walk out into the corridor and towards Daniel's office. "Here goes nothing," he thought as he neared the door.

It was already open, so he stepped through the doorway with a light tap on the frame. He could see Daniel right away, sitting at his desk with his head in his hands and assorted books and loose-leaf paper scattered across the desk and all over the floor, but he didn't look up. He didn't even move.

"Daniel?"

That got his attention. Daniel suddenly raised his head and looked over at Jack with a deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face. "Oh... hey, Jack," he said, nervously grabbing at the books on his desk and rearranging them in some kind of chaotic order. "I didn't hear you come in."

"No, I noticed that." Jack eyed the mess on the floor as he cautiously stepped further into the room. "Did this stuff offend you in some way?" he asked, pointing at the wrinkled and trampled papers at Daniel's feet.

Daniel looked down at the floor and cleared his throat. "No, they just fell," he said as he bent to pick them up.

"Are you sure? Looks more like you had some kind of tantrum."

Daniel sighed heavily, lifted two handfuls of paper, and thumped them down on his desk. "Well, I appreciate that observation, Jack, but you're wrong. I'm just fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do."

Jack narrowed his eyes and studied his friend closely. Daniel never used the "I'm fine" line unless things were far from fine and he was trying to avoid showing someone just how unfine they were. Something was definitely wrong here. Very wrong.

He put his hands in his pockets and just stood there watching as Daniel picked up a pen and pretended to lose himself in his work. He knew it wouldn't be very long before...

"What do you want, Jack?"

Jack feigned being injured by Daniel's blunt question. "Well, that wasn't very polite."

"Neither is staring."

He had a point there. "I just want to know what's bugging you," Jack said.

Daniel gave another aggravated sigh and let his pen fall onto the papers in front of him. "At the moment? You."

"And before I entered the room...?" Jack pressed.

"I've already told you... nothing."

No way he was getting away with it that easily. "Yes, nothing is exactly what you've told me. You've been sulking about something all day, Daniel. Lieutenant Williams said you yelled at her this morning."

"She ran into me in the commissary and spilled hot coffee all over me!"

"That's funny, she said you weren't looking where you were going and ran right into her. What the hell is up with you, Daniel?"

"Nothing."

"It sure seems like something, so why don't you..."

"Janet might be pregnant," Daniel snapped. "Okay?"

Jack's mind did an about face at this revelation. His first reaction was a huge, flashing neon sign of "TMI!" but when it finally started to register...

Oh, God.

"Does she know for sure?" he asked after a few awkward moments had passed.

Daniel shook his head and lowered it into his hands. "No," he said. "There's still time for her to do something about it, but she refused. Can you believe that?"

Jack blinked. He figured he knew what Daniel meant by "do something about it," and the only part of it he couldn't believe was that the words had just come from Daniel's mouth. He let out a deep breath as he considered what he should and shouldn't do here. This whole situation was technically none of his business, though he had very stupidly gotten himself involved in it, and from the look on Daniel's face, he knew he had to tread lightly or risk making him fly off the handle completely.

As it was, Daniel had seemed rather edgy since those damn aliens had supposedly "fixed" him, and even though he'd made a lot of progress over the past few weeks, he still got nervous and agitated whenever anyone brought up the subject of his ordeal. Now he was staring in the face of the possibility that he could pass that weird disease on to the next generation. He was well within his rights to freak out about it.

That didn't mean Jack was going to stand back and watch it happen.

"Look, Daniel," he said, grabbing a chair and pulling it closer to Daniel's. He sat down and cleared his throat before he continued. "You've got to put this into perspective, buddy. If your wife's gonna have a baby, she's gonna have a baby."

"She can't, Jack," Daniel said mournfully. "Do you have any idea..."

"Yeah, I do. The baby might get sick. I get that. But you don't know that it will."

Daniel huffed and rolled his eyes away from Jack. "That's what she said," he muttered.

"Yeah, because it's true," Jack said. "And as of this moment, you don't even know if... if she is. So, what's the point in sitting here worrying about it, huh? Not to mention being all mad at your wife. You should see Fraiser, she looks like crap."

He could almost see Daniel's ears perk up at that, though he didn't respond. He just sniffed and took off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose with his fingers.

Jack waited a few moments before he tried again. "Look, I know I'm the last person in the world you want to give you advice..."

"Could you please just leave me alone, Jack?"

Jack felt like arguing against this request, but the guy sounded so miserable and desolate that he figured he'd be safest to just do what he asked. After all, Daniel had a lot of things on his mind right now, and he needed a chance to digest it all. So, he only paused for a second or two before he stood up, gave Daniel an encouraging pat to the shoulder, and left the room.

"Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?" he muttered as he walked down the empty corridor. Damn those aliens all to hell for messing with Daniel in the first place.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"Hey, Mom," Cassie greeted from her spot at the kitchen table as Janet entered the room.

"Hey, sweetheart." Janet absently dumped her purse and keys on the table and dropped a kiss on her daughter's head. "How was school?"

"It was okay," Cassie said, as she did every day. "How was work?"

Janet smiled. "It was okay," she said, mimicking Cassie's voice.

Cassie made a face back at her. "Where's Daniel?"

Janet's face immediately fell. The truth was, she hadn't seen Daniel since they'd left home that morning. He usually left work at the same time as her, but today he hadn't met her outside the infirmary like he always did, not even to tell her that he'd be working late. Knowing it was probably because he was still angry with her, she hadn't dared to seek him out. She'd just left.

And boy, was she feeling guilty for it now.

"He's... still at work," she said, moving over to the sink to get a glass of water. "Are you hungry? I'm thinking of ordering pizza tonight, since I don't feel like cooking."

"Mom?"

Janet turned around in surprise at the concern in her daughter's voice.

"Are you guys okay?" Cassie asked, studying Janet closely as though to see the truth even if she didn't hear it. "I know you said you were, but... Daniel looked pretty pissed when he left."

Janet sighed and looked down at the floor. What was she supposed to tell her sixteen-year-old daughter about all of this? She'd talked the matter over with Sam earlier that day, and because Sam had been able to see the dilemma from both sides, she was able to make Janet think much more clearly about the whole thing. That didn't mean she was ready to discuss it with anyone else, though, and she knew that if she started to explain it to Cassie there would be a thousand questions thrown her way that she just wasn't ready to answer.

Without realizing it, she must have stalled for quite a few seconds, because the next thing she heard was Cassie asking in a shaky voice, "You guys aren't splitting up, are you?"

"No!" Janet said, her eyes widening in horror. She stepped closer to Cassie and touched her face with her fingertips. "No, sweetheart, of course we aren't. What made you say that?"

"Well... it seems to be what happens here on Earth, right?" Cassie said slowly. "You and your first husband got a divorce... Jack and his wife did... most of my friends' parents are divorced... they all say it starts with fighting."

Janet took a deep breath and sat down next to Cassie at the table. "Cassie, Daniel and I are not going to get a divorce," she said softly. "Never. Okay?"

Cassie nodded, though she didn't seem convinced.

"We just... had a disagreement over something. It happens. We're human." She smiled and patted Cassie's leg. "No more worries, okay?"

Cassie sighed and seemed to relax a little. "Okay," she said. "But... what was the disagreement about?"

Janet bit her lip and tried to think fast this time. "It's... something I'd prefer to keep between the two of us," she said. "At least for now. Don't worry, it's nothing major." She forced another smile and then stood up and headed for the phone. "What do you want on this pizza?" she asked, hoping that would be enough to deflect Cassie's attention.

Thankfully, it was. The pizza was ordered and delivered in just a matter of minutes, and the two of them spent a nice, conflict-free evening together. Not another word was said about the rift between Janet and Daniel, but although Janet tried to keep up a casual, cheerful façade, she couldn't stop thinking about him. She wished he would come home, but at the same time she dreaded it. She honestly wasn't sure what worried her more - wondering whether Daniel was alright, or knowing that he could walk through the door at any moment.

Cassie retreated to her room after a while to finish up some homework and go to bed, leaving Janet alone with her worries. She considered calling the SGC to see whether Daniel had been legitimately detained, but she knew she'd feel a fool for checking up on him if he was engrossed in his work or was already on his way home. So, she decided to leave it alone and just wait for him to return.

"A watched pot never boils," she muttered as she glanced at the clock for the hundredth time and saw that it was almost 11pm. She wasn't sure whether to be angry or scared that Daniel hadn't called to say he would be this late. Either way, she had to be up early the next morning, so there was no point in staying up to stew about it.

She could do that just as well in bed.

It took Janet a few minutes to get into bed and turn out the light, yet it was still almost half an hour later that she heard the front door. She glanced at the clock - midnight.

She thumped her pillow in annoyance and turned over to face away from Daniel's side of the bed. She was glad he was alive, but mad as hell that he'd left her to worry like that all night. Hopefully he would just think she was asleep, and she'd have a chance to calm down before she had to talk to him.

A minute later, she heard footsteps on the stairs. Then Daniel tip-toed through the bedroom door and straight to the bathroom.

Janet kept her eyes closed and her breathing even as he passed through the room, and was almost asleep by the time he'd finished in the bathroom and crawled into bed. It felt strange not to roll over and greet him after an entire day apart, but even though her anger started to melt away at the sound of his soft sigh as he settled in for the night, she was much too tired to deal with it just then.

She was just starting to drift off when she felt Daniel's hand on her shoulder. For a second she thought she could just ignore him and fall asleep anyway, but then his light touch turned into a gentle grip.

"Janet? Are you awake?"

She sighed and rolled over onto her back without saying a word.

Daniel was lying on his side facing her, propped up on one elbow, looking at her with an expression that was unreadable to her, either because of the darkness or some emotion he was trying to conceal. "I'm, uh... I'm sorry about... this morning," he said.

Janet gave him a small smile, though she doubted he could actually see it. She brought one hand out from under the covers to brush his arm with the backs of her fingers. "I'm sorry, too."

Daniel nodded and seemed to swallow past a lump in his throat. "How long?" he asked.

Janet blinked in confusion. "How long... what?"

"Until we know for sure."

"Oh," she said, feeling rather stupid for not realizing what he meant in the first place. "A week... at least."

Daniel nodded again and turned over to lie on his back, staring at the ceiling. There was silence for a minute or two, and Janet had just started to think that was all he was going to say when he whispered, "God, I'm so scared, Janet."

Janet's heart ached for him when he took in a deep, ragged breath and seemed to choke on it. She turned to face him and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "We're going to be fine, Daniel," she said. "Let's just... not fight anymore, okay?"

Daniel looked at her for a moment before a smile spread across his face. "I certainly hope we don't," he said.

Janet smiled as he snaked his arm around her and drew her close. She rested her head against his chest and draped her arm across his stomach as they settled into a comfortable position. "You know, Cassie's afraid we're getting a divorce," she said.

She felt Daniel tense up at this statement. "What gave her that idea?"

"She heard us fighting this morning," she said. "And you didn't come home tonight."

Daniel sighed. "Sorry about that," he said. "My mind's been going a million miles an hour today, and I just... didn't realize how late it was."

Janet wasn't sure how true that was, but she didn't question him. Somehow, they'd managed to make up from their first real fight rather easily, and she didn't want to ruin that. She just slipped her hand under Daniel's t-shirt and soaked up the warmth from his chest with her palm. She fully intended to discuss the matter further in the morning, but right then she was just glad he was there. "It's okay," she said. "Get some sleep."

"You, too. Night."

"Goodnight."

In a matter of moments, they were both fast asleep.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Cassie looked at the clock yet again. "Crap," she muttered. "3am? How did that happen?"

She changed position for the umpteenth time, but it didn't make much difference. She just couldn't get comfortable. She'd been lying awake all night, worrying about what was going on with her mom and Daniel.

What if her mom was wrong? What if she and Daniel did get a divorce? She liked having Daniel here. He was like a father to her now. Would she ever even see him again? Dominic hadn't seen his dad since his parents split up four months earlier. He'd just walked out of the house one night and never returned. Never even called or sent a letter or anything. But Daniel wouldn't do that... would he?

She strained her ears to pick up on even the slightest sound in the house. Nothing. She hadn't heard a thing since Daniel had come in around midnight. She was pretty sure he'd gone to bed, but she wasn't sure whether she could really take it as a good sign that she hadn't heard any yelling. Her mom might have been asleep when he'd arrived, and therefore they might still argue when they woke up in the morning.

"God, what am I doing?" she groaned. Why was she so scared about this? Sure, Daniel had seemed kind of grumpy ever since he'd gone back to work, but that was probably just because he was tired and stressed out. And sure, they'd had a fight, but like her mom had said, couples do fight every now and then. It was nothing to lose sleep over.

She knew all this, and yet she was worried sick that she was going to lose Daniel again. That her mom was going to lose Daniel again. Neither of them could handle that. Not after everything they'd already been through. It freaked her out that, here on Earth, death wasn't the only way to lose somebody.

"Chill out, already," she mumbled to herself. "It's not gonna happen. Go to sleep."

Her self-lecture seemed to work, as she did soon fall asleep, but unfortunately, that didn't stop her from worrying about it. She had dream after dream about Daniel dying or leaving for good, and occasionally her mom disappeared, too. It was exhausting.

So exhausting that she slept right through her alarm.

"For crying out loud," she slurred into her pillow when she finally woke up to the steady buzz of her clock radio and saw that she was almost half an hour late. She slammed her palm down on it, luckily hitting the off button in the process. God, she hated mornings.

Somehow she managed to drag herself out of bed and into the bathroom, but decided not to be late for her first class just to have a shower. She washed and dressed as quickly as possible, and jogged down the stairs a few minutes later.

"Mom?" she called when she reached the base of the stairs.

"She already left for work," Daniel's disembodied voice answered from the direction of the kitchen.

Cassie suddenly felt nervous, and hated herself for it. For some reason, when she found herself alone with Daniel, she often thought back to the night that he'd attacked her. She'd known then as well as now that he was just hallucinating, and it usually only took her a second to get over it, but today... the last time she'd seen him, he'd looked pretty pissed. If things hadn't gone well between him and her mom this morning...

She slowly walked towards the kitchen and poked her head around the doorframe. Daniel was sitting at the table eating his breakfast, and stopped mid-bite to stare back at her as she sized him up.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "I've been debating whether or not to wake you for the past few minutes, but I figured you must need the sleep."

Cassie relaxed at the concern that was written all over his face. She smiled sheepishly and joined him at the table. "I'm fine," she said. "Just didn't sleep very well last night."

Daniel nodded, then pushed his plate towards her and raised his eyebrows as though to ask if she wanted a slice of his toast.

Cassie smiled gratefully and took one of the two halves that were left. "Thanks."

"You know... your mom told me last night that you've been... worried about us."

Cassie almost choked on her first mouthful, but managed to swallow it down. "She... she did?"

Daniel gave her a sympathetic smile. "You don't have to, you know," he said. "I... lost my temper yesterday, but we're fine now. No divorce. Okay?"

Cassie felt her face flush under Daniel's gaze. She couldn't believe what an idiot she'd been. "Okay," she said, picking at her toast so as to avoid meeting his eyes. "I know, it was stupid to think that in the first place."

"No, it wasn't stupid. If something's bothering you, we want you to tell us about it. That's why we're here, right?"

Cassie grinned in relief when she looked up and saw the eagerly hopeful look on his face. What the hell had she been worried about? "Thanks, Daniel."

"So," he said as he stood up and stretched. "Need a ride to school?"

"Yeah, if you've got time."

"Plenty of time. Eat."

Cassie laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dad," she teased, but stopped in embarrassment when she realized what she'd said.

Daniel froze halfway to the sink and stared at her in surprise for a second before a smile started to spread across his face.

Cassie ducked her head and stuffed the rest of the toast in her mouth to keep herself from saying anything more. But the funny thing was... she'd rather liked the sound of it.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

To be continued...