A Lonely Lady by Betty Bokor
Sam/Daniel. Daniel is feeling lonely and tries to find a solution.
Spoilers: All seasons, including 9.
Disclaimer: The Stargate original characters belong to MGM/Showtime, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Film Corp. This was written strictly for the purpose of entertainment. No attempt at copyright infringement has been made.
Lonely Lady
Chapter 4
"Well, hello, young lady. Haven't seen you for a while," Dottie said as soon as Sam entered the nursing home. "Is Daniel parking the car?"
"I'm afraid Daniel is not coming today either," Sam said while sitting near the old lady.
"Don't tell me he's working again. That young man who came last week, Walter, said he was not in the country at the moment. Is he still abroad?"
"Actually, he's back, but he was working in a war zone and he was injured," Sam replied, trying to keep the lying at a minimum and the cover stories intact.
"Oh, my goodness! Is it serious?" As soon as she said that, many of the other ladies in the room approached her. "Daniel has been injured!" she told the others. "Where is he? Can we visit him at the hospital? It's not too serious, is it?"
Sam felt sorry that she had worried the ladies so much. "It was serious, but he's doing much better. He's at home, and we, his friends, we are taking care of him and of another teammate who was injured, too."
"We have to go see him!" Dottie exclaimed. In seconds the ladies organized themselves and, while one was going to talk to the director of the nursing home to ask to be driven to Daniel's house in the home's van, others started gathering presents for Daniel and his wounded friend. Sam didn't even have time to react. She counted on the director to come and set things in order, but, to her surprise, the woman offered to drive a group of the ladies herself. She should have never underestimated Daniel's effect on people.
While everything was being prepared, Sam called Teal'c to alert him of the incoming invasion. As soon as she hung up, Dottie asked her to walk with her to her room to get some presents for Daniel. As they were walking, Dottie asked her.
"You were calling the handsome gentleman that came for you a couple of weeks ago?"
Sam felt uncomfortable with the intrusion in her private life; nevertheless, she decided to answer. "No, he's not in town this week. If he were, he would be helping Daniel, too."
Dottie asked, "Are they friends?"
"Best friends," Sam answered sincerely.
Dottie thought it was strange Daniel had not mentioned that 'little' detail. "That's good to hear," she said with a smile. "He surely is handsome, but not as much as Daniel," she pushed.
"Daniel is more than handsome; he's beautiful, inside-out," Sam answered without thinking too much. Then, she blushed and Dottie caught her.
"Yes, he is, but he seems very lonely, more so than us. He never talks about his family, his parents or anyone else."
"He doesn't have any family left. His parents died when he was very young," Sam explained.
"Ah… I see. I had a son, like him, a long time ago. He died young, in the war. He was a hero."
Sam felt her pain and tried to move the conversation on. "Daniel is a hero, too. He's saved many lives. He has this tendency to always think first of others."
"You can see it in his eyes, how he cares. They ought to give him a medal," Dottie added with a smile, "even if he's not military. I don't see him following orders," she chuckled.
"You're right; he's not good at that," Sam smiled, too. "He's gotten many medals in the last years, civilian medals; he just won't talk about that; besides, most of his work is classified."
"In times of war…" Dottie added.
"Yeah," Sam agreed.
They were now in front of the lady's room. She went in and came back with a neatly hand-knit blanket. "I made it for him. I was keeping it for Christmas, but I think this is a good occasion."
A few minutes later they were all in the road, six ladies in the van, following Sam's car. When they arrived to the house, Dottie, as she walked through the foyer and looked around at the neighboring rooms, exclaimed, "What a beautiful house, so warm and cozy, ready to start a big family!" and then gave a meaningful look at Sam. Sam smiled inwardly; she was starting to see through Dottie's words.
Teal'c had arranged Daniel's room like a visitation room. In the center was Daniel, still in bed. To his right, Cam sat in a comfortable armchair. One more armchair and an array of chairs were located by Cam and to Daniel's left hand.
The old ladies made a noisy and colorful entrance in the room, bearing their gifts for the sick. Cam smiled, surely remembering his family in North Carolina. Teal'c seemed intimidated and Sam thought he feared for Daniel's safety. He strategically positioned himself right by Daniel's bedside, ready to stop any surreptitious attack. No chairs remaining, Sam decided to sit on Daniel's bed, by his right.
"Oh, Samantha, dear, you have to make him try these socks. They are pure wool, handmade. They will protect him far better than those polyester things they sell these days," Greta, a seventy-five year old German lady, told her.
Sam, with a big smile, took the thick socks from her hands and, after removing the edge of Daniel's covers near his feet, proceeded to change his socks for the new ones. All the ladies sighed with happiness.
"Oh, that's much better!" Greta said. "I-"
"Don't they look adorable together?" Dottie interrupted her. "Look at them, the perfect couple!" she said while looking at Sam and Daniel. Daniel blushed noticeably. Cam found it very amusing.
"I was going to say," Greta tried again, "that I also have socks for Daniel's friends. They stretch," she said in a significant tone while looking at Teal'c as he received her gift. Teal'c inclined his head in a silent thank you. Then, she approached Cameron. "Do you need help, young man?" she said as she gave him his pair.
"I appreciate it, Ma'am, but I'm sure I can do this on my own," Cam responded with a smile.
Half an hour later, after having fixed some chicken soup for the sick men, they were all gone. Sam was certain that Teal'c had been the most stressed by the visit. She was rather positive old ladies did not behave that way in Chulak.
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Saturday morning was very busy. Carolyn Lam and a couple of nurses came to the house to take care of Daniel and Cam. Everything was going fine and Carolyn left satisfied with the progress of her patients.
Lunch was special, as General Landry dropped by to see his flag team and brought an impressive meal from his favorite restaurant. After lunch, the house quieted. Sam and Teal'c finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher and went upstairs. Sam entered Daniel's room and noticed he was reading.
'Teal'c and Cam are watching a soccer game in the next room; Teal'c seems to enjoy it much better than hockey," she joked. "Would you like to watch, too?"
"No, Sam. I'm fine," he answered with a smile. Then he put the book on the bed and asked her, "You haven't told me what happened with Jack. Did he really need help?"
Sam was surprised by the question. She had not been thinking about it the last days. She suddenly realized that more than two weeks had passed since Jack's visit and she only had a few days to make up her mind. "Wow. It had completely slipped my mind!" She took a few minutes to explain Jack's offer and Daniel listened attentively, without showing any reaction.
"Have you decided if you will accept?" he finally said.
"No, I haven't made up my mind, yet."
"What's stopping you?" Daniel asked in the same neutral tone. "It's a chance to get closer to Jack. That's what you've always wanted."
"I used to; now, I'm not so sure."
"Why?"
"It would mean leaving the gate behind."
Daniel acknowledged it, but asked again. "Didn't you agree to that when you moved to Nevada?"
"It was not that definitive. I knew I could be back when it was necessary. And, anyway… I hated it!"
"You never told me that."
"And accept that I was wrong?" she laughed. "I think I have a lot more of my father in me than I'd like to admit", she smiled. "You tried to dissuade me and I didn't listen. Our telephone calls should have been a clue."
"Well, I did think that a daily two-hour phone call was strictly normal, but it wasn't that bad either. We used to spend most of our time together before you left."
"I wonder how expensive the telephone bill would have been if you had left with the Daedalus?"
"Don't think you could afford calling the Pegasus Galaxy," he smiled.
"Did I ever tell you that I owe Vala big time for keeping you here?" She changed her tone to a more serious one and added. "I know how much you wanted to go, but I think you still have much to do in this galaxy, and from a selfish point of view, I'm glad you are still here." She squeezed one of his hands with affection.
He lowered his head for a second to cover his blush and then said, "In any case, you'll have to forget the calls if you go to Washington, too. Can't imagine you telling Jack 'Wait a little bit more, sir. Still have ten more minutes in today's calling card,' and then going back to our conversation."
She hit him softly in the hand she had just been holding. "Oh, you're so mean."
"Seriously, Sam," Daniel changed his tone, too. "This is a big step, both in your career and in your personal life."
"My career will have similar chances if I stay here."
"But your life won't."
"I told you before; I don't know if Jack is what I want anymore."
"Why?"
"For one, I don't trust him anymore. I'm not sure he wants anything to do with me beyond the flirting."
"That would be a risk you'd have to take."
"Is it worth it?" Sam said full of doubt.
"You have to put in the scale what you could get against what you don't want to lose."
"I'm not sure what I could get, but I know very well what I don't want to lose."
"Crossing the gate?"
"That's like number three in the list."
"What's more important than that? Your research?"
"Yeah, my research. I wouldn't be doing that, just checking what others have done." Daniel nodded in understanding. "That's number two."
He looked at her and asked, "And number one?"
"You… You, and Teal'c, and Cam, and the whole SGC. The people, you know? I still don't know how Jack could leave us all behind."
"I know. That's the only thing I dreaded when I was getting ready to go to Atlantis. I suppose I would have been fine. I'm used to losing people," he added with a sigh.
There was an uncomfortable silence and then Sam said in a very low voice, "You'll think this is funny, but I'm also afraid that if Jack and I end up together, when we finally 'get together', he will not measure up to the way you made me feel."
"I knew it!" Daniel said with exasperation. "I knew we shouldn't have done it!"
"Don't say that," Sam warned him.
"I was right. Now it is stopping you from making one of the most important decisions of your life!"
"And you don't think it should have any weight in my decision?" Sam asked with anger in her voice, but still low so that their teammates in the other room wouldn't hear them.
"I think you have to forget all about it and move on with your life," Daniel said with a passionate gesture.
Sam felt indignant. She got up from the side of the bed and walked towards the door without looking at him.
"Sam," he said softly. She didn't turn and left the room extremely upset. Daniel lay back for a second and closed his eyes. What had he done? He had to talk to her but she was not coming back. He brusquely got up from the bed and a sharp pain almost doubled him. He got up in spite of the pain and opened the door of his room. From his position on the balcony he got to see Sam leaving the house through the front door. He leaned and yelled, "Sam!" but she closed the door and left. Seconds later, Daniel realized that the warm feeling on his side, where he was clutching his wounded abdomen, was blood seeping through the bandages. He suddenly felt weak and called for Teal'c.
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It was late on Saturday night when Sam finally got back to the house. The house was rather dark; only one faint light came from the den. As soon as she approached the room, she noticed Cam sitting in a sofa with a book in his hands.
"Sam. Where have you been? You haven't been answering your cell phone. Daniel said you had an errand to run, but he didn't know any details."
"Why? What happened?" Sam asked with alarm in her voice.
"Daniel reopened one of his wounds; we don't know exactly how." Sam's paled noticeably. "Teal'c found him on the balcony in front of his room, bleeding heavily."
"Is he all right?" She started running upstairs.
"Sam, wait," Cam stopped her. "Carolyn was here. She patched him up; she was thinking of taking him back to the Infirmary, but he was already very upset –we don't think it was because of the wound– and she thought it would be better to leave him just here. She gave him a sedative. He'll probably sleep until tomorrow. Caro will be back in the morning."
Cameron didn't add another word, but somehow Sam felt he was blaming her. He released her arm and she climbed the stairs slowly. When she entered Daniel's room, she saw Teal'c's silhouette in the faint light. He was sitting in the chair by Daniel's bed and he was holding one of his hands.
"His hand was cold," he said without moving. "I believe he needed a friend."
Sam felt guilty again. She was certain that Daniel had not said anything to Teal'c about their argument, but then again, Teal'c usually didn't need to be told. "I will take over, Teal'c," she said with a faint smile. "I'll stay with him all night. Go, have some rest."
"Do you need sustenance, SamanthaCarter?"
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. See you in the morning."
Teal'c inclined his head as a salute and left the room. Sam sat on the bed, by Daniel's side, and checked the subtle movement of his chest to ensure that he was breathing. She patently remembered a night, many years ago, when she had seen her sister-in-law check the rise and fall on her little one's chest during a feverish night of scarlet fever. Sam had remained quiet, but had questioned the usefulness of the mother's gesture. Now, she understood it completely. She was as terrified of losing Daniel as her sister had been of losing her son.