Right Time and Place by Betty Bokor
Sam/Daniel. Jack and SG-1 share a celebration off-world.
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.

Right Time and Place

Chapter 9

"Daniel, I don't want you to think that I've always been this silly about this kind of thing. It's just that, before, I've felt very confident about myself; I'm an independent woman, with a good career, a job that I enjoy and that makes a difference to the world, and I'm not ugly, I know. But with you…"

"With me what?" Daniel asked, truly clueless as to what he could have done to scare her.

"You're my hero, Daniel. You're the man I look up to when I have a moral dilemma. I'm afraid I won't live up to your expectations every day. That you won't like me anymore once we spend more time together and you get to know me better."

"But, Sam, I've made so many mistakes-"

"Not as many as you think and, even when you did something wrong, you had a greater good in mind. You're never selfish."

"Oh, Sam you're so wrong about that! What about the years I spent trying to get revenge against Apophis, eh? Just an example."

"Even then you tried to help his host when he was dying."

"I helped so much," he said with sarcasm in his voice; "we sent him back to be tortured by Sokar."

"We had no choice. If it had depended on you, you wouldn't have done it."

Daniel sat up so that he could face her in the dark. "Sam, I'm not better than you. Now that we've started going on this path, I don't think there's anything that could make me change my mind. I've realized how much I care for you, how much I love you, how I've fallen in love with you without even noticing."

"You think you're in love with me?" Sam asked with surprise.

"I don't think, Sam, I know. It could have taken me all these years to get there, but that's exactly what I feel now. I love you and I want to have a relationship with you. God, I want to have a life with you, but there's no chance that we'll be happy together if you think that way about me. I'm your colleague, I'm your friend, and I'd like to be much more. It only depends on you, now. See me as the normal man I am and maybe we can make it."

"You don't understand, Daniel. It's because you're not a normal man that I –Oh, I never thought this would be so hard to say– I… I think I love you" she let out, as she had been tortured to say it.

"That was rather hard to say. Why Sam?"

"What if you die again and you don't come back this time? I didn't want to fall for you! It was hard enough to lose you when you were just my friend. If I lose you now I would have all these memories of what I could still have and it's gone."

"If I were to lose you, Sam, I'd rather have as many memories of you to brighten my days than to wonder what could have been."

Sam tried to keep her tears from falling, but she couldn't. She just approached Daniel in the dark and kissed him fervorously. A few seconds later she broke the kiss and hugged him fiercely. "I love you, Daniel, I love you so much! I've never felt this way for anyone before. I'm so scared that I cannot even admit it to myself. Please, promise me that you'll think twice before saving another planet and dying!"

Daniel smiled slightly at the passion Sam had put in her words. He was utterly happy and nothing could ruin the moment, but he had to be honest with her. "I don't think that I'll be saving any more planets, but, if it were to happen, I promise I'll think twice. However, I just can't promise that I won't do what I believe has to be done, Sam."

"I wouldn't love you this much if you did," Sam replied and kissed him again. She wasn't afraid anymore. Daniel was right. They had to share as much as they could as long as they had each other. Their jobs were dangerous and there was also a chance that she would be the one not coming back. If Daniel was willing to face the risk with her, she wouldn't stop him any longer.

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On Saturday afternoon, General Landry was back at the SGC. He had thought Jack was joking when he talked about the mountains of paperwork that gave him nightmares. Now he had the nightmares himself and decided that a good night's sleep was worth coming to the base on a Saturday.

He was working in his office, when someone knocked at his door. He got up and walked to the door, wondering who else would be working on Saturday. When he opened the door, he was surprised to find two members of SG-1 looking at him with shy smiles.

"Hi," Dr. Jackson said. "We checked with the guards upstairs and they said you were here, so we thought we could have a little talk with you."

"Well, come in, come in. Is there anything wrong? Have you discovered another threat to the universe?" he asked as Daniel and Sam sat in front of his desk.

"Actually, no, sir. We're here for a personal matter," Sam explained.

"I see. Well, go ahead, I'm listening."

"Well, you see, General," Daniel started with hesitation, but then resumed his normal fast-speed talking and let all the rest out, "Sam and I, here, we've discovered that we'd like to share our lives, sir. We've fallen in love with each other and we've decided that, considering how many chances we face daily of not coming back, we have to take advantage of any time we have. So, we've planned on getting married and we just wanted to be certain to tell you in advance, so that you could deal with any paperwork or decision-making brought up by this change." He stopped and breathed deeply.

Landry did not look extremely surprised. He had a pensive expression for a short while and then he smiled. "Well, it looks that I should start by congratulating you both. George Hammond filled me in about you two and while he was the commander here, he had a bet in favor of you getting together. It looks that he was betting against heavy odds, but I've always thought that the old man had a good eye for this kind of thing. I don't mean I was actually expecting it, but it doesn't really surprise me, either."

Sam and Daniel felt relieved. "Have you given any thought to what you'd want to do with SG-1?" Daniel asked.

"As long as I'm in charge here, and Jack is at the Pentagon, nobody will do anything with SG-1. You two are adults and I'm certain that you know better than to risk the outcome of a mission for personal reasons. Besides, I've noticed that the original SG-1 had some heavy feelings going around and that didn't impede their job, your job."

"Yes, sir," Sam agreed. We all cared very deeply for each other and we're starting to feel that way about Cameron, too. The more we get to go on missions together, the deeper the links between us grow."

"I understand. Have you told anyone else yet?"

"Well, for reasons of friendship, not for going above your head, general," Daniel explained, "we talked to Jack this morning and then we had breakfast with Teal'c and we told him, too. We also called Cameron and he recommended telling you as soon as possible. I think he was afraid that you would separate his 'newly gathered' team."

"I'm sure he was," Landry said with a smile. "You can call him back and give him the good news."

"Thank you, sir," Sam and Daniel said. Soon thereafter they left the office and the base and drove to Sam's home. They had decided to move Sam to Daniel's house immediately. Many would think they had gone insane and many others would believe they had had a relationship going on for a long time, but they truly didn't care about the opinions of the rest of the world. The support of their friends was plenty enough and the notion of what they shared was sufficient to help them face whatever would come.