A MATTER OF POWER – I. The Power of Politics by Betty Bokor
Sam/Daniel. Sam deserves a promotion and Daniel is willing to help her. Sam has her own plans.
Spoilers: All seasons, including 9 and 10.
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.

The Power of Politics

Chapter 2

"Married, Daniel?"

"I told you, Sam. It won't be the real thing. If you not being a family woman is their excuse, they won't have any. "

"And you're willing to do this for my career?"

"Not exactly for your career, Sam, for you, because you deserve to go into the history books as the Commander of the SGC, because you're the right person for the job and because you're my friend."

"Thank you, Daniel," Sam said, feeling very moved by his words. "I'll think about it and I'll give you my answer tomorrow," she promised.

She drove home early and spent the evening thinking about Daniel's proposal. She had had no idea of Landry's plans to leave the SGC for the Pentagon and it had also shocked her to know that her marital status was being used as an excuse to drop her off the list of candidates to succeed him. She was always in awe of how Daniel found out about things that nobody else seemed to know. More than anything, it stunned her that Daniel was willing to fake a marriage to help her out. Well, the marriage would be real, just their married life would be a fake.

She knew she would have a hard time deciding what to do. She really wanted to head the SGC and prove that a woman could get to the top of her career, especially within the military. She understood that the Command was a political position and that the rules of promotion that usually applied within the Air Force would not be relevant there.

On the other hand, she did not know if it was right to marry Daniel for such a reason. She had hidden her unrequited love for him for so many years, that she was resigned to never having a chance to be with him. She had started hiding her feelings right after meeting him and inexorably falling for him. He was everything she had dreamed of since her teenage years: adventurous, intelligent, caring, sensitive, and so handsome… In any case, Daniel had never shown any signs of feeling anything other than friendship for her, so she had kept her feelings to herself. For a while, she had even felt some unhealthy jealousy for Sha're for having been capable of making him fall so deeply for her, but then she had felt sorry that she could not come back to make him happy. Since then, guilt for her initial feelings had driven her to overcompensate and to punish herself by not even trying to reach Daniel's heart.

Then she had noticed Jack's interest in her and she had started enjoying it. Over the years she had gotten used to his attention and it was as vital to her as her daily dose of Daniel. Daniel's ascended time had been the worst of her life, but after his comeback she had still felt unable –or unworthy– to reach out to him.

Now, he was asking her to marry him. The problem was that he was doing it for her career and he was not really asking her to be his wife; just his pretend wife. She had three options. First, she could decline his proposal and try to get the promotion some other way. She was pretty certain that there was no other way. She already was the best candidate and if being single was the only excuse they had found not to give it to her, there was nothing else she could do.

The second option seemed more promising. She could marry him and get herself the job and then, when everything was solved, divorce him as he proposed.

Or, she could marry him and try to get him to love her as she loved him. That plan had a major obstacle. Daniel had said that their marriage could go on until Jack retired. That was the point when he was going to ask for a divorce. First, she had thought that Daniel believed that she had something going on with Jack, but, if he did, he would be asking Jack to be the one to marry her. That meant that it was not her relationship with Jack that would precipitate the divorce. It had to be Daniel's relationship with Jack.

She was stunned. Over the years she had heard multiple rumors about Jack and Daniel, but she had always dismissed them. To her knowledge, they were both straight men, previously married to beautiful women. Besides, she had also heard rumors about many other people, including herself. She knew the rumors about her were false, so she always thought the others were too.

Now she had no other choice but to acknowledge what Daniel had told her. He could fake being married to her until Jack was retired, out of the military, away from the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. Then, he would be free to pursue a less secretive relationship with Daniel without the fear of being court-martialed. Since she had never had a relationship with Jack, there was no other way to interpret his words, unless it was simply a matter of Daniel wanting a relationship with Jack and not daring to ask until the chances were better.

It was too much for her. She lost her appetite and decided to go to bed early. She could not sleep though. She kept thinking of little details over the years that could have indicated a different kind of rapport between her two teammates. Suddenly, many scenes of their lives that could have been simple acts of friendship, acquired new meaning as she saw them as the result of a shared feeling. All that bickering between the two of them that had led Ferretti to tell them that they looked like an old married couple. All the hours Jack spent in the Infirmary, holding Daniel's hand, waiting for him to wake up after another hit. All the times Daniel had accepted refuge in Jack's house after a harrowing experience. Every time that Jack had been the one comforting him. It was all so clear now, that she berated herself for having been so blind.

Probably all the flirting Jack had done with her had been part of their cover-up operation.

So, what was she going to do? Was it fair for her to try to fight for Daniel's affection or would it mean a betrayal to her friendship with Jack? It was overwhelming.

Daniel had had more women than Sha're. They had talked about some girlfriends from his college years and then there had been Sarah. What about Ke'ra? He had been interested in her, too.

And Jack? What about his love for his wife, even after they had divorced? She remembered quite well when he had kept calling for Sara after he was injured in Antarctica. Did Kynthia count? She had also found out about the affair with Laira and then she had caught him with Kerry Johnson. Was it all a charade?

After a night of insomnia she reached a decision. She was going to accept Daniel's marriage proposal, on his terms. She was not going to push to get the marriage to become a real one, but she was not going to push in the other direction either. She was going to let their lives take their own course. Whatever happened, she would go with it. That did not mean that she was not going to try to make Daniel's marital life a lesson in happiness. She had already started planning how to cater to his bliss. Perhaps he would one day realize that it was good being married to her; that it was worth working on it. If, by the time Jack retired, Daniel had not fallen for her, she would accept the divorce without a complaint. She just wanted a fair fight.

She was sure that a sexless marriage was not going to be a model of perfection, but she knew couples, especially among soldiers wounded in war, who had forgone sex almost completely and still had a life of happiness.

Sam and Daniel got married on Independence Day. Daniel found out that couples themselves could solemnize their own marriage in Colorado, so they chose to do it in order to avoid bringing anyone else into their charade. Because of that, they had no problem getting it done on a holiday. It also helped getting all their friends at the SGC to be there. Even Cassie spent a couple of days in Colorado Springs to witness the wedding. Sam entirely refused allowing Daniel to let anyone know the conditions of their marriage. She wanted to keep it completely secret. Daniel supposed Jack had already talked to her about her options and that she just did not want to discuss that with him. In any case, Daniel could not bring himself to lie to Teal'c so he revealed their secret to him and asked him to keep it safe. Teal'c agreed and he also kept to himself his opinion about it. He was certain that the marriage would not remain a pretense for too long.

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