Unexpected Effect by Betty Bokor
Sam/Daniel. The ripple effect brought a few more consequences than first thought.
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.
Unexpected Effect
Chapter 7
Daniel didn't reply. He was motionless with the intense expression he had in times of crisis.
Sam got up from the sofa and walked toward Daniel; she sat on the carpet by his armchair and grabbed his hands. "I'm not saying I'm madly in love with you, Daniel." He chuckled softly. "I'm saying that my feelings for you go beyond that and that nothing I've ever felt compares to this." He just stared at her hand on his. "I don't want to be away from you. I know what you feel for me it's different, but I'm pretty certain that it's as deep." He nodded emphatically. "And I've been wondering why I had never seen you as a man, as a male, before." She laughed softly. "I mean- You know what I mean. It's not that the- that Jack is blatantly more masculine than you or that, I don't know, Narim or Martouf or Pete were more handsome. It's that I've been avoiding looking at you that way for so long… I put you off-limits because I knew you were married when I met you and then I just didn't want to change what we had."
"I understand."
"But I want you to give me a chance. To see if it could work."
Daniel looked at her with surprise. "What do you want to do?"
"I don't know. I want to see what comes naturally between us, now that we're aware of all this. That kiss in the office rocked many of my long-standing beliefs. It also scared the hell out of me."
"Why?"
"I didn't think you could make me feel that way. It took me by surprise. I thought it would be harmless, just a mechanical exercise, like riding a bike." Daniel's expression almost looked hurt. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, Daniel." He shook his head, dismissing the offense. "When I asked you, I was trying to prove to myself that I was right, that there was nothing between us, that the possibility of going beyond friendship or getting into something physical was delirious."
"Okay… What happened then?"
Sam lowered her head and covered her face with her hands for a second. She felt like she was confessing a sin to the priest. "I didn't want it to end."
"I didn't either, but no surprise there," Daniel said.
"It was like what I had always thought I would feel with Jack. Actually, no, not like that. It was more. You had your eyes closed and I kept looking at you and the fact that it was you, right there with me, made it almost surreal. It felt like I was dreaming until my body started answering to yours and-"
"It did?"
Sam sighed. "If we hadn't been at the SGC, I wouldn't have let you stop."
Daniel closed his eyes and reclined against the back of the armchair. Too much had changed too quickly and he was afraid of saying or doing something that could scare Sam. He thought he should feel happy; this was a positive change in his relationship with Sam, but he felt that perhaps he had pushed her too hard and that going so fast could end in disaster.
"Daniel? Are you all right?"
He snapped off his thoughts and opened his eyes. "Yeah, just thinking."
"Do you think I'm crazy?"
"No! Why?"
"Because now I can't avoid seeing you this way."
He suddenly felt very vulnerable and regretted badly not having made the effort to get dressed under his robe. "I think this is going too fast for your own good. Yesterday you couldn't see me as a 'male' and today you can't avoid it?"
"Shouldn't that make you happy?"
"I don't know. I don't want to make a mistake that could separate us forever."
"You and I, Daniel, we've done everything else together. We've dated without really dating for years. With how many other women have you gone to a concert, a movie, a restaurant, in the last ten years? If I leave out the times when we did things as a team, I only have Pete and you left. Not even Teal'c or Jack, just you. The only man with whom I've spent nights alone in the same house when not in a mission, besides Pete, is you. You're the only one I've allowed to see me cooking, or worse, baking, and moreover, I've let you try the results of those endeavors," she smiled. "Whenever I've needed someone to talk to or someone with whom to discuss a theory, a problem, anything, I've always gone to you." He agreed with a look. "This is the only thing we haven't tried together. I'm not asking you to make love to me tonight. I just want to have the chance of exploring these new feelings, like sitting by your side and being aware that our legs are touching."
"Ah, Sam. I've spent too many years taking that out of the equation, trying not to be aware of things like that, trying not to put anything sexual in it when I held your hand or I hugged you after a rough day."
"So let's learn together."
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Sam spent the night in Daniel's house, but, as they had agreed, they didn't change the nature of their relationship. Not too much, at least. Daniel woke up in the morning still on top of the covers on his bed and with Sam's head resting on his chest. She even had her boots still on. He tried to define what had awakened him. When the doorbell rang again, he remembered. This time it surely was Mitchell. He should have hung up his phone at least. He carefully laid Sam's head on the pillow and went to open the door.
Jack's face looked back at him as he stood in front of him without moving like he had done the night before. He pulled himself out of his amazement and let him in.
"Jack! What brings you here on a Sunday morning at 8:00 o'clock?"
"Short trip. Flew in yesterday. You weren't answering the phone; I imagined you were out. Have to go back to D.C. soon, so I decided to come see you."
Daniel walked with him to the kitchen to start some coffee, when Sam's voice came from upstairs.
"Daniel, there are no towels in this bathroom."
There was an awkward moment before Daniel started walking towards the staircase and Jack followed him.
"Carter?" Jack simply asked.
"Yes, it's Sam," Daniel said as he got some towels from the linen closet in the hallway. "And before you start having ideas, no, we haven't been having a secret relationship and, no, we haven't had sex." He said the last few words right after he knocked softly on the door of the bathroom and Sam's hand opened it and grabbed the towels.
"Not yet," she cheerfully said as she got out of the bathroom drying her face with one of the towels. When she lowered it, she saw Jack standing right in front of her. "Oh, hi, sir," she said as she blushed deeply.
"Carter," he replied with a nod of his head.
"Anyway, I need to go home. Haven't really been there for a long while," Sam said as naturally as possible. "I'll call you later," she said giving the towel back to Daniel. She leaned and kissed him softly on the cheek and then tapped Jack on his arm. "Good to see you, sir."
She was gone in a second. Daniel left the towel on the bed and started walking down the stairs followed by Jack.
"Care to explain?" Jack said as he sat at the kitchen table.
