ANOTHER WORLD – II. Daniel's World by Betty Bokor
Sam/Daniel. Daniel wakes up in the wrong place.
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.

Daniel's World

Chapter 4

After Dan was left in the guest quarters for the night –with a guard by his door, just in case– Sam went to her own room in the base and lay down on the bed for a long time, trying to imagine what her alternate self had been going through. She wondered if she would have made the same decisions or if she would have changed the story. She found it very difficult to understand that she –in any reality– would have accepted sharing the man she loved with somebody else. Perhaps that Sam did not really love Dan as much and was staying with him for the sake of the baby. After all, it was only Daniel, her best friend, not the love of her life.

Even more baffling was the fact that 'the other' woman was Vala. What could any Daniel see in her? She finally admitted to herself that most of the annoyance she felt for Vala was due to the fact that she had rapidly established a solid relationship with Daniel. Vala irritated him to the extreme and yet Daniel always ended up closer to her than anyone else, like when she had communicated from the Ori galaxy through him. There was something there and she could not exactly grasp what.

What made her most uncomfortable with the whole situation was the fact that Sam and Dan had taken their friendship one step beyond and they had shared such intimate contact while they had been imprisoned. There was no chance she would ever get to that point with her Daniel. There was nothing there, not even a little bit of physical attraction. Of course, he was a handsome man… Actually, she would probably qualify him as 'gorgeous' if he were not her best friend. He was also a good man, a good person, with a big heart, and, above everything else, he was brilliant. She had always admired brilliant men. She certainly admired Daniel as much as she admired General O'Neill or Teal'c. Perhaps a little bit more. He had shown he could be as good a soldier as any of them and he also had the other side, the scientist side, which appealed to her in a very different way.

She suddenly remembered the day when she had been sent to another dimension, along with Cam, because of an Ancient device. She had been truly annoyed until Daniel had ended up right there with her. She had felt relieved, almost happy. She had even told him so. Well, she had said that it was a good thing that he was there because he could translate the writings much faster. He surely had understood what she meant.

She turned around in her bed and lay face down on top of the covers. She was not going to fall asleep easily.

She tried to imagine how Dan would have looked, in an ugly prison cell, thin and in pain, his head shaved, his eyes darkened by suffering. She shivered forcefully. If that happened to Daniel, she would do anything to make him feel better. Whatever was necessary. Yes! That had to be the reason. The pity, the pain, the need to comfort him.

She felt she had found a logical explanation to the situation in the other reality and soon fell into a deep sleep. She woke up suddenly in the middle of the night, agitated and confused. She had been dreaming. It had been a disturbing dream obviously. Her bed was a mess; it looked as if she had been fighting with her bedding as she dreamt.

She made an effort to relax and fixed the bed. She got under the covers and closed her eyes. If she could remember what she was dreaming about. She made a little effort and- Holly Hannah! There it was! She could still see it in her mind. She remembered! She had been dreaming about Daniel, her Daniel, making love to her.