FOUR DAYS OF CELESTINO – III. Day Three by Betty Bokor
Sam/Daniel. Daniel and Sam share a Saint Patrick's weekend.
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.

Day Three

Chapter 1

The next morning started sooner than she thought. Daniel had set the alarm clock very early because he wanted to go to the mountains. The hotel was just across the street from the Boulder's main hike and bike path that would take them into the Boulder Canyon and Daniel had already made a call to rent a couple of bikes. Sam had not done anything like that in a long time, but she thought that she would be at least in physical shape to try it. The clerk at the Bike Rental offered them a golf outing too and they politely refused. Then he showed them the best places for fly-fishing and Sam thought Daniel seemed upset. She guessed that he was still disappointed that Jack had not come with them and let it go.

They took the Creek Path and up from Boulder Canyon they found North Boulder Creek Falls. The place was beautiful and they set up to have a quick early lunch. Sam was surprised by the planning skills of Daniel, who had taken care of the food and drinks for the trip. She thought that years in the SGC would have trained him, but then she remembered that long before she had met him, he had had a life spent in digs and encampments. For a while, as they ate in silence, trying to take a break from the long ride, Sam kept thinking of all the aspects of Daniel's life she never got to see. What was he like everyday when he was not overwhelmed by worry and fatigue? How would it be to spend an afternoon with him when they did not have to discuss strategies to avoid impending universal doom? How would he behave if he spent the night in her house and he was not there just because he had been hurt and needed care or because they were both too tired to even drive further? What was he like in bed?

Her last thought made her blush deeply. She immediately looked at Daniel to see if he had noticed, but he was entertained following the route of a small insect on the ground. She suddenly imagined his brain theorizing about the social behavior of the Colorado ants. She laughed unintentionally.

"What?" Daniel asked looking at her.

"What were you thinking?" she asked back.

"Nothing important. Just about the behavioral patterns of some insects."

"I knew it!"

"You knew it?"

"Yes!" she said triumphantly with a big smile. "I know you too well, Daniel."

"We never know anyone too well. You'd never guess the thoughts I have sometimes," he said, changing the tone of the conversation to more serious one.

"Like what?"

"It doesn't matter," he said and started getting up to avoid ending the talk. "If we want to go rafting or kayaking we'd better go now. We can even try some climbing," he added as he put all the remains of their picnic in his backpack. "Let's go, Sam." He offered his hand to her and helped her get up. She was intrigued by his words and she spent the rest of the day trying to figure them out.

When they arrived back at the hotel it was late in the afternoon and they had a message in the room saying they had missed their spa appointments.

"If anyone would have been kind enough to tell us we had more appointments, we wouldn't have missed them," Daniel said to the clerk as he apologized. Finally they were offered the last appointments of the day, and feeling as tired as they were after all their physical activity, they both gladly agreed.

They had quick showers and went down the lobby where they enjoyed complimentary hors d'oeuvres as they waited by the fireplace.

Sam looked around and admired the different textures of the room; granite, sandstones, slate. "This is a beautiful place," she said. "Sometimes, when I'm too tired and I think I'm done with saving the world," she whispered to Daniel, "I become selfish and think we deserve to be treated better once in a while."

Daniel chuckled. "Sam, we're human; no matter what our job, we feel that way sometimes. I'd say Jack read your mind and gave us this weekend," he smiled.

"Yeah, but now that we have it, I feel guilty about it."

"I bet you Jack paid for this from his own pocket. We can think of ways for making it up to him, but now that we're here, we'd better enjoy it."

"You're right," she said.

A few minutes later it was time for their spa treatment. First they had to choose between an aromatherapy session in the steam room or the sauna. After Daniel reminded Sam of his allergies, they opted for the sauna. Because of the late hour, they were alone in the room and Sam found it hard to concentrate on Daniel's light conversation. She knew he was talking about the healing properties of thermal waters, but she had a conversation of her own going on in her head. She kept wondering about her new feelings for him and trying to find answers as to why everything had changed so suddenly. During the day it had been easier to forget about it, especially when they were engaged in physical activities that required their complete attention. Now that they were relaxed and alone, everything had come rushing back to her. Daniel, sitting right in front of her covered only by a small white towel, was not helping the situation.

After the sauna they separated and Sam decided to use the time to try and figure it out. The lady in charge of her massage explained to her that she had been signed up for a Lulur, a beauty ritual supposedly given in Java to brides-to-be forty days before their wedding. Sam smiled. Sure, any time soon. In forty days she would not have any more candidates to marry her than she had now, which meant she would have none. Particularly now that she had found out what she felt for Daniel. Her thoughts were interrupted by the masseuse, who explained that she would start with an Asian massage of jasmine oil. Afterwards, a light scrub would be removed with cool yogurt to allow Sam to enjoy a petal bath and an application of jasmine lotion. Usually, Sam would have left before even starting such a treatment, but she was feeling the need to be more feminine and she just stayed.

While she underwent the Lulur, Sam kept thinking about her friend. She pinpointed all the moments in the last years that could have indicated that she was falling in love with Daniel and, as she put them together in a mental picture, she was amazed that she had not understood it before. She had even tried to tell him when he was dying after Kelowna. That was what she had never told him; that was what she had hoped he always knew.

Daniel had definitely changed her over the years, since the day she had met him. She admired him passionately and she was willing to die for him. However, she had always thought that what connected them was the love of friends. All her romantic and sexual feelings had been monopolized mostly by Jack. She wondered why and, after a long analysis, she concluded that she had been responding to Jack's attention. He flirted with her and she enjoyed it. It made her feel desired and very feminine. Daniel always kept his place and treated her like an equal, almost like a sister.

She discovered that she had never actually expected to end up having a romance with Jack. The rational part of her had always known they would not be compatible in their daily lives; they hardly were when part of the same team. Though she had heard more than once in the base that many people believed she was –or she had, or she would be– dating Jack, she had always dismissed the idea. After Jack had left for Washington she had felt abandoned in a certain way, but now all those feelings had disappeared, because she was with Daniel. Now that there was no Jack obstructing the view with his game, she could clearly see what she wanted. She wanted Daniel.

Now, the problem was whether to fight for it or to accept his lack of interest. She was a nice woman and she knew she was at least attractive. Many men had fallen for her before. Could she make Daniel look at her in a different way? Did she want to do it?