A/N- Please Review!!!!!!! I need those little tidbits that tell me how I'm doing!

Kudos to anyone who can spot the not-very-subtle Dark Angel reference in this chapter!

Disclaimer- I don't own SG-1 or anything recognizable, including Egyptian mythology, (come on, who would want to own that? Besides me, of course.) or The Crash. I do, however, own any original characters or places in this story. Please don't sue me, because you'll only get my Taekwon-Do uniform, and an empty soda bottle.

A/N2- For those of you who don't know, Bast is an Egyptian goddess; giver of health and laughter, daughter of Ra, goddess of war and happiness. Kate gave Bast to Daniel when she was a kitten, and for those of you who know of Daniel's bad allergies, Siamese cats are hypoallergenic.

Chapter Four

Discoveries

Daniel woke to the sensation of Bast licking his chin at six o'clock in the morning. Looking confused for a moment, he picked the feline up and placed her gently on the floor. He sat up and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Stupid dream, he thought, as soon as that dang door opens, I'm back in reality because my stupid cat couldn't wait another ten minutes to get fed.

Daniel rubbed his eyes and reached over to his nightstand for his glasses. Slipping them on one-handed, he blinked his eyes back into focus. He was tired. Not only did he have the usual Dream, but he dreamed about Kate as well. He had always loved to take her dancing on their off evenings from work. Her favorite place was a small, quaint, back-ally bar in New York City, and they would go there every time they passed through.

The Crash, as it was called, was a converted warehouse with three rooms; the bar/restaurant area had a sculpture made from bike frames behind the bar, loud sports that usually ended in bad collisions (hence the name of the bar) playing on TV, and tables made from manhole covers. The game room consisted of a pool table and a foosball table, along with another mini-bar in the corner. And then there was the dance floor, witch would sometimes be covered in half pipes and grinding rails for bicycle stunt competitions.

Daniel had so many memories of that place, and they were all with Kate, like that one special day...

FLASHBACK:

"Hey, Daniel! Come watch me beat Helen to shreds at a game of pool!" Kate was smiling at him from across the room, watching him talk to some of their buddies from Twin Eagle. It was her birthday today, and she was enjoying herself to the fullest. Gifts were stacked high on a manhole-cover-turned-table, and Daniel had decided not to put his small, yet very meaningful gift in the pile. He wanted his gift to be last and most surprising. "Sorry, sweetheart," Daniel said, "But you've whipped her enough. Why don't you come open your gifts?"

Kate was about to protest, but all her party guests were shouting "Yeah, come on, Kate!" or "S'bout time someone told her to do that!" which made her blush. "You know I don't even need anything," She said, "But I'll humor you!"

Daniel grinned and walked over to Kate and wrapped his arm lovingly around her shoulder. Stroking the olive skin on her arm, he dropped a quick kiss on her cheek. "Come on, Kate," He said. "You're not getting out of it this year."

She looked up at him with the expression he had seen on her so many times before. The one that just seemed to say, "Do I have to, sweetie?"

Daniel just smiled and pulled his girlfriend by the arm to within reach of the gifts. "Go on," he said, "I'll save mine for last."

Despite her earlier protests, she eventually gave in and even started to enjoy carefully unwrapping each one; as if the paper were so fragile and precious that she couldn't bear to harm it. By the time she had plowed through all of them, she was truly having a good time. Kate looked up at Daniel in confusion after she had opened the last package on the table "Well?" she said, "Where's yours?"

Daniel just smiled, reached into his pocket, pulled out a small box, and got down on one knee in front of her. "Kate," He said, "From the moment I met you a year ago, I knew you would be someone that would always be there for me. First, as a friend, you were someone I could confide in, but then I began to fall in love." Here he paused, took an emotional breath, and opened the box, revealing a glimmering gold band with a solitary diamond. "I know now that, not only will you always be there for me, and I for you, but I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Katalina O'Hara...Will you marry me?"

Kate was speechless. Daniel could see the tears welling up in her eyes, and he started to wonder weather he had done the right thing, when she finally took his arm and pulled him off of his knee to face her. "Yes," she said, "Yes, Daniel, I will!" with that, he picked her up and spun her around, kissed her, and placed the gold band on her finger amidst all the yells, catcalls, and whistles produced by their friends.

END FLASHBACK

Daniel smiled at the memory of that day. Well, he thought, rousing himself, No point in sitting here like a bump on a log. SG-1's got another mission and I need to be conscious for it.

With that, Daniel got up, brushed his teeth, took a shower, got dressed and made coffee.

This stuff's a wonder drug for those of us that aren't "morning people" he thought as he sipped the hot, black liquid in his mug. Scanning the morning paper that had been flung neatly onto the roof of his porch (he had had to stand on a patio chair to get to it), he mulled over what had happened in his dream last night; instead of waiting for the Voice, he had gone straight for the door in the pillar. When he was within five paces, the Voice had made itself known. He spoke with it for a while, discovering that, yes, the owner of the Voice was a master of the Sheni Arts. Etalm had been right. But when he opened the door, he didn't even get a glimpse of their face, because that was when Bast had decided she was hungry.

He took another sip of his coffee and grimaced; it was cold now, so he looked at the clock. He set his mug down and grabbed his wallet and keys. Can't be late for work, now, can we?

Daniel was unusually silent as he dressed in his military cold-weather BDU for the mission to P74-838. O'Neill apparently noticed, and questioned him about it.

"What's got you so spaced, Daniel?" O'Neill asked.

"Huh?" Daniel hadn't been listening again.

"Case in point." The colonel sighed. "What's with you the last couple days? You totally space for minutes at a time. You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Jack. I just have a lot on my mind."

The CO didn't look too convinced, but let the subject drop.

Half an hour later, Daniel, O'Neill, Carter, and Teal'c were out on a glacier in the middle of nowhere. Daniel was walking with Carter one direction while O'Neill and Teal'c walked in the other looking for signs of civilization.

Daniel marched forward into the biting wind, only half of his mind on the task at hand. "Sam," he said, "before I came to the SGC, did you ever know another Air Force Captain by the name of Katalina O'Hara?"

Carter stopped in her tracks and looked Daniel squarely in the eyes. "How did you know about her?" she asked.

"We worked together one winter at a dig in Egypt. She was my assistant archeologist at the site. It occurred to me last night that you might have known her, because her work in the Air Force was apparently 'deep space radar telemetry', and classified 'top secret'. So, you knew her?"

Carter stood with her mouth open. "So, were you the fiancé she always spoke about? I never found out what happened to her in Egypt when we lost contact. Do you know?"

Daniel cringed. "Yes, I was her fiancé, and yes, I know what happened to her, but it's not easy for me to talk about. I just assumed you knew."

"We were inseparable friends. Most of the off-time that she didn't spend with you, we spent together." Carter looked sad. "What happened to her?"

Daniel took a deep breath through his nose so that he wouldn't get snow in his mouth. "It was about a week before our wedding day, and we were in a bus in Cairo, on our way to the airport for our flight home from a dig. It was around midnight, and we were crossing a bridge over the Nile, when a Semi driver fell asleep at the wheel and rammed our bus head-on." He took another deep breath, realizing that he had tears on his face that were quickly freezing. Carter cringed at that last sentence, and Daniel continued his story, the release feeling good in spite of the pain. "We were right over the river at the time. The impact threw nearly everyone from the bus. I landed on the opposite side of the bridge and got knocked out, but Kate..." Here he trailed off and swallowed hard. "Kate... was thrown into the water. They searched the river for weeks, but they never even found her body. I looked for months in different places around the city, but there was no record of her anywhere, ever. She's dead. That's all anyone could know for sure." He had to stop, the pain was too much.

Carter placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Daniel. Thank you for telling me, I...Kate and I were like sisters, and I never knew what happened to her. Thank you."

"Cart...aniel...ome in..." O'Neill's voice crackled over the radio.

Carter spoke into her own to reply. "Go ahead, sir,"

The connection was bad because of the weather, but they got the gist of it. "No signs of...ivilization. Repo...the 'Gate in ...ive minutes."

"Yes, sir. On our way, sir."

Carter and Daniel turned around, the wind now at their backs, and headed for the Stargate, each one thinking about Kate, her death, and how good a fireplace and a mug of hot cocoa would be.