Fishing

Missing scenes for 'Moebius'

Surprise, we're not done here. Enjoy.

"It's funny," Daniel says as he follows Sam through the forest. Behind him there's Teal'c and in the front Jack is leading the way. Just like on any other mission, on any other planet.

Sam suspiciously glances over her shoulder. She has been waiting for Daniel to say something. To allude in some way to the changes in her life and what they can mean for her and a certain General who's not her General anymore.

"What?" she sharpens her words slightly. Curiosity fair enough, but she's not going to have this or any conversation with Daniel about it. Maybe later, with the safety of a million light-years between them. When Atlantis is going to make it hard for him to enjoy their awkwardness. Because as happy as she is about making this huge step, it is awkward changing from Colonel and General to lovers. And it definitely doesn't need to be put to test by Daniel's scrutinizing look.

"We are on vacation and yet we're doing what we do when we go on a mission," Daniel answers and throws the branch he was using as a walking stick into the little river that runs next to Jack's beaten path. "You know, walk through the woods," Daniel adds.

Okay, she's seeing ghosts.

"How long has he been with us?" Jack says from the top of their marching snake. Sam can practically hear how he's rolling his eyes.

"What?" Daniel, the belly of the snake asks without reacting to Jack's obvious tease. "It's the same."

In some ways, yeah. But as Sam allows her eyes to wander a level lower than usual on her not-commanding-officer ahead of her, she comes to think of all the pleasant ways it's definitely not the same. Sam smirks by at the mesmerizing sight of two plump buttcheeks moving up and down. Before she can rip her eyes from this view, Jack peeks over his shoulder catching her with a satisfied grin.

Oops.

Back to the conversation. Back to making sure they are staying away from this one particular conversation.

"When we're off-world the General, Teal'c and I constantly scan the environment for threats," Sam says, quite satisfied about casually weaving the word General into the sentence. She doesn't even need to look back to Daniel to realize that she made a mistake. She can practically feel Daniel grinning and then, so overly casually he says, "You still call him General?"

Oh, for God's sake.

For a moment there she's out of answers. Then comes to the wishful thinking that maybe he's just talking about the fact that she and Jack are not working together anymore. That she could finally call him Jack—like now in her thoughts or earlier in the morning when they shared a quiet coffee on the jetty while Daniel was still asleep and Teal'c god knows where.

Daniel has caught up and now stares at her with undisguised pleasure. If Sam is waiting for some help from the man who's name is in question she's on the wrong track. Jack keeps his pace steady and without turning back he says, "Oh Daniel, you have no idea how that works for me."

So this is what being soaked up by a black hole must feel like. Escape velocity equals the velocity of light and because she pretty much stopped walking there's no way she can go from 0 to 186,287 miles per second—in pretty much a second. Even if she could, it wouldn't help because even light can't escape a black hole. So she's approaching the event horizon, the gate to oblivion where spacetime collapses around her. She took too long to neutralize Jack's comment with one of her usual rebuffs, which is like admitting to it. Daniel has stopped walking too and they stare at each other with equal shock. Sam from the idea of what Daniel is imagining now and Daniel from the images that wander through his head. As she watches realization wash over Daniel's face like an ice-cold splash of water, control over her body comes back.

Well Daniel, she thinks, that's what you get when you're fishing.

A naughty smile flutters over her face before she catches up with Jack.