See part one for the disclaimer and story notes.

Author's Notes: I'm very sorry about the late update. I unexpectedly found myself moving to a new apartment, so this fic fell to the side for a little while. The next chapter will be beta read and posted in two weeks.

Part Four

The wind had picked up outside and a faint howling could be heard echoing through the valley. The sides of the tent waved in and out ever so slightly with a dull popping noise.

"Did you ever want children?" Daniel asked without preamble. It was a personal question, but on a subject he desperately needed to discuss. He knew he could trust Sam.

"What?" Sam sounded surprised.

"I mean, someday, eventually. Did you ever want to raise a family?"

Sam took a few seconds to consider the question. "A long time ago, maybe. When I was a little kid, I wanted to be like my Dad and have a little boy and girl of my own. But I changed my mind when I realized if I had children, I was going to be the one stuck at home." She shrugged. "I had other goals, I didn't really see how I could do both."

"And now?" Daniel prompted.

Sam chuckled. "Don't be ridiculous, it would be insane for me to try and be a mother with my job. And besides, I'm still missing that integral male contribution."

Daniel smiled. "I'm sure you could find someone, Sam."

"I tried to adopt Cassie. Did I ever tell you that?"

"Wow." Daniel raised his eyebrows. "No, you didn't. But I'm not surprised…"

"Yeah…" Sam eyes looked suspiciously shiny. "My job was too unpredictable. I had no house, or yard, or experience with children…"

Or spouse, Daniel mentally added for her when she paused again.

There was a high pitched burst of wind and the tent wall ballooned inwards enough to touch Daniel's elbow.

"I'm sorry." He leaned over and ran his arm along her arm. She leaned into him ever so slightly.

"It was probably for the best." She sighed. "I don't think I'd be a very good mother anyway."

Daniel opened his mouth to disagree, but was interrupted by Sam.

"What about you, Daniel? Why are you wondering about this?" She smiled and her voice seemed just a little tighter. He understood that she was done talking about the subject. From the way she was scrutinizing his own face, he knew that she was fully aware that he wasn't simply making idle conversation.

"Me…um. Well, I never really thought about it. Too busy thinking about people who lived a long time ago."

"But…?" Sam could be insightful at times. Or perhaps Daniel was simply easy to read.

"Sha're wanted children. Adored them, wanted at least five." He didn't know why he was telling Sam about this, things he had never told anyone or ever written into words. These were things that didn't seem expressible.

Maybe it was exactly because he was sure Sam couldn't understand. It wouldn't matter so much when it came out flawed

He wasn't surprised when Sam didn't respond. She never did know how to respond to conversations like these, and he understood that about her. He even appreciated it.

"She was really good with kids too." He continued. "I don't know why she didn't conceive during the one year…"

Except that he did now. She had a child now – the harceisis. It was him, not her. It felt twisted that he could resent an innocent baby so much. Inhuman. The whole thing was twisted.

"I'm sorry… I don't know why I told you this."

"No," Sam said in a low voice. "It's ok. I'm sorry."

She reached out and took one of his hands gently. Maybe she did understand, at least a little.

Endless more hours passed without event. The rain persisted.

Sam was in the middle of stretching her stiff arm muscles when Daniel began speaking.

"How much did you experience when Jolinar was inside you?" He rushed out before he could stop himself. It was simply driving him crazy not knowing. Sam had to understand how important this was to him.

Immediately her entire posture stiffened.

"Daniel." The word was tense and absurdly controlled. A warning.

"I have to know." Sha're…

"I can't -" She fought for words. "I don't know…it…"

He knew she was an articulate person. Why wasn't she willing to put this into words? He wouldn't ask if it wasn't necessary. Of course it was painful for her to relive, but didn't she understand how much more awful it was for Sha're? He heard her speaking Goa'uld in her sleep. If she learned an entire language, what else did she know?

I know the location of Ammonet.

Maybe Jolinar had simply been telling him what he wanted to hear in order to get his way. Or maybe it was true. If Sam could just tell him that - anything.

"I'm not going to talk about this Daniel." She managed. "Not here."

Daniel out an exasperated huff and caught himself from replying right away.

With exaggerated restraint, he asked, "Alright, when?"

"I don't know." It sounded just a little desperate. He could hear the unspoken 'never.'

The rain was still pounding a constant rhythm on their little tent as the light began to dim for their second evening of being cut off from the gate. Sam kept her gaze against the one side of the tent, her back to Daniel. She could feel his scrutiny boring into the back of her head.

It was unsettling, but for whatever reason, Daniel's intense scrutiny made her nerves jangle, as though she was being watched, unaware. Which was silly, because she knew exactly which eyes were boring their way through the back of her head.

She was preparing dinner again, which consisted of boiled water and MRE's – again. The task took all of three minutes, but even that provided some relief.

The pressure was overwhelming and Sam wanted nothing more than to be away. Somewhere, anywhere else. Unfortunately the icy rain and wind left her completely trapped. She didn't want to talk to Daniel, she didn't want to engage in any kind of introspection right now, all she wanted was to do something.

She couldn't believe this was only their second night of being stranded.

As she worked, she kept a shiny thermal blanket draped over her shoulders, despite the awkwardness it created. The temperatures had dropped again, and it was cold enough to make her nose and cheeks numb. It was only the combined body heat of herself and Daniel that kept the temperature in the tent above freezing.

She hand a warm package to Daniel and took one for herself. She yearned to be eating a real meal right now, on the patio of an upscale restaurant in Colorado Springs, surrounded by a warm summer breeze. She wondered if her Dad had bothered to stick around Colorado Springs for few days, maybe to catch up with some old friends in the air force. Or maybe he had headed straight back to his condo in DC. She wasn't entirely sure.

It didn't really matter, she thought with a stab of her fork into the congealed rehydrated food, because she was stuck in the other side of the galaxy. Miserable, ironically enough, with the one person she actually would have chosen to be stranded with – it turned out she really was a terrible judge of character. Even Colonel Maybourne would have been preferable to a moody Daniel. Well, almost.

She stole a sideways glance at Daniel. He was picking at his food, despite the fact that he had barely eaten any food that day. His head was slightly pitched downwards, but his gaze locked on her. It looked like he was gearing himself up for another confrontation.

"You know Sam, I just don't understand it."

And she was right.

"I know," she replied in a light voice, "if we had any idea this planet was in for such an intense spring storm, I think we would have packed gloves."

Colonel O'Neill would be proud. He wasn't the only one who could be deliberately obtuse.

"That's not what I mean," Daniel said, and his tone added the 'and you know it.'

She didn't say anything, so he picked up where he left off.

"What I can't I cannot comprehend is why you seem to remember way more from your encounter with Jolinar than you admit to, and you refuse to even consider looking at that, when lives are at stake."

She clenched her jaw. "Daniel, it's not that simple."

"Yes! Yes, it is." He waved his hands in jerky movements. "You're too afraid to take a good look at what happened, and I understand it must have been painful, but you could help Sha're and Skaara, you could save them, and you won't even try. You, more than anyone should understand why that's so important!"

"Daniel, stop-"

"No! I heard you speaking in Goau'ld Sam, why didn't you tell anyone? How much do you actually remember - what did Jolinar tell you? And why, god why won't you tell me where Sha're is?"

"Daniel!" she shouted.

"You're a coward, Sam," Daniel spat out.

The MRE in Sam's hands was vibrating, and Sam turned her head to hide the tears and rage she was trying to fight back.

He grabbed her shoulder. "Answer me, damn it!"

She jerked it back violently. "Don't touch me. Just. Don't. Don't say another word."

She wrapped the blanket tightly around her shoulders and turned her entire body away from Daniel. She could still feel the weight of his entire presence pushing and analysing her. Behind her, she heard what sounded like a quiet sob.

She couldn't do this; she wanted to be far away. She seriously considered pulling on her wet boots and wandering out into the swirling sleet outside. Anything to escape from Daniel's unwavering scrutiny.

God, she really was coward.

The rain just kept pounding down against their tent.

Daniel was flat on his back, his eyes closed and his breathing deep and even. But he was most certainly not sleeping.

Beside him, Sam awoke was a gasp. He turned his head and saw that her hair was wet with perspiration, despite the cold temperature in their tent.

She turned her head towards his, her eyes huge with fear. "Daniel, did you hear something outside?"

"No, I didn't," he replied softly. "It was a nightmare."

She nodded and rolled over to her other side, so that her back was towards him. It took a long time for her breathing to slow down again. He closed his eyes.

The morning crept gradually up onto Sam's awareness. The ground was hard and her feet and ears felt uncomfortably numb with cold. Did her furnace break? In a blind attempt to grab more blankets, her hand jammed into the frozen metal zipper. Ah, sleeping bag. Flooding, raining; a cold planet on which she was marooned and trapped in very close quarters with an overly inquisitive Daniel. Only now did she notice the silence.

The persistent batter of raindrops had ended.

She opened her eyes and turned over. Her muscles felt like blocks of heavy wood, protesting every movement. She had barely been able to sleep the entire night, stuck in a bizarre place where her mind ran around in helpless circles until she just wanted to claw her eyes out in frustration.

She lay on her back for several minutes, trying in vain to pull together strings from her convoluted half dreams. Something in there had seemed so terrifyingly oppressive, a threat she needed to confront before it swept down and consumed her.

She rolled over, wincing when she hit her shoulder. It was nothing more than her fight with Daniel that had her so upset, added to the stress of missing her father's visit. No need to call in Freud.

In the dim light, she saw that Daniel was still asleep, with only his hair sticking out of the top of the bag. She didn't exactly want to face him, but he had to wake up sooner or later. Sam gave his shoulder a push.

"Daniel, wake up." She said, probably more harshly than necessary. But his words still had her profoundly shaken.

He let out a long stream of mumbles and moans.

She pulled on her boots (still damp) and slipped out. Behind her, she heard Daniel's unhappy exclamation when he felt the cold air rush in.

Fog. The entire view was filled with thick wet fog. She couldn't even see that they were near the top of a valley. Holding an arm out, she realized she could barely see two feet away. Well, this wasn't good.

Sam stepped back in the tent and blinked as her eyes to adjust to the dimmer light. She saw that Daniel was sitting up, his glasses sitting askew on his face, his hair rumpled to one side still uncombed. He was looking through one of the packs.

"What are you looking for?"

"There's no coffee left." He scowled.

She forced herself to firmly meet his eyes.

"Well, that's probably the least of our concerns."

He raised two incredulous eyebrows. "Really."

Sam let his statement hang for a few seconds before she continued. "The valley's covered in thick fog. I can't see a thing, so we have no idea if the flood's receded of not."

They both held each other's gaze. Unspoken, they both considered the data in the crystal, the unbearable boredom and tension in their camp, and, for Sam at least, the uncomfortable feeling of being watched.

Sam knew that the reasonable move would probably be to wait for the SGC to make contact. If the flood had receded, the SGC could establish the wormhole and radio through the fog. It was SOP that the SGC would be trying every 24 hours.

But there was the data crystal. This kind of intel wasn't something that could wait for another 24 hours if at all avoidable. Apophis's attempt to take Earth by ship was all too recent a memory in her mind. Had it not been for the interdimensional mirror, Earth would have been utterly defenceless – and even then, it had been far too close for comfort.

Sam made her decision.

"I'm going to go down and see if the gate's clear yet."