-- Chapter 2 --

I followed Jacob through the maze of Tok'ra tunnels, feeling more than a little uneasy. I had no idea if he'd seen me flirting with Sam. If he had, the best that could happen was that I'd get a stern scolding. The worst...let's just say I wasn't looking forward to the worst.

His silence wasn't doing anything to calm my nerves.

"Um," I said. "I've been making some progress on translating the Ancient text on the device."

Jacob barely glanced at me. "What's it say?"

"From what I can tell, it seems to be some kind of teaching tool."

"Teaching what?"

"Well." I cleared my throat. "I, uh, don't really know yet."

"Hmm."

I winced, watching the floor pass by under my feet. Soon, Jacob led me into a small, empty chamber.

"So." He turned to face me. "Danny."

I stared at him, studying his expression. Both he and Jack called me Danny from time to time, but Jacob's voice never held that deliberate I'm-trying-to-annoy-you tone that Jack's always had. When Jacob said it, it was with affection. The way my parents used to say it.

This time though, it also held a note of warning.

Jacob crossed his arms over his chest. "Something you want to tell me?"

Oh yeah. He had definitely seen me flirting with Sam. There was no way this was going to end well. I idly wondered exactly how many ways the retired Air Force general knew to kill someone.

I gave him a weak smile, hoping against hope I was wrong. "Um, about what?"

"About your intentions toward my daughter."

Ah crap. I opened my mouth, but all that came out was a strangled, "Uh..."

"I assume you haven't told her how you feel yet?"

I choked. "Yet?"

"I've seen the way you look at her."

"I– I—" This was ridiculous. I was a linguist, after all. But with only a few simple statements, Sam's dad had reduced me to inarticulate grunting and stammering.

"I'm sure you've noticed that I'm pretty protective of my little girl," Jacob said. "So I pay attention to those who pay attention to her."

Of course, inarticulate grunting and stammering were better than silent gaping.

Jacob smiled. "Relax, Danny." His hand rested firmly on my shoulder. "I like you."

I blinked. "Um." Was that 'I like you, so I'll kill you as painlessly as possible' or 'I like you, you're almost good enough for Sam'?

"So, when are you going to talk to her about it?"

Phew. "Uh, I don't know." I made a concerted effort to get my breathing back under control. "I'm having trouble figuring out how she feels about it. She's been a little...distant lately. Until recently, anyway. It's all very confusing."

Jacob just raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly.

I studied him. "Has she said something to you?"

He shrugged. "Not in so many words. But I know my Sam." With a heavy sigh, he looked around the empty room. "Well, it's getting late."

I tried to hide my disappointment. Since I apparently wasn't going to die, I wanted to talk about Sam some more, but it was obvious that Jacob was ending the conversation.

"You know," he said. "The sunsets on this planet are really something else."

The sudden change of topic confused me. "Are they?"

"Particularly when viewed from the shore of the river just east of the ring platform."

"Okay..." I was starting to wonder if Selmak was silently providing the part of this conversation that would make it make sense. "That's nice..."

Jacob rolled his eyes. "I'm sure Sam could use a break from her work."

"Oh!" I could be so stupid sometimes. "Now?"

He laughed at me. "Unless you want to miss the sunset, yeah." Jacob gave me a gentle shove toward the hallway.

"Wait." I stopped at the door, turning back to him. "If you're okay with this, then why—?"

"The inquisition? Father's prerogative," he said with wink. "Needed to know if I was still scary. I was starting to worry that Sel had sanded down too many of my sharp edges."

I smiled then retraced my steps through the tunnels to the chamber where Sam was still working on the device. She was lying on her back, squinting up through an open panel. I watched as her hands worked inside the device. After a moment, she pushed herself off the floor and stood up, sweeping her hair back from her forehead.

"Okay," she murmured, pushing a few buttons.

Nothing happened.

"Argh!" Sam kicked the side of the device. "Stupid piece of junk!"

"Sam?"

Her head whipped around in my direction. A blush coloured her cheeks. "It's, uh..." She grimaced and rubbed her forehead. "It's not working."

"I figured."

She craned her neck as she looked over my shoulder. "Where's Dad?"

"Um." I glanced down the corridor behind me. "Not sure." It seemed ridiculous that it would take me this much effort to muster up the courage to ask a simple question. "You want to take a break?"

She scowled at the device for a moment before looking at me with a pensive expression. Slowly, she nodded. "Yeah. Sounds good."

We found our way to the rings in silence. Moments later, we were transported to the surface.

A flock of small birds was disturbed by the activation of the rings and fluttered off into the air, disappearing over the nearby forest. Not for the first time, I was stuck by how dramatically different this moon was from other Tok'ra bases. While Vorash had been barren, this moon had abundant life.

"Wow," Sam said, admiring the pink and yellow-tinted clouds overhead.

I looked around, trying to determine which direction Jacob would have referred to as 'east' and saw a grassy hill nearby. The sound of flowing water could be heard from behind it. Sam had taken a few steps in what I decided was a northerly direction.

"Hey, Sam."

She stopped and turned back to me.

"Let's try over here." I nodded in the direction of the hill.

Sure enough, just over the small hill was the river Jacob had mentioned.

"Oh," Sam gasped.

I watched as she took in our surroundings. The twin suns were setting over the hills on the other side of the river. A small section of the shore below us was sandy, with a few large, well-weathered rocks slowing the current near the water's edge.

Directly overhead, the sky was a deep, lustrous blue. The hue faded through all of the colours of the spectrum toward the horizon. The larger, or perhaps nearer, of the suns blazed bright orange, the other was deep red.

"This is perfect," said Sam. She sat down on the grass near the base of the hill, her arms resting on her bent knees as she stared out over the river.

I settled myself comfortably next to her, trying not to stare. I glanced over my shoulder. From here, we were out of sight of both the stargate and the ring platform. It was easy to imagine that we were the only two people on the entire moon. I did my best not to imagine anything else, even though Sam's proximity and the fact that this was the first moment we'd had alone together in weeks really weren't helping me in that respect.

We sat in companionable silence for a long moment. A gentle breeze stirred the warm air. I felt it lift some of the tension and frustration caused by the Ancient device from my shoulders.

I looked over at Sam, happy to see that she seemed to be relaxing too. She released a heavy sigh, rolling her head back on her shoulders. I shifted slightly as her action reminded me that the rest of my tension and frustration wasn't caused by the Ancient device.

I really had to work up the nerve to tell her how I felt. Preferably before I did something stupid.

In an effort to distract myself from the smooth expanse of her exposed neck that was practically crying out for me to nibble on it, I ran my fingers through the short grass between us. Well, now. That was interesting.

"Hunh," I said, frowning.

Sam lifted her head and looked at me. "What?"

"There must be some kind of grazing animals on this moon to keep the grass so short."

Her eyes roamed the tree line on the other side of the river. "Either that or the Tok'ra have mowed their lawn."

I grinned. "They must want to make the cover of Better Secret Bases and Gardens."

And that was when it happened.

Major Doctor Samantha Carter, the woman who had saved the world countless times, beaten a Mongol warrior in hand to hand combat, been host to a Tok'ra symbiote, and even blown up a star...giggled.

My head whipped around, and I gaped at her. "You giggled!"

Her eyes widened as she shook her head fiercely. "I most certainly did not!"

"Yes, you did! I made you giggle!"

She adopted what I knew she meant to be a stern expression. "I am a major in the Air Force. I do not giggle."

"Maybe not, but you just did."

Sam tore up a handful of grass and threw it at me. The blue-green blades fluttered down through the air, twisting and turning, and landed all over me.

"That's enough out of you," she muttered, completely failing to keep a straight face.

"You imagined the magazine cover, didn't you? Yep. I can see it now. Your dad, holding a spade and a healing device, smiling from a perfectly manicured lawn with the stargate in the background..."

Her mouth twisted with the effort of not smiling. "A healing device?"

"Keeps the roses healthy."

Her resolve broke, and she clapped a hand over her mouth, too late to prevent another giggle from escaping her lips.

"Ha! See?" I stretched my arms out triumphantly before weaving my fingers behind my head and leaning back to lie on the soft hillside. "I made Sam Carter giggle. Twice!"

More grass rained down. "You don't have to sound so smug about it."

I just laughed and turned my head to look at her. She was smiling down at me. Her legs were stretched out before her as she leaned back on one arm. The setting suns made her hair glow and her eyes sparkle.

This was the perfect moment to tell her.

Slowly though, her smile faded.

I pushed myself up to a seated position again. "What's wrong?"

"Daniel." Sam folded one leg under the other and faced me directly. The expression on her face could only be described as determination. "I have to talk to you about something important."

To be continued...
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