Learning to Trust Part Three

Daniel was engrossed in an extremely interesting artifact when Jack came knocking on his door.

"Hey Daniel."

Daniel looked up at him from under his glasses, neck still bent over the translations he was working on for that interesting artifact. "Jack?" he asked, looking from side to side from the corner of his eyes. It was a skill he thought himself particularly gifted with, the way he could look around without moving a muscle of his body.

Still, he was particularly surprised to be seeing Jack so soon. "Why aren't you with Sam?" he asked as he straightened, trying to keep his voice non-accusatory.

"She ran out on me!" Jack said angrily. "I tried to apologize, then she kept shouting something about Edora…"

Daniel's eyebrows disappeared under his hair. "Jack, you idiot!" he snapped, slamming down his pen and book slightly harder than he'd meant to. He winced, then the angry glare took over again.

"What!" Jack asked, clearly astonished at Daniel's. Get used to it, Daniel thought vehemently. Stupid, idiotic, moron, stupid, freakin'…ugh, MORON!

"Edora? How did you think she was going to react!" Daniel demanded. Not receiving a response but for a blank, yet shocked look, Daniel finally realized what was going on. He groaned and sat down, burying his head in his hands. "Oh, GOD," he muttered. He looked up at Jack. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" Jack asked, impatient and irritated.

Daniel sighed. "Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, JACK. You obviously buried your head in the sand so listen to my words very carefully." Daniel took a deep breath, ignoring Jack's expression, which was reddening with fury. "Imagine…having a teammate, say, me or Teal'c, stranded on an alien planet with no way home. It's not hostile, but, you know, you wouldn't want to be stuck there for the rest of your life either. You're the only one who can find the way to rescue your teammate. You find the way, and work harder than you've ever worked in your entire life. Am I getting this right so far?" Jack nodded stiffly, anger dying and confusion replacing it.

Daniel took a deep breath and began again. "Turns out you're working for three months straight. During that time, you haven't left the base for so much as an hour. You call the neighbors to water your plants while you're gone, pick up the mail, all that stuff, and for three consecutive months you live on base, working whenever possible toward bringing your teammate home. After pulling thirty-eight hour shifts a couple times, Janet finally finds out and sedates you in the infirmary, just so you don't faint after another hour.

"And, finally, after all that time, you stand in front of the 'Gate and watch your invention shoot through. A remaining member of the team stands ready to climb through to dig his way out, to give your teammate the key to the door home." Daniel paused for effect, slightly irritated at his lack of understanding thus far. "When you eventually go through yourself, you greet your teammate enthusiastically, happily, with relief you haven't felt in months. He brushes past you without a hello to speak with a native of the planet. You, who worked so hard to bring your teammate home, only to be ignored and to overhear your teammate confess to an alien that he wasn't happy to go home, leading you to believe your teammate didn't want to go home at all. Even after all the effort you'd gone to to bring your teammate home, he didn't want to leave."

Daniel tilted his head and gave Jack a pointed look. "Now do you get it, Jack? Sam feels unappreciated, hurt, and betrayed. For all she knew, you finally missed the alien woman you appeared to love so much that you left to go live out the rest of your life with her. And I don't know what you said to her when she went to talk to you, but I swear if you told her you don't care about her, don't love her, I'll –"

Jack's face had long gone white as a sheet, but now it mingled with confusion again, much to Daniel's irritated dismay. "What?" he yelped.

"If. You. Told. Her. You. Don't. Love. Her. I. Will. Personally. Ask. Teal'c. To. Seriously. Maim. You."

Jack blinked. "Shit," he hissed, and ran out of the room.