3.
Sam Carter stood frozen in front of the door of the locker room, unable to decide whether to put her fist through the door or Daniel's jaw when he finally came out. She honestly couldn't remember ever being angrier. It was true that you saw red. She noticed vaguely that she was shaking. The amazing part was that the General hadn't killed Daniel before she'd had the chance.
She watched as the door finally opened and her quarry came out.
Daniel stared at her, startled, almost running into her. "Uhh.. Sam. Didn't realize you were there." He swallowed. "How long have you been there anyway?"
"Long enough." She gestured to the locker room door. "Get back in there, Daniel. We have a few things to discuss."
He grimaced, clearly wanting to avoid her, but finally followed her in. "Yeah. I do need to talk to you. I thought you should know Jack's kicked me off the base for a week, so I'm out of here. I was on my way to your lab, but I guess that's not necessary now."
"I already know. I came down here to find out what stupidity you've been engaging in to make him so angry."
"It was nothing, really."
"Oh really? Nothing, huh. The walls aren't that sound proof, Daniel. My only question is why you're still standing right now. The General isn't usually so tolerant." She noticed her hands had turned to fists. It was tempting.
Daniel noticed as well. "Uh… Sam, you're not going to resort to violence, are you? I mean, then you'd be off base as well."
"What the hell were you thinking? How dare you impugn the General's, Agent Johnson's and my reputations in a public space like a locker room? Are you out of your mind?"
"Apparently. Look, Sam, I'm sorry."
"Not good enough. For god sakes, Daniel, General O'Neill is my CO. My engagement is none of your damned business and the General and Kerry Johnson are working on developing the plan to track down the Goa'ulds. That it. You are so far out of line that's it's…disgusting."
Daniel rubbed the bridge of this nose, lifting his glasses and clearly came to some sort of decision. "The hell with it. Sam, at this particular moment, I don't give a damn if neither you nor Jack talk to me for the rest of our lives. I am not going to stand here and listen to your rationalizations anymore. Enough's enough. Yes, Jack's your CO, but he's more than that and has been for a long time. I'm your friend, whether you believe it or not right now, and I do care about you. That does make your engagement my business. I want you to be happy. And Jack and Kerry Johnson are a lot more than professional colleagues. It's time you both woke up and fixed this situation before even more people get hurt."
"Go to hell, Daniel."
"Yeah, ok. Already been there a number of times for you, what's one more?" He shook his head. "OK, that was out of line." When he looked back at her, his gaze was as serious and apologetic as she'd ever seen it. "I'm sorry, Sam. But just because you don't want to hear any of this doesn't mean it isn't true."
She glared at him, speechless. "Damn you, Daniel. If you were my friend, you'd support my decisions and shut up."
"Not if you're making the wrong choices. Look, just think about it and I swear I will never mention any of this again, no matter what you decide." And with that, he turned away and left her standing alone in the locker room, still furious, her gut wrenching. And damn it, deep down she had to admit that it was also possible that he had a point.
She slammed her hand into the wall, and then turned and slid down, sitting against her locker, trying to sort out what had really made her so angry, and what she needed to do about it.
TBC…