A/N: 1995 Daniel's 30 – using TV ages and dates rather than the movie – also used a transcript posted on Wikipedia for the movie. It was slightly different than the final movie – gave a bit more background on Daniel. Also, since this is from Daniel's POV, I'm only including those parts of the movie that had him in it. Oh, name spellings will be from the TV show (O'Neill and Sha're).

Daniel rolled over and punched the snooze button on his alarm. Just five more minutes. That was all he needed.

Who am I kidding? Five years won't be enough.

Reaching out from under the warm bedding, he shut the alarm off. He threw an arm across his eyes, blocking out what little he could see of the morning light. Today was the day upon which rested his entire future. His career would be made or broken in that lecture hall this morning.

How did my life become so empty? When did I become a total loner? Someone without anyone.

He sat up and tossed the covers aside. Twisting, he dropped his feet to the cold wooden floor and sat up, remembering how he'd gotten to this turning point in his life.

XXXXXXXXXX

Flashback (1983 Daniel's 18)

Amy slipped out from between the covers, leaving him alone. It was their last night together before he left for UCLA graduate school, while she stayed behind to start college in New York City. She leaned over and dropped one last kiss on his cheek while he still slept. She would never be able to leave him if he were awake.

She gathered her clothes and stepped into his tiny bathroom to dress. Cole stuck his nose in to see what was going on.

"Oh, Cole, how am I going to stand it without him? He's been the center of my life since we were kids." Amy dropped to her knees and hugged the guide dog, dampening his silky coat with her tears. Finally, she sucked in a deep breath and scratched the top of his head. "Bye, fella. See you around."

She stopped by the bed one final time and placed the letter she'd written a week before on the pillow she'd just left.

Several hours later, Daniel reached out for her and found cold sheets, still carrying her scent. He listened for her gentle movements in his studio apartment, but only heard Cole's steady breathing and the middle-of-the-night traffic three stories down below on the street. He knew she was gone.

Cole sensed the change in his breathing and padded over to Daniel, sat beside his bed and let his nose rest inches from Daniel's. As Daniel sat up, he heard the rustling of paper near his head. He searched with his hand until he found a single page of Braille typing.

Daniel,

My heart is full of love for you. I can't imagine that will ever change; no matter that our lives are moving apart. Please, don't be sad.

I love you,

Amy

His boxes were packed with his books. The few clothes he had were in his single suitcase. Aunt Barbara and Uncle James were coming by later that day to take him to the train that would carry him away from Amy and into his new life in California.

XXXXXXXXXX

1996

His head was full of memories as he plodded through his morning routine. Flashes of classes, libraries, study buddies – and Sarah. He really regretted his behavior during that short, painful relationship. No other woman had wanted him before or after her. Who wanted a blind man, his head so stuffed full of the past he had no time for the present? No one. He'd deliberately made himself sever contract with the Hammonds and Amy. They were better off not knowing what had become of him.

Finally ready for the day, he called Maggie and headed out for the Archaeological Society of America building. He didn't have to be there until 2pm, but he had no money for a bus and it was a long walk. He closed his apartment for the last time, glad that the landlord hadn't caught him. He was supposed to have been out the day before, but didn't have anywhere else to go. He slid the key under the door. Everything he held dear was in his single suitcase and his bag. All else had been sold to feed him and Maggie.

As Maggie led him through the crowded, noisy city streets, he was grateful for the sun that still shone. It would have been miserable to trudge three miles through the rain. Still, he could feel the promise of wet weather in the air and hoped it held off until after he gave the lecture. The application for the assistant professorship he had put in at UCLA depended upon the good outcome of this talk. He'd either be extolled as a visionary or branded a kook.

He yanked up collar of his tweed jacket around his neck and walked a little faster. Spring time weather in New York was unpredictable.

He eventually found the building and was led to the lecture hall where he hoped to fill the room with his colleagues. He shoved his bags into a corner, behind some drapes. He didn't want anyone to know that the sum total of thirty years of life was contained in two small bags.

He gathered a few books and Braille notes to take up to the lectern and found a seat in the back row. He dug into his jacket and pulled out his last candy bar along with a doggy bone for Maggie.

"Well, my friend, I'm so glad your predecessor can't see me now. Cole would be very disappointed in me." He leaned down and gave the German Shepherd the treat and hoped he'd find a way feed his most loyal friend.

Eventually, he heard footsteps on the old wooden floors as the room filled with people who would unknowingly decide his fate.

He sat quietly throughout the first speaker's lecture (who had drawn incorrect conclusions in Daniel's opinion) and began gathering his books on his lap as he heard his introduction begin.

"Our next speaker today will be an extraordinary young man…"

Daniel stood, clutching his precariously balanced books and holding Maggie's harness as he made his way up the isle toward the stage area.

"…He graduated with his master's at the age of twenty and speaks eleven different languages. He holds two PhDs; one in archeology, one in anthropology and is currently working on a third in philology. He has written several seminal articles on the comparative linguistics of the Afro-Asiatic language groups and the development of the Egyptian language from the Archaic Period to the Old Kingdom. Oh, he's also legally blind, which makes his accomplishments all the more impressive. Please let me introduce to you, Daniel Jackson."

Daniel finally lost control of the books as the top two slid off the pile and onto the wooden floor with a resounding thud that echoed throughout the cavernous room. He heard snickers and mutterings around the room as he stooped to retrieve his books.

"Ah, another wunderkind."

"I've got socks older than this kid."

Daniel finally made his way to the podium and began his speech.

"You, sir," Daniel said, pointing in the direction of the professor who'd made the first remark. "What kind of car do you drive?"

"My car? A ford."

"A model T?"

"I'm not that old!" The room rippled with quiet laughter. "An Escort."

Daniel nodded with satisfaction. "An Escort. Power steering, fuel injection. Modern developments. Ford started with the Model T and then developed into an Escort."

He could hear the crowd shifting uncomfortably in their seats, not knowing where he was going with this.

"Why didn't Egyptian culture develop? Their sciences, art, mathematics, everything, was complete from the very beginning. Why? Maybe Egyptian culture wasn't a development but a legacy."

The learned audience members continued to shift and mutter. This was against everything they'd all learned and taught their whole careers. Unseen by Daniel, an elderly woman slipped into the back of the room and listened with interest.

Daniel continued, "There are symbols painted everywhere. Uh, names, titles of owners, lists of offerings. Every other architectural structure of the time was covered with detailed hieroglyphics. When is the academic community going to accept the fact the Pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty did not build the great pyramids?"

Daniel knew he was losing them as he heard papers shuffling and mutterings sprinkled throughout the room. At his feet, Maggie began shifting as though preparing to rise and defend her master. Daniel gave a hand signal to her to lie back down and continued speaking.

"Look. Look. Inside the pyramid, the most incredible structure ever erected, there are no writings whatsoever."

It degenerated quickly from there. A few minutes later Daniel found himself speaking to a room empty of everyone except one single man, his mentor and only supporter, and his dog.

That went well. How the hell am I going to take care of Maggie and myself now?

An hour later, Daniel struggled with his suitcase, the bag thrown over his shoulder, and Maggie's harness as he navigated his way into the chilly spring rain.

They'd actually laughed at him. A couple of the stuffy old boneheads had suggested that he believed Martians had built the pyramids. Truth be told, he had no idea where they came from. He just knew they were older than ninety-nine percent of academics thought they were. Martians were as good a hypothesis as anything he had to offer.

XXXXXXXXXX

Two days, later Daniel found himself being led into a mountain. Deep into a mountain. Twenty-eight levels below the ground. A silver-haired, gentle woman had lured him with a puzzle that had changed the direction of his life.

He was led through concrete hallways, cold and harsh sounding, into a large cavern. He could make out the shape of a circle about twenty feet in diameter that was lit by flood lights. It was obviously the centerpiece of the room.

He stood for a few seconds, taking in all the sounds. He knew that Dr. Meyers and Barbara Shore, who had introduced themselves, were standing slightly behind him, watching his reactions to the huge cover stone. He dropped Maggie's harness and gave her the signal to stay and had just begun to walk toward the stones, when someone came at him from the side.

"Okay, Jackson. Glad you could make it."

Daniel turned suddenly and found his hand grasped by Catherine Langford, the same woman who brought him here. "Hello. Hello." He turned back to the stones hanging from the cement wall. "This is…huh! Where'd you find this?"

"Giza Plateau. 1928."

"I've..I've never seen anything like it." Daniel moved to the stones and began running his hands over the carved surface.

"Of course you haven't. No one has."

Dr. Meyers began describing the carvings, pointing out the classic hieroglyphs on the inner track and the unknown symbols along the circle's outer edge that matched the cartouche in the center.

Daniel walked back to his bags and dug out his binoculars. He slipped his glasses up on top of his head and fitted the binoculars onto his face. This brought the carvings into clear view for him. Behind his back the two scientists exchanged uncertain glances, wondering how he was going to be able to help them if he couldn't see clearly.

They turned back to find him walking around the stone and muttering to himself about what the unknown symbols might be. He stopped when he found himself in front of a blackboard that had the known Egyptian symbols written in two lines, with a translation beneath. He took a moment to look it over with his binoculars.

"Well, the translation of the inner track is wrong. Must have used Budge. I don't know why they keep reprinting his books." He began erasing the English translation and correcting it.

"Uh, uh, excuse me! What are you doing? We've used every known technique." Dr. Meyers was visibly upset. "Excuse me? Wha…What're you doing?"

Daniel continued to correct the translation on the blackboard. "Who the hell translated this?"

Catherine and Barbara Shore shifted their gazes from Daniel to Dr. Meyers, each woman with a slight smirk on her face.

"I..I did." Dr. Meyers face was blank of all expression.

Daniel completed the translation when he wrote Stargate while Catherine grinned in pleased satisfaction.

"So, why is the military so interested in five thousand year old Egyptian tablets?" Daniel turned back to Catherine and removed his binoculars, replacing them with his regular glasses.

"My report says ten thousand."

The group of scientists turned to find a tall man in the uniform of an Air Force Colonel. Catherine stepped forward.

"Do I know you?"

"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill from General West's office. I'll be taking over from now on."