A/N: Many thanks to everyone who read last chapter, and especially to those of you who sent me your thoughts:) loved hearing from you, comme toujours.

Daniel's Christmas Carol

Previously:

Oh, no. Here goes the awkward giggling again. Did I actually ever sound like that? I fight an urge to cover my ears as I hurry towards the door, yank it open and rush through.

4.

I seem to have ended up in a tent of sorts. Surrounded on all sides by thick folds of sand-coloured canvas, and there must be more than a hundred degrees outside. I didn't know ghosts could sweat. Or…spiritual manifestations trapped in some Ascended anteroom, whatever.

I reach for a water pitcher on a nearby table only to have my hand pass right through it. So I can feel the heat but can't have the water? How unfair is that. Damn it, I need someone to explain the rules of this game to me.

"Apophis!!"

Nada. This is just great, I'm stuck in Ascended Wonderland and not only is my so-called guide a scheming System Lord who tried to blow up Earth fifty times—but he's AWOL! Well fine! I can enlighten myself, thank you very much.

"…Oma?"

Ah, it was worth a shot.

Looks like I'm on my own, though. No, wait…I think I can hear voices from outside the tent though, it sounds like someone is coming in. Wonder if they'll be able to s—

Oh, God.

"How could he have rejected you? He may be a stranger to our land and customs, but is he blind as well as ignorant?"

No. No, this can't—

"I have brought shame upon my father…."

"That cannot be! You are Kasuf's pride, his most priceless gift, any man would be honoured to have you for his wife!"

I can't take my eyes off her. Her skin shines in the copper lamplight, just like I remember it. The odd reflections dancing in her eyes. My Sha're…

"He does not want me." Her voice is quivering.

"He has told you so?"

"He would not touch me, nor look at me. Bid me to cover myself."

That…that sounds familiar. I don't know…I can't think about it, when she's standing so close, right there, if I reached my hand, the tips of my fingers would almost…

"Oh Sha're! Do not be ashamed, perhaps…perhaps the stranger does not like women."

…almost brush her cheek, so—what?!

"Have you not seen how he talks to the man with the set jaw?"

The—what? The man with the…?

"The one who always gives orders to the others?"

Oh, Jack.

Jack!?

Oh for…what is it with that disturbingly popular opinion?!

Wow, okay, I suddenly feel like someone just poured a bucked of ice on me.

I don't know what to do with this. What do they want from me? What am I supposed to prove? I look at her again, and it is her, Sha're, just like I knew her, right down to that red veil she used to put on whenever she felt I was spending too much time translating the pyramid hieroglyphs. Sha're, my beautiful, wise Sha're, standing not two feet from me…

…debating whether or not Jack and I are an item.

"Maybe you are better off. He is peculiar, Sha're," her friends is saying—and hey, don't spare my feelings or anything. "There must be something wrong with a man who would not accept a woman who could make him happy."

That's not true, I want to tell her, but I barely get to open my mouth when the tent starts to dissolve before my eyes. I don't want to go, there's so much more--so much I want to say--I'm so close, but when I try to grab a hold of her, I only find myself grasping at the stale, dusty air back in the deserted mine.

And again, I'm not alone.

"Finally, Daniel Jackson. You are late!"

A/N: So. A lot of you correctly guessed Sha're was going to come into the story at some point! Who do you think makes our next guest appearance?

Until next time:)

Myosotis