Daniel padded down the stairs in his boxers. Wiping his hand over his face he tried to clear his mind; the same dream had haunted him, yet he refused to get up. He was tired, he needed sleep, he needed his mind to shut down. Finally at 3am, he had taken two aspirin and sleeping aids and had slept until 8am.
Moving into the kitchen he was still on autopilot, so his mind didn't register that someone was in the room with him until he turned around.
"Oh."
"Morning."
"Yea," Daniel said, blinking twice. "How did?"
She held up her key. "It was hanging where I left it."
Daniel smiled slowly, turning back toward the coffee. Freshly brewed. "Imagine that," he said, turning around and walking to the table.
"Some things never change. Like," Sam paused as she stirred her coffee, "you watching out for me."
Daniel put his coffee down and got back up. Sam looked at him perplexed as he held out his hand. "I want to show you something."
The feeling of her hand in his propelled him toward the basement door. Once more falling into the a rhythm of his morning routine, even Schrödinger came trotting behind him, ready to descend into the basement.
Flipping on the light, he stopped in front of his makeshift war room table. "This is where I planned my operation."
Sam put a hand on his arm as she leaned toward him. "It rivals anything Jack ever had us standing around."
Daniel nodded slightly. "I spent many hours down here, thinking of ways to get you back. I tried asking the others in the beginning but they never wanted to help – or maybe I was too focused. But I went to the library and I found this." He handed her the scrap of paper from the library, the same scrap of paper that she had originally gave to whole team.
"But this is…" Sam started, looking at the piece of paper. Daniel picked up his original slip and handed it too her also. "And this?"
Daniel nodded his head. "I know it's impossible, but they look like they are the same." Taking them from her he turned to face her. "This is how I knew it was time to stop planning and to start acting." Turning her hands within his, he looked into her eyes. "And that you are home, is how I also know I need to stop hoping, and start believing. Believing," he took a deep breath and continued, " believing you love me too."
Sam's eyes widened. "Daniel? You, you love me?"
He nodded, hoping his mind and heart were telling him he was right, and not devastatingly wrong. "Life goes on – that's what Cam would always tell me in the beginning when I brought up the idea you were not dead. Everything told us you had to be, the last mission proved that facts lie. But I knew I didn't want to go on, pretending to heal, be ok, move on, be alright never doing another mission. I couldn't let the Plantanions just go on, fighting our fight. I could let life go on. Not without you."
As Daniel had talked they both had moved back toward the stairs, sitting on warn, wooden boards. Sam had fidgeted with her hands, and had started playing with her sleeve. Daniel lifted her chin after a few moments; afraid her silence meant he had read all their time, conversations, looks and small touches wrong.
He bit his lip as he saw large tears making their way slowly down her cheek. He could count on his hands the times he saw her cry. "Oh Sam."
Cradling her against his side, Daniel wrapped his arms around her now shaking body. He ran his hands up and down her back, letting himself drift to sleep.
Daniel woke up on the bottom step, alone. He squinted into the semi-darkness and tried to remember if he fell or how he got down in the basement. Quick steps descending down, made him glance up and he saw Sam smiling down at him. She sat on the step beside him.
"I bet you are hungry," she said.
"I could eat," Daniel replied, sitting up. Groaning he added, "and a full body massage."
Slowly he stood and together they climbed up the stairs. "I would have gotten you at least to the couch, but you are heavy. Well, at one point I could have carried you back to my house if I needed to."
Daniel smiled as he took in her light frame. "It's ok, I sleep almost anywhere these days. It's so fleeting, I enjoy the rest."
Sitting down at in the kitchen, Daniel eyed the spread of food before him; she must have gone shopping. Surely he didn't have this much food in his cupboards. "Cam and Jack stopped by and brought some food. I just brought it over here."
"Smells great. I am thinking it was Vala's cooking and Jack did take out."
They shared a laugh, and Daniel slipped momentarily back into his easy going self. Half way through the meal, Sam slid her hand over to his and laid it gently over his.
"We need to talk."
Daniel put the soupspoon down and nodded slowly. He opened his mouth to talk but stopped when Sam held up her hand. "You said your peace, Daniel; I know where you are coming from. You don't need to win me over; I was won a long time ago."
Daniel sat back, watching how the sun danced off her too thin face. "While I was in… prison, I had a lot of time to think. I had time to sort out what mattered. I came to the conclusion that what I thought didn't matter; it was what I did that does. I thought my life was ok: I have a home, friends, a career – even if it's not the same as it once was. I was happy. I thought I was happy. But I wasn't whole, I didn't feel I could be me without something else.
"I started missing our morning, well really our days, spent together. I don't think we solve anything, it's the mere fact we spend time talking, or not talking that makes the time special. Those times made me feel special, as if I had my very best friend back. At the end of every visit I always felt I had accomplished a great task, but what did we really do? Drink copious amounts of coffee and pick each other's brains on whatever topic came to mind, or mull over the latest Plantanions development. I felt whole, I felt, well, at home." Sam paused and picked up a fork and played with it, letting the comfortable silence roll around them. "I thought about you a lot. About how I looked forward to the next day, only because I knew you were there with me."
Daniel gently lifted the fork out of her hand and leaned across the table. "That's my favorite part too."
Sam looked up and whispered, "I love you, Daniel."