"Daniel."
"Yes?," said the scholar, looking up from his book.
"You have an office, do you not?"
"Yes, Jack," he responded evenly, shutting the tome with a dull thud.
"Then why are you sitting in front of mine?," he snapped.
"I spent some time with Mia yesterday," he replied, brushing dust from his uniform as he rose. "I thought you might be interested in learning some of what she told me."
Jack O'Neill glared at his friend silently a moment, then pushed past him into his office.
"Jack?"
"Not interested, Daniel," he replied tersely, pointedly ignoring the other man as he entered the office and closed the door with a soft click. Sitting behind his desk, Jack lifted the first memo he saw and began to read.
"You're seriously going to sit there and ignore me?," asked Daniel, a mild note of incredulous scepticism in his voice.
"I have work to do, Daniel," he replied annoyed, motioning to the stacks of paper obscuring his desk.
"Jack, you're in denial," Daniel stated flatly.
"Denial? Daniel, whoever that girl may be, I can not accept her as my daughter!"
"And why is that, Jack?"
"Because no matter how you look at it, this whole situation is impossible!," he snapped. Daniel raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth as if to speak, but Jack interrupted. "Daniel, that girl is at least eighteen. Eighteen years ago I was happily married to Sarah and expecting the birth of our son, Charlie. There was no Carter. And, military regulations being what they are, there never will be. Not for me. So forgive me if I'm not giddy at the prospect of getting to know this supposed daughter," he snapped.
"Jack," said Daniel with years of practiced calm. "She said it herself: she is a paradox. Her existence is never going to make sense. But that doesn't mean you should live your life as if she never existed at all."
"Daniel," Jack growled warningly.
"Jack, her parents died when she was three. She doesn't know you and Sam any better than you know her. Give her a chance."
"Daniel, if you think this is some sort of second chance opportunity for a big happy family, you're wrong," Jack barked. "The Air Force will set her up someplace new, and I will go on as if none of this ever happened. Which it didn't," he stated sharply.
"It has happened Jack," said the scholar.
"Not for me, it hasn't," he replied, returning his attention to the memo now crumpled between his fingers. When Daniel still hadn't moved, he glanced up saying "You're dismissed, Daniel."
Rolling his eyes, Daniel turned from Jack and left the room, silently closing the door behind him. He'd come around, sooner or later. It was just going to take some time.