Chimera (Note, does not follow the episode as Osiris is dead already and there is no Pete in this series!)
"So," she asked cautiously, "What did you think?"
Giving her a blank look for a moment, Jack was enjoying the ability to wind Sam up because after all the stress and tension between them, it was fun to escape their normal lives. Despite the few days that had passed, their problems had still not been discussed and were far from being resolved, but they were both at least trying. It had been his idea to go on a date, despite how cheesy it felt to bring it up to her and if he was honest, it was actually more of Teal'c's idea. It had been the Jaffa that had mentioned as a passing comment that, as a couple, together, Jack and Sam had never been on a date. They had never had a meal alone on Earth that had not been in the commissary. In fact since they had started dating there had barely been any time alone between them except for long past everyone's bedtimes when they were both asleep in the same bed. "It was okay," he admitted with a regretful look on his face.
"Oh." She looked disappointed as her eyes fell to the ground. It had been her idea to add in the pictures and her choice on the film.
Slinging an arm across her shoulder and pulling her closer as they walked along the sidewalk towards the restaurant that had been *his* choosing, Jack grinned and kissed her on top of her head. "Surprisingly, I enjoyed it."
"Really?" She looked up at him, her eyes and smile huge and beaming. That was the woman that he loved.
"Different to my usual tastes…"
"The dancing?"
"And the romance."
"You have your romantic moments."
"Do I?"
"Maybe they're not all romantic in the traditional sense of the word, but they're romantic to me."
"The day that either of us are called traditional will probably be the day the world ends."
"Where are you taking me for dinner?" she asked, unhooking her body from his arm and taking hold of his hand instead as they continued walking.
"First step to traditional – candle-lit dinner for two in a sweet little Italian around the corner." She smiled at him and he smiled back, deciding that perhaps actually going on dates with the woman he was dating was indeed a good thing and should become a regular occurrence.
SG – SG – SG
Knocking gingerly on the door, Daniel then opened it carefully and poked his head into the room. Sarah was standing near to the window, staring out into the darkness. It was far later than his usual visits and much later than he had intended on visiting her, but something had come up at work from Nicola with some artefacts. Thinking of his reasons and apology for being late made Daniel briefly consider Nicola and Janet's comments about his friends and the time in which he had been investing in Sarah. It was true that he had not been able to devote much time to Sam, Jack or Nicola, but he was sure that they could see his reasons and understand his need. Sarah was innocent in everything that had happened to her. One minute she had been an archaeologist, studying the history of Earth and the next she had an alien consciousness invade her body and mind, stealing her away to the stars. She had never known anything about aliens, space travel or true evil and now she was tainted forever. He needed to help her; it was his duty to help her. Everyone else affected by Osiris had other people to turn to, Sarah had no one and whilst some days she was fine, on others she was barely functioning.
Janet had made him realise that he had been neglecting his friendships though and so he had tried to make conversation with Nicola during their work. It was something that had been so easy once upon a time. Daniel loved every member of SG-1, but with Nicola there had been an immediate common ground, shared interest and similar personality in their joint love of archaeology. They had even evolved their own form of banter which never reached the mocking levels that Jack's did with him, but was that more of two equals. After Janet's comments, Daniel had tried to think of the last time he and Nicola had been off world together and had a good banter or even a conversation. He had been trapped on a flooding world with her for days and they had barely spoken to each other except for mission related reasons. Perhaps his attempts during their work that evening had been too little and vague, but Nicola had been fully focused on the work in front of them both.
Before his thoughts could go further on the matter, Sarah turned and glared at him. For a split second he had déjà vu of the times when her eyes had glowed with the power Osiris held. "Is everything okay?"
Sarah remained where she was and Daniel felt too nervous to close the door behind him after stepping fully into the room. Sometimes she had moments where she forgot who she was, where she was, when she was or what had happened to her at all. Her moments of screaming for Osiris to come back were becoming fewer, but she did still have them. If they could see her like this… Daniel thought, then they would understand. There was no medication that could help her; some had been tried, but Sarah was not suffering from a human medical condition. An Ascended Skaara had visited him soon after Abydos' destruction at the hands of Anubis, revealing that they had to search for the Lost City. Daniel wished his higher plane of existence brother-in-law would come to help now.
"You're late!"
"I know, I'm sorry. I got caught up at work."
"Work!" She threw her arms up in despair. "It's always work, isn't it? Always."
"I didn't realise we had plans as such…" he practically mumbled in slight confusion. He tried to keep a regular pattern of visits to Sarah which did include most Friday nights when he was not off-world, but it was not always a definite arrangement.
"You didn't realise? Daniel, how dense are you? Don't you realise what today is?"
Scanning his own brain, Daniel could not come up with an answer for her and he became even more confused as she became increasingly angry with him. He felt like he was missing a page from her script book and he had no idea about how to calm this current distress. "I'm sorry, Sarah, but something came up that I had to deal with."
"That's always your excuse, isn't?" she raged angrily, still staring out of the window. "What was so bloody damn urgent about the past? Your life doesn't have to be all about work. You're obsessed. You always have been and I… I guess," her voice calmed down and he saw her shoulders visibly sag. "I guess you'll always be obsessed." She turned to him, but remained near the window. "I'll always be your mistress, won't I? You'll always love work more than me." Tears started falling down her cheeks and Daniel stepped closer to her. "Don't."
"Sarah, I'm a bit confused." There was something familiar about her words and it took a few moments before Daniel's brain figured out that her subconscious was in the past. "You think we're dating."
"Not anymore." She laughed. "I am so pathetic. I thought you could change for me, that our shared passion would unite us. How wrong was I?"
"Sarah, time's moved on. We haven't dated in years." One day he had arrived to see her to be greeted by a completely blank expression and Sarah had admitted that she had no idea who he was. She had believed herself to be seventeen and in college back in England. His heart had broken as she had discussed her plans for the future – the university she wanted to attend, the career she wanted and how she wanted her life to pan out. It had been classic, stereotypical plans for any teenage girl, but Daniel had only been able to see how she had ended up so far removed from it and nowhere close to her own dreams or anything resembling normal. As she had spoken on and on about her crushes and her travel desires, Daniel had wanted to find some alien technology that was capable of freezing her mind in that moment, forcing her to be her seventeen-year old self again and age from there. It was the only way to wipe the damaging years from her.
Stepping backwards with her mouth open in shock, Sarah banged against the window and she stood there with a look of confusion and horror on her face. It had happened before, it was the moment where everything came flooding back to her. "Oh, God." Then she laughed hysterically and Daniel stepped forward again. "God. Ha! I was one."
"No, Sarah, no you weren't."
Silencing her own laughter, she glared at him again. "I was. He made me a God. He never left me and forgot about me like you did."
"Yes he did, Sarah, when he went into Major Carter."
"Fool," she laughed at him this time. "He was forced from me. It was never his choice. He never wanted to leave me. Anyone could have controlled Major Carter and he knew that she would be his last host. He knew that if he left me." She sobbed then, heartbroken at his sacrifice. "He knew he would die. He never wanted to leave me." Sliding down along the window to the floor, Sarah curled herself up into a ball and began sobbing into her arms. Approaching her quietly and gently so as to not scare her further, Daniel sat down beside her and put an arm around her. Sometimes she flinched away. Sometimes she hit out at him, her blame directed fully at him. Other times she allowed the interaction and cried on his shoulder although it never seemed to feel better afterwards. She would cry herself to sleep and then Daniel would put her into bed. The nurses said that when she next awoke, her mood would be a different one and she would have forgotten about that one again.
Bit by bit, from her rages and rants, Daniel was piecing together some of the secrets she held within her. They had always suspected that Osiris had been killed far too easily and the culprit had never been uncovered. When added to the fact that their escape from Osiris had come far too easily, there was something still to be learnt from Sarah and Sam's ordeals. With nothing concrete to pass on, Daniel was reluctant to tell Jack of anything Sarah mumbled, but her new admission seemed different.
Despite the problems and hostility from Jack, Daniel was going to have to tell him.