Janet glanced over at her passenger. He had one elbow on the door frame, had rested his chin on his knuckles and was staring absently out of the window, looking but not seeing with that absent expression he had when lost in thought. The window was part open and a tuft of his light brown hair danced and skittered in the jet of air; it was the only part of him to move.
The road twisted and turned as they headed away from the bunker entrance and Janet drove slowly around the tight bends. After twenty minutes she pulled off the road onto a stony layby and parked up beside a bank of juniper trees. Unclipping her belt she smiled over at Daniel.
"Right, we're here."
Daniel blinked and looked around him in a slightly dazed way. He stretched cautiously and tried unsuccessfully to divert a yawn.
Janet smiled maternally. "Sleepy?"
"A little." He yawned again as he clicked open the car door and clambered out, carefully keeping the twisting movements to a minimum. Straightening up he took a deep breath of the mountain air and grinned approvingly. "It's good to be outside."
"I love being on the mountains" Janet agreed, pleased to see him looking more animated.
"It definitely beats being than being under them."
Daniel looked around him keenly, just like a child, Janet thought. He had to have been up here a ton of times before and yet here he was looking as though he was seeing the view for the first time. That was so like Daniel, ever-open to the possibility that he might discover something new. Everything was fresh and exciting. Somehow he managed to avoid becoming complacent about - "Oh no you don't" she interjected hurriedly as she spotted him move to sling the small rucksack over his shoulder. "I'm carrying that. You are not meant to be lifting anything."
She placed her hand next to Daniel's on the canvas strap and tugged gently. He resisted.
"I think I can manage a small bag!" A slight frown was visible over the rims of his glasses. Janet held his gaze.
"So can I – it's not heavy."
"Well if it is not heavy, I can take it" he argued with typical Daniel logic.
"You could, but you not going to." Ignoring his protests she eased it from his grasp. He let go reluctantly and she could tell from his disapproving expression that it went against the grain.
As a conciliatory gesture she gave him the lead.
"Which way?"
Daniel looked carefully around. They were at a point where several trails converged. One led immediately into the trees to their left. Another fell steeply away from the road and a third meandered upwards.
"This way."
He pointed towards the uphill path and set off at a determined pace.
"Hey" Janet protested, jogging to keep up "this is supposed to be a stroll, not a route march!"
"Sorry" Daniel said with an apologetic and genuine-looking smile "I think I've gotten used to Jack's pace." He slowed down and fell into step next to her.
"Yeah well – you'll have to un-get used to it." Janet humphed "seriously, how does Sam keep up with you guys?"
Daniel flashed her another smile. "It's more a case of us keeping up with her!"
"Good for Sam!" Janet responded approvingly.
She could see what he was doing; generally Daniel would be the one lagging behind, examining a rock for signs of lithographs or poking the fauna to see what happened. If he was setting a marching pace, then he was doing it (consciously or subconsciously) to show he was fit.
After fifteen minutes of walking Janet called a halt.
"Refreshment break."
"Already?" Daniel asked, arching his eyebrows in surprise.
"Yes" Janet shrugged off the bag clumsily. "I don't think we quite agree on the definition of a short convalescing stroll."
They were beside a fallen tree that had keeled over some years previous and had conveniently come to rest at exactly the height and angle to make a perfect seat. Janet patted the mossy surface. "Sit" she instructed, "and I'll get snacks." She began rummaging in the bag.
"I'm fine" Daniel said automatically, but sank down gratefully anyway, hunching over and sucking in his cheeks. Janet notice, but didn't comment as she tugged at the cap of a water bottle. After a moment Daniel straightened up and looked around him.
"It really is beautiful here."
"Uh-huh" Janet agreed, swallowing a mouthful of water and handing him the bottle. "It's one of my favourite places. I love the way it changes with the seasons. Energy bar?" She held out the ration-pack staple towards him. Daniel eyed it suspiciously.
"Aren't those supposed to be for missions?"
"Medico privileges?" Janet suggested. "Anyway, who's to say we aren't on a mission?"
Daniel pulled a face.
"Ah, if we were on a mission we would probably have been shot at by now."
"I can't promise hostile natives." Janet replied with a laugh. "I s'pose we might find some angry wildlife."
"I'm actually good without the shooting." Daniel said dryly, fiddling with the rolled up sleeve of his shirt.
"Yeah? Could have fooled me!"
He looked indignant.
"What's that s'pose to mean?"
"You do seem to be a bit of a magnet for danger."
He looked a little abashed. "Maybe." He sighed. "But it's not as if we deliberately ask people to shoot at us!"
"So what does happen?"
"They don't always buy the 'we're explorers, we come in peace' stuff."
"Yeah, I kinda worked that much out."Janet said, mentally recapping the different injuries that he had received. It would be nice, she thought, if once in a while SG-1 came back all in phase, without staff weapon burns, alien parasites, gun shots or any of the other catalogue of injuries that tended to bring them in her direction.
She glanced over at Daniel who had wrapped his arms around his stomach and lapsed into thoughtful silence. The expression on his face was troubled.
"Tummy ache?" Janet asked sympathetically.
He shook his head. She didn't entirely believe him. He had that pinched look again, the tight line of the mouth and the extra creases round the eyes. But she didn't want to push the issue. She unwrapped an energy bar and chewed thoughtfully whilst Daniel stared thoughtfully at the ground. They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"You know Cheyenne means 'unintelligable'?" Daniel said suddenly, without looking up.
"No, I didn't." Janet said softly. Something in his voice suggested that this wasn't going to just be a random linguistic fact.
Daniel shrugged slightly."At least, some etymologists think so. It is supposed come from 'Sahi'ya' which means 'to speak obscurely'." He looked resolutely into the distance and blinked hard. Swallowing, he continued unevenly "Sha're was never unintelligible. Even right at the beginning we could communicate. We …"
He tailed off uncertainly as though he wasn't totally convinced that he wanted to be sharing something so private, and looked away. Janet kept quiet, giving him space. There was a long pause, broken only by the sound of the wind in the trees and, some way below them, the sound of a river.
After a moment, Daniel spoke again "I wanted to bring Sha're here. Soon after we were married she asked me about home. I…I told her about the mountains and the trees." He glanced at Janet with a faint half-smile. "Imagine trying to explain a forest to someone who has lived all their life in a desert. She… Sha're said that it sounded like paradise. The 'eternal oasis' she called it. I promised her that one day we would walk here together…" He faltered, his voice catching and stared fiercely back at nothing.
"Oh Danny…"Janet shuffled closer to him and placed a hand tentatively over his, cautiously intruding on the private grief. He didn't pull away and she tightened her fingers gently over his.
The sat silently for several minutes and then Daniel took a shaky breath and said unsteadily "I don't know if I can deal with any more… with anyone else who doesn't come back."
He pulled his hand away, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes roughly.
"They're going to come back" Janet said with conviction. "We just need to-"
"-be patient?" finished Daniel with a failed attempt at a smile "I think we've established I'm not particularly good at that."
Janet slid down from the log and moved in front of him. "Come here" she said quietly, reaching up to pull him forwards into a hug.