CHAPTER TEN
From the moment Daniel and Sam entered the mountain Friday morning, they did everything they could to avoid contact with Jack. They had breakfast before coming in and ate lunch at their desks so that there would be no chance of Jack joining them for either meal. Daniel remained cloistered away in his office, and Sam did likewise in her lab. Of course, there was no guarantee that the colonel wouldn't drop by for a visit.
The reason for the avoidance was that they both knew that, if they saw Jack, they'd be unable to hide their nervousness and tension from him. The plan was for Daniel and Sam to go to Jack's place at eight o'clock. Teal'c wouldn't be told until Monday.
It was shortly before five when Daniel gave up trying to work. He'd gotten barely anything accomplished that day, his thoughts too distracted. He stopped by Sam's lab before heading off to the locker room.
"Hi. I'm heading on home," he said. "It's useless for me to stay any longer. I can't concentrate."
"Tell me about it. I'm having the same problem. I'm just going to finish what I'm doing, then leave."
"So, I'll see you tonight."
"Yeah."
Daniel changed into his civvies and drove home. Too restless to sit, he did a bit of housecleaning. He'd been home less than an hour when there was a loud knock on his door. He was surprised and more than a little dismayed upon seeing that his visitor was Jack.
"Jack. What, um. . . . Hi."
Not responding, the colonel pushed past Daniel and entered the apartment. Puzzled, the archeologist shut the door and turned to him.
"Is there something you wanted?" he asked.
"As a matter of fact, there is. I want an explanation for what's going on with you and Carter."
'Oh, crap,' was the first thought in Daniel's mind.
"And don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about," Jack said. "Last night, I came over here with pizza, but then I look up at your window, and what do I see? You and Carter doing something that people who are just friends don't do."
Daniel's dismay was joined by embarrassment.
"So tell me what's going on, Daniel," Jack demanded. "Did it start before Sha're died or afterwards? And what the hell kind of foolish insanity brought it on?" When Daniel didn't say anything, Jack got even angrier. "Are you going to tell me or do I have to make Carter do it?"
"You leave Sam alone!" Daniel commanded, taking Jack aback with his vehemence and the hot glare of his eyes. Okay, this was not exactly how Jack was expecting the archeologist to react. He had been expecting something more along the lines of embarrassment and stammered explanations. Instead, he was getting anger and defiance.
Thinking that maybe he needed to back off a bit, Jack held up his hands. "Okay, Daniel. I'm sorry I came on so strong. I won't make Carter tell me anything. But I need to know what's going on."
Daniel turned and walked away a few steps, entering the dining area. "It started afterwards," he murmured. "It just . . . happened."
"Just happened? Daniel, something like this doesn't just happen."
Daniel let out a sigh, knowing that he had no choice but to tell Jack the whole thing right here and now.
"Sam came over the evening of the day I resigned. She'd found an artifact that I had left behind in my office and wanted to give it to me. When she arrived, I had been going through some stuff of mine and Sha're's that Kasuf gave me, and I . . . wasn't in a good frame of mind. Sam insisted on spending the night. She didn't want me to be alone. During the night, I had a nightmare about Sha're's death, and it apparently woke Sam up. She came into the bedroom and roused me from it. She got me to confess that it wasn't the first time I'd had a dream like that. The truth was that I'd had them almost every night."
Daniel went over to the table and sat down. Jack took a seat across from him.
"Sam, uh . . . climbed into the bed with me."
Jack gaped at him. "She climbed into the bed with you?"
"I was as surprised as you are, Jack. She knew that I was feeling sad and lonely and thought that having someone sleeping in the same room would make me feel better. And she was right. Having her there did make me feel better, not so alone."
"Okay, so you two were snuggled up together in the same bed. . . ."
"We weren't snuggled up together, Jack. We were on opposite sides of a queen size bed."
"Ah. My mistake. Go on, then."
"Everything would probably have been fine if I hadn't had another dream."
"About Sha're's death?"
"Uhhh . . . no. It was a dream about Sha're, but, it, um, was not a nightmare."
It didn't take long for Jack to figure out what Daniel was saying.
"Oh. Well, that must have been . . . awkward."
"Yeah. And I compounded the awkwardness by starting to act out the dream in my sleep . . . with Sam filling in for Sha're."
"And she didn't knock your head off?"
Daniel's gaze dropped to the tabletop. "No."
Jack stared at the younger man. "Daniel, what are you saying?"
"I woke up with Sam in my arms, my hands and . . . other parts of me in places they shouldn't have been. I just lay there, staring at her, not knowing what to say. I thought she was going to be angry, but she wasn't. Instead, she was. . . ."
"Was what?"
The archeologist flushed. "Aroused."
Jack was so surprised that he had no words to speak, so Daniel continued after a long pause.
"When I saw that, it really affected me. I suppose I could blame it on my grief and loneliness, but the truth is that I still don't quite know what came over me. I kissed her." His voice lowered. "It didn't stop at kissing."
Jack sat back in his seat, totally blown away by what Daniel had just told him.
"When I woke up the next morning, Sam was gone. I was so ashamed of what I'd done. I thought she'd let it happen out of pity or maybe to give me comfort. Either way, I believed that I'd taken advantage of her, and I was certain that I'd destroyed our friendship. That's when I decided that I had to leave."
Jack studied the archeologist, who was still staring at the tabletop. Now he understood why Daniel and Sam had been acting the way they were when she, Jack and Teal'c first got to the cabin. But there had to be more to the story than this, a lot more.
Without any prompting, Daniel continued. "The thing I didn't know was that Sam was feeling the same way. She believed that she was the one who took advantage of me."
"I don't understand."
Daniel lifted his head and finally met Jack's eyes. "She's in love with me, Jack."
If the colonel had been surprised before, he was downright stunned now.
Daniel's eyes were back on the tabletop. "And that's why she let it happen."
"Whoa."
"Yeah."
"Carter's in love with you?"
Daniel nodded.
"For how long?"
"A long time, according to her."
Silence returned as Jack absorbed the shocking news. After a minute, he finally spoke.
"Okay, so Carter's in love with you, but you're not in love with her . . . are you?"
"No. I do love her very much, but not in that way."
"Okay, then explain to me what's going on here, Daniel. Obviously, this isn't a case of it happening just the one time and the two of you realizing your mistake and moving on."
"No. I'm not going to tell you everything, because, quite frankly, Jack, it's none of your business. All I will say is that Sam and I have decided to get involved with each other."
"Get involved with each other." There was a distinct note of disapproval in the colonel's voice. "You just lost your wife, whom I am assuming you still love, and you just admitted to me that you are not in love with Carter, yet you go diving headlong into a relationship with her and think it's a good idea?" Jack's disapproval turned into anger. "Out of all the lamebrain, foolish things you've done, Daniel, this takes the cake. What possessed you to do this? I can understand Carter's motivations, though her wisdom leaves much to be desired, but yours I don't understand at all. So what is it, Daniel? What?"
Angered by Jack's attitude, Daniel stood up and went into the kitchen.
"None of your business," he snapped.
Jack went after him. "No way, Daniel. I'm not letting you get away with that." A thought came to him. "Is it the sex? Is that what it's about?" Jack's expression darkened. "That's it, isn't it. Unbelievable. You know, Daniel, out of all the men I've known in my life, you are just about the last one I'd have thought would let his dick do his thinking for him!"
Jack's nasty words were like a blow to Daniel's solar plexis, actually making him draw back a step. The shock and hurt were soon replaced by a return of the anger. That anger blazed into his eyes.
"And you're just about the last man I'd have believed could think such a thing of me." The anger deepened, tinged with pain. "For your information, Jack, it isn't just the sex. It's a lot more than that. But you really don't care, do you. You have made up your mind that this is a mistake, that we're being idiots, and nothing Sam or I told you would make a difference. Okay, then fine. You are entitled to your opinion. But I am a grown man, and Sam is a grown woman. We are both consenting adults with the right to make our own choices and decisions. So I would appreciate it if you would keep your opinions to yourself and at least try to make some effort to accept this, because not a damn thing you say is going to change it." His gaze speared into Jack. "If you can't do that, if you can't be a friend and show even a small shred of acceptance and support . . . then you and I are through."
With those words, Daniel spun around and strode away. Jack stood as still as a stone, the shock and dismay caused by his friend's words taking his voice away. Daniel couldn't possibly mean that. It was just anger talking.
But what if Daniel did mean it? What if Jack's refusal to even try to accept this was going to cost him his best friend? That was a price he wasn't willing to pay.
Jack went in search of Daniel and found him on the balcony. The colonel stood for a moment, watching the archeologist's stiff-backed form. He then walked up to stand beside the man, his gaze on the view rather than his friend.
"I'm sorry," he said. "What I said was way over the line. You're right. You and Carter are adults and have the right to make your own choices. I'm just . . . concerned, Daniel. I don't want to see either of you get hurt."
Daniel sighed, his head dropping. "I know." His voice turned soft and sad. "Do you really think that of me?"
Jack let out a sigh of his own. "No, Daniel, I don't. I said that without thinking, and I'm sorry."
Daniel paused before saying, "You know what's really pathetic? Right at the beginning, it was true. I was thinking with . . . it. After I woke up that morning, all I could think about was that I'd killed my wife, then topped it off by destroying one of my closest friendships. I felt so ashamed and guilty. At the cabin I was still feeling that way. The problem was that I was also feeling something else. I couldn't get what Sam and I did and how it felt out of my head, and, though I knew it was wrong, I wanted it to happen again. Obviously, I would never have done anything if Sam hadn't wanted to, but the desire was still there."
"That's not thinking with your dick, Daniel; it's just acknowledging that it exists. You're a man, and it had been a while since you were with a woman. Over a year, right?"
Daniel looked at him. "Uh, no, it had been almost two, if you count Hathor, which I prefer not to."
Jack was surprised. "What about Shyla?"
"You thought I slept with Shyla?"
"Sure. She obviously wanted you, and your head was all messed up by the sarcophagus. You were planning on going back to her."
"Yes, but I didn't sleep with her. Her father would probably have blown my head off with a staff weapon if I did. He didn't like me very much. He only tolerated me because Shyla thought she was in love with me. Oh, if I'd really been determined to do so, we could probably have found someplace where nobody would discover us and done it, but even with my thinking and emotions all screwed up by the sarcophagus, my love for Sha're was still in there somewhere."
"So, not counting Hathor – who I definitely wouldn't count – the last woman you made love with was Sha're?"
"Yes. I had no desire to be with anyone else . . . when I was in full possession of my mental faculties, that is."
"Until Carter."
Daniel looked away again. "Yeah."
Jack studied his profile. "You said that it was more than the sex, and I believe you, but what's the rest of it? I need to know, Daniel, if you want me to understand this thing."
Daniel's head shook slightly. "The truth is that I don't fully understand it myself. All I know is that being with Sam, having this kind of relationship with her, makes me happy. She makes me happy. She gives me something to look forward to every day. I really think that the two of us could have something together."
Jack's skepticism returned. "Even though you're still in love with Sha're and not with Carter."
Daniel didn't respond. What could he say? He knew that it sounded crazy.
Jack stared at his friend. He had a bad feeling that Daniel's emotions were a direct result of the loss of his wife. He was grieving and in pain, and what happened between him and Sam, coupled with the knowledge that she was in love with him, deadened those feelings, so now he didn't want to let go. The problem was that a relationship built on something like that couldn't possibly have a future. It was a house of cards. Sooner or later, either Daniel would come to see that or Sam would realize that the whole thing was a mistake. Then one or both of them would get hurt.
Unfortunately, Daniel's emotions were not going to let him see that, so nothing Jack said would do any good. Therefore, all Jack could do now was try to accept what was happening . . . and be prepared to pick up the pieces when it fell apart.
Jack turned fully to the younger man. "I still think you're making a mistake, Daniel, but I will try to be more accepting of it." He paused for a long moment. "So . . . are we okay?"
Daniel lifted his head and met Jack's eyes. "Yes, we're okay."
The colonel breathed a silent sigh of relief.
"At least work isn't a problem, with me not being on SG-1," Daniel said.
"Actually, even if you were, there would still be no regs against it. You're a civilian, so the regulations don't apply to you."
"Yes, I know, but if I was on SG-1, I'd be under your command, too."
Though Daniel didn't say it, Jack knew what he was thinking. "Daniel, are you thinking that I'd refuse to allow you and Sam to continue your relationship?"
The archeologist shrugged, not looking at him.
Jack thought about it. Would he actually order them to put a halt to it? As team leader, if something was going on between two teammates that he believed would adversely affect their ability to do their jobs, he had the authority to do something about it, but to demand that they end their relationship was a line that he didn't think he would cross. Besides, if he tried, Daniel would probably just quit the team again . . . and Sam might join him.
"I wouldn't do that, Daniel," Jack said.
Daniel nodded, trusting that Jack was telling the truth. He turned from the railing and went back inside. Jack remained where he was, his mind still on Daniel and SG-1. All this time, he had been hoping that his friend would choose to rejoin the team, but what about now? Would he still want that? And here was another question. Would Hammond even allow Daniel back on the team once he learned of the archeologist's relationship with Sam?
Jack left the balcony and joined Daniel in the kitchen. The archeologist was drinking a beer, which told Jack that he was feeling on edge. Daniel usually only drank when Jack was.
"You got another one of those?" the colonel asked.
"In the fridge."
Jack got one and took a swig. He studied Daniel, who was now just staring at the bottle in his hand.
"You know what's funny?" the archeologist said. "Sam and I were planning on telling you tonight, in about," he glanced at his watch, "an hour and a half." He sighed. "The truth is that we've been putting it off. We knew that you'd think we were making a mistake." He set the bottle on the counter, the expression on his face now one of disappointment and sorrow.
"But you were hoping I wouldn't think that," Jack guessed, now feeling like a jerk.
"I guess I should have known better."
"I'm sorry, Daniel. I wish I could say that I'm all for it and that I think you two will be great together, but I'm not going to lie to you and say that. I will tell you one thing, though. I hope that you and Carter prove me wrong. I really do."
Daniel nodded, grateful for at least that. "Um, if you don't mind, Jack, I'd rather be alone now."
Jack hesitated before nodding, wishing that he could say something to make Daniel feel better. He put the mostly full bottle of beer on the counter, then headed out the door.
As soon as Jack was gone, Daniel picked up the phone and called Sam's number.
"Jack knows, Sam."
"What? You already told him?"
"I had no choice. He came here last night and saw the two of us in the window."
Sam's face blushed brightly at the thought of her C.O. seeing them together.
"He showed up here tonight to confront me about it. It got . . . ugly."
Sam could tell by his voice that he was upset. "Oh, Daniel. I knew that he probably wouldn't react well, but I didn't think it would be really bad. What did he say?"
"It's better if you don't know. He eventually calmed down and apologized for some of the things he said, but he is positive that we're making a huge mistake, and our relationship doesn't stand a chance."
Sam sighed. She couldn't say that she was surprised, but she had been hoping that Jack would at least be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
"Do you still want me to come over?" she asked.
"No, that's all right."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. We can get together tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay. I'll call you in the morning."
Sam hung up the phone, then stared down at it. She had to wonder what Jack said that upset Daniel. It was one thing for the colonel to disapprove and think that they were making a mistake, but it was quite another for him to get mean about it. She wished that she'd been there to give Daniel some support.
Making a sudden decision, Sam grabbed a change of clothes and a few other things, then drove over to Daniel's. He was surprised by her presence.
"What are you doing here?" he asked as she entered the apartment.
"I decided to come over after all."
"You really didn't have to do that."
"I know. I wanted to."
She led him over to the couch and sat beside him. Her eyes met his.
"What did he say to you?"
Daniel's gaze immediately dropped from hers. "It doesn't matter."
"Yes, it does, Daniel. It's obvious that he said something that hurt you. I want to know what it was."
Daniel didn't reply for a moment. "He, um, accused me of getting into this relationship with you just for . . . the sex."
"What?!" Sam exclaimed, utterly shocked. "I can't believe he would say something like that! How could he possibly think that of you?"
"He apologized for it later and said that he didn't really think that."
"Well, he shouldn't have said it in the first place. That was totally out of line."
Daniel looked into Sam's eyes intently. "It isn't true, Sam. You know that, don't you?"
"Of course I do, Daniel. Never for one second did I think that." Sam cupped his cheek. "The man I fell in love with could never be that shallow and selfish."
Later that night, as Sam lay in the darkness with Daniel, she thought again about what the colonel accused him of, and her anger returned. Along with that anger, though, was concern. It worried her to think that other people might believe the same thing. Daniel may have said that he wasn't bothered by what people thought about him, but it did bother her.
Right then and there she made a promise to herself that, if anyone got that idea in their head about Daniel, she'd straighten them right out.
"Colonel."
Jack was quite surprised that, upon the utterance of that single word, frost didn't instantly form on every surface in the room. It sure did feel cold enough. And then there were the eyes. Gone were the soft blue orbs. In their place were glittering chunks of a glacier's blue ice.
"Carter. So . . . I'm guessing that Daniel told you about our conversation on Friday."
Sam's response was silence. Great. Now he was getting the silent treatment. Yeah, he was in deep shit all right. It's a good thing they didn't have a mission today. She might "accidentally" shove him the wrong way through the wormhole.
Jack figured that he'd better do some damage control. "Okay, look. I know what I said to him was out of line, and I apologized."
"What I'd like to know is how you could think such a thing in the first place, how you could think that Daniel could be that kind of person."
"You're right. I was being an idiot. I admit that. So could you please knock off the deep freeze? I'm getting frostbite."
Sam glared at him a moment longer, then turned away.
Jack came further into her lab. "Okay, now I'm going to tell you the same thing I told him. Though I think that you are both making a mistake, I will do my best to accept the situation. I will not bother either of you about it anymore. I hope that's enough for you."
When Sam's response was again silence, Jack decided to change the subject.
"Anyway, the reason I came here was to tell you that I managed to get another reprieve from Hammond regarding finding a fourth person for the team."
Sam turned back to him. "How much longer did he give us?"
"Three weeks. That'll make it a month since Daniel came back to the program. He said that if we haven't talking Daniel into rejoining the team by then, it'll probably never happen."
Sam stared at her C.O. "And are you still willing to let him rejoin?"
"You know, I put a lot of thought into that over the weekend, and though I do have some concerns about how you two will be on missions, I decided that I'd still rather have Daniel on the team than someone else."
"But General Hammond doesn't know about us yet."
"No, and that is something you need to tell him."
Sam sighed. "Yes, I know."
After Jack left, Sam thought about what she and Daniel would have to tell General Hammond. They had managed to keep their relationship a secret for three weeks, but that was coming to an end. In the beginning, only a handful of people would know, but it was only a matter of time before the entire base found out.
The plan had been to tell Teal'c later today and General Hammond tomorrow morning, but Sam decided that there was another person she needed to talk to first.
She left her lab and descended to the twenty-first floor. She found Janet in her office.
"Um, hi."
The doctor looked up from a chart.
"Hi." Janet frowned upon getting a good look at Sam's expression. "Is there something wrong?"
"I have something I need to tell you. Would you be free to go off-base for lunch today?"
Janet's frown deepened. "Off-base? What do you have to tell me that you can't say here?"
"I need to do it in private, and I don't want us to get interrupted."
"Um, okay. Lunch off-base shouldn't be a problem. Noon?"
"That'll work. Come to my lab when you're ready to go."
Knowing that she'd feel uncomfortable talking about the whole thing in a public place, Sam took Janet to her house, the two of them stopping to get something to go on the way there.
"Okay, so what is this about?" Janet asked, studying Sam from across the dining room table.
Haltingly, with a whole lot of blushes, Sam told the doctor what happened the night she and Daniel first made love . . . and why she let it happen.
"Oh, Sam," Janet sighed, sympathy in her eyes.
"I know that I shouldn't have let it happen. Afterwards, I was so ashamed of myself. I knew that I'd taken advantage of Daniel's emotional state. I was sure that he'd hate me for it. He'd fallen asleep, and I just walked out. I couldn't bear to face him."
"But what about him? Knowing him as I do, I'm guessing that he was feeling just as guilty."
Sam nodded. "He believed that it was he who took advantage of me. He blamed himself for the whole thing. It's one of the reasons why he decided to move away. Before he left for Minnesota, he sent me an email telling me how sorry and ashamed he was. After I read it I knew that I had to tell him the truth."
"That you were in love with him?"
"Um, no, I wasn't planning on telling him that. I was just going to admit that I'd wanted it to happen."
"And did you?"
"Yes, at the cabin while Teal'c and the colonel were gone. He was shocked, of course, but he told me that it didn't make him feel uncomfortable. But, even though he said that, I could tell that something was still bothering him. I thought that it was because he was still feeling guilty, not because he believed he took advantage of me, but because it happened at all, so soon after Sha're's death."
Janet nodded. "I could definitely see him feeling that way."
"I didn't get the chance to talk to him about it, not until after he got home. The day he got back, I invited him over for dinner. I was kind of hoping that he'd open up to me."
"And did he?"
"Um, yeah, but . . . but not in the way I expected."
"What do you mean?"
"Daniel confessed to me that, ever since it happened, he hadn't been able to get out of his mind how it felt and that he'd been, uh . . . wanting it to happen again."
Janet's face transformed into an expression of shock. "Sam, are you serious?"
"Completely. He knew that it was wrong to feel that way, but he couldn't help it. You can't imagine how knowing that made me feel. On the one hand, I knew that the wise thing to do was for us to just put it all behind us and go back to the way things were before, but, on the other hand, I couldn't get out of my head that Daniel was feeling that kind of desire for me. He'd gone home, and I went over there to talk about it, but, um . . ." Sam's eyes fell from the doctor's, "talking isn't what we ended up doing."
"Sam, please don't tell me that you and Daniel did it again."
"Yes, I'm afraid we did."
"Oh, Sam." This time, the tone of Janet's voice was not that of sympathy. The astrophysicist cringed, bracing herself for the reaction to her next words. She recounted to Janet the things she and Daniel said to each other before they made love.
"Sam, I can't believe you did that, even if you are in love with him. As for Daniel, I'm surprised, but I can at least understand his actions a little more, what with the things he's been going through over Sha're. He wouldn't be the first man who leaped into the arms of another woman after suffering such a devastating loss. But you should have known better."
Sam's head lifted. "Don't you think I know that, Janet? I know it was a foolish thing to do, but I just couldn't help myself. I have been attracted to Daniel since the day I met him. I tried to ignore it because he was married, but the more I got to know him, the stronger those feelings became. I've known for nearly a year that I am in love with him."
Janet sighed. "I do understand how powerful feelings like that are and how they can influence our actions, Sam, but you must have realized that it was only temporary, that Daniel would put an end to it."
Sam began to fidget, which told the doctor that there was more to come.
"Tell me the rest of it," she said.
Her cheeks turning red, Sam said, "At the, um, big moment, I blurted out that I loved him."
A slightly amused smile teased at Janet's lips. "Aren't guys the ones who usually do that?"
"I don't know. I've never had it happen to me."
"What was Daniel's reaction?"
"The first thing he said was that it was okay, and he wasn't upset. He then said some nonsense about me being out of his league, which I was quick to refute. I fell asleep there in his arms, but when I woke up the next morning, he wasn't in the bed. I became certain that he'd come to the conclusion that the whole thing was a mistake, and he was going to tell me that it couldn't happen again. When I left the bedroom and saw him, I just blurted out the thoughts that had been going through my head. He told me that I was wrong, that he didn't want to end it."
"He did?"
"Yes, but he told me more than that, Janet. He said that he wanted to be in a relationship with me, a real relationship, boyfriend and girlfriend." Sam went on to tell her what Daniel said. "We've been together ever since then, and it's been fantastic." She then sighed. "But, now, you're going to tell me that we're both nuts."
"I wouldn't say nuts, Sam, but definitely foolish and short-sighted. Daniel admitted to you that he's not in love with you. How long do you think this can possibly last before he realizes that it can't go on?"
"I don't know, Janet. All I know is that, even though he's not in love with me, he makes me feel more loved than any other man ever has. He is so, so wonderful, the way he treats me, the way he makes love to me. He's opening up to me like he never has before, and I've been opening up to him."
Janet stared at her closely. "Sam, are you thinking that he might eventually fall in love with you?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
"And what if he never does?"
"Then at least I will have had this time with him."
Janet let out a heavy sigh. "Sam, I know that this is making you happy and that you might think it's not a mistake, but I can't help but believe that it's asking for trouble and will end with you getting hurt and Daniel feeling awful because he had to end it. It could damage your friendship."
Sam shook her head. "I won't let it. No matter what, he will always be my friend."
Janet sighed again, only, this time, on the inside. She was sure this was a mistake that would have serious repercussions to Sam and Daniel's relationship, but it was obvious that Sam was not going to listen to reason.
"Please don't talk to Daniel about this, Janet," Sam said. "Colonel O'Neill found out and said some really nasty things to him."
The doctor frowned. "What kind of nasty things?"
"I can't tell you. Daniel wouldn't want me to." Sam smiled slightly. "Besides, it might make you want to come up with excuses to stick needles in the colonel."
That made Janet smile as well. "Ah. Well, his annual physical is coming up soon."
Both women laughed. They sobered at the same time.
"All right, Sam," Janet said. "I've made clear how I feel about this, so I won't tell you again, but if you ever need to talk about it some more, I'll be here for you."
"Thank you. But it's going to be okay. I know it is."
As they returned to their meal, Janet prayed with all her heart that Sam was right.
