The Lovers
The Lovers
by Jeanine
Title:The Lovers
Author:Jeanine
Category:Daniel/Sam, POV
Rating:PG
Email:jeanine@iol.ie
Archive:Heliopolis; Statistical Outliers, Sandra's site, Rach's site, anywhere else please ask first
Feedback:Always welcome.
Disclaimer:Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended.
Season/Sequel:Sometime in the future....
Spoilers:Nope, none.
Summary:Daniel reflects on the last three months.....
Author's Notes:Daniel POV, just for you Sandra! And fear not.....there is a sequel!
"This is the life."
I'm sitting on a grassy bank on the edge of one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen. The moon is high in the sky, uncovered by cloud, casting light enough that we don't need torches. There's no breeze, and the temperature is that of a summer's evening on Earth. There's not a sound to be heard from the clearing behind us and the trees behind that.
And in my arms, I hold the woman that I love.
She's sitting in front of me, in between my legs, and my arms are wrapped around her waist. She shares the view with me, her head back against my chest, blonde hairs tickling my cheek. I don't need to see her face to know that there's a peaceful smile there, something akin to the smile that's on my own.
We don't speak much, content to share the silence. We know that back at the camp, Jack and Teal'c are setting things up. The only reason we can steal this time alone together is that Jack agreed to let us walk north a little, looking for signs of civilisation, be it current or present. I think he figured that if we got it out of the way now, he wouldn't have to listen to me tomorrow when we search some more. We had great intentions, really, but when we came through the trees, we found the lake. Well, there's no point in starting to walk all around the lake, only to have to walk back is there? Especially since Jack and Teal'c probably have setting up base camp well in hand.
So we decided to rest for a while and enjoy the view.
We've become good at this in the past three months, stealing moments where we can forget that she's Major Doctor Samantha Carter and I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson, both assigned to SG-1. Moments where we can just relax, be ourselves, Daniel and Sam, exploring their new relationship.
Quantifying the time together surprises me somewhat. It seems like much longer than three months since we've been together. I suppose in reality it is. It's three months since we had our first "date" if you will; but it had been coming for a lot longer than that.
I can't put my finger on when I first noticed Sam as something more than a colleague and friend. Certainly, those first few years, I was so shattered over Sha're, trying to find her, then trying to get over her death, that romance was the last thing on my mind. I'm pretty sure it wasn't on Sam's either.
But we gravitated to each other, slowly but surely over time. I like to joke to her that we disprove a basic law of physics, the one that most people know and that even I remember, that opposites attract. We're very alike she and I, both scientists, both eager to explore and discover the wonders of new worlds. We react in the same way to our respective stimuli if you've seen me react to a new archaeological find, and seen her react to a new technological discovery, we're exactly the same. Our thoughts follow the same path, bound along in the same direction. Simpatico. We always have been, ever since we first met on Abydos. I can still see the bemused expressions on Kawalsky's and Jack's faces when I suggested that the cartouche might be out of date because the planets moved apart over time. She got that look on her face, that look that I've come to know and love so well, and said, "I knew I'd like you." We then proceeded to figure out just how the cartouche had changed over time, and why it didn't work anymore, finishing each other's sentences like we'd known each other for decades instead of hours.
Over time, that affinity for each other grew into a strong friendship. We had more in common with each other than the other members of SG-1, although we're certainly a tight-knit group. Jack is career military, brash, outspoken, straightforward, and sometimes he misses the nuances of a mission, which is frustrating, to say the least. And Teal'c well, while I understand him a little more every day, it's hard to get a reading on him, difficult to know what he's thinking.
Sam and I have never had that problem.
We stayed in a holding pattern for a long time four people, thrown together, becoming the most unusual of families. Then I began to realise that things were changing. Not between me and Jack or me and Teal'c, but between Sam and me.
It was subtle at first we're good at subtle, she and I. I noticed myself seeking her out more and more for her opinion, or just to bounce ideas off, grateful to have someone who would really listen and not just nod and smile. She'd do the same. Our talks at three in the morning, fighting over the last cup of coffee, became longer and more frequent. She began coming by my office when she was leaving, more often than not dragging me to my car so that I'd go home too. Sometimes, she'd drag me out early and we'd share pizza or Chinese food.
Little things.
Didn't someone once sing a song, "Little things mean a lot"? Boy, were they right.
Because all those little things added up, and one day on a mission, I woke up. Literally. We were all sleeping in this little hut that we'd been put into, and Jack got last watch. He likes to make a big deal out of waking us up he goes into "Rise and shine campers" mode, and is generally obnoxious. Usually, Sam doesn't notice. The woman could sleep through a nuclear explosion. That's why I woke up before her, why the first thing I saw when I put my glasses on and the world swam into focus was her face.
I'd never noticed before how beautiful she was.
And that was it. All of a sudden, I knew I was hopelessly, utterly, completely in love with her. Or that I had been for a while. But that was when I knew.
I was staring at her I must've been some sight when she began to wake up. My brain was screaming at me, ordering me to look away. My eyes wouldn't do it. So the first thing she saw when she woke up was me. And she knew. From the look in my eyes, from the feelings written all over my face. She knew.
And she smiled.
I wanted to kiss her. Right then and there. But Jack's voice from the other side of the hut put paid to that. He was wittering on about breakfast and coffee, and some other nonsense that didn't even register with me. I dragged myself up and so did she and we went about our daily business like nothing had happened.
Like our lives hadn't changed.
Of course, in the course of the day, I began to wonder, and second-guess myself. Maybe it didn't mean anything. Maybe it was just a reflex. Maybe I'm reading too much into things, seeing just what I want to see.
Back in my office, I started cataloguing artefacts, figuring out just what it was we'd found. That was when I heard a knock at my door. I looked up and there she was, looking just as awkward as I felt. "I thought you might like to get some dinner."
We got takeout and went back to my place. And talked. Really talked, about what we were thinking and feeling, about all the things that might happen. We talked for hours.
And then we stopped talking.
I woke up at three o'clock that morning, to find myself wide-awake. That was the second time that I really watched her sleep, and felt a peace that I hadn't felt in a long time, and never thought I'd feel again. At that moment, there wasn't another place in the universe where I wanted to be.
And of course, right then was when the doubts started.
I couldn't lie there beside her, not feeling like that. If this was going to be a one-off, I wanted to remember it as perfect as it was, not riddled with doubts and uncertainty.
I pulled on a T-shirt and sweats and stood at my window, not seeing much, just listening to the night sounds of the city, thinking. What was going to happen in a few hours, when we both had to go into work? Would we tell people? Would we keep it a secret? What would happen if people found out? Would we be sacked? Reassigned? Where were we heading, and would this last? Maybe Sam would wake up and realise that she'd made a horrible mistake. How would this affect the team? Who knew how General Hammond would react? Teal'c would probably cock his head, lift an eyebrow impossibly high and say, "Indeed." Jack...Jack would.... ok, let's not go there. And what would happen if we broke up? Would we be able to go back to being friends? Or would we be one of those couples who couldn't stand the sight of each other, making all our friends and colleagues uncomfortable, taking sides in the conflict?
All I could think about was the can of worms we might have opened.
Behind me, I heard her mutter something in her sleep, heard her roll over. Half-turning, I could see her arm stretch out, seeking contact with me, even in her sleep. The gesture brought some mild comfort to me and I half-smiled before turning back to the window. The voice came next, thick with sleep. "Daniel?"
"I'm here," I reassured her, not moving from my place at the window. "Go back to sleep."
I didn't turn again, but I heard her moving around, then footsteps coming towards me. From behind me, a pair of arms slipped around my waist, and I felt her bury her head in my back. She stayed that way for a minute, content with the silence, and the close contact, before murmuring, still sleepy, "Whatcha doing?"
My hands moved to cover hers of their own accord. "Just thinking."
There was a silence, as she tried to compute what I was thinking. She didn't have to try to hard simpatico again. "About tomorrow?"
My fingers traced circles on her hand as I chuckled, wondering at how well she knew me. "And the day after...and the one after that..."
My voice trailed off as she came around to face me. She was wearing one of my shirts that's a little too big even for me, and it swamped her. Her arms went around my neck, raising the hemline of the shirt a little, and once again of their own accord, my arms slipped around her waist. Her eyes met mine, and hers held no doubt, only certainty and love. "You think too much Daniel."
I began to make an excuse, but was stopped by her lips meeting mine. It's funny how quickly you find something you can't live without I didn't ever want to be without this again. My arms tightened around her waist, pulling her closer to me, as the kiss grew more passionate.
I stopped thinking right after that.
We've never looked back since. We decided to keep the relationship a secret, ostensibly to test the waters we didn't want to make the others uncomfortable if things didn't work out. As time went on, we realised that things weren't going to not work out. Time made our feelings stronger, not weaker, and I'm so in love with her I want to shout it from the rooftops.
So far, no one knows about us, although I think Janet suspects. I've had one or two barbed comments from her, and so has Sam, but even if she finds out, I'm sure she'll keep our secret. She's set Sam up on enough blind dates, God knows, and tried to as recently as last week. I think that she thinks if she keeps trying, that Sam will eventually crack and tell her everything I tell Sam all the time that that would probably be easiest, but she's having none of it.
Her hair brushes against my cheek as she looks up at me. She raises her hand and knocks on my forehead lightly, her way of bringing me back to reality after she's caught me in another world. I blush slightly at being caught out again. "Thinking again?" Her tone is teasing. "What have I told you about that?"
"That my look of concentration turns you on?" I get a slap in the arm for my trouble. "Hey!"
She chuckles as I pull her closer and we take one last look at the lake. "We'd better be getting back," she says, sighing reluctantly.
"I could stay here all night," I tell her, not moving.
She sighs again, stretching out every last moment as long as she can, as I am. "So could I. But the Colonel will be wondering where we are."
She pulls herself up, and at the mention of Jack's name, the spell is broken. She holds out a hand to me and pulls me up as well, laughing as I use the leverage as an excuse to end up with my arms around her waist. Her head drops to its accustomed place on my shoulder and we take one last moment together as Sam and Daniel before Major Carter and Doctor Jackson go back on duty. My hand runs through her hair, kissing the side of her face. She moves her head and our lips meet, my eyes closing at the gentle touch. She breaks away first, resting her forehead against mine, breathless even at that simple gesture. I'm feeling none too steady myself.
"TheHELL??"
The cry catches both of us off guard, and we look towards the trees, only to see Jack staring at us, his expression one of shock, horror and. .. betrayal? All three quickly give way to anger, and he stares at us for a minute longer, before turning back towards the camp.
Sam and I exchange a look before we set off to follow him. Once again on a mission, our lives have been changed. But this time, I don't think it's for the better.
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