Fantasies from a Corner Seat
Fantasies from a Corner Seat
by afg
Summary: He's different now
Category: Angst
Episode Related: 701 Fallen
Season: Season 7
Pairing: Daniel/Sam
Rating: 13+
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story was created for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 05/23/06
~oOo~
"So, if you stare at it really hard, what happens?"
"Crap, Daniel. You nearly scared the life out of me." Sam put her hand to her chest, feeling the mad thump of her heart.
"Sorry." He smiled, not looking sorry at all. "What are you working on?"
She looked back at the small, grey, partly charred lump of alien technology. "SG-11 brought it back from their last mission. I've no idea what it is."
Daniel sauntered over and picked it up. He peered at it for a moment. "It's a capacitor." He put the piece of metal back on the bench.
Sam looked at him and picked it back up. "How do you know that? Do you even know what a capacitor is Daniel?"
He shrugged "Well, it's a device that stores energy in the electric field created between a pair of conductors on which electric charges of equal magnitude, but opposite sign, have been placed." He said, nonchalantly.
Sam stared at him. "Okay, so it's a capacitor. Who made it?"
Daniel grimaced. "Ah, well I can't quite remember but I'm pretty sure the name begins with an M, with maybe a U in it somewhere...sorry."
Sam sat down on her stool. "Don't worry about it. Does this happen a lot?"
Daniel shook his head. "No, not really but just occasionally I have the odd flash of memory, mostly about silly things."
"Well at least your time among the Ascended wasn't wasted." She tried very hard but Sam couldn't help the note of bitterness that had crept into her voice. It was strange. She'd missed Daniel so much. She'd missed comparing their pathetic lack of social lives. She'd missed him bringing sandwiches and coffee at three in the morning because she couldn't leave an experiment in her lab. She'd missed his warmth and companionship and now he was back and she was still missing him.
"I'm sorry I'm not what you wanted." Daniel looked down at the bench. " I don't think I'm what anyone wanted. If I could just remember where I fit in."
Sam suddenly felt ridiculously selfish. "God, Daniel. I'm sorry...I know it's hard for you, but you'll get it back, it'll just take a little time." She put her hand on his shoulder. She suddenly found herself held tightly in his arms. She relaxed into the hug, her body remembered this gesture.
After a long minute they pulled apart.
"Did we do that a lot? I remember the feel of you." Daniel looked at her with curiosity and something else entirely new.
Sam had spent all of her adult life being looked at by men. Being a tall leggy blonde meant she just couldn't avoid it. It annoyed her but she'd become used to it. It was a shock to see it in Daniel's eyes and it brought home to her how changed he was. Whatever he had seen or done on his sojourn with the enlightened had altered him somehow. Physically, he was leaner, wiry. All his soft edges had been sloughed off exposing the harder man beneath. His mind might not remember what he had done but his body did and his eyes. They looked flat and wary.
"Yes we used to do that, Daniel, we're friends." She almost flinched as his hand cupped her cheek. She could feel his warmth seeping through the calloused skin of his palm.
"Just friends?"
Ah there it was again, that look. She'd caught him staring at her breasts as she'd been making her way to their table in the canteen this morning. That had been a first and now she was feeling it again, the door of possibility opening wide. The pre-enlightened Daniel had just not been her type. As a friend he was everything she could wish for but he was too safe, too nice to be a romantic partner, not for Sam Carter. She liked damaged goods, men whose pasts held them with a violence with which she could not compete. Sam had to elbow her way in to their hearts. Her sexual relationships seemed to be the emotional equivalent of screaming tyres on a hairpin bend. She didn't like this aspect of her psyche but she knew enough not to deny it. No, the old Daniel had definitely not been her type but this new version had possibilities that she really didn't want to think about.
She took hold of his hand and brought it down to her side. "Yes, Daniel. I told you, we're good friends." She could feel her face suffuse with heat and it wasn't from embarrassment, still she held his gaze until finally, after giving it a gentle squeeze, he let her hand go.
"Friends, okay, that's good." He smiled at her and for a moment she saw a glimpse of her old companion. "So, can your friend take you to the canteen for a cup of coffee?"
She smiled at him relieved that at least they'd pushed this particular elephant into its cage. "Sure, I have time, seeing as how you've solved my alien technology problem."
"Anytime, Sam." He gestured to the door. "After you." He started to follow her then stopped with a puzzled expression on his face. "Blue Jello...for some reason I have an image of blue Jello in my head."
Sam laughed. "Don't worry about it Daniel, come on, there might be cake."
They left the lab to its humming computers, clunky air conditioning and thwarted possibilities.
The end.
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