//'You don't have to do this alone,' he said to her, trying to teach her the same lesson she'd taught him after he'd destroyed Thor's Hammer on Cimmeria.
'I want to,' she replied, her voice equally strong and determined.
She looked at him then, her gaze as strong as her voice, sending him a silent message. 'It's not about you, Daniel,' her eyes said. 'It's about me -- and Cassie. I can't leave her.' She turned away, and walked off.
He stood silently. He understood. And in that split second, he'd gone from being concerned about Sam to being jealous of Cassie.//
Daniel strolled across the park, outwardly laughing at Jack's anecdotes of his own dog whilst inwardly scrutinizing Sam and Cassie on the swings. They'd all noticed that Cassie had a special affection for Sam, but the depth -- and mutuality -- of the bond had escaped him until he'd spoken to Sam.
//'I want to.'//
In a moment of bitterness, he'd almost replied, 'No one wanted me when I was little.' Of course, he'd stopped himself. The Captain Doctor may be someone he could now call friend, someone who had seen him at his worst -- images of shooting innocent Goa'uld larvae flashed before his eyes -- and had also seen him at his best -- nights of collaboration on various scientific projects came to mind -- but he hadn't talked to anyone about his childhood. Not even Sarah. And he certainly wasn't going to start now.
As they reached the swings, Daniel noticed Sam looking at him quizzically.
"Are you okay? You looked kinda out of it," she asked, voice soft and concerned.
He gave her a tiny smile. "I'm fine. How's Cassie?"
They both turned around and gazed at the child, who was happily frolicking with the dog.
"She's doing great. I really hope Doctor Frasier does adopt her. Maybe I'm being selfish when I say that, but I don't want to see her move very far away from here. I'd miss her way too much."
"You're not being selfish." Daniel paused. He wanted to say something else, something reassuring, but the words wouldn't come out. He remembered Sam's earlier comment.
//'We want to find her a good home.'//
No one had been bothered about finding him a good home when he lost his parents. On the contrary, they'd simply shuffled him from one foster family to another. A few people had been interested in adopting -- some of whom he'd genuinely liked and would've gladly spent the rest of his life with -- but good ole Nick had stepped in at the crucial second and prevented any life-altering decisions from being made. Daniel had realised that it was pointless to get his hopes up after that.
"Daniel? Earth to Daniel!" Sam called, worried at the slightly blank expression on his face. It vaguely reminded her of the look he had during the recent debacle involving Hathor. She'd found him in Hathor's quarters, sitting on the bed, completely shut down.
Afterwards, she realised exactly why he had looked like that. The realisation had shocked her and spurred her to spend some quality time with him, outside of the SGC. He hadn't talked to her about what had happened, but Sam was sure that he had talked to the Colonel. That was good enough for her. As for her personally, she just wanted him to know that she would be there. And she made sure he'd gotten the message.
"Daniel!" she called once more.
He shook himself slightly and glanced at her. "Hmm?"
"Are you sure you're alright? You've been going off into your own little world a lot ... is something wrong?"
There. That was the most she would push. After Sam had found out about the Colonel's family situation, she'd been horrified and extremely embarrassed about her happy exclamations in the locker room. She hadn't been telling the truth herself about her family -- in actual fact, she hadn't seen Mark's kids ... well ... ever. But that hadn't been the image she'd wanted to project, especially after the fiasco with Jonas. Sam had wanted to come off as a strong, completely with it, captain-doctor, as Daniel called her. So she lied. And then she found out that she wasn't the only one with a messed-up family. She hadn't had the guts to ask Daniel about his family, seeing as it would inevitably make him think of Sha'uri, so she'd looked up his file. And got a huge shock.
Now she wanted to slap herself for being so stupid. Of course!
Daniel was in foster care for most of his childhood. No wonder he was acting so strange whilst watching Cassandra.
Sam waited a beat for Daniel's reply, and when it didn't come, she gently touched his arm and steered him away from Jack, Teal'c, Cassie and the dog. "Why don't we go for a little walk? I haven't been here for ages. I swear, the SGC eats up all our free time."
They walked down the path in silence, passing other families on the way. Sam watched as Daniel's eyes scrutinised each one of them. She knew Daniel was trying to sort things out for himself. She just hoped that he'd let her help him. She jumped when Daniel spoke after they passed the third family.
"I know that it's not possible with our jobs, but Teal'c was right. You would be a great mom for Cassie." He fell silent, and Sam didn't respond, not yet, as his body language and demeanor indicated that he hadn't finished. "You -- Cassie -- both of you deserve this opportunity. That little girl's been through so much ... she should have this chance at happiness. A chance to have a real family, with people who care about her. Like the rest of us."
Before he'd finished speaking, Sam had been wondering if Daniel was trying to relive his childhood, through Cassie, but now she knew that wasn't the case at all. Because he'd said us. He included himself as a person with a happy family. She was taken back to a moment, when the Colonel was trying to convince Daniel to destroy Thor's Hammer. He'd been speaking to Teal'c, but the words applied to them all.
//'You're part of this family now.'//
Maybe she'd never find out about Daniel's childhood, and maybe it didn't matter. They were all together now, and that was what did mattered. Janet Fraiser had joined their 'family' awhile back, and in her heart, Sam knew that Cassie was going to join them too.
Because she wouldn't -- couldn't -- leave her.
Have been watching repeats of S1 daily for the past couple of weeks, thanks to the lovely Sky One folks. Watched Singularity today and couldn't resist writing a Danny/Sam friendship fic, seeing as I've done fics on his relationships with Teal'c and Jack already. Please send feedback!
© October, 2001 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.