Breaking the Curse

Chapter Seven

So Sweet It Breaks My Heart

“What did you say to me last night?” Sam demanded angrily.

Daniel choked on his coffee, sitting up straight in the bench on the lodge of the porch. He had been enjoying the sunrise over the mountains, and he had almost fallen asleep as he did. He’d had trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep. Sam, on the other hand, had slept like a baby all through the night. She hadn’t woken up once with a nightmare. He knew. He’d checked. He wasn’t sure why she was so angry.

“What are you talking about, Sam?” he asked, frowning. “The last thing we talked about was how you felt kind of drunk. I went to get you a refill, but by then you had fallen asleep. What is it you think I said?”

“I—I fell asleep? Really? We didn’t joke about the pyramids; neither of us got a massage? I didn’t—you didn’t—you never said anything to me in Ancient?” Sam asked, confusion drowning her anger.

He looked at her. He had, actually, spoken to her in Ancient, but it was after he’d gotten her into her bed. He’d wrapped the blankets around her, kissed her forehead, and whispered, I love you. But she was asleep then. She couldn’t possibly have heard him. “No, Sam. You were talking about wine, I offered to refill our cups, and then you were asleep. I helped you upstairs and got you into bed. As far as I know, you were asleep for all that. And, yes, you still owe me a massage.”

She smiled a little, sitting down next to him. “I’m sorry, Daniel. I guess… It must have been a dream.”

“You sounded really angry,” he told her. “What did you think I said?”

“I…I don’t even remember,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s stupid, really. Daniel, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I…had no right; especially after all you’ve done these past few days. And I don’t even know why the dream upset me so much.”

He smiled at her, gently touching her shoulder. “It’s okay, Sam. Really. You didn’t do anything wrong. And I’m really glad that I didn’t, either.”

Sam sighed and lowered her head onto Daniel’s shoulder. She sounded exhausted. Maybe last night she had gotten enough sleep to replenish her body, but it wasn’t the restful sleep that restored the soul. He reached up and ran his fingers through her hair. He wondered if this was about Pete.

Daniel wished that there was more that he could do to help her. She was hurting and he couldn’t reach her. He didn’t know how to help her. All he could do was here for her. It wasn’t enough, not nearly enough.

“Is that coffee?” Sam asked softly.

He laughed. “I can’t believe you have to ask. Did you want some?”

Her stomach rumbled. “Actually, I think I could use some food.”

“I think we can do something about that,” he assured her. He stood and offered her his hand. She took it, rising to her feet. He led her into the lodge.

A dream. That’s all it was. You don’t have to freak out because Daniel told you he loved you.

Sam tried to calm her racing heart. She couldn’t believe that she’d dreamt that. She remembered being nervous—no, if she was honest, turned on—by the idea of Daniel giving her a massage. Her brain had made it romantic. And then he’d said…

But none of it was real.

It was just a dream.

Some people said dreams had no meaning at all. Other people claimed that dreams were manifestations of a person’s subconscious desires. Sam wasn’t sure what she believed. Before last night, she’d thought that she believed that dreams had meanings, but she wasn’t sure that she still did.

Maybe she just didn’t want to believe that she subconsciously wanted Daniel to say he loved her.

She wasn’t sure why it scared her so much. If Daniel loved her, she would probably be the luckiest woman on Earth, if not the galaxy. He was a good friend. He was a good man who would make a good husband and a good father.

But she didn’t love him.

She loved Jack O’Neill. Had been in love with him for so long. She’d tried to move on, tried to have a relationship with someone who had nothing to do with the SGC. But she knew that she wasn’t over Jack. Pete had been her chance, but they hadn’t had enough time.

It didn’t mean that Pete was her only chance.

Damn it, why did it have to be Daniel who told her that? Why had he been so perfect the last few days? Why did she have to have these thoughts? Daniel was her friend, end of story. They couldn’t be more than friends.

“Sam, I think I should drive,” Daniel’s voice interrupted her thoughts. She jumped, blinking in shock. “Welcome back to Earth. You were supposed to put the car in drive five minutes ago.”

“I was?”

“Sam, let me drive. I mean it. I know, it’s your car. Your baby, but give me those keys,” he ordered. She smiled at his authoritative tone, giving him the keys. She opened the door and got out, crossing to the passenger side. He was right. She was in no shape to drive. And she didn’t even know where they were going.

He still wouldn’t tell her.

Daniel got behind the wheel and started the car. He navigated them out of the lodge parking lot and onto the highway. She closed her eyes and let him lead. It would be easier this way.

And her life was anything but easy at the moment.

“Daniel, where are we?” Sam asked as he pulled the car into a small gravel lot behind a simple white stone building. They were just a block off Colorado highway 66.

“We’re in Lyons,” he told her, getting out of the car. She looked at him suspiciously, reluctantly following him out of the car. She joined him at the fender, looking around as though she expected him to zat her and carry her off to the nearest Goa’uld fortress. He offered her his hand. “Come on, Sam. Haven’t you ever wanted to go to one of those old time malt shops like you see in classic TV shows? Those drug stores counters, a place where everyone knows everyone, full of friendly faces?”

“Daniel,” Sam began warily as she took his hand, and they walked around to the front of the building. They passed soda shop patrons sitting at white wrought iron tables and chairs, drinking Italian sodas and malts. “Those places don’t exist.”

“Maybe not, but this is the next best thing. Give it a chance, Sam. It’s been a long drive—”

“An hour,” she corrected.

“I could use a drink,” he insisted. “And if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were afraid of the soda shop, Sam.”

“I am not,” she exclaimed, startling the people at the nearest table. She blushed. “I—This is silly, Daniel.”

“Sam,” he said, feeling strangely hurt by her reluctance. He was worried about her—her behavior had been odd all day, first with the angry accusation and later zoning out, but now she was even weirder. And her refusal stung. He’d wanted to surprise her with this day, and it wasn’t working. He wanted to fix this, but he couldn’t help thinking that it was all a mistake. He couldn’t please her. He wasn’t the person she wanted or needed.  “Today was my day to pick, but if you’d rather go home—back to the Springs, I understand.”

She took a deep breath, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Daniel. I don’t know why I’m being so stubborn. You went window-shopping. I dragged you to the mall. I can go to a soda shop. I want to go to a soda shop. I just… Never expected this.”

He looked at her. “Somehow, I find that hard to believe.”

She stepped close to him to kiss his cheek. “You’re fulfilling a very silly girlish wish of mine. I was just too embarrassed to accept it. Okay?”

He didn’t believe that she was telling him everything, not the whole truth, but he would have to accept what she was willing to share. He smiled at her and guided her inside the shop. They went across the floor to the stainless steel counter. Sam smiled at him, loving every detail of the place, the chalkboard menus, the old fashioned machines, the tables. She was enjoying this with an innocent wonder that confused the hell out of Daniel. What was going on inside Sam’s head? She was distant and unhappy one minute, close and smiling the next.

She sat down on a stool, spinning a little, an impish grin on her face. She was so beautiful, her joy so contagious that he sat down next to her. He greeted the woman behind the counter and ordered a creamsicle. Sam grinned and got the same.

“I did imagine coming to a place like this,” Sam said softly. She shrugged. “I always figured. I’d have a pink poodle skirt, a white shirt, a long ponytail…”

He laughed. “And here all I wanted was the creamsicle.”

He wouldn't give her back her keys. When she reminded him that he had agreed to let her do the driving, he just smiled and told her it would be much easier if he was the one driving. He knew where they were going and she didn't—and that was as unchangeable as it was unarguable. Daniel was stubborn, and since she hadn't managed to wheedle the answer out of him before now, she doubted that she would now that they were almost there.

It wasn't like she really minded having him drive. Well, she minded a little because it was her car, but she would rather Daniel drive it than Teal'c or the colonel. If the colonel was the one driving...

Well, she wouldn't think about that.

Daniel turned the corner, and she noticed that the street sign was a peppermint stick and read Sleepytime Drive. Sleepytime....as in... tea? That meant that Daniel, the caffeinated coffee addict who suggested it as an aphrodisiac, was taking her to a tea factory. Granted, it wasn't just any tea factory. This was Celestial Seasonings, and there was only one factory to bear that name.

He parked the car in the parking lot, undoing his seatbelt. Sam looked at him. She wouldn't freak out, wouldn't throw another fit, but damn it, why? She'd wanted to go to Celestial Seasonings since she moved to Colorado, but there just never seemed to be time. She'd never mentioned the desire to Daniel, and yet he seemed to know, and he was fulfilling wishes she'd never expressed to him.

Let's face it, she thought. Daniel is the perfect man.

“I didn't know a tea shop qualified as geeky,” she said finally, shutting her door behind her.

He smiled at her across the car. “You think Jack would consider this a cool, normal person thing to do?”

“The colonel really only thinks fishing is an acceptable activity for a quote-unquote normal  person.,” Sam muttered.

“Therefore, let us celebrate our geekiness with tea,” Daniel concluded. “Shall we, Madam?”

She giggled, taking the arm he offered her. “Have you ever been here?”

“Not yet. I've just heard about it,” he told her. “Apparently, we cannot miss the peppermint room.”

“I guess we better not, then,” she agreed, trying to overcome her weird mood with a smile. “Tour is that way—so is the tea tasting.”

“I'm impressed,” he began with a teasing grin. She frowned at him. “You didn't say we should go to the gift shop first.”

She found herself sputtering indignantly for a moment before she gave in and laughed. “We need to taste the teas first so that I know what to buy.”

“How very logical of you, Sam,” he observed, still teasing.

“I am a scientist,” she answered.

“Well... we could test a hypothesis of which tea is the best,” she began.

 He smiled as he lead her away from the tea shop and over to the other entrance. Inside this lobby, she was instantly greeted by the smell of tea. She inhaled deeply and sighed happily. Daniel smiled at her and approached the desk. “Hi. We'd like to take a tour.”

“Two of you?” the guide asked, smiling. She handed them a couple of laminated tea box covers, from Bengal Spice boxes. Daniel smiled at Sam, and gave her one of them. She ran her fingers over it. “The tour starts in forty minutes. In the meantime, feel free to visit the gift shop or sample as many teas here as you like.”

“Forty minutes?” Sam asked, frowning. Suddenly, this didn't seem as good of an idea as it was before. Daniel pulled her over to a table. The chairs were wrought iron with tea cups forming the back support.

“Come on, Sam. We're using the scientific method, remember?” he teased, nudging her. She looked at his arm for a minute, like it was somehow alien. Not impossible, but she didn't understand her mood today. Stop it, Sam. Just stop. You and Daniel are friends, and that is all. It's enough.

She ignored the smaller voice that questioned the truth of that statement. “I think need a cup of Tension Tamer.”

He gave her an odd look, but he went off to get them both a cup. She closed her eyes and rested her head on her arms. She should have said chamomile. It was just as soothing. He came back, setting a cup in front of her, hoarding the other to himself. “What did you get?”

“Um... Fast Lane,” Daniel answered sheepishly.

“Daniel!” she exclaimed. “That's supposed to have as much caffeine as a shot of espresso.”

“And your point would be?”

She laughed. She couldn't help it. They were both people who functioned on caffeine, and it wasn't really that surprising that he would choose to have more, even after his coffee at the lodge.  He hadn't been to Starbucks yet today. It only made sense. She took a sip of her own tea and smiled at him.

“So how many teas do you think we can sample in forty minutes?” she asked, turning the paper cup in her hands.

“Oh, I don't know. I wouldn't worry about the scientific method, though. We'll have a large enough sample for the experiment,” he began. Then he grinned wickedly. “Bet I can try more teas than you.”

“I'll take that bet,” Sam said, downing her tea.

“I won,” Sam insisted.

“You did not,” Daniel shot back, smiling at the tour guide as he ushered Sam into the theater. “Just because you had three cups sitting there at the end does not mean that you sampled them all.”

“I did too!” she protested. She blushed and lowered her voice as she realized that people were looking at her.

“A sip you couldn't even taste doesn't count,” he said firmly. “Now--”

“You're a sore loser,” she muttered.

“It doesn't count,” he repeated. “Now, are we going to be quiet for the video or get ourselves kicked off the tour?”

Sam lowered her head sheepishly. She was so competitive sometimes. He admired that spirit of hers, though at the moment it was really frustrating him. He smiled at her, though, and she sat down next to him, leaning her head against his shoulder. He forced himself to relax.

He missed most of the short movie, too distracted by Sam's head on his shoulder. It wouldn't be so bad if she sat still, but she was fidgeting, and he couldn't concentrate.

“And now we're going to head into the factory,” the guide, Elizabeth said, turning on the lights. She quickly reviewed the safety policies and passed out the hair nets. Daniel looked at his dubiously, and Sam laughed at him as she put her own on.

“I guess it's a good thing I shaved this morning,” he grumbled. “Otherwise, they might have made me wear the beard net.”

“Ew,” she muttered. “Don't grow a beard, Daniel. Ever. You look so much better without one. Trust me.”

He looked at her, unsure how to take her words, but he smiled at her and lowered his head, following her through the doors into the factory. The guide stopped the group in front of a stand with two bowls. She picked up the microphone and explained that the bowls contained hibiscus. One bowl was full of the plant as it came to them, the other after it had been processed.

“You know, that's actually a very interesting process,” Sam began, “they take the air and they use it to--”

“Sam,” he broke in gently, loving her enthusiasm but aware of the looks from the other people on the tour and the guide herself. “You can tell me about it later, okay?”

She nodded, blushing. He took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. They went down to the first of the two isolation rooms, the tea room. It was too absorbent to be kept out on the factory floor. It wouldn't be tea anymore. He looked at Sam, wondering if he was somehow like that... If that was what his years at the SGC had done to him, changed and molded him into someone else far from the scholar he'd once been.

“I never knew the difference between teas before,” Sam murmured as they left the isolation room.  “I mean, taste, sure, but the reason why it's green or black...”

He looked at her. “I could have told you.”

“Right, the cultural thing,” she muttered.

He frowned at her, wondering where this new anger was coming from. “Well, it's not like I knew there was such a thing as white tea.”

She smiled again—apparently all was forgiven—and pulled him into the mint room. It wasn't just peppermint, but spearmint as well. His eyes stung a bit as they stood inside, but he had to admit, it smelled wonderful. “Hey... no more allergies.”

Sam laughed. “Have they been bothering you lately? I hadn't heard you mention them in a while.”

He thought about it. “I don't think they have, actually.”

“That's good,” Sam agreed, and they followed the tour guide around the packaging line. Sam was fascinated by the robotics, and he smiled at her encouragingly, though they really didn't interest him as much as they did her. 

The tour ended in the gift shop, and Sam gave him a big grin as she dragged him over to shop.

“Hey, a bulk discount,” Sam pointed out, looking at the teas and trying to decide what she needed to take home with her.

“On six,” Daniel agreed. “Six of the same flavor.”

She nudged him playfully. “Like you couldn't use up six boxes of Fast Lane in a month, with all the all-nighters you do.”

He shrugged. “Okay, I see your point. Six Fast Lane for me, some Tension Tamer for you--”

“And some chamomile and Sleepytime,” she added, loading up the basket he'd gone to get. He looked at her and down at the basket, which was already more than half full. “Oh, and I liked that Bengal Spice, and the Tangerine Orange Zinger.”

Daniel laughed. “I've always been partial to the Mandarin Orange Spice, and there's all that caffeinated black tea over there...”

“Um, Miss?” Sam called, catching one of the shop workers. “I think we may just need the bulk boxes for each flavor.”

“All of them?” the girl repeated dubiously. “That's a lot of tea.”

Daniel nodded. “Oh, believe me, where we work, we'll go through it all in almost no time. Trust me.”

“Two boxes of Tension Tamer,” Sam added. “I go through so much of that thanks to Colonel O'Neill.”

“Maybe we should get him some Sleepytime, feed him it by the spoonful...” Daniel mused, turning away to look at the boxes of Sleepytime again. Sam smiled at the confused shop worker, who put on a brave smile and said she would be right back.

Sam turned, wondering where Daniel had gotten off to, but she didn't see him. She shrugged and headed over to look at the novelty tea pots and coffee cups.  She stopped at one particular coffee mug.  Oh, that one was just so Daniel. She picked it up and put it in her basket. She supposed she didn't need all the tea she'd put in it if the girl was coming back with the bulk boxes.

She was putting the tea back when Daniel joined her. He smiled at her. “Okay... So how are we doing this tea thing? Half and half?”

“Sounds good to me,” she said, frowning when she saw that Daniel had a bag already. He took her keys out of his pocket.

“I think I'll go move the car closer and open the trunk,” he offered. She smiled at him and went to the register. She'd go half on the tea, but she was getting Daniel the mug anyway, so she might as well pay for it separately.

The girl came back, her hands full of boxes of tea. She set them down behind the register and headed back for more. This was crazy, and Sam knew it was crazy. But she didn't care, and she didn't think Daniel did, either. He joined her at the register as the sales people finished bringing in their boxes. He looked at the boxes of tea and then at Sam. She couldn't help it; she started laughing. So did he.

“Half on that card, half on this card,” Daniel said, somehow gaining some composure and putting both his credit card and hers on the register. The girl who had started helping them rang up the sale, and the man helping her picked up the boxes, following Daniel out to the car.

Sam sobered up and signed for her half of the tea. Daniel came back in, and she let him sign for his while taking out another load of tea. Her trunk was already mostly full. She couldn't help laughing, shaking her head all the while. She was nuts.

Daniel joined her at the car. “Just think, we won't have to worry about running out of tea while we're off-world.”

The man helping them gave them a really odd look and hurried back inside.

Sam and Daniel started laughing again.

“I'm hungry,” Sam muttered as she closed the trunk. Daniel looked at her and smiled again.

“Well... I did see that they had a café here,” he began. “And even though we have just spent next month's pay on getting tea--”

“Oh, why not?” Sam laughed. “We don't have much else to enjoy back on the base. And tea is better for you than coffee.”

He looked at her. “Don't even start.”

“I'm not going to tell you not to drink coffee. No one should try,” Sam agreed, taking his arm again. “But it is true. Let's not argue over it, okay? I'm hungry, you look hungry, and you said there was a café.”

“There is,” he insisted, pointing to the sign. “Looks like if we walk over there we will find ourselves in the café.”

“Good,” Sam agreed, and they started around the curve of the building, following the sidewalk. Alongside the path were more candy cane pole signs, each with a different quote on them. She stopped and pointed at one. “I like that.”

“'It's illegal to bore people,'” Daniel read, quoting Mo Siegel, one of the original founders of the Celestial Seasonings company. He shook his head. “If that was true, the world would be infinitely smaller thanks to one Jack O'Neill. Would the policy be imprisonment or execution, do you think?”

Sam giggled. “Oh, the colonel would be for execution.”

Daniel looked at her. “You know, if that was a law, and Jack could do it, we would both be dead by now.”

“Wouldn't be the first time,” she shot back, starting down the path again and leaving him no choice but to follow. He caught up to her at the doors, and they composed themselves before entering the café.

They'd been by here before, on the tour, but they hadn't had time to look around much. The food drew them into the cafeteria, and they chose their own entrées and deserts, finishing their meal off with some tea. This time, Daniel had Tension Tamer and Sam had Fast Lane. They smiled at each other, almost bursting into uncontrollable laughter again.

They took a table in the middle of the dining area, looking around at the pictures and quotes on the ceiling. The background imitated the blue sky outside, with clouds and flying tea cups like the ones on the Red Zinger box.

“Oh, look,” Sam said, looking up, “isn't that neat? The lights are tea cups.”

“And they're painted with art from the boxes,” Daniel agreed. “Look, that's Sleepytime there.”

“Red Zinger,” Sam pointed to another. “And Morning Thunder.”

They smiled at each other, both of them reaching for their tea at the same time. This time, they did laugh.

“Today was a good day,” Sam whispered.

Daniel looked over at her. She was very quiet, had been all day. He was worried about her. Maybe it was that the funeral was tomorrow, or that they were headed back to Colorado Springs, to their lives and reality. This week had suspended all of that for a while, and now it was crashing back down on them.

Sam would be working on the super soldier project. He had translations to do. And Anubis was looming over them, a not-so-distant threat.

“It was,” he agreed softly. “I don't think I want to go back.”

Sam laughed a little. “Why should you? The colonel makes fun of us, hardly ever pays attention to us, and if he does, he doesn't understand what we say. There're worlds out there where people are enslaved, and Anubis could invade any day with his super soldier army...”

“It was nice being people who didn't know about all that,” Daniel said. “We could just be... normal. Geeky, but normal for the general population. We went to museums, to zoos, we ate, we slept... We had a bit of what other people take completely for granted.”

Sam nodded, her eyes far away. He couldn't help wondering if her mind was back on the idea that she'd lost her chance for normal life when Pete died. It wasn't true, not at all. He closed his eyes briefly, aching to share that life she so desired with her. But it was not going to happen.

He sighed and turned the car off onto the exit ramp. They were almost back home, and he didn't want to be. He didn't want his week with Sam to end. This was as close to having more with her as he was going to get, and he wasn't ready to let go of that yet. He swallowed hard. “Sam--”

“Will you stay at my house tonight?” she interrupted quickly. “It's... I know it's a lot to ask after all you did this week, but I... the funeral's tomorrow, and I don't want to be alone before that.”

He nodded. “I don't mind at all, Sam. I... Actually, I wasn't sure I wanted to go home.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I don't blame you.”

He reached across the street and took her hand, squeezing it gently. She looked at him, about to say something when the person behind them honked. He laughed nervously and put his hands back on the wheel, guiding them down the street. Sam looked out the window, not meeting his eyes.

He turned onto her street and pulled up beside the house. Sam gasped, and he turned to look at her. She closed her eyes in a quiet curse. Daniel looked at the house. Someone was sitting on Sam's steps. “Mark?”

She nodded, unbuckling her seatbelt and getting out of the car quickly. Her brother stood, crossing his arms over his chest. Daniel undid his own seatbelt and followed Sam out, touching her arm gently to remind her that he was still there. She looked at him with a grateful smile as Mark approached.

“You were gone,” Mark observed.

“Forced vacation,” Sam explained. “Mark, this is Daniel... Daniel, my brother, Mark. Daniel lost someone that night, too. We've been coping together.”

Mark's expression didn't change much. Daniel looked at her. “Sam, if you--”

“You're staying, Daniel. I need you,” she told him. She looked at her brother for a moment and shook her head. “You should have told me you'd be here tonight, Mark. And I don't appreciate you judging me. You have no idea what I've been through.”

She pushed past her brother and walked up to the door, opening it and stalking inside. Daniel looked at Mark. “She's taking this really hard. She blames herself.”

Mark studied Daniel for a moment. He looked at the house for a second and back at Daniel. “Who are you? Really?”

“I'm an archaeologist,” Daniel answered softly. “But if you're asking what I mean to your sister, I'm just a friend. A very good friend. That's all.”

Mark snorted derisively. “Somehow, I doubt that.”