Love is Never What You Think


Author: Heather


E-Mail: geek@archaeologist.com


Summary: Jack tells Daniel about Sam's engagement with Pete, and things take an interesting turn from there.


Pairing: Sam and Daniel


Spoilers: Very big one for the episode Affinity (so if you haven't seen Affinity you shouldn't read this).


Season: 8


Rating: PG-13


Warnings: None


Category: Hurt/Comfort


Disclaimers: I don't own Stargate SG-1 or anyone on the show. But, hey, if you want to sue me I hope you don't want anything of any value because I don't have anything like that… just a ton of love for Stargate and Daniel Jackson.


A/N: I had to write something after seeing the episode Affinity.  I felt so bad that Sam didn't talk to Daniel about Pete asking her to marry him, and she even didn't say anything to him when he asked about how she and Pete were doing. Feedback is always great.

 

 

 Daniel sat in his office looking at his computer.

 

 "Knock, knock."
 
 "Hey, Jack."

 

He didn't have to even look up to know that it was Jack because of his little form of knocking.

 

 "Hey Danny, I wanted to know if you've talked to Sam in the last two weeks."

 

Daniel looked up from his computer.

 

 "A little, why?"

 

 "Well, has she talked to you about Pete?"

 

 "No. I mean I asked her how things were going and she said that they were fine."

 

 "So she didn't tell you that he asked her to marry him, did she?"

 

Daniel dropped the pen that he had in his hand.

 

 "What? He asked her what?? Wow… no, she didn't say anything about that."

 

Daniel forced himself to breathe. How did Jack know this and not him? Had he overheard her talking to someone or had he just guessed it or what??

 

"Did she tell you?"

 

 "Yeah, she was asking for my advice."

 

She had gone to Jack before she had gone to him. Had he done something to upset her? Why hadn't she even asked him about it?

 

"You okay, Danny?"

 

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Um… do you know what she said?"

 

"I think she was going to say yes. I don't know if she has told him yet."

 

"Is she still here or has she gone home?"

 

Jack gave him a long look before he answered.

 

"I think she said that she was leaving at…"

 

He paused to look at his watch.

 

"…21:30."

 

Daniel looked at the clock on his computer, which read 21:00. He had 30 minutes to find Sam and talk to her before he lost her forever.

 

 "Daniel, what’s up with you? You’re acting a little weird; do you want to talk about something?"

 

 "No, I'm fine."

 

 "No, because when someone says they’re okay, then they’re okay, but if a person says they’re fine it means that they’re not fine, but they don't want me to know that they’re not fine."

 

Daniel looked up at Jack.  // Well I have to give him some credit because that’s what does always seem to happen, doesn’t it? //

 

 "Does Teal'c know that Pete asked Sam to marry her?"

 

Jack gave Daniel a very confused look, as if his question had made no sense.

 

 "Yeah, I think Sam told him the other day."

 

So she had told everyone but him. Why did this always seem to happen to him? When it was something small, he was always told, but when anything big came up he was the outsider again. That’s how it was when he was a kid; it always seemed to be that way since he was 8, when his parents died. Everyone gave him pity but no one ever really seemed to truly give a damn. He could remember being asked to go places just because people felt bad about leaving him alone. The other kids were just nice to him because their parents asked them to be. He never really knew what it was like to have friends as he grew up and as he was an adult.

 

Then he joined the SGC and went to Abydos, and fell in love with Sha’re, the most beautiful women in the world. But no matter how much he loved her, he didn't have the power to save her. He lost her along with everything else he ever cared about.  He couldn't save his parents, he couldn't save Sarah, Ke'ra, he couldn't even save himself.

 

 "Hey, Earth to Danny, are you there?"

 

Daniel jumped as Jack pulled him from his train of thought.

 

 "Uh, yeah… sorry, I was just somewhere else." He rubbed his eyes with his hands.

 

 "Well, I saw that. Are you sure you’re okay?"

 

 "Yeah, I said I was fine, didn't I?"

 

 "Yeah, that's it, you said you were fine; not okay, but fine."

 

 "Well, then if I say I'm okay will you leave me the hell alone?"

 

 "No, something is eating at you and you’re not telling me, so I'm not leaving until you tell me."

 

 "It's nothing."

 

He tried to avoid Jack’s eyes.

 

 "Come on, Danny-Boy, throw me a bone."

 

 "Jack, there's no bone to throw to you, okay? I'm fine, alright?"

 

 "Daniel, please. I'm not that stupid. I mean, I know I'm not super smart, but I'm not a complete moron so please tell me what’s eating you."

 

 "Well, you may think that you’re not that stupid, but the fact that you haven't picked up that even if there is something bothering me I don't want to talk about it with you," he snapped at Jack.

 

He really just wanted to be alone. He had even lost the thought of going to see Sam before she left.  He was sure that he couldn’t do anything about her not telling him about Pete by sitting in her office 5 minutes before she was going home to be with Pete.

 

 "Okay, well I'll just pop in again tomorrow to see how you’re doing."

 

With that Jack left Daniel's office to silence again. Daniel looked at the clock on his computer: 3 minutes until Sam left the SGC. He looked at the web page that had been up when Jack had come in. It was a page on the Celtic God from Ireland, Ogma. He was known as champion of the gods, also described as 'Sun-faced'.

 

 He looked back down at the clock: one minute until Sam left … 40 seconds, 30, 20, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6…

 

 "Hey, Daniel."

 

He looked up to see Sam standing in his office doorway.

 

"Hi, how are you?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

 

"Not too great. I really wanted to talk to you if you’re not too busy?" She pointed to the back of his computer.

 

 "Oh no, this can wait." He said as he minimized the window.

 

"So what’s up?"

 

He could tell she was uneasy about something by the way she was fiddling with her hands as she sat in a chair across from his desk.

 

 "Well, I really wanted to talk to you about this a lot earlier, but I was a little scared to because of how I have been feeling lately."

 

Daniel got up from behind his desk and slid into the chair next to her. He knew that she was talking about her and Pete.

 

"I don't know if anyone told you, but Pete proposed to me."

 

He nodded to show her he was listening.

 

"And, well, I said yes."

 

He took a few hidden deep breaths.

 

"But I don't know if it was what I really wanted. To tell the truth, I don't know what I want right now."

 

She was very upset, and part of him wanted to pull her into a hug and tell her everything was going to be okay, but the other wanted to yell at her and ask why wasn't he the first one she had told.

 

 But he did neither; he just sat there looking at her as her eyes grew large and red as the tears filled them.

 

 "Daniel, say something."

 

But no word came to him.

 

"Please, Daniel!" she half-yelled at him as the tears start sweeping down her cheeks. He wanted to say something but he couldn't get any words out. He forced himself to pull her into his arms and try and comfort her that way. He rocked her slowly in his arms. God, what was he supposed to say to her? Why did she want him to talk so badly?
 
 "Sam."

 

Okay, one word. She looked up at him.

 

"I… well… I hope you have a great life with Pete."

 

He pulled away from Sam and moved slowly away from her. He moved his gaze to the floor, afraid if he looked at her he would start crying and right now he needed to be strong.

 

"Daniel, please don't do this to the team."

 

He didn't need to try and be mad after that.

 

"The team."  He let out a short laugh. "The team… you think this about the team?" He gave a few more laughs.

 

"This has nothing to do with the damn team. Okay, this is about you and me; this is about how I feel about you. But that dosen't matter anymore, okay? So why don't you go home to Pete and leave me here to rot."

 

He got up and walked back over to his computer. He could hear Sam crying even harder now.

 

 "Daniel Jackson, look at me."

 

He know he should have given her the chance to yell in his face and tell him how much she hated him, and how all of SG-1 just felt sorry for him.  He could hear her walk around the desk, but he didn't expect her to grab his arm and turn him to face her, and he didn't expect the slap on the face that followed that.

 

 "You think that's it, that I don't care about you at all. Well, I have news for you Dr. Daniel Jackson.  I have always loved you and I still do, but I never knew that you loved me back. I have spent so many nights dreaming about being in your arms."

 

He held his hand to the spot on his face where she had hit him.

 

 "Then why did you tell Pete yes?"

 

He saw the tears gather in her eyes again and she pushed herself into his arms.  All he could do in response was put his arms around her and pull her closer.
 
 "Because I thought you didn't love me the way I love you, Daniel. I know we're close friends, but my love for you is stronger than is meant to be between two close friends. You have no idea what it’s like to love someone that’s a close friend and they don't love you back the same way."

 

He put his hand over her month and leaned in closer to her.
 
 "Samantha Carter, when did I ever say I didn't love you? Because I have loved you longer than I ever should have. I loved you when Sha’re was still alive."

 

 She looked at him with her big blue eyes. 

 

"Sam, I have and still do love you, and nothing in the world will change that."

 

She put her hand on his cheek where she had hit him.
 
 "I'm sorry about that."

 

He knew she was talking about the slap.


"I know."

 

She pulled his face down to hers and laid her lips on his, but he know he had to do the right thing. He forced his lips away from hers, and she looked at him confused as he pulled away.

 

 "I'm sorry, Sam. I love you, but I can't do this with you while you’re wearing that ring.  You have Pete in your heart and until you end that I can't mess up your life by trying to change that."

 

She opened her mouth to say something but he put his index finger over her lips.

 

"Sam, I don't want to do anything that you will have to hide from Pete."
 
 "I guess if we've waited 8 years, a little longer shouldn't kill us."

 

She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek and left his office.

 

 

  ~END~