Chapter 2

A week had gone by … actually it drifted by, and Sam was blissfully unaware. The coffee maker in the faculty lounge had been fixed, unfortunately, so she didn’t have any excuse to patronize the coffee shop any longer. In a way she was glad, as she found herself extremely busy. Apart from putting her lectures together, she had to author a midterm exam.

She was in the middle of typing up a multiple-choice question when her eyes unconsciously drifted over to the post-it stuck to the side of her computer monitor. It was the piece of paper on which Daniel had written down his contact information and office room number. She smiled briefly as she thought of him. Their meeting hadn’t been on the best terms, but she found him endearing and forgave him for his clumsiness. It was good to have another friend to associate with, especially someone not from the same department. Listening to her colleagues discuss topics such as planetary shift, the possibility of life on Europa, and challenges to the Snowball Earth hypothesis, could get old after a while.

A knock on her office door pulled her from her thoughts of him, and she sighed heavily.

“Yeah,” she called out.

The department chair – a tall, thin, middle-aged man with glasses, short, graying hair, a beard and mustache – nodded and entered the room.

“Sam, I hate to bother you … “

She chuckled inwardly, still a bit surprised at how informal people were in this department. Back when she was at GWU, almost everyone referred to her as either “Doctor Carter” or “Ms. Carter.” She directed her gaze toward him and looked at him expectantly.

“… Did you receive the flyer for the next talk in the Provost’s Lecture Series … Balkin’s talk about seismic anisotropy of the mantle?”

“Oh … uh …” Sam began, flustered, as she quickly rummaged through the document bin on the corner of her desk.

“Yeah …” she finished, holding the flyer up for him to see.

“Great,” the man answered, relieved. “I somehow misplaced my copy, and I need to post it downstairs on the bulletin board near the Geosciences main office. Mind if I make a copy of this?”

"Uh … no, go right ahead,” she said, shaking her head. She eased up off her chair and handed the paper to him.

“Thanks,” he nodded, giving her a smile. “I’ll get this right back to you.”

She gave him an awkward smile back and nodded slowly as he left the room. She didn’t mind if he held onto it; she never found these talks to be very interesting, as they were mostly on strict geology or geochemistry. If someone would give a lecture on something pertaining to time dilation and black holes, or even intergalactic travel by means other than space ship across the galaxy, then maybe she’d consider attending.

Intergalactic travel by means other than space ship across the galaxy? Did she just think that? Wow, I must really be under a lot of stress, she thought to herself and chuckled inwardly as she finished the last of the multiple-choice questions.

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“At what temperature does the energy loss rate per unit volume peak for a gas of solar composition?” Sam muttered aloud as she typed up the second short answer question. She looked back at her notes, a bit uncertainly at first, and then nodded. She didn’t want to make the questions too difficult for her students, but she didn’t want them to be too easy either.

She was about to write up another question when she noticed a blinking red light nearly out of her field of vision. Her eyes wandered over to the right side of her desk, and she realized that the voicemail light on her phone was blinking. Sam was a bit puzzled; she checked her phone messages every morning when she came in, and was sure she’d notice it. She had been quite busy the past week, however. She was about to go back to writing up the exam, but curiosity got the better of her. She picked up the receiver and pressed the voicemail button.

“You have … one new message … sent Tuesday, April 8, 10:07 AM …”

Sam frowned. That was two days ago. Had she really gone two days without checking her voicemail?

“Ah … Hi, Samantha? I mean, Doctor Carter? I hope I have the right number,” a voice began in a sheepish tone.

Sam grinned as she recognized the voice immediately. It was her coffee companion.

“Ah, anyway, if this is you, it’s Daniel Jackson, from Anthropological Sciences; you know, the guy who spilled a mocha triple latte on you last week?”

She laughed softly, as his deep blush was evident in his voice.

“I haven’t seen you down at the Java House at all. I’ve been down there every morning, and I thought I’d see you. I hope my little mishap didn’t turn you off or anything,” he continued, uttering a short, nervous laugh.

“Anyway, ah … I guess you’re busy, but I hope to see you down there tomorrow morning. I’ll even treat, if it’s okay with you. Okay, I have to run. I’ll talk to you later … ah, hopefully.”

Click.

“End of new messages … to erase this message, press 7; to save it in the archives, press 3; to …”

Sam hit 3 on the phone, listened to the recording prattle on, and then slowly replaced the receiver on the cradle. She suddenly felt a twinge of guilt. Why hadn’t she listened to her voicemail earlier? Not only that, but why hadn’t she made the trip down to the coffee shop? It was only on the other side of the railroad tracks from the campus – a short walk. She certainly hadn’t minded going there before. She decided it was the convenience of using the coffee maker in the faculty lounge, which was only down the hall from her office. But, that was really a lame excuse. She thought about what a sweet man Doctor Jackson seemed to be, and how it would have been nice to sit with him each morning and talk.

Her guilt-ridden contemplation was interrupted by another knock on her door.

“It’s open.”

A man poked his head inside and smiled; the department chair, returning her flyer.

“Sorry for the delay, the Xerox machine was out of toner,” he smiled as he handed the piece of paper back to her.

“Thanks, Doctor McClellan,” she smiled.

The man raised his eyebrows at her.

“Uh ... sorry … Steve,” she corrected herself, laughing nervously. God, it was tough getting used to that.

He grinned and nodded, pointing a finger at her amusedly before turning to leave.

“Don’t forget, colloquium at four,” he reminded her as he exited.

“I’ll be there,” she called out half-heartedly to the empty doorway.

She sighed and turned back to her computer monitor, which now featured an outer space screen saver. Sam gathered her notes and went back to the exam. As she typed each question, the guilty thoughts at the back of her mind began nagging her. She turned back to the phone, agonizing over whether she should make a quick call …

She suddenly screwed her eyes shut and shook her head. What was she doing? She had a job to do, but her guilt was eating at her. She thought of Daniel as a potential friend, one that she could really use, and in a way it felt as though she was standing him up. She thought she owed him an explanation for her MIA status.

Post-it in hand, she dialed Daniel’s number. Her heart seemed to throb against her ribcage as she waited for someone to pick up. Why am I being so silly, she berated herself silently.

“Ah, hi, you’ve reached the office of Doctor Daniel Jackson. I’m either away from the office or really busy at the moment. Please leave a message after the tone and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you.”

Sam’s exhaled deeply and disappointment etched across her face. She had missed him. She was belaboring whether or not to leave a message when the tone sounded, giving her a cue.

“Um… h-hi, Doctor Jackson, it’s Doctor Samantha – er, Sam Carter from Earth and Space Sciences,” she began nervously, the fingers of her free hand tangling the phone cord.

“I got your message on my voicemail from the other day. Uh, sorry I took so long to get back to you, I’m usually on top of my phone messages,” she laughed sheepishly. “And sorry I haven’t been down to meet you for coffee. They … fixed the coffee maker in the faculty lounge here, and I’ve been so busy writing up a midterm exam for my students. I haven’t had much free time at all …”

Sam realized how long she was going on, and didn’t want Daniel to be any angrier with her than he probably was right now. She decided to cut it right there.

“I guess you’re not around. I’ll … I’ll try you again later,” she blurted out before hanging up.

She leaned forward, covered her hands with her face and sighed heavily. Suddenly, she felt that she didn’t have the heart to go back to the exam. She began seriously wondering what Daniel was doing, and where he could be right now. Should she take a walk over to Anthropological Sciences and see if she could find him?

“Oh, God, what am I doing?” she moaned softly. She had a responsibility as a professor to have the exam finished and ready to distribute to her students on Monday morning. True, she had tomorrow and the weekend to work on it, but she liked to have the weekends to relax. Plus, she hated saving things for the last minute.

She tried to formulate one more question, and after that, the post-it note written in Daniel’s handwriting did its best to distract her. She looked down at her watch and realized it was lunchtime. Perfect, she had an excuse. She quickly thought up a plan to grab a quick lunch in the food court nearby, and then head over to the Anthro department. It was only 1 pm. She had to attend a colloquium at 4, so at least she’d get a couple more hours to work on the exam.

**********************************************************

Sam looked around nervously as she made her way inside the imposing structure that was the SBS (Social and Behavioral Sciences) building. The seven-story building that housed the Anthropological Sciences department was located nearly across campus, probably a good mile away from Earth and Space Sciences. Luckily it was a nice, sunny day, so Sam didn’t mind the walk over there. As she looked around and checked out the sign with the department names and floor numbers, she felt as if she were a student again, trying to find the rooms that housed her classes.

Ah, Anthropological Sciences, sixth floor, she thought to herself and double-checked the note Daniel had given her as she waited for the elevator. As it arrived on the sixth floor, the doors opened and a strong smell of bean soup invaded her nostrils. Wow, someone really likes their Progresso, she thought as she passed one of the lounge areas, filled with professors and grad students chowing down on various comestibles. She afforded a quick look before she turned the corner, and continued on when she realized Daniel wasn’t there.

Sam’s heels produced a staccato-like rhythm as she briskly made her way down the corridor towards room 618, Daniel’s office. Her rhythm slowed a bit the closer she got, until she was standing right outside the room. Sam raked a nervous hand through her hair, wiped her sweaty palms on the sides of her skirt, and cleared her throat. She grew more nervous when she realized that his door was partly open. She couldn’t hear much sound coming from the room, apart from the occasional rustling of papers.

Sam crept up to the door and knocked timidly. No answer.

Guess he’s busy, she surmised, giving a tiny shrug. She sighed and turned to walk away when she stopped in her tracks. Why was she giving up? Her guilt over avoiding the man had guided her clear across campus during her lunch hour, and now she was ready to turn back? She turned back to the door, steeled herself and knocked a bit louder.

No answer.

Sam’s brow knitted in confusion. She gingerly pushed the door open and peered inside. Daniel Jackson – or at least someone who sort of resembled him – was sitting not at his desk, but at a small table in the center of the room. His glasses were perched on top of his head, he had a bit of five o’clock shadow, and his long hair was slightly unruly, nearly hanging in his eyes.

Sam felt her heart do a flip-flop when she witnessed him in this state. She’d never seen him without his glasses. Granted, she’d only seen him once, but she had to admit that he was quite an attractive man. Stop! she scolded herself. She knew having these kinds of feelings for someone she’d just met was inappropriate. Instead, she concentrated on how different he looked: the five o’clock shadow and the messy hair presented a picture of a man who hadn’t gotten much sleep. Her eyes traveled down and noticed that his buttoned down shirt was a bit rumpled. They began to wander down even further, when she stopped them and they began to wander back up to his face. The dark circles under his eyes were enough to make her pity him.

At that moment, she decided that maybe it was best if she left him alone. His appearance told her that he probably wasn’t in the mood for company right now. Somewhere deep inside her was the irrational possibility that he hated her – for lying to him and for practically blowing him off. Dropping in on him like this would just make it worse. She shook her head slightly and berated herself. Sam, you’re a grown woman; stop thinking like a child. Of course he doesn’t hate you.

In the end, her conscience won out, as she realized that he deserved an explanation in the very least, even if it was just “I’m sorry, I didn’t forget about you” and then leaving him to his own devices. She knocked once more, but Daniel failed to notice as he was concentrating intently on the papers before him.

“Uh … D-Doctor Jackson?” she stammered.

That got his attention.

Sam smiled sheepishly as Daniel finally looked up from his papers. He raised his eyebrows and his mouth opened slightly. The blonde sticking her head in between his door some 15 feet away looked a bit familiar, but he needed a better look.

His long bangs drooped forward even more as he removed the glasses from the top of his head, and perched them on his nose. Once his eyes adjusted to the sharper field of vision, he recognized the woman in front of him and his eyebrows flew up.

“Samantha?” he said, his voice small and a touch incredulous.

She could feel the warmth flooding her cheeks as he said her name. She smiled softly and nodded.

“You can call me ‘Sam’, though. All my friends call me that,” she said awkwardly, still smiling like a lovesick teenager.

Daniel’s brow creased a bit as he attempted to push his hair back from his face. “Oh. Well … okay,” he said curiously, his voice at odds with his body language as he shrugged.

Sam’s smile faded as she noticed him looking back down at the papers, tip of a red pen in the corner of his mouth. He removed it once to jot down a few notes on the paper. She could feel disappointment welling up inside her as he failed to acknowledge her presence any further.

“Uh, d-did I come at a bad time?” she stammered.

He looked back up at her abruptly and once he read the disappointment in her face, he edged up, returned the papers to his desk, and looked back at her with apologetic eyes.

“Samantha – Sam. Hello,” he said, smiling slightly. “I’m sorry, please …” He gestured for her to enter, which she did, closing the door behind her.

“I …” she hesitated, trying to decide how she should begin. “I’m sorry about being MIA; I’ve just been so busy.”

“I got your message,” he nodded. “It’s okay. I was just hoping to have someone to talk to, but if you were busy, I understand,” he conceded.

Sam gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks. I didn’t want you to think I was avoiding you or anything.”

Daniel smiled and shook his head. He noticed her looking him over again, and twitching a curious eyebrow at him.

“I … I must look like the living dead, huh?” he chuckled ruefully.

Sam grinned.

“Truth is, I’m just exhausted,” he continued. “I’ve been up late grading papers.” He turned to take a sip of the half-full cup of coffee to his left.

Sam cocked her head and her brow furrowed in confusion. “You’ve been here since last night?” she asked, seemingly perplexed.

Daniel started laughing, and in the process, spewed coffee all over the tabletop. Sam reflexively jumped back a couple of feet, afraid he’d get more coffee on her, and it made him laugh harder.

She looked at him curiously, then formed a slight smile and forced a soft laugh.

“Sorry,” he told her once he’d calmed down. “I’m not usually this giddy.”

“Too bad,” Sam said cheekily, smirking at him.

Daniel grinned. “Anyway, no, I haven’t been here all night. I took my work home, sat up and graded papers till 4 AM, then got here at 7.”

“You’ve only had three hours of sleep?” she asked him seriously.

“Actually more like two,” he said grimly.

“God, you must be exhausted!” she exclaimed.

He gave her a sheepish smile and shrugged.

“Why don’t you put that down and take a break? We could go outside and talk, or get some lunch, or –“

He held up his hands and interrupted her. “I wish I could, but I can’t.”

“You can’t?” she repeated incredulously.

Daniel shook his head wearily. “I really have to finish these.”

Sam felt as if a tiny part of her was dying as he rejected her offer. “You don’t want to?” she asked quietly.

Daniel chuckled softly. “It’s not that I don’t want to, I just can’t,” he insisted.

“You don’t even want lunch? You have to eat …” she trailed off, suddenly wondering why she was worrying about someone she didn’t know very well. Did his friendship really mean that much to her?

“It’s okay, one of the other faculty members will bring me something back.”

One of the other faculty members? Would this faculty member happen to be female? Uh-oh. Sam felt as if she’d been struck with a heavy blow. Was she actually beginning to cultivate feelings of jealousy? Over someone she hardly knew? Oh, boy.

Sam folded her arms and held her chin up with her right hand, as if she was seriously contemplating something. She tried to avoid Daniel’s bewildered gaze, but she found it impossible as she could see his expression out of the corner of her eye.

“Well … okay,” she sighed. “You don’t want to just take a little break and talk? I mean, I feel so bad for avoiding you like that, and –“

“Like I told you before, it’s okay,” he insisted. “And I’m really sorry, but I can’t – not right now. I promised my students I’d get these papers back to them by this afternoon.”

Sam put her dejected feelings on hold, sucked up and put on a happy face. “Those students can be manipulative little buggers, can’t they?” she said, smirking impishly.

Daniel shot her a surprised look. He obviously hadn’t known her long at all, but he certainly wasn’t expecting her to come out with that.

She noticed his reaction and her cheeks flamed.

“Uh …” she began awkwardly, emitting a tiny cough. “I mean … well, they are to me…”

Daniel’s incredulous look remained.

“I … I’m sorry, that was really stupid,” she said ruefully, shaking her head.

His lips edged up in a little smile, and his laugh was soft and affectionate.

“It’s okay,” he said kindly. “Look, I’m really sorry about this. I should have called you and told you I was busy.”

“Well … you didn’t know that I would drop by,” she conceded, still embarrassed.

Daniel shrugged, and then studied her face for a few moments. “Maybe not, but it would have been the polite thing to do. I guess that sounds ridiculous. I mean, we’ve only met, and I’ve already blown my first impression with you.”

Sam grinned. “Not in my opinion.”

Daniel’s cheeks flushed. He hesitated for a moment, and then gave her a little smile. “Well, I really should get back to these. I promise I’ll give you a call later this afternoon –“

“Oh, actually I have to attend a colloquium at 4,” she blurted out.

“Okay, then I’ll call you tomorrow morning. Sound good?”

Her lips edged upward in a smile and she nodded. “Yeah.”

“Great,” he smiled back.

She made her way to the door and turned back to give him one final smile before exiting. She had a warm feeling inside her as she made her way down the hall, but couldn’t help feeling slightly dejected all the same. She still felt overwhelmingly guilty for missing his call, and for not meeting him for coffee.

As she settled back into her office, and went back to writing up the midterm exam, she couldn’t help playing the events over in her mind, and wondering if she should have avoided barging in on him in the first place. After thinking about it for some time, she decided that it wasn’t a mistake; if she hadn’t done it, perhaps he would have given up on her altogether.

The hours passed quickly, and soon it was almost time for her to attend colloquium. She locked her office and made her way down to the seminar room on the first floor. She took notice of the flyer stuck on the small bulletin board outside the room, and rolled her eyes.

“Experimental Deformation of Forsterite and Fayalite.”

Sam hoped they would keep the lights on in the room; otherwise, she was sure to nod off.


To Chapter 3

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