Fic-Turn Around-Ch 5 Sam/Daniel (PG)
Fandom: Stargate: SG1
Pairing: Sam/Daniel
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance
Note: Usual disclaimers apply, I don't own anything and my betas rock. Yay. <3
******
Sometimes, Sam really wished she would be wrong once in awhile. Her remark to Daniel the previous day about uncomplicated missions ending up being the dangerous ones was proving far too accurate. The mission had started off as planned, and they were almost ready to head back to Earth when a major dust storm had kicked up.
"What the hell, Carter?" Jack had shouted over the wind. "You didn't mention anything from the recent scans about problems with the weather!"
"There were no warning signs, sir! Nothing indicated we'd be in for any kind of trouble!" Sam had called back. Blinded and choking on the whirling sand, they couldn't make it back to the gate. They'd taken refuge in a small cave at the bottom of the rocky cliffs which edged one side of the village they were in. Once they were out of the immediate threat, they each poured a little bit of water from their water bottles on cloths from their packs and used them to rid their eyes of sand, but they found themselves limited in what they could do to slow their coughing. They leaned against the walls of the cave, breathing heavily.
"Carter," started Jack, "how long until this is gonna pass?" Sam was reading her scanner intently.
"I can't say, sir. As I said before, it came out of nowhere, and I can't seem to make sense of these readings. As far as I can tell, we'll be here awhile."
"A time, Carter." Jack said, irritation obvious in his voice.
"I told you, sir. I don't know. Best guess....anywhere from 12-48 hours. These atmospheric readings are all over the place. I can't narrow it down any more than that." Sam was becoming increasingly annoyed by the way Jack was acting. As if the dust storm was somehow her fault.
"Keep an eye on the readings. Update me as soon as you know what's going on." Jack said, a bit petulantly.
"Of course, sir." Sam said, putting extra emphasis on the sir. She sighed in obvious irritation and turned back to checking her scanner.
"I'm going to have a look around in here." Jack said, standing up. "Teal'c, you're with me." he headed deeper into the cave. Teal'c inclined his head slightly before following. When they were both out of sight, Sam dropped her head backwards to lean against the wall in exasperation.
"God he's being obnoxious today," she muttered as she had another look at the atmospheric readings. "Daniel, would you mind having a look at these? I dunno, maybe you'll come up with some pattern I'm not seeing." Daniel walked across the cave to sit next to her, leaning over to have a look at what she was holding.
"Doesn't look like much of anything to me," he said. He took it from her hands, his thumb brushing the side of her hand as he took it. A slight flush began to rise in Sam's cheeks and she coughed again to try and cover it. She couldn't explain the heat rising in her face. She was grateful that Daniel didn't seem to notice what was going on, he was so focused on the readings in front of him. He did look up as she coughed, though, and looked at her with concern.
"Are you alright, Sam?" he asked. The coughing had seemed to have ceased a while ago.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sam said. "Thanks. I'll just grab some water." She opened her pack and pulled out her water bottle, taking a small sip. "So, anything?" Daniel sighed.
"Nothing. You're right, these readings are completely erratic. I don't think there's anything we can do for the moment but wait it out." He set the scanner on top of Sam's pack in front of them. His hands dropped to his sides and began tracing simple patterns in the dust on the cave floor. As he drew a particularly large circle, his finger passed over the width of the back of Sam's hand. She didn't move, just turned to look at him and smiled.
*********
Three days later, SG-1 were still stuck on the planet. The dust storm had died off a day and a half before, but the DHD wasn't responding. They weren't sure what was wrong with it, but assumed the weather had done some sort of damage. Unfortunately, there wasn't a power source around strong enough for them to be able to dial home manually, so Sam and Daniel had spent much of the last 18 hours studying the DHD and trying to figure out what had gone wrong. They weren't making much progress but were thankful that after the first night, Jack seemed to have dropped his snarky attitude towards Sam. As she continued to carefully inspect the DHD for any outward sign of damage, her radio buzzed.
"Carter, any luck?"
"No, Sir. None so far." Sam said, obviously frustrated by her lack of progress.
"You and Daniel have been working for 18 hours solid. I want you back at the cave in ten minutes or I'm coming out there and making the two of you get back here." Sam sat back from the DHD and sighed.
"On our way, Sir." She looked at Daniel. "Looks like we've got orders." He nodded and stood up, offering her his hand to pull her to standing as well. She accepted and brushed the sand off her backside once she was up. They turned to start walking back towards the cave, and arrived in record time.
"So here's the deal. You guys need to rest. We need to track down something to eat, because our rations are not going to last us much longer. Teal'c and I are going to head off. You two get some sleep while we aren't here."
"Since, you know, we can't sleep with the two of you talking us to death," Daniel said, eliciting an eyebrow raise from Teal'c.
"Yeah, sure, Daniel. You guys have got probably two hours. We'll buy you more time if we can, but we've really got to get that DHD figured out so we can get back to Earth." With that, Jack and Teal'c grabbed their packs and headed off.
"I don't even know if I'm going to be able to sleep." Sam said. "I'm so frustrated with that stupid DHD!' She kicked at a rock angrily, sending it skittering off into the darkness further into the cave. "It never takes me this long to figure this stuff out." She dropped herself to the floor next to her pack and opened it roughly, yanking out the blanket stowed inside. Daniel dropped more gently to the ground beside her and rested a hand on her back, trying to relax some of the tension he felt there by rubbing gently.
"You'll figure it out. You always do." Sam turned to look at him. Seemingly embarrassed, he quickly pulled his hand from her back and turned his gaze from her to some unknown point in space two feet above her head.
"Daniel." Sam's voice was softer and more calm than it had been, and he dragged his eyes to refocus on her. "Thank you." She leaned over and placed a light kiss on his cheek before pulling the standard-issue air force blanket around her shoulders and leaning back against the wall of the cave. Daniel smiled.
"You're welcome," he said as he pulled out his own blanket and scooted over so he was sitting directly next to Sam, their sides touching. He threw his own blanket over their laps. Sam's eyes were already half closed, but she felt the blanket land on her lap and smiled, fumbling her hand over until it rested on top of Daniel's.
"Thanks," she mumbled again. Daniel smiled, though she couldn't see it through her closed lids, and slipped his hand out from underneath hers to pull lightly on her shoulder. She leaned to the side, stopping when her head met his shoulder. Daniel lifted his arm around her and gave her a light hug before pulling his arm back.
"Night, Sam." He said softly, feeling more relaxed than he had in months, despite their situation.
*********
Another two days passed, with still no luck repairing the unseen damage to the DHD. Sam and Daniel were just about to take a break for something to eat when the stargate swirled into action. Sam hit the button on her radio.
"Colonel O'Neill! Stargate is activated!"
"On my way, Carter." Came the brief response. Sam knew that Jack and Teal'c had hit the ground running. She and Daniel stood up quickly as a set of vaguely familiar faces came running through the gate.
"Major Carter! Dr. Jackson!" came a shout. Sam peered closely at the newcomers as the stargate shut itself tightly. Sam was relieved to see one of the members of the SG team carrying a portable power generator. She walked towards them.
"SG-15 reporting, Major. When SG-1 repeatedly did not check in, General Hammond sent us on a search and rescue. Where have you been?" Sam sighed.
"Here. There was a massive, unexpected dust storm and we've been unable to activate the DHD since it ended." Sam's limbs suddenly felt weak with relief. "We're all okay, but with no DHD and no way to manually activate the gate, we couldn't get back and couldn't call."
"We're glad to see you're alright, Major." Said SG-15's leader. Just then, Jack and Teal'c arrived.
"Colonel O'Neill!"
"Nice to see you, boys." Jack addressed the entirety of the team. "You bring something to get us back home?" One of the newer members of SG-15, someone Jack didn't recognise, held up the power generator he carried. "Perfect. Can we get out of here?" Sam laughed, more out of sheer relief than actual humour.
*********
Noting the past-exhausted state of SG-1 when they came stumbling through the gate not long after SG-15 had been sent to retrieve them, General Hammond ordered them home.
"It's 1900 hours anyway. Go home. Get some sleep. We'll debrief at 0800." his tone clearly indicated there was no room for debate.
"Yes, sir." They muttered nearly in unison.
"We're glad you're home, SG-1." General Hammond said.
The team made their way slowly to the locker areas to stow their things and pick up what they needed to take home.
"I have to get something from my office," Sam said. "I'll see you guys in the morning."
Twenty minutes later, Daniel was peering inside Sam's office. She was leaning over her computer, typing rapidly.
"Sam." he said, causing her to jump.
"Daniel! Don't sneak up on me. You scared the crap out of me!" she lectured.
"Sorry. Sorry!" He said quickly, holding his hands up in surrender. "I thought you were just picking something up."
"I was..." Sam replied reluctantly. "But then I thought maybe I should type up some of my notes, you know, while it's still fresh."
"No. You need to listen to General Hammond. Go home. Get some sleep." Daniel said firmly.
"I don't see you taking off in any kind of a hurry."
"I waited because I know you well enough to know you'd pull something like this." Daniel raised his eyebrows at her, and Sam smiled sheepishly.
"Fine." She clicked a few more buttons on her computer, clearly saving her work, and shut it down. Pulling her jacket from the back of her chair, she stood up and slid her arms into the sleeves. "Let's go." she said.
They went to the parking garage together and as he had before, Daniel walked Sam to her car. "God, it's going to feel good to get home." Sam said. "I'm desperate for a shower. Not sleeping sitting up will feel pretty great too." Daniel grinned.
"Yeah."
Sam threw her purse into the backseat of the car. "I'm not gonna lie though, it's going to be weird being alone." She laughed. "You'd think I'd be used to it by now." Daniel shrugged.
"Not necessarily." He said. "Hell up until five years ago I was never happier than when I was alone, and now even I think it's going to be weird going home to an empty house." Sam nodded, a response on the tip of her tongue but she bit it back.
"See you in the morning?" she said instead, her voice lifting at the end even though it wasn't really a question.
"Yeah." Daniel said. Sam wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug and Daniel returned the gesture. His arms slid around her waist, pulling her tightly to him. Sam felt a warmth in the pit of her stomach which quickly spread to her extremities and slid her hands down his arms. He loosened his hold slightly to look at her questioningly. For the second time in recent history, Sam gave in to an impulse. She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. After a clearly startled moment, he responded. The kiss was short and chaste, and unlike the last time she'd been impulsive, Sam didn't feel even the slightest twinge of doubt.
"Goodnight, Sam." Daniel said softly as he reluctantly pulled his hands from her hips.
"Night, Daniel." Sam replied, climbing carefully into her car to drive away.
Pairing: Sam/Daniel
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance
Note: Usual disclaimers apply, I don't own anything and my betas rock. Yay. <3
******
Sometimes, Sam really wished she would be wrong once in awhile. Her remark to Daniel the previous day about uncomplicated missions ending up being the dangerous ones was proving far too accurate. The mission had started off as planned, and they were almost ready to head back to Earth when a major dust storm had kicked up.
"What the hell, Carter?" Jack had shouted over the wind. "You didn't mention anything from the recent scans about problems with the weather!"
"There were no warning signs, sir! Nothing indicated we'd be in for any kind of trouble!" Sam had called back. Blinded and choking on the whirling sand, they couldn't make it back to the gate. They'd taken refuge in a small cave at the bottom of the rocky cliffs which edged one side of the village they were in. Once they were out of the immediate threat, they each poured a little bit of water from their water bottles on cloths from their packs and used them to rid their eyes of sand, but they found themselves limited in what they could do to slow their coughing. They leaned against the walls of the cave, breathing heavily.
"Carter," started Jack, "how long until this is gonna pass?" Sam was reading her scanner intently.
"I can't say, sir. As I said before, it came out of nowhere, and I can't seem to make sense of these readings. As far as I can tell, we'll be here awhile."
"A time, Carter." Jack said, irritation obvious in his voice.
"I told you, sir. I don't know. Best guess....anywhere from 12-48 hours. These atmospheric readings are all over the place. I can't narrow it down any more than that." Sam was becoming increasingly annoyed by the way Jack was acting. As if the dust storm was somehow her fault.
"Keep an eye on the readings. Update me as soon as you know what's going on." Jack said, a bit petulantly.
"Of course, sir." Sam said, putting extra emphasis on the sir. She sighed in obvious irritation and turned back to checking her scanner.
"I'm going to have a look around in here." Jack said, standing up. "Teal'c, you're with me." he headed deeper into the cave. Teal'c inclined his head slightly before following. When they were both out of sight, Sam dropped her head backwards to lean against the wall in exasperation.
"God he's being obnoxious today," she muttered as she had another look at the atmospheric readings. "Daniel, would you mind having a look at these? I dunno, maybe you'll come up with some pattern I'm not seeing." Daniel walked across the cave to sit next to her, leaning over to have a look at what she was holding.
"Doesn't look like much of anything to me," he said. He took it from her hands, his thumb brushing the side of her hand as he took it. A slight flush began to rise in Sam's cheeks and she coughed again to try and cover it. She couldn't explain the heat rising in her face. She was grateful that Daniel didn't seem to notice what was going on, he was so focused on the readings in front of him. He did look up as she coughed, though, and looked at her with concern.
"Are you alright, Sam?" he asked. The coughing had seemed to have ceased a while ago.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sam said. "Thanks. I'll just grab some water." She opened her pack and pulled out her water bottle, taking a small sip. "So, anything?" Daniel sighed.
"Nothing. You're right, these readings are completely erratic. I don't think there's anything we can do for the moment but wait it out." He set the scanner on top of Sam's pack in front of them. His hands dropped to his sides and began tracing simple patterns in the dust on the cave floor. As he drew a particularly large circle, his finger passed over the width of the back of Sam's hand. She didn't move, just turned to look at him and smiled.
*********
Three days later, SG-1 were still stuck on the planet. The dust storm had died off a day and a half before, but the DHD wasn't responding. They weren't sure what was wrong with it, but assumed the weather had done some sort of damage. Unfortunately, there wasn't a power source around strong enough for them to be able to dial home manually, so Sam and Daniel had spent much of the last 18 hours studying the DHD and trying to figure out what had gone wrong. They weren't making much progress but were thankful that after the first night, Jack seemed to have dropped his snarky attitude towards Sam. As she continued to carefully inspect the DHD for any outward sign of damage, her radio buzzed.
"Carter, any luck?"
"No, Sir. None so far." Sam said, obviously frustrated by her lack of progress.
"You and Daniel have been working for 18 hours solid. I want you back at the cave in ten minutes or I'm coming out there and making the two of you get back here." Sam sat back from the DHD and sighed.
"On our way, Sir." She looked at Daniel. "Looks like we've got orders." He nodded and stood up, offering her his hand to pull her to standing as well. She accepted and brushed the sand off her backside once she was up. They turned to start walking back towards the cave, and arrived in record time.
"So here's the deal. You guys need to rest. We need to track down something to eat, because our rations are not going to last us much longer. Teal'c and I are going to head off. You two get some sleep while we aren't here."
"Since, you know, we can't sleep with the two of you talking us to death," Daniel said, eliciting an eyebrow raise from Teal'c.
"Yeah, sure, Daniel. You guys have got probably two hours. We'll buy you more time if we can, but we've really got to get that DHD figured out so we can get back to Earth." With that, Jack and Teal'c grabbed their packs and headed off.
"I don't even know if I'm going to be able to sleep." Sam said. "I'm so frustrated with that stupid DHD!' She kicked at a rock angrily, sending it skittering off into the darkness further into the cave. "It never takes me this long to figure this stuff out." She dropped herself to the floor next to her pack and opened it roughly, yanking out the blanket stowed inside. Daniel dropped more gently to the ground beside her and rested a hand on her back, trying to relax some of the tension he felt there by rubbing gently.
"You'll figure it out. You always do." Sam turned to look at him. Seemingly embarrassed, he quickly pulled his hand from her back and turned his gaze from her to some unknown point in space two feet above her head.
"Daniel." Sam's voice was softer and more calm than it had been, and he dragged his eyes to refocus on her. "Thank you." She leaned over and placed a light kiss on his cheek before pulling the standard-issue air force blanket around her shoulders and leaning back against the wall of the cave. Daniel smiled.
"You're welcome," he said as he pulled out his own blanket and scooted over so he was sitting directly next to Sam, their sides touching. He threw his own blanket over their laps. Sam's eyes were already half closed, but she felt the blanket land on her lap and smiled, fumbling her hand over until it rested on top of Daniel's.
"Thanks," she mumbled again. Daniel smiled, though she couldn't see it through her closed lids, and slipped his hand out from underneath hers to pull lightly on her shoulder. She leaned to the side, stopping when her head met his shoulder. Daniel lifted his arm around her and gave her a light hug before pulling his arm back.
"Night, Sam." He said softly, feeling more relaxed than he had in months, despite their situation.
*********
Another two days passed, with still no luck repairing the unseen damage to the DHD. Sam and Daniel were just about to take a break for something to eat when the stargate swirled into action. Sam hit the button on her radio.
"Colonel O'Neill! Stargate is activated!"
"On my way, Carter." Came the brief response. Sam knew that Jack and Teal'c had hit the ground running. She and Daniel stood up quickly as a set of vaguely familiar faces came running through the gate.
"Major Carter! Dr. Jackson!" came a shout. Sam peered closely at the newcomers as the stargate shut itself tightly. Sam was relieved to see one of the members of the SG team carrying a portable power generator. She walked towards them.
"SG-15 reporting, Major. When SG-1 repeatedly did not check in, General Hammond sent us on a search and rescue. Where have you been?" Sam sighed.
"Here. There was a massive, unexpected dust storm and we've been unable to activate the DHD since it ended." Sam's limbs suddenly felt weak with relief. "We're all okay, but with no DHD and no way to manually activate the gate, we couldn't get back and couldn't call."
"We're glad to see you're alright, Major." Said SG-15's leader. Just then, Jack and Teal'c arrived.
"Colonel O'Neill!"
"Nice to see you, boys." Jack addressed the entirety of the team. "You bring something to get us back home?" One of the newer members of SG-15, someone Jack didn't recognise, held up the power generator he carried. "Perfect. Can we get out of here?" Sam laughed, more out of sheer relief than actual humour.
*********
Noting the past-exhausted state of SG-1 when they came stumbling through the gate not long after SG-15 had been sent to retrieve them, General Hammond ordered them home.
"It's 1900 hours anyway. Go home. Get some sleep. We'll debrief at 0800." his tone clearly indicated there was no room for debate.
"Yes, sir." They muttered nearly in unison.
"We're glad you're home, SG-1." General Hammond said.
The team made their way slowly to the locker areas to stow their things and pick up what they needed to take home.
"I have to get something from my office," Sam said. "I'll see you guys in the morning."
Twenty minutes later, Daniel was peering inside Sam's office. She was leaning over her computer, typing rapidly.
"Sam." he said, causing her to jump.
"Daniel! Don't sneak up on me. You scared the crap out of me!" she lectured.
"Sorry. Sorry!" He said quickly, holding his hands up in surrender. "I thought you were just picking something up."
"I was..." Sam replied reluctantly. "But then I thought maybe I should type up some of my notes, you know, while it's still fresh."
"No. You need to listen to General Hammond. Go home. Get some sleep." Daniel said firmly.
"I don't see you taking off in any kind of a hurry."
"I waited because I know you well enough to know you'd pull something like this." Daniel raised his eyebrows at her, and Sam smiled sheepishly.
"Fine." She clicked a few more buttons on her computer, clearly saving her work, and shut it down. Pulling her jacket from the back of her chair, she stood up and slid her arms into the sleeves. "Let's go." she said.
They went to the parking garage together and as he had before, Daniel walked Sam to her car. "God, it's going to feel good to get home." Sam said. "I'm desperate for a shower. Not sleeping sitting up will feel pretty great too." Daniel grinned.
"Yeah."
Sam threw her purse into the backseat of the car. "I'm not gonna lie though, it's going to be weird being alone." She laughed. "You'd think I'd be used to it by now." Daniel shrugged.
"Not necessarily." He said. "Hell up until five years ago I was never happier than when I was alone, and now even I think it's going to be weird going home to an empty house." Sam nodded, a response on the tip of her tongue but she bit it back.
"See you in the morning?" she said instead, her voice lifting at the end even though it wasn't really a question.
"Yeah." Daniel said. Sam wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug and Daniel returned the gesture. His arms slid around her waist, pulling her tightly to him. Sam felt a warmth in the pit of her stomach which quickly spread to her extremities and slid her hands down his arms. He loosened his hold slightly to look at her questioningly. For the second time in recent history, Sam gave in to an impulse. She leaned forward and kissed him softly on the lips. After a clearly startled moment, he responded. The kiss was short and chaste, and unlike the last time she'd been impulsive, Sam didn't feel even the slightest twinge of doubt.
"Goodnight, Sam." Daniel said softly as he reluctantly pulled his hands from her hips.
"Night, Daniel." Sam replied, climbing carefully into her car to drive away.