Fic: Faith of Spirit 1/2
Happy Birthday, surrealphantast!!!
I can't make sparkly graphics (or any graphics, apparently, grr) but I can write you Birthday Fic and a music mix to go with it.
This story ended up being a lot more intense than I thought it would be. I just got completely drawn in by the angst here. I think you could even consider it a sort of pre-apocolypse fic, though whether the actual apocolypse comes to pass is unknown. Yet. *evil laugh*
Faith of Spirit Mix is here
This mix started with surrealphantast's prompt song, Africa by Toto and I added songs one by one as they seemed to fit for me. There's a Word doc with a song list and my thoughts on each of them in the zip file. Sadly, I am teh fail at graphics. There are a couple of pics there, but I've done nothing with them.
Warnings and Spoilers under the cut.
Hope you have a fabulous day Jenn and I hope you like the fic.
Faith of Spirit
By Courser
Pairing: Daniel/Cam/Sam
Rating: Adult
Spoilers: This story foreshadows an upcoming event in the last half of Season 10, but it’s not specific in any way. We know no more than the characters, here.
Summary: Sam, Cam and Daniel travel to Egypt to look at an Ancient artifact. What Daniel discovers there shakes him to his core. Sam and Cam show Daniel what he means to them.
A/N: I asked Jenn what she wanted for her birthday fic and she came back with a really interesting prompt. The Toto song Africa. Sam/Daniel or Cam/Sam/Daniel. Or anything, really ;) What came to me was haunting once I learned of a particular spoiler that I won’t describe here. There’s no need. Daniel simply knows he’s going to be called upon to do the incredible and impossible. Again.
Huge, gigantic thanks to katcorvi who served as my beta and support on this story. *smooches her*
I also want to thank azarsuerte and nunshavingfun for their music mixes. I’ve borrowed from them without asking and I ask their forgiveness for that. More detail in the music mix doc in the zipped file.
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As soon as they’d gotten Landry’s okay, Sam and Daniel had been on the next flight out for the East Coast, where they’d shoehorned themselves onto a commercial flight to Cairo. Eighteen hours with Sam’s head on his shoulder had given him time to think. Daniel couldn’t sleep and he’d read all the reports front to back more times than he could count. There’d been a discovery deep in the Egyptian desert. Something that just might help them in their fight against the Ori. It wasn’t the Sangraal, but it was written in Ancient nonetheless. What the hell it was doing in Egypt… well, some believed that the Ark of the Covenant resided even further south than Egypt. Anything was possible.
Mitchell had been off world with Teal’c and Vala and would be following as soon as he cleared medical. Numerous telephone calls had managed to secure them a room in one of the better hotels, but it was high season and decent rooms were hard to come by.
Sam sighed in her sleep and buried her nose in his shirt. Daniel glanced at the top of her head. She’d been awake for nearly 36 hours straight before they set out on their journey. Daniel envied her ability to sleep. Normally, he was as able as she was to pop off just about anywhere, but not this time. Something was bothering him - had bothered him since they’d met the Ori.
Daniel did not believe in evil portents or precognition, at least not in his own abilities for it. But something had taken up residence deep in his chest, extending its clammy fingers into his guts and playing along his spine, raising the hair on the back of his neck. It whispered in his ear in the dark of night. It wasn’t a nightmare, not exactly, and he’d had enough of them to know the difference. No, this was a sense of foreboding that had no real form. Simply, Very Bad Things Are Coming. He’d tried meditation to find the source of his unease, because it wasn’t the Ori. At least not the Ori in and of themselves. They’d faced formidable enemies before and overcome them. So what was haunting him? Daniel couldn’t help but fear that it was some essential piece of knowledge from when he’d been ascended. The answer was there but just out of reach.
Sam woke up and stretched when the pilot announced they were about to land. It was 21:30 local time and they dragged themselves through customs and baggage claim. An unmarked US government car picked them up and took them to their hotel. They checked in, finding that only one room was available. Too tired to argue, they took it and left a key at the desk for Mitchell.
In spite of the lavish appearance of the lobby, their room was small, stuffy and smelled faintly of cigarette smoke.
Daniel walked over to switch on the air conditioner.
The air that emerged from the old unit was barely any cooler than the room and smelled even more strongly of smoke.
“Shit. Can’t say it’s unexpected though,” he said tiredly, switching the air conditioner off. He was practically asleep on his feet. “Mind if I open the window?
“I don’t care. If I don’t lay down soon, I’m going to fall down,” Sam answered, already digging through her bag. She grabbed a few things and ducked into the bathroom.
Daniel opened the window and closed his eyes, breathing in Cairo. It didn’t smell all that different from when he’d been a graduate student. Automobile exhaust, cooking fires and exotic spices scented the air. It evoked pleasant memories and he hoped they might make his sleep easier and undisturbed.
Sam came out of the bath wearing a tee shirt and sleep pants. Her face was freshly scrubbed, the hair around her face damp and curling in tendrils.
“If it’s any consolation, the bathtub in there is almost bigger than my entire bathroom,” she remarked.
“Really?” Daniel took a few steps and poked his head inside. “Huh.”
Sam stripped the bedspread off, leaving it in a heap on the floor and slid between crisp white sheets.
“Did you want me to… uh…” Daniel began, pointing towards the tub with his thumb.
“What? Sleep in there? God, of course not. It’s not like we haven’t shared close quarters before, Daniel,” she answered, her voice already muffled by her pillow.
He found his own sleepwear and took his turn in the bathroom, reflecting that sharing a hotel bed with Sam didn’t feel quite the same as sharing a room or tent with her. But he was having trouble holding onto any thought for long right now and changed into a pair of pajama pants and clean athletic shirt. Stretching out on a bed sounded like heaven, no matter who else was in it.
When he came out, Sam had shut off the lamp on her nightstand. He tossed his clothes onto a chair and crawled into bed. Daniel put his glasses on the bedside table and shut off the light. For a long moment he lay on his back, looking up into the darkness. He resolved not to dwell on his growing unease lest it disturb his sleep. But some small part of him wanted to curl up around Sam. Feel her along the length of his body for what comfort she might offer. Instead, he turned onto his side towards her and let the sight of her blonde head suffice.
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Cam was too exhausted to wonder about the odd look the hotel’s night manager gave him when he checked in. He just took the key and waved the porter off. He had only his duffle and Cam had to assume that Sam and Jackson were already asleep. No reason to wake them with a fuss. He’d just creep into the room, quiet as a mouse, strip down to his skivvies and crawl into whatever bed was available.
Like any pilot, Mitchell loved to fly. But flying into the night after a full day’s mission was exhausting. Landry had pulled a lot of strings to allow him to take an F-16 to the airbase near Cairo. Ordinarily, a nice long flight would be a treat and a chance to keep his skills sharp. But Cam felt as wrung out as an old dishrag and probably smelled about as good.
“Great,” he muttered softly to himself when his eyes adjusted to the darkness of their room. One bed and Jackson and Sam were already in it. He made his way to the bathroom, dropping his duffle in the surprisingly huge bathtub. Closing the toilet, he sank down on it and put his face in his hands. Well, it wasn’t as if he had a problem sharing a bed with either of them, but it was only common courtesy to do something about his stench after stewing in his flight suit for hours on end.
Cam decided against a shower and ran water in the sink, giving himself a once over with a washcloth and hoping it’d be enough to keep them from kicking him out of bed. He changed into a clean pair of shorts and a tee shirt and shut off the light before opening the door. Padding over to Jackson’s side of the bed, he lifted the sheet and shook the sleeping man’s shoulder.
“Jackson. Shove over,” Cam whispered.
Daniel turned his upper body to look at Mitchell, eyes sleepy and squinting. With a soft groan, he slid closer to Sam, making room for their third. Cam gave a single lascivious thought to Daniel’s good fortune then shoved it away. He must be exhausted if he was having those kinds of thoughts. He usually self-edited better than that.
Cam got into bed and flopped onto his stomach, pulling a pillow under his head. Jackson’s back warmed his arm as he fell asleep.
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Sam woke to the scent and sound of Cairo beginning its day and a warm body at her back, an arm draped over her side. She immediately knew it as Daniel’s from the faint wheeze in his slow, even breath ruffling her hair. Sam felt no urgency to get up and disturb him. She was pretty sure he hadn’t slept at all on the flight over. She looked down at the hand curled softly against her stomach and a surge of affection for him warmed her. She shifted slightly and felt the brush of his morning erection against her thigh. It made her smile to know Daniel was as normal as the next guy but stilled herself. She didn’t want to wake him and be awkward about it.
Closing her eyes again, she heard a faint snore from beyond Daniel. Cam must have arrived and made himself at home. His presence didn’t chill her warm thoughts of Daniel. Sam easily slid into that twilight of half awareness where her mind wandered.
Daniel’s mouth is warm on her neck, his hand caressing her breasts as he slides into her from behind. Arching, she presses back into him, moving with his gentle thrusts, his breath against her ear…
Sam pulled herself out of that reflection when she felt her body move back into Daniel’s, seeking him out. It’d been a long time since she’d thought of him that way. Before Pete, even before she found herself longing for Jack. Back in the beginning, if it hadn’t been for Sha’re, she wondered what might have been. Why were those feelings coming back to her now? Sam didn’t have to dig deep to figure it out. She was terrified of losing him again. Of all of them, Daniel had the closest connection to the Ori and none of them knew what that might mean.
Quite abruptly, Sam was yanked out of her idle thoughts.
“Gah!” Daniel gasped loudly into her ear, as his pelvis and its accompanying morning wood rammed into her rear.
“What the-?” Sam grumped. Just because she’d been thinking about Daniel’s… parts, didn’t mean she wanted to be up-close-and-personal with them just now.
She felt Daniel make an abrupt movement and Cam yelped .
“Wha-huh?” Cam started awake and sat up. “What’d you do that for?”
“You kneed me in the ass! I figured I’d wake you up before you did something worse,” Daniel explained, casually taking his arm from around Sam.
Thus, the morning began, Cam and Daniel trading good-natured jibes, until Daniel finally shut Cam up with the offer to spoon with him next time.
“You don’t have any of the nice soft bits, but I guess I can make the sacrifice if it’ll shut you up,” Daniel said, the corners of his mouth turning up in the hint of a smile.
Cam looked a bit surprised that Daniel seemed to give it up so easily, but shrugged it off with, “That’s something I’ve always liked about you, Jackson. Always the optimist.”
Daniel suddenly sobered and Sam caught his muttered, “Not always.” Cam had already ducked into the bathroom for a shower.
Sam waited until she heard the water start up. “Daniel, you okay?” She asked. Daniel was rummaging around in his duffle and she stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“Yeah. No,” he answered, slumping down to sit on the bed. “I don’t know.”
He took his glasses off with one hand and rubbed his eyes with the other.
“Headache?” Sam asked.
“No, not that. I just have this…” he made a rolling motion with a hand near his chest, “really bad feeling. I can’t explain it. I thought I’d feel better once I got here, but now… The closer I get to it, the more I feel like I’m really not going to like what we find.”
She looked at him. He seemed hale and hearty, if a bit tired. “Do you think it might be something from when you were ascended?”
Daniel gave her a little smile. Other than Teal’c, Sam seemed the only one who could speak about his ascension in such a direct way. Everyone else seemed to want to dance around the subject.
“I think it could be,” he said after a moment. “I… I just don’t know, but it’s creepy as hell.”
Sam wasn’t sure what she could say to allay his fears. She only had her own training to rely on. “I guess the sooner we get there, the sooner you’ll know.”
“Yeah, guess so,” Daniel replied, sounding uneasy, but giving her a tight little smile. He gave her wrist a squeeze.
Continued in Pt. 2, here
I can't make sparkly graphics (or any graphics, apparently, grr) but I can write you Birthday Fic and a music mix to go with it.
This story ended up being a lot more intense than I thought it would be. I just got completely drawn in by the angst here. I think you could even consider it a sort of pre-apocolypse fic, though whether the actual apocolypse comes to pass is unknown. Yet. *evil laugh*
Faith of Spirit Mix is here
This mix started with surrealphantast's prompt song, Africa by Toto and I added songs one by one as they seemed to fit for me. There's a Word doc with a song list and my thoughts on each of them in the zip file. Sadly, I am teh fail at graphics. There are a couple of pics there, but I've done nothing with them.
Warnings and Spoilers under the cut.
Hope you have a fabulous day Jenn and I hope you like the fic.
Faith of Spirit
By Courser
Pairing: Daniel/Cam/Sam
Rating: Adult
Spoilers: This story foreshadows an upcoming event in the last half of Season 10, but it’s not specific in any way. We know no more than the characters, here.
Summary: Sam, Cam and Daniel travel to Egypt to look at an Ancient artifact. What Daniel discovers there shakes him to his core. Sam and Cam show Daniel what he means to them.
A/N: I asked Jenn what she wanted for her birthday fic and she came back with a really interesting prompt. The Toto song Africa. Sam/Daniel or Cam/Sam/Daniel. Or anything, really ;) What came to me was haunting once I learned of a particular spoiler that I won’t describe here. There’s no need. Daniel simply knows he’s going to be called upon to do the incredible and impossible. Again.
Huge, gigantic thanks to katcorvi who served as my beta and support on this story. *smooches her*
I also want to thank azarsuerte and nunshavingfun for their music mixes. I’ve borrowed from them without asking and I ask their forgiveness for that. More detail in the music mix doc in the zipped file.
<><><><><><><><><><><>
As soon as they’d gotten Landry’s okay, Sam and Daniel had been on the next flight out for the East Coast, where they’d shoehorned themselves onto a commercial flight to Cairo. Eighteen hours with Sam’s head on his shoulder had given him time to think. Daniel couldn’t sleep and he’d read all the reports front to back more times than he could count. There’d been a discovery deep in the Egyptian desert. Something that just might help them in their fight against the Ori. It wasn’t the Sangraal, but it was written in Ancient nonetheless. What the hell it was doing in Egypt… well, some believed that the Ark of the Covenant resided even further south than Egypt. Anything was possible.
Mitchell had been off world with Teal’c and Vala and would be following as soon as he cleared medical. Numerous telephone calls had managed to secure them a room in one of the better hotels, but it was high season and decent rooms were hard to come by.
Sam sighed in her sleep and buried her nose in his shirt. Daniel glanced at the top of her head. She’d been awake for nearly 36 hours straight before they set out on their journey. Daniel envied her ability to sleep. Normally, he was as able as she was to pop off just about anywhere, but not this time. Something was bothering him - had bothered him since they’d met the Ori.
Daniel did not believe in evil portents or precognition, at least not in his own abilities for it. But something had taken up residence deep in his chest, extending its clammy fingers into his guts and playing along his spine, raising the hair on the back of his neck. It whispered in his ear in the dark of night. It wasn’t a nightmare, not exactly, and he’d had enough of them to know the difference. No, this was a sense of foreboding that had no real form. Simply, Very Bad Things Are Coming. He’d tried meditation to find the source of his unease, because it wasn’t the Ori. At least not the Ori in and of themselves. They’d faced formidable enemies before and overcome them. So what was haunting him? Daniel couldn’t help but fear that it was some essential piece of knowledge from when he’d been ascended. The answer was there but just out of reach.
Sam woke up and stretched when the pilot announced they were about to land. It was 21:30 local time and they dragged themselves through customs and baggage claim. An unmarked US government car picked them up and took them to their hotel. They checked in, finding that only one room was available. Too tired to argue, they took it and left a key at the desk for Mitchell.
In spite of the lavish appearance of the lobby, their room was small, stuffy and smelled faintly of cigarette smoke.
Daniel walked over to switch on the air conditioner.
The air that emerged from the old unit was barely any cooler than the room and smelled even more strongly of smoke.
“Shit. Can’t say it’s unexpected though,” he said tiredly, switching the air conditioner off. He was practically asleep on his feet. “Mind if I open the window?
“I don’t care. If I don’t lay down soon, I’m going to fall down,” Sam answered, already digging through her bag. She grabbed a few things and ducked into the bathroom.
Daniel opened the window and closed his eyes, breathing in Cairo. It didn’t smell all that different from when he’d been a graduate student. Automobile exhaust, cooking fires and exotic spices scented the air. It evoked pleasant memories and he hoped they might make his sleep easier and undisturbed.
Sam came out of the bath wearing a tee shirt and sleep pants. Her face was freshly scrubbed, the hair around her face damp and curling in tendrils.
“If it’s any consolation, the bathtub in there is almost bigger than my entire bathroom,” she remarked.
“Really?” Daniel took a few steps and poked his head inside. “Huh.”
Sam stripped the bedspread off, leaving it in a heap on the floor and slid between crisp white sheets.
“Did you want me to… uh…” Daniel began, pointing towards the tub with his thumb.
“What? Sleep in there? God, of course not. It’s not like we haven’t shared close quarters before, Daniel,” she answered, her voice already muffled by her pillow.
He found his own sleepwear and took his turn in the bathroom, reflecting that sharing a hotel bed with Sam didn’t feel quite the same as sharing a room or tent with her. But he was having trouble holding onto any thought for long right now and changed into a pair of pajama pants and clean athletic shirt. Stretching out on a bed sounded like heaven, no matter who else was in it.
When he came out, Sam had shut off the lamp on her nightstand. He tossed his clothes onto a chair and crawled into bed. Daniel put his glasses on the bedside table and shut off the light. For a long moment he lay on his back, looking up into the darkness. He resolved not to dwell on his growing unease lest it disturb his sleep. But some small part of him wanted to curl up around Sam. Feel her along the length of his body for what comfort she might offer. Instead, he turned onto his side towards her and let the sight of her blonde head suffice.
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Cam was too exhausted to wonder about the odd look the hotel’s night manager gave him when he checked in. He just took the key and waved the porter off. He had only his duffle and Cam had to assume that Sam and Jackson were already asleep. No reason to wake them with a fuss. He’d just creep into the room, quiet as a mouse, strip down to his skivvies and crawl into whatever bed was available.
Like any pilot, Mitchell loved to fly. But flying into the night after a full day’s mission was exhausting. Landry had pulled a lot of strings to allow him to take an F-16 to the airbase near Cairo. Ordinarily, a nice long flight would be a treat and a chance to keep his skills sharp. But Cam felt as wrung out as an old dishrag and probably smelled about as good.
“Great,” he muttered softly to himself when his eyes adjusted to the darkness of their room. One bed and Jackson and Sam were already in it. He made his way to the bathroom, dropping his duffle in the surprisingly huge bathtub. Closing the toilet, he sank down on it and put his face in his hands. Well, it wasn’t as if he had a problem sharing a bed with either of them, but it was only common courtesy to do something about his stench after stewing in his flight suit for hours on end.
Cam decided against a shower and ran water in the sink, giving himself a once over with a washcloth and hoping it’d be enough to keep them from kicking him out of bed. He changed into a clean pair of shorts and a tee shirt and shut off the light before opening the door. Padding over to Jackson’s side of the bed, he lifted the sheet and shook the sleeping man’s shoulder.
“Jackson. Shove over,” Cam whispered.
Daniel turned his upper body to look at Mitchell, eyes sleepy and squinting. With a soft groan, he slid closer to Sam, making room for their third. Cam gave a single lascivious thought to Daniel’s good fortune then shoved it away. He must be exhausted if he was having those kinds of thoughts. He usually self-edited better than that.
Cam got into bed and flopped onto his stomach, pulling a pillow under his head. Jackson’s back warmed his arm as he fell asleep.
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Sam woke to the scent and sound of Cairo beginning its day and a warm body at her back, an arm draped over her side. She immediately knew it as Daniel’s from the faint wheeze in his slow, even breath ruffling her hair. Sam felt no urgency to get up and disturb him. She was pretty sure he hadn’t slept at all on the flight over. She looked down at the hand curled softly against her stomach and a surge of affection for him warmed her. She shifted slightly and felt the brush of his morning erection against her thigh. It made her smile to know Daniel was as normal as the next guy but stilled herself. She didn’t want to wake him and be awkward about it.
Closing her eyes again, she heard a faint snore from beyond Daniel. Cam must have arrived and made himself at home. His presence didn’t chill her warm thoughts of Daniel. Sam easily slid into that twilight of half awareness where her mind wandered.
Daniel’s mouth is warm on her neck, his hand caressing her breasts as he slides into her from behind. Arching, she presses back into him, moving with his gentle thrusts, his breath against her ear…
Sam pulled herself out of that reflection when she felt her body move back into Daniel’s, seeking him out. It’d been a long time since she’d thought of him that way. Before Pete, even before she found herself longing for Jack. Back in the beginning, if it hadn’t been for Sha’re, she wondered what might have been. Why were those feelings coming back to her now? Sam didn’t have to dig deep to figure it out. She was terrified of losing him again. Of all of them, Daniel had the closest connection to the Ori and none of them knew what that might mean.
Quite abruptly, Sam was yanked out of her idle thoughts.
“Gah!” Daniel gasped loudly into her ear, as his pelvis and its accompanying morning wood rammed into her rear.
“What the-?” Sam grumped. Just because she’d been thinking about Daniel’s… parts, didn’t mean she wanted to be up-close-and-personal with them just now.
She felt Daniel make an abrupt movement and Cam yelped .
“Wha-huh?” Cam started awake and sat up. “What’d you do that for?”
“You kneed me in the ass! I figured I’d wake you up before you did something worse,” Daniel explained, casually taking his arm from around Sam.
Thus, the morning began, Cam and Daniel trading good-natured jibes, until Daniel finally shut Cam up with the offer to spoon with him next time.
“You don’t have any of the nice soft bits, but I guess I can make the sacrifice if it’ll shut you up,” Daniel said, the corners of his mouth turning up in the hint of a smile.
Cam looked a bit surprised that Daniel seemed to give it up so easily, but shrugged it off with, “That’s something I’ve always liked about you, Jackson. Always the optimist.”
Daniel suddenly sobered and Sam caught his muttered, “Not always.” Cam had already ducked into the bathroom for a shower.
Sam waited until she heard the water start up. “Daniel, you okay?” She asked. Daniel was rummaging around in his duffle and she stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“Yeah. No,” he answered, slumping down to sit on the bed. “I don’t know.”
He took his glasses off with one hand and rubbed his eyes with the other.
“Headache?” Sam asked.
“No, not that. I just have this…” he made a rolling motion with a hand near his chest, “really bad feeling. I can’t explain it. I thought I’d feel better once I got here, but now… The closer I get to it, the more I feel like I’m really not going to like what we find.”
She looked at him. He seemed hale and hearty, if a bit tired. “Do you think it might be something from when you were ascended?”
Daniel gave her a little smile. Other than Teal’c, Sam seemed the only one who could speak about his ascension in such a direct way. Everyone else seemed to want to dance around the subject.
“I think it could be,” he said after a moment. “I… I just don’t know, but it’s creepy as hell.”
Sam wasn’t sure what she could say to allay his fears. She only had her own training to rely on. “I guess the sooner we get there, the sooner you’ll know.”
“Yeah, guess so,” Daniel replied, sounding uneasy, but giving her a tight little smile. He gave her wrist a squeeze.
Continued in Pt. 2, here