DISCLAIMER: All characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
Major Samantha Carter knew something was up with her teammate from the moment Daniel stepped out of the elevator at the bottom of Cheyenne Mountain. Sam was almost as adept at reading Daniel's expressions as the colonel was. The tight-lipped intensity combined with Daniel's reluctance to look any of them directly in the eye told her that the young scientist was onto something big.
Daniel had walked into the SGC, snagged Teal'c with a distracted wave of his hand and disappeared within his lab. Sam had turned to look at the colonel, but received only a minimal head shake which told her that the colonel was as much in the dark as she was.
Sam had tried to stay away, but after twelve hours without so much as a trace of Daniel or Teal'c, she'd had enough. If Daniel wasn't coming out, she was going in. Stopping by the mess hall along the way she grabbed a bag of sandwiches and some juice. Daniel seemed to live under the illusion that coffee and candy constituted an acceptable diet. As she approached Daniel's door, Sam wasn't entirely surprised to see the colonel approaching from the opposite direction, pizza box in hand. They stopped, each taking note of what the other was carrying and laughed ruefully.
Over time the pattern of taking care of Daniel's physical needs when that incredibly focused brain took over to the exclusion of all other thoughts had been established early on. They all had a tendency to be rather over-protective of the youngest member of their team, and it certainly wasn't something that Daniel fostered or encouraged; the scientist was almost compulsively self-reliant. There was just something about him that inspired them to look out for him, something beyond maternal...or paternal in the colonel and Teal'c's case...something beyond friendship, something deeper and more instinctive. Sam had long given up trying to analyze it, accepting it as just another characteristic of her second family...a characteristic that had grown even stronger since the death of Daniel's wife. They were his only family now.
Sam met the colonel at the lab door and started to knock when the colonel stopped her with a headshake. It was better to surprise Daniel at times like this; if they weren't invited in the first place, Daniel couldn't very well throw them out...
The colonel opened the door quietly and they were both a little surprised to see Teal'c motioning for them to remain silent. There amid stacks of books and papers was Daniel, head bowed over crossed arms...asleep.
Teal'c had been watching his young friend sleep for quite some time. It still weighed heavily on the Jaffa's mind that he had been the one who had been forced to kill Daniel Jackson's wife in order to save the young man's life. Although Daniel Jackson had spoken the words of forgiveness and had continued to treat Teal'c in the same accepting manner, Teal'c had yet to forgive himself and found himself analyzing Daniel Jackson's every word and action in the light of his own self-recrimination. Not once, but twice he had been instrumental in separating the Daniel Jackson from the woman he loved...it was a fact that Teal'c found extremely difficult to reconcile within his own mind...
Teal'c had been more than a little pleased when Daniel Jackson had enlisted his help in this new translation. For hours he had watched Daniel Jackson work tirelessly, double-checking and refining the words that so disturbed them both. Gradually, Teal'c had watched the young scholar's energy flag. Teal'c had continued speaking on the subject they were discussing, carefully modulating his voice in a way he knew to be soothing. He'd been rewarded by the slow dip of the scientist's head finally coming to rest on his arms and the deepening of his breath into sleep. For some strange, unfathomable reason, Teal'c felt extremely gratified to have been able to perform this small service for the young man he'd caused so much pain. It was a small measure of payment towards the much greater debt Teal'c still felt he owed.
When Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter entered the small lab, food in hand, Teal'c had only been surprised that it had taken them so long to come. O'Neill had looked duly impressed and settled on the small sofa to wait. They all knew that Daniel Jackson wouldn't allow his mind to rest for long.
Within a few minutes of the others' arrival, Daniel Jackson stirred and woke with a start...looking around as if unsure of his location. He came to awareness quickly, taking in the fact that he had new 'guests'.
"Teal'c? How long...?" He asked in confusion.
"A matter of only minutes," Teal'c found himself replying evenly, cringing inwardly at the 'white lie' he had just told with impunity. Any length of time under an hour could be described as minutes...
Daniel looked around the small room at the concerned faces of his closest friends. He had been acutely aware of their increased protectiveness toward him since Sha'uri's death, subtlety was not a strong suit for any of them. Part of him was slightly irritated that they felt he needed taking care of, while the other, more honest, part of him recognized that just now he did...
It had been a long hard road to finding Sha'uri, a road filled with heartache and pain; but also a road which had brought him to this new family...an odd mix of people he had come to recognize were very important to him, in a lot of ways. They had been th ere for him through the long search, the close calls and the final, tragic ending...and he'd been more than a little glad that they were.
Tomorrow it would fall to him to be the one to tell them that possibly the worst trial they'd ever faced was coming, but tonight...just for a few hours...he wanted to be with his family.