2018: A Christmas Story
By: ChristianGateFan
CATEGORY: Drama
WARNINGS: None
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Well many of you that read 2018 requested a sequel, and I also wanted to write a Christmas now that it’s December, so I combined the two efforts.
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:
http://christiangatefankat.110mb.com/
Christmas was coming again, and fast. To Daniel Jackson it
seemed just yesterday that he and Vala had been
welcoming their second child, sending their eight-year-old daughter off to her fist day of fifth grade, and putting out jack-o-lanterns.
But now Thanksgiving diner together with all of their
friends at Jack and Sam's house was almost a month behind them. In their modest
two-bedroom home in
Daniel passed Vala in that doorway on his way out to the living room to get their things together so they could be on their way. Vala stopped him but he pulled away gently, apologizing. "Not right now, sorry. We're going to be late if we don't get moving."
Vala sighed. "Why did they have to get married in December? Isn't this month busy enough already? Off-world missions, parades, parties, school play rehearsals…"
"I know, I know. But look on the bright side--Christmas is next weekend," Daniel answered, straightening his suit coat and tie. "We'd better go."
Their next clue that was so came in the form of Janet running down the hallway and jumping between them. She bounced up and down on her toes in her festive pink flower girl's dress, curled brown hair bouncing on her shoulders.
"Mom, dad, it's time to go--and Charlie's crying!"
"Oh!" Vala yelped. She slipped back into the kitchen for a moment, grabbed the prepared bottle she had been about to bring the baby before she'd seen Daniel coming, and rushed back out toward the living room. Daniel followed her, waiting while she scooped up their son from his car seat where he had been on the couch as they were about to walk out the door. Little Charlie Jackson looked up at him from his mothers arms as Vala slipped the bottle into his mouth, what black hair he had sticking up and his grayish-blue eyes characteristically wide.
Daniel grinned briefly at the boy, then picked up the now empty carrier seat and headed for the front door, only stopping long enough for everyone to get bundled up. The hard weather hadn't made this month any better. Once heavy coats were on the family trekked out through the snow on the ground and the lightly falling flakes to one of their two cars. Vala climbed into the back seat with Charlie so she could feed him on the way, and after Daniel had strapped Charlie's seat in she set him in it and buckled the baby in, having to take the bottle away briefly to do so.
Janet sat in front by her father since her mother wasn't there as usual. Charlie started to cry again, and didn't stop until the car had pulled out of the driveway and Vala had popped the bottle back into his mouth.
The drive to the church that was the site of Cassandra and Skaara's wedding should have taken ten or so minutes, but half an hour later the snow had thickened, and they were still sitting in the Saturday-before-Christmas traffic.
"I knew we should have left earlier," Daniel sighed.
"Daddy, the church is only three or four more blocks; can't we just walk?"
"Under other circumstances, maybe, but not now. It's freezing out there and we have your brother with us--not to mention that there's nowhere to put the car."
Janet looked anxiously out the window at the slow-moving cars in front of them. "Was there a crash or something?"
Daniel shrugged. "I don't know if there's an accident or not, sweetie, just…wait. We'll get there."
"We're going to be late, Daniel," Vala spoke up from the back.
Daniel groaned. "Tell me something I don't know…"
* * * *
"We can't have a wedding with half the wedding party missing!" Cassandra exclaimed, jumping up from the bench she'd been sitting on in the women's bathroom-turned-dressing room.
Samantha O'Neill sighed. "I know, I know. Daniel and his crew should have been here twenty minutes ago. It's probably the weather and the traffic…"
"-And until they get here the wedding party is short three people. Great," Cassie sighed. She sank back onto her seat, arranging her full white skirt around her legs.
"I think I'll go check for them again," Sam decided. Cassie nodded and thanked her, so she turned and pushed out of the bathroom into the hallway. Just as she looked around, the side door into the building at the end of the hallway opened and Daniel Jackson's head poked through.
"Daniel! We've been waiting for you. What happened?" Sam asked. She hurried to the somewhat heavy wood door and pulled it open the rest of the way for him, wincing at the blast of cold air that greeted her when she did. Daniel nodded his thanks and steered Janet into the building, then came in carrying Charlie in his seat. Vala followed.
"Traffic jam," Daniel replied, eyes rolling as he closed the door behind them.
Vala shivered, shaking the snow off her coat. "You know, living in space hopping from planet to planet had its advantages."
"No snow?" Janet asked.
"No snow, no traffic…"
Sam cleared her throat. "Um, we should get where we need to be. Quickly."
"Right," Daniel agreed, directing his attention to Vala. "Okay, I'll drop Charlie off with Teal'c on my way. You and Janet should probably follow Sam."
Mrs. O'Neill nodded and held her hand out to Janet, who took it and went with her after she'd pulled her coat off. Vala took off her own coat, revealing her purple bridesmaid's dress that matched Sam's, and followed them.
The girls headed back down the brown-carpeted hallway, and Daniel made a brief detour through the auditorium to find Teal'c, who had promised to watch the baby during the service. It wasn't hard to find the jaffa even with a hat on and among the crowd in the pew of the many friends Cassandra had made in her years since coming to earth. Even Skaara, from his seven or eight months on the planet, had a fair enough number of friends there. Teal'c was sitting in the second row with the Mitchells and General Hank Landry. Daniel handed Charlie off to Teal'c, who grinned at the baby and put the carrier on the pew beside him.
That done, Daniel found Skaara and Jack. O'Neill would have been the best man, he had to give the bride away, as it was, after all, his adopted daughter. Thus, the station of best man had fallen to Daniel.
"Did I miss anything?" Daniel asked, noticing the line-up.
"Nope, but you're right on time," Jack answered, while trying to straighten his and Skaara's ties at the same time. The Abydonian, with his hair long since cut short in a simple earth style, still looked a bit uncomfortable dressed up.
"Jack, what are you still doing up here? You should be back there with Cassie…"
"Yeah, I know, I'm going. Beside, who are you to talk, Danny-boy? You're the one who's been holding this thing up."
That was when the music started, and Daniel's eyebrows went up. "Uh huh, and here 'this thing' goes."
"Thank you," Skaara said when Jack let go of his tie, which was now straight. "Danyel is right. You should go, O'Neill."
"I'm going, I'm going," Jack answered, starting to move off. Then he stopped briefly and grinned at Daniel. "Let's get related, shall we?"
* * * *
"Okay, so my daughter just married your brother-in-law. That would kinda-sorta make you my son-in-law too, huh?" Jack asked suddenly, bringing a look from most everyone at their table at the reception.
Daniel almost chocked on his tea.
"No!" he sputtered as he set his glass down, bringing giggles from the women. "Skaara's your son-in-law, Jack, not me. I'm just…distantly related to you now. Sort of."
"It does not seem that distant to me, Danyer," Skaara grinned.
"Well, fine, not exactly distant then, but not that close either."
"Why not? I only said kinda and I only meant kinda," O'Neill protested.
"But if I understand everything correctly, that's not technically correct," Vala provided.
"Thank you."
"It does sound interesting though."
Daniel raised a warning eyebrow at her.
Jack butted back in then, smiling in amusement now. "One could choose to see it that way, though."
"Well I don't. For crying out loud, jack, you're only, like, ten years older than I am."
"Actually, it's more like fifteen or so," Sam added slyly.
O'Neill's face fell. "That's irrelevant." But his wife had already turned back to Daniel.
"Although I can't say I don't like the idea, either," she was saying.
By now poor Daniel was simply exasperated. "Are you my friend or my mother!" he yelped.
"Apparently, according to Jack, I'm you're mother-in-law."
"Sam!!" Daniel was turning red now.
Finally she gave him a reassuring smile and reached to pat his arm. "I'm just kidding, Daniel. That's enough, Jack; leave the poor guy alone."
"I don't see why he has a problem with it. Skaara doesn't have a problem with being related to me that way."
"Really, dad, just drop it," Cassie chuckled. Jack just rolled his eyes playfully, grinned and shrugged. The next moment there was a tiny, almost inaudible yawn from near the floor that attracted his attention to the baby carrier next to Vala's chair.
"Hey, the little guy's awake!" O'Neill announced. He cast a quick questioning glance up at Daniel and Vala, and once a nodded consent had been given Jack grinned and bent to pick the child up. "Hey, Charlie, what's up?" The baby didn't answer of course, but blinked up at the older man and giggled.
Daniel watched on fondly. Sam and Jack hadn't ended up with any children of their own, so the choice of name for Charlie hadn't even required a second thought once it was discovered that Vala was to have a boy. The choice had been made for Jack, and neither Daniel nor Vala would ever regret it. The speechless, thankful tears in O'Neill's eyes after their son had been born and Jack had been told his name was more than enough for them.
The O'Neills loved the kids of all the members of their team, their friends, just as much as they loved the daughter they'd adopted. They acted as something of an aunt and uncle to them, or perhaps even grandparents, but Jack seemed to have formed a special bond with this new addition to the SG-1 family.
Daniel's musings were interrupted when Janet came running up for the second time that day, though this time from a group of other children she'd been sitting with.
"Dad, dad, it's time to go!" she said suddenly, in a way reminiscent of earlier that afternoon.
"Go where?" Daniel asked in confusion.
"To my school, daddy, for practice for the school Christmas musical. It's Tuesday after our last day of school before Christmas break, and we have practice every afternoon until then, remember…"
"Oh!" Daniel remembered, eyes widening. "I'm sorry, I forgot," he sighed.
"I don't mind, as long as we leave soon…"
Vala glanced at her watched, and then started to stand as her eyebrows climbed toward her hairline. "She's right. We'd better go now before she's late…"
Daniel stood himself and urged her to sit again. "It's okay, I'll take her and come back to pick up you and Charlie."
"Daniel, by the time you get her out to the school and get back here in that traffic, we'll have been waiting for hours," Vala informed him, gathering her coat and their other things.
"Leaving so soon, Danyel?" Skaara inquired.
"Yeah, I'm sorry Skaara. I totally forgot about this."
Cassie stood with the rest of the occupants of the table to offer farewells. "It's all right, Daniel," she said, hugging him. "Skaara and I'll see you at work Monday."
"Aren't you going somewhere?" Vala questioned.
"Not until after Christmas," Cassie answered, shaking her head as her new husband's arm went around her waist. She smiled at him. "Skaara's never seen Christmas on earth before, and we want to spend it with everyone."
"Makes sense to me," Daniel commented, taking Charlie from Jack's lap and putting him back in his carrier.
"Aww, and we were just starting to have fun," O'Neill pouted.
Daniel grinned in amusement. "Quit whining, Jack. You'll see him Wednesday at the Christmas party at your house, along with the rest of us."
With that, the
Chapter 2
The next afternoon, Janet gazed over her father's shoulder at the open wormhole and sighed. "Do you have to go off-world this week, daddy?" she questioned pleadingly.
Daniel bent down and hugged her once more. "It's okay, Janet. We'll be back in a few hours, but it'll be late by then so you're staying with Cassie tonight. You'll see us tomorrow after school, okay? Tomorrow's your last day before Christmas break, isn't it?"
"Yes sir, but it's because it's the week before Christmas I was hoping you wouldn't have to go anywhere until after."
"I know, honey, but we won't be gone long, really," Vala promised, taking her husband's place hugging their daughter farewell when he was done. "You'll have fun at Cassie and Skaara's and never notice we were gone. And tomorrow night we'll all go to your program at school."
"Oh that right, it's tomorrow isn't it? I can't wait to see it," Daniel commented.
"You're coming?"
Daniel blinked, taken aback. "Of course I'm coming, Janet; why wouldn't I come?"
Janet gulped. "But you haven't had time to do anything else with me in a while."
Daniel felt like he'd been slapped in the face. As he glanced back and forth between his wife and his daughter he knew she was right, knew it wasn't only true that he'd been somewhat neglecting her but Vala too and…and it hurt. In the past few weeks, he'd been so busy…But that wasn't any excuse. He'd known it for weeks but hadn't wanted to admit it. Suddenly Daniel was glad that the rest of SG-1 was on the other side of the 'gate room.
"I know," he sighed. "I'm sorry. But I'm not going anywhere until after new years once we get back this time, okay? I promise. And I promise I'll be there to watch you tomorrow night, okay?"
The girl's eyes lit up at that, cheering up a bit. "Really? You promise?"
Daniel smiled, picked her up for a moment and kissed her cheek. "I promise," he repeated. Vala grinned, threw her arms around both of them before Daniel could put Janet down and kissed first her daughter's cheek, then her husband's.
Daniel laughed and shrugged away from Vala so he could put Janet down. "Okay, okay, but we really do need to go now."
"He's right," Vala agreed reluctantly. "Have a good time while we're gone, Janet."
"I will," she smiled, in a much better mood now. "You have fun too."
Daniel and Vala glanced at each other in their extremely heavy, standard issue coats and grimaced, not exactly looking forward to the cold, snowy planet the M.A.L.P. had shown them.
"We'll try," Daniel answered sarcastically.
Janet giggled as Mitchell crossed over to them.
"Ready to go,
The couple nodded an affirmative, waved goodbye to Janet one last time, and mounted the ramp with their team. However, SG-1 stopped just in front of the event horizon.
"What are we waiting for?" Teal'c asked.
"I really don't feel like going somewhere cold today," Sam mussed.
"Tell me about it," Daniel sighed.
Mitchell crossed his arms. "I have a good idea. Why don't we get going so we can get back ASAP?"
"Sounds good to me," Vala agreed.
"Bye!" Janet waved.
Then SG-1 hastily stepped through the wormhole together.
* * * *
Daniel shivered as he stepped away from the stargate on P6R-486, his wife and friends beside him shivering right along with him.
"Okay, people, let's survey what we need to survey and get the heck outta here," Cameron ordered needlessly. None of them were planning on staying here any longer than necessary; the falling snow was so thick and the clouds so low and dimly grey that the visibility was minimal.
Everyone agreed quickly, and Sam started unpacking her sampling equipment as the others looked around. Daniel spotted what appeared to be a stone pillar and shuffled to it through the snow, where he found that it was, and with it two or three more. There were possibly even more beyond what he could see, he though as he brushed his gloved hand over the inscriptions on the side of one of the tall stone sculptures. There probably were actually, as the broken down, almost buried ruins at the feet of the few pillars seemed to have been the corner of a building, but he would worry about that later. Right now he had to let the others know what it all was in the first place.
"Hey, everybody, come see this!" he shouted over the wind, but he could only still see a couple of them, so he bounded back toward the gate. Sam was the only one there.
"Where's Vala?" he frowned. He'd though she had followed him.
"She went that way," Sam answered, pointing absently without looking up from her equipment.
Daniel sighed and went the direction she pointed, wishing he could see better. After a moment or so, however, he spotted her, just ahead and looking down at something.
"What'd you find?" he asked, slowing as he came up behind her.
"That," Vala stated nonchalantly, pointing down. Daniel's eyes widened and he realized that she wasn't pointing at anything. A cliff dropped off just in front of her. Daniel glanced around and saw that it curved away from them, seeming to form a circle around the stargate. Apparently on this planet it was on top of a plateau--a plateau that he couldn't see the bottom off because it was swallowed up in the snowy mists. He noticed that the fog-like conditions were starting to clear up, but it didn't help any. He still couldn't see the bottom.
"Uhm…yeah, that's nice, but why don't you get away from the edge…"
"I'm fine, Daniel, I've got a good couple of inches here."
But still
Vala just smiled back at him. "Really, Daniel, just because you're afraid of heights doesn't mean I have to be."
"I'm not saying that, Vala, just come back a little, okay? Look, I found what looks like the ruins of an Ancient building over here. Why don't you come over there?" Daniel asked anxiously. Apparently the storms here were fierce, but cleared quickly. Already he could see the others. Teal'c and Mitchell were just realizing how close they themselves had been to the edge of the cliff that ran all the way around the stargate and the ruined building, and Sam was looking up, wide-eyed at the sight of it. But Vala was only focused on what was below her.
"Look at all that ice," she marveled. "This planet must be frozen all the time, or its really, really cold most of the time when it is; some of those ice-sickles must be twenty feet high, and I can't see the rest of them because of the fog…"
Daniel leaned forward to look over from as far away from the edge as he could get and still do it. He had to admit, they were very impressive, but the heights quickly made him pull back again. "Yeah, those are nice, really, now come back will you…" he pleaded, tugging on her arm.
"All right, just a minute…"
"Hey, Vala, get away from there!" Mitchell called from where he was near the gate now, conferring with Sam.
"Thank you," Daniel sighed under his breath.
Vala sighed too, but in frustration. "Okay, all right," she grumbled. She started to turn on her heel and step farther away from the edge, but before she could take a step the ledge under her feet crumbled, and she screamed.
"Vala!" Daniel shouted. He grabbed at her as she fell, falling onto his stomach as he did, but still caught only her sleeve.
"Daniel!" she cried in fear. But he couldn't hold onto the fabric for long.
The others were running their way, but it was anyone's guess whether they would be there in time. Vala clawed upwards even as Daniel reached desperately downwards for her hand, but her other arm ad already slipped too far down in the sleeve he held for her to be able to reach him, or vice-versa.
"Vala hold on!" he called down to her.
"I don't have anything to hold on to!" she shouted back. Either the fabric was slipping in his fingers, or Vala was slipping through the coat, but either way she was slipping. "Don't let go!"
But already her weight was too much for the sleeve to support, and as both watched in horror it started to tear rapidly.
"DANIEL!" Vala screamed.
"
Frantically Daniel stretched for her hand, but it wouldn't reach. "Swing for it!" he shouted, not knowing what else to try.
"If I move I'll fall!"
Daniel was sweating, just as much from the heavy coat he wore and Vala's weight as from his own terror of her falling. The tope of the plateau had cleared mostly of blinding snow, but he still couldn't see the bottom. He couldn't see very far down at all. If it was as far as it seemed, there was no way anyone could survive the fall. Then again, he could only see about twenty feet down, but still. Please, please don't let her fall…he prayed silently.
The fabric ripped further.
Daniel strained harder to reach Vala's hand, but it was still no use, and he could barely keep hold of what of the sleeve he still had in his hand anymore. The look of horror on his wife's face told him everything he needed to know.
"No!" he shouted stubbornly, tears blurring his vision.
"They're coming, Daniel, just hold on!" Vala pleaded. But if he couldn't reach her, they wouldn't be able to either.
Tears fells from Daniel's eyes and dropped down toward his dangling spouse. "I am holding on!" he called.
Daniel felt Cameron thump down beside him, saw him reach down. None of them had had time to stop to dig out rope--if they had even remembered to pack any.
"Come on, Vala!" he encouraged, straining as far as he could. But by now it was all denying the inevitable. Daniel watched more tears fall in slow motion. They dropped onto Vala's face, mingling with her own that had slipped from her eyes, just as her sleeve tore through and slipped through his grabbing fingers.
"NOO!!" Daniel screamed. "VALA NO! VALAAA!"
Vaguely he was aware of exclamations from the others, but couldn't understand what they were saying as he collapsed on the edge of the cliff where he was, sobbing. Some part of his mind registered that her screams didn't echo as long as he thought they would, but cut off much sooner, but it didn't matter because the outcome was the same. The promises to Janet…the plans to have fun and be together the rest of the week and stop being too busy for each other…all for nothing. It wouldn't happen. This would be Charlie's first Christmas, but he would have it without his mother.
Distantly Daniel felt someone gently pull him up off his stomach and onto his knees, and tilt him back against someone else who held him while he cried. It wasn't until the tears had begun to subside that he realized it was Sam, and that Mitchell and Teal'c were still gathered around, kneeling next to them, hands on his back or shoulders to offer what wordless comfort they could. Because no words could help now.
No one said anything when Daniel sat up, away from Sam, and tried to dry his tears. Sam only kept a hand on his arm, and he felt a hand from both Cameron and Teal'c still on his back. Sorrow showed on their faces, but he was sure he looked worse. His heart felt as if it would tear in two, like Vala's sleeve before she'd fallen…
No. He couldn’t think about it or he'd fall apart. But it was all he could see, that tearing sleeve above her horror-stricken face; all he could hear was her screams. horror-stricken face; all he could hear was her screams.
Daniel released another sob and more tears trickled down his cheeks. Sam leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him wordless still. It was his fault. He should have just pulled her back sooner, or been more adamant that she move, or thought harder months ago so he could have found a way to save Janet but still say ascended so he could have saved Vala now….
He buried his face in Sam's shoulder to block out the thoughts. It didn't matter now. It was over. Second-guessing himself wouldn't change anything.
"No…" he choked, sitting up again. "No."
"Daniel…?" Sam asked.
He swallowed hard and dragged a sleeve across his face to dry it, scrambling to his feet. "I have to find her," he announced suddenly, voice cracking. The others slowly stood with him, the biting chill wind cutting into all of them. Daniel stood too rigid to shiver.
Mitchell spoke next. "We'll go, Daniel. I'm not sure how we'll get down there, but we'll find her. You don't have to go. I don't you want to…to…" The colonel trailed off.
Daniel grimaced and turned away. "No. I have to go," he insisted. "There has to be a way down there." He didn't know what it was, but something told him to find a way. So he ran.
"Daniel, wait!" Sam called, but he didn't listen. He started running, around the edge of the high cliff the stargate, and thus, they, were trapped on. He looked, eyes straining through his contacts, for any sign of a quick way down. Finally, on the other side of the ruins that sat near the 'gate, he spotted what appeared to be a half crumbled stairway carved into the side of the rock that led down and around. It wasn't fully intact, but it was enough.
Sam, Cameron, and Teal'c skidded to a halt beside him. Sam tried to tell him it was too dangerous, that it could collapse. Mitchell tried to order him back through the 'gate, telling him he was in shock and he needed to get home, get warm…but Daniel listened to none of it. All he could hear was the pounding of his wounded heart in his ears, and all he could do was go down as fast as he could, slipping and sliding and gripping the edge of the cliff for support as he hurried as quickly as he could toward…toward what? He didn't even know what he would find. He almost didn't want to know what he would find, but he knew he had to find it. He couldn't leave Vala here on this frozen, god-forsaken planet to freeze--even if it was only her lifeless body left.
After a few moments the stone stairway leveled out into a wide shelf in the rock, a haven from the sheer drop. The snow was deep here, too, as it was on top, and he pushed it angrily aside with his legs, madly moving forward as fast as he could. The others caught up with him, winded. Daniel was exhausted already, too, from struggling not to fall on the way down, but he didn't care.
Finally, ahead of him, about where he thought it should be, an unnatural mound of snow rose from the blanket, and from beneath it a single, unmoving hand, bared of its glove, protruded from the snow.
"Vala!" Daniel shouted. He ran forward again, dropping to his knees beside it and digging, pushing the snow away frantically. When his gloved finger couldn't work as fast as he wanted, he pulled them off and dug faster. By the time the others caught up to him again, he had pushed the snow away.
"Vala…" he gulped quietly. The tears crowded his eyes again. Her skin was cold, and her face pale. Her eyes were closed so he couldn't immediately tell if she was alive or not, and he was thankful for that small fact, but there were also no other signs of life. Trembling, he lifted her upper body from the snow and held her against him, checking for a pulse. He held on tighter when he couldn't find one.
"No," he whispered. "Please, no…"
Sam crouched beside him again. "Come on…let's go home," she prodded gently.
Daniel shook his head. "No, no…" And she listened. She didn't push him, didn't say anything else, and Mitchell and Teal'c didn't either…and he was grateful. For minutes on end they waited with him silently, and all he could do was hold her numbly. It wasn't until she shivered in his arms that he realized she was starting to feel a bit warmer.
"Is it just me, or does this all seem a bit cliché?" pointed out a weak voice from against his neck.
"Vala!" Daniel cried, pulling back to stare at her. "You're-you're…"
"Alive? Yes. Warm? No," she smiled up at him tiredly.
He pulled her close again as Sam, Cameron, and Teal'c grinned and crowded in for a group hug. "Thank goodness, thank goodness. I though I'd lost you," he gulped.
"I thought I was a goner too," she sighed. "But I'm okay, Daniel, really…A little bruised up and very, very cold, but okay…"
Daniel hugged her tightly, and she returned it. "I love you."
Mitchell grinned. "Okay, I vote we scrap this mission. Vala needs medical attention, and we can always come back later."
"Right," Vala nodded, still holding onto Daniel. "I really just want to get out of here right now."
"Thought so," Cameron smiled.
Daniel stood and help Vala up, keeping an arm around her waist even when she insisted she could walk fine. He wasn't taking any chances, not after coming so close to losing his wife again.
SG-1 made their way back up the stone stairway as carefully, but as quickly as possible, and once they reached the top Sam went immediately to the DHD. She dialed the seven symbols, but when she pressed the red activation dome in the center nothing happened.
"What's wrong?" Mitchell asked.
"Nothing happened," Teal'c observed.
"Yeah, why?"
Sam sighed and tried again, but got the same results. "I'll check the control crystals…" she mumbled, bending down. But she wasn't down there for long. "Uh oh."
"That didn't sound good," Daniel commented.
"It wasn't," Sam gulped, straightening again. "Something knocked the panel covering the control crystals out of whack and the inside of the DHD has been exposed to the harsh conditions."
"Meaning…?" Vala prodded.
"Meaning, the control crystals are frozen. We can't go anywhere."
Chapter 3
"What?!"
Cameron, Vala, and Daniel echoed the exclamation at the same time, the same look of dismay on all their faces. Teal'c's face folded into a deep frown.
Mitchell swallowed. "You're not saying…"
Sam saw the looks on their faces and brought her hands up quickly. "Oh! No, no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you think we'd be stuck here. I mean, we are, but only until we can thaw out the crystals."
"How long are we talking about?" Daniel asked. "We need to get Vala home."
"Daniel, really, I'm not hurt that badly…"
Sam shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not sure, actually. It could be a few hours, and it could be a couple of days."
Daniel sighed heavily. "Great…"
* * * *
Sam took one of the tents, cut the bottom out of it and set it over the DHD, and set the only portable heater they had in it and zipped it up. The five of them squeezed into a second tent for warmth, since with the DHD in it there was not much room left in the first. With nothing to do, they engaged in conversation until it was dark and they decided to sleep, as the crystals were nowhere near being thawed enough yet.
The night was uneventful; there was barely enough room in the tent for all five to lay down, but in the end none of them cared much, as it provided plenty of warmth on the freezing planet. The morning brought results, but not enough to ensure their way home. Still the DHD would dial, but no wormhole would form. The crystals were thawing nicely, but not quickly enough. It seemed they had another day of waiting to do. Stargate Command had dialed in the night before to check on them when they hadn't come back, and Landry knew the situation.
Now they were huddled in a circle in their tent again, piled with blankets to stay as warm as possible while they were forced to stay here.
"Sam, we are going to be home by tonight, aren't we?" Daniel asked anxiously.
Mrs. O'Neill shrugged. "I don't know. I can't promise anything. I hope we are, though; I'm tired of being cold."
"You can say that again," Mitchell complained.
Vala sighed and leaned more heavily on her husband's shoulder. "What are we supposed to do all day? I'm more worried about being bored."
"I'm more worried about being late for Janet's school musical," Daniel mussed, wrapping am arm around her shoulders again.
"That too."
The tent fell into silence again for several minutes, until finally Cameron spoke up. "So…anybody for Christmas carols?"
* * * *
They'd worked their way through "Jingle Bells", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", and any and every other classic Christmas song they could think of, and then some. Eventually they'd been forced to revert to not-so-classic songs when the regulars ran out. Vala's favorite was "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer", but everyone liked that one better when Daniel switched grandma for Apophis, SG-1's long-dead arch enemy. Other words and phrases were replaced, too, with contributions from all; it was something to do besides sit around waiting for the DHD's control crystals to thaw.
As the afternoon wore on, though, all became more impatient. Daniel and Vala, especially, grew worried that they wouldn't make it home in time.
"Sam, can we go yet? If we leave now we could get back to earth and to Janet's school just in time--maybe with a few minutes to spare. It is at seven, isn't it?"
Vala nodded. "I think so…"
Sam glanced at her watch and winced. "I'll go check." She did, but came back without the sound of an opening wormhole following her.
"What now?" Vala asked.
Sam sighed. "Well, it kind of…sparked, but no connection yet."
"What? Oh come on, it's been over twenty-four hours. It has to work by now," Daniel yelped.
"I'm sorry. I can't make them thaw out any faster. Maybe if we just give it a few more minutes it'll work. It did try to this time."
"All right…" Daniel agreed reluctantly, even though he would rather have jumped up, run to the tent with the DHD and dialed until it worked. "I'm sorry, I'm just…"
"Worried we won't make it?" Vala asked pointedly.
"Yeah, that…"
Mitchell clapped
The archaeologist gave a smile. "Thanks."
"And hey, we're invited too, aren't we?' Sam asked.
"Of course you are," Vala answered.
"What is this musical about, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c inquired.
"Oh, well…nothing fancy. They are fifth and sixth graders. As far as I know it’s the simple nativity story, complete with the incorrect rendition of the wise men arriving the same night as the shepherds. That doesn't really matter but--"
"We know how you are, yes," Sam grinned. "You can't help but point something like that out."
"So is Janet a shepherd or a sheep?" Mitchell asked jokingly.
"Neither, actually," Vala smiled.
Now Daniel was grinning too. "Yeah, it seems we have a little actress in the family; she landed Mary."
"Huh. Cute, a genius, and she can act-"
"-and sing," Vala pointed out.
"And sing," Cameron amended. "Sweet."
Several minutes later Sam excused herself again to check the 'gate.
Daniel's head snapped up immediately when he heard the sound of the 'gate's spew of particles.
"It's working!" he cried, jumping up and unzipping the tent again to follow Sam.
"Yes!" Vala rose quickly to follow him, grinning.
The
"Should we not follow them?"
"Oh! Uh, yeah, let's go," Mitchell answered, snapping out of his surprise and moving toward the tent's opening. "We can come back for all this stuff, I guess, since the DHD works now. Right this moment though, we have a musical to get to."
"Indeed."
* * * *
"Daniel, look out!"
"What?!"
He hadn't been expected Vala's sudden call from the passenger's seat beside him and swerved unintentionally, surprised. When Daniel had the car straight again, he sighed and glanced over at his wife, who was sitting ramrod straight in her seat.
"What was it?"
"That car back there almost pulled out in front of you!"
"It did?"
"Yes, and apparently you did even notice. I know we're really late, but do you have to drive so fast?"
He raised an eyebrow, not taking his eyes from the road anymore. "Since when were you the type to care about something like reckless driving? Last time I checked you were quite the opposite."
"Except when you're about to get us both killed."
"I'm going the speed limit."
"Yes, but it's also a snowy winter day in
Daniel got the point and sighed, and slowed down a bit. They
were ten minutes late and the school was just around the corner. Thank
goodness. Cassie and Skaara, with Charlie, were
already there of course, because they had kept both children while the
A couple of minutes later Daniel pulled into the parking and stopped in one of the surprisingly many parking spaces left, and looked around in confusion at the scattering of people walking through the parking lot.
"I wonder if it got delayed for some reason or if there's just a lot more people late like we are because of the weather…"
Vala's eyebrows went up. "Daniel, those people are going out, not in…"
"What?" Daniel opened his door and climbed out quickly, Vala right behind him as they hurried into the building. Inside the lobby, there was a small trickle of people still trickling out of the mostly empty auditorium.
"Uhm, excuse me, what's going on?" Daniel asked the nearest person.
The woman looked at him strangely. "Didn't you get the
e-mail from the school? The musical was moved up to
Daniel could feel a much different cold creeping through his chest.
"No," he mumbled incredulously. From the look on Vala's face, she felt the same way he did at the moment--horrible. "B-But…we can't have missed it," he complained helplessly to no one in particular.
Vala gulped and put a hand on his arm. "Come on," she said quietly. "We'd better find Janet and them."
Daniel nodded despondently and followed her, sighing heavily. Why did 'gate travel have to mess with every important plan he'd ever had?
They found Cassie, Skaara, Charlie, and Janet in the elementary school' choir room, where a few remaining children and their parents remain, putting up costume, putting away sets, and talking about how great the musical had been.
Daniel wanted to hit himself, but what good would that have done? He kept trying to tell himself it wasn't his fault. He couldn't have changed any of the circumstances that made them miss it, but the guilt still sat in the pit of his stomach. For weeks Janet had spent three days a week practicing for this in the afternoons after school to play one of the lead parts, and they had missed it. Today had been the last day of school before the holidays. They wouldn't perform it again.
His heart felt like it would tear in two when he saw Janet sitting sadly and silently on one of the chairs at the edge of the choir room with Cassie and Skaara near, and Charlie asleep in his carrier on the floor next to her.
Both Daniel and Vala quickened their stride to where their family sat crossing the large, chair-filled room. Cassie soon spotted them and nudged Janet on the shoulder, saying something to her. The girl looked up just as her parents reached her.
“Hey,” Daniel started. “I’m really sorry we missed it, honey, but...” He gestured vaguely toward the ceiling and the starts beyond them, giving her a sign he knew she would understand as meaning ‘gate travel. He couldn’t tell her exactly what had happened in a room full of people who still knew nothing about the Stargate program. “Something happened.”
“Something always happened,” Janet gulped, standing. “Last week you told me you’d come outside and play in the snow with me, but you never did because ‘something happened’ with something SG-4 brought back and you had a lot of translating to do, so mom built a snowman with me instead. The week before that you said you’d take me to the mall to shop for Christmas presents for my friends, but ‘something happened’ and you just ‘had’ to go with SG-7 somewhere so mom had to take me. And the week before that ‘something happened’, and the week before that…”
“Janet, I’m sorry. We both are, really. It couldn’t be helped.”
“I taped it,” Cassie said hopefully, handing over a small video-storage disk that had come from her video camera.
Vala smiled and put the disk in her pocket. “Thanks.”
“Yeah, thanks so much, Cassie; you’re a life-saver,” Daniel sighed in relief.
“You still missed it,” Janet said, deadpan. Then before anyone thought to stop her she fled from the room.
“Ah! Wait a minute, Daniel,” Vala said. He glanced down at the hand she’d put on his shoulder to stop him from following her, then at her face questioningly. “No offense, but she’d be more likely to talk to me right now than you. You and I both know we couldn’t have stopped this from happening, but she’s only eight. It’ll take her a little longer to accept it,” she said gently. “I’ll go after her.”
Daniel stared at the door where his daughter has disappeared for another moment, then sighed. “You’re right,” he admitted. “Go on, I’ll…meet you two at the car with Charlie in a few minutes.”
“All right,” Vala agreed. Then she gave his shoulder a reassuring pat before taking her hand back and hurrying out the door to find Janet.
“I am sorry, Danyel,” Skaara apologized. “We tried to explain what had happened to her.”
“It’s not your fault, Skaara. I doubt this isn’t really making her that angry in itself so much as acting like a last straw,” Daniel noted quietly, shoulders slumping. “And it is my fault. “The past couple of months have been really busy at the SGC and here, and I didn’t try nearly as hard as I should have to make time for her and Charlie."
Cassie and Skaara exchanged glances, and both gave him a sympathetic look, but before either could say anything else Jack O'Neill came barreling through the doorway, which thankfully was more clear or people now. Samantha O'Neill, Teal'c, and Cameron Mitchell came behind him, all looking a bit peeved along with Jack. O'Neill would have already been here, but hadn't gotten the e-mail either because he'd been at the SGC waiting for Sam.
"What do they mean, we missed it?" Jack was complaining irritably.
"They mean you missed it, Jack. It's over, done, no more…" Daniel supplied tiredly.
"What? What happened?" Sam asked.
Daniel sighed and filled her in on the new development.
"Uh oh," Mitchell observed.
"Uh oh is right. Now Janet's really mad at me, and all the plans I had for after we got back are probably out the window…"
Jack rolled his eyes. "For crying out loud, the weather channel says 'jump', and these schools say 'how high'. It's not that bad out there. They could have had it at the scheduled time."
"Jack, they only do it for safety; and it is getting worse out there as we speak," Sam answered.
"Yeah, I know…" O'Neill sighed. "I'm sorry, Daniel."
Once they were all gone, Daniel bent down in front of Charlie, who was just waking. "Hey, little guy," he smiled, picking the baby up from the seat and holding him, deciding to wait a few more minutes before venturing back out to the car. The baby giggled and wrapped a fist around one of his dad's fingers.
"Well, at least you're not mad at me too."
Several minutes later Daniel lowered Charlie back into his carrier and stood and picked it up gently. "Come on, let's go home," he sighed.
Chapter 4
When Daniel got to the car Vala and Janet were already there, as he'd hoped they'd be so they could all go home. He opened the back door to strap Charlie's seat in and glanced over at Janet, but she refused to even look at him and stared out the window on her side of the car instead. When Daniel got in himself, sliding behind the wheel, he glanced over at Vala. All she could give him was a shrug and mouth the words 'I tried'.
'I know; thanks' he mouthed back quietly.
The drive home was uneventful, and uncomfortably silent. Charlie fell asleep again, Janet didn't say a word, and Daniel and Vala didn't feel comfortable talking to each other when the rest of the vehicle was so quiet. No one spoke until they turned onto their street, when Vala popped up in her seat as if a light bulb had come on in her mind.
"Oh! Daniel, we're out of milk. We don't have any for in the morning."
Daniel groaned. "Do we have to have it for in the morning?"
"Well, I know we'll need it sometime in the next couple of days, and it may not be smart to get out on the roads tomorrow."
The
"Thank you," Vala smiled. She leaned over and kissed his cheek before getting out of the car. Janet was already out and heading for the front door. Vala un-strapped Charlie and picked him up.
"I'll be back soon," Daniel assured her before she followed Janet. Vala waved back at him, and then she, Charlie, and Janet disappeared into the house.
Daniel sighed again as he pulled out of the driveway once more, unable to ignore the fact that Janet hadn’t even looked back before going inside. She hadn’t said a word or even looked in his direction once since storming from the choir room at the school. But it wasn’t his fault this time, darn it! How was he to have known the DHD where they were going would need attention before they could get back? He couldn’t have, and he couldn’t have made SG-1’s return to earth any faster.
But he could have stayed home like Janet had wanted him too. Missions were scheduled weeks in advance, usually. He could have requested that one be moved to after Christmas, or that it be sooner…But no, he hadn’t thought of that, had he? He hadn’t been thinking about Janet, or Charlie…Daniel stopped at the light at the end of the street and leaned forward, banging his head against the steering wheel a couple of times to clear his head.
“How could I have been so stupid?” he muttered. It wasn’t just today, it was the past month. Sure, things got crazy this season every year, but somehow it had gotten out of hand this time. Not to mention that Janet was old enough now to notice and be hurt more when he was gone often. She was almost nine. Another year and she’d be in double digits.
No more. The promise he’d made before leaving this time was no amount of empty words. He’d meant it, and he planned to act on it beginning immediately. Compared to many jobs, being part of Stargate Command provided for rather flexible hours and mission scheduling, and from now on he was going to pay more attention to that. He was not going to let ‘gate travel and translations come between him and his family anymore if it was the last thing he did.
* * * *
“Hey, Doctor Jackson, what’s up?”
Daniel was jolted out of his thoughts by the friendly voice of the cashier at the local grocery store. The teen had been working there for going on two years now, and somehow was usually there whenever he or Vala had to go in to grab something. In that time they had come to know him and become something of friends.
“Oh, not much,” he answered he answered vaguely. “How are you, Travis?”
“I’m good; paid the note on my apartment this month and still had enough left over to get Christmas presents for my parents, at least, so I can’t complain.”
Daniel smiled as he handed over the milk jug in his hands. “That’s good.”
“How’s the family? What’s the little boy’s name again?”
“Charlie; he’s almost four months old, and he’s doing just fine. We couldn’t ask for a happier baby. Vala and Janet are fine, too.”
“Sweet—Christmas season going well for you?" Travis asked as he rang up the purchase and bagged it.
Daniel suppressed a wince. "It's okay."
The teen handed his customer the plastic bag with his milk. "Here you go--only okay?"
"You're welcome."
"Merry Christmas." Daniel found another smile to give him and displayed it tentatively. "See you later."
Travis waved as Daniel walked off, having no other customers to tend to immediately at this time of night. "Later, Doctor Jackson. Merry Christmas!"
Daniel half turned and waved once before pushing out the door back into the cold. The snow was falling faster now, and if he didn't get home soon he might not be able to get home. Already the parking lot was virtually empty. He sighed as he turned at the door made his way against the building back to the car, which was parked in one of the space right next to it; white Christmases were nice, of course, but he'd rather not be snowed it. There was still the party at Jack and Sam's the next night.
Something grabbed the back of his jacket. Daniel yelped and
pulled back but it kept hold. The unmistakable online of a gun barrel pressed
into his back through his coat, urging him to comply with the direction he was
being pulled; he had no choice but to yield. Rough hands pulled him into the
alley between the red brick buildings of suburban
Daniel gulped, not panicking but calm either. All the people SG-1 and the Stargate program in general had ticked off in its twenty-something years of operation sprang forth in his mind at once. He couldn't even begin to guess which one this guy had to do with. "Look, whatever we did to upset you or whoever hired you, I'm sorry, okay. We just do our jobs; can't we talk about this?"
The man looked confused for a moment, but quickly covered it and jumped to the point. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Just hand over your wallet and we won't hurt you," the man ordered.
Oh. For once, not someone after him because of who he was--only after him because he was there. Wow. It was actually kind of weird not to have that absurd special feeling one got when getting in this type of trouble for…well, the type of reasons SG-1 got into trouble for, to know that this man neither knew nor cared who he was. On one hand it was a bit disconcerting, but the other hand, it was sort of relieving.
At first
"I don't have it."
Two more of the men converged on either side of him and grabbed his shoulders, pressing him painfully harder into the wall and in the process inadvertently pulling the edges of his coat back from his shoulders and almost lifting him from the ground.
"Hey! What-"
"You just came out of a store, buster, and you expect me to believe that?" The first man rested the barrel of his gun against Daniel's chest. "You wanna reconsider that answer?"
"I'm serious! All I needed was milk; I didn't bring it in. I don't have anything you want." He wasn't lying, but then again he wouldn't have expected this type to believe him.
"Uh huh, and I'm Santa Claus."
A couple of the other men were drawing knives, and one other had a gun too. There wasn't any way he was getting out of this one himself.
"You don't look like him."
Uh oh--reaaally bad move. The guy looked rather angry now; how come Jack's sarcasm worked for him, but no one else?
Before Daniel could think any further, something flashed in the dim light filtering in from the parking lot, and a second later a cold metal blade was buried in his left shoulder. A surprised cry of pain erupted from his lips, but was muffled by the gloved hand that materialized over his mouth. Daniel's shout faded to a pained moan, and the man beside him, one of the two that had been holding him still, let go of his mouth.
Daniel sucked in a breath and glared at the first man in front of him. "What was that for?" he asked angrily. He managed to keep the pain in his shoulder from seeping into his voice, but it didn't impress the thug any.
The man poked him hard with a finger just under the wound, looking at him. "So that maybe you'll understand I'm serious." Daniel grimaced, but said nothing. He'd told them the truth. When he didn't answer the man snorted and shifted his gaze to one of the men on either side of him. "Hold him still." With that, he commenced to search his victim's pockets, but came up with only the couple of dollars and few cents left over from the five Daniel had used to buy the milk.
The man glared at him. "This is it? We go to all the trouble of pulling you back here, ad you've got a couple bucks and some change?"
"I told you I didn't have anything you wanted."
The man growled angrily and threw the money on the ground
with the milk, then wrapped a hand around the hilt of the large pocket knife in
"You know what; you didn't supply anything for us, and I'm bored. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now."
Daniel felt his blood freeze and panic flutter in his stomach. "W-well, someone's bound to hear if you use that here," he swallowed, inclining his head toward the gun slightly. Vala…
The man scowled and pocketed the weapon, annoyed face showing he knew Daniel was right. Then he pulled his knife from his captive's shoulder, drawing another gasp from him. He held the knife to Daniel's throat. "I don't have to use a gun, you know."
Daniel eyes widened, and he would have backpedaled if there hadn't been a wall behind him and two men twice his size with iron grips on either side of him. All he could do was pick his head up and press back what little more he could, rising up on his toes some.
"N-No, wait, please. I-I have a family. I know that sounds lame and kinda cliché, but it's the truth, please!" he pleaded. Charlie…
The man pulled the knife away and tossed it down too, still glaring at him. "Or can amuse ourselves the hard way."
Daniel had no idea what he meant, but it became clear when the men on either side of him tightened their grip, and a fist slammed into his midsection. He cried out and tried to double over, but was held in place too tightly.
"No! Wait a minute!" he gasped, coughing.
But the man ignored him and struck again, and again, and again…The rest of the small group of thugs converged on him too, obviously intent on making sure that when they were through he wouldn't be getting up to tell anyone what had happened anytime soon--if at all.
"HELP!" he cried desperately, but was cut off and muffled by the bodies around him, pushing in to get their share of the fun. Janet…
Pain reverberated through Daniel's body from the blows. He
struggled still, but as well as being helpless against six or seven armed men,
they pressed in too closely to allow him to get up once they had him on the
ground. He fought back, but all he managed to do was land a few careless,
frightened blows to a couple of them and make all of them angrier. Jack, Sam, Teal'c, Cassie, Skaara,
Daniel panicked when he felt him self being pulled into darkness; once he lost consciousness, they might just kill him. The demeanor of the men attacking him certainly suggested that possibility to be probable. Janet…
"Noo…" he moaned weakly, choking through the pain. But he was no match for the darkness that fought to claim him until it won. I'm sorry…
* * * *
Vala Jackson paced the living room floor, not caring that she might very well wear a hole in it soon. Daniel had been gone over an hour, when the short trip the few blocks to the grocery store should have only take twenty minutes. Granted, anyone would have taken longer in the present weather, but an hour…?
A noise from the hallway door drew her attention to where Janet now stood in her pajamas. The girl had been in bed since soon after they had gotten home, but now was looking at her mother with concern.
"What's wrong, mom?"
"Hmm? Oh…your dad's not home yet," Vala sighed.
The news didn't faze the eight-year-old at all. "Oh. Well, he'll be home soon. Maybe he decided to go somewhere else too.
"No, he would have told me or called me if he was going to do that. You know that."
Janet crossed her arms. "He'll be fine, mom. Aren't you going to bed?"
"No, I'm going to wait up for him. You go on back, to sleep, sweetheart. It'll be all right." Janet shrugged and went back to her room, leaving Vala alone again.
Well, she hoped it would be all right, anyway. She hoped Daniel was all right. But something was telling her he wasn't.
Chapter 5
He was wading through inky blackness, straining to stay in it and away from the pain that prickled at the edges. He knew it was there, but ignored it, didn't want to become fully aware of it. He stayed as far away from the edges where it lurked as he could, knowing if he went too close it would grab him and pull him up. He didn't want that yet. He just wanted to stay where he was, safe in the darkness…
But something or someone else had other plans. Distantly he became aware of someone calling his name, and slowly he became aware that he was lying in something cold. His entire body was cold, and it did nothing to help the pain that seeped into his consciousness as he awoke.
"-ckson! Doctor Jackson!"
Some one was shaking him, and it was a familiar male voice calling him, he realized. With it, unfortunately, came the full force of the pain from the injuries the robbers had left. Daniel gasped, rudely shoved into wakefulness.
"Ah! W-what…?" He blinked up at the shadowy form above him, outlined in the light from the parking lot. It took a moment, but the image finally cleared enough for him to recognize Travis leaning over him.
"Doctor Jackson! Thank goodness, I was afraid you'd-" The teen stopped there abruptly. Daniel didn't have to ask what he had been about to say. "What happened?"
"Thugs…" he swallowed. He grimaced, tasting blood in his mouth. Well, at least he was alive. Daniel pushed up on his uninjured arm, gratified that his coat fell over his other shoulder as he did, keeping Travis from seeing the wound there. He didn't need the caring young man flipping out on him and insisting on taking him to the hospital. He just wanted to go home.
Travis noticed his efforts immediately and lent a hand in helping him sit up, though it was still painful even with the assistance. "Are you okay?" the teen asked.
Daniel shrugged with his good shoulder, which didn't hurt nearly as much as he'd thought it was. Slowly he realized that what was the sorest was his midsection. His entire body felt like pulp, but at least the rest of it didn't hurt as much as that did. With any luck he could get to his car and be home in five minutes; the house wasn't far from here. Vala could help him dress the shoulder wound, and the rest was just scrapes and heavy bruises. He'd be fine, if he could just get home…
"I'm okay…"
"You don't exactly look okay, sir," Travis frowned.
The young man looked hesitant for a moment, then sighed and nodded. He stood up and held out a friendly hand. "Need some help?"
Daniel accepted the hand, and slowly he and Travis pulled him to his feet. Pain shot down into his legs and up through the arm he pulled himself up with, none worse than the fire in his middle, but somehow he managed to stay on his feet. He swayed more, but Travis steadied him.
"Are you sure you're okay, Doctor Jackson?
"Uhm…not exactly, but I only live few blocks away; I'll be fine." He started to step out of the alley toward his car not fifteen feet away, but stopped again, feeling lightheaded. No, he had to do this. He just needed to get home. He could do this. It wasn't far. He wasn't hurt 'that' badly, was he?
Travis steadied him again. "You want some help?" he asked again, though this time he was probably referring to getting to the car.
Daniel took a few more steps toward the vehicle and quickly
realized he wasn't going to make it all the way there by himself. Travis seemed
to realize this too and quickly caught up with him, offering support.
"You sure you can make it home okay, Doctor Jackson? I can always run you home if you want me to."
"No…it's okay. I'm sitting down now I'll make it," Daniel sighed, though he wasn't sure himself. Part of his mind told him that he was being extremely stupid, that he should let Travis take him home or to the emergency room even…but all his exhausted, hurt mind could think at the moment was that he wanted to be home with his family that he had so nearly left behind again.
He gave Travis another smile, which finally convinced the
teen to close the door and back away to let
In no time at all he was halfway there, the familiar rock formations and tress going past him steadily as he struggled to keep his vision from blurring from the pain that pounded through his skull. A sudden bump in the road from the ice and snow jolted his injured arm, tearing a cry from his sore throat. How long had he been lying out there, anyway?
Daniel's vision blurred again from the pain of the jolt, but this time he couldn't clear it. Oh…no…For the first time, he started to think that maybe this had been stupid. All right, he knew it was stupid, but home wasn't far now… He just wanted to be home.
But the patch of ice in the road had other plans.
The car started to slide almost before Daniel knew what was happening, and with only one arm he could successfully use, he didn't have any chance of getting it under control easily. Under normal circumstances, he still would have had some chance of doing it with one arm, but the arm he had hurt too, bruised. He simply could find enough strength to wrestle the vehicle back onto the road, and it went careening off of it.
He shouted as the car went through the typically useless side rail. He panicked when he saw trees, but not nearly as much as he did when he realized that what he saw beyond the line of trees wasn't on the same ground level, but below.
Daniel realized this in a split second, and pure terror spiked through him when he recognized the cliff he was falling toward. But he didn't have time to stare dumbly at it anymore when the car struck a rock. The trees and edge of the cliff spiraled out of his line of vision as the vehicle started to roll. He cried out in pain at the jostling, but that he couldn't see where he was going scared him more.
It didn't matter anymore, though, when his head cracked against his side window, and Daniel fell into the darkness again. The only other thing he managed to think before it swallowed him was This is 'not' my day…
* * * *
Janet Sha're
"Come on, Janet, get up and put some clothes on. We have to go."
"Go?" Janet glanced at the digital clock on her nightstand. "Go where, mommy, it's the middle of the night."
"We have to go look for your father. He's been gone for hours and he's still not answering his cell phone."
For the first time that night, something besides anger at her dad fluttered through Janet's mind. She sat up. "You mean he's not home yet? Why?"
Vala sighed. "I don't know. That's why we're going to go look for him. I've got to get Charlie; you get dressed, all right?"
"Yes, mom," she sighed, sliding out of bed. Vala was out of the room by the time she hit the floor, and was already standing by the door holding Charlie when she came out of her room dressed.
"Where do you think he is?" Janet asked as her mother hustled her out to the other car. But Vala didn't have much of an answer.
"For now we're going to assume he's somewhere between here and the grocery store," she said. Janet climbed into the back seat next to Charlie once Vala had strapped him into his seat; the baby was still asleep. Vala got in the driver's seat and shut her door. She insert the key into ignition and started the car. Before she pulled out she opened her cell phone and dialed the O'Neill's number.
"Hello?"
"Sam?"
"Yeah. What's
wrong, Vala? You sound a little freaked."
"Daniel's been gone for over two hours. He only went to the store a few minutes away, and he's not answering his cell phone. He should have been home a long time ago. Shouldn't I be a little freaked."
"What? Gosh, I would be. That doesn't sound good," Sam answered in concern.
"Ya think?" Vala snorted. "Sorry."
"No, it's okay…just a minute." Vala heard Sam pull away from the phone and yell something across the house that sounded like 'Jack, pick up the other phone'. It must have been, because a few seconds later there was a clicking sound and jack O'Neill's voice.
"What?"
"Daniel's missing," Sam answered her husband.
"What?!" It was the same word, but this time it had a much stronger emotion-worry. Vala explained again what she'd told Sam.
"Crap," Jack sighed.
"Have you tried calling him?" Sam asked.
"Yes, but he's not answering."
"What are you doing?" Jack asked.
"I 'm sitting in the other car in the driveway with the kids. We're going to go looked for him--between here and the store first."
"Okay…we'll come.
Cassie and Skaara are still here, but we'll send them
home and come help you. We'll go to the store from here just in case and look,
and we don't see anything we'll go towards you."
Vala nodded at Jack's idea before she remembered that he couldn't see her. It was an old habit from when she'd first learned to use an earth phone. Usually when communicating through space, it was either a recorded message, or it was live, and had video. She had kept forgetting there was video to the conversation when she had first started using phones, and when she was nervous the tendency came back.
"Right. Okay," she agreed.
"We'll both have our cells if you need us, okay?" Sam assured her.
"All right," Vala sighed. "Thanks guys."
* * * *
"What's wrong?" Cassie asked, standing up from the couch with Skaara as Sam came back in from the kitchen where she'd been and jack set down the phone in the living room.
"Daniel's missing," Sam sighed again. Cassie gasped slightly.
"He left for the grocery store to get milk over two hours ago, he isn't home yet and he's not answering his cell phone," Jack finished.
"Do you think that something has happened, O'Neill?" Skaara inquired.
"I hope whatever it is isn't too serious, but it might be. That's why Vala's out looking for him, and you're going home so we can look for him too. Or, well…actually I don't guess I care if you stay here, but we're going to go look for Daniel."
"Then we'll look for him too."
Sam was already getting her and jack's coats from the closet by the door. "No, Cassie, it's all right. You don't have to."
"We've got it," Jack added. "Come on, you got married two days ago. Go home. We'll find him. It's probably nothing to worry about." At least I really hope so.
"Go home and sit around worrying about him? Not gonna happen, dad," Cassie said confidently. She crossed to the closet, Skaara close on her heels.
"We will help too," Skaara nodded, grabbing his coat too.
"You sure?" Sam asked.
Cassie rolled her eyes and smiled as she pulled on her coat. "Of course we’re sure."
Jack shrugged. "Two extra cars is better than one; let's go."
* * * *
Daniel woke…wait. He was alive? He tried to move, but it hurt too much. His head felt like a sphere of pure agony, and he couldn't suppress a groan bursting from his throat. His seat belt was stretched too tight against him. His left hand was closest to the buckle, but that shoulder hurt too incredibly much to even think about moving, and his right arm for some reason wouldn't go far enough to reach it. And that was when he realized that he was upside-down.
Well, not upside-down exactly, but through his seriously blurred, pained vision he could see that the car was tilted on its side, and it was laying on the side he was on. He was slumping toward the side window, which right now was more under him than next to him. He was almost laying on his injured shoulder, which must have been why it hurt so much. In fact, he wasn't quite sure if he could stay conscious, as bad as he was realizing it felt as he woke more.
At least the angle the resting vehicle had was toward his right, so he was more upright than upside-down. That helped some, but as he though about that, and the shape of the car, he vaguely realized that the position of the vehicle wasn't really physically possible unless one side of the bottom had landed on something, or the right side was wedged against something-like a tree.
Panic shot through Daniel's consciousness again. He was alive, but he didn't know how badly he was hurt, and if the car was leaning this heavily against the trees that had been against the edge of the cliff he'd seen…he might not be alive very much longer. He and Vala passed this spot every day on the way to work, and he knew the trees weren't very old, thick, or sturdy. They might not be able to hold the weight of the vehicle if too much of it was being supported by them, and if it was a large enough percentage and they broke, the car might just fall over the cliff after all.
Daniel struggled to stay awake, make his mind more alert to think through the situation, but the pain in his shoulder and something else that was hurting one of his legs wouldn't let him. Finally, the urge to slip into the comforting darkness again was too strong. Daniel's eyes fell closed and he passed out again, cutting short his prayers for someone to find him quickly--before it was too late.
Chapter 6
“Mom, look!” Janet shouted suddenly.
Vala spun to look from the side of
the road she’d been peering at to the other side, and saw what her daughter was
referring too. A little ways ahead a faint light flickered weakly from the left
side of the road, and as she slowed even more and drew the car closer to the apparition
she saw a dark shape looming around the light. It wasn’t until they were right
on it that the car’s headlights flashed down the hill on the shape and revealed
the
Vala gasped. The car was almost on its side, being supported by a couple of young trees that were so bent with the vehicle’s weight that both they and half of the car were leaning out over the edge of the cliff that was there. Vala knew this cliff; it didn’t go down extremely far—not much farther than she’d fallen the day before, if even that far down, but if Daniel was in there and he fell in the vehicle…Of course, that also depended on whether he still alive now.
“Janet, stay here and watch your brother,” Vala ordered immediately. Feeling under her seat, she found the flashlight they kept there, pulled it out, opened her door and jumped out of the car. She pushed the door closed again, and she was already halfway down the hill when it slammed.
“Daniel!” she called loudly, switching the flashlight on. There was no answer, and when she skidded to a halt in the snow in front of the wrecked vehicle she saw why. “Oh no…” she gulped. Daniel still strapped in the driver’s seat, but even so was sliding toward the ground; or in other words, towards the window on his side. His eyes were closed, and he wasn’t moving. From where she was and his position, Vala couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not.
What she could see was the blood. It soaked the left shoulder of his jacket, and some of his hair on the side of his head next to the window where it rested. The pane was spattered in it too. There was no question that he’d hit his head there, but she wasn’t sure whether she hoped the blood on his coat came from his head as well or there was another wound which would mean his head wasn’t bleeding as badly as it appeared to be.
These observations Vala made in only a few seconds, before she began searching for a way to get Daniel out. It quickly became clear that that only way in was through the windshield. She used the flashlight, hitting the glass until it shattered, thankful that most glass these days—including this windshield—was safety glass that automatically came apart into thousand of tiny, annoying, though harmless squares or balls. The plastic-like pieces rained down into car, and outside onto the ground, but all Vala cared about was getting her husband out of the half-smashed vehicle.
Carefully she climbed up onto the hood and leaned down into the car. The first thing she did was unbuckle Daniel’s seatbelt. He slumped farther toward the window then, and a soft groan assured her he was still alive, though she still didn't know how badly he was hurt. Now all she had to do was get him out of there. At least she hoped she could pull him out. Then she grabbed Daniel under his arms and tugged, but in the position he was in she found she couldn’t get enough leverage to life his weight from the vehicle. Frustrated, Vala backed out and slid to the ground again, pulling her cell phone from her pocket once more. She called the O'Neills, who would be there as soon as they could. They weren't far away and it would only be a few minutes before they could give her some help in getting Daniel out. Jack also said he would call an ambulance for her.
Vala sighed and looked back and forth between the car in front of her and the parked one on the side of the road up the hill. Janet would be worried, and there was nothing else she could do for Daniel until Jack, Sam, Cassie, and Skaara got there. Reluctantly she slid her phone back in her coat pocket and tramped back up the hill to where her children waited.
"Mom, is dad okay?" Janet asked as soon as she opened the back door next to where her daughter sat. Vala slid in beside her and closed the door to keep out the cold, and sighed.
"I don't know, Janet. He's down there, and he's alive, but I can't get him out by myself-"
"I can help."
Vala felt a small smile touch her face for a moment. "I know, sweetheart, but Uncle Jack and Aunt Sam, and Cassie and Skaara will be here in a minute or two, and they'll help, okay?"
Janet gulped and didn't seem quite convinced that waiting any amount of minutes was a good idea, but she nodded. "Okay…"
Charlie, thankfully, didn't wake, not even when two more vehicles pulled in on either side of the car and doors slammed as Vala got out again to meet the others.
"Ouch," Jack winced, looking down the hill. "What happened here?"
Sam gasped. "Oh no, is he okay?"
"I-I don't know," Vala gulped. "He's alive, but I can't get him out. I don't know how badly he's hurt, or anything. I can't tell."
"We will get Danyel out, Vala. Do not worry," Skaara assured her.
"I'll stay with the kids," Cassie volunteered. "They'll be okay, go."
Vala nodded in thanks, and while
Cassie went back to the
"Jack, this looks bad," Sam observed immediately.
"I know," O'Neill sighed, grimacing at the sight of his friend's awkward position and the blood that he could see.
"We can get him out, O'Neill, yes?" Skaara asked, just to be certain.
Jack nodded. "Yeah, we can. Vala's already opened up the windshield for us. Now we just have to figure out how to move him without hurting him anymore than he already is. Okay, uh…Skaara and I'll get up on the hood and pull him out. Sam, you and Vala stay on the ground and get ready for us to hand him down to you so you can get him on the ground and we can check him over, all right?"
The other three nodded, but before they could move to positions a loud cracking sound echoed around them.
Sam's eyes widened. "What was that?"
Vala swallowed. "Uh…"
Jack spun and glanced around the side of the car to its support as it dangled halfway over the edge of the cliff. When he turned back to them, his face was several shades paler than it had been before, and his eyes were wide.
"We have to get him out of there--NOW."
Vala groaned in worry as Jack and Skaara crawled carefully onto the half of the car that was still safely on the ground. "Perfect…"
Jack leaned in through the windshield and tried to pull Daniel out, but in the awkward position had the same problem Vala had. The retired general sighed in frustration.
"What is wrong, O'Neill?"
"Ah, I don't think we're gonna be able to just pull him out."
"Why not?"
"Well, besides not having enough leverage, I think his leg or his pants are caught on something maybe…I'm getting some kind of resistance from one side." He frowned. "I think someone's gonna have to get down in there. I'd do it myself, but these stupid knees of mine are already yelling at me," he winced.
Skaara nodded. "I will." He made a move to go down through the opening where the windshield had been.
"You sure? It's kinda dangerous…"
"O'Neill, we do not have time to waste."
"I know, but really, Skaara, you just got married, and this thing could go at any minute."
"You said yourself that you cannot."
"Well, okay, it wouldn't be a good idea. Carolyn would kill me, but, you know, I could try…"
Skaara raised an eyebrow.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Fine, but be careful buddy, you got it? We want everybody alive when this is over, understand?"
"I do," the Abydonian smiled at his father-in-law. Then he silently shimmied down into the cab of the car, staying as close to Daniel as possible to avoid unbalancing the vehicle while Sam and Vala watched warily from next to the car.
"So what's the problem down there?" Jack asked as Skaara examined Daniel's position.
"You were right, O'Neill. His pants leg is caught on something--I believe it is a piece of metal bent room the side of the area under the steering wheel…"
"Is his leg okay?" Vala asked worriedly.
"O cannot see it well enough. Can one of you hand me a flashlight?" Skaara asked. Jack had been shining one down into the car so Skaara could see to get in, but the young man wasn't holding one. Sam handed up another and Jack handed it down to Skaara. The Abydonian pulled in a breath once he had switched it on.
"What? What's wrong?" Vala questioned anxiously.
"His left leg is bleeding. I will not be able to tell how badly it is hurt until we can get him out."
O'Neill sighed. "Oi, great. Okay, Skaara, let's just get him out now before we all fall over the cliff, okay?"
"Right," the younger man agreed quickly.
Vala, meanwhile, was feeling herself grow paler. How many more unseen injuries would they find when they had Daniel to safety? She nearly jumped when she felt an arm go around her shoulders, but settled again when she glanced beside her and saw that it was Sam, offering what comfort she could. Sam managed a reassuring smile for her friend, and Vala smiled weakly back.
Skaara was able to free Daniel's leg without causing anymore harm, though all of them heard a plaintive moan when the piece of metal finally fell from where it had snagged his pants and wedged itself against his left, a ragged edge cutting in some, or so the Abydonian said. That description certainly fit the pained sound they heard, and Vala suddenly wished she was the on in there with him. That was when the trees supporting the vehicle began to groan again, and the effort was sped up even more than before.
Jack and Skaara pushed and pulled, and safely got Daniel out of the vehicle through the windshield hole, though once Skaara was out and all three men were on top of the hood of car, another snap sounded, and the vehicle shook.
"Jack!" Sam shouted.
"Let's go!" Jack answered, directing the order to Skaara. The two quickly handed a waking and groaning Daniel down to Sam and Vala, who caught him, pulled him several feet away from the tipping car and lowered him to the ground. Vala brought herself to the ground with him and rested his head on her knees, holding onto him in fear as the car on the edge of the cliff tilted farther and farther off.
Jack and Skaara jumped off the hood just in time, landing on hands and knees in the snow in front of Sam, Vala, and Daniel and twisting around on their knees to see as the car slid over the edge and crashed loudly to the bottom.
Vala's eyes widened and she gulped hard. "Well…there goes that car."
Jack snorted. "Ya think?"
Chapter 7
The racket from the falling car jarred Daniel to full wakefulness, but the pain that came with consciousness pulled another moan from his throat.
"W…what?" he muttered weakly.
Vala looked down at him and managed a smile. "It's all right, Daniel. You'll be fine." His eyes locked on her for a moment before wandering again, taking in his friends, the broken trees at the edge of the cliff, and the absence of the vehicle he last remembered being in.
"Where's the car?" he slurred.
The other four looked at each other for a moment.
Jack moved forward first. "Uhm, well, Daniel, it kind of fell off," he informed in the way that only Jack O'Neill could.
"Oh…"
Obviously, Daniel was too weak or hurting too much to care.
"What happened?" Vala asked worriedly.
He tried to shrug, but grimaced. "Ice."
Sam, meanwhile, had moved to take a look at his leg, but it wasn't until she tried to turn it a bit to get a better look at the wound that someone noticed--namely, Daniel, who gasped suddenly.
"Sorry!" Sam winced.
"-t's okay."
Sam sighed. "That ambulance needs to get here. This doesn't look good."
"Neither does this," Jack added. He'd been doing a bit of checking over of his friend as well, and had found the shoulder wound.
"Jack…"
"Ah ah. I don't wanna hear the 'I'm fine' bit, Daniel. You are anything but fine," the retired general chastised.
Daniel sighed, but that hurt too, and his breath hitched a bit as he tried to let it out.
"Daniel?" Vala asked in concern.
"He's probably got a cracked rib or two; I wouldn't be surprised," Sam offered.
Daniel rolled his eyes. "Wonderful," he mumbled.
Cassie, meanwhile, could no longer hold Janet in the car. The baby had to be watched too, so when the girl escaped, there was no going after her.
"Daddy!" she shouted, jumping out of the vehicle and running down the hill toward her parents.
Vala looked up as their daughter slid to a stop beside them and dropped into a snow next to Daniel "Janet! I thought I told you to stay in the car."
"But mom-"
"Vala, give the kid a break; she's worried about her dad," Jack encouraged.
Vala sighed and nodded, and Janet flashed her Uncle Jack a smile before turning her full attention to her father. "Dad?" she asked worriedly.
Daniel smiled weakly. "It's okay, Janet…I'll be fine."
"A-Are you sure?" the girl swallowed. Her voice shook a bit as her eyes scanned the amount of blood on his shoulder and leg, and the nasty bump on his head. Thankfully, though, she had landed to the right of him, and Daniel was able to grope for her hand in the snow and wrap his around it.
"Yeah," he assured her. And as he looked at the tears in her eyes, he knew he would be. She didn't hate him; he shouldn't be hating himself. Sure, they still had things to work out, and there were more than everyone's fair share of apologies to be made, but it would be all right.
Finally Janet gave a small smile back, and as the sound of an ambulance siren sounded in the background and began to draw closer, all of them smiled, because they felt it too. They would all be all right.
* * * *
"I still can't believe they only kept you one more
night," Jack groused Thursday afternoon at his house, pacing in front of
Daniel. It had been Tuesday night since Daniel's rescue, and he had come home
that morning. The Christmas party at the O'Neill's had been delayed while
"Jack, it's not that serious," Daniel protested from his chair.
O'Neill stopped and stared at him. "Uh huh. Only you could say you're fine after you get robbed, stabbed in the shoulder, beat up, hit ice, roll your car down a hill, get your leg cut up by a piece of metal, crack a couple of ribs, hit your head hard enough to get a minor concussion, and get pulled out of the car just before it crashes to the bottom of a cliff," the retired general mussed, shaking his head at his younger friend.
Daniel blinked up at him for a moment, trying find the joke, and realized that behind the sarcasm Jack was serious. He was worried about him. Daniel glanced down at the sling his left arm was in, felt the bandage still around his head, and the others still around his leg and chest under his clothes, and realized that O'Neill had every right to. He'd told them the truth about what had happened to him before they found him. He hadn't had much choice when the origin of the shoulder wound had raised questions by the doctors. Vala had been none too pleased with the information, but it hadn't been him she was mad at, of course.
Janet wasn't mad at him anymore, either. Vala had brought both children to visit him the day before once he'd gotten much of his strength back, but had left him and Janet alone long enough for them to have a nice, long talk. Apologies had been made--mostly on his part--and accepted. Plans to fix the problems that had arise had been made to begin as soon as he was free, and once that was done they had ended up lapsing back into their habit of talking hours away. Well, it could have been hours if visiting hours hadn't ended.
Daniel shrugged at Jack with his good shoulder and smiled. "That's me I guess."
Jack grimaced. "Yeah, and that being you is gonna get you killed one of these days. Ohh wait, it already has--more than once."
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"Do I have to name them off?
"Okay, okay," Daniel chuckled. "I get the point. I'll be more careful from now on, okay? Believe me, with a family now I want to."
"Good, because I'm not ascending just to keep you company anymore. The whole process was kinda interesting, but overall it got pretty darn boring up there," Jack said, grinning finally.
Daniel started to say something else when the Mitchell's came into the living room, having just arrived. Both twins rushed across the room as soon as they could get away from their mother. It seemed that their mother had instructed them as to his injuries, because the two six-year-olds locked onto the only two uninjured limbs he had. For a moment that was a bit embarrassing, especially after he glanced up and caught a look of concern on Carolyn's face that confirmed it, but the feeling was lost once he looked back down at the kids that were currently latched onto his right arm and leg.
"Uncle Daniel, are you okay?" Tiffany asked first, ever the more outspoken.
Zach looked up at him with wide eyes from the floor where
he's wrapped his arms around
Daniel smiled and ruffled the boys hair before bringing his arm back up to hug Tiffany. "Yeah, I did, but I'll be okay. You don't have to worry about me."
Cameron grinned and shook his head as he and Carolyn
approached. "You could say that line in your sleep,
"I probably could," Daniel laughed.
"Where's the rest of the crew?"
Jack raised a finger. "Ah. The females are in the kitchen, and Teal'c, Cassie, and Skaara aren't here yet."
"And Charlie's sleeping," Daniel added, nodding to the carrier in the seat next to him where the baby was.
"Again," Jack smirked, but a small cry from the spot wiped away O'Neill's smirk and brought his eyebrows up. "Or not." Jack leaned down and picked the baby up, who calmed as soon as he was in his uncle's arms. "You want him, Daniel?" he said, asking out of courtesy.
Daniel glanced at the girl attached to the arm he could have used to hold the baby while sitting and shook his head. "Nah, you keep him. He's happy you," he smiled.
"No objections," Jack agreed. Quite happy with his charge, the retired general crossed to the couch and sat down to play with little Charlie.
Tiffany, meanwhile, leaned over, kissed his cheek, and then took her brother's hand and pulled him away, obviously content in her knowledge that Daniel was fine. "Come on, let's go find the others in the kitchen," she suggested--or rather, ordered. But Zach had no qualms with the idea, and followed her.
"Hey Daniel, one question…"
"Yeah?"
"What's with this week and close calls with
cliffs?" he asked, motioning to
Daniel winced. "I have no idea."
Carolyn put and arm around her husband's shoulders and looked down at Daniel. "As a doctor maybe I'm supposed to be used to this kind of thing, but that doesn't mean I like being woken up by the phone in the middle of the night to be told one of my friends just had a serious car accident and as his doctor could I please come to hospital immediately."
"Sorry about that."
"Well, let's just try not to do it again, shall we? At least not before the year's over," she smiled.
Daniel laughed. "Yeah, I'll try."
That was when the doorbell rang once more, and the front door opened when Sam answered it. Cassie and Skaara stepped in from the cold, followed after a moment by Teal'c.
"All right! Everybody's here--let's get this party started!" Jack called, standing with Charlie. "Sam, is the food ready?"
"Yep, ready and on the table," Sam answered, hugging Cassie.
Vala and Janet came out into the living room too, the Mitchell children trailing at their heels. We Wish You a Merry Christmas came on in the background.
"Time to eat, time to eat!" Tiffany yelled.
"Eat!" Zach echoed, tugging on his father's pants leg.
"All right, all right," Cameron laughed.
Carolyn leaned down and scooped Tiffany up. "We all heard both of you the first time, silly; not so loud," she chastised.
"Sorry," the two chorused together. Daniel grinned; they'd been doing that since both of them could talk.
Janet and Vala came over to Daniel, and Janet stuck out her hand. "Can I help you up?" she asked.
"Sure," Daniel answered, taking it. He was too heavy for Janet to help up by herself, so Vala pulled up on his arm, but together they got Daniel on his feet. He hugged both of them before Janet handed him the crutch he'd been using with his good arm. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, dad."
"Okay, into the dining room, people, it's turkey time!" Jack was shouting about the noise of the group.
Daniel managed to bend down far enough to kiss his daughter's cheek. "I love you."
Janet replied happily, hugging him again carefully. "I love you too."
Chapter 8
DON’T LET GO!
Daniel jerked awake, gasping. Vala’s panicked voice rang in his ears; the image of her dangling form with nothing but air below her as only his fingers kept her from plunging downward was burned into his mind’s eye; and her screams echoed behind it all. It had been days, but the nightmares still came ever night. Daniel shivered and sat up. He started to wipe the sweat from his face, but the shaking refused to stop. For crying out loud, he’d almost lost her. For several minutes there he’d thought he had.
Beside him, Daniel didn’t notice Vala pushing herself up to a sitting position as well until she quietly wrapped her arms around him; she didn’t have to ask. Daniel turned and held on, burying his face in her shoulder.
“Shhh…It’s all right. I’m here,” Vala murmured in his ear.
Daniel held tight until his body stopped shaking, and his mind had been eased. “I know,” he sighed, pulling back a bit to look at her. “Thank you…”
She smiled at him. “It’s okay. You’re not the only one around here having bad dreams.”
“Right. I’m sorry, are you okay?” Daniel asked, wincing. It hadn’t occurred to him yet that there must have been a reason why Vala was already awake. Just as he’d been having nightmares of the incident during their last mission, she’d been having both dreams of that, and what had happened here bon earth as well. She had come just as close to losing him as he had come to losing her.
Vala shrugged. “I’m fine. Granted, I don’t really feel like sleeping anymore now, but I’m all right.”
“What time is it?” The clock was on the table behind him next to the bed, so she was the one looking toward it.
“Uhm…four-thirty a.m.,” Vala answered, glancing over his shoulder.
Daniel smiled and kissed her. “Merry Christmas.”
Vala grinned and pulled his head back down. When the two surfaced for air a few moments later, Vala glanced at the clock again.
“Janet will be wide awake in an hour or two,” she reminded him.
“We might as well get to work then, since I don’t think either of us is going back to sleep,” Daniel suggested.
“Just what I was thinking.”
* * * *
“And I sincerely hope that all you residents of
From the couch where he and Vala
sat Daniel pressed the button on the remote in his hand and turned off the
television, cutting off the hushed news channel voice in mid
sentence. Well, that wasn’t entirely bad news. They didn’t really need
to be anywhere until New Years Eve. The snow had a
week to stop falling and melt enough for the Jacksons to be able to get out on
the roads and head back to the O’Neill’s for another party that night. It had
become a tradition over the years to greet the new years
together as one big family, even if the children had to take a nap in the guest
room to be awake enough at
“It’s six-thirty; Janet will be up any minute now,” Vala commented absently, shifting as she sat snuggled against him. “I don’t want to get up.”
Daniel smiled and squeezed her shoulders with the arm he had wrapped around them—his right, because his left shoulder wasn’t completely healed yet even though it was well on its way.
Both he and Vala had already been up for two hours, still unable to sleep, and they were tired, but satisfied that they had everything ready. The presents were under the tree, the glass of milk on the coffee table empty, and most of the cookies eaten. Neither were quite sure if their smart daughter still believed in Santa Claus, but better safe than sorry. Besides, now there was another little one to keep the magic alive for.
“Me either,” he chuckled, kissing her cheek. Daniel was quite comfy where he was, thank you, but with any luck they’d have a few more minutes just to sit together before Janet woke up ready to open presents and they would have to go get Charlie too.
“Mom? Dad?”
No such luck.
Janet’s voice drifted down the hallway with the sound of small feet padding back toward their bedroom. Daniel and Vala grinned at each other, stood and followed their daughter’s voice down the hallway. They found her halfway there, turning away from their room with a confused look on her face.
“Oh, there you are,” she said, smiling when she saw them. The girl started to bounce up and down on her toes. “Can we open presents now?”
“Sure we can,” Daniel answered.
“Just a minute; let me get Charlie,” Vala added. Janet and Daniel nodded, and Vala disappeared into the master bedroom. A moment or two later she came out again, carrying a yawning baby Charlie with his wild black hair even more mused than usual.
Daniel held his arms out to take the boy off her hands, but his wife wagged a finger at him.
“Oh no you don’t, Daniel. That shoulder isn’t healed nearly enough yet for you to be carrying a baby around.”
“He’s thirteen-and-a-half pounds.”
“Exactly. You can’t be too careful with that kind of injury.”
Daniel sighed and shook his head at her, but he knew she was right.
“Okay, okay, can we go now?” Janet asked anxiously, bouncing again.
“Yes, let’s go,” Daniel replied, bending to kiss her cheek. “Merry Christmas!” The he gave her a small playful shove toward the living room. Janet squealed and raced the rest of the way, her parents and brother close behind.
* * * *
The open presents lay scattered on the floor around the tree, along with a small scrap of brightly colored green and red wrapping paper that had escapes the clean-up a few minutes before. It was rather obvious with most of Janet’s gifts which parent they had come from. Anything that could be considered ‘girly’ was Vala’s doing, while several middle and high school level books and other things that would nurse Janet’s growing interest in archaeology and Ancient Egypt were unquestionably the work of her father.
Daniel, of course, would proud no matter what his daughter ended up doing in the long run when she grew up, but he couldn’t help but fell quite happy that she too, was fascinated by the things that had caught his attention at her age, and still interested him to this day. Vala wasn’t nearly as understanding of his chosen career before the SGC—she was pretty much with Jack in thinking archaeology was all a bunch of boring rocks. Oh well.
Janet was in the living room with her things, sprawled out on the floor in front of the couch by the tree with a new book, Charlie was in his playpen with his new toys, and Vala was in the kitchen putting the final touches on a Christmas dinner that was almost ready. Daniel could smell the turkey from where he sat in one of the two large cushioned chairs that sat on either side of the couch, reading his own new book.
He had to give Vala a lot of credit. For someone who had once been a Goa’uld host and after that had spent her days wandering the galaxy cheating and stealing, she had changed a lot for the better. Now she was a darn good cook; come to think of it, that woman could do just about anything well if she put her mind to it.
A knock on the front door pulled Daniel from his thoughts and brought him to his feet, wondering who would be coming to call just then. Granted, the forecasted second and worse onslaught of heavy snow and ice wasn’t really supposed to start until later that night, but it was still Christmas day…Shrugging to himself with his good shoulder, Daniel shuffled in his socks to the door and opened it. The door swung open, throwing a waft of cold air toward Jackson, but he didn’t notice as his eyes widened a bit. Quickly he controlled the action and simply blinked.
“Travis. Hi,” he managed.
The teenager offered a tentative smile from just outside the doorway. “Hi, Dr. Jackson. I heard what happened after you left the other night, and I was worried; I knew I should have made sure you got home. I’m sorry. But anyway, when I didn’t see you or even your wife at the store since then I just wanted to make sure you were all right…” he trailed.
Daniel nodded. “It’s not your fault, and I’m okay, thanks. Do you want to come in?”
Travis shook his head, his mane of dark blond hair falling over his ears. “Thanks, but no sir. I know this isn’t the best time to be just showing up; I’ll go-“
“No, it’s all right.”
The teen shifted uncomfortably. “Not really. I would have come sooner so I didn’t have to bother you today, but with most of the other guys from the store gone for Christmas vacation I’ve been working extra shifts all week. I was even in this morning. Not that I mind; but it took all my time…”
Daniel didn’t know terribly much about Travis, but he did know that the teen was an orphan as he had been. Unlike Daniel, though, Travis had had a grandparent that had agreed to take him in. His only remaining grandmother had raised him, and he knew they weren’t rich.
“It’s okay, Travis, really. Why don’t you come in for a minute.” Daniel smiled at him. “If you’re going to take the time to explain there’s no reason for you to stand out in the cold.” Finally the young man relented and stepped into the house, after shaking the snow from his boots and giving a hearty thank you.
By now Janet had noticed who was there, and even Vala had been drawn from the kitchen through the living room and into the entryway.
“Hey Travis,” Janet offered in greeting, and Vala smiled at him.
“Hello Janet, Mrs. Jackson…” the teenager nodded back.
“What were you doing working this morning?” Daniel asked incredulously.
Travis shrugged. “Fewer and fewer businesses are shutting down for Christmas day every year. I worked a few hours Christmas day last year too.”
“Why?”
A heavy sigh came from the teen, and he shrugged. “I need the extra money. I’ve been working more shifts than usual for months, really, just even more so the past week or so.”
“Is your grandmother okay?” Daniel asked, brow furrowing.
A slow shake of the head.
“She’s not…”
“She’s still here,” Travis sighed, “But for how long is a mystery to anyone. She went into assisted living a few months ago. I wanted to take care of her, but I couldn’t do that and work…”
Daniel’s eyes widened unchecked this time. “Oh…I’m sorry; I didn’t know.”
Travis gave a small smile. “It’s all right, Dr. Jackson; I didn’t go around broadcasting it.”
“Right, right,”
“Thank you, but I should go now—“
“Have company?”
Travis blinked in mid-turn and swiveled to face Daniel again. “No sir.”
“Then where are you going?”
“Home, I guess,” Travis shrugged. To an empty apartment, then, on Christmas day. Alone.
Nuh uh. Not if Daniel Jackson had anything to say about it. He exchanged a meaningful glance with Vala, who returned an affirmative look right back even as she smiled at their visitor.
“Well, we were going to eat in a few minutes, and we’re not quite sure what after that, but you’re welcome to join us.”
Another surprised blink from the boy. “Really?”
Daniel grinned and rested his hands in his pockets. “Sure; why not?”
“We’d love to have you,” Vala added.
“Yeah!” Janet agreed enthusiastically. “Come on, Travis; we’ll have fun, don’t ya think?”
Suddenly the young man’s dumbstruck face lit up. “Yeah, I think so,” he agreed with the girl. Then he focused on Daniel and Vala again. “Dr. Jackson-“
“Daniel.”
Travis chuckled. “Either way I don’t know what else to say. Thank you…"
"You're welcome."
Vala started to move off. "I'll go put an extra place at the table."
* * * *
"Goodbye, Merry Christmas!" Travis said once more before closing the door behind him. His entire demeanor had brightened considerably since that morning. Now it was late afternoon, and the hours since then had been one of the best Christmases Daniel could remember. And it wasn't even over yet.
Janet watched Travis go and then turned back to her father, jumping up and down. "Okay dad, can we watch it now?"
Daniel laughed. "Yes, we can watch it now. Vala, you have the disk don't you?"
"It's already in the player and ready to go," she replied.
"Great! Let's go!" Janet said happily. Then the girl grabbed a hand from each of her parents and pulled them towards the living room. "Come on, hurry; you want to see it, don't you?"
"We're coming, we're coming," Daniel answered. Speeding up, he scooped the girl into his arms and swept her the rest of the way into the living room, plopping her down on the couch. "There. That fast enough for ya?" he asked as he and Vala sat down on either side of their daughter.
Janet giggled and nodded.
Daniel picked up the remote to turn on the television, grinning. "You know, I think I might actually like this better than watching it there. Your mom and I can pause it and tell you how great you're doing anytime we want without having to shout up at you on a stage."
Vala hugged her. "That's right, and don't think we won't."
"What about Charlie?" Janet asked.
"He's asleep, but you can show him later, I guess."
"If you can get him to stay awake and sit still long enough," Daniel smiled.
"Oh. Okay, well, can we start now?" the girl asked impatiently.
"You bet." With that, Daniel flicked on the television and started the video, silently thanking Cassandra again for recording Janet's school program a few days before.
* * * *
Later that night Daniel found himself in the kitchen, making hot chocolate and waiting for Vala to finish putting Charlie down for the night in his crib in their room. Janet was asleep too. At long last he heard Vala coming down the hallway and stepped into the doorway just as she started to pass into the kitchen. As she went by him he caught her around the waist and pulled her back to him.
"Oh! Oh, there you are, Daniel. What are you doing?"
His reply was to lean in and kiss her. Vala returned it, and when he pulled back she blinked up at him. "Well, that answers that question."
Daniel grinned, his arms still around her as she put hers around his neck. "So, the weather channel says we'll probably be snowed in for a couple of days…"
"I don't have a problem with that," Vala answered, smiling mischievously.
"Good, because I don't either; no problem at all…"
Vala grinned and pulled his head back down; Daniel let her, pressing his lips to her again.
** The End **
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