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"You might want to stop poking me, I'm awake."

"You might want to get up then."

Sam groaned slightly and burrowed her head deeper in her pillow. Today was not the day to lie around in bed. Well, okay, every day was like that, but today was her day off. Day *and* night off. No paperwork, no research, no mission, no debriefing ...

Horrible. Absolutely, completely, utterly horrible.

Sam yawned, stretching her hands behind her back and squinting at Janet. "Any particular reason I need to be up at--" she glanced at the blurry red digits on the clock "--oh-seven-hundred?"

Janet rolled her eyes in apathetic annoyance and pulled at one of the bed's corners. "Any particular reason you need to use military time?"

Sam frowned and plopped back down onto the soft, warm, mmm, cozy pillows before snapping her eyes open in surprise. "Wha--? Janet! Let me go ... stop it! I swear ... I'll find a way to wire the Gate's ... agh ... power-up system to your , AHH, dialysis equipment!" she shrieked in between bumping her head against every possible obstacle in her bedroom as Janet dragged her out of bed toward the door.

Janet stopped abruptly and dropped Sam's foot with a hushed thud on the soft carpet. "You do that, and I'll make sure you get a FULL medical check-up as soon as you get back to Base. And yes, that *does* include the an--"

"Got it!" Sam winced and slowly grabbed onto one of the cabinets, "Sheesh, I take it you had trouble taking the Oath in med school?" she rubbed at the sensitive spot behind her neck then yawned again as Janet leaned against the door frame with a smug look on her face. "What? What ...?" Sam looked around suspiciously.

Janet shrugged, corners of her lips curled into an evil smile, "I'm gonna wait downstairs ... you put on something prett--" she looked at Sam's open closet, "...put something on."

Sam gaped after Janet, then sat down on her bed, resting her head on her hands like she used to when she was a teenager flipping through the hideously demeaning girl mags. She groaned and lazily slid off the bed onto the feathery floor, hoping the 'walk like a reptile' technique wouldn't make her look too ... 5 year old-ish.

"Put something on." She grimaced childishly, imitating Janet.

Ahhh, Janet!

She really despised her friend at the moment. She managed to trick poor Sam into giving up her rare-once-in-a-year-completely-made-for-doing-absolutely-nothing day. And how did the conniving doctor succeed? Easy. She promised Sam a huge shopping spree. A-n-d ... forgot to mention that Sam had a blind date at the end of that day. Hence the shopping binge ...

Sam should have seen it coming, but she was too involved with solving an arithmetic theorem and one of the logarithms was giving her multiplication troubl-- ... okay, so, Janet was right, Sam could use a break from playing War with the boys and give her brain some unadulterated quality time ... translation: No numbers, Sam!

She yawned once again and started shuffling through her closet. She heard Janet yelling like a demented chef somewhere in her kitchen and quickly pulled out the first thing that came into view. It didn't matter what she wore, what mattered was that her pots and pans stay intact!

As she ran downstairs, her mind briskly started one of those chain-of-events-leading-to-a-strange-and-completely-off-topic-conclusion thingies. Pots and pans. Must save as many as possible. Oh, especially the black Teflon one Mrs. Werecich gave her last year. Yes, yes, that one! One ... hmm, simplest number. Rational number, closed with respect to addition and multiplication, but never the sum or product of any two natural numbers. A convenient fraction to represent the qu--

A very odd number ... and so very lonely.

Janet was right.

Sam needed a date.

~*~

"And that would be important, why ...?"

"Because ... because, a whole civilization depended on viaducts, Jack and ..."

Daniel blinked as Jack made a snorting sound, making himself comfortable on Daniel's cluttered desk. Daniel massaged his forehead in annoyance and stared incredulously at Jack's slightly hunched back.

"Look, Daniel, I don't care about sewage facilities--"

"It wasn't talk about se--"

"Whatever, just pack up and let's go already. You can't hide in here forever." Jack toyed with one of the paperweights as Daniel's eyes followed the shiny object, completely hypnotized with the tiny bubbles inside the paperweight.

"And if I say I don't wanna go?" Daniel asked, eyes still on the paperweight.

Jack stood up with a charming 'you'll do as I say' smirk and leaned against his hands on the small table. "Then I have permission to make you."

"Oh, that's real mature, Jack." Daniel said in a low tone, but frowned and moved away slightly nonetheless.

He really wanted Jack to disappear and leave him alone with his dictionaries. He had a free day to do nothing but translate and what did Jack do? The moron set him up on one of those absurd blind date thingies. Like he didn't have better things to do! There was ... um, that ... uh, artifact. Yes, the artifact! Must decipher the artifact! No dating. No desperate middle age divorcees that won't know the difference between an insult and a compliment. Once he called a woman a polyglot (sarcastically, of course) and she slapped him. Yeah.

"19 hundred hours, Danny-boy, no excuses, no 'I need to save the world with *rocks*' spiels okay? You know where to find me." Jack rested his hand on the knob, eyes still settled firmly on Daniel's.

Daniel's shoulders slumped and he nodded like he just agreed to go on a 'let's smash all the 3,000 year old artifacts in the Pulska Arena' rampage. Jack smiled, satisfied with himself, and closed the door to Daniel's office, scampering off to the infirmary to find Teal'c.

"Yah ..." Daniel smacked his lips, eyebrows raised high, "Peachy."

Daniel was well aware of the constant nagging and jokes at his expense but not like he cared. Setting him up on a blind date. Well, that just screamed trouble. He wished that as long as they were setting him up, they would set him up with someone who had a brain, not some Millionaire bride reject.

He shook his head, sighing like there was no tomorrow and sat down at his desk, resting his head against the cool wooden surface. His eyes moved across the stacked files and folders lazily. Aghmm, must finish a few. Ah, Jack will kill him. Time ... Well, finish just *one* then. One ... single ... separate ... odd ... solitary ... lone ... Greek j--

He hated when his brain did that.

Jack was right.

Daniel needed a date.

~*~

The phone rang and Janet scampered off to pick it up before Sam would get the chance and whispered into the receiver, "Hello?"

"Janet? What the he--? Something wrong? You have the flu?" Jack grumbled on the other end. Janet rolled her eyes and wrapped the phone cord around her fingers, leaning against the kitchen wall.

"Yeah, I have the flu, Sir." Janet hissed sarcastically. "Everything set?" she peeked into the living-room where Sam was talking to herself again ... um, no wait, her plants. Her brown eyes smiled at the question and she replied in a hushed, conspiratorial tone, "Don't answer that, actually. I'll have her meet him at 20:00 in The A-- ... Ah, no, no thank you, we're not interested in sidings. Yes, thank you. Bye." She looked up at Sam's raised eyebrows as she clicked Jack off. "Um, telemarketers again." She cleared her throat and carefully lowered the phone onto the polished kitchen table.

Sam just shrugged and sat down at the desk, motioning to Janet with a 'coffee...please...coffee' look. Janet shook her head slightly, restraining from her 'evils of caffeine' speech. She gave up a long time ago. Who wouldn't? Having Daniel and Sam both knocking down half her staff to get to some coffee and then offering "Um, we were just ... uh, can we get some coffee, please?" as an excuse really taught her a lesson. But, she had to admit, they *were* kinda adorable with their trademark sheepish looks combined in action. Damn genetics! They'd make one hell-of-a cute kid.

Bad Janet!

"That's what you're wearing?" she eyed her friend with skepticism.

Sam blinked, "What? I thought we were just going shopping." She frowned suspiciously.

Janet shrugged and made a mental outline of Sam's makeover. "Yeah, but we're not going to a garage sale." She waved her hands, and gave up for now.

Sam traced the edge of her coffee mug slowly and looked up at Janet impishly. "So, this guy, Captain Marvelous or whatever ... what's he look like?" She really didn't want to know ... really, but as long as she was forced to spend a night ... um, no, not night, wrong choice of words ... babbling again ...

"You'll like him, that's all I have to say." Janet said mysteriously and Sam cringed.

Sounded scary.

Um, that could be anything from one-legged-rum-drinking-parrot-wearing-beard-obsessing lunatic to can-I-give-you-a-wedgie-it's-in-my-blood-you-see? brainless jock. Neither was too appealing to Sam. As weird as it sounded, she wanted to talk about her job on a date. She was one of those rare people that *actually* loved her job. Well, not like she *hated* dating, but usually the date didn't have a level of clearance to even be allowed to know what color her shoelaces were. Oh well ... some were "normal" ... uh huh, she asked Daniel to define 'normal' to her after her last blind date and he said "Normal? Um, I'm lost, Sam. Haven't met anyone who'd fit that description." Neither did she.

Oh, well, if Daniel, adorable, intelligent, loveable Daniel couldn't find a normal person, why should *she* expect Janet to find one for *her*?

"Ready?" Janet raised an eyebrow at her, already standing at the front door, car keys in hand.

Yeah, no pressure, Sam concluded sarcastically.

~*~

"No, thank you, Jack. I think I'll settle for my own car."

Jack exchanged looks with Teal'c and frowned in 'that boy isn't trying at all' fashion. Teal'c opened his mouth to say something, then just unlocked the car doors for Daniel. "You will wish to impress your company, DanielJackson."

Daniel got in the car with an aggravated look, crossing his arms, mumbling quietly, "Shouldn't *have* to impress anyone ..."

"Okay, then ... we'll just drop you off. Better that way, at least we'll know you're not gonna make a run for it." Jack shrugged in amusement.

"There's always public transportation, Jack."

Jack started the car, ignoring Daniel's comment, rather concentrating on Teal'c. "So, what did you think of the game last night, Teal'c?"

Daniel leaned his head against the window and stared outside.

He really didn't want to go on this date. He didn't want to sit through a night of talking to a wall instead of his date. It wasn't rare that he found himself more interested in the history of the forks and salt-shakers then the woman he went out with. He tried to be polite about it, really he did. It was just that he couldn't talk about 'regular' stuff. He would have liked nothing better then to make an 'on-the-spot' analysis of the latest mission but that was far beyond possible *or* permitted. He'd probably get sent straight to Mayborne for some good old fashioned 'smack-me-'til-I-crack' abuse if he even so much as mentioned the word Stargate.

Egh, he didn't want that.

So, what else was there to talk about? Nothing. If he unconsciously (and he often did) trailed off into some ancient culture or something, his date would respectively doze off. Darn it, why couldn't he just find someone who he wouldn't have to feel pressured to impress? He didn't have to impress his friends. Not Jack, not Teal'c, not Janet, not Sam.

Now, take Sam.

Sam understood his 'could we please talk about something else than the new Garth Brooks CD?' look. He didn't even know who this Garth person was! And neither did Sam. But she did know who Euclid, Qin Jinshao, Joseph Luis Lagrange, Thomas Young, even Karl Richard Lepsius were. And she actually knew them from the books, not bad made-for-TV movies.

She once asked him to define 'Normal' and he said, "Normal? Um, I'm lost, Sam. Haven't met anyone who'd fit that description."

But he did. Well, at least by his standards.

It was just that ...

"... after she drops Sam off with her blind date guy, she'll join us, so the three of us can take Cass to that new thingie in town."

... she was going on a date.

"Dr.Frasier called it an amusement park, O'Neill."

"Whatever, Teal'c." Jack parked the car, "Okay, Danny-boy, have fun and call if you need transportation." He said quickly, unlocking Daniel's side, restraining from actually pushing the young archaeologist out.

"Well, thanks for stopping the car at least, Jack." Daniel said icily, but made no move to get out of the car.

Jack and Teal'c stared at him for a long minute, then Jack sighed dramatically, massaging the bridge of his nose. "What!?"

"I'm too early." Daniel glanced outside for some sort of help, Armageddon, Apophis, anything.

"That's a good quality, now go." Jack waved him off. Teal'c managed to paste a somewhat sympathetic expression.

"Enjoy yourself, DanielJackson."

"I'll try, Teal'c." Daniel muttered and stepped out of the car as Jack practically sped off.

Daniel took a deep breath, bracing himself for yet another disaster, but then spotted a very familiar car in the parking lot pulling away. He almost waved buh-bye to Janet but thought better of it. Couldn't be Janet, could it? Because if it was, she just dropped Sam off and that could mea--

Nah ...

~*~

Janet called it 'Me time,' Sam just called it 'Why are you pulling my hair and what's that seaweed doing there?'

Well, that's what Sam's day consisted off. Girlie stuff. Not science, not combat (well, that could be discussed with Janet later on in the week) just ... pampering. She looked around the restaurant and winced. Janet was really gonna get it. The Abacus was the last place where Sam should spend an evening with a complete stranger. He probably wouldn't even know what 'abacus' meant.

Sam sighed deeply and leaned on the table, supporting her head with her palm. She felt like yawning, but didn't want to appear *too* un-lady-like. Ah, hell, who cared? She took her straw and started tracing small lines of Coke on the wooden table. She didn't care that it would probably leave deep marks ... or that she removed the table cloth ... or that people were looking at her strangely ... or that the drawing started looking peculiarly like a Stargate symbol. Her date was late. She had to amuse herself somehow.

"What you are depicting is classified material, Miss."

Sam jumped up a bit, startled, and looked at the intruder as her blue eyes widened in surprise.

~*~

Janet smiled to herself as she parked her car on Jack's street. She was happy. She was extremely happy. She made her way up the stairs and knocked on Jack's door. When he didn't answer, she knocked louder, trying not to snap out of her 'happy mood.'

"Okay, Red, are there wolves chasing you?" Jack opened the door, leaning against the doorframe with the same smug expression Janet was wearing. Janet rolled her eyes and pushed past him.

"You're the ugliest grandmother I've seen to date ... um, Sir." She said, smiling sweetly, and handed Teal'c the pre-paid tickets. "We all set?"

"Yup, got Danny shipped off nicely. Carter?" Jack took a bite out of his apple and sat down on the sofa, sifting through the amusement park brochure.

"Yup, she's meeting her date at The Abacus ..." she looked at Jack's old grandfather clock, "... right about now. All we have to do now is pick up Cass--"

Jack choked on his apple. "Where?"

Janet blinked and exchanged somewhat timid looks with Teal'c.

"Well, Dora, her friend's house. Why does it matter?" she asked, stepping closer to see if O'Neill was done choking on the apple. Talk about fairytales.

"No, I meant, where is Carter meeting her date?"

Teal'c moved away from the window, his face showing absolutely no trace of emotion ... well, not counting the barely discernible grin. "I believe Dr.Frasier said MajorCarter is currently at The Abacus ..." he paused for the dramatic punch-line. "I believe that is the same locale we 'dropped' DanielJackson off." He turned his back to the humans for a bit, trudging toward the kitchen in a self-satisfactory manner.

Jack stared after him incredulously, then looked at Janet. "This isn't funny, Doc."

"Sorry, Sir. Just got an image of Daniel and Sam ganging up on our innocent little plans and making a run for it." Janet finished, fighting the laughter with all her might. Laughing in a "grave" situation such as this ... not acceptable. Not acceptable at all.

Janet started laughing as Jack got up and violently grabbed the car keys. "Here's the plan. We pick up Cass and swing by the restaurant to see if I'll have to court-martial two individuals for disobeying a direct order."

"I do not believe DanielJackson is susceptible to one. He is a civilian, is he not, Dr.Frasier?" Teal'c helped the petite doctor to the door as she finally pasted a composed yet evil look on her face.

"He sure is, Teal'c."

~*~

Calling her 'Miss' might have gotten Daniel killed, but he took his chances.

After he entered the restaurant, Daniel didn't have to scan the waves of faces for too long. Sam was indeed there, sitting with an extremely bored look of her pretty face, staring at the table and the straw in her glass. He chuckled to himself when he saw her carefully look around for a bit before she began drawing on the table ... in the middle of a lavish restaurant, at that. He slowly checked with the hostess about his table, then veered off from her and made his stealthy way to Sam's straight and somewhat tensed back. He watched her draw the last chevron of the Gate, then decided to acquire a German accent and remark, "What you are depicting is classified material, Miss."

She almost jumped away from the table, probably unconsciously searching for her weapon. Which was one of the reasons Daniel felt like he could pull this off. She *couldn't* shoot him even if she wanted to.

When she finally focused on his face, she gave a sigh of relief and smiled so very brightly. "Testing out that '9 Lives' thing?"

He smiled and sat across her, ignoring the confused look on his hostess' face. Oh, so what? She lost a customer and probably spent a minute or so babbling about tonight's house specials to thin air, but Daniel couldn't have cared less. "Yeah, thought it needed a test drive."

"What are you doing here?" Sam looked around, perplexed. Daniel gave a tortured little look and she raised her eyebrows with an angelic smile. "Don't tell me ..." She took a napkin to wipe the already sticky Coke off.

"Looks like a very ... distorted point of origin." Daniel leaned, zooming in on the sketch.

"Yeah, well, I had some 'help' ..." Sam grinned and wiped off the last remnants of the highly classified info. Daniel gave a fake sigh, waving his hand at the eager vulture-like waiter. "Can you give us some time, please?"

Sam looked at Daniel, then frowned. "Hmm, speaking of points of origin, who's yours?"

"Jack." Daniel wrinkled his nose. "Set me up with one of his friends. Supposedly some Microbiology-Wonder-Woman or something."

"The Colonel knows someone who's a Microbiologist?" Sam shook her head humorously as Daniel grinned. "So, where is she?"

Daniel looked around, then shrugged carelessly. "Dunno. Never saw her."

"Uh huh ..." Sam looked at his lowered face and dunked her fingers in the mandatory water on the table, splashing Daniel with a few droplets, a playful smile stuck to her lips. "So, how are you supposed to ... um, meet?" she watched him wipe the little translucent beads from his forehead with a grin.

"Rose in my ... my something or other." He shrugged and dunked his own fingers into the water, returning the 'sentiment.'

Sam blinked and averted her head so she wouldn't get splashed. Not fighting fair, but eh ... "You're not wearing any ... rose, Daniel."

Daniel gave her a mischievous smile, "I know."

~*~

"No need to crash the car, Sir."

"I'm not gonna crash anything." Jack mumbled. He was losing his patience. Picking Cassie up was harder than he thought. Something about teenagers' inability to say a short goodbye, pack up and move out.

"So, Teal'c, explain this to me again. What's wrong with Sam and Daniel going out on a date?" Cassie asked, causing Jack to almost hit someone's mailbox. Teal'c tilted his head in amusement.

"There is nothing wrong with that, CassandraFrasier."

"Yeah, unless they're supposed to meet *other* people there. One of who is going to take her frustration out on me. Something about genetic coding and painful ureth--"

"Sir!" Janet glanced at Cassie, then out the window. "Not like I'm gonna get out of this fiasco unscathed. Sam's date is a French doctor ... do you know what the wrath of the French feels like?" she mumbled, trying to figure out why she wasted a whole day struggling to make Sam wear what *Janet* wanted. Janet cringed sheepishly. Guess Cassie's teen 'trouble' was rubbing off on Janet and snagged poor innocent Sam in the process. Well, Janet was happy. If nothing else, Daniel was gonna see the dolled up version of an Astrophysicist.

Not that he'll know what to do about it, but still.

~*~

Sam was laughing.

Daniel just made her explain what an 'abacus' was to a young-ish waiter. After she finished her 'frame-bearing-parallel-wires-or-grooves-on-which-counters-are-moved-thus-performing-arithmetic-calculations' routine, Daniel chipped in with 'Ancient-Roman-medieval-England-China-Japan-calculation-deriving-Exchequer-tablet' and *strangely* enough -- the waiter left them alone for a loooong time.

Unfortunately, there were other people who were set on ruining a perfectly good evening.

"I am sorry," one of the waiters cautiously marched up to Sam and Daniel with a frightened look on his face. "Which one of you is Major Carter?"

Sam immediately got that 'female superiority' look on her face, glaring at the guy like he was supposed to *know* everything about her, including her rank, "That would be me. Something wrong?"

Daniel glanced at the entrance and saw the disoriented hostess talk to two somewhat attractive people. He cringed a bit upon realizing who they *probably* were and nudged Sam. Sam looked at him, then the waiter's sheepish expression, finally setting her sights on the duo at the door. Ow, no.

"Okay, well, um, let's see ..." she bit her rosy lip thoughtfully and then raised her eyebrows at Daniel, "Uh, well, have a good time, Daniel."

Daniel tilted his head, biting his lower lip as well, reluctantly getting up. So very easy to get carried away, huh? "You too, Sam."

Sam watched him walk toward the tiny brunette, glancing back at her a few times. A tall, dark-haired man approached her with a wide, friendly smile and she forced herself to smile back. "Hello--"

"Good evening ... Samantha?" he said in a French accent. Sam tried not to wince at the name, and observed the man sit down at the now table-clothed table. She just nodded, making herself *not* look at a table near them. Daniel and the brunette sat down as well, and she could easily eavesdrop on their conversation. Bad, bad Sam.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Luca." The man said and Sam awarded him with a small smile.

"Uh, nice to meet you, Luca." She tested the name and rummaged for something to say. "Janet has told me a lot about you." Lying through her teeth, but Sam currently had other things on her mind. Daniel ... he was gonna pay for this! Why did he take the table that was within earshot? And worse even, he sat so they could both exchange looks without turning even so much as a centimeter. Scheming, conniving ... grinning Daniel. Sam couldn't help but grin herself. It *was* funny.

"...e didn't tell me you were so beautiful." Sam shook her head a bit and looked at the man next to her. He had said something, but ... oh, what the hell, just say 'uh huh,' can't go wrong with that.

"Uh huh, so ... um, what do you do, Luca?" she asked somewhat indifferently. The man didn't notice and started talking.

"I am a Doctor of ... how do you say--"

Sam ignored him ... just a bit, that is ... and sent Daniel a 'I can't believe it Charlie Brown, I just can't believe it' look. He smiled his most innocent smile and Sam's eyes widened a bit and she coughed as the brunette at Daniel's table turned around to see what was amusing Daniel so much.

Sam blushed, suppressing a giggle and burrowed her head in the menu quickly. "Shall we order?"

Her date gave her a strange look (probably because she interrupted his 'life story' speech) and shrugged slightly. "Ah, trs bien"

~*~

Daniel was having fun.

He was suddenly in a good mood for some strange reason. Must be all that abacus talk.

"So, you're a Doctor, as well?" the young woman opposite him asked timidly. He raised his eyebrows like he just woke up in the infirmary and shook his head slightly.

"Not that kind." He left it at that as the woman suddenly turned around and Sam dug her head in the menu. Daniel grinned and concluded that food wasn't a bad idea at this point.

His date scoured the menu, twisting her nose and Daniel glanced at Sam as she gave a small 'I'm gonna get you for that' shrug at him. A waitress came bouncing to Daniel's table and flipped out her little notebook, a cheerful smile playing on her face, "Are you ready to order?"

"I'll have Brandade De Morue and ..." Daniel looked at his date still reading the menu like it was the Bible, "... and another glass of Coke please." He tapped his fingers on the table lightly to attract his date, (well, she *did* have a name, but ...) "Laura?"

"Hmm? Oh, I'll have Fettuccine Alfredo and that ..." she narrowed her eyes at the burgundy menu, "... Nicoise salad ... thing."

Daniel cringed at the pronunciations, then shook his head as the waitress asked about wines. Coke would do just fine, thank you. Wine was for *special* occasions with *special* people.

Laura gave him an apologetic look and smiled, "I'm a vegetarian. Just love animals too much."

"Oh, I thought you just hated plants." Daniel grinned as she gave him a completely lost look. Ah, Sam would have laughed at that comment. He looked at her table for the 100^th time today and smiled. She *was* laughing and her French date was giving her the same 'Okay, you got me. What's so funny?' look Laura gave him a moment ago.

Ahh, the silent communication.

~*~

"Sir ... yelling at us won't get us a new tire."

Jack glared at Janet for a whole minute then looked at Teal'c. Teal'c crossed his arms behind his back and tilted his head. "We have made a call to AAA, they should be here soon, O'Neill."

"There go my plans." Cassie sat down on a rock and wrapped her hands around her knees with a theatrical sigh. Janet smiled at her and watched as Jack observed the empty road.

"Sir, I *did* sa--"

"Doc, I don't want to hear it."

"But ..."

"Doc."

"Sir ..."

"Janet!"

Janet chuckled and looked at Teal'c, whispering, "I told him so."

~*~

"Veal Piccata, reduced fat. Merci." Luca handed their waiter the menu with a smile.

Reduced fat ... ok-ay. Sam smiled at the waiter, still reeling from the sudden giggle attack she had a few moments earlier. Daniel was really going to wreck his date. Good! Um ... "I'll have Truite au bleu, thanks."

Luca looked at her and cocked his head. "You have a nice accent."

Sam tapped her fingers on the table looking for her glass of Coke. "Thank you."

"Truite au bleu ... did you know that ze trout has to be freshly killed to turn blue? And you do not wash it because its protective ... what is the word, coating? Yes, it turns ze trout blue."

Sam blinked. She didn't want to know that. Daniel would have put a spin on it to make it sound ... not so ... well, yucky. Maybe something like 'They don't clean it because ... um, it's that whole 'getting back to our Neanderthal roots, Sam.'

She smiled to herself. She really wanted to be at his table, talking about anything really.

~*~

Daniel wanted so badly for Laura's pager to go off or something.

Hey, it always happened in the movies! Why couldn't it happen to him ... right about now? His food was served, a nice, juicy Cod covered in spices lay on a milky platter, a regular powerhouse of flavor and aroma. He was about to dig in, when Laura sent him a lethal glare. He blinked, confused.

"Um ... you want to share or, um ..." he closed his eyes tightly, remembering she was a ... vegetarian. He glanced at her and cringed. She looked like she was about to cry.

He cringed and squinted, looking at Sam. She was biting her lips to restrain from laughing, then looked at her plate, and wrinkled her nose. Bon appetite, yeah right. "Um, excuse me, I need to, um ..." he stood up, "... go ... little b--"

Laura just waved him off, staring at the dead fish like it was gonna jump up and start dancing any minute now. He gave her a parting frown and made his way to the bar.

~*~

"Excuse me, Luca ... I need to ... powder my ... nose."

"Ah, oui, I will wait with the meal." Luca said politely and stood up. Sam looked at him, startled, then just blinked, and walked quickly away.

Jesus, Janet sure knew how to pick them. French doctor. Oh well, better than that one time when Sam had to go out with an Italian Opera singer. 'Woould yoou like tooo see a moovie?' Very funny, Janet. Sometimes it seemed like Janet was just getting her kicks out of watching Sam suffer.

As she walked past the bar and the short row of artificial vegetation, she spotted the newly redecorated dance podium. No one was dancing, though. The music was on (quite loudly, by the way) but people were all ... at their tables, rigid and quiet. Ah, that's right. The Abacus was a place for first dates. No wonder the place was going to shut down and turn into an ice-skating rink in 2 years time. People never came back. Second dates were an extreme rarity.

"What the he--" she gasped as something pulled her by the hand. She was absolutely ready to deck the guy, but then saw a laughing Daniel pull her near the bar. "Twice in one day." She murmured and watched him incredulously as he dragged her further. "Daniel ... um, Daniel ... DANIEL!"

"Yes?" he stopped and innocently turned around to look at her. Damn it. *That* look could get him out of *any* and *all* trouble. She saw the expression change to this 'um, give me a second, something just hit me' look and took a step closer, worried.

"Daniel?"

~*~

People don't look the same while sitting and standing up.

Daniel learned that the hard way.

He could have kicked himself for not noticing it before. Sam really did look ... um, wow, he was a philologist, and yet no words came to mind. Okay, try ... different. His eyes obliviously trailed up and down the snowy silk that covered a good part of Sam's physique, from the thin straps hugging her shoulders to the soft, flowing hem above her knees.

He was gaping for an absurdly long moment, until Sam self-consciously cleared her throat. "Janet."

"Uh huh ..." was all Daniel could say. Sam bit her lower lip, eyebrows slightly raised, fidgeting with her hands. She felt uncomfortable ... extremely uncomfortable.

Daniel finally snapped out of it and smiled sheepishly, cheeks suspiciously pink. He speechlessly motioned to the dark, leather barstools. "Break time?"

To his relief, Sam grinned, "Promises, promises."

"Think we're not giving them a chance?" Daniel narrowed his eyes, wrapping his fingers around a pen he found lying around. As some woman sang her heart out about Vienna, Daniel had to lean in to actually hear Sam's reply.

"Well, the whole unsanitary lecture did me in. You?"

Daniel smiled and played with the pen, taking a napkin. He wrote 'Exceptionally high level of hatred toward animate objects' on the soft tissue and glanced at Sam, the music becoming excessively loud. Sam took the napkin, spent a moment shaking her head in amusement, then snatched Daniel's pen and a new napkin. Talk about 7^th grade attitude.

'Didn't find her lesson on Green Peace enlightening?' Sam wrote down and passed the napkin back to Daniel, pointing the bartender at the Coke device, her feet swaying a bit to the melodic lyrics. She looked at Daniel who was still writing and leaned in to see what he was up to, but he shooed her away, protectively hovering over the paper. Sam grinned happily and gratefully took a sip of her freshly delivered Coke as Daniel worked.

Sam tapped Daniel's shoulder a few times, but he just gave her a smile and returned to his doodling. Finally, after 2 minutes, he passed the napkin to Sam proudly and eagerly took a sip of his beverage, leaning away from Sam in case she wanted to punch him.

Sam stared at the sketch for a while, then burst out laughing. He drew the Eiffel Tower with a fish on top, writing neatly 'French Stereotype: Complain about unsanitary food conditions. French Fact: Eat cow's brains for breakfast, cook snails and frogs and consume them with wine. French Conclusion: Complain while you eat.'

Daniel watched her laugh, blond, slightly curled locks bouncing as she tried to compose herself. She grabbed the pen out of his hand again, and took yet another napkin as the bartender grinned at them. Maybe he'd see the two of them around again. Break the 'Abacus no-encore' curse?

'Dance?' small, calm letters stared back at Daniel. He glanced at Sam, blue eyes locking.

'Avec?' he wrote back. Sam grinned evilly, shaking her head slightly, and tucked a golden curl behind her ear.

'Moi?' she slowly slid the napkin toward him.

Daniel tapped his fingers on the polished wooden surface, a little apprehensive. The music was quieting down, the woman was at her last screech about the rain in Vienna, so ... maybe ... just possibly the next song wouldn't be too ... romantic ...

Nothing wrong with dancing with a friend, right?

'Oui, s'il vous plat.'

~*~

"Sir ..."

Crickets chirped loudly.

"Sir ..."

"Um," Cassie rolled her eyes and stood up, "We *could* just call for a cab or something." She walked over to the car and took out her rucksack. Jack frowned and scratched his graying hair with a sigh.

"I'm not leaving my car."

"O'Neill, we have been here for an hour. Do we not wish to see the ..." he looked at Janet for help.

"Amusement park, Sir?" Janet supplemented with a slight smile. "Besides, whatever Daniel and Sam were up to, they *probably* already skipped The Abacus and are home ... studying ... or ... something." she continued with a more evil smile. "I stress 'probably.'"

Jack gave her a glare, then shrugged amusedly. "Okay, here's the deal. This is absolutely the last time we set either of them up. They can go ahead and bury themselves into their rocks and numbers, chase butterflies, play Nintendo for all eternity, I don't care."

"Excellent decision, O'Neill." Teal'c raised an eyebrow and watched as the AAA truck finally appeared on the horizon.

Cassie excitedly grabbed Janet's hand as the blue truck pulled up to Jack's car, glancing up at Teal'c. "You never tried to get Sam and Daniel to ... you know ..."

"Never." Teal'c tilted his head.

"Ever?"

"Cassie ..."

"Okay, I'm shutting up ... but Daniel doesn't have Ninten ...umph--"

~*~

Hit and run.

Should have gone with that. Should have had your nice, *safe* little date and went home, ponder about your empty life and think of some data that needed processing next week. But noooo, Daniel had to say yes to Sam.

Well, he had no one to blame but himself.

Then again, why blame anyone? He was there, on the dim, spacious dance floor, avoiding a pair of picturesque blue eyes as his hand gently rested in Sam's. She cautiously stopped, waiting for the music to start, head lowered somewhat shyly, a slight sheepish smile tugging at her lips. Daniel parted his lips to say something but the soft piano notes interrupted him. He lightly squeezed Sam's hand, entwining their fingers, the other hand moving to embrace her slender waist. She automatically leaned against him, arms wrapped around his neck, resting her head away from any kind of eye contact as the feathery melody started. He closed his eyes against the light white silk that glided smoothly underneath his palm and focused on the soothing male voice that accompanied the music.

Are those your eyes?
Is that your smile?
I've been looking at you forever ...
But I never saw you before ...

Daniel flinched as Sam froze in his arms, but continued to sway to the music nonetheless. Of all the songs! Yeah, okay, *really* should have stayed with ... damn it, what was her name? Something with ... L? ... Mmm, what shampoo did Sam use today? Is that peach? Pear?

Oh boy.

Are these your hands holding mine?
Now I wonder how I could have been so blind ...
For the first time, I am looking in your eyes,
For the first time, I'm seeing who you are ...

Ahh ... um, okay, well, blind sounds just about right. Add deaf and mute to that and Daniel could safely conclude that he was in major (no pun intended) trouble.

Funny how things work out sometimes. This morning Daniel would have rather faced a System Lord or two and now ... well, now, not even wild horses could drag him away from the precious blonde in his arms. He absentmindedly pulled her closer to his chest, blue eyes closed, his hand moving up her silky back to her delicate neck where his fingers rested for a while before losing themselves in the soft, golden locks.

Ever so slowly, he pulled away, eyes idly searching for another pair, meeting them in moment of complete and utter shock as realization set in. Daniel blinked a few times and quickly averted his boyish face to her snowy shoulder as the lyrics interrupted once again.

I can't believe how much I see,
When you're looking back at me.
Now I understand what love is ...
Love is ... for the first time ...

Okay, well, hmm ... not looking means not seeing and not seeing means ... absolutely nothing! Why was no one mentioning 'feeling'? Feeling the warmth underneath the cool silk. Feeling her soft hair occasionally drift into his face, caressing his cheek. Daniel internally shook his head. This was Sam, his friend, his teammate ... someone who was always there, caring, kind, compassionate, beautiful, intelligent, world-saver Sam. For him to be ditching his date and dancing with her -- alone -- well, it was completely ... unexpected.

Then again, all the best things in life were like that. Funny, really. You'd drive past the same supermarket every day, glancing indifferently at the fruit until one day you'd be forced to stop by a bump in the road or something and spot that nice, bright fruit and you would completely freeze. Get out of your car and approach the fruit. Smile at it and feel your heart beat faster as the fruit would smile back. And that's when your eyes would flutter open and the world would be a nice, loving place again. The trees would be green again, roses red, babies would coo, dogs wouldn't bare their teeth.

Yup, fruit was indeed a good thing.

~*~

Sam Carter really had no clue what to do.

Her mind suggested she just "D'uh, leave!" but her body stayed glued to the handsome young archaeologist.

Can this be real, can this be true?
Am I the person I was this morning?
And are you the same you?
It's all so strange, how can it be?
All along, this love was right in front of me ...

She would have given anything for a camera at that moment. You know, just so she could have something to sigh about after Real Life came running back with a vengeance. What was it in fairytales? When the clock struck midnight? She wondered what time it was now. Anywhere near midnight? It would be appropriate, no?

And of course, she wouldn't forget this stupid song. She had a feeling the bartender played around with the CD changer. But it was a good song. Ridiculously frightening, but ... good. Mmmm, just like the feel of Daniel's fingers slowly caressing her neck, gently tugging at a few curls ...

For the first time, I am looking in your eyes ...
For the first time, I'm seeing who you are ...
I can't believe how much I see,
When you're looking back at me ...

Sam carefully made a second attempt to look up, this time all the awkwardness and discomfort gone. Just a smiling face gazing into another smiling face. She raised her eyebrow slightly, letting their mutual silence supplement the incredibly subjective lyrics.

The song would say it all.

~*~

This song was saying it all.

Daniel would remember the song no matter what happened after tonight.

Such a long time ago,
I had given up on finding this emotion ... ever again.
But you live with me now,
Yes, I've found you somehow.

The words were rising the hairs on the back of his neck as he observed Sam's face. Her beautiful sapphire eyes, accentuated by the soft makeup, her satiny pink cheeks framed by the blond locks. He gradually lowered his gaze to her slightly parted lips as they both smiled. The song was outlining the moment, making it last longer, slowing down the movements, thoughts and time itself.

And I've never been so sure ...
And for the first time, I am looking in your eyes ...
For the first time, I'm seeing who you are ...
Can't believe how much I see,
When you are looking back at me ...

Rhythm and rhyme and harmony.

Yeah, Daniel was sure.

No backing down now. There was nothing that was going to stop him from gently lowering his lips to hers in a life-soothing kiss. Nothing. He gave her a final look, his one hand still entwined with hers, the other pulling her closer, marveling against the cool feel of her back. He was sure the laws of physics weren't really happy with their close arrangement, but he didn't care. His lips parted and he lowered his head to capture her enticing lips.

"Samantha, there you are ...!" Luca's voice made both Sam and Daniel quickly jump apart, the perfect moment broken ... lost forever.

~*~

Second dates were an extreme rarity for The Abacus.

It wasn't often that The Abacus staff saw two people return. However, when they did, like today, they would pay special attention to detail and the whole atmosphere. Candles would be placed in all the right places, the music would be soft (but not too soft -- they didn't want their customers falling asleep and dunking their heads in soup ... thus resulting in a major lawsuits) and the restaurant attendants would have huge smirks on their faces.

Daniel sat at one of those 'special' tables as a waitress brought out their meals. Daniel looked at his ... vegetables and wrinkled his nose. "So, um, where were we?" He asked, grabbing the fork.

"We were talking about that new movie ... that you didn't see."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. Well, I just ... didn't have time to see it." Daniel poked his sliced carrots and dunked them in a potato-looking liquid ... thingie.

"Oh? How come?"

Hard part.

Because Daniel was off-world for two weeks, trapped in a medieval village while exploring the galaxy? Because Sam and he had to decipher a series of hazardous artifacts that presented a real threat to the village in question? Because only a handful of people knew about their day and night efforts and their work brought little recognition?

"Work." He looked up at his date.

Guilt.

That's what it was.

He surprised the hell out of Jack when he said that he was taking Laura out for a second date. Jack slapped his back with a huge grin, probably relieved that Daniel didn't get into a vendetta with yet another potential 'Jack Torturer.' Daniel on the other hand ... well, he just wanted to keep everything the way it was.

But it wasn't the same.

"Oh ... Jack never did tell me where you work." Laura took a small bite out of her ... eggplant, Daniel hoped.

"We ... work together. Just some ... research. It would probably bore you to death." He circled the plate with his fork. No appetite.

Just another alteration. Sam was acting like the whole 'dancing deal' never happened. It was strange how 'in the moment' they were that night. But, of course, morning cleared up a *few* things whether Daniel liked it or not. A relationship with someone in his line of work ... well, it was just screaming 'Hurt me.'

"Oh, no, I know how it is. Usually, people fall asleep when I start talking about research related topics." Laura smiled and wrapped her fingers around her glass.

"Uh huh ..." Daniel said as Laura gave a small sigh. He was really a bad date. The conversation was down to a minimum, and the summary of the whole night was -- uncomfortable dancing around important, intelligent conversation.

"I was really surprised you asked me out again." Laura said, intentionally avoiding looking at him. She played with her fork as Daniel tried to come up with an answer. She continued, "Well, after last week ... I was under the impression you were seeing ... um, someone ..." she trailed off as Daniel gave her an alarmed look.

"I ... no, I ... we ..." Daniel's pager went off. Unbelievable. For once in his life, that thing went off at just the right time. He stood up and gave her a nicely acted apologetic look, "I have to check what this is about, I'm sorry." He made his way to a phone.

"Yah ..." Laura tapped her fingers on the table. "Research beckons."

~*~

Sam picked up her phone and made her way to one of the infirmary beds where Janet was sipping her orange juice. "Hello?"

"Sam ...?"

Sam covered the speaking part of the phone, mouthing "Could you talk to him, please?"

Janet rolled her eyes and waved the blond astrophysicists off. She couldn't believe Sam was acting this ... way. Of course, Janet wasn't filled in on *all* the details (a fact she intended to rectify very soon) but she could guess something happened to make Sam all fumbly around Daniel, and Daniel all ... well, Janet was going to find out even if she had to drug one of them with Sodium Penathole. Nothing would get the truth out soone -- okay, Janet would have to stop watching TV for a while.

"Hi, Daniel ..." Sam frowned, almost forgetting why she beeped him ... during his *date.* Really, she didn't want to interrupt his *date* or anything, but ... "The General wants to see SG-1 assembled in the debriefing room at 20:00 hrs." she quickly recited. There was a short pause as both Sam and Daniel held onto the phone, wanting to say something more, apologize, talk it through ... anything.

"Okay, I'll be right there." Daniel said, his tone a little disappointed.

"Daniel ..." Sam blurted out before thinking.

"Yes?" Daniel gripped the phone, biting his lower lip.

"... You don't have to hurry, you still have about 2 hours." Sam closed her eyes tightly and grimaced as Janet almost fell of the bunk, laughing. Okay, so it *wasn't* the best thing to say, but hey!

"Um ... yeah, it's okay. It ... sounds important." Daniel shrugged to himself and leaned against the wall. This was ... hard.

"Okay ... um, sorry we interrupted your date." Sam tried to sound sincere as Janet rolled her eyes. Sam wished she had a cord on the phone ... Janet was in desperate need of some physical v--

"Uh, it's okay." Daniel said. 'I wasn't enjoying it. I'd rather be at the Base, reading one of your reports. I'd rather be home, talking on the phone with you about some new theory. I'd rather be here, having dinner with you.' Daniel sighed as his mind supplemented a few more ... entertaining thoughts. "I'll see you in 30."

"Okay ..." Sam let out a breath and finally sat down on the bed next to Janet. "Um, bye."

"... Bye." He reluctantly hung up the black receiver as the Abacus bartender grinned.

~*~

"Well, you know, you can tell ... I mean, the way they dance is the way they make love. Men are really simple, Sam."

Sam rolled her eyes. Why did she EVER tell Janet anything? "Janet ... I don't really need *that* mental picture in my head."

"Oh, puh-lease. If one of my nurses heard you say that, you'd be burned on top of the Dr. Jackson Shrine." Janet took a sip of her juice, eyebrow raised, lips twitching evilly.

Sam wrapped her arms around her knees, resting her chin. "Uh huh." She said absentmindedly.

"So ... what's the deal?" Janet asked, an evil smirk still glued to her face. "Are there gonna be any genius descendants in the future? Wow, talk about a superkid. Forget a Herecis, with your genes and D--"

Sam gave her a 'if you don't shut up ...' glare. "Janet ... you have to stop reading the Romance collection. Life doesn't work on the 'Mexican-soap-opera principle.'"

Janet shrugged, "It could."

Sam blinked, tilted her head toward Janet, gave a minute of silence, and then rolled her eyes. "What exactly do you do when the infirmary is empty? Watch Lifetime?"

"Nah ... I try to enlighten a few of my friends. How am I doing so far?" Janet awarded her with an impish smile.

The corners of Sam's lips curled into a smile. "Like you had a matchmaking chromosome. You wouldn't happen to be Irish? Actually, that *would* explain a few things about the Colonel's--"

"You're *so* good at changing the subject." Janet grinned.

~*~

Daniel exited the elevator and made his way to the infirmary to check if Jack was there. He needed to ... talk. Ah, for crying out loud! He actually *wanted* to talk to Jack about this? Yeah, well, hell was freezing over, why not?

He muttered something to himself and spotted Teal'c talking to one of the airmen. He smiled as Teal'c nodded to acknowledge him. "DanielJackson."

"Hey, Teal'c. What'd I miss?" Daniel watched as the airman grinned and left, giving Daniel a 'strange' look.

"You have not missed anything. O'Neill is discussing with GeneralHammond."

"Oh ..." Daniel nodded.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "MajorCarter is in the infirmary with Dr.Frasier." he added, clasping his hands behind his back.

Daniel had to grin. Teal'c was ... observant.

"Okay, thanks, Teal'c, I'll see you at 20:00 sharp?" Daniel turned away slowly and headed for the infirmary as Teal'c glanced at the hallway clock.

"Perhaps ..." Teal'c said and directed towards the debriefing room. Time was something his human counterparts did not know how to appreciate.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I don't know, Janet. Could we just drop it ... maybe?" Sam groaned and wrapped her hands around her knees.

The infirmary was empty so it came as no surprise both women's heads turned to stare at the entrance and the softly illuminated silhouette of one Dr. Daniel Jackson.

"Um, oh ... I think I should ..." Janet got up as her eyes continually darted from Sam to Daniel and back.

"Do some file managing?" Sam cleared her throat, heart pounding in her chest. Calming down right about now wasn't such a bad idea. Daniel stood, frozen at the doorframe, fidgeting with his sleeve.

"Yah, file managing." Janet scrunched up her nose and started for the exit in hot pursuit of certain Colonels and Jaffas. Must not let the rumor spread by anyone but Janet, the Grapevine Queen. What rumor exactly? Well, Janet was gonna have it figured out by the time she reached the first corridor.

Daniel coughed uncomfortably, slowly making his body move across the room until he sat on the cot opposite Sam. "Emergency ...?"

"Yeah, seems like it." Sam coughed softly. Daniel squirmed, raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth.

"Should we talk--"

"We're talking." Sam said quickly.

Daniel cringed. "Yes, but I mean ..."

"Look, Daniel, um ..." Sam said, unintentionally reaching for his hand.

"You think you would have fallen for a guy with longer hair than yours?" Daniel suddenly asked with a smirk.

Sam stared at him for a long second, then burst out laughing. "What? Is that some 'Get a haircut, Sam' comment?"

"No, it's just that I was thinking ..."

"Oh, about ... hair?"

"No, you."

Sam froze.

"Um." Daniel blushed slightly "About how, um ... military brats tend to go for, uh, crew cuts." Daniel grinned, relaxing with every little smile her eyes awarded him with.

"I like my men ... not bald." Sam chuckled and shook her head at Daniel incredulously.

"Well ... not bald is ... good." Daniel looked at her. She cleared her throat and swiftly transferred from her bunk to his, her movement a little too shy for her liking.

"Right ... well ... we have to talk before we go, huh?" she tapped her fingers on the cold sheets.

"Right ... wouldn't want Jack yelling at us to ... stop sulking." Daniel swallowed carefully.

"I wasn't sulking." She grinned and kicked his foot with hers in some kinda of a nutty rhythm.

"Maybe I was." Daniel said seriously. Sam froze again. "The way I see it--" He looked around until he found a satisfying analogy. He jumped off the bunk and grabbed a tray of medical equipment. Sam glared at him as he scurried around, arranging the thin metal objects until he formed a circle.

"Are ... we playing Charades again?" Sam frowned at his concentrated features.

"Sorta ..." he mumbled, dragging the tray next to the bunk and retook his place next to her.

"Um ... okay ... I give, it's a stethoscope." Sam fidgeted.

"Well, okay, it's a stethoscope, but it's also the point of origin. Our point of origin." Daniel explained, his eyes going into "Do Not Disturb" mode. "Six points in space and a seventh to lock it in place."

Sam raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the scientific aspect of his unprepared speech.

"I figure that you can't really get anywhere without the six other points, but if you don't have the seventh, you can't even leave." He averted his attention to Sam's solemn face. Her shoulders slumped as she watched him, intuitively getting nervous.

Daniel got up so he could look at her without breaking his neck. He exhaled and looked at her for comprehension.

Sam bit her lip. He wasn't proposing some wacky thing like ... marriage or a getaway in Hawaii, but he was ... asking her to consider. Consider their friendship, consider the team, consider the problems a relationship other than what they previously had would bring. She was currently considering the happiness.

"Daniel." She reached out her hand to stroke his cheek like she did so many times before when he needed comfort.

"Base from where we can work on from now on." He whispered, his tone convincing Sam of ... many things. She looked up, placing her hands on his shoulders, gently pulling him to her. He breathed against her lips, his glasses reflecting the small light coming from the hallway.

"A challenge?" she murmured, their foreheads touching.

"Of course." Daniel replied, his face sliding lower until his lips met hers.

A slow, exploratory kiss. One of wonder and affection, of warmth and friendship, of understanding and fear.

Her hands wrapped around his neck tightly as his hands slipped to her face, holding it in fear of vanishing. She slowly broke away, their lips still barely touching. Teasing and a tad tormenting, she grinned.

"Well, when you put it that way..."

"Ahem ... not to be a bad woman who's just doing her job, but ..." Janet ahem-ed from the doorway, her hands full of files. "...aren't you supposed to go ... do some superhero thing?"

Sam and Daniel jumped quickly away from each other, each wearing a sheepish smile as they scrambled for the door. They brushed against each other and blushed once again. Janet used all the self control she possessed to keep from laughing her ... brain off. As they continually tried to leave without seeming too suspicious (too little, too late, as Janet remarked) the good, but extremely gossipy doctor dropped her files to a desk with a soft thud.

She wondered if there would be any need for obstetricians in the near future. Oh, well, with the way these two procrastinated, make that a distant future, Janet grinned and took out her small black book. She opened it, sifting through the thin pages, observing the blue phone numbers and the little stars and check marks next to them. Now that Sam was all taken care off (oh, what will the nurses say!) it was time for little old Janet to get a decent date.

~*~

"Chevron six encoded ... chevron seven locked. SG-1 you have a go." A voice from the control room echoed in the gateroom. Teal'c went through first, his face bearing a small, intelligent grin. Jack went next, his usual grumpy mood accentuated by the annoying little pebble in his shoe.

"Damn pebble, damn gate, damn chevron seven." He grumbled as the two remaining shadows exchanged secret glances.

For everything in life you need a point of origin, a juncture that will start something as well as lock it in. As one Daniel Jackson discovered when one Sam Carter squeezed his hand with a grin, points of origins were indeed a lucky anomaly.