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Daniel Jackson sat at the back of the lecture hall and waited for the professor to finish his class. Professor Gibson put up the last slide and Daniel had to stifle his chuckle. The slide featured a joke Daniel had translated into Ancient. It was just a silly little one (why did the boy throw his clock out the window? To see time fly) but it was meant to be something fun for anyone who managed the translation.
Gibson was just wrapping up that day's lecture when Daniel heard it; a small chuckle. He looked around and saw that the person who’d laughed was a student. He looked young with long floppy brown hair. Daniel wondered if this student was why he was here.
In the 6 years since O'Neill accidentally had the Ancient repository of knowledge downloaded in his brain Daniel had been studying the language. He had made audio clips of O'Neill speaking it for reference as well a lot of writing they had found during their travels. His biggest problem was that he didn't have enough time to really study it. Then, three years ago Carter had suggested he make a blog and share some of his research and audio clips so others could also study the language. Daniel was very careful what he put up (No references to stargate or anything other worldly) but he had been surprised when linguists from all over the world started emailing him about the language.
With that success Daniel also reached out to language professors here in the states. The hope was to find students with an aptitude for languages that could eventually work for the stargate program. With the discovery of the Ancient outpost this search became all the more important.
Gibson was the first professor to get back to him. He had contacted Daniel a couple months before saying that he had a student with a true gift for languages. Daniel had responded by sending Gibson some Ancient with translations for the student to study. Apparently the student had taken to it like a fish to water.
That all led them here. Daniel had taken a few days off and flown to the University of Kansas in Lawrence Kansas. Now he was just waiting for Gibson's last lecture of the day to finally end.
Mercifully Gibson wrapped it up minutes later. As the students started gathering their things and heading for the exit Daniel overheard a girl ask "What was so funny, Sam?"
The student Daniel had heard chuckle laughed again. "It was that joke on the last slide," he explained "it reminded me of something my brother would say."
“You already translated that?” the girl asked, her voice full of awe.
Sam blushed and nodded. The girl was still asking him questions about the translation as they left the lecture hall. Daniel wanted to follow them and find out more about this Sam but he still had to talk to Professor Gibson. He sighed and watched them go.
Finally the lecture hall was empty except for himself and the professor. Daniel approached him and held out his hand. “Professor Gibson, I’m Dr Jackson. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Gibson shook his hand then led Daniel to his office. Once they were both seated he handed Daniel a paper. Daniel read it and was impressed by what was there. It was a translation and analysis of a passage of Ancient Daniel had sent Gibson a month before. From his brief perusal of it the translations appeared to all be correct. He glanced at the name on the top; Sam Winchester.
Gibson then proceeded to tell Daniel all about this Sam Winchester. Apparently he already wrote and spoke Latin, Spanish, and French. He was also studying Japanese and Russian. Apparently he just had an ear for languages.
Daniel was impressed. He spoke multiple languages himself but that didn't mean it was easy. And finding someone who took so well to Ancient seemed like winning the lottery. He definitely wanted to meet this Sam Winchester and see if he would be a good match with Stargate command.
He chatted with Gibson a while longer before leaving the university. As soon as he got outside he pulled out his cell phone and gave Sam Carter a call. She was able to get him a home address for Sam Winchester and promised to get a background check done as soon as possible.
He followed the directions he was given and found Winchester's place on the outskirts of the city. When he got to the address he had to double check his notes. The building he was pulled in front of looked like an abandoned garage. There were rusting cars littered about. A peeling sign read Winchester and Sons Garage. He pulled into the front parking area.
He didn't see anyone as he approached the building; in fact he had walked into the open garage and had been looking around for several minutes before he heard a deep voice ask, "can I help you.”
Daniel turned to see a man, maybe mid to late 20s, standing behind him. He was good looking with sandy blond hair and green eyes. He was holding a wrench, which made Daniel wonder if he was one of the 'and sons' from the sign.
"I'm looking for Sam Winchester," Daniel told him. "I was told this was his address."
The man nodded, stepped back, and yelled up a set of stairs Daniel hadn't noticed before. "Sammy, someone's here to see you." That done he turned back to Daniel and, in a more reasonable voice, asked, "So who are you and what do you want with Sam?"
Daniel stuck out his hand and introduced himself. " I'm Dr Daniel Jackson. I want to talk to Sam about some translations he has been doing."
The man shook his hand and just asked, "Doctor of what?"
"Anthropology."
He nodded then yelled up the stairs again, "Sammy get your ass down here."
Moments later the student Daniel had noticed from the lecture came barreling down the stairs. "Jesus Dean you don't have to yell so loud," he said to the man Daniel had been talking to.
"Apparently I did," Dean responded. "Anyways, Indy over here wants to talk to you?"
Both Daniel and Sam gave him a confused look. Dean rolled his eyes and said, "Indiana Jones? Good looking archeologist who could handle a whip?"
Daniel was about to protest that but Dean gave him an assessing look and frowned. "Ok maybe not a whip. But a gun at least."
Daniel was surprised by that fairly accurate assessment. Apparently this man Dean was smarter that he seemed. Daniel filed that knowledge away and turned to Sam. "I'm Dr Daniel Jackson," he introduced himself again holding out his hand.
Sam shook it and said "Sam Winchester. What can I do for you?"
Daniel noticed that Dean walked a little ways away but stayed within earshot. His guess was brothers. He turned his attention back to Sam.
"I got your name from professor Gibson," Daniel told him. "I work with the United States military and am looking to recruit linguists. Gibson mentioned that you are a natural with a variant of Latin he has been slipping into his lessons."
"You are here because of the Latin variant?" Sam asked, confused. "What's so special about it?"
Daniel sidestepped the question and instead held out a piece of paper with the same joke Sam had laughed at earlier that day on it. "Could you please read this for me, then tell me what it says?"
With a look of puzzlement Sam read the joke out loud in Ancient. To Daniel's great surprise Dean chuckled as Sam read the punchline. Sam shot him a look and Dean just shrugged, "What? It was funny."
Daniel didn't bother waiting for Sam to translate the joke to English. He turned to Dean and asked, incredulously, "You understood that?"
Dean rubbed his neck, looking embarrassed. "Well, yeah. I found this blog where it teaches it. It wasn't hard."
"Deans even better at the language than I am," Sam told Daniel proudly.
"Only cause I'm only learning one language unlike you, college boy," Dean muttered.
Sam rolled his eyes and said, "just ignore him. Dean is under the mistaken impression that he is dumb."
Daniel laughed. He suddenly wanted to introduce these two to SG1 and see what the rest of the team thought of them. He had a feeling the Sams would get along great and that O'Neill would take Dean under his wing. There might be more background check stuff to do but Daniel had a good feeling about these brothers.
It was about a year after Daniel had met the Winchesters that a request came in from the Atlantis mission for more personal including more translators. Daniel wanted to go, but knew he couldn't, so instead he put forth the Winchester brothers. He knew Sam's file would show him to be a good fit, but Deans was less appealing for a scientific mission.
Daniel knew Dean would be a good fit. In the year that he had known the brothers he had discovered that Dean had a natural affinity to translation scientific jargon, even in other languages. But most people would look at his file and just see a high school drop out.
He made it a condition of sending Sam that Dean went too. He knew the brothers hated being apart and that Sam wouldn't likely go without Dean anyways. And Atlantis wanted Sam. He was a natural with the language plus he had the gene to use the technology.
When he got word that the brothers had been approved for the mission he smiled. He had a last dinner with them and sent them on their way. And in Dean's file he left a cryptic note reading, "You might need him."