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Janet had entered the base cafeteria and gotten her meal. It was exceptionally crowded today and the doctor stood at the end of the line, with her full tray, looking somewhat perplexed. As far as she could tell, there wasn’t a seat to be had. Just as she turned to take her lunch back to her office, Sam called across the room.
“Janet!” The blond captain stood near a table in the back and waved as the doctor made her way toward SG1. Jack and Daniel were still there, about halfway through their lunches, but Teal’c was standing and gathering his tray.
“I was just leaving, doctor,” Teal’c began. “I would be most honored if you would take my seat.”
“Thank you, Teal’c.” If it had been anyone else, Janet would have felt like she was rushing them off, but she knew Teal’c wouldn’t have said he was already leaving if he hadn’t been, so she accepted the seat gracefully.
Janet fell into easy conversation with the remainder of the group, but one by one, they finished their lunch and excused themselves to return to their busy schedule… first Jack, then Sam. Daniel stayed a while longer, having gotten there later than the others. So comfortable was Janet’s relationship with all the members of SG1 – collectively or alone – that conversation only halted long enough to say ‘goodbye’ to the departing team member, and then continued without missing another beat. Once it was just she and Daniel, they talked about everything from work to politics to glimpses of personal histories – both lingering over lunch a little longer than strictly necessary.
When the dialogue turned toward how Cassie was assimilating to life on Earth, Janet exclaimed, “Oh! That reminds me! Cassie wants me to ask you to come ice skating with us this Saturday!”
“Janet,” Daniel started, “I was born in Egypt! I don’t know how to ice skate! Now if you ever want to take a dune buggy across the desert somewhere, I’m your man.”
“I’ve seen you drive a dune buggy,” Janet teased. “I’ll pass!”
“Hey!” Daniel faked offense.
“Come on,” Janet insisted, “It’ll be fun and you can add a new skill to your repertoire. You never know when ice skating could come in handy.” Janet went for humor, “I mean, what if you’re running from Jaffa and have to cross a frozen lake?”
“I’d do the same thing I often end up doing if I have to run down a hill – I’d slide on my butt!” Daniel waited for Janet to laugh before continuing. “It does sound like fun though.”
“What? Sliding on your butt?” Janet couldn’t help herself.
“You’ve been hanging around Jack too long. You’re turning into a smart ass!” Daniel volleyed.
“Oh, I can be a smart ass all on my own!” Janet countered. “I don’t need lessons from Jack.”
After the chuckling died down, Daniel asked, “So when and where does operation ‘Humiliate Daniel’ commence?”
********
Daniel met Janet and Cassie at a local outdoor Ice Skating rink in Colorado Springs early Saturday evening. The two ladies had had a ‘Girls’ Day Out’ shopping, so Cassie cornered Daniel just after he got out of his car and had to show him everything they had bought.
It took a half hour just to get to the entrance of the rink.
They rented skates and each donned and laced their own as the adults listened to Cassie’s latest school escapades. It seemed that one of the pre-teen’s friends did not have a dog and had enlisted Cassie’s help to try to convince his parents that ‘Uncle Jack’ was right and that every kid had to have a dog. So far the two middle-schoolers were having no luck.
Cassie moved smoothly from the tale of her canine-deprived friend, right to how much Daniel was going to love ice skating as she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him onto the rink.
“I’ve got to remind both of you lovely ladies that there really hasn’t been a lot of opportunity in my life for ice skating.”
“You’ll do fine Daniel,” Janet assured as she took his other hand.
**********
Much to his surprise, he really did do fine. He got the hang of it relatively quickly, without embarrassing himself – much. He wasn’t more than five strides onto the rink when he went down, hard, bringing Cassie with him. Janet had realized just in time that Daniel was going to fall and had let go of his hand, so she stood there, laughing at her two companions.
“A lot of help you were!” Daniel mock-glared at Janet as she reached out her hand to help him up. Daniel took the proffered hand, but instead of levering himself to his feet, he pulled her down on top of him.
Cassie howled in delight, “You really did deserve that mom! We’re supposed to be helping Daniel!”
Janet agreed, but couldn’t stop laughing long enough to voice it. Daniel somehow found his feet before the ladies did and managed to help them up.
“Well,” He said, as he brushed himself off, “At least I got that out of the way early!”
After that, he loosened up and he really did have a great time. The evening went by quickly and Daniel found himself not wanting the night to end. It wasn’t often that he was able to just relax and have fun, and he found that he quite enjoyed the company of both his female companions.
Before long, Daniel found himself sitting on a bench beside the rink with a hot chocolate in his hand and a semi-sleeping Cassie leaning against him. The hot chocolate had been Cassie’s idea (no doubt a way to try to extend the evening) and all three had settled on the bench with their respective drinks. Cassie had situated herself in the middle of the two adults, but before long had handed her cocoa to
Janet and snuggled against Daniel’s side. Janet just grinned and sipped her drink.
The two adults sat in companionable silence for quite a while, watching the skaters frolic in the brilliant moonlight.
“You know,” He finally broke the silence, looking at Janet over the head of his (now sleeping) favorite twelve year old. “I really did have a great time.”
Janet smiled, “I told you you would!” Daniel smiled one of his thousand-watt smiles and Janet vowed that there would be many more evenings with her favorite archeologist, if she had anything to do with it.
End