Archive of Our Own ^beta

“I’ll be fine. I’m only going with SG-11 for a few hours. I’ll see you in a bit!”

She could still remember their faces when she said that: Jack’s somewhat sceptical scowl, Jonas’s sweet but concerned smile and Teal’c’s… Well… Teal’c just raised his eyebrow as usual, but he wished Sam luck. She told him she wasn’t going to need it - she really wished she accepted it.

Of course Jack was sceptical before she left. SG-11 were infamously known for their bad luck. Sam wouldn’t have even considered going if SG-11’s own scientist currently wasn’t hung up in the infirmary - bedridden with food poisoning. She supposed he should consider himself lucky to be the soul survivor of SG-11.

Blood and smoke filled the air. Not a single thing was alive - no birds, plants or anything. Nothing, that was, except for Sam. 

She wasn’t sure why she had been spared. Maybe the Jaffa saw her take the hit and thought it was better to let her bleed out to death? Besides, why kill your enemy quickly when you can make them suffer for hours? It certainly seemed like the Goa’uld thing to do.

She couldn’t stop wondering how they knew they were there. It was only meant to be a quick recon mission. In and out. But, alas, here she lay: in a field of corpses. 

Had they been betrayed? Did Anubis already have scouts on the planet, hidden away? Maybe it was all just a coincidence? Of course, she couldn’t know. All she could do was guess, but it was better to keep her mind racing than lying in silent suffering, waiting for death to finally take her.

“It’s not the worst way to go…” She thought to herself, staring up at the golden sky of P3A-616. “Dying in battle for Earth… Dying a hero.”

The blood continued to seep out of her, soaking the soil beneath. By the second, she became more pale. She became an echo.

This really was it. She was going to die here?

That’s okay… She wasn’t afraid of dying.

Her eyes fell closed, and she waited… And waited. She waited for the sweet embrace of Death's cold fingers, waiting for him to grab her by the hand and whisk her away to another life. 

Just at the moment when she thought she felt his touch…

“Oh, come on Sam, you’re not giving up on me, are you?”

Her eyes flashed open, staring back up at the sky, though this time - she saw a face. Someone was looking down at her, someone she knew. Someone… she thought she had lost.

“All these years of fighting together… do you really think I’d let you die alone?” Daniel smiled down at her, outstretching his hand. It wasn’t exactly the cold embrace of Death she was expecting. Instead, she was met with Daniel’s warm touch as he gently stroked back her blood stained hair off of her face, allowing her to see his eyes more clearly.

Maybe the thought of having her best friend back in her life sparked her will to live, because for reasons unknown to herself, she found her strength returning in that moment - strength enough to talk.

“Daniel…?” She spoke, unsure if this was a hallucination or not. People can hallucinate before dying, right?

“Hey Sam.”

His voice was like a memory in itself, but as she looked at him, she knew he was real. Daniel was there. He was really there. Except, not entirely. She could still feel his glasses against her thigh in her pocket. 

“What… What are you doing here?” She eventually came to ask.

“I’ve always been here. I never left. Well, not entirely.” 

A wide, genuine smile spread across her face. He said it - just like she knew Daniel would. Oh, how she missed how he spoke, how he paused between words or sometimes spoke too fast. She missed him… so badly. She missed her little brother. 

Blood or no blood - they were family. Nobody goes through the things they went through together without considering each other family. In fact - she’d say they were even closer than a family. When he died, it was like a knife to her heart, completely shattering her, but here he sat, staring down at her, with that goofy smile of his. A smile that could mend any broken heart.

“Your hair has grown.” She observed, reaching up to touch it with her bloodied hands, but she passed through him, as if he were smoke. Is that all he was now? Smoke in a world determined to blow him away?

He let out a small chuckle, shaking his head.

“Yeah - I don’t really know how that works, with me being, well, you know…” His voice trailed off, but as he looked back, he was still smiling. 

Sam had never seen him quite like this before. He seemed… Content with himself. Maybe she should be happy for him, but all she could ask herself was… How could he leave like that?

“I missed you.” Her voice was nothing more than a saddened whisper, and Daniel knew the pain his death had caused, but to him? Dying was the best thing that ever happened to him.

“I know. I’m sorry.” Was all he said reply, a low sigh passing through his lips as he looked down. Slowly, he shuffled himself off of the rock he was perched on and came to sit beside Sam on the grass - the grass of a battlefield - that was now only occupied by two best friends, staring out at the sea of corpses.

Sam thought long and hard about what to say next. There were too many things. Too many thoughts. But, she just got Daniel back. There was no point ruining the moment by scolding him for saving half a planet.

“Well… Don’t go doing it again.” She huffed, looking up at her best friend. He laughed, looking back, reflecting her shunned smile.

“I’ll try not to.” 

For a blissful moment, Sam forgot their predicament. She forgot Daniel was dead, ascended, whatever, and that she was well on her way to joining him with a scalding staff blast to her ribs. But, as she went to rest her head against his side, she found herself passing through him again - a painful reminder of the brother she lost. 

Daniel could do nothing but watch as Sam settled herself back up, propped up against the rock behind them. It wasn’t nearly as nice as the pillows back at the infirmary, but it was at least something to take the pressure off her side.

With a sigh, Daniel spoke again.

“How are you feeling?”

“I have a hole in my side, Daniel.” 

“Well… Apart from that?”

Sam laughed, her eyes looking back at the sea of dead. How Daniel always knew what to say made her wonder. 

“Remember that time a few years back when I got shot, like you?” He continued to speak, looking back down at her again.

“How could I forget?” She replied. “I still remember having to explain C.A.T.F.U to you.”

“It's not my fault your military term sounded like cat food.” He chuckled. Times like these, he almost regretted his decision to join Oma. The ascended were a community - not a family. They were nothing like this. He missed it.

It took a moment for the quietly chuckling between them to calm down before Daniel swallowed and continued.
“Anyway, what I was gonna say was that I was injured like you, and hey, I made it.” He said with a strange optimism.

Sam sat up again, with a frown.
“Daniel, you almost died from septic shock.”

The archaeologist paused, mouth hung open for a moment as he tried to think of what to say. Finally, he accepted defeat and just laughed again.
“Yeah okay, that probably wasn’t the best example.”

Silence fell over them, a comfortable silence in which Sam could just rest. She closed her eyes, but this time with content, instead of with an impending sense of death reaching for her. She was happy, which was strange given the fact she was still bleeding out, but to her, the world was alright. She would happily die with Daniel by her side.

But, as Daniel watched her shallow breathing, he couldn’t bear it. He knew that somewhere in the greater scheme of things, this wasn’t Sam’s place to die. She had so much left to do, the universe just had to know that.

“Look,” He interrupted her rest as her eyes opened again.
“I’ll tell you what I told Jack - I can’t do anything…”

Sam sighed softly. She knew he was going to say that, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to be healed, at least not at this moment. She just wanted to enjoy what little time was left.

“But I can help you to ascend.”

“No.” She snapped back quickly. Daniel’s gaze softened. She was more like Jack than she realised. They were both as headstrong as each other.

“I don’t think I’d fit in with you guys. I’m not spiritual enough.”

He knew he couldn’t force her to ascend. It was her decision. He was just glad she didn’t attempt throwing her shoe at him.

“Eh… Even if the others didn’t like you, I’d vouch for you.”

Sam’s smile came back.
“Really?”

He nodded in reply, looking up at the two suns which burdened the golden sky.
“I’m already on thin ice with them. Why not make a few more cracks if it means I get to spend eternity… With you.”

It was almost hard to speak through how wide her smile was. After all that happened, it was refreshing to know that through it all, Daniel still cared for her.

“Well, not just me, I hope.” She added.

“I already tried Jack, you know what he’s like. Besides, do you really want to put up with his sarcastic ass forever?” 

A soft hum left her, following his gaze up to the sky once more.
“Maybe we’ll get used to it after a while.”

“I don’t think I ever will.”

The sky hypnotised them both for a peaceful moment. The longer Daniel looked at her, the more he wished he could interfere with her waterfall of blood. Silently, he begged for it to stop. Losing himself was one thing, but he couldn’t lose Sam, just like how he couldn’t lose Jack or Teal’c. They’re his family. If the ancients were going to let part of his family die, then what was the point of it all? 

He couldn’t lose her. He just couldn’t.

Maybe this was how she felt, standing by his hospital bed as red filled his lungs. 

The longer he thought, the more he found himself regretting his choice. He thought that he was finally happy - that he’d finally found his place in the universe after feeling excluded for so long but now he realised…

His place wasn’t among the dead. It was with SG-1.

“Thank you.”
Sam’s voice broke his train of thought, and just like that, he was immediately back to her, his piercing blue eyes staring into hers.

“For what?” He spoke softly.

“For being here. Staying with me. Not leaving me to die on my own.” She sounded… different. She was giving up - he could feel it. She looked more like a ghost than he did. 

With determination in his voice, Daniel hid his fear.
“You’re not going to die.” He declared. “At least not here, and not alone. I’m always going to stay with you, Sam.” 

Far off, behind the valley of the dead, over the hills and behind the golden sky - the Stargate lit all seven chevrons. Jack, Jonas and Teal’c burst through, the bloody smell of iron immediately hitting their noses. The colonel looked to his friends, and together, they all shared one thought.

Sam was going to live. No matter what.

Looking at him now, Sam almost didn’t know what to say. Daniel shouldn’t look that way - blooded and bruised, relying on crutches to simply get around. It wasn’t fair. It had been less than a year since he’d come back from the dead, and this was how the world was going to treat him?

Even now, he sat alone in his office, looking at the sheets of paper work. Staring through his doorway, Sam sighed. She saw it in his eyes - he was scared. God, who wouldn’t be after being kept in a shack in the jungle and tortured for three days? The universe was cruel - Sam knew that ever since it took away her mother, but it kept happening to him. Over and over and over again. 

“Hey.” She finally said, making the poor man jump half out of his skin.

“Sam.” He breathed out. 

She saw his face - a large bruise covered his cheek. Just under his shirt, she caught a glimpse of the burns from the car battery. She offered a sad smile.

“How are you feeling?” Moving into his office, she sat down on top of his desk, looking down at him as he slumped in his chair. His hair had grown even more now - it poked out in strange angles and looked like it simply just couldn’t be brushed. She had to resist the urge to ruffle it, like a big sister would. 

“I’m alright.” 
Daniel’s gruff voice told her otherwise. Just as she saw in his eyes - he was still scared. 

The ticking of the clock numbered the seconds as she stared at his eyes, those eyes which used to hold so much spark, so much hope back when they first met. Now they were just… dull, though if she looked hard enough, she could catch that twinkle, that sparkle of hope left behind. She knew that deep down, through everything, Daniel was still Daniel - as he always would be.

“You know, even though you may have forgotten,” She started, bringing herself to smile at him, hoping he’d catch it.
“I still remember what you did for me. Back on P3A-616.”

Daniel sighed. This was another one of those moments where someone brings up a part of life - a part of something he should remember - but when he looked back in his mind… It was all blank. There was absolutely nothing, no memories of P3A-616 at all. Still, he listened.

“You’re not alone, Daniel. No matter what happens, I’m always going to stay with you.”

Finally, her smile caught his lips, and he found himself smiling again, for he knew that somewhere, buried deep in his mind, he’d made the exact same promise to her.