Title: Pretending to pretend
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and it's characters do not belong to us. Bummer.
Spoilers: mention of Meridian and Rites (further down the line)
Rating: K+….for now
A/N: Dedicated to: the Dan/Jan group, Jacq, Meesh, Rach (our lovely beta) and Wendy!
Chapter 1
"For crying out loud, Daniel!" the Colonel snapped, stomping angrily into the infirmary, closely followed by the rest of SG-1. He pulled the green cap from his head. "Would you stop talking about the stupid Bastard statue?"
Daniel appeared from behind Teal'c glaring at O'Neill. "It's Bastet, Jack."
Jack shook his head. "Basket, Bandit. Whatever. Just have the doc take a look at your arm. I swear, you getting injured must be…biologically determined."
Sam, ignoring her team-members, was looking around the infirmary, looking for Janet. Teal'c arched an eyebrow and eyed Jack sceptically. "I do not believe it is possible for organisms to carry a gene that will make them more accident prone."
"Thank you." Daniel looked at Jack pointedly, who shrugged stubbornly in return. "And my arm is…just fine."
Sam, walking back to the three men, shook her head. "Come on Daniel, you're bleeding for God's sakes. Now just let Janet-"
"Let Janet what?" The four of them turned around to see the auburn haired, petite doctor standing behind them. After a small smile, she eyed them all quickly, stopping when she saw Daniel's injury.
Her hazel eyes widened in alarm. "Come with me," she instructed, her smile fading.
Daniel grimaced at his team-members before slowly following her to the gurney.
"Needles, doc! Lotsa needles!" Jack called after them.
With a soft sigh, Janet pulled the curtains closed around them. "And here I thought we'd agreed on you not getting hurt for 24 hours?"
- - - - (flashback)
Pushing aside the last papers that lay on her desk, Janet unsuccessfully tried to stifle a yawn. "Damnit..." She muttered when she realised what time it was. She'd promised herself to go home at a normal hour today, so she could spend some time with Cassie but work seemed to have gotten the better of her once again.
Janet got up from her desk and left her office in a hurry, only to bump into Daniel. "Oh! I'm sorry!" She momentarily laid a hand on his chest before hastily backing away.
"It's alright." Daniel smiled nervously, not moving away himself. He studied her for a moment and couldn't help but notice how tired she looked. "Shouldn't you be home by now? It's really late… Not that I want you to leave or anything…" he quickly added when he saw the strange look Janet gave him. You have no idea…Daniel thought to himself.
"Well…glad we got that cleared up then," she replied dryly and grinned at his insecure behaviour. If she was completely honest with herself, that typical Daniel insecurity mixed with adorable clumsiness was something that had somehow always attracted her. But their work and friendship was one thing that couldn't be put at stake over some undefined feeling from her side.
It wasn't like he felt the same way about her anyway.
"I could actually ask you the same thing, you know," she suddenly said with a knowing smile on her face.
"Hm?"
"Why you're still here?"
"Oh…um… there were some interesting things I found during our last mission that I wanted to take another look at…and…I guess I kinda lost track of time after that… I guess…" He stared at his feet self consciously, another typical 'Daniel thing' to do, then looked up with a frown on his face.
"Believe me… I know the feeling of loosing track of time and getting wrapped up in work." She glanced over her shoulder, eying the enormous stack of folders on her desk.
Daniel nodded in agreement, following Janet's gaze towards her desk and the amount of work. "Listen…" he began warily, "are you done with work for tonight?"
"Yes… why?" Janet answered, surprised.
"Well, I'm not tired yet. Not tired enough to call it a night anyway." He glanced around the gloomy hallway. "You want to go grab a cup of coffee some place?" It was out before he realised it.
Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "Sure! Just let me get my things and I'll be ready to go!" she said happily. A little too happy to her own liking.
"Ok, good. I'll go grab my stuff then," he said and quickly disappeared. As he walked through the hallway towards his own office, his heart was pounding in his throat and his mind was whirling with questions.
Where the hell did that come from? Why did he ask her that? Why the sudden self-confidence?
For so long he'd been struggling with…well whatever you could call them. Feelings for the attractive, strong and tiny SG doctor? They'd been through a lot. And he cared as much about her as he did any member of SG-1. Because, although maybe not officially, Janet was as much part of the team as he was.
But…he cared for her in a completely different way than he did about the others.
Point was it was as confusing as hell. And seeing her, talking to her, stirred up all sorts of reactions and feelings inside of him.
'It's just coffee. Just friends. Just talking…about work…Nothing else,' Daniel reassured himself, although secretly he enjoyed Janet's company a lot more than he should.
They were just friends after all.
Hours later, fortunately neither of them had any urgent work waiting in the morning, because by the time they realised how long they'd been conversing at O 'Malleys down-town, it was 2am.
The evening had progressed smoothly, and they found themselves comfortably talking about all kinds of things, including topics that had nothing to do with work. For a change.
And at the same time it was nice to talk to someone without having on guard about work related things.
As time went by, the tension and nerves silently started to fade away. Janet hoped she wasn't imagining things, because being this at ease with somebody was almost too good to be true.
Do you feel it too? She silently wondered and a loving smile appeared on her face as she stared at Daniel while he was talking.
Daniel liked to see Janet smile. It made her even prettier than she already was. Her big brown eyes shone even more brightly, her face almost seemed to illuminate when the smiled.
It was nice too see her so relaxed and comfortable with him. With him, even.
He allowed himself a tiny bit of hope. Who knows, maybe I'm not just seeing things after all. Maybe there is something between the two of us. And maybe she feels it too.
The waitress abruptly interrupted his train of thoughts by informing them the diner was going to close in fifteen minutes. They looked at each other in surprise as she left their table.
"Wow. I've never been kicked out of a restaurant for staying too long." Janet smiled, as she pushed her seat back.
Daniel nodded in agreement, got up himself and grabbed his coat that was casually draped over the back of the chair. "Wait-…you've been kicked out of a restaurant before?"
"Maybe," she shrugged innocently.
He chuckled. "This I've gotta hear!"
Janet turned around with a smirk on her face. "Okay, tell you what? I'll tell you my embarrassing story about getting kicked out of a restaurant... if you promise not to get hurt for…24 hours. And since it's VERY unlikely you won't get injured in 24 hours... I'll never have to tell you anyway."
- - - - - (end flashback)
Daniel glanced at his feet again self consciously, feeling like a little schoolboy being berated by his mother. Or teacher. Or…just his doctor, in this case.
"Yeah… about that…" He frowned, looking up as Janet grabbed some scissors and started cutting his sleeve in half. "It's just my lower arm…It's not as bad as it looks."
Janet merely shook her head, looking at the gash in his arm. "Well, Doctor Jackson," she said, placing heavy emphasis on 'doctor'. "For once, you're right. You won't need stitches. And no needles."
Daniel smirked, sitting up straighter. "HEY JACK! NO needles!" he yelled from behind the curtain.
They could hear the low grumble coming from the Colonel, "Doctor's pet!"
While disinfecting the wound, Janet looked up him questioningly, both curious and amused.
He shook his head in return, and then fixed his gaze on his injured arm as Janet expertly began to bandage it. "He's just jealous," Daniel finally said as Janet moved away to (critically) look at her handiwork.
"Oh yeah. I'm sure he's really jealous of you having to spend so much time in the infirmary," she nodded, with a small smile.
What man wouldn't, Daniel thought to himself, then cursed inwardly for having these completely unprofessional thoughts and then tormenting himself with them. 'Oh just … shut up you … stupid fuck …' Unfortunately, his 'cursing' had in fact not been that….inwardly.
"EXCUSE ME?" Janet dropped her stethoscope to the floor with a loud clang and her hazel eyes widened in shock.
"What?" He glanced at the stethoscope then looked back at Janet, completely unfazed. "…What's wrong?"
"You just said: 'Shut up, you stupid fuck.'" She looked more than a little shocked at his sudden outburst.
Daniel's hand shut up to his mouth, a pained expression on his face. "No! …no," his mumbled reply was. "I… I… said that… out loud? Oh god… I said that out loud…"
He barely dared to look up at the small woman standing in front of him and was surprised by the offended expression on her face. "Oh NO! I didn't mean you, Janet! No, no! I was talking to…..well, to myself..." he finished lamely.
"Oh…" Janet felt a tad guilty and embarrassed for thinking that his comment was meant for her. They stared at each other for a second and Janet tried to hold back her laughter but failed completely. They both cracked up at the same time and laughed so hard that Daniel had to take of his glasses to wipe the tears from his eyes.
"That's it!" In one swift movement, the curtains around the gurney were violently pushed aside and Colonel O'Neill stepped in. "Do you mind telling me why I never get this treatment, Doc?"
'Well, maybe because you're not half as adorable as Daniel is?' Janet quickly swallowed that come-back. "Because…" She started and glanced at Daniel for a second. "Well…we had a bit of a misunderstanding, right Daniel?" She nudged him a little and he nodded sheepishly in return.
"Care to…share?"
Daniel shook his head. "There really isn't much to tell…or share, Jack."
"You know, I had trouble sharing…" Jack nodded sympathetically. "And then I turned six."
Janet successfully hid her grin from view by holding up the clipboard and scribbling down some notes about Daniel's injury. "It's really… nothing, Colonel."
"Right." Jack arched an eyebrow and eyed the two of them sceptically. "Well, if you two are done playing doctor-"
"Sir!" Sam suddenly called out, bolting back into the infirmary. Back? Janet had to admit she hadn't even noticed her friend had left.
A little surprised, Jack slowly turned around. "Carter?"
"The… Stargate," she said in between breaths, her face flushed. "The MALP we sent three days… ago. It came back."
Teal'c, who'd been standing in a corner of the infirmary, patiently awaiting his turn for the check-up took a few steps towards the assembled group. "The one we thought had been destroyed?"
Sam nodded quickly. "That's the one."
"Then what the hell are we waiting for!" Jack called out in mock-enthusiasm. He glanced at Daniel. "You coming? Or do you need to spend some more time with the doc behind closed curtains…….?"
"I'm coming!" Daniel hastily replied as he pushed himself of the gurney with his good arm.
Jack, Sam and Teal'c all marched out of the infirmary while Daniel was still gathering his things. Once he'd thrown everything in his backpack, he headed for the door, stopped mid-stride and turned around. "See you around….." And with a bit more confidence, he added. "You still owe me a story."
"I don't think so…like I said: you got hurt within 24 hours. I know you too well." She grinned at him. Not that I minded patching you up…she silently added. It was a weird and confusing struggle; on one hand she loved taking care of Daniel and she wouldn't trust any else to do it. On the other hand: she'd nearly lost so many times, it was heart wrenching. And that one time when she thought it'd been definite….
Still standing in the doorway, Daniel noticed the look on her face changing from almost flirtatious to sad and thoughtful. "Hey…" he smiled at her. "Technically, it was just a scratch. Besides…" he gestured at his bandaged left arm, "it doesn't even hurt."
"You were bleeding. I had to patch you up. I think that qualifies as an injury," she pointed out.
He nodded slowly. Whatever had passed between them just a few moments ago, it was definitely gone now. "Yeah… well, you win this one. I need to get going anyway. Hammond and the others are waiting."
Janet looked at him wistfully. "Just um… don't get hurt, okay?"
Daniel's eyebrows shot up. "I won't. Let's… start over?" he smiled at her. "Because, I really want to hear about that restaurant."
Janet's face showed a hint of flirtation again. "I might tell you sometime, perhaps then you'll get….lucky…"
"Good," he nodded, smiling back, then raised his bandaged hand and tried a wave. "Ow. See you around, Janet."
"See you." She said, to his retreating back.
TBC?