Title: Where There's a Will

Author: Kay Vegas

Rating: T

Categories: Mystery, Romance

Season: Eight

Pairings: Daniel/Other, Jack/Sam

Warnings: Sexual situations

Spoilers: Stargate—The Movie, Children of the Gods, Torment of Tantalus, 1969, Threads, Moebius, Avalon Part 1

Summary: When Catherine Langford's relatives start circling like sharks, Daniel begins to suspect she has been murdered. Oh, and Catherine's niece, Sabrina, is along for the ride.

Author's Notes: This story takes place during that period after the gang got back from Jack's cabin, but before the beginning of Season Nine.

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"Daniel? You busy?" Sam Carter was standing at the door to Daniel Jackson's office, a stack of photos in her hand.

"For you? Never." Actually, he was extremely busy; but still, Daniel welcomed the break. "Come on in." He stopped typing his report on their last mission and stretched his shoulders, hoping Sam would take the hint and give him an impromptu massage. No such luck. Evidently she was on a mission of her own.

"I just printed up the pictures from our trip to Minnesota. Wanna see them?"

Daniel looked up at his friend, a big grin on his face. "Only if you printed the picture of me with the fish I caught. A hundred bucks is riding on this." Ferretti had bet Daniel that no one would catch anything and that the four members of SG-1 would have a miserable time on their vacation to Jack's cabin in the wilds of Minnesota.

Actually, he had been wrong on both counts. The four of them had a wonderful time. They hadn't done a lot, mostly just slept and talked and fished. The pond there was actually pretty well stocked, in spite of what Jack had said all those years, and the four of them had gone fishing just about every day.

This trip had been just what Sam had needed. She was still reeling from the death of her father, not to mention her broken engagement to Pete. Daniel still hadn't gotten the whole story about that failed romance, but he had a feeling that Jack had played a part in the break-up.

This brief time away with her closest friends had been a much-needed respite. The truth was they had all needed the down-time.

The big surprise of the trip had come when Jack had made his big announcement: he had been transferred to Washington and was leaving the SGC, effective immediately. Well, as soon as he could get packed up and get his house on the market, anyway.

In retrospect, Daniel realized that Jack had wanted to break it to them gently, and he had wanted to do that as far away from Cheyenne Mountain as possible.

It was hard to think of the SGC without Jack O'Neill; the two names had become almost synonymous. So that had made this time together for the four friends even more precious.

Daniel took the pictures from Sam and started thumbing through them. Soon he found himself laughing out loud, a sound which, unfortunately, was not heard very often. "I can't believe you took a picture of this! 'Charades' is supposed to be private!" He looked at Sam in mock indignation.

"I'm sorry, but the sight of you acting out 'A Streetcar Named Desire' was just too good to pass up. I couldn't help myself!" She reached to take the picture back, but Daniel jerked it away and wouldn't let her have it.

"I think I'll just keep this one safe and sound, thank you," he said as he slipped it into his pocket.

"Help yourself, 'Stanley'. I can print plenty more any time I want to. Look through the rest of these and see if there're any more you'd like copies of."

Daniel started looking through the stack of pictures but was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. "Daniel Jackson." He balanced the phone between his cheek and his shoulder as he continued to look through the pictures.

'Daniel? This is Sabrina Gosling, Catherine's niece. Do you have a minute?'

"Uh, sure, Sabrina. What's up?"

Daniel had met Sabrina at Catherine Langford's funeral two weeks earlier. His elderly friend's death from a heart attack had been totally unexpected, and he was still mourning her loss.

Catherine had sought him out when he had been at the lowest point of his professional life and had offered him a way out. It was Catherine who had persuaded him to come and work on what later would be called the "Stargate Project" and he truly did owe her more that he could ever repay.

Those weren't just empty platitudes in his remarks at her funeral. He truly felt that she'd saved his life one rainy night outside an empty lecture hall. He'd lost his grant, he'd lost his apartment and he only had fifty dollars in his checking account when she had appeared to him like an angel from the back of that black limousine.

His thoughts were brought back to the present as Sabrina continued: 'I just wanted to thank you again for the beautiful things you said about Aunt Catherine at the funeral. She really did think of you as a son, you know.'

"Well, she was certainly like a mother to me…And she was one of the few people I knew who loved studying the past as much as I do."

'She told me about the hours you two spent discussing archeology. That's one reason she left you her antiquities collection. She knew you, of all people, would know what to do with it.' When he didn't answer, she went on.

'You know I inherited the bulk of Aunt Catherine's estate… I've come up against a problem and I was wondering if you would do me a favor?'

"Of course," Daniel replied. "What can I do?"

'Would you mind driving to Denver and having dinner with me tomorrow night? I really could use your expertise.'

"Sure, I'd be glad to. I'm not scheduled to go off…anywhere… for the next 'couple of days, so I'm all yours."

Sam raised her eyebrows at that and grinned at Daniel. He glared at her and then turned his back, continuing the conversation.

"Do you want me to come to Catherine's house, or just meet you at a restaurant somewhere?"

'Come to Catherine's. I'll even cook dinner for you. Can you be here by seven?'

"No problem, and I'll bring the wine."

Daniel said goodbye to Sabrina, hung up the phone, and then turned to gaze at his friend. "Well…out with it."

"What do you mean? I wasn't going to say a word," Sam replied innocently, but her face gave her away. Kidding Daniel about his love life was just too easy. "Was that the woman you picked up at Catherine's funeral?" she teased.

"I did not pick her up. I have never picked up anyone at a funeral." As expected, he blushed furiously. "We just went out for coffee, that's all." Daniel shuffled Sam's pictures as he talked, not really looking at them. His gaze was fixed on a point somewhere over her right shoulder.

"So now she's inviting you for dinner…in DENVER, no less! I tell you what, Daniel; you could bottle that Jackson charm and make a fortune. You know that, right?"

Daniel just grinned and handed the stack of pictures back to her. "She was kinda cute," he admitted. "But this really isn't a date. She just needs some help sorting through Catherine's estate."

"Well, at least wear something nice, but not too nice… You don't want to appear desperate."

"Like I said, this isn't a date, Sam. And I can pick out my own clothes!" He had to yell the last part, as she was already out the door and half-way down the hall.