Chapter 5.

"What about you?"

Janet almost didn't hear his question. The silence had stretched out so long, she had long ago switched off from listening to the outside world, had even given up on her new favourite hobby of stargazing. She had burrowed into his blanket, entangling her slowly chilling hands into his fleece to keep them warm and let herself drift off to both the rhythmic harmony that beat quietly against her cheek and the warm breath brushing softly through her hair.

Daniel lifted his head to get a better look at her face. "Hey," he said gently. "You haven't fallen asleep on me, have you?"

"Heard you the first time," she mumbled, slightly irritated that he'd broken the silence; she had been enjoying that silence. "Didn't understand the question."

"It's okay," he murmured. "It's not important."

Janet managed to find the energy to move her fingers enough to poke him in the ribs. "C'mon," she said. "You've started now. You may as well finish."

There was a moment's pause, where she could feel Daniel's heart beat several times before he responded. "You were married once?" he asked at last.

Janet stiffened slightly as the question sank in, before gradually relaxing again. The question had caught her by surprise, although she wasn't certain why. Her divorce wasn't a secret but very few people had ever asked about it. She and Sam had partially commiserated, partially celebrated after the Hathor incident: she had told Sam all about her failed marriage and Sam had told her all about her failed engagement. They had toasted to friendship, women's rights and the impossibility of men. And then, they had moved on with their lives.

It suddenly occurred to her that what she was surprised about wasn't that Daniel was asking the question but that he had never asked it before now.

"Yeah," she said at length. "Complete jerk."

"How so?"

He sounded curious but she couldn't be bothered to move to look at him, so settled for wriggling further into his blankets to escape the cold she could feel creeping through her clothing. Part of her had assumed that Sam had said something to the others over the years but at the same time, part of her was also glad to have been given this proof of the physicist's discretion. "We're back to stupidity again," she sighed. "He was my first serious boyfriend. I thought I was in love... so we married young."

"What was his name?"

"Shane. Shane Callaghan. And I got married when I was 19," she was silent for a few moments, reflecting on the past. She knew how to describe what had happened now; her talks with Sam had helped her find the words. Once upon a time, she had tried to defend him but that was a long time ago. "He trained young, almost... well... almost an apprenticeship. He was good with his hands - engineering, electrics, carpentry, you name it. If he could imagine it, he could make it..." she smiled faintly. "He could make building a house seem like a work of art. I think I fell in love with that..." she snorted in wry amusement. "I'm a sucker for men who get overenthusiastic about their work. Watching them get excited, taking pride in what they do... brings me out in goosebumps. Silly, isn't it?"

A faint chuckle escaped Daniel as he considered the fact that she herself was someone who could become delightfully giddy about her own work. Then he sobered up slightly. "What went wrong?"

She wrinkled her nose and thought about that. "It wasn't any one thing, really. I went to college, he didn't. I joined the Air Force, he didn't. He had been raised to believe the man was the breadwinner... it's not that he objected to me working... " she trailed off for a moment. "Not in the early days, at least. It's just that... well..."

"Women could work as long as they didn't earn as much as men?" Daniel murmured, his mind drifting back to the year he had spent living on Abydos. Male and female roles had been very clearly defined and the lines were not often crossed. He had done so and been teased often for it, but while Sha'uri had tolerated his idiosyncrasies she, herself, had been mostly content with her role in life.

At first, he hadn't understood why until he began to look beneath the surface and became aware of the more subtle power the women wielded. In a society where men dominated so visibly, women had learned to find a more indirect route to power. In their own way, the women had been as powerful as men on Abydos... but not in any manner a woman raised in a Western society back on Earth would have recognised. Sha'uri herself had wielded a lot of power on Abydos but what had amused Daniel was the fact that the native men had never really seemed aware of it. All the women, however, clearly had been.

"Yes," Janet sounded a little surprised that he understood so readily but her surprise quickly faded. "I definitely had the better job.. financially, anyway," she sighed. "I tried to tell him the money wasn't important, that job satisfaction was more valuable but..." she rolled her eyes. "That was too female of me."

She was silent again. Daniel didn't speak either and she mulled over his patience. The only other man she knew who displayed this level of patience was Teal'c. They could sit in silence for hours, just letting someone chat incessantly, as if understanding that sometimes it was better to listen instead of speak. She wondered how they could both tell when it was a good idea to speak and when it was better to listen. Half the time, she just had to guess and hope it was the right decision.

"Anyway, from there, things just got worse. He didn't like me working, he didn't like me studying, he would become aggressive whenever my paycheques came through..." she trailed off as she felt Daniel's body begin to slowly stiffen. "He never hit me, Daniel," she reassured him quickly, realising what was going through his mind. "His temper was quick, and what he could say to me was... was horrible. But he never laid a finger on me," she sighed. "Instead he... began pushing me to give up work, or get a job that involved me doing less hours, earning less money, staying closer to home. He didn't like me hanging around with my colleagues after hours. He didn't like me spending my money, or going shopping. At some point... and to this day, I can't tell you how it happened, I went from being outgoing, sociable and adventurous to someone who was afraid to step outside my front door without asking him for permission... it was just so much easier than fighting all the time."

She felt him swallow. "Sounds like emotional abuse to me," he muttered.

"Yes," she agreed quietly. "He never laid a finger on me but he did destroy my confidence. I lost my friends, my family, I had no energy to work and I didn't even enjoy my work anymore. When my parents died... he wasn't that supportive and that's what woke me up. When I finally lifted my head and took a look around... I really hated what I was becoming. So... so I walked."

"Good for you," he said firmly.

She smiled sourly. "It didn't feel very good at first. It took me a long time... it took depression counselling, in fact, for me to realise that he had been the one with the issues - no self-confidence, no ambition... he was so insecure and the only way he could cope was to drag everyone he knew down with him. And when that finally sunk in and I finally felt able to rebuild my self-confidence and my life... I divorced him, moved away and never looked back," she was silent for a few moments. "Do you want to know the funny thing?" she asked at last.

"What's that?" his voice was quiet again, that hushed, soothing tone that he always used when he wanted someone to know he fully supported them without putting it into words. Somewhere along the line, he had begun stroking her hair gently but she couldn't actually remember when he had started doing that.

"I was shocked by how easy it was to turn my back on him and walk away and... how little I've missed him since." She was silent, reflecting over it. "I don't think I ever really loved him. I mean..." she added quickly, hurriedly. "I did care about him, for years I was crazy about him but... I don't think it was the kind of love that lasts a lifetime."

"Hm," he mused. "Sounds like my relationship with Sarah."

"Really?"

"Oh, not the emotional horror story," he stopped for a moment, his body slightly tense. "At least... I certainly hope not... I was, uh, I was definitely the jerk in that relationship," he cleared his throat, clearly a little embarrassed. "Although she was hardly innocent herself, I should add. For a while I thought I knew what true love was... even after we split up, I still wondered what I'd lost. It wasn't until I met Sha'uri that I realised..." he trailed off, as if hunting for the right way to express what he wanted to say.

"... that you hadn't lost anything at all?" Janet supplied softly.

"Yeah," she could hear a smile in his voice. He lapsed into silence again before rousing himself with a slight shiver. "Anyway, I was trying to say I know what you mean."

She bit back her own smile. "I got the message, Daniel."

He kissed her hair. "I'm sure one day you'll find someone who'll sweep you off your feet and carry you off into the sunset," he told her softly.

"Mm," she stretched against him and shivered as another burst of cold air hit her. The temperature was definitely dropping, she realised suddenly. "White steed? Knight in shining armour? Shiny swords and evil dragons?"

He laughed very softly. "Something like that. There's someone out there for you, I'm sure. We just need to dig him out of whatever hole he's hiding in and let him know you exist."

It was her turn to laugh this time. "Oh, according to my daughter, I'm already dating," she told him in amusement.

Picking up on her amusement, she could feel his own voice tease back as he answered. "Oh yes? Who's that unlucky soul?"

"That unlucky soul, Doctor Jackson," she said, a little indignantly. "Would be you."

"Really?" there was a mixture of surprise and puzzlement in his voice. "Where'd she get that idea from?"

Janet chuckled. "Because we made plans for Valentine's Day. She's 18, Daniel. In her mind, the only people who do things together on Valentine's Day are romantics. She got the message eventually though."

"Oh". He was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "She's not the only one. Jack couldn't wrap his head around it either. I think I set him straight but I was sneezing my head off at the time."

She shook her head ruefully, suspecting that Daniel's quiet emphasis meant the archaeologist was expecting Jack to tease him about this weekend for a while to come and sank back against him. He was still trailing his fingers through her hair in a slow, lazy caress but this time, she couldn't relax. It took her several minutes to realise it was because of how cold she had become. "Daniel, how much gas does that heater of yours have?"

"Hm?" his fingers froze against the back of her neck. "Oh, um, at least six hours worth was left, I think. It should be plenty - I wasn't planning on keeping you out here all night."

"You sure it's got six hours?" She lifted her head to peer in its direction. "It doesn't seem to be working any more."

The archaeologist nudged her gently. "Okay, let me take a look at it."

Janet muttered under her breath. "That means moving," she protested, tugging the blankets back around her.

"Yes, Janet, I'm afraid that it does," he sounded amused and this time poked her in the ribs. Repeatedly.

"Okay, okay, I'm moving," she grumbled, grabbing the blankets and sitting up properly. "Happy now?"

"Freezing, actually," he grinned at her and hauled himself to his feet to check the heater. His eyebrows rose as he realised it was stone cold. "Interesting," he muttered. "Must've been off for a while. Janet, grab me a flashlight, will you?"

With a exaggerated sigh, Janet climbed to her feet and dug around for a flashlight. When she found one, she pointed it at the heater and joined him.

Working with the benefit of light, Daniel investigated the heater quite quickly but to Janet, who was holding the flashlight in her unprotected hands, it felt like an eternity before she saw him sit back on his heels with a snort. "It's out of gas," he admitted. "I'm sorry, Janet, I guess I overestimated the amount left in it."

"It's not a problem, Daniel," she chuckled. "I'm surprised we got away with this as long as we did."

"What time is it, anyway?"

"Uh..." Janet turned the flashlight onto her watch and stared. "That can't be right," she said.

Daniel pushed himself to his feet and took her wrist. "What can't be ri--" he stared at the time. "Oh boy," he said, and checked his own watch. "No, it's definitely right, Janet." He laughed suddenly. "No wonder the gas ran out, we've been out here for seven hours!" He threw her a mischievous look. "Time flies when you're having fun."

"Not that much fun, Doctor Jackson," she told him tartly and moved across to the food to begin gathering it up.

It didn't take them long to pack everything away, although it took a little while longer to double-check the clearing to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything - with only flashlights for help, it wasn't the easiest search. They spent the journey back to Janet's house slowly thawing out with the help of the car's efficient heater. By the time they reached her place, Janet was beginning to feel quite cosy again - cosy enough to resent the sight of her house as it stood, silently illuminated, in the headlights of Daniel's car.

She hurried up to the front door while Daniel unloaded her equipment from the car. She was still hunting for her door key when he finally caught up to her on the porch. "You haven't locked yourself out, have you?" he asked blandly.

"No I have not, thank you very much!" she said indignantly, causing him to laugh. She hissed through her teeth in annoyance then put her bag down and reached up to pull her spare key from where it was hidden amongst the eaves. The trouble, she discovered quickly, was that it wasn't where she normally hid it. There was one other spot the key could be safely hidden and it was out of her reach; a spot that Cassandra, who was much taller, had no trouble reaching.

Daniel watched her in silence as she stood on the very tips of her toes, closed her eyes and stretched as high as she could to reach the key. "Need any help?" he asked innocently, struggling to keep the amusement off his face.

"No!" She stuck her tongue out in concentration and gave it one last effort. Her fingers touched the edges of cold metal and she made a Herculean attempt to grab for it...

She growled as it skittered beyond her reach. "I'm going to kill that girl!" she burst out in frustration.

Daniel cleared his throat in a determined effort to avoid laughing and reached up to pull the key out. "It's not Cassie's fault you're so short," he said, completely straight-faced as he handed her the key.

"I'll have you know the best things come in small packages!" she retorted, grabbing the key off him and unlocking the door.

"So does poison, Janet," he murmured nonchalantly.

"Daniel Jackson, don't make me add you to my hit-list as well!"

This time he did laugh at her, even as he helped her carry the bags into the kitchen. "Where do you want all this?" he asked, placing them on the table.

"Oh, just leave it there, I can't be bothered to fuss at three in the morning," she told him and stifled a yawn. "Do you want a coffee or something?"

Her yawn was about to set him off, he realised, and he still had more driving to do. "No, I think I better get home before I fall asleep on my feet," he admitted wryly.

"Wow, Doctor Jackson turning down coffee? It's a miracle," she smiled then bit back another yawn. "Thanks for tonight, Daniel. You're completely insane but I had fun."

He chuckled and enfolded her in a tight hug. "I enjoyed myself too," he said softly. "Sleep well, Janet."

"Drive safely!" She responded firmly, pulling free of him.

"Always," he said with a grin.

"Don't give me that, Daniel, I still haven't forgotten your maniacal driving in Egypt."

He laughed. "Okay, I'll behave myself," he promised, heading for the door and ignoring her cynical snort behind him. "Oh, by the way," he added turning at the door. She raised her eyebrows at him. "You actually managed to go the entire night without insulting Valentine's Day!" He skipped off the porch before she could swat him and grinned impudently at her from the driveway.

"Good night, Daniel," she commanded, smiling nevertheless.

"Night, Janet," he chuckled and disappeared inside his car. He waved once as he put the vehicle in gear and drove off, observing through his rear-view mirror that she waited until he was out of sight before closing her front door.

He would never have admitted it to her face, of course, but she had been almost right about at least one thing.

The best friends really did come in small packages.