Enjoy the Ride
by Bryn
EMAIL: buddygirl19@yahoo.com
STATUS: complete
RATING: PG
CATEGORY: D/J romance, a bit o' humor
ARCHIVING: the Dan/Jan Archive, anybody else just ask
SPOILERS: There But for the Grace of God.
SEASON/SEQUEL: season 5-ish
SUMMARY: Daniel steps through the 'Gate and realizes
he's not in Kansas anymore.
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and
places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and
Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan
fiction was created for entertainment not monetary
purposes and no infringement on copyrights or
trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognised
characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted
to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living
or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the
author.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Physics + Bryn = Fic. *shrugs* go
figure. anyway, thanks to Kat and Boo! tell me if
you like!
Daniel Jackson stepped through the Stargate and
emerged, as he’d expected, at the top of the ramp in
the ‘Gate room. As this was standard procedure, he
wasn’t paying much attention. Instead he was fumbling
with one of the newly-acquired toys the Eligians had
been kind enough to let him borrow. Therefore he was
half way down the ramp before he noticed Jack O’Neill
standing at the bottom of it, waiting for him. Once
he’d noticed the older man standing there, rocking
back and forth impatiently, and actually bothered to
think about him, Daniel realized it was rather
unusual. He was returning from a standard
archeological mission, which, by the laws of the
Universe, was nothing that Jack would’ve been
interested in.
“Um, hi Jack,” the archeologist greeted his friend.
“Well, it’s about time you got here. You’re about to
be late for your own engagement party!” Jack smiled
broadly and clapped his friend on the back, leading
him towards the door.
Daniel stopped dead in his tracks. It shortly dawned
on him that, since as far as he knew he was *not*
engaged, this was obviously not his SGC. “Oh, not
again.”
Jack turned back to Daniel and scowled slightly.
*Now* what was the man babbling about? This was
definitely not the reaction he’d expected, seeing as
how several hours before he’d nearly had to shove the
man through the Stargate to get him off-world he’d
been so paranoid about missing the celebration.
“Daniel? You ok?”
“Jack, did you just say ‘engagement’ party?”
“Yes… that is the normal kind of party one has when
one gets engaged.” Jack answered with his normal
touch of sarcasm.
“Oh dear. Why does this always happen to me?” Daniel
rubbed his temples therapeutically and wished
frantically that he’d just wake up.
“Daniel, what *are* you talking about?” Jack asked,
completely lost.
“Jack, I’m not engaged. At least not in my universe.”
Suddenly Jack’s face dropped. “*Tell* me you didn’t
touch any mirrors.”
“I didn’t, I swear. I didn’t touch anything! I don’t
know what happened, but obviously *something* did,
because despite the fact that this looks like my SGC,
I think would have noticed being engaged.”
Jack sighed and thought for a minute. “OK, so this is
a problem. Well everyone’s down in the commissary
anyway, so we might as well head down there. *You*
get to be the one to tell Doc though, since there’s
nothing holding her back from sticking *me* with
needles.”
Daniel wondered slightly at that comment, but shrugged
and followed along behind Jack through the
SGC-that-was-not-his. Stepping into the crowded
commissary a few minutes later, Daniel looked around
curiously. He really couldn’t help but wonder who his
supposed fiancée was since, as far as he was concerned
he wasn’t even dating anyone.
Several people smiled warmly and greeted him with
congratulations, all of which he replied to absently
as he continued to look around. Jack stepped over to
the General, presumably to discuss the ‘situation,’
just as Daniel turned to ask him the now burning
question, but shortly he got his answer anyway.
He’d caught sight of Janet only seconds before he
found her in his arms. And kissing him. The embrace
seemed so natural to her though, that he couldn’t help
but return it, and surprisingly enough, he wasn’t all
that displeased with it either. In fact, he wasn’t
displeased at all.
Janet pulled back slightly and smiled up at him.
“Thought you’d never get back. Had me worried for a
moment there that maybe the artifacts were more
interesting than me.”
“Never,” Daniel replied, smiling back. Wow, had he
just said that? “There is, um, something though…”
“What?” Janet’s smile faded.
“We should probably talk about this somewhere else,
and with General Hammond and the others.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Daniel Jackson stepped through the Stargate and into
the ‘Gate room. Nodding at the technician in the
control room he looked around the room curiously,
wondering why no one was there to meet him. Before
he’d left, he’d been threatened with an armed escort
upon his return to ensure that he made it to the
commissary without getting distracted by some new
artifact. Not that he would have. Daniel doubted
very much that anything short of a Goa’uld invasion
could have kept him away, but still, Janet was rarely
one to bluff. Shrugging slightly, he headed straight
for his destination by himself.
Puzzlement turned to confusion when he found no one in
the commissary. He briefly wondered if he’d missed
some kind of emergency, but as he hadn’t heard any
klaxons nor been run down by any personnel, he doubted
it. Not knowing where else to go, he headed up to the
infirmary, where to both his surprise and delight, he
found the one person he’d been looking for.
“Janet!” Daniel smiled, walking over to the petite
doctor, who had been previously talking to Sam, and
sweeping her into an affectionate embrace. Kissing
her gently, he asked, “Where is everyone?”
Janet and Sam stared at him, mouths open in
astonishment.
Daniel, with his arms still wrapped securely around
Janet’s waist, looked at them both quizzically.
“What? I’m not *that* late am I?”
“Daniel? Are you feeling alright?” Janet asked.
“Wonderful, why?”
“Then what the hell are you doing?”
That’s when Daniel realized something was wrong.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“So if what Daniel’s saying is right, how did this
happen with no mirror?” Jack asked as SG-1, Janet and
General Hammond were sitting around the briefing room
table.
“Dr. Jackson, did anything peculiar happen to you on
your mission?”
“No, it was pretty standard. I arrived, discussed the
artifacts being studied with SG-11, spoke with the
Eligians briefly, then ‘Gated back.” Daniel shrugged.
“No wait, there was something. It didn’t seem like
anything at the time, but it was rather odd...”
“Care to share with the class, Daniel?” Jack asked.
“One of the Eligians, as I was leaving, said something
about repaying me for all my help. Then he said, ‘May
your mind be opened by new experiences,’ which at the
time I figured was a standard farewell, but come to
think of it, I’ve been to and left Eligia several
times now and they’ve never said anything like that
before…”
“So you think the Eligians may have done this?” the
General asked, cutting off Daniel before he could
babble too much more.
“Well, honestly, I can’t think of anything else.”
“Major Carter, is that even theoretically possible?”
“Well, Sir, there’s so much we don’t know about the
Stargate and the Eligians are significantly more
advanced than us, so it is conceivable,” Sam replied.
“But I have no idea *how* they did it.”
“So how am I supposed to get back?” Daniel looked
slightly worried.
Suddenly Janet spoke up, none too quietly. “Wait!
Isn’t there something else we should be considering
here? If this Daniel isn’t our Daniel, then where
*is* our Daniel? And how do we get him back?”
“According to what Daniel said, the similarities
between our two universes are extraordinary, with only
a few minor differences,” Sam said, glancing briefly
at Janet. “So my guess would be that our Daniel is in
whatever universe this Daniel came from.”
“Your guess?” Jack asked skeptically.
“Well, Colonel, without a tracking signal on Daniel,
there’s really no way to tell for sure.”
Jack raised his eyebrows approvingly. “Tracking
signal? Now there’s a good idea.”
Daniel glared at Jack, thinking that next time maybe
he should find a universe with less sarcasm. “So… how
do I get back?” he asked again.
Everyone turned to look at Sam. “All I can think of
is sending him back to Eligia and hoping they can fix
it.” She shrugged.
“Very well, Dr. Jackson you’ll leave in an hour.
Dismissed.” With that, General Hammond stood and the
impromptu briefing broke up.
Janet turned and left the room hastily, drawing
sympathetic looks from her friends. Daniel stared
after her, concerned. “What’s wrong with her?” he
asked Sam.
“Well, she’s getting married in a month. My bet is
she’s hoping there’ll be a groom here for it.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Ah, geez, Daniel, even on a planet we’ve classified
as completely safe you manage to find trouble!” Jack
ranted.
Daniel sighed, again. “In my defense, Jack, this
wasn’t my fault.”
“He’s right, sir,” Sam added. “As far as we can tell,
the Eligians did this.”
“But why?”
Daniel shrugged. “They said something about taking
the gifts in life for granted. But considering I had
no idea what they were talking about at the time, it
didn’t occur to me to ask.”
“The *one* time he decides not to ask…” Jack muttered.
“Hey, it’s not like I *want* to be here! I’m supposed
to be at my engagement party right now and-“ Daniel
stopped when he realized everyone was staring at him.
“What?”
“*Engaged*?” Jack asked, completely incredulously.
“I take it I’m not engaged here?” Daniel asked
flatly.
“Oh, I’d say definitely not.”
“To whom are you engaged, Daniel Jackson?” Teal’c
asked, his eyebrows raised in his form of insatiable
curiosity.
“Janet, of course.”
Daniel found himself, yet again, at the center of a
roomful of astonished stares. This was really getting
old. He glanced at Janet hopefully, but the fact that
her eyes looked about ready to pop out of her head
didn’t do much for his optimism that they were
involved here too, and that maybe everyone just didn’t
know about it.
“Well that would explain why you kissed me earlier, I
suppose,” Janet finally commented.
“How come in every reality expect ours everybody’s got
social lives?” Jack grumbled.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Janet?” Daniel called softly. She was sitting in
her office with her back turned to the door and he
could see her stiffen at the sound of his voice, but
she didn’t respond. “I know this is hard for you… and
I don’t mean to make it worse…” Daniel stopped
briefly, searching for words to make the situation,
which he couldn’t help but feel was his fault, better
or at least easier for her. “I just wanted to let you
know that if you need anyone to talk to, I’m here.”
She still didn’t respond. “And I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said softly.
“I don’t know about that. If I didn’t attract trouble
like a magnet, you wouldn’t be in pain right now.”
Janet slowly turned around and looked at him.
“Daniel, that’s just part of you, and one of the
things I fell in love with about you. Don’t worry
about me, I’ll be all right. You… I mean, *my* Daniel
promised he’d always come back to me, so I’m going to
have faith that he will.”
“You really love him don’t you?”
She smiled faintly. “Yes, very much.”
“Why?” Daniel blurted out. “That sounded bad. I
mean… no, I guess that is what I mean. Why?”
“Daniel asked me that same thing the first time I told
him I loved him. All I can say, Daniel, is that love
is one of the most powerful forces in the universe and
no matter how hard anyone tries, it can never be
defeated. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it heals, but
no matter what, it’s the one thing that makes life
worth living for.”
“Never knew you were a philosopher.” Daniel smiled,
sitting down in the seat across from Janet.
Janet chuckled softly. “Do you know me - or her,
rather - very well?”
“Not really,” Daniel admitted. “I guess we’ve always
been too busy, or too distracted. I have been at
least.”
“Do me a favor Daniel?” Janet asked. “When you get
home, get to know her. If she’s anything like me,
then she cares about you, at least as a friend. And
if you’re anything like my Daniel, you’ve been through
a lot, and a friend is exactly what you need. Even if
nothing else comes of you two, she’s a good listener.”
“Thanks, Janet. I will, I promise.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Daniel?”
Daniel lifted his head at the sound of Janet’s voice.
He couldn’t help but smile, she always did that to
him, even if this her wasn’t actually *her.* “Come on
in,” he called to her as she stood in the doorway of
the other Daniel’s office.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt, I just wanted to make
sure you were all right,” Janet explained, taking a
few steps in.
“Well, at least this reality isn’t under attack by the
Goa’uld,” Daniel shrugged, enticing the smile from
Janet that he’d been trying for. “But I still think I
prefer my own. With you.”
Self-consciously Janet looked away, blushing slightly.
“So how similar is your reality to ours?” She changed
the subject.
“As far as I’ve been able to tell the only thing
different is that you and I aren’t together here.”
“How… how did that happen? If you don’t mind me
asking.”
Daniel smiled. “Not at all. You’re one of my
favorite things to talk about. I guess it started
because you were there for me, every time I needed
someone and a lot of times when I thought I didn’t.
You listened, you advised, and few times you even
yelled, but only when I was being especially dense.
Then one day I realized I just couldn’t picture my
life without you in it. We’ve been dating about a
year and a few months ago I asked you to marry me.”
“That’s beautiful,” Janet replied.
“It’s all true, and I bet you anything it could be for
you too.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Daniel Jackson walked through the Stargate and down
the ramp into the SGC, *again*. This time all of
SG-1, Janet and General Hammond were there waiting for
him.
“Dr. Jackson?” the General asked, not quite sure
exactly *what* he was asking.
“Yes, it’s me,” Daniel answered. “The real me. The
Eligians assured me that this time they were sending
me to my own reality. They also said something along
the lines of: ‘Hope you enjoyed the ride’ …I think…”
A brief pause was followed by Jack asking: “So you’re
not…?”
“Engaged? Nope.”
Everyone in the ‘Gate room let out a collective sigh
of relief. Smiling, they happily welcomed their
wayward archeologist home. They were all too busy yet
again poking fun at him to notice Daniel glance over
his shoulder at the small doctor quietly standing off
to the side and briefly lock eyes with her. The
moment was lost, though, as he was ushered out of the
room by his overzealous team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Three hours later Daniel found Janet sitting alone in
the commissary. She was staring intently at her
coffee and he slid into the seat across from her
quietly. She glanced up at him and offered him a
small smile as greeting then immediately went back to
staring at her beverage.
“Was that as strange for you as it was for me?”
Daniel asked after a moment
“Oh, I’d say so.” Janet nodded. “You kissed me.”
“Well, where I was, you kissed me, so I guess we’re
even.”
They lapsed into silence when neither could think of
anything to say.
“Daniel?” Janet finally asked.
“Hmm?”
“You think, maybe… they had the right idea?” She
finally looked up at him again and met his gaze.
“Yeah that’s basically all I’ve been thinking since I
walked into my own engagement party this afternoon.”
Daniel smiled as he finally managed to coax one out of
Janet too. “So, do you think maybe you’d like to go
out sometime?”
“I’d like that,” Janet nodded. Her smile widened as
she added: “Besides, I have a theory to test.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Gotta see if you’re as good a kisser in this reality
as you were in that other one.”
the end
copyright (c) Bryn 2001
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