Stranded 14: So I Give You My Life To Keep
by Bryn
I, Daniel, take you Janet, to be my wife, my partner
in life and my one true love.
I will cherish our friendship and love you today,
tomorrow, and forever.
I will trust you and honor you
I will laugh with you and cry with you.
I will love you faithfully
Through the best and the worst,
Through the difficult and the easy.
What may come I will always be there.
As I have given you my hand to hold
So I give you my life to keep.
It was nearly pitch black; only a bit of light diffused in from the half moon that shone outside, through the trees. The rain that had started to fall only made it darker, and colder. So cold. The rumbling still echoed in the background, far off, but too close. Every noise, real or imagined, made them jump.
They were alone. No one would come for them, no one would find them. Except, perhaps, the people who hunted them.
A light flashed brightly outside, whether from lightning or an explosion, they didn't know. Didn't matter which, it still sent a shiver down Janet's spine. She hugged her knees tighter to her chest and tried to stop shaking. If only it weren't so cold, she thought. She shivered again, this time in a vain attempt to keep warm, and that finally drew his attention.
Lost in his own morbid thoughts, Daniel hadn't noticed the cold nor even remembered there was someone else with him. Just looking at her, though she was as frightened and helpless as he was, made him feel better. He wasn't alone. She was there, so he wasn't
alone.
He scooted closer and reached out his arm to wrap around her. She was tense and cold to his touch, but pliable as he pulled her into his arms. "It'll be all right," he whispered to her.
She nodded slightly, her head against his chest. "They'll come for us. The colonel won't leave us behind."
"Neither will Sam and Teal'c," he agreed.
The night outside had fallen quiet. The rain still fell, but was lessening to a dull drizzle in the background. The silence echoed, both comforting and terrifying, all at once. For a long time they sat there, intertwined to keep warm, and staring out into the darkness. Slowly their tension began to ease a bit, enough that Janet had finally began to drift toward the comforts of sleep, when she felt Daniel sag just slightly beside her. She lifted her head and through the very little light in the cave she could see he'd let his head fall back against the wall and his eyes were pinched shut.
"Daniel?" Her voice was barely about a breath, but she knew he'd heard. Still, it took him a moment to
answer.
"This is worse."
"Worse?" Janet didn't know what he was talking about and she knew her concern had to show in her voice.
"Than any we've been through before. We've gotten through a lot... tight spots, life and death... but this is worse." His voice cracked a bit and his face flinched. "Those people were... there was so much blood."
Instinctively Janet put her arms around him and he clung to her. "We'll make it."
"Janet-"
"We have to." She looked at him square in the eye and gave him no room to argue.
Numbly he nodded. With a deep sigh he rested his head against her shoulder. Her warmth was penetrating the frozen shell that seemed to be surrounding him, and for some reason he believed what she said. "We should get some sleep."
"Yeah," Janet agreed, and found a comfortable position, still holding on to him. She closed her eyes and the exhaustion soon began to overtake her.
Daniel looked at her one last time before closing his eyes. He pulled her just a bit closer and murmured sadly: "I suppose this is one way to get a beautiful woman in my arms."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Janet woke before her alarm even had a chance to go off. The sun was shinning in the window and it looked to be the start of a beautiful day. She reached first for the alarm, to turn it off before it could annoy her, then for the phone.
After three rings she got a groggy answer. "H'lo?"
"I had a dream last night."
"Janet?" Daniel mumbled. "What time is it?"
"6:30."
"And you decided to wake me up because...?"
"It's four and a half hours before our wedding, Daniel, you should be up."
"No, *you* should be up. I'm a guy; I don't have nearly as much to do this morning. In fact, all I have to do is get dressed."
"I was rather hoping you'd shower."
"Okay, fine, that too. The point is, it doesn't take me four and a half hours to get ready, and I was planning on getting a bit more sleep so I could be bright and alert when you walk down the aisle, since I didn't think you'd ever forgive me if I fell asleep during the wedding march."
"I don't remember you being this grumpy in the morning."
"Jack took me out last night."
"Oh, that can't be good."
"Don't worry, Sam threatened him with bodily harm if she found out he did anything you wouldn't approve of. But he did insist on drinking copious amounts of alcohol and staying out far later than I would have
liked."
"Well, you can go back to sleep after this."
"Which gets us back to the original question of why you called me at 6:30. I thought we weren't supposed to talk before the wedding."
"No, you're not supposed to *see* me before the wedding. Talking is fine. And the reason I called is because I had a dream last night."
"Right, you said that. If it's anything like the dream I had..."
"Do you remember the night the Kar first attacked?"
"No, that's not what my dream was about. It had more to do with you and very little clothing."
"Daniel," Janet sighed. She knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but she didn't need that right now. "I had a dream about that night. Back on the planet, in the first few months after the attack, I used to have nightmares every night."
"I know, I remember. I used to watch you at night wishing there was something I could do to make them go away." There was a touch of sadness in his voice.
She smiled at that. "You did, eventually. The point is in those nightmares I thought I had remembered every little detail in excruciating accuracy. I thought I'd relived every painful minute. But I was wrong. Last night I remembered something I never had before."
"Janet? Are you okay?" His voice was shaky and full of concern.
A faint smile crossed Janet's lips. "I'm fine, Daniel. Remembering this was actually a good thing."
"Are you going to tell me what the dream was about?"
"No."
There was a pause. "So you called me and woke me up to tell me you had a dream but *not* tell me what it was about?"
"Yes."
"Gee thanks, honey."
"I ... I guess I just wanted to tell you I love you," she explained. "And if I had had a doubt in my mind before this that we'd be alright, I don't anymore."
"That must have been some dream." Pause. "You had doubts?"
"I said 'if,' Daniel."
"What would you have had doubts about?"
"Daniel..."
"No, really, I want to know."
"The point is I *don't* have doubts. I know this is right, I know no matter what happens, you will be there for me, that I will always feel safe and loved, and that I will always love you."
"Well... ok then. The feeling's mutual." She could hear Daniel's smile across the phone lines. "Now, can I go back to sleep?"
"Yes. Goodnight, Daniel," she chuckled. Janet put the phone back on the receiver and got up to take a shower.
* * *
The day was bright and beautiful, almost more than they'd dared hope for. It was as though Fate was taking pity on them now, feeling bad for all she'd done. The early warmth of spring had caused most of the flowers to bloom, spreading a rainbow of color across Janet's backyard. White gossamer decorated the fence, flowerbeds, and the door and windows of the house. A lattice archway stood at the far end of the garden, blanketed in more gossamer and beautiful blooming wisteria, pale purple a stark contrast against the white.
It was a simple day. Their lives were full of excitement and mayhem enough, this day was meant to be peaceful. A Justice of the Peace stood facing Daniel and Janet under the arch, him in a dark suit with a blue shirt that brought out his eyes, and her in a pale green dress, mermaid cut with thin silver straps and a low back. They were surrounded by their friends, those who were like family to them, those who had never given up. Sam, Jack, General Hammond, Teal'c, Cassie and Jacob, all the way from the Tok'ra because he "wouldn't miss this for the world." Several other people from the base, a few friends and Janet's mother filled the garden as well, all silent in reverence.
A few simple words vowing love and devotion and sealed with a kiss.
The rest of the afternoon was filled with food, celebration, and a plethora of pictures to make Daniel happy. Plenty of stories and jokes at the expense of the couple were passed around and, thanks to the joy of the occasion, no one questioned the cover story concocted to explain the absence of the two doctors for almost a year. By the time evening was setting in, most of the guests took their leave, wishing the newlyweds all the best.
Finally all that remained were SG-1, Janet and Cassie. Somehow it felt right to Janet, having them all there together. They sat around in the living room as they had so many times before for Cassie's birthdays or after a hard mission, just enjoying each other's company and a sense of peace.
Jack raised his glass in a gesture towards the sleepy doctor nestled in Daniel's arms. "Guess we're gonna have to make you an honorary member of SG-1 now, doc."
Sam raised her glass, too. "I'll toast to that," she said, happily.
"No," Cassie interrupted and all eyes turned to her. "I have the perfect one. To the heroes: saving the planet and finding happiness, all in a day's work."
Everyone agreed wholeheartedly and Janet had to fight back tears. Daniel smiled and used the arm wrapped around her shoulders to hug her affectionately.
"To Daniel and Janet," Jack toasted.
"To coming home," Sam added.
Teal'c as stoic as ever, concluded, fittingly, "May the force be with you." With a bit of laughter, all six glasses clinked together in approval.
The End!
Copyright (c) Bryn 2003
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