Title: When Danny met Melly
Author: Danielle
Rating: G
Disclaimer: All characters from the television series ‘Stargate SG-1’ belong to Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions.I’m only borrowing them for my personal entertainment, and I promise I’ll put them back all nice and proper. I didn’t profit from writing this piece, though if someone wants to pay me huge wads of cash for the copyright, I won’t argue. All original characters and situations belong to me, but you can use them if you really want to - just mail me first. Also mail me first if you want to archive this somewhere else. Thank you kindly.
Summary: Daniel looks back...

When Danny Met Melly

Daniel pulled the lid of yet another box open and peered into it. Jack had finally talked him into going through all the boxes and stuff he'd stashed in the spare bedroom without going through them. Of course, he could've done this when he'd first moved into his apartment - but he'd had more important things on him mind at the time. Like going through the Stargate to other planets, for instance. But, Jack had offered to give him a hand, and since the team had been stood down for a week he'd finally run out of excuses.

He pulled out several leather-bound volumes of his father's diary, no doubt detailing several digs in exotic places, and placed them carefully on the floor. As soon as he'd been old enough, he'd pored over them and imagined what it was like to be a field archaeologist like his father and mother.

A white envelope poking out from between the pages of another book caught his attention and he carefully pulled it out. Opening the flap, he withdrew what appeared to be a birthday card.

'To Danyel, Have a happy berthday, Luv Melina,' it read, the childish handwriting fading. For a moment Daniel wracked his memory as to who this Melina person was. This was obviously from when he was a kid, but he'd moved around so much... Then a rememberance struck him. Melina, San Diego...

*****

"You're a meanie Hilton Mackey, and I don't like you!"

For the first time in five minutes, Daniel allowed himself to peek out between his fingers at his 'attackers'. Standing in front of the school bully was a tiny, pig-tailed girl - fists on her hips and a scowl on her face.

"Go away and play with your dollies 'Smelly Melly," the older boy taunted her, giving one of her pigtails a painful tweak. "This isn't none of your business."

Her glare grew angrier as she flicked her hair over her shoulder. "My brother said he'd pound you into a wall it you ever laid a finger on me again. You're in big trouble Hilton Mackey," she threatened him, her eyes literally blazing with fury.

Strangely enough, Hilton paled slightly. "You won't tell him anything," he said stubbornly. Whoever 'Smelly Melly's brother was, he obviously had the boy intimidated.

"Oh, won't I? What if you're wrong?" the girl crossed her arms over her chest and fixed the bully with an inquiring stare. Hilton scowled visciously at her, but she didn't flinch for a moment.

"Stay out of my way, baby, or you'll get into real trouble," he threatened her before cutting his losses and stalking away.

"You smell Hilton Mackey, and your mother dresses you funny!" she called after him. Blowing a raspberry in his direction, she turned to Danny and knelt down beside him. "Are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

The boy slowly lowered his hands and shook his head carefully, sliding his spectacles back up his nose with a finger. "I don't think so," he replied quietly, avoiding her eyes. Why had she intervened?

"Don't worry about Hilton, he picks on all the kids," she explained, "'cept me. My big brother Mark nearly threw him over a fence when he stole my lunch money. He wouldn't dare bully on me, or else." She grinned, showing-off a large gap where one of her front teeth should have been. That explained the slight whistling noise she made whenever she said words with 'S' in them. "And he won't bully on you anymore, now that you're my friend."

Danny's eyes widened. "He won't? I am?" he asked in surprise.

Melina shrugged. "Sure. Wanna cookie?"
"Um, okay."

She scrambled to her feet and pulled him up onto his own. Danny brushed himself down and picked up his lunchbox - which had been dropped at the very beginning of the scuffle - and followed her over to a tree. She must've dropped her stuff there when she'd seen Hilton picking on him. Scooping up her own lunchbox, she popped open the lid and grabbed two choc-chip cookies - one for each of them.

"You're new here," she stated as an opener, sliding along the smooth surface of the tree's trunk until she was sitting at it's base.

He nodded shyly. "We only moved here last week," he confirmed, nibbling on the biscuit.

"You'll like San Diego," she informed him matter-of-factly. "We've got the best zoo in the world here."

"My... Dad took me there last week," he said softly, ducking his head so that she wouldn't see that he was about to start crying.

"You okay?" she asked with as much concern as an eight-year-old could possibly muster.

Danny nodded wordlessly and sniffled. It still jarred to think of Dean and Mary as his parents. Not more than a year ago his own parents had been alive - but now they were gone and they weren't ever coming back. He'd had to watch helplessly as that big rock, part of an exhibit, had crushed them to death... Then he'd had hardly enough time to come to grips with their loss when he'd been handed over to the Connells as their foster child. He knew they loved him more than anything else, but they weren't his real parents.

"You're lucky to have a Dad," Melina murmured wistfully, rocketing him back to the present.

"You don't?" he asked curiously, all thoughts of his own problems vanishing for the moment.

She shook her head and munched on her cookie. "He died in a car accident when I was very small, so I don't remember him. But Mom says he's up in Heaven with all the angels and that he looks down on me from up there." She fixed him with a steady gaze. "You're Dad is dead too, isn't he?"

Danny blinked at the frankness of her observation. "Him and my Mom got killed last year. I've got foster parents now, but I call them Mom and Dad."

"It's just me, Mark and Mom at my place," she replied with a resigned shrug. "We look after each other. What's it like having foster parents?"

Too surprised to be mad at her open curiosity about his life, Danny answered bluntly. "It's okay, I guess. I mean, they're real nice and they give me lots of stuff-"

"But it's not the same," she finished sagely. For the second time in as many minutes, Danny was completely floored. "That's what my friend Jessie told me," she explained. "Her Dad and Mom died in a car accident like my Dad and she had to go live with her Aunt Bess. She said it was really neat, but she missed her parents heaps." She looked into space pensively. "Jessie moved to Florida last month. I miss her lots."

"I miss my friends in Philadelphia too," Danny said in commiseration. They fell silent.

The high-pitched ringing of the recess bell made them both jump in fright. Scooping up their things, they made their way towards the school building.

"I've got Miss Kiehne. Who've you got?" Melina asked as they walked into the cooler confines of the main hallway.

"Mr Waller." He shrugged non-committally. "He's alright so far."

"Hey, your class is across the hall from mine! We sometimes do stuff together." She grabbed his upper arm and pulled him close enough to whisper in his ear conspiratorially, "Whatever you do, don't make him mad. When he gets cranky he gives the class a really hard spelling test."

He nodded as she released him. "I'll remember. I'm not very good at spelling."

Her face brightened. "Hey, maybe I could help you! You know, give you lessons and stuff." Her grin was so infectious that Danny found himself smiling back.

"That'd be neat," he replied before turning towards the door to his classroom. "See you later!"

"Bye!" she called as she entered her own class.

As he stashed his lunchbox in his own private cubbyhole, Daniel couldn't help but wonder why Melina had even bothered to intervene with Hilton. No one else had ever done that before, not even his so-called friends in Philly. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and shrugged mentally. Who cared? He'd finally run across someone who liked him for him.

Even if she was a girl.

*****

"Hey Danny!" Jack's voice called from the entrance.

"In here Jack!" Daniel replied, not taking his eyes off the simple card. Now he remembered - she'd given him this for his ninth birthday. They'd gone out with his parents to an ice-cream parlour and then to the zoo. It'd been the best birthday he'd had for quite a while - although his parents had loved him to pieces, they'd had a tendency to be... absent-minded on occasion. He rummaged through the box a little further and quickly came across a box wrapped in brightly-coloured paper. He pulled away the wrapping and opened up the box. Even though he knew what it was, he slowly removed the tissue-wrapped contents. It was a magnifying glass - 'So you can see all the little things' she'd said. She'd been the only one who'd understood his fascination with archaeology. Daniel smiled indulgently, completely forgetting Jack - who was standing in the doorway looking at him curiously. He'd been so thrilled with the simple gift that he'd even kissed her right there in the parlour, causing them both great embarrassment. One year later she was gone - moved away to Texas when her mother remarried to a cattle-rancher. They'd tried to keep in touch, but even children had more important things to worry about that letter writing. He'd gradually forgotten about her, and no doubt she about him.

The sound of Jack's voice softly calling his name broke him out of his reverie. "Danny-boy?"

He shot his friend a half-annoyed, half-exasperated look. "I wish you wouldn't call me that," he said.

"You weren't exactly saying anything about it for the past five minutes." The older man sauntered into the room and crouched down beside him and the box. "It's about time you went through this lot. Find anything interesting?"

"Yeah." Daniel slowly re-wrapped the magnifying glass and slid it into it's box. "I found some stuff."

"Such as?" Jack prompted, slowly straightening up.

"Oh, just some things I'd forgotten about." Daniel got to his feet and brushed away the invisible dust from his jeans. "Want a beer?" he asked, gesturing for Jack to lead the way out of the room.

"Only if it's the real thing and not that concoction you make yourself," the colonel replied.

"Don't worry, I went shopping yesterday," he assured his friend. As he reached the doorway, he looked over his shoulder at his gift, which was sitting on top of the box.

She was right, he thought. It did help me see the little things.

"Hey Jack!" he called as he left the room. "How would you go about finding someone you hadn't seen since you were a kid?"