Chapter 5
Sam and Daniel reached the
front door of the club, and as Daniel pulled the door open, the strains of
partygoers having a good time filled the air.
He held the door open for Sam, who smiled as she walked inside. The atmosphere was quite lively, with the
B-52’s “Roam” playing at near top volume.
There was a handful of people seated at the bar, partaking in various
cocktails amid animated conversation.
There were also a handful of people dancing in the middle of the club,
and the rest were sitting at tables between the dance floor and the bar.
Sam looked over at Daniel and
giggled. The way the colored lights
reflected off his glasses and the surprised, open-mouthed stare upon his face
made him seem like a little boy. It was
a look she’d come to expect from him upon discovering some new artifact on
their missions. His awe and wonder,
coupled with an almost childlike innocence, was admittedly very endearing to
her, and she’d grown to adore it.
Daniel heard Sam giggle, and
he abruptly shut his mouth and blushed.
“I guess you’ve never been in
a place like this?” she grinned.
Daniel’s eyes wandered away
from Sam and toward the dance floor.
“Ah … yeah,” he finally
admitted as his blush brightened.
Sam giggled sympathetically,
and reached up to touch his arm.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t
either,” she smiled.
Daniel looked at her and his
brow wrinkled.
“You haven’t?” he asked quietly.
Sam shook her head.
Daniel raised his eyebrows
thoughtfully.
“Well, that makes me feel
better,” he sighed. He turned toward Sam
and gave her a quick little smile.
Sam looked around and
unconsciously began singing along softly to “Roam.” Daniel turned and gave her a curious look,
which made her turn beet red.
“Uh …sorry,” she said
awkwardly, clearing her throat. Daniel
grinned at her amusedly.
“Hey, you think I’m bad, wait
until you meet Meri,” she said defensively.
“She is a B-52’s fanatic.”
“Wow,” Daniel uttered,
raising his eyebrows.
Sam grinned and nodded.
“Just don’t ask them to play
‘Love Shack’,” she said facetiously.
Daniel chuckled softly,
pleasantly surprising Sam as she thought he seemed a bit uncomfortable from the
moment they walked into the place. She
recalled what Meredith looked like – tall, slender but with a big frame, brown
eyes and long, auburn hair – and scanned the club looking for her. There didn’t seem to be anyone there who fit
her description. Sam sighed and looked
down at her watch.
“Well, she’s just over five
minutes late,” she muttered. She turned
toward Daniel, who merely shrugged.
“So, should we grab a table
while we’re waiting for them?” he asked.
Sam nodded. “Yeah, might as well. Then we can order some drinks.”
Daniel nodded, and they made
their way to a corner booth in a more private area a bit closer to the
bar. Sam sat herself down on the
cushioned seat, and Daniel slid in next to her.
A small menu was stuck in a
holder between the salt and pepper shakers, and Daniel removed it.
“Huh,” he muttered
thoughtfully. “They do have food here.”
Sam looked at him curiously
and he handed the menu to her. She
looked it over and shrugged. It
consisted mostly of appetizers and burgers.
“Not much different from what
we had at O’Malley’s,” she remarked.
“Yeah,” Daniel nodded. “I’m glad we got something to eat over there
before we got here.”
Sam flipped the menu over to
find a list of drinks.
“Interesting drinks, though,”
she continued.
Daniel looked at her as an
amused grin grew on her face.
“This is just the list of
martinis,” she said. “’Squirrel Nut
Zipper…’”
Daniel raised an
eyebrow. “That name sounds familiar.”
“It should,” Sam
grinned. “It’s the name of a band –
Squirrel Nut Zippers. There’s um … ‘Van
Morrison’s Village Idiot’…”
“What?” Daniel sputtered,
chuckling a bit.
Sam giggled slightly and
pointed to the item on the menu. Daniel
shook his head and grinned.
“Where do they come up with
names like that?” he asked amusedly.
Sam shrugged and grinned
back.
“Actually, it sounds pretty
corny,” Daniel conceded. “Almost like
something Jack would come up with.”
“Oh, God, it does, doesn’t it?” Sam giggled.
“You don’t think he’s ever
been to this place, do you?” Daniel asked in a mock serious tone, eyes slightly
widened.
Sam tried to match his
expression, but failed as a wide grin grew on her face. She bowed her head slightly and giggled
again.
“And when we go up there to
order drinks, we’ll see a plaque with his picture on it … ‘special thanks to
Colonel Jack O’Neill, for offering his mixology terminology.’ Actually, let me
see that menu again. There must be a
‘Korny Kernel Jack Special’ or something to that effect,” he said playfully as
he reached for the menu.
“Damn it, Daniel, you keep
making me laugh. It’s not fair,” she
said between giggles.
She lifted her gaze to see
Daniel smiling in satisfaction, which made her laugh again.
“Oh – *hic* – no!” she
exclaimed as she started with a bout of the hiccups. “Now Meri will have something else to – *hic*
– lay into me about. She’ll probably
think I’m – *hic* – drunk already!”
“Aw, poor Sam,” Daniel cooed
as he patted her on the back. He turned
his head so that she would be able to see him grinning amusedly.
“I’m serious, *hic* - Daniel!”
she whined.
Daniel chuckled
sympathetically. “I’m sorry, Sam. Want me to get you something to drink?”
Sam nodded. “Yeah, just a – *hic* – iced tea will be
okay.”
Daniel nodded and stood
up.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
“Thanks,” she managed to get
out without hiccupping.
Sam absentmindedly turned her
head toward the dance floor as the Macarena tune started up, and an eager flock
of patrons rushed to the dance floor.
Sam rolled her eyes and giggled softly.
She remembered how they played that song for the shindig that was thrown
for their high school reunion, and how Meredith got excited and insisted on
showing Sam how to do the dance. Sam
never cared much for line dancing, and she felt somewhat awkward following
Meri’s orders in front of her fellow alumni.
She was glad Meri wasn’t here now, as she’d probably force Sam up out of
her seat and onto the dance floor…
“Sammie??”
Sam’s head shot up and she
turned around in the direction of the voice.
She looked up to her right to find her old friend standing next to a
nice-looking gentleman.
“Meri?” she asked as a smile
grew on her face. She edged up out of
the booth and made her way over to the woman.
“Sam!!” she exclaimed as she
reached forward and embraced Sam tightly … a little too tightly.
“Ah … Meri … ah … okay,” Sam
rasped out as she felt the bigger woman was about to crush her windpipe.
Meredith giggled and stood
back, allowing Sam to get a better look at her.
She looked pretty much the same as she had at the reunion, except her
straight auburn hair was a bit longer.
She was wearing a black, velvet dress that fell to just above her knee,
with a little matching jacket and black pumps.
A necklace with a silver “M” charm hung neatly below her neck, and her
finger was adorned with a dainty diamond engagement ring.
“Sammie, you look great! You
haven’t changed a bit since high school!” she exclaimed.
Sam raised an eyebrow
curiously. “Um, Meri … the reunion was
nine months ago …”
Meri stared at Sam blankly
before her eyes widened in realization.
“Oh! That’s right. What was I thinking? Geez!” she giggled
nervously.
Sam shrugged and grinned.
Meri turned to the man at her
side and beamed.
“Sam, I’d like you to meet my
fiancé, Jonathan Milani,” she said as she turned back to Sam.
Jon smiled and extended his
hand to Sam.
“Hi, nice to meet you,” he
said kindly.
“Likewise,” Sam said timidly,
smiling politely as she shook his hand.
As they withdrew hands, she
took a moment to get a good look at him.
He was a bit shorter than Meri, who, at six-foot-two was quite tall
herself … he was probably around six feet tall, about Daniel’s height. He had a nice tan, somewhat chiseled
features, hazel eyes and dark, wavy hair worn off his forehead and cut in a
fairly short style. He was rather
nice-looking, but definitely not as handsome as Daniel.
Where is Daniel?
Sam noticed Meri looking over
toward the dance floor and she groaned inwardly. The Macarena was still going strong.
“OhmyGawd, I love this
dance!!” she squealed. “Come on, Sammie,
if you don’t know how to do it, I’ll teach you!”
She grabbed Sam’s hand and
seemed ready to pull her onto the dance floor.
“Uh, Meri, I don’t –“
Daniel, help!
Almost as if he heard her
silent plea, Daniel suddenly appeared with two drinks. The relieved look on Sam’s face seemed to
emit a thousand thank-you’s. He set the drinks down on the table and made
his way back to Sam.
“I brought your iced tea,
Sam, honey. Sorry I took so long, there
was a line-up at the bar,” he said before he leaned over and gave her a kiss on
the cheek.
He put his arm around her,
and she took hold of his hand resting on her shoulder. She blushed slightly and beamed at him. She looked back at Meri, who seemed just a
bit surprised.
“Well, who do we have here?”
she asked, grinning.
“Meri, this is Doctor Daniel
Jackson, my … very good friend,” Sam
smiled.
Daniel shyly reached out and
shook Meredith’s hand.
“Nice to meet you,” he said
quietly, smiling politely.
“Hmm, Doctor, eh?” Meri said,
raising an eyebrow. “And what sorts of
illnesses do you treat?”
Sam rolled her eyes. Oh Lord, what a stupid comment, she
thought to herself.
“Not that kind of a doctor,”
Daniel chuckled nervously.
Meri looked at him
expectantly.
“I’m a PhD,” he
elaborated. “Like Sam.”
“Oh,” Meri nodded. “PhD in …?”
“Ah …
Archaeology. Actually, I have two PhD’s, in –“
“Fascinating,” Meri
interrupted.
Daniel furrowed his brow in
confusion as Meri and Jon sat themselves down at the
booth. Sam sat down next to Meri, and
Daniel slid in next to her.
“Well, I have to admit that I
was a little worried that you weren’t going to show up, Sam!” Meri said
teasingly.
Sam furrowed her brow in
confusion.
“You were?”
“Yeah! When we first got here, I kept looking around the
place but I didn’t see you. It’s a good
thing we checked out the other side of the bar. I was almost ready to ask someone if they’d
seen a woman about five-foot-nine, short, blonde hair …”
Sam looked at her awkwardly.
“…And a really big brain,”
she finished, giggling a bit.
Sam lowered her head and
blushed.
“Oh, come on, Meri,” she
said, grinning slightly.
“I can attest to that,”
Daniel smiled as he wrapped his arm around Sam and pulled her closer to him.
Sam looked up at him and
beamed.
“Aww,”
Meri said softly. Sam and Daniel both
blushed slightly as they noticed the wide grin on her face.
“Uh, so … I guess we have a
bit more catching up to do, Meri,” Sam finally said after a moment of awkward
silence.
Meri turned toward Jon and
smiled adoringly before turning back to Sam.
“Well, as I said in the
email, I met Jon at a business dinner,” she began.
Sam nodded.
Upon seeing Daniel’s curious
expression, Meri grinned.
“I told Sam that he was the
manager of the restaurant where we held the dinner. I was a bit early, he saw me sitting alone at
that big table, and he sat down and struck up a conversation with me,” she
smiled.
Daniel raised his eyebrows
thoughtfully.
“Oh. Well, that’s … ah … interesting,” he said
awkwardly.
For a moment, a flash of
anger shone through Jon’s eyes.
“Oh, and like your story is
any better?” he said in a challenging tone, gesturing toward Sam and Daniel.
“Um … excuse me?” Daniel said
quietly, brow wrinkled in confusion.
“Jon, stop it,” Meri said
sharply as she grabbed hold of his arm.
She turned to Sam and Daniel and looked at them apologetically.
“I’m sorry about him,” she
insisted.
Daniel shrugged.
“That’s okay, it’s just that
I didn’t mean it like that – “
“No, I’m sorry, man,” Jon
interrupted, shaking his head. “I’m not
usually like this. I’ve just been under
a lot of pressure lately.”
Sam and Daniel looked at him
curiously.
“Stupid business decision … I
hired a new cook, and it doesn’t seem to be working out,” he said, blushing a
bit.
“Oh,” Sam finally said. “Uh … sorry.”
Jon shrugged resignedly, and
Meri offered him a comforting pat on the shoulder. “It’s okay, sweetie,” she nearly whispered
before giving him a peck on the cheek.
Sam and Daniel turned toward
each other and grinned slightly.
“Sooo,” Meri began, turning
back to them. “How did you two meet?”
They looked at each other
once again, this time a bit uneasily.
“Come on, we want to hear all
the details!” Meri prodded.
“Uh …well –” Daniel and Sam
started in unison. They looked at each
other and started laughing nervously.
“Why don’t I start?” Sam said
once they had calmed down.
“Okay, you start,” Daniel
replied, holding one hand up.
“When I saw you at the
reunion, I was working for the Pentagon,” she began, addressing Meredith.
Meri nodded. Sam turned toward Jon.
“I’m a Captain in the Air
Force. I logged more than 100 hours
during the Gulf War.”
Jon nodded, seemingly
impressed.
“And what about the PhD?” he
broke in.
Sam furrowed her brow in
confusion.
“He said he’s a PhD like
you,” Jon clarified, gesturing toward Daniel.
“I have a PhD in
astrophysics,” Sam smiled.
Jon nodded once again.
“I specialize in deep space
radar telemetry, and that’s mostly what I’ve been doing at the Pentagon.”
She noticed both Jon and Meri
giving her bewildered looks, and she grinned.
“Interplanetary shift,
stellar drift … uh, it’s kind of complicated, I won’t go through it,” she
giggled slightly.
Meri rolled her eyes
heavenward and put her hand to her chest.
“Thank God,” she mouthed.
Sam shook her head and turned
as she felt Daniel give her a little squeeze.
“Don’t worry, Captain Doctor,
these plebeians can’t even begin to understand all the good work that you do,”
he said facetiously before giving her a kiss on the cheek.
Sam grinned and kissed him
back.
“Oh, we’re plebeians?” Meri
said in a mock challenging tone. “Well,
I don’t remember my ancient Greek history, but that doesn’t sound like a
compliment to me.”
“Actually, it’s ancient
He and Sam shared a laugh as
they watched Meri turn red in embarrassment.
“Anyway,” Sam continued once
they had calmed down. “I found out I was
being transferred to NORAD around the time of the reunion. About two months later, I made the move from
D.C. to
“NORAD,
huh?” Jon said thoughtfully.
“Isn’t that where they house all that suspicious intergalactic stuff … aliens
and all?”
He and Meri looked at Sam
conspiratorially.
“No, that’s Area 51,” Sam
grinned. “NORAD is North American
Aerospace Defense Command. We have no
aliens there.”
She and Daniel looked at each
other knowingly, as she had just told a little white lie.
“Ah, okay,” Jon nodded and
grinned. “Just didn’t know what you were
up to for a second there.”
“Nah, I just deal with boring
old astrophysics stuff, as Meri can tell you.”
“Oh, God, she was totally obsessed with that stuff back in high
school!” Meri said, rolling her eyes.
“We were just learning about the basics in Physics class - torques,
friction, centripetal force - and there she was, reading college textbooks
already!” She shook her head, dumbfounded.
“Well, that’s one more thing
we have in common,” Daniel whispered as he leaned in toward Sam. Sam smiled.
Meri scoffed. “I mean, think about it! No wonder you didn’t
have much of a social life! All you did was stay home with your nose in a
book.”
Daniel bristled. “Well, we all have our own favorite ways of
passing the time. There actually are people
who don’t think much of partying every night until they’re drunk as a skunk, or
being so boy- or girl-crazy that they end up with
hundreds of one-night stands and don’t have a lasting relationship,” he spat
out with a sarcastic smile on his face.
Meri stared at him,
dumbfounded.
“Daniel, please, it’s
okay. I’m used to this,” Sam said
quietly, taking hold of his arm and blushing madly.
Daniel turned to face
Sam. When he saw how she was blushing,
his expression turned apologetic. He
didn’t like the idea that Meri was picking on Sam so much, but he realized he
had embarrassed her, and he was coming off as a bit rude to her friend and her
friend’s fiancé. He was also still
smarting from Hathor’s visit a few weeks back. He blushed deeply.
“I … I’m sorry, I shouldn’t
have snapped like that. I’ve been under
a bit of stress the past few weeks myself,” he said regrettably.
Meri nodded slowly, still a
bit dumbfounded.
“It’s just that I don’t like
to hear anyone talk that way about Sam,” he continued. “I guess I’m a bit overprotective. But I love her, and it hurts me to see her
treated that way.”
A warm feeling washed over
Sam as she heard him say that he loved her.
Even though she knew he was just playing along with the “serious
relationship” façade, he had a damn good way of fooling everyone, including
her.
Meri averted her eyes and
smiled slightly.
“I can see that,” she said,
looking back up at them. “I think it’s
really sweet. I didn’t mean to insult
Sam or anything; I’ve always teased her like this. I didn’t think it really bothered her. I mean, she never really said so.”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t know what to say, Meri. We’ve been such good friends, and it did hurt
a bit, but I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.”
Meri looked at her
sadly. “I’m sorry, hon. If I had hurt you at all, why didn’t you say
anything?”
Sam shrugged again. “I don’t know. I guess I thought you’d get mad.”
“Well … I am mad that you
proved me wrong,” she said jokingly, gesturing to Sam and Daniel. “You managed to meet a really nice guy
there.”
Daniel’s cheeks flamed and he
averted his eyes. Meri giggled softly.
“So,” she said to
Daniel. “How did you meet her?”
“Oh, ah … well, I started out
working for the Pentagon myself as a consulting scientist. My expertise may be in archaeology and
linguistics, but I also have a Masters degree in geology, so I was able to sit
in on some of the briefings that Sam gave.
We became good friends for a couple of years, then she found out she was
being transferred to NORAD. We kept in
contact for a few weeks, but I really, really
missed her,” he said as he turned to Sam and smiled.
“I’ll bet,” Meri grinned.
“Oh, yeah, I didn’t know how
I’d be able to get along without her,” he said wryly. “As luck would have it, though, I found out I
had received an offer for a teaching position at
He trailed off and pulled Sam
close to him again.
“… Here we are,” he finished.
“Aw, I love hearing stories
like this,” Meri sighed.
Sam and Daniel both forced
smiles. Daniel looked down at Sam’s
glass and noticed she had finished her iced tea.
“Another iced tea, Captain
Doctor?” he asked her playfully.
Sam nodded.
“Thanks, Daniel,” she
smiled. He nodded, got up off the
cushion and made his way over to the bar.
“I mean it, Sammie, he’s a
really sweet guy,” Meri said as she leaned in toward Sam. “You’re so lucky.”
Sam felt her cheeks grow hot
and she smiled shyly at Meri.
“Thanks, Meri. And you’re very lucky, too,” she added,
gesturing toward Jon.
Meri looked at her fiancé and
smiled.
“Yeah, I know. Thanks.”
Sam smiled and nodded.
“Here we are,” Daniel
suddenly announced as he returned with another iced tea for Sam. He placed it down on the table and slipped
back into the booth.
Sam looked at him
expectantly.
“Unsweetened, just as you
like it, Captain Doctor,” he smiled before giving her a quick kiss on the lips.
Meri gave Sam a confused
look.
“What is this ‘Captain Doctor’
stuff about?” she asked with a crooked smile.
Daniel blushed slightly and
averted his eyes, leaving Sam to explain.
“Oh, uh … it’s Daniel’s pet
name for me.”
Now it was Sam’s turn to
blush.
Meri raised her eyebrows.
“When I met Daniel at the
Pentagon, he first knew me as a Captain.
After he attended one of my briefings, he learned that I also had a PhD
in astrophysics, so he asked me how he should address me, as Captain or Doctor. Technically he should have called me by my
rank, but he seemed to feel more comfortable with the Doctor title, so he asked
me ‘how about both?’”
Meri giggled softly.
“Whenever we were in public,
especially around other members of the military, he’d address me as Captain,
but after that he started saying ‘Captain Doctor’, so it sort of stuck, I
guess,” Sam grinned, still blushing.
“Awwww,
that’s cute!” Meri exclaimed.
Daniel drew up the corners of
his mouth tensely and rolled his eyes.
Sam saw him and giggled softly.
As Meri turned to face him, he forced a smile.
Meri giggled, then cut
herself off as the B-52’s “Love Shack” began to play.
“Oh, I love this song!!” she
squealed.
Sam and Daniel nearly jumped
in their seats in reaction to her scream.
“Come on, hon, let’s go
dance!” she said to her fiancé, who looked less than excited.
They edged up out of the
booth and were about to head over to the dance floor when Meri looked back at
Sam and Daniel, who decided to stay put.
“Coming, guys?” she asked.
Sam and Daniel looked at each
other for a moment.
“Oh, uh … no, no that’s
okay,” Daniel replied as Sam shook her head.
Meri looked at them
incredulously.
“Maybe for the next song,”
Sam added.
Meri shrugged and grabbed Jon’s arm. They headed for the dance floor, leaving a Sam and Daniel who were quite content to sip their iced tea for the time being.