Saving Tantalus, by Sam Walker (PG)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Sam and Daniel friendship

Pairing: none
Categories: Sam and Daniel friendship, Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, episode related
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: unknown
Author's Website: Sam Walker at The Grove
Link: Saving Tantalus

Why This Must Be Read: This fun little story carries a hint of meta, but it's mostly about Sam understanding Daniel all too well and doing something to help him.

Saving Tantalus takes place sometime late in S3 or early in S4, when Sam wanders into Daniel's lab and finds him busy with… something. The revelation of just what Daniel is doing comes as no surprise: not only is it very Daniel-like, but it also makes sense, considering the natural frustration caused by his inability to disseminate the knowledge they possess to the general public. While Sam can't do anything about that particular problem, she does come up with a solution of sorts that leaves Daniel both moved and comforted. 

While I'm not sure if the hint of meta is deliberate, I personally find the idea a lot more entertaining than the suggestion given in Citizen Joe… probably because it's a lot easier to see Daniel as storyteller than Jack O'Neill!

 

"Hi Sam," Daniel said, glancing up from his work. He looked wide-awake and alert as usual. Daniel's sleep patterns made Janet get all pensive.

"You're disturbingly perky for two in the morning."

Daniel looked at her over the tops of his glasses. "Perky?" he said with all the supreme disdain of a linguist who could still claim fluency in twenty-three languages at two AM.

Sam grinned, smelling the freshly brewed coffee on the counter behind Daniel. "Cheerful. Chipper. Bright. Intelligent. Compos mentis. Not sleep deprived. Certainly not.... perky."

Daniel smiled and gestured gallantly towards his coffe maker. "Help yourself."

Sam grabbed a mostly clean mug from Daniel's stash and poured herself a cup, drained it, and poured another. Daniel raised his eyebrows. "Reactor problems?"

"How'd you guess?"

Daniel flicked an amused finger in the direction of the mug Sam was holding. "You only ever use that mug when you're really pissed."

Sam gave the mug a once-over. It had a picture of some sort of death mask on the side which, now that she thought about it, was extremely disturbing. She grimaced and handed the mug to Daniel, filling a new one for herself. He laughed.

"What's that?" Sam asked, gesturing in the direction of Daniel's hole-punching project.

"This?" Daniel punched the last stack of paper and fitted it neatly into the binder. "The Universe According to Daniel Jackson, Volume Six."

Sam laughed. "No, really, what is it?"

"The Universe According to Daniel Jackson, Volume Six," Daniel repeated patiently.

Sam blinked. "Volume Six?" she repeated cautiously. "That would imply that there are five others." She'd never noticed him writing books before. The stack of paper he had now was at least a good three hundred pages.

"Yup," Daniel said cheerfully, closing the binder and scribbling 'Chronicles VI' on the spine with black permanent marker. He glanced up and saw her surprised expression. "Come on." He tucked the binder under one arm and headed for the door. Sam gulped the last of her coffee and followed.