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Theories and Proofs

Theories: Chapter 3

Warnings: A tiny bit of angst. Oh, and possible mush! Beth said I write "cute" stuff and I do - I like mush!

Author's Notes: It's 5am, Schumacher just won the Grand Prix - git! (no offence intended) and my hands are so cold I can't feel my fingers! More 'notes' tomorrow, after I've re-read it (and most probab re-written it) so that it makes sense!

More author's notes: This is dedicated to everyone feeding me back, thank you! It's also dedicated to Beth, Mel, Cassie and all the SD rebs out there!! We *know* the truth! I just need to mention Mel and Jeanine again for their great nagging!

Disclaimer: I don't make any money period so I'm sure as hell not making any money from this. I'm just borrowing the characters (from a whole list of people: MGM, Gekko Productions, etc.etc. I'm surprised these characters don't have major identity crises!) for a short while and I'll return them as soon as I'm done. Well, except for Daniel. I might ask him to stick around for a while. Or tie him up so he can't leave!

Sam knocked on Daniel's door with a large grin spread over her face. She had laid awake for half the night after hearing the message from Daniel, trying to decide what to do - whether she should call him straight away, or go around to see him, or maybe leave him to act first. In the end, Sam had fallen asleep, still undecided.

That had changed as soon as she'd woken up though. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Sam hadn't rushed out of bed and into her morning routine, she'd just stayed in bed thinking. She tried to remember the last time she had woken up and not wanted Daniel there, the last time she'd woken up without reaching a hand out in search of him, but she couldn't. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd gone on downtime, or to the movies, or anywhere, without considering Daniel. He was in her every thought and she didn't even realise it. Until now. /Huh, until it was safe, more like!/

Exactly. Sam admitted it now because she knew Daniel felt the same. And if they both felt this way, then nothing should stop it, especially not her. Daniel had done the hard part - he'd made the first move. Now it was up to her to make sure that neither of them let anything stand between them for a moment longer.

So she stood outside Daniel's apartment, knocking on his door and waiting for him to answer.

And waiting.

And waiting.

Finally she got worried enough to use the spare key she had - a last resort because she had it incase of emergencies and didn't like using it otherwise. What she found inside threw her a bit.

Daniel was ...lying? No, more like collapsed, half-on his sofa. The first thing Sam noticed was how peaceful Daniel looked when he was sleeping. She found herself smiling again - he looked so misleadingly innocent. The smile faded as she took in the Jackdaniels. Daniel wasn't exactly known for his whiskey drinking so something must have been wrong. Sam's excitement was quickly turning into concern as she looked back at the way Daniel was hanging off of his sofa. /He passed out./

Then she realised something else.

Daniel had been drunk last night. Daniel had been drunk when he phoned her, drunk when he said that he was in love with her. Drunk. What did that mean?

Sam went to the kitchen to put the coffee-machine on. /What did it mean?/ Well it probably meant it was the truth. Daniel had a hard enough time lying when he was sober, to her anyway. Although, if that was the case then he'd definitely kept this well-hidden. /Contradicting evidence - great!/ Sam didn't know what else she could do but play it by ear. She wanted to find out the truth and she wasn't going to let a communication breakdown ruin their chance to be together. Determined in her task, Sam headed back to the lounge armed with a fresh cup of coffee and her heart.

"Daniel. Tau'ri calling Daniel!"

/Uh, Sam?/

"Come on Daniel, wake up" Sam was bent over near his head, gently shaking his shoulder. She crouched down to speak quietly into his ear.

"Daniel? Wakey wakey, rise and shine."

"Uh....?" Then Daniel had tried to roll over, causing him to drop of the sofa edge and hit the floor will a loud "oooof! OW!"

"Careful Daniel." Sam unconsciously stroked her fingers through his hair as he laid his back on the floor, looking up at her through rapidly blinking eyes.

"S..Sam? What happened?" Sam's heart sank at the question. He couldn't even remember being drunk, never mind phoning her.

"I think you drank a little too much, Daniel. Why don't you try sitting up - I've made you some coffee." Sam smiled slightly and helped Daniel sit up. He sat with his back leaning against the sofa as Sam handed him the coffee. He smiled in thanks.

They sat in an awkward silence, only punctuated with small groans from Daniel as he moved his head. They were met with concerned looks from Sam but Daniel just smiled, trying to be reassuring but pretty sure he just looked embarrassed. /How could I have gotten so drunk?/

The silence was annoying Sam. She just coudn't stand not knowing what was going on, and decided to jump in the deep end. "Daniel, what happened last night?"

Daniel immediately dropped his head. "I'm not entirely sure. Except I definitely drank. A lot."

"Which you never do! So why did you start drinking?" Sam was already worked up - a mixture of concern for Daniel's well being and fear of Daniel rejecting her putting her completely on edge.

"I'm not sure." Daniel let his eyes slide shut as his head began to hurt continuously. He put his hand on his forehead to try to ease the pain but it didn't work. Then he felt finger tips circling gently at his temples. Daniel's eyes flew open. "Sam?"

"Shhhh, don't talk." Sam said the words so softly that Daniel had to strain to hear them. He complied, and let his eyelids close slowly again.

Sam had managed to sit behind Daniel with a leg on either side of him. She couldn't stand seeing him in pain and hoped a massage would help.

After a while, Daniel's head fell back onto the sofa between Sam's knees, giving her a perfect view of that expressive face again. A slight grimace passed as he moved his head but Sam just deepened the massage slightly and soon a soft smile appeared in its place.

Quarter of an hour later and Daniel had stayed completely still. Sam thought he'd fallen asleep and had softened the massage until it was more like a caress. Sam couldn't help it - she knew she should stop but common sense had left her a while back. Besides, he was asleep so he wouldn't know.

"Sam?" Daniel's soft tone was half-question, half-contentment and Sam could hardly control her breathing. Then she gasped in silence and held her breath when Daniel once again opened his eyes. He looked straight into her eyes, almost as if he could see through them, and Sam just held the stare until his eyes widened suddenly. /Oh my God, he saw it!/ Sam broke the gaze, stopped her absent-minded caresses that her hands had continued through his hair and swiftly got up from the sofa.

"Sam?" Full question this time.

"Daniel." Another small smile. Maybe she could play dumb. "How are you feeling?" Daniel gave the question a bit of thought before answering.

"Better, thanks. How are you feeling? You look a bit....worked up."

"No, not at all. Just remembered that I had to run some errands." Okay that was a perfect cue to leave, but she still didn't have her answer. "Remember anything more about last night?" Sam was impressed by how casual she sounded.

There was a long pause as Daniel thought a bout the answer. "Not really. I keep thinking that I phoned someone, but who it was and what I said, I have no idea." Daniel watched Sam's face carefully as he said this, and was not disappointed.

He scrubbed his hands down his face as a distraction. "Actually, Sam, it wasn't you was it? I think I remember your machine."

Sam stiffened slightly. She felt some hope return. /Maybe he did remember./ "Err, I don't know. I vaguely remember my machine going off. What do you think you said?" /Please say it again. Please./

"Um, something about falling? Yeah, I think I fell over and I probably phoned you to, er, tell, you. I guess" Okay, so even Daniel thought that sounded lame. But he saw Sam stiffen even more, and her eyes brightened with unshed tears. Daniel cringed, but before he could do anything else, Sam was off.

"Yeah,that was it.Sorry I didn't pick up,dozing.Daniel,I gotta go.See you in work tomorrow okay?" And Sam was out the door before Daniel could even answer.

But Daniel wasn't giving up that easy.

He got up off the floor, ignoring the returning pain to his head, and ran for his door. He'd missed the elevator Sam was on and headed for the stairs. He slammed through the doors for ths stairs and stopped dead. Sam looked up at Daniel and stopped in the middle of the flight of steps she was climbing. They locked gazes again but this time Daniel moved towards her, never breaking the gaze. He kept descending the steps until he reached Sam and then turned sideways to face her, one foot on the step above the other. Sam had turned with him so that her back was against the wall of the stairwell and her feet were on the same steps as his. The gaze was still unbroken, and, if anything, was intensifying.

Daniel brought his hand up slowly, and swept his fingertips through Sam's short fringe before trailing the back of his curled fingers down her left cheek softly. He continued down her neck before straightening his fingers out and cupping his hand against the side of her neck, stroking the nape gently with his fingertips. Sam's only reactions were her eyes closing momentarily and her teeth biting her lips together nervously.

Sensing no resistance, Daniel took a step closer to Sam, who was now holding his gaze again. He leant forward, closer and closer still, until Sam could no longer focus on his eyes and instead shut hers in anticipation. She wasn't disappointed as she felt Daniel brush his lips softly against hers before he moved in again with more confidence. Sam lifted her hands to rest them at Daniel's waist while his right hand was still caressing her neck and his left was leaning against the wall to the side of Sam's head.

Daniel leaned against Sam, pressing her between himself and the wall at her back. The kiss was slow and gentle, deep and passionate, and seemed to last forever, but it wasn't long enough. All too soon for both their likings they broke apart, breathing heavily for oxygen. The gaze between them was back again, except this time it caused them both to smile. Daniel removed his left hand from the wall and broke the gaze to look down at where his hand took Sam's. He entwined their fingers and licked his lips nervously before looking up again with a question in his eyes. Sam understood, she always did, and showed that everything was definitely okay by putting her other hand over their entwined ones and giving Daniel a breath-taking smile. He smiled back before leading her up the stairs and back to his apartment.

When they reached Daniel's door and he tried to open it, he realised that he didn't have his keys on him. He turned to Sam but before he said anything she shook her head.

"I was coming back for them." Daniel laughed slightly and rested his head against his door.

"Have you got your cellphone on you?" Sam nodded. "Can you call Jack?"

"Sure." She let go of his hand and turned her attention to the phone as Daniel suddenly remembered something else.

"Wait, Sam" but it was too late, Jack had already picked up.

Daniel heard Sam ask if he could come and let Daniel back into his apartment before hanging up. Then she turned back to see a very worried-looking Daniel.

"Daniel, are you okay?"

"How are we going to explain this to Jack?" Daniel was pacing, never a good sign in Sam's experience.

"That I'm here? Do we need to explain it to the Colonel?"

"He might be a bit, um, upset." Daniel grimaced but Sam just looked on in disbelief.

"Upset? The Colonel? Why would he be upset?" Sam slid down Daniel's door until she was seated on the floor, leaning her back against it.

"He told me he had feelings for you Sam." Daniel stopped pacing and stood infront of Sam, lookng down towards her. A guilty look passed over her face which Daniel didn't miss. "Sam?"

"Daniel, sit down." She patted the space beside him and he sat down. Sam waited for him to settle. "A few weeks back, after we came back from that Goa'uld Pleasure Palace, the Colonel told me that he thought that you..... had feelings for me. I dismissed it but he kept on, saying that one day something would happen to reveal it. I dismissed it again so he left, saying he'd prove it. I guess he thought that if he told you he had feelings for me you'd react in a way that... proved he was right."

Daniel took a few minutes to digest all of this, then he asked the main question on his mind.

"Why?" He saw the confused expression on Sam's face and tried again. "I mean, why like this? Why didn't he just come out and say it? Or why didn't you?"

"Well, why didn't you Daniel?" Sam was a little annoyed at the reaction, but she had to admit that there must have been easier ways to do this. Giving an apologetic smile, which Daniel returned, she continued. "It's basic science Daniel. Theories and proofs. The Colonel had this theory that you liked me and set about proving it by testing your reaction to, um...."

"A rival?" Sam just nodded. "And I reacted by getting really drunk and phoning you to confess my love" This time Sam's eyes widened.

"You remember that?"

"I remembered while you were giving me that massage. Then when I opened my eyes I saw something in yours that I thought, against my common sense, might have been....love."

"So why didn't you say anything then?"

Daniel raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Theory and proof. I had a theory that you felt something....more, and set about making you prove it. I didn't know how you really felt but you gave it away when I brought up the phone message. Speaking of which, you knew how I felt when you heard that. Why didn't you just say something this morning?" Sam had an annoyed expression again.

"Well, I was all set too. Until I walked in to find you unconscious after a night drinking Jackdaniels. What was I supposed to think? You may not have really felt that way, or you may not have wanted me to know for....some_reason, or you may have been mixing things up in your drunkenness - all of a sudden I wasn't sure how you felt either and I, I was scared."

"Of me?" Daniel was concerned. He realised now how much trouble his actions the night before had caused. And now Sam was scared of him?

"Not of you, of being rejected by you." Sam was blinking back tears as she looked into Daniel's eyes, trying to show just how serious she was. "I'm in love with you Daniel, and I thought you felt the same when I came here this morning. But when I saw you and the half-empty bottle I wasn't so sure how you felt. So I had to make sure, I....."

Sam didn't get to finish what she was going to say, Daniel had slipped his hand behind her back and pulled her closer to him before covering her mouth with his. The kiss was every bit as promising as the one they'd shared on the stairs.

When Daniel pulled away he watched Sam as she slowly opened her eyes and focused on him.

"Theory and proof?"

"Huh?" Realisation hit Sam, and she nodded with a smile. "Yeah."

Jack turned up at Daniel's as soon as he could. As he rounded the corner before Daniel's apartment he stopped at what he saw.

Daniel was sitting against his door, knees bent in front of him. He had his arm wrapped around Sam's back, his hand resting on her waist, as she was curled up against his side, arms wrapped around his waist, head resting on his shoulders. They both seemed to be asleep.

Jack smiled a large grin. "It's about time!" he whispered. He was startled when he got a response.

"I know. Thank you, Jack." Daniel whispered back. He opened his eyes and smiled at Jack as the Colonel crouched down in front of the cuddling pair.

"Ah, it was just science, Daniel. Theories and proofs." Then Jack took Daniel's hand and placed the keys in them before walking back towards the elevator.

Daniel looked shocked as he watched Jack leaving. Then he smiled to himself and whispered again "theories and proofs" before turning to look at the blonde scientist in his arms. He kissed the top of her head gently and then closed his eyes. They could go back inside later, right now he was fine where he was. He was with Sam.

End.

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