For the fourth time now, Daniel tried to tie the bow into something that had at least a fleeting resemblance with a classical bow tie. Again the attempt failed. Frustrated, he almost growled at his reflection in the mirror. Everything but that bloody bow tie was perfect. The tuxedo, which he had rented, actually fitted, though he could have sworn it wouldn't when he had picked it up. His hair, for once, didn't hang into his face as it usually did, but was combed back in an orderly fashion, and the rings were safely tucked away in the right pocket of his pants.
If he only would manage to get that bow tie right. He should have taken one of those that you could snap on easily, but, no, he had to go for one that had to be tied, thinking it would be more appropriate for an event like this wedding.
Again he undid the crumbled ball that was supposed to go around his neck. One more attempt, and if that failed he would go without a tie!
Okay, left hand over right hand, the long end beneath the right hand...or was that beneath the left hand? Oh hell!
"Can I help you?" a teasing voice asked from the door. Jack O'Neill leaned against the door frame a wide smile on his face.
"Only if you can tie one of those stupid things," Daniel held out the result of his last attempt. Frustrated, he noticed that Jack's bow tie looked perfect. Surely he had one of those that didn't need to be tied.
Jack limped closer, set his cane aside for a moment and took the band out of Daniel's hand. It had been six weeks ago that Jack had broken his leg when there had been an accident with the Stargate. Luckily, he was recuperating fine and the cast had been taken off two days ago. Daniel couldn't put into words how glad he was that Jack would be okay again and that soon they would be back on exploring the Stargate system together. He and the others had gone out together with some of the other teams, but it hadn't been the same.
"Hold still," Jack said, as he placed the band around Daniel's neck. In no time at all he had tied a perfect bow tie.
"Wow, where did you learn that? I've never knew that this was part of a colonel's education." In admiration he fingered the result of Jack's work, careful not to undo it again. He checked himself in the mirror.
"Well, I did go through this marrying thing myself, remember. No, actually, my dad taught me. One of the few useful things I learned from him. And leave that thing alone, willya. You're going to undo it again." Playfully he slapped Daniel's hand away.
"Are you ready, you two?" Samantha Carter called from the door way. She wore an apricot colored dress with a wide skirt and a narrow waist that underlined her striking figure. "The ceremony will start any minute now."
The two men turned and for a moment neither of them managed to say a word. By now they were so much used seeing Sam as just one of the guys, a comrade they could rely on in any given situation. Seeing her attired as a sexy woman came almost as a surprise to them.
Jack was the first to recover. "You're looking good."
Daniel nodded and added, "Great actually." He grinned.
"Come on, guys, it's not that you've never seen me in a dress before. I won't even mention that time on P3x593." Sam put her hands on her hips and glowered at Daniel and Jack.
The two men looked at each other, then both shrugged simultaneously, deciding that sometimes discretion was the better part of valor. Together they left the dressing room and went out into the garden.
The garden behind Catherine Langford's house had been converted to a festival area. To the right hand side a large tent had been set up. After the ceremony the guests would move over to there for the lunch and the speeches and everything else. Right now, however, the guests were gathered in front of a small, white pavilion that was decorated with white and pink flowers. The priest who would perform the actually marriage ceremony was already there, talking with an elderly man.
While the three members of SG-1 walked over to the gathering, Daniel studied the people present. He didn't know that many of the guests but there were a few familiar faces. Barbara Shore and Gary Meyer, two people he had met when he had joined the Stargate project two years ago, stood close to General West, the man who had led the project back then. Daniel hoped he would get a chance to speak to them later on. Teal'c, a white hat covering the symbol on his forehead, stood beside General Hammond, who was talking with Dr. Fraiser.
Mr. Lamont, the man who had spoken with the priest, waved them now closer. Daniel had met him before, during the preparations for the wedding, and he knew that Lamont was an old friend of Catherine's. He was a likable man, with an easy smile. "It's almost time," he said, checking his wrist watch. "Do you have the rings?" he asked Daniel.
Daniel nodded.
"All right. I'll go and tell Catherine and Earnest. I'm so excited that she finally has found somebody to marry. We've all given up hope after all that time, thinking she would never find somebody who matched her high standards." He grinned one last time and then he walked back to the house to get the couple. He was the one who would be giving Catherine away, as her father had been dead for many years now.
As Daniel watched him go, he recalled an evening several months back. It hadn't been easy for Catherine and Earnest to get together. Saving Earnest after fifty years on a far away planet had almost been the easiest part...
**********
//Daniel parked the car in its usual slot in front of his apartment building and got out. After their last mission through the Stargate there were just three things he wanted: a shower, a cold beer and a bed. Exactly in that order.
Their trip to P3x723 would have been rather unremarkable, if it hadn't been for the fact that the planet on the other side of the 'Gate had been a spitting image of Abydos. Hot and try and a desert as far as the eye could see. They hadn't encountered any people and for that Daniel had been grateful. He didn't know how he would have handled another desert dwelling civilization. It had been hard enough being reminded with every breath he took and every sound he heard of the planet he considered more of a home than the planet he had been born on.
Another thing was that he had been reminded of the year he had giving himself to get back to Abydos with Sha're. Six months already had passed, and he was not closer to finding her than he had been when he left Abydos on his search. And even if he would ever find her - something that seemed to be less and less probable every day - he had no idea how he could free her of the Goa'uld that inhabited her body.
He was deep in thoughts as he walked up the flight of stairs that led to his apartment. So he didn't immediately notice that somebody was standing in the dim light just beside his door waiting for him. When Daniel saw the figure, his first instinctive reaction was to reach for his gun that during a mission never left his side. But now, of course, he was not armed and he was shocked himself by his reaction.
He considered himself, by nature, a peaceful man. That he had accepted to carry a gun on any mission through the 'Gate had two reasons. The first one was that there was always the chance that they might encounter some Goa'ulds on the other side of a Stargate, and he'd be damned if he would give any Goa'uld the chance to get away without telling him where Sha're was. The second one was that he didn't want to be a burden for the others in the team. When there was a fire fight he didn't want it that one of the team had to look after the scientist in the team. This would take him or her away from the front of the fight where they would be much more useful.
Now he began to wonder if he had gone a step too far in changing his ways.
"Earnest," he called out when he recognized the man. Again he felt almost embarrassed when he remembered his reaction from seconds before. Earnest was an old man and certainly no threat to anybody. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" he asked with a smile.
It had been three weeks ago that SGC had received several boxes with material that had been declassified by the Pentagon. Daniel had been intrigued when he found out that the material contained in these boxes were files and footage on experiments that had been conducted on the Stargate over 50 years ago. Even greater was his surprise when he had discovered that they had managed to open the 'gate in 1945 and one man had walked through.
With this material he had gone to Catherine Langford, the woman who had brought him to the Stargate project two years ago. Her father, Professor Langford, had been the one who had discovered the Stargate in Giza in 1928. When Daniel had talked with her, he had found out that her father had headed a research group during the war, as they somehow had suspected the 'Gate might be a weapon or could be used as one. Catherine's fiancee, Earnest Littlefield, had been part of the research team, and he had been the one who had walked through the gate to never come back. Only, Catherine's father, in an attempt to protect her, had never informed her that Earnest had gone through the gate. Instead he had told her that he had died in an explosion in the lab. The project had been closed down after that.
It had taken Catherine 40 years to restart the research on the Stargate; only to be fired from her own project when they finally had success. When Daniel had shown her the footage of Earnest going through the 'gate, she had been shocked.
They had gone to General Hammond and had persuaded him to authorize a mission for SG-1 to the location Earnest Littlefield had gone, and they also had managed to persuade him to let SG-1 take Catherine with them.
When they had arrived on the planet, Daniel hadn't been sure what he had expected to find. He had doubted very much that Earnest Littlefield would still be alive. It had been fifty years after all. But Dr. Littlefield was alive and he had shown them the most intriguing riddle Daniel had ever seen in his life. It had been a mysterious book -- though it had as much in common with a book as an angel had something in common with a caveman, they still called it one -- written by four alien races who had used to come to that planet to work together in peace a long time ago.
However, the book had been about to crash into the ocean below, as the castle where it and the stargate had been located was about to succumb to the storms that had battered at its walls for centuries, taking both with it. If Jack hadn't pulled him out of there, away from the book, he most likely would be down in that ocean as well.
Still, it had hurt deeply, when back home they tried to dial in to the stargate at P3X972 once more and it wouldn't engage. The proof that most likely it was gone forever. The things he could have learned...
"I would like to...talk." Ernest brought him back out of his reverie.
"Is something wrong with Catherine?" After their return Earnest had moved in with Catherine. It had seemed to be the best solution at that time.
The old physicist shook his head. He made a hesitant step towards the apartment's door.
"Uh, oh, sorry," Daniel apologized and fumbled for his keys. In seconds he unlocked the door and opened it with an inviting gesture.
Hmm, it didn't look like he would get the hoped for shower soon. But maybe something could be done about the beer.
"Do you want something to drink, a beer maybe?" Daniel asked his late night guest, while he showed him into the apartment.
"Do you have tea?" Earnest asked hesitatingly. And, as a sort of explanation, he added, "I'm not used to beer anymore. One bottle, and I would be asleep within five minutes."
Daniel grinned in memory of an incident from half a year ago. "When I got back from Abydos, I wasn't used to beer anymore myself. Jack said I would be a cheaper date than his wife."
"Jack O'Neill is married?"
"Used to be. They were divorced about a year back."
While they made small talk, Daniel filled the kettle with water and placed it on the stove.
"So, how is Catherine?" Daniel asked carefully. He still hadn't figured out why Earnest had come to his apartment in the middle of the night. But he had the vague feeling that it had to something with the strong-willed woman.
Again Earnest evaded Daniel's question. He had moved from the small alcove Daniel called his kitchen and was looking around in the apartment.
"Nice apartment," Earnest said, as he picked up an Etruscan vase that sat on one of the book shelves.
Daniel's apartment was not really large. And all the stuff he possessed didn't work to make it look bigger. When Daniel had returned from Abydos he had been surprised to find out that his stuff had still been in a storage room somewhere in the Cheyenne Mountain complex. He had collected a lot of the things in his studied all over the world over the course of many years and he had brought it with him when he joined the project. Thank god for slow bureaucracy, or else his stuff would have been gone a long time ago. However, sometimes he suspected that Jack O'Neill had something to do with that. After all Jack had known that Daniel was still alive and that one day he might come back.
With the pay-off for his work on the original project and the salary he now got on a regular basis, he had been able to afford an apartment in the small village close to the complex and a car to drive from one place to another. Not that he spent much time at his place, the search for Sha're and her brother and his work at the project took up too much of his time, but at least he had a place to call his own, even if it was not home. For that he needed the woman he loved.
"I don't spent much time here. The work...you know how it is, I guess!"
He indicated for Earnest to take a seat and moved over to the aquarium to check if the automatic feeder still had enough food left. He never could say how long a trip through the 'gate would take and he had made sure when he bought the fish, a feeder had been installed that could handle at least two weeks of his absence.
Then he sat down beside Earnest. If the old scientist wasn't willing to talk about Catherine, then Daniel wouldn't force him. Hopefully, sooner or later, Earnest would tell him why he had come. Daniel could only hope it would turn out to be sooner. He stifled a yawn. Boy, he was ready for bed.
"How are your papers coming along?" Officially, Earnest had died fifty years ago. Now, that he was back, there was a lot of paperwork to be handled. Beginning from the re-issuing of a birth certificate up to the fact that he didn't even have an ID card anymore.
But, as they officially couldn't tell anybody where Earnest had been the last fifty years, there had been problems. They couldn't go through official channels.
"Oh, they are coming along fine. The military and the government figured they owed me. As I promised not to tell where I've been all that time, they are very helpful in getting me all the papers I need. As if there would be somebody who would believe my story anyway."
Daniel had to grin at that remark. He knew exactly how Earnest felt. In the last six months he had seen things nobody in his right mind would believe for a second. It wasn't that he hadn't had any proof; he just couldn't show it. The military would kick him out of the Stargate project faster than he could blink and most likely kill him as well the moment they found out.
But as he never could risk being taken off the project, he stayed quiet. Because without the project and his friends from SG- 1, there would be no way for him to find Sha're. So he had given in to the rules of the military; it didn't necessary mean he had to like it.
"And, what do you think of all those new things that hadn't been around when you left?"
Now Earnest grinned. "I like them, actually. Some still need some getting used to, but for the most parts I really like them. Not in my wildest dreams I would have been able to come up with half of those things."
Daniel knew that Earnest must have been fairly adaptable. To survive, alone, for fifty years, on a far away planet, must have required some pretty amazing skills. Sometimes Abydos had been hard enough, the culture, everything, had been different. But Daniel had had help and he had coped.
But being alone for such a long time...fifty years! That's longer, much longer, than he had been around himself. He had no idea what Earnest had to go through to survive this.
At this moment the kettle on the stove whistled. Daniel got up and went to the kitchen to pour the water into the tea pot he had already prepared beforehand. He placed the pot and a matching cup on a Chinese tray that had been a present from the family he had stayed with in China several years back and carried the set back into the living room. Then he returned into the kitchen to get a beer for himself.
He popped the can open and took a sip. Back in the living room he plopped down on the couch.
For a few minutes neither one said a word. Earnest was obviously still not ready and Daniel didn't want to force him. The old scientist had come all the way to Daniel's apartment to talk, at least that's what he had said, and Daniel was sure he would talk when he was ready.
When the tea was done, Earnest poured himself a cup and leaned back the saucer with the cup balancing on his hand. He sighed deeply. Daniel looked up.
"Should I marry Catherine?" Earnest asked suddenly out of the blue.
Daniel nearly spilled his beer. "Why do you ask?"
Earnest sighed again. "I somehow think that I should do it, but I'm not sure."
Daniel placed his beer on the low table before him, afraid he might really spill something of it if he kept on holding it. Suddenly he was wide awake. "Why do you think, you should marry her? Not that I don't think that's a swell idea. But what's Catherine saying?"
"I haven't asked her."
"Do you want to ask her?" Daniel knew he was treading on dangerous grounds here.
"I don't know."
"Do you love her?" This was, after all, the most important question of all.
"I don't know," Earnest repeated. "I loved her fifty years ago. I loved her more than my life, and if I had had any idea of what would happen to me, I never would have gone. I loved her enough to take her with me, even if only in my mind. And, I think, I still love her."
"So, what's the problem," Daniel prodded further carefully.
"She...Catherine...she has changed. I don't really know her any more." He took a small sip of the tea, then he went on. "The Catherine I knew was the daughter of a dear friend of mine. Professor Langford had been my mentor for long years, and I owed him a lot. And Catherine, she was lovely, smart, all I could ever hope for in my life. There was never any doubt in my mind that I would marry her. If I only would have found the courage to ask her father for her hand before I left. Maybe I wouldn't have gone then."
For a moment his mind was miles away and fifty years in the past. He smiled at his memories.
"But this Catherine is different," Earnest continued. "She is still lovely and smart and a part of me still wants to marry her. But she has changed so much. She is so independent now, so strong. I don't think she needs me anymore. I'm an old man, and there is nothing I could offer her now. I feel so...useless."
"That is not true," Daniel blurred out. "There is much you can still offer her, all of us actually."
Earnest almost snored. "Daniel, take a long good look. I'm an old man. I've been out of touch with this world for fifty years now. I don't know how to operate half of the machines that are everywhere. They might be useful and...cool, but they are not what I'm used to."
"And what about all the things you've learned on the planet you've been? I hadn't nearly enough time to get anything done there. Alone that book, you must have notes and thoughts and everything." Daniel had to get up and he began to pace.
"All my notes and thoughts are in my diaries. Your Doctor Carter, Samantha, already has this computer model that is so much better than everything I could ever come up with. They don't need me anymore."
"Don't say that. I...I still have thousands of questions. How you managed to survive, for example. What you did all those years. You must have learned so much, things you can give to us, so we all can learn."
Earnest smiled a little. "Thank you, Daniel. You are a good man. But still, what would Catherine want of me? Not only has she changed, I have as well."
"But still she has waited for you all those years."
"She thought I was dead. Her father told her that."
"Still she never did marry. I think, deep down, somehow, she knew that you were still alive. She loved you, and I think, no I know, that she still loves you."
"You really think so?" Earnest asked quietly.
Daniel nodded. "You should have seen her when she found out that you didn't die in that accident as her father had told her, but that you had gone through the 'gate all those years back. She had to come with us, and nobody, no General West or Hammond or anybody would have been able to stop her. It was as if she knew that she would find you on the other side."
"She did?"
Daniel nodded again, this time more forceful. "Have you talked about all this to her, Earnest?"
Earnest cast his eyes down and Daniel knew he hadn't.
"You should talk to her. It's as much her concern, as it is yours. I can tell you that I think she still loves you, but she is the one who knows."
"Yes, you should talk to me, Earnest."
Daniel whirled around when he heard the voice coming from the stairs leading down to the living room. For a fleeting second he wondered if he had locked the door behind him when they had entered and Daniel realized that he had not the slightest clue if he had or not. One of the disadvantages of living for so long on another planet. On Abydos nobody every locked a door.
Earnest had risen from the couch, but now he stood there like a statue, starring at Catherine as if she was an apparition. The tea cup rested forgotten in his left hand.
"Catherine." Daniel was the first to recover from his surprise. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
The next moment he wanted to slap himself. He hadn't wanted to let it sound like an accusation.
But Catherine all but ignored him. "Earnest, why don't you want to talk to me?"
The old scientist slowly lowered the cup down to the table. "I was afraid, Catherine." His voice was barely louder than a whisper.
"Why?" Catherine stepped closer and took Earnest's hand. She looked him deeply into the eyes.
"What if you would have told me you wouldn't love me any longer? I'm an old man now, not the young man you have known that long ago." Finally he rose his eyes to meet Catherine's.
"Earnest, I'm not longer a young woman either. I have changed and you have changed and the world has changed as well. Though I thought you where dead, somehow I've never given up hope to find you again. I've met many men in my life, but every one of them had failed to live up to the standard I have set up in my mind for the man I was willing to love. And that standard was you."
"I've never given up on you, Catherine. I loved you and I still love you. But what can I give you? I have nothing."
Now Catherine smiled. "I have enough for both of us. All I want is you, that is more than enough for me. I still love you. It took me a moment to see it, but in the end this is what it comes down to."
Daniel cleared his throat to remind the two love birds that he was still here as well. "I really, really hate to interrupt this, but shouldn't you two talk about this in a little more private environment?"
The two looked up and an equally embarrassed smile played across both faces.
"I'm sorry, Daniel," Catherine apologized, though for a moment Daniel thought that she didn't look sorry at all. "We better leave you now. You're looking tired."
Well, Daniel was beyond being tired, if he was honest with himself. Suddenly he had to yawn, though he tried to stifle it behind a hand. "I'm fine," he protested, then he yawned again.
"We're leaving," Earnest said and took Catherine by the hand. "Thank you very much for your help. I hope you agree to be the best man at our wedding," he offered with a smile.
Catherine smiled as well. "And here I hoped he would be willing to give me away. Well, then I'll have to find somebody else. Good night, Daniel. And thank you."
With that they both left the apartment.
Suddenly alone, Daniel looked around. Had he been dreaming? But the tea tray and the cup on his table were proof he hadn't.
He really needed that shower and a bed.//
**********
Daniel had to smile in memory of that incident. Thinking back, he realized that his part hadn't been that big after all. All what had been needed was getting the two together in one room, willing to talk. Still, Earnest had insisted that Daniel was to be his best man, stating that after all he didn't know that many people. Besides, without Daniel they never would have found out that Earnest had gone through the gate such a long time ago.
Jack walked over where Teal'c, Dr. Fraiser and General Hammond stood and Sam went to join the other two maids-of-honor. She had been surprised at first when Catherine asked her to be a maid-of-honor, but had accepted readily. Now she was chatting with the other two young women, who, as far as Daniel had learned, were some distant relatives of Catherine.
The guests began to settle in their seats and Daniel tried to remember where he was supposed to stand. Suddenly he was nervous. He hoped he wouldn't do anything wrong. Just to be certain, he checked once more if the rings were indeed safely in his pocket.
Then Earnest showed up on his side and if Daniel had thought of himself as being nervous, Earnest looked more like being terrified. Daniel smiled encouraging, but all he got in return was a panicked expression on Earnest's face.
The first notes of 'Here Comes The Bride' drifted over from the small orchestra. The guests all rose from their seats and turned around to the back where Catherine and Lamont stood, ready to walk towards the altar.
Daniel felt how Earnest tensed up and he reached out to put a reassuring hand on Earnest's arm. The older man turned around, grinning thankfully for the support.
"It will be all right," Daniel whispered in Earnest's ear.
Slowly Catherine stepped forward. It seemed to Daniel that it took ages until she finally reached the altar. He didn't know who long it felt for Earnest, but he had the feeling, it was even longer for the old man than for him.
Daniel had to give Earnest a gentle shove, as he seemed to have forgotten what he was here for. Daniel smiled at Catherine, but she only seemed to have eyes for Earnest. A wordless question seemed to be written in her eye. Daniel couldn't see Earnest's face, but he hoped Catherine would find there what she sought.
Suddenly Catherine smiled and Daniel knew the answer she had sought had been given.
"We have gathered here today, to join this man and this woman..." the priest began and Daniel knew that everything would be all right.
The End