As soon as Sam and Daniel got to the SGC, he knew that things had not blown over.  Sam left for her office right away, leaving Daniel to fend for himself to get to his.

 

Every person he passed was whistling, humming or singing Don’t Stand so Close to Me.  Cramming his hands deep into his pockets, locking his jaw and keeping his eyes on the floor ahead of him, he made it to his office.  Once inside, he closed his door and breathed a sigh of relief.  That was until he saw a stack of things sitting on his desk.

 

Approaching it warily, his shoulders slumped.  There were several boxes of cherry flavored condoms.  A pair of fuzzy handcuffs, two get out of jail free cards, some scented massage oil and a pamphlet entitled, “So It’s Your First Time?”

 

Closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, he muttered to himself, “I can’t wait to get off planet!”

 

He opened his eyes and looked for a box to put all the crap in.  Just as he found one, there was a bang on his door.

 

“Enter at your own risk!” Daniel growled.

 

The door slammed opened and a very focused Jaffa strode in and up to the archeologist.  Stopping very close to Daniel, he towered over the young man menacingly.

 

With a deep, warning voice he spoke quietly, “DanielJackson, I have known you for some time now and consider you a close friend…” dropping his voice even lower, he leaned down into Daniel’s face.  “However, if anything happens to young Cassandra Fraiser that will dishonor her, I will take it as a personal insult and deal with you justly.”

 

Stepping back a pace, Teal’c continued to stare at the now very shaky Jackson.

 

“Is understanding achieved between us?”

 

With a gulp, Daniel nodded.  Then his brain kicked in.  Enough was enough!  Calling his honor into question was a step too far!

 

“What do you take me for, Teal’c?” he shot back hotly.  “Do you honestly think I would do anything to hurt Cassie?  Good god! what is with you people?”

 

Picking up the box of sex paraphernalia and launching it a crossed the room, he growled, “I am taking a good friend’s 17-year-old daughter to her prom as a favor and a kindness.  I have no intentions of hurting, degrading, deflowering, or anything else this twisted, sick base comes up with.  And you of all people,” he stepped towards the Jaffa, “should know that I would never, NEVER, dishonor any woman, no matter their age!”

 

With a small smile and a bow of his head, Teal’c accepted Daniel’s answer, “I expected nothing less, DanielJackson.  But as a father, I had to make sure your honor was well in place.  I am satisfied.”

 

“Oh, you're satisfied, huh?” the incensed archeologist continued to rage, “well, I guess I should be bursting with gratefulness then.  The great Jaffa warrior has deemed little ol’ me honorable enough to be trusted with a young woman’s reputation.”

 

With mock happiness, Daniel gave Teal’c a deep bow.  Then, with a southern slave accent he knew Teal’c wouldn’t get the reference of, he said, “Oh, Master Teal’c, she’ll be home by 11:00 on the dot.  She’ll be intact and will have had an incredible night.”  Dropping the performance he snarled, “With who, I don’t know, but you can be DAMN sure it’s not gonna to be ME!”

 

With that, Daniel stormed from the room.

 

***

 

“Janet,” Daniel growled and he entered her office without knocking, and closed the door, “we have to talk.”

 

Raising her eyebrow, the doctor looked at the irritated linguist, “Oh?  About what?”

 

He paced in front of her desk like a caged tiger.  The tension was radiating off him in waves.  Hands shaking as if he was trying to make a point, but no words were being uttered.

 

“Daniel!” Janet’s no nonsense voice halted him, “do I need to get a tranquilizer?”

 

Taking a deep and calming breath, he looked at her, “I can’t take Cassie to the prom.”

 

Janet’s face did not change in the least little bit, which unnerved Daniel.  He figured she would be furious.

 

“May I ask why, you can’t take my daughter to her prom that is in two days?”

 

Daniel didn’t miss the emphasis on when the prom was and knew it was her way of indicating, this had better be life or death or it will be death… yours.

 

“I, I… I just feel that maybe…” wiping a hand over his suddenly sweat soaked face, he tried to put the words together.  “I feel that I am too old for her and she needs to go with someone her own age.”

 

“Daniel…” Dr. Fraiser stood up and walked around her desk to him, “you’re taking my daughter to a high school prom… not marrying her.”

 

“I know, I know,” he sighed and sat down in a chair.  “I just can’t take any more of the hazing.  Thought I was done with crap like this.”

 

Janet laughed, “Oh, Daniel.”  She sat down next to him and took his hand in hers.  “Most of it is just in fun.  Everyone that has talked to me thinks it’s really sweet of you.  Half the women that have daughters said that they would let you take them to a dance.  You’re a great friend and an honorable man, Daniel.  And Cassie adores you.  This will all be over soon.”

 

She patted his hand as he nodded, still looking rather mutinous.

 

“Tell you what… if I hear any of the guys teasing you, I’ll give them the extra special treatment next time they’re in here.  Okay?”

 

Daniel laughed at that.  “Yeah!  That’ll be good.”

 

She was the only one on the base that could make even the most hard-nosed Marine cringe.  As he got up to leave, Janet gave him a quick hug.  When he reached the door, she called after him, “By the way, Daniel, I’ll also try and curb all the rumors that have been going around.”

 

Looking at her confused, he asked, “Huh?”

 

She smiled at him and explained, “That all of the women here would trust you with our daughters because you’re gay.”

 

Groaning, Daniel banged his head onto the door jamb, hard.

 

“DANIEL!” Janet yelled at him, “you’re not going to get out of this, so stop it.”

 

Utterly defeated, the archeologist hung his head and sulked away.  As he walked the hallways back to his office his mind was racing.  He didn’t really want to hurt Cassie by wimping out.  He was just going to have to suck it up and be a…

 

“Hey, Doc J.,” a Marine that had been with the program for only a few months said to him.  Throwing an arm around Daniel’s shoulders, the jarhead slapped a magazine into his chest, “Thought you might need some help gettin’ it to stay up on Saturday.  This should work!”

 

Daniel looked down at the porno and stopped walking.  With a sigh, he wasn’t sure if he felt like crying or hitting something.  The new Marines were always the hardest ones convince that he wasn’t just some fucktard to be messed with.

 

“Unless maybe you’d rather have this one…”

 

Tossing another magazine on top of the first one and laughing uproariously, the soldier saluted him with one finger and left.  His hysterical cackle echoed behind him.

 

The second porno mag was of the gay variety with round glasses drawn on every bottom guy.

 

A plan was coming to mind.  He wouldn’t break Cassie’s heart, but if he couldn’t make it back in time, well… she knew what kind of work they did.  Cramming the magazines into a trash can, Daniel headed up to the control room to have a chat with Airman Harriman.  It was a good thing that his grandfather left him a good chuck of money.

 

***

 

Daniel was the first one in the ’gate room, prepped and ready to go.  He was soooo ready to go.  Bouncing on the balls of his feet, he checked his watch for the fifth time.

 

When the blast doors opened, he looked around as his teammates strolled in.  Jack eyed him suspiciously.

 

“Daniel.”

 

“Jack.”

 

“You’re here early.”

 

“Departure time was 09:00, was it not?”

 

“Yes,” Jack replied, “And that means you get here at 09:10 usually.”

 

Daniel shrugged, “Just guess I’m running early today.”

 

Sam grinned at him while Teal’c merely gave him a nod.  Jack turned to General Hammond in the control room and twirled his finger in the air.

 

“Ready to go, General.  Dial it up, Walter.” O’Neill stated.

 

With an audible sigh of relief, Daniel watched as the wormhole established.  Not waiting for his C.O. to take the lead, he was practically running up the ramp.  With a look of amusement Jack and Sam chuckled and started after him.

 

***

 

It was evident shortly after arriving that this was not going to be a typical ‘meet & greet’.  The hostility of the natives notwithstanding, it was more the fact they were all escorted to a holding cell and stripped of their weapons.  No one told them why they were being incarcerated, only that they were to be put before a tribunal for their crimes against the ‘Gods’.

 

After a minor shouting match between O’Neill and one of the guards, they were left alone.

 

“This is just… peachy!” Jack fumed.  Turning to the others, he stared at them in turn.  “Ideas?”

 

Carter was first with her opinion, “I got nothin’, sir.”

 

“I too am at a loss for the reasons of this behavior,” Teal’c replied in his usual stoic manner.

 

“Really, sir,” Sam took up the thought, “when SG-2 and Daniel were here last week for the preliminary, everything was just fine.  They never even indicated a loyalty to any Goa’uld.  You don’t think that the NID found a way to screw this up, do you?”

 

“I can’t see that happening, Carter.  Ferretti said Daniel made friends with everyone that he talked to, and the NID don’t have access to a Stargate.”

 

Teal’c looked over to O’Neill and suggested, “Perhaps we are dealing with our android selves again.”

 

“Can’t be,” Carter debunked that thought immediately, “we made Harlan shut his ’gate down.”

 

“Doesn’t mean our restless doppelgangers didn’t reopen it,” O’Neill mentioned.

 

During this entire exchange, Jack started to notice the extreme lack of input from a particular linguist.  Then, as if a light bulb clicked above his head, he put two and two together.

 

“Daniel—” he said stepping over to him.

 

“Jack.”

 

“Any thoughts as to why we are in this particular situation?”

 

Without looking at him, Daniel shrugged and replied, “Ah… no, no I don’t.”

 

“Uh huh,” Jack began to pull lightly on Daniel’s jacket, giving him a stern look.

 

“Well, how’s about you talking to one of these ‘friends’ you made—” he paused, then yelled in the archeologist’s face. “AND GET US THE HELL OUTTA HERE!”

 

Daniel stepped back in shock at the tone his C.O. used on him.  He hadn’t heard Jack yell at him like that for quite some time.  Walking to the other end of the cell they occupied, he hung his head in apparent distress.

 

Sam gave O’Neill a scathing look.  “Why are you yelling at him?  He didn’t do anything.”

 

Jack held up one finger to her with a meaningful glance.  She went silent immediately, knowing that he must be on to something.  Turning to watch her teammate, she noticed him in the usual self-hug that he did when he was upset about something.

 

“Daniel?” she questioned him, “Do you know something about this?”

 

Turning around, but still not facing them, he shrugged.  With a very tight voice he mumbled, “Yeah.”

 

Jack blew a gasket.  “OH FOR CRYING OUTLOUD, DANIEL!” he bellowed.  “If you didn’t want to take Cassie to the prom, you shouldn’t have told her you would!”

 

Sam’s jaw dropped.  Teal’c even had a look of surprise on his face.

 

“You had us tossed in here so we couldn’t make it back in time for you to go?!” Carter asked, with venom dripping from each word.  “That’s low, Daniel.  I can’t believe you would let some idle, high school hazing drive you to this.  Do you want to crush Cassie’s heart?  She has talked of nothing else but the fact that you were man enough to go with her.  Janet told her all about the teasing you’ve had to endure and now she thinks you’re the most saint-like person in all the universe.”

 

Stepping up to him, Carter did something that she never thought she would do to Daniel.  With an utter look of disgust, she hauled off and slapped him.

 

Taken aback, Daniel’s eyes wide with shock, he stumbled backward a few paces.

 

“Saw that comin’” Jack muttered to Teal’c.

 

“Indeed.”

 

Waiting for a moment or two, to let what just happened sink in, Jack went over to his stunned friend and patted him on the shoulder.

 

“Can we get out of here now and proceed with our mission?”

 

Nodding morosely, Daniel called to one of the guards and told them the gig was up.  After all of their weapons were returned, they were led from the prison.  Hanging back, Jackson kept his head down and his mouth shut for the entire time they were there.  Jack masterfully negotiated a treaty with their hosts and all was right with the world.

 

Except for Sam.  She wouldn’t even look at him.  He knew he crossed the line with this attempt at getting out of the deal with Cassie.  Now he was going to have to not only make amends with a seventeen-year-old, but he would most likely have a lot of groveling to do with not only Sam but Janet as well.  For Daniel knew, that Sam would tell her what he did.