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what_worksFandom: Stargate: SG-1
Title: In The Stars
Author: Em
Rating: PG-13 for implied sex
Word Count: ~1440
Spoilers: set after the movie, before Season 1
Characters: Daniel/Sha're
Prompt: 034. Not Enough (Big Damn Table)
Summary: We're too far from Daniel's world for him to recognize the constellations, so I teach him the ones I know: the disc, to symbolize Ra in our night sky; the river, that lets us know when the dry season is approaching; the explorer, who I then name Daniel.
Dedication: for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sethoz, because Daniel/Sha're reminds me of her. (And because I owe her a fic from my 2005 Gift Fic Project.)
Notes: written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
stargatefic100.
Special thanks tojanedavitt for betaing duties.
Recced: recced atstargateficrec
034. Not Enough.
In The Stars
Daniel laughs into my dark hair, his breath at my throat. His arms, strong around me, draw me back against his chest.
He whispers against my neck, "This will do, won't it?"
He tugs me to the ground and I can barely breathe through my laughter. "The tent is right there."
He's already undressing us, pulling off our robes, baring our skin to the cool night sky. "It's so far away," Daniel says. "And look at the stars." He leans back on his haunches and stares up into the sky. The stars are reflected in his glasses; his eyes shine when he looks at me again.
I clutch his face and silence any further thoughts about the stars. He makes love to me for the first time on the sand just outside our tent. Afterwards we lie naked and stare up at the stars. We're too far from Daniel's world for him to recognize the constellations, so I teach him the ones I know: the disc, to symbolize Ra in our night sky; the river, that lets us know when the dry season is approaching; the explorer, who I then name Daniel.
He kisses me sweetly, both of us sated, and before I drift off to sleep, my head against his pale chest, he wraps us in his robe and softly promises, "You are first in my heart. Always."
* * *
He has been here for two months when we stop taking long walks at night. He tells me he is content to stay at home, in our tent, and just be in my presence. He pushes me for stories, forcing me to remember half-forgotten tales, and to question my friends, as often as possible, for all the details oral tradition will allow. Sometimes I sing.
He rarely speaks of his world, and when he does he tells me of the differences: the tall glass buildings, the mechanical transportation, the feeling of isolation. He rubs my belly and says, "It's not like having a family."
It surprises me when one night after dinner he pulls me to my feet and out the door. We walk out into the night, staying close to the tent. Daniel finds a few constellations I've taught him and makes up a few of his own.
"The Stargate," he jokes, pointing out five bright stars. "The Colonel," he says to another batch.
I see the arrangement of stars before he does and bite my lip. I'm not sure that I want him to see them—that I want to put this thought in his head. But I tell Daniel everything.
I point to the stars, making sure his line of sight is aligned with my fingers. I trace the symbol I've seen on the cartouche.
"Home," he whispers.
I lean against him heavily, my head resting on his shoulder. His arm presses against the small of my back, his fingers twitching at my hip.
"This is home, now," he says. He kisses my forehead. "You are home." He kisses me again.
I smile slightly, not quite believing. The stars know so much more than we do.
I point to the horizon. "The Explorer is setting."
He nods against me. "That's right, because he doesn't need to search any more."
* * *
Daniel sometimes forgets how to pronounce words in Abydonian and it causes some amusement with my brother. Skaara holds his fingers to his eyes the way he saw Colonel O'Neill imitate Daniel and speaks half sentences like a child. I quiet him, and bat him away, but I know he is only teasing. Skaara asks Daniel to teach him English before I've even considered it.
It's been long enough that thinking of his world no longer stings, but Daniel is hesitant to begin the lessons. When he forgets an entire sentence and angrily blurts the words in his language, he relents. Soon it becomes enjoyable, and he smiles softly at our progress.
We practice at meal times asking, "Please pass the water" and saying, "I'm full." Daniel teaches us about expressions and that his language is often metaphoric. Skaara wants to learn the words Colonel O'Neill spoke, "cool" and "dweeb," but Daniel insists that those words are slang and not as important. I read between the lines and understand that he just doesn't want to think about Colonel O'Neill.
"You're getting tanned," I tell him in English. I rub his arms, pushing back his robes. "All the way up." I slip into Abydonian again because I haven't learned the words. "Have you been outside naked?"
He laughs and says six words in English. "Naked," he tells me so I understand. "No."
"Then why are you turning brown all over?" I peek up the sleeve of his robe and kiss the inside of his elbow.
He tickles under my chin, tilting my head so that my eyes look up into his deep blue ones.
"Because someone keeps pulling me behind tents and walls to take pleasure with her husband."
I smirk, turn, and swing my hips as I walk away. "I wonder why a woman would do a thing such as that."
He grabs me around the waist, his hands settling over my hips. "You wonder, do you?" He presses his nose against my neck and I barely suppress a gasp.
Skaara calls from outside and enters, nearly tripping over himself. "Daniel! What we found! You have to see! It's cool!" He leaves the flap open, one thumb hitched behind him, another gesture he leaned from Colonel O'Neill.
I start to scold my brother, to tell him Daniel is busy, but Daniel tilts my head again and presses a soft kiss to my lips.
"It will keep," he says. "I'll be back soon."
Daniel slips out just ahead of Skaara, turning momentarily to flash me a smile as bright as the stars.
I feel cold, alone with the remains of the evening meal. I wasn't invited to join them, but I could. Something inside me keeps my feet planted, and I wonder if Daniel ever feels like an alien.
* * *
He startles me when he enters our tent. He's speaking quickly in his language, forgetting that I am still sometimes slow. He has dirt on his face, and I stand to brush it off. Daniel smiles at me, presses his warm lips against my own, and for a few seconds settles.
He has come in covered in dirt every night for the past few months, and I know it's nearing time. His skin is paling again; his toils are not outside. He's in the cartouche room, the pyramid, and he's still itching to explore.
My hands touch his shoulders, but he pulls away and starts speaking again, this time words I can understand.
"There are thousands, Sha're, thousands. Do you have any idea what that means?"
I don't, but I know that I don't have to reply.
"There could be Stargates just, just, just everywhere." He winds his wrists, gesturing to the ceiling and the stars beyond, to the other planets he dreams of, and the ones I have nightmares about.
"Sha're, just imagine the worlds that are out there. So many cultures." He longs for these worlds the way he once longed for me. He has to explore landscapes because my body is not enough of an enigma: it is too easily mapped; it is too easily charted; it is no longer a mystery.
"They don't know about the other places, do they? They only had the cartouche for Abydos. Jack won't know how to get to the other worlds." He balls his fists and strikes his thigh. "They don't know what they're missing."
I take his face in my hands and force his lips open with my tongue. His hands fumble at my shoulders, pushing as I press against him and continue kissing his skin as I drag him to me.
He finally breaks my hold, separating us, both of us panting.
"Sha're, what's the matter with you?"
His passion is for worlds, for the unexplored.
"You don't know what you're missing," I bite in English.
I go to bed angry. He leaves the tent, spending the night elsewhere. It is not the first time we have slept apart, but it is the first time I have wanted him gone.
In the morning he brings me a fistful of desert flowers and a poem he remembers from his old world. I kiss him, forgive him, and welcome him back to our bed. But now I know.
Daniel is still the explorer: his feet are on Abydos, but he is already in the stars.
~Comments and feedback are appreciated.
Title: In The Stars
Author: Em
Rating: PG-13 for implied sex
Word Count: ~1440
Spoilers: set after the movie, before Season 1
Characters: Daniel/Sha're
Prompt: 034. Not Enough (Big Damn Table)
Summary: We're too far from Daniel's world for him to recognize the constellations, so I teach him the ones I know: the disc, to symbolize Ra in our night sky; the river, that lets us know when the dry season is approaching; the explorer, who I then name Daniel.
Dedication: for
sethoz, because Daniel/Sha're reminds me of her. (And because I owe her a fic from my 2005 Gift Fic Project.)Notes: written for
stargatefic100. Special thanks to
janedavitt for betaing duties.Recced: recced at
stargateficrecIn The Stars
Daniel laughs into my dark hair, his breath at my throat. His arms, strong around me, draw me back against his chest.
He whispers against my neck, "This will do, won't it?"
He tugs me to the ground and I can barely breathe through my laughter. "The tent is right there."
He's already undressing us, pulling off our robes, baring our skin to the cool night sky. "It's so far away," Daniel says. "And look at the stars." He leans back on his haunches and stares up into the sky. The stars are reflected in his glasses; his eyes shine when he looks at me again.
I clutch his face and silence any further thoughts about the stars. He makes love to me for the first time on the sand just outside our tent. Afterwards we lie naked and stare up at the stars. We're too far from Daniel's world for him to recognize the constellations, so I teach him the ones I know: the disc, to symbolize Ra in our night sky; the river, that lets us know when the dry season is approaching; the explorer, who I then name Daniel.
He kisses me sweetly, both of us sated, and before I drift off to sleep, my head against his pale chest, he wraps us in his robe and softly promises, "You are first in my heart. Always."
He has been here for two months when we stop taking long walks at night. He tells me he is content to stay at home, in our tent, and just be in my presence. He pushes me for stories, forcing me to remember half-forgotten tales, and to question my friends, as often as possible, for all the details oral tradition will allow. Sometimes I sing.
He rarely speaks of his world, and when he does he tells me of the differences: the tall glass buildings, the mechanical transportation, the feeling of isolation. He rubs my belly and says, "It's not like having a family."
It surprises me when one night after dinner he pulls me to my feet and out the door. We walk out into the night, staying close to the tent. Daniel finds a few constellations I've taught him and makes up a few of his own.
"The Stargate," he jokes, pointing out five bright stars. "The Colonel," he says to another batch.
I see the arrangement of stars before he does and bite my lip. I'm not sure that I want him to see them—that I want to put this thought in his head. But I tell Daniel everything.
I point to the stars, making sure his line of sight is aligned with my fingers. I trace the symbol I've seen on the cartouche.
"Home," he whispers.
I lean against him heavily, my head resting on his shoulder. His arm presses against the small of my back, his fingers twitching at my hip.
"This is home, now," he says. He kisses my forehead. "You are home." He kisses me again.
I smile slightly, not quite believing. The stars know so much more than we do.
I point to the horizon. "The Explorer is setting."
He nods against me. "That's right, because he doesn't need to search any more."
Daniel sometimes forgets how to pronounce words in Abydonian and it causes some amusement with my brother. Skaara holds his fingers to his eyes the way he saw Colonel O'Neill imitate Daniel and speaks half sentences like a child. I quiet him, and bat him away, but I know he is only teasing. Skaara asks Daniel to teach him English before I've even considered it.
It's been long enough that thinking of his world no longer stings, but Daniel is hesitant to begin the lessons. When he forgets an entire sentence and angrily blurts the words in his language, he relents. Soon it becomes enjoyable, and he smiles softly at our progress.
We practice at meal times asking, "Please pass the water" and saying, "I'm full." Daniel teaches us about expressions and that his language is often metaphoric. Skaara wants to learn the words Colonel O'Neill spoke, "cool" and "dweeb," but Daniel insists that those words are slang and not as important. I read between the lines and understand that he just doesn't want to think about Colonel O'Neill.
"You're getting tanned," I tell him in English. I rub his arms, pushing back his robes. "All the way up." I slip into Abydonian again because I haven't learned the words. "Have you been outside naked?"
He laughs and says six words in English. "Naked," he tells me so I understand. "No."
"Then why are you turning brown all over?" I peek up the sleeve of his robe and kiss the inside of his elbow.
He tickles under my chin, tilting my head so that my eyes look up into his deep blue ones.
"Because someone keeps pulling me behind tents and walls to take pleasure with her husband."
I smirk, turn, and swing my hips as I walk away. "I wonder why a woman would do a thing such as that."
He grabs me around the waist, his hands settling over my hips. "You wonder, do you?" He presses his nose against my neck and I barely suppress a gasp.
Skaara calls from outside and enters, nearly tripping over himself. "Daniel! What we found! You have to see! It's cool!" He leaves the flap open, one thumb hitched behind him, another gesture he leaned from Colonel O'Neill.
I start to scold my brother, to tell him Daniel is busy, but Daniel tilts my head again and presses a soft kiss to my lips.
"It will keep," he says. "I'll be back soon."
Daniel slips out just ahead of Skaara, turning momentarily to flash me a smile as bright as the stars.
I feel cold, alone with the remains of the evening meal. I wasn't invited to join them, but I could. Something inside me keeps my feet planted, and I wonder if Daniel ever feels like an alien.
He startles me when he enters our tent. He's speaking quickly in his language, forgetting that I am still sometimes slow. He has dirt on his face, and I stand to brush it off. Daniel smiles at me, presses his warm lips against my own, and for a few seconds settles.
He has come in covered in dirt every night for the past few months, and I know it's nearing time. His skin is paling again; his toils are not outside. He's in the cartouche room, the pyramid, and he's still itching to explore.
My hands touch his shoulders, but he pulls away and starts speaking again, this time words I can understand.
"There are thousands, Sha're, thousands. Do you have any idea what that means?"
I don't, but I know that I don't have to reply.
"There could be Stargates just, just, just everywhere." He winds his wrists, gesturing to the ceiling and the stars beyond, to the other planets he dreams of, and the ones I have nightmares about.
"Sha're, just imagine the worlds that are out there. So many cultures." He longs for these worlds the way he once longed for me. He has to explore landscapes because my body is not enough of an enigma: it is too easily mapped; it is too easily charted; it is no longer a mystery.
"They don't know about the other places, do they? They only had the cartouche for Abydos. Jack won't know how to get to the other worlds." He balls his fists and strikes his thigh. "They don't know what they're missing."
I take his face in my hands and force his lips open with my tongue. His hands fumble at my shoulders, pushing as I press against him and continue kissing his skin as I drag him to me.
He finally breaks my hold, separating us, both of us panting.
"Sha're, what's the matter with you?"
His passion is for worlds, for the unexplored.
"You don't know what you're missing," I bite in English.
I go to bed angry. He leaves the tent, spending the night elsewhere. It is not the first time we have slept apart, but it is the first time I have wanted him gone.
In the morning he brings me a fistful of desert flowers and a poem he remembers from his old world. I kiss him, forgive him, and welcome him back to our bed. But now I know.
Daniel is still the explorer: his feet are on Abydos, but he is already in the stars.
~Comments and feedback are appreciated.
Tags:
no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 02:09 am (UTC)This was fabulous. : )
no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 10:17 pm (UTC)I think Daniel really loved her, but I don't think he was ever going to change for her. And let's face it, when does Daniel ever really settle down? I think that was always going to be the downfall of their relationship—with help from the goa'uld or not.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 03:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 11:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 05:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 10:23 pm (UTC)Actually "so sad" is a lovely compliment, too. ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 03:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 10:27 pm (UTC)sadnessbeauty.no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 04:40 pm (UTC)The voice is so dead on...and Daniel...how can you not love watching him in love...whether its his love for Shar'e or his passion for everything else...
no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 10:29 pm (UTC)I feel the same way. I love the way his passion takes over.
The voice is so dead on.
Thank you. I was very conscious that I was writing for Sha're—a character I've never written before. I'm glad she worked for you.
Thanks for commenting!
no subject
Date: 2006-04-03 09:51 pm (UTC)Daniel/Sha're? From you? I had to look twice at the pairing. ;)
Great! And so true of Daniel on Abydos.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-04 01:45 pm (UTC)LOL! I actually like Sha're. And you did notice that I slipped in several references to Jack. ;)
Besides, this is pretty much a gen fic and I like writing as close to canon as possible.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-11 07:25 am (UTC)My heart is actually breaking for Sha're in this one. She's going to lose Daniel to his first love, exploration. You just can't keep him tied down.
Very poignant indeed.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-11 12:37 pm (UTC)Thank you. I haven't written Sha're before and have been eager to for quite some time. Their relationship is very interesting because Daniel loved her, but just never enough. His curiosity was greater, I mean why else would he have dug up the 'gate? And all the while he's claiming to be searching for his wife, he keeps being distracted by all this "meaning of life stuff."
Daniel loved her, I believe that, but I don't think it would have lasted. She more like a fond memory than a gaping wound.
And he's still thinking of Jack even if he does love Sha're. Hee.
Oops. How did that slash sneak in there? ;)
I did make the Jack comments on purpose. I couldn't help it. *giggle* Actually, I think that given Daniel's ease once Jack came back for him in CotG that Daniel must have been thinking/talking about Jack. Plus Jack was a good representation for Earth given Sha're's experience.
My heart is actually breaking for Sha're in this one.
Good! Your heart should be breaking for Sha're. My work here is done. ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-12 10:04 pm (UTC)*flails* You've made me doubt The Ulimate True Love Of Daniel & Sha're - that's not fair!
This is so Daniel tho - he's so caught up in the discovery/strange new worlds, that he forgets what he does have.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-12 10:14 pm (UTC)Well, consider this fic the beginning. I'm not sure when I'll write that other one, but I have every intention of doing so at some point.
I've been waiting for you to read this. I know I gave this one to
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. And you don't have to doubt The Ultimate True Love, just know that love isn't always perfect. ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-13 12:15 pm (UTC)This is so the beginning of a Explorer Daniel story! *g* Did they have a MALP in the movie? Would it occur to a Daniel that has only been thru the Stargate once that he might go
smooshsplat on the other side?I really do hope that Sha're realises that yes, Daniel always has been and alway will be a explorer, and she'll have to share him, but that the reason he's been kinda ignoring her is because he just assumes she'll always be there becuase he can't actually imagine life without her. And how was that for a great excuse?! *g* Although, given that you're right - you don't have to doubt The Ultimate True Love, just know that love isn't always perfect. - I probably don't need an excuse... ;)
I've been waiting for you to read this.
I'm at skip 660 right now. Although if Boss (I didn't tell you I had a job, did I?! Temp, admining, nothing exciting.) keeps giving me work at the same rate as he has been, I can see me being caught up by 430pm (3hrs from now).
no subject
Date: 2006-04-18 04:26 pm (UTC)He wouldn't have anything to relay a signal back to him. I think he's just going to have to be brave and go for it. I've considered it, though. ;)
the reason he's been kinda ignoring her is because he just assumes she'll always be there becuase he can't actually imagine life without her
I don't totally agree with that. I think he's ignoring her because he assumes she'll always be there, but I think he can imagine life without her. I don't think there's anything—any person—in Daniel's life that he thinks isn't expendable. Daniel goes on, it's his curse.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-19 07:06 pm (UTC)D'oh, you're right about the signal. And obviously Daniel has considered the whole going splat thing, because they buried the gate so that anyone trying to get to Abydos would go splat.
I've considered it, though. ;)
I will not doubt you the nexct time. I should never have doubted you in the first place. *g*
I think he can imagine life without her. I don't think there's anything—any person—in Daniel's life that he thinks isn't expendable. Daniel goes on, it's his curse.
Hadn't thought of it like that, but you're right, again. ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-20 02:04 pm (UTC)Bringing up this stuff is good because sometimes I haven't thought about it. But this particular idea has been kicking around in the back of my head for over a year, so many particulars have been considered. ;)
Hadn't thought of it like that, but you're right, again. ;)
LOL. That's just because I think about Daniel too much.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-20 06:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-20 06:20 pm (UTC)Okay, then I think about Daniel way more than any normal person does. ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-17 04:02 pm (UTC)Oh, this is just perfect
[and I love that Daniel/Sha're make you think of me. Shiny.]
Peeking inside her head and it was all so right, the bittersweet longing, the fact that she knew she couldn't keep Daniel forever, couldn't tie him down to the ground... *pets shiny, angsty but oh so good fic*
no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 03:00 pm (UTC)You will always be tied in my head to Sha're since that conversation about "Sha're likes to share." ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-25 10:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 03:03 pm (UTC)it's so nice to see that someone else thinks the same way as you!
I know what you mean. I love it when I find a story using the same idea I've also written. It's also interesting to see how another author may have taken the story a slightly different way.
Could you link me to your piece? I'm interested in reading it.
no subject
Date: 2006-04-28 07:20 pm (UTC)Hope you like it, and thanks for being interested! :D
no subject
Date: 2006-07-28 10:07 am (UTC)Poor Sha're. *snuggles her*
I know how she must feel at the end, realizing that she'll never be Daniel's first and most important love. It is hard to be his second.
*snuggles you*
no subject
Date: 2006-07-28 10:45 am (UTC)This is my way of explaining how Daniel could get wrapped up in meaning of life stuff while his wife was a captive—he loved her, yeah, just not enough.
I write really depressing stuff.
(Thanks for reading this because I just noticed a syntax typo.)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-28 11:10 am (UTC)And yes, you do write really depressing stuff. Almost makes me want to not read you unless I am in the mood for depressing, which is not very often. But on the other hand you write so very well and I just have to read it. Even if I am a few months behind usually. ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-29 01:36 am (UTC)I haven't posted anything in over a month, so you should be able to catch up soon. Or sooner. I'll post a new one at the beginning of August, but I've only had time to write the one. *pouts* I miss writing.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-29 07:23 am (UTC)I am sure writing misses you, too. But it will still love you when you come back. It knows that you are busy at the moment and that you didn't stop loving it, but just don't have any time for it right now.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-13 05:47 pm (UTC)Awww, this makes me feel bad for Sha're. :( In a good way, though, because it's excellent... heh.
Also, be warned: I am pretty terrible at decent comments to fic most of the time. :P
no subject
Date: 2008-04-13 09:39 pm (UTC)(Any comment is a good comment!)
no subject
Date: 2011-05-29 02:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-29 05:33 pm (UTC)