[Moments of Adoration]

A very belated birthday ficlet for the lovely Tammy. Muchas smooches to MV and Karen.

"Your first kiss was an Amy?"

She laughed, a low, sweet sound smoothed by rum and brandy. "My best friend in sophomore year of high school. It was her fifteenth birthday, and we were in her parents' basement, playing one of those kissing games where you pick a name out of a hat and have to go into another room."

"'Seven Minutes in Heaven'," Daniel said, picking up his glass and hiding his smile behind his fourth, no, fifth drink of the evening.

"Right. So I drew her name. We went into the laundry room and made all these obscene slurping noises. I couldn't stop laughing. And in the middle of it, she kissed me."

He imagined wide eyes and long limbs and thought maybe five drinks was three too many. "What was it like?"

"Awkward," Sam said. "But sweet."

"Any tongue?"

"Daniel!"

"Hey, guys need to know these things."

Sam sighed and rolled her eyes. And said, "A little." She reached up and tweaked his chin when he grinned. "Pervert."

"Maybe a little." And then, "You know Jack would pay for that story."

"Enough to make up for what would happen if I told him about you and that grad student in the sarcophagus display at the British Museum?"

Daniel coughed and squirmed a little, and thought maybe five drinks was five too many. "So… uh, what happened with you and Amy?"

Chuckling her triumph, Sam said, "A week later she started going out with Mike Pryor, who I had an enormous crush on, and we never spoke again."

"That's… melodramatic."

"Yes, well, that's fifteen for you."

He huffed in agreement, glad he'd retained enough discretion to not mention his fifteenth birthday.

"Daniel?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

He looked down, surprised. "For what?"

"For making me get out of the mountain. I mean, lately, it's like..." She shifted onto her side, away from him. Pressed her cheek against the soft denim of his favorite jeans and tucked one hand under the crook of his knee. "I don't want to go to work tomorrow, Daniel."

The ragged edge in her voice made him uneasy. "Sam?"

"Never mind. I'm just… tired." Then she lifted her glass from the floor, swirling the slivers of ice and alcohol, pale and watered-down like her smile. "Too many of these."

Daniel ran his fingers through her hair, scratching gently along the curve of her skull. It wasn't quite a lie; she did look tired. All the time. But he knew it wasn't too little sleep, or too much to drink. It was the way Jack never met anyone's eyes for long anymore, or the apprehension that marred Teal'c's stoic stillness. Or the fear Daniel saw in the mirror some mornings, when he woke from troubled dreams and couldn't remember who he was.

It was never far enough away to pretend it wasn't there, even for this little while.

But all he said was, "Are you going to fall asleep on me?"

"Mmm, probably, if you keep doing that."

So Daniel did, slouching down against the cushions, pulling the blanket from the back and tucking it over her hip. He listened to the measured pace of her breath and tried to pretend anyway.