Title:
Right Dress on the Wrong Girl
Author: Christi
Rating: PG
Timeline: During Ripple Effect
Category: Daniel/AU!Janet
*falls over in shock* Um, also has mentions of Janet/Teal’c,
because I’m the writer and I CAN. *goes power mad*
Disclaimer: I don’t own it, tragedy though that is.
Author’s Note: 
thekatebeyond,
caroly_214, and raisintorte
beta’d (because I am paranoid and require much
coddling), so they are wonderful. This was in the Revelations IV ‘zine, which is why it hasn’t been posted until now.
--
Daniel was kissing her.
That fact kept repeating over and over in Janet’s mind—the rest of her
cognitive functions seemed to be in a sudden kiss-induced paralysis.
One moment, she had been stewing by herself in the forgotten room they seemed
to have stored her in while the Sam of this universe (assisted by the Sams of several others) tried to figure out what was going
on.
The next, the door had opened, Daniel had walked in,
and without warning or preamble, kissed her.
Really, it was a nice kiss. Under other circumstances it could have been a
great kiss—if she could somehow manage to look past the fact that Daniel seemed
to be crying.
Janet couldn’t help but feel about fifteen different emotions at once, all of
which were so muddled that they could barely be separated from each
other—surprised, flattered, annoyed, shocked, and sad. So
very, very sad.
After all, she could be fairly positive that this kiss wasn’t meant for her. It
was meant for someone who looked like her and was almost her, but had
died when she had somehow managed to live. That still sort of freaked her out
(and wouldn’t Cassie laugh if she heard her distinguished doctor of a mother
using that phrase?), but then there was nothing about this entire alternate
reality experience that was comfortable.
In the end, when Daniel pulled away, empathy took over. Her hands on his face
seemed unbearably small, as if the hands that saved lives on a nearly daily
basis weren’t anywhere near strong enough for the task of mending this man’s
psyche. But still, she held them there, brushing away his tears.
Because there was really nothing else to say, she tried to smile. “Well, hello
to you, too, Daniel.”
Looking nearly as disturbed by his behavior as part of her was, Daniel’s
stricken eyes seemed locked onto her face. “God, Janet. I’m sorry. That
was…horribly unfair of me.”
That much was true, but she couldn’t really seem to muster up any righteous
indignation while faced with his obvious distress. Instead, she took a page
from General O’Neill’s book and cracked a joke. “Do you see me complaining?
It’s not every day a girl gets kissed like that, you know.”
A hint of embarrassment flushed his cheeks and Janet felt a flutter of
success—hopefully, this all could be resolved without too much damage being
done. “Still. I apologize. I suppose that I never
realized how much I had always wanted to do that—at least, not until….”
His voice trailed off, but Janet didn’t need him to finish the sentence.
Instead, she ran a hand through his hair, trying to soothe his wayward
emotions, studying this man who had lost so much—parents, a wife, and an
opportunity for something more. She could hardly fault him for seizing the one
thing that was, however momentarily, returned to him.
Drawing him closer and wrapping her arms around his waist, she tried to drain
out some of his grief. “At least it’s nice to know that I make an impression,”
she couldn’t help but remark. Luckily, he laughed at the comment and squeezed
her back just as tightly.
“There was never any doubt of that,” he assured her in typical Daniel
fashion. “We’ve missed you here.”
When the hug finally ended, she couldn’t help but fall back on her tried and
true habits, patching him up in a way that was part doctor, part mother, and
all friend. Gentle hands smoothed down the front of
his BDUs, plucked his glasses off of his nose and
cleaned them against a clean shirt sleeve, smoothed a thumb down his cheek. All
the while, he watched with red-rimmed eyes, as though if he gazed at her hard
enough, she’d stop looking and acting like the Janet he had known.
It was the one comfort she couldn’t offer him.
Finally finished fussing over him, she met his gaze once more. “Better?”
“A little,” he admitted, an almost affectionate tone lingering in his voice.
“Thank you.”
Because she was uncertain what he was thanking her for (or really, if he was
even thanking her at all), Janet just nodded and tried not to think about it
too much. She had learned over the years that dwelling on the daily oddities
that came with this job only got you a headache.
Still, she had to admit to some morbid curiosity about the whole thing—after
all, how often did one actually get to learn the details of their own death?
“So, was it bad?” she asked in spite of herself.
“Losing someone here is always bad,” Daniel acknowledged. “Losing you
was awful. I had nightmares for weeks, seeing you get hit with that blast over
and over. Sam was inconsolable—she held it together for Cassie and Jack held it
together for her, but…even Teal’c was a mess.”
Hearing that particular piece of news made her smile, and even though she still
felt the power of these people’s loss, hearing about it in detail made her
feel…loved. And homesick. “She was lucky to have all
of you,” she remarked, feeling her own good fortune more keenly than usual.
“No,” Daniel said, but he didn’t finish the platitude, instead asking the
rather uncomfortable question she had been trying to avoid. “I don’t suppose
you and my counterpart ever…?”
His eyebrows shot up at that, so comically that Janet couldn’t hide her
chuckle. “That unexpected?”
“I…uh…yeah. Didn’t see that coming at all.”
“Most people didn’t,” she assured him. “Even we were surprised at first.”
Daniel smiled and stepped back then, finally seeming back on even ground.
“Well, I’d better leave you alone, then. The last thing I need is to incur the
wrath of an alternate Teal’c.”
“Teal’c is a pussycat. It’s me you should
worry about,” she retorted.
When the door shut, Daniel was still chuckling. Janet, on the other hand, just
felt the need for a good, long nap.
As it turned out, dealing with the emotional fallout of your own death could be
quite exhausting.