Daniel had left the base just before supper, and now he was getting dressed. He was just pulling on his costume boots when his doorbell rang. "Just a minute," he called out. He pulled on the last boot, grabbed his cloak, and walked to the front door. Opening it, he saw Sam standing there.
"Hi, Daniel. I just came over to see your costume."
Daniel let her in, and set the cloak on the back of a chair. He held out his arms and turned so she could see the whole effect.
"Wow. You look great, Daniel."
"Thanks, Sam. I hope Caitlin likes it."
"Daniel, I wanted to talk to you for a minute about Caitlin. Since you’ve been seeing her, you’ve had sparkles in your eyes, a bounce in your step, and you’ve been happier than I’ve seen you in a long time."
"Thanks, Sam. Caitlin is turning out to be a good friend. I can’t wait for you to meet her, and for her to meet you. You’ll really like her."
"If you like her, then I know I will like her. But do you think she could ever be more than a friend? It seems to me that you two have a lot in common, not to mention that you enjoy each other’s company. This last month it seems like whenever we came back from a mission or had free time for ourselves, you called Caitlin and spent as much time with her as you could. You even told me once that you were excited to spend time with her."
Daniel sighed. He’d been thinking a lot about this lately. "I know, Sam, but you know why I can’t love her. I can’t afford to lose anyone else like I lost Sha’re. Besides that, what if the Ori found out about her and captured her? What then?"
"Wouldn’t that be her decision to make, not yours?" Sam asked him.
"Right now it isn’t, because she doesn’t even know they exist."
Sam knew that she wasn’t going to get through to him right now, so she decided to change the subject. "So where is the party at?"
"Caitlin’s best friend and her husband put this on every year, so Caitlin tells me. So it’s at their house." Daniel glanced at his watch and noticed it was almost six. "Sorry, Sam, but I need to get going. I’m picking Caitlin up at six-fifteen. She wants to go early so I have a chance to meet her friends before the rest of the guests get there. So I’ll walk you out."
Daniel grabbed his cloak and tied it on around his neck. He walked into the kitchen, with Sam following him, and grabbed his regular coat and car keys. He and Sam walked out into his garage, and he opened the door.
"Daniel, I’m just glad she makes you happy."
"She does, Sam, and thanks. I’ll let you know how the party goes when I see you tomorrow."
"Okay. See you tomorrow." Sam walked out of the garage and left, and Daniel jumped into his jeep, closing the garage door as he left to pick up Caitlin.
After Caitlin was all dressed, she went into her bedroom carrying her cloak and looked in her jewelry box for the large knotwork brooch she wanted. She found it and put on her cloak, pinning the two sides together near her throat. She was finally ready for the party, but she took time to feed her cats. "Now you be good girls while Mommy’s gone," she told them. She grabbed her purse and put a pair of mittens in the outside pocket and, grabbing her keys, walked out and locked the door behind her. She walked down to the common room to wait for Daniel.
Caitlin was nervous, but she took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. She soon saw Daniel pull up into the parking lot and get out, so she carefully pulled the hood on her cloak up over her hairdo.
Daniel entered the common room, and he couldn’t believe his eyes at what he saw. She was absolutely stunning in her costume. He just stood there, his eyes filled with surprise and wonder.
