Just Another Day
Rated: PG (mild language)
Category: Sam Angst, Sam/Jack/Daniel/Teal'c Friendship (TEAM), mild S/J
Season: Ten
Spoilers: Unending
Summary: Just Another Day On Board The Odyssey…Or Is It?
Note: I realize that Daniel and Vala are together by the time the cello is made, but for the purposes of this story, they are not yet cohabitating. That would have taken a while, thank you.
---
She tried to tell herself it was just another day.
Just another day trapped in a place where days ran together and most of the time such trivial things like the date were just that…trivial. They were trivial because every day was like the last.
Every day was the same.
Roughly every twenty-four hours, Samantha Carter got up, showered, dressed, and then ate breakfast alone, long before any of her shipmates were awake.
Then she headed to the lab.
She spent hours in that lab, every day. Trying to find some way to get them out of this. Trying to figure out some way for them to get home. Every day she ate a little lunch in the lab while working. She was always working; always trying to make the impossible happen.
And every day she failed.
Every night she headed to the mess hall to eat with her teammates and General Landry with a sense of misery about her. She often enjoyed their company, and she sometimes almost forgot their situation, but she never quite let loose of the sense that this was somehow her fault. If only she could find some last variable to tweak, she thought she could free them from their self-imposed prison.
After dinner, every night, Sam worked out in the gym, alone. Then she showered and headed to bed.
Every day the same.
Until today.
Sam had noticed the date for the first time in a long time three days ago, and she desperately wished she hadn't. Normally, here on board the Odyssey, she didn't take note of anything like that. Being trapped in a time dilation field will do that to you. Sam thought so much about time on a galactic scale these days that thinking about the calendar of her home world seemed silly. Sure, the six souls on board tried to keep up with holidays and such in an attempt to lift morale, but a random day in what would be fall on Earth didn't even blip the radar for most on board. Sam had only noticed it coincidentally, as she glanced at her long unworn watch on the bedside table while dressing one morning. As a digital 17-10-07 burned itself into her brain, Sam had inhaled sharply, and her mind began a internal countdown that would not be turned off, no matter how hard she tried to silence it. The next morning, it reminded her it was the eighteenth. The next day, she knew it was the nineteenth. And now…now the day had arrived.
October 20.
His birthday.
Sam woke at her usual time, and as her mind insistently intruded into her slumber, she tried her best to silence it, but it would not quiet. 'It's his birthday,' it said. 'He's fifty-five today, you know,' it taunted. As she gave into her mind's wanderings, Sam began to consciously and sadistically meander down the path of mental musings. 'Wonder what he's doing today? Is he celebrating?' These thoughts and others came and went like scents in a breeze for a few minutes while Sam fought a losing battle against waking.
When sleep fully fled from her mind, Sam realized that, on the outside, in the 'real world', she had no idea what day it was, or even if any days had passed at all since the Odyssey had become her personal hell, but that didn't matter. In her sphere of reality, which is the only one she could base any assumptions on without going crazy, it was his birthday...and she was alone. Her usual sense of melancholy and frustration was joined by a sweet sadness.
Sam knew there would be no celebration here. She knew she was the only one who would mark the passage of this day in any special way, and she knew she would do so in private, like she did everything else. Vala, Mitchell, and General Landry hadn't been around long enough to know the day's significance. Daniel couldn't remember where he left his shoes half the time, so Sam didn't think he would notice, and Teal'c, while he had come a long way in appreciating the ways of the Tau'ri in his ten plus years with them, still didn't understand noting the day of one's birth, so he wouldn't understand why today mattered.
But for Sam, it was his birthday.
Colonel Samantha Carter had long ago given up on languishing in luxurious showers, as her job dictated it, but as steaming water cascaded over her shoulders today, she couldn't help but linger. The relaxing heat helped her forget her sadness, ever so briefly, and she soaked it up until her fingers turned to raisins and her skin was the color of lobster.
The shower took so long she was much later than usual in her search for breakfast, so she decided to skip it. She didn't want to run into anyone in the mess. As much as she sometimes enjoyed the company of her shipmates, Sam really was a private person. She had no complaints about her seemingly lonely situation most of the time, and today, more than usual, Sam wanted only her own company.
So she headed straight to her lab, where she was only rarely interrupted, and then only for things related to 'work', as it were.
As she rounded the corner of the lab's doorway today, though, Sam's brow furrowed in puzzlement. Something was different. Right in the center of her work area, several yellowed pieces of parchment were laid out in a small fan of paper.
'What the hell?' thought Sam. 'I know that's not mine.'
As she neared the bench, Sam's eyes went wide when she finally saw what the papers were.
Music.
Several pages of sheet music, meant to look very old.
As Sam picked them up, almost reverently, a note fell from the pages. Sam retrieved it quickly and read it.
He'd be proud that you're doing at least one thing for yourself, you know. I thought this piece was appropriate. I know days like today are hard. You know where to find me if you want company. -D
Sam's eyes filled with unexpected and uncontrolled tears as she set the note down and clapped both hands over her mouth. No liquid spilled over her eyelids, but a smile of true joy spread over her face as she closed her eyes briefly. How could she have thought Daniel would forget? This was so like him. A gesture of support, an offer of help, but with no pressure and no strings attached.
When Sam opened her eyes, the tears had cleared, and she read the title on the first page of music. Her smile didn't fade, but it took on a sad quality.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Eternal Vow, by Tan Dun
God, she missed him.
She didn't often think about him. She intentionally stayed too busy to bother with it. But, in quiet moments, in those places between asleep and awake, she missed him terribly. And when she had a moment of weakness and the emptiness became too great to contain, she played.
The haunting, deep voiced notes of the cello fit her mood perfectly then.
The music soothed her as few things could.
It was a side effect she hadn't been expecting. Sam had replicated the instrument on a whim one day, to test her abilities with the new replicator technology, and because she really had always wanted to learn to play something so beautiful. It had been a perfect test for the equipment, and it had given her an outlet to keep her sane in her virtual prison.
The calming effect came later, as she did actually learn to play, but it was powerful.
When the echoing strains of her cello resounded through her lab or her quarters, Sam could nearly feel his presence in the notes, and she often felt like a warm spiritual blanket had been draped over her shoulders in those moments.
Sam was so lost in thought as she looked at the music that she never heard the sound of a body entering the lab and leaning on the doorframe. So, when a masculine voice softly spoke, it startled her. She jumped and stopped breathing for a half second.
"You know, he'd want you to take the occasional day off, Sam."
When Sam caught her breath, she turned to stare wide eyed at Daniel behind her in the doorway.
"Daniel! Jesus! You scared me!"
"Sorry."
"What are you doing here? I thought I was supposed to find you if I wanted company?"
Daniel shrugged. "Sorry again. I just realized that I'd be in big trouble if I didn't insist you take a break and Jack found out about it later. Besides…I miss him, too, Sam."
Two sets of blue eyes found each other then, and held contact for a long minute. Finally, Sam nodded slowly. She'd been so caught up in her own world that she'd forgotten how much Daniel would be hurting today, too. Daniel's whispered admission convinced her that the archeologist was right. Maybe a day off was just what they both needed, especially today.
"I know. Come on, let's get out of here."
"Sam?"
"You said I should take a day off. I'm agreeing with you. Let's go somewhere other than here."
"Where?"
"Anywhere."
"Ok."
Anywhere ended up being everywhere. Daniel and Sam walked together over nearly every inch of the ship, talking easily and reminiscing over the decade they'd spent together and the adventures they'd had. They laughed and they nearly cried. They were quiet and they were loud. Sometimes they would stop for a while in a lounge area and rest, but mostly they walked as hours passed unnoticed.
In a serious moment, Sam got quiet suddenly. Daniel noticed.
"What?"
"Just…thanks, Daniel."
"For what?"
"For remembering…and for the music. It's perfect."
"Not a problem. You just learn to play it, ok?"
"Deal."
The two friends fell silent then, and they continued to walk in companionable silence until they neared the mess hall coincidentally. As the door to the familiar room came into sight, Sam thoughtfully spoke.
"Daniel?"
"Yeah?"
"You hungry?"
"Kinda. You?"
"A bit. I skipped breakfast."
Daniel grinned wickedly then. "Wanna have some cake?"
Sam grinned back a broad toothy smile. "Yeah. I think I could go for cake."
"After you." Daniel gestured grandly to the closed doors of the mess, and Sam made an exaggerated curtsy-like motion before stepping through them.
When the duo entered the mess hall, laughing loudly, they were surprised to find Teal'c already there.
"Teal'c?" Daniel spoke with a wrinkled brow.
"Good afternoon, Daniel Jackson. Colonel Carter." Teal'c nodded his head at each of them in turn.
The greeting did little to explain Teal'c's presence to Daniel. He continued his questions. "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the afternoon. Do you always eat now?"
"I do not. However, Colonel Mitchell cancelled our sparring session today, and I have acquired a taste for the occasional mid-afternoon snack."It was Sam's turn to break into the conversation now, and she smiled as she responded. "Well, time is arbitrary here anyway. It's only 'afternoon' because I set the artificial lights that way, and Daniel and I were about to have some cake ourselves. Would you care to join us?"
Teal'c bowed his head. "I would like that very much, Colonel Carter."
And so it began. Before they knew what was happening, the three old friends had replicated and eaten an entire chocolate cake, and they were making a serious dent in an apple pie. Hours had passed like minutes, and laughter rang out often from the small circle of friends.
At some point, as Teal'c recounted the tale of his confusion at his first visit to a Jello match with the then Colonel O'Neill, Sam banged her fist on the table and nearly spewed the milk she was drinking with her pie out her nose. After several long seconds in which she fought valiantly against the urge to snort, Sam swallowed the drink and got control of herself before speaking.
"Damn, Teal'c. The least you could do is warn me when you are about to say something like that. I nearly lost my pie!" Sam wiped tears from her eyes as she continued to giggle.
"I am sorry, Colonel Carter. I merely told the story as I remember it."
And so it went. Story after story was told, and eventually the milk turned to wine while old friends grew closer. No one was ashamed when six eyes grew misty as the off-key notes of 'Happy Birthday' resounded through the room.
By the time the other members of the Odyssey's little crew drifted into the mess for dinner, the three original members of SG-1 were pleasantly buzzed and very full of not-so-nutritious foods. Even Teal'c had partaken of enough alcohol to be not quite himself, and the trio was in no mood for dinner with the others.
The newcomers seemed to sense they were intruding, and they made no attempt to join the little group. As General Landry, Colonel Mitchell, and Vala prepared their meals and sat in their customary places, a Jaffa, an astrophysicist, and an archeologist made their polite goodnights and slipped away to their quarters as discreetly as possible.
A short time later, as three heads touched their pillows that night, three smiles couldn't be stopped, and three thoughts were sent to the stars.
"O'Neill…you are missed, my brother."
"Jack, it's not the same without you."
"Happy birthday, love."
Sam's eyes closed slowly as she smiled, and she snuggled deeper into her blankets, grateful for her friends if not her situation and happy that today hadn't been just another day after all.