Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or any part of the franchise. If they would give me the time travelling puddle jumper, then I would go back and never need to write a disclaimer! :P
Summary: Sam wakes up to an important call from earth. But it is so much more. SGA S4, immediately before 'trio'.
A/note: I think this one is more applicable to SG1 than Atlantis, so it's here. I was going to make this a chapter in 'conversations' but... oh hang on, maybe I will... ok, when I get to the chapter in 'C' I'll refer you guys to this story. Otherwise it's stand alone. Yes, it's a S/J story (of course!) This is also shamelessly angsty.
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For a long time since her posting to Atlantis, Sam had endured too many sleepless nights. Following the chaos of her life, the silence of the city was difficult to adjust to. But now, she could fall asleep quickly, whether it was her ability to adapt to the new environment, or sheer exhaustion, she couldn't say.
Tonight was an exception.
It was late; more likely very early in the morning and Sam was wide awake. She lay flat on her back with her arm flung over her eyes. The sheet covering her tangled uncomfortably and an eerie glow from the outside world crept into her room that contributed to her insomnia. Her camisole clung to her in an irritating way and hair tickled the side of her face enough to make her want to chop it all off again.
She couldn't help but remember that today was actually her birthday. Not that that meant much to her. She had spent the last six out of ten of them offworld. She had to credit her team though. Every single time the date came around, they had remembered. Except for Vala. She chose to tell her friend the day after, and that was her last birthday. She wasn't sure she could handle a party.
She smiled to herself. SG1 was very good at offering their well wishes in the most discrete of ways. The General had been the best at it. She thought back to a particular birthday, though she was unaware of which, when she found a cupcake in her locker, accompanied by a simply, unsigned of course, 'happy birthday' card.
She was pulled from her trip down memory lane by the sound of the door to her room opening.
"Colonel Carter?" a woman's voice whispered to her, from a closer proximity than the door.
Teyla.
She let her head roll to the side, freeing the bridge of her nose from her elbow. Teyla stood at the side of her bed, crouching down to eye level when Sam looked to her. There was no alarm or distress in Teyla's eyes.
"I'm sorry to have woken you." though when she spoke, Sam didn't quite believe her.
"You didn't."
"There is a message coming through from earth. It is not urgent, but I believe it is of great importance." She relayed. Sam sat up quickly.
"I'll be right up." She gathered her hair into a ponytail and ruffled the top of her head to let the sides out. Teyla left her silently, almost without her noticing. She sighed as she slid on her dark trousers. Did they not realise it was the middle of the night here? She pushed her bare feet into her boots, snatched her jacket from the end of her bed and grabbed her radio earpiece from the dresser.
She moved quickly from the dark room and into the hall, almost leaving Teyla in her wake. The light in the never-ending corridors offered enough light for her to see the face of her watch. 02:14am. This is ridiculous. As she began towards her office, where this call would obviously be relayed to, Teyla stopped her.
"I am told you are required to be at the gate for this." Teyla advised.
"Teyla, who wants to speak to me?" She felt the burn of frustration begin in her chest. She zipped up her jacket to her neck forcibly.
"I'm afraid I am simply the envoy colonel." Teyla gave her a smile they conveyed enough knowledge to alerts Sam's suspicion. Teyla looked over her shoulder as she went around Sam, and up into the control room.
She looked back down the hall and then up the one Teyla had disappeared into. She paused a moment, her head dipping to the ground, but not her eyes. Never her eyes. Quickly, she turned on her heel, removing her earpiece from her pocket, placing it in her ear, and made her way swiftly to the gate room.
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"Was she awake?" Jennifer addressed the quiet footsteps that approached. She leant her elbows on the rails of the balcony overlooking the gate room. She was glad it was so dark at night up here. The light from the active gate glowed beautifully.
"She was. She seemed troubled." Teyla joined her on the balcony. "She is very strong. A lot stronger than I think she realises. She has seen many more battles than I would like to see in my own life."
"Mm." Jennifer nodded in agreement. "She handles the pain very well. No doubt. But, she deserves a break sometimes..." her voice hushed as the two younger woman watch their commander and friend entered the gate room below, standing in from of the event horizon. Teyla touched her ear.
"She is waiting for you." She whispered into her earpiece.
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Sam entered the gate room. There was a rippling glow dancing on the floor. The gate was active? Something was going on. She felt no danger but she was instinctively on her guard and without thinking, folded her arms across her chest. The event horizon shimmered before her. Suddenly, a figure emerged, their face cast into shadow. But she knew this man anywhere. And she meant anywhere.
"Colonel." He greeted.
He came around and stood alongside her, his face half cast in shadow. She turned to him.
"Hello Sir." She smiled politely back at him. Despite her inner child making a delinquent racket inside, she kept her good soldier face on.
Jack slipped his hand inside his jacket and pulled out, of all wonderful things, a blood red rose.
"Happy birthday Sam." He offered it to her. She took it in her fingertips.
The corner of her lip quivered slightly and she felt her resolve melt away. She looked him in the eye, and it was then she felt a wave of relief was over her. She opened her arms, wrapping them around his neck. He welcomed her into his embrace. He clung to her tightly, nuzzling deeply into her neck. She closed her eyes and begged to a higher power that this wasn't a dream. That this was real, and he was here and he was holding her.
"Sam..." he whispered to her.
"Tell me this is real, please, I need this to be real." She whispered back. She felt moisture in her eyes and made no effort to hold back her tears. Life was as good to her as it was awful. This was a freebie and in life there was always have a catch.
"I'm here. I only have an hour. But I'm here Sam." There's the kicker. "God, I missed you."
He withdrew from her, only a little. His hands came up and touched her cheeks lightly. He his face was sorrowful but he smiled weakly. The sting of this bittersweet meeting took its toll on him. He wiped away a stray tear that rolled down her cheek. The gate near them went offline and they were through into darkness.
"Damn. Now I can't see that beautiful face." He protested.
She chuckled a little. She searched for his hand and led him to the staircase. They sat down, their knees together and his hand still grasped firmly in hers, as if should she let go, he would fade away.
"So how are you?" He asked gently.
"I think I'm doing alright. The people here have been great." She shrugged.
"I've been hearing good things about you in some of the reports coming back."
"Some?"
"I only read some of the hundreds of reports that come from Atlantis."
"Hm. Of course." She unclenched her fingers slightly, only to tighten them again. "What about you Jack? How are you going?"
"Usual. Filling in the time; waiting for you to come back. Washington is a good distraction."
"You could retire..." she began.
"And then there would be no way for me to hold onto you. This way I can know where you are in the galaxy. I'll be able to help you retire along with me. You're too valuable to the Air Force for them to let you go without some hard smoozing. You're too valuable to me..."
"Jack, I can't let you not retire because of me."
"Hey..." his free hand found her cheek again. She could feel his breath as he leant in. "I promised you, that I would wait for you... I promised I would always be there for you..."
[*****]
She made her way through the small town airport in personal silence. She was being unreasonable to expect him to put his life on hold for her. Yes, it would hurt him to find her gone. But he would be free to do the things he wanted to do. They had waited so long to be together, even if for only a short time. She could make a clean break now, but god, it hurt so much.
She had asked him if he would wait for her to return from Atlantis. He didn't answer and she knew she was asking too much.
She sighed and approached the gates that led out onto the tarmac. If she was lucky, they might never actually see each other again, she couldn't forgive herself for walking away and she certainly didn't expect him to either. Hopefully, she would stay on Atlantis for long enough for him to get her out of his system. As she went to push the glass door she heard her name called behind her.
"Carter!" she turned around. At first she didn't see them, until she saw Jack running between the people in his way. She pulled herself out of the flow of movement trying to follow her out the door.
"Carter! I'll wait!" he was getting closer and closer. He came to a stop in front of her. All his yelling had attracted more attention than she knew they both would have liked. For the moment, she didn't notice. He was clearly exhausted, his breathing quick and heavy.
"I'll wait..." he took a step forward, his open hands in front of him. "I decided a long, long time ago that you are the only one I was going to die along side." Another step forward. "And I would like to grow really old before I do that." he closed the gap between them more, till he was right there with her. "I promise you. I will wait... patiently."
The terminal was very quiet.
"And if I need to, I'll make it an order." He added.
She laughed. And cried. Actually it was both. She even let him fully close the gap between them. She let him kiss her in public, a milestone for both. She ignored the 'awes' of their audience and she let herself get on the next flight, knowing he forgave her for running out on him and that he would be waiting for the day the world didn't need saving.
She smiled to herself.
She finally told him that she loved him. More than that, she told him she was in love with him.
[*****]
"Jack?" she whispered pensively.
"Yeah?"
"Would you marry me when I come home?" She didn't think before she spoke, and she was glad, otherwise she would never have asked him.
"I wanted to be sure you were ready for that, after Pete. I wanted to be sure I was ready to get married again."
"Are you?" she wanted to know. She also wasn't ready for him to say no.
"I am. I'm not sure I'm ready for the totally domestic lifestyle yet, but I don't think that will be a problem for us." She knew he was chuckling at that.
"So...?" she needed to know.
"Gimme a minute." No more than five seconds passed before, "Yeah. I would. Definitely would. "
She let out a breath she didn't know she held. She let her head fall onto his shoulder. He ran a hand through her hair, dropping a kiss to her temple.
"And you know you're right, I should retire soon. In fact I'm going chat to Henry in a few weeks. Tell him it's time. Besides, the political crap I'm getting from the IOA is becoming a bit much."
He wondered if she could put the pieces together. That she would get the hint that she was going to come home soon. Obviously not. He really kind of hoped she wouldn't click. She'd be second guessing herself until the very end and no matter how well, he knew she would do, she was going to be recalled.
They talked for the remainder of the hour, though it wasn't enough. It got closer and closer to when jack would have to go.
The gate began to dial out to the midway station. Sam looked confused when Jack didn't. The gate continued to dial.
"I think Teyla is bit of a romantic deep down." Jack advised. The gate finished dialling and they could resist watching the 'kawoosh', as she called it.
"I still can't believe you made it here. How did hank even let you through?" she smiled, leading him back towards the gate. She smelled the rose still clasped in her hand and gave him a very enticing look.
"It's a bit of a story. Henry got a serve from someone here in Atlantis, and he thought it would be a good idea to stop by and check up on you. He and hank did some wheeling and dealing and the next thing I know is I'm off to Atlantis for an hour on 'important business' on behalf of the president."
"Wow. Maybe there is hope for earth." She smiled to hide her sadness. It was him leaving this time, not her. Now she understood what he must have been through.
He let her go and approached the gate. The room shimmered again and it hit her that they would be separated again. That they may not see each other again for a long time. He turned back to her; a silhouette in front of the shimmering pool. They stared at each other, using their unique ability to speak using only body language and a glance. Even though he was there with her, she couldn't stop the rush of loneliness that consumed her again. He abruptly ran back to her, holding her tightly. A panic coursed through him like wildfire; he may never see her again.
"Come back to me. Come home." He begged.
"I will. I promise..." she nearly cried into the hollow of his neck. "I promise..." she held onto him for dear life.
He withdrew enough to kiss her. The first kiss in eight months and he certainly reminded her off that. He wished he had the entire night with her. But, alas, he didn't. He was lucky to have this time with her. No rules between them. At least no one to enforce them. She held on for as long as she could.
Eventually, she let him go, offering a sad smile as he walked back through the gate. A few seconds went by and the gate shut down. She looked at it with a longing she had never felt, only to remember the rose in her hand.
She brought it up, twirling it in her fingers. A small, but hopeful, smile grew on her lips and she walked out the gate room, back to her room where she would place the rose next to her bad and sleep soundly until the day she went home to Jack.
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Jennifer and Teyla watched her leave the room; she left slowly, her mind far away in a different galaxy.
"I guess I won't need to worry about the amount of sleep she is getting anymore." Jennifer observed.
"This is a great gift you have given her." Teyla replied.
"I couldn't have done it without you Teyla. All I did was send my report to President Hayes. You made all of the stars align." Jennifer protested.
"I am glad for her." Teyla looked back to the gate, peace radiating off her features.
"Me too." Jennifer smiled.
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