Title:
Gemini
Author:
Jemma
Story Status: Complete
Series/Sequel Info: None
Season:
Eight
Spoilers: Gemini
Categories: Angst, UST,
Friendships
Pairings: Sam/Jack
Rating: K
Content Warnings:
None
Summary: Little tag to Gemini.
Archive Permissions: Please
ask.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters relating to
Stargate. They belong to MGM and any of their associates. I'm just
playing around with them for a little while!
Words: 1,868
Authors
Note: So, instead of working on my WIP, I wrote this! Bad Jemma I
know. But I watched Gemini last night when I couldn't sleep; I just
had to write this tag!! Title is totally unoriginal so please forgive
me for that. Not beta'd so mistakes are my own.
Date: 29th May 2008
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Standing opposite from where she sits, I take in her every word; hanging off every syllable and watching her every movement. From this close observation of her I can tell one thing: she's embarrassed.
"The fact is that she learnt betrayal from Fifth. And he learnt it from me."
I shift uncomfortably from one leg to the other as she goes back to studying those damn replicator blocks, trying to make us leave her. Leave her to feel guilt, shame and whatever other ridiculous emotions are running through that brain of hers that should be waaay smarter than to be thinking such stupid thoughts.
I look over to Teal'c as she presses her eyes against what looks to be some sort of giant microscope…maybe…
He meets my look and I can tell in an instant that he's thinking the same as me: that this woman needs shaking hard by her shoulders and a pretty good pep talk to snap her out of it.
Of course, Teal'c would never word it like that.
I try to raise an eyebrow at him to make him say something, but know immediately that both have gone up at the same time…anyway…he gets the idea.
"Colonel Carter, you cannot allow yourself to feel responsible for this replicators actions."
She looks up from her giant doo-hickey and smiles slightly at him.
"Thanks Teal'c. But we all know that sooner rather than later we're going to run into her again." She looks between myself and Teal'c for a few seconds. "And we all know that it's going to be me she comes after, and anyone else I care about that she can hurt."
My Jaffa friend bows his head slowly as I look sideways in his direction. He's out. There's nothing left to say to her that he can think of.
'Perhaps there isn't anything anyone can say to make her feel better about this' a rather annoyingly honest voice says in the back of my mind. I blink my eyes several times and shake my head.
Suddenly Carter stands from her stool and walks to the back of her lab. She begins searching through her cabinets for something or other. "T, can you give us a minute please?" I ask him quietly.
"Of course O'Neill," he replies just a silently.
Now, if I'd have asked that of anyone else, I know exactly what would have run through their minds. 'O'Neill's gonna let her have it…she let that replicator trick her…it's her fault they're now more powerful than ever…'
But not Teal'c. He knows exactly what I'm going to say before I've even said it.
He walks steadily past me and out of Carter's lab; she turns just in time to see him pass out the door.
"Where's…" she begins to ask, but I cut her short.
"I asked him to give us a minute."
And there it was – the look I had been waiting for. She lowered her head, but when she raised it to look back at me her eyes were wide; she looked panicked, her lips were slightly parted and she was holding her hands awkwardly in front of her. She wasn't able to look me in the eye for more than a couple of seconds before diverting her gaze elsewhere.
There is not a chance in hell I'm going to let her carry on feeling this way; I've got to snap her out of it somehow.
"Carter, if you dare even try and apologise for this, I swear, I'll shoot ya."
She looks back to me for a moment longer than usual.
"Sir…"
"Ah! I don't wanna hear it!" My voice is slightly raised and I can feel my hands gripping her worktop slightly harder than perhaps necessary. "I've got everything I need from your mission report. That's it now, the end of the story. Now we move on."
She's not satisfied with this quick fix solution.
"No sir, that's not the end. You know it as well as I do and don't pretend otherwise to me, please."
Now, trust me when I say, that if this was anyone else other than Carter, I wouldn't have been particularly impressed by that last statement. But for her, I'll let it slide.
"Carter, there's nothing anyone of us could have done, or can do now…"
"I should have known she was lying!" she practically shouts across the room at me. "I should have known! She's me! She has my thought patterns, I should have realised…if I'd have thought what I would have done in her place…"
"Carter, how can you possibly say that?" She walks back towards me now from her short distance away and retakes her place on her stool. "You're not her and you never will be. Fifth may have given her your appearance, but on the inside, in here," I state, placing my finger on the side of my head, "She's nothing like you. There is no way you could have known." I let my hand resume its task of holding onto the surface in front of me.
"But sir, if I can be that easily manipulated…"
"You won't be again, trust me. I should have gone with my gut on this one and pulled you from the mission. You couldn't help but get involved in this one Carter. If it had been anyone of us facing off with our identical twin…" I pause and take a deep breath in. "There's no doubt in my mind the same thing would have happened. The next time we run into…it…I'm not going to let you get back into this position again. We'll fight this together, SG-1, as a team."
She gives a half smile, which from past experience means that she thinks I'm wrong.
"I don't think so sir," she says quietly whilst shaking her head.
"Oh, and whys that?"
She bites her lower lip slightly and I see her deliberately take some calming breaths.
"She showed me the methods that Fifth used…to teach her…"
It doesn't seem like she's going to elaborate so I push her for more.
"Care to share…?"
Her eyes rise slowly and look directly at me. "Fifth used an SGC simulation. Her job was to infiltrate the base and kill everyone in her path."
I feel a little shocked, but as I've done for so many years, I don't show it. "So…you saw…you…killing everyone on the base…right?"
"Not everyone," she says quickly. "Some SF's…Daniel…Siler…"
"It's always Siler…" I breathe out quietly, stifling a slight grin and the poor guys luck.
"And you," she states quickly.
My eyes snap immediately to hers. "Me?" I question.
"Yeah, you," she replies. Does she say it sadly?
I clear my throat and shuffle my feet once more, leaning my body forward so I can lean my elbows on the top in front of me.
"Hey," I try to say optimistically. "Poor Daniel, damn space monkey's always drawing the short straw right alongside Siler…"
She carries on talking almost as if she hadn't heard me.
"The thing is sir; I'm not sure what scared me most about seeing it. The fact that I killed them in cold blood, or the fact that even she…she's not me…that even she hesitated when it came to…you."
God damn. Where the hell had that come from? "Are you saying she couldn't kill…me?"
"No, she did it. But he had to force her to. She didn't want to…"
Being now leaned forwards and that much closer to her, I can almost feel her breath across my face, coming in time with the rise and fall of her chest. Not that I was looking at her chest. Oh no. Never.
"Why do you think she didn't want to?" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Hell, I don't even want to hear the answer to that question…however it seems Carter is willing to give it.
"Well, she knew everything I knew. She knew that I would never shoot you in cold blood, like that."
"But you shot Daniel and Siler?" I ask. I'm puzzled by it to say the least.
"Yeah…"
Neither of us speaks for a few seconds, trying to let the levity of what's just been spoken sink in. But it's then that I realise that I've got to ask her. I'm like a dog with a chew – just gotta keep knowing away at it.
"So, you're saying…that she shot Daniel and Siler without hesitation, but that she couldn't shoot me. That Fifth had to make her do it…because you yourself would never do it…because…we're…" I use my right hand to make gesturing motions between the two of us with my finger. I think she gets it.
"Yes sir, because…of that…"
"Ah…"
Right now, I'm not sure who's more embarrassed. Probably her seeing as it was her evil twin that once again has forced us to talk about the thing that we have already agreed just not to talk about.
"So, sir, can you understand now why I'm so concerned?"
Honestly Carter, you know I'm not that smart. I give her a perplexed look. Normally I'd expect a smile in return for my old man confusion, but just more frowns of worry are what I get.
"Sir, when she comes after us, she's going to attack me where I'm weakest. Because she remembers and feels everything I do…she's going to come for you. She's not going to care about anyone else. Not Daniel, not Teal'c. It's going to be us that she uses to get a foot hold on Earth."
Her logic pours over me like a cold bucket of slap in the face and as soon as she says it I realise that she's right. However, after taking a second to digest her statement, I realise that I don't even care. If it means that evil twin leaves Carter alone, and I can have a chance of stopping it before it goes after her, then what the hell, seems like a win-win to me.
"Well, Carter, if that's what happens, then it happens. But I promise you this, no matter what does down, we're stopping them. They aren't going to get a hold in this galaxy."
"But, what if she kills…"
"Ah!" I stop her dead in her tracks. "I've survived a lot worse than her before, and even when I didn't, I still lived…" She smiles her first smile since returning to the base. "We're gonna beat em' Carter, don't you worry about that."
"Yes sir," she replied unconvincingly.
I release my left hand from the tabletop and reach forward to place it on top of her hers, which is resting on the desk next to those damn blocks.
I feel her fingers tighten around mine and she smiles faintly again.
"Thank you sir."
"For what?"
"For being here. For understanding. And…for not doing as you should have done and chewing me out over this."
I give her hand a quick squeeze before releasing it. "Yeah, well, don't go telling anyone. And try to look pissed at me for the next couple of days will ya?"
And there is was. A laugh. A genuine Carter laugh. Bingo.
"Yes sir."
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