Songfic. Inspired by Kim Wilde's Cambodia.
SPOILER WARNING!
There is no happy ending here as you might guess if you know the song.
I own nothing and make no money out of this. I apologize for all typos and grammar errors.
Sam stepped out of the house with a coffee mug in her hand. She sat in a chair on the front porch and placed the mug on the table next to the chair. It was a warm and sunny morning like it usually was in Thailand. Out of habit she glanced around her surroundings before relaxing. Nothing seemed to be out of place. Her husband had left earlier to work.
She took a sip and grimaced. Still, after three years she hadn't gotten used to the muddy brown liquid the locals called coffee. It had been over three years since the catastrophic zatarc incident that had ended their careers in SGC. They had been forced to admit their romantic feelings towards each other and despite the fact they tried to leave it in the room, the repercussions had been almost fatal to them and their teammates. Even though their superiors didn't know all the details of what had been reveald during testing, they did and they had no illusions of what had led them make those bad decisions that almost got them all killed. So they quit.
Actually the Air Force didn't allow Jack to retire. After a heated discussion with his superiors, during which Jack had shouted 'just transfer me anywhere, I just want to get out of here!' they found themselves in Thailand. Both of them because right after she got her discharge papers they got married.
Oddly enough, they both seemed to be pretty happy. Jack doing what he loved; flying, and Sam settled as an Air Force wife. Not a typical one since she had been a Major herself but there wasn't much use for her area of expertise in Thailand. She had started writing a book about wormhole physics and occasionally consulted SGC.
Despite the fact she once had had the highest clearancies the Air Force had, nowadays she wasn't privy to knowing what Jack actually did. Flying, yes, mostly weekends. He had quite a lot of freetime during weekdays and they spent time fishing on a nearby lake, watching the Simpsons from a stack of DVDs and just enjoying each other's company.
Sam sighed and took another sip. Lately she had started to notice a change in Jack. He had never been a talker nor did he let his emotions to show but Sam knew him well enough to notice he had started to close himself off more and more. Often she had caught him staring at her with an expression on his face she didn't quite understand. As if he was searching something he couldn't find. At first she thought his missions were relatively easy, supply runs or troop transfers but when he started to cry in his sleep and wake up in the middle of the night she realised there was much more to it. This man had fought snake heads all around the galaxy, seen things most people couldn't imagine and it had never break him like that so these missions had to be something truly horrible.
What could be worse than fighting mechanical bugs hell bent on destroying everything, being invaded by a snake or visiting hell, Sam could't imagine and Jack wouldn't tell.
Sam drank the rest of her coffee and went back inside. She did the dishes and cleaned the house. There wasn't much to do. It was small house, just a kitchen, a living room, small bathroom, a master bedroom and a guest room which served as Sam's study. She opened her laptop and tried to concentrate on her book but her mind was elsewhere. It had surprised her how easily she had adjusted to the relatively easy life. Daniel had thought she was crazy and bored out of her skull in a week. She wasn't, mostly because of Jack. She hadn't realised how much she loved hm and wanted to be with him until it was reality. ' What a cliché' she thought and closed the lid of her laptop. She stood up and walked back to the kitchen. She prepared another cup of so-called coffee, grabbed her notebook and went back to the porch. The sun was shining from a cloudless sky and the temperature was rising rapidly. Luckily the porch was in shade so she wouldn't be sun burn. She opened her notebook. Even if she didn't feel like writing her book she could make some notes for future use. She was hoping someday her book would be published so she had to be very careful to keep it all theoretical. She had to theorize and then justify her theories without revealing how she truly knew her theories being true.
Suddenly she heard a car pulling to the driveway that was on the side of the house. A small paved walkway led from around the corner to the front porch and a few seconds later she saw Jack walking towards her. She couldn't see his eyes through his shades but she could tell he was tired and irritated.
"Hi" she said, not too cheary and a bit varily. "Why are you back so early?" she asked. He shrugged.
"Don't know. They just sent me home for the day."
"That can't be a good sign." she responded with a frown. "No" he said. "I better get some sleep." He walked inside after giving her a quick kiss.
He slept for a few hours and then called her. She stepped in the bedroom and slipped under the covers with him. Much much later Sam recalled something ominous in their last expression of physical love they ever had together.
Later they prepared a meal together and ate in silence. As if all had already been said. After dinner they settled down to watch the Simpsons. Sam didn't particularly like the cartoon but she had a few episodes she enjoyed. For example that one where Homer kept travelling in time and changing history. Sometimes she wished she could do the same. Jack had selected this episode for them to watch, as if he knew something was coming up and wanted to make this night special. Frankly, so did she. They both knew the Air Force didn't send high-paid officers home just for a day off.
As if on cue, the phone rang just a few seconds after the episode ended. The Air Force had installed a land line to their house and they who was calling. Jack inhaled deeply and stood up to answer.
"O'Neill" he said. "Sir. Yes, sir." was all he said. He hung up and turned to his wife.
"When?" Sam asked. "Now" he answered. She stood up too and they hugged. He gave her one last kiss, grabbed his car keys and strode out the door without looking back. He was muttering something but all Sam could hear was 'Cambodia'. At that she understood a lot more. There was little war going on in Cambodia. If a war was ever 'little'. It was cruel, bloody and it involved children. Jack had always had a soft spot for kids so no wonder he was so troubled. Tears ran across her cheeks when she walked to the window to watch her husband go.
He was gone for three weeks. It was unusual. Most of his missions took a couple of days at most. She was getting more worried day by day, knowing the Air Force would only call her if something went wrong. Then the land line sprung to life again and she jumped.
"O'Neill" she answered with a shaky voice.
It was Jack's supervisor telling her he'd be back tomorrow. He wanted her to pack and meet him at front gate of the base.
She did what was asked but he never showed up. She waited for a hour, two hours, three hours. The guards at the gate knew her and knew she used to be an Air Force Major and they helped her all they could. But they couldn't grant her access to the base and all the high ranking officers seemed to be busy. Or "busy". Eventually she went home. It was empty.
A YEAR LATER
Sam was packing. It had been a year since Jack's disappearance and despite her best efforts no one told her anything. She had pulled all the strings and called all her markers but no one could, or would, help her to find out what had happened to her husband. She had even called Mayborne, the last man on Earth she'd thought to ask for help. He had tried but his contacts knew nothing. Or told him nothing.
She had stayed in Thailand for a year hoping that he would someday walk back in to her life. But now it was time to go home. She was rejoining SGC as a civilian since Hammond had welcomed her back. After making the neighbours swear they'd keep their eyes open for miracles she stepped in the waiting taxi and drove to the nearest airport. Daniel and Teal'c were thrilled to have her back and she buried herself into work again. She kept a close eye on anything related to Cambodia but nothing ever came up.
Even though she never gave up hope, deep down she knew she would never see his face again.
THE END
A/N Thanks for reading, let me know what you think. Again, I'm sorry for all the typos and grammar errors.