Title: Green Shadows
Author: Rivergem
Rating: U
Archive: Let me know where.
Disclaimer: They're not mine so: sue me not 'cos you won't get squat. You know maybe I should be poetry instead of prose...
Hello again. Long time no write I know. Sorry, what with revision and going to Wales I haven't really had time but I've written this one-off fic to try to cure my writers block (there are no kit-kats in the house at the moment so I've had to resort to other methods). The last chapter of 'I Heard You' is in the works and is coming to a computer near you soon. As always only review if you feel like it because, to be honest, I'm not that arsed if I get reviews or not. I write only because I love to. Saying that I'm not going to complain if you do decide to review as constructive criticism is welcomed. Well, enough of me and on to the story, ficlet or whatever you want to call it…
They were there, sitting right next to each other. It was strange to see them together; it made her question things, it made her question herself…
Pete was listening to Daniel, who was making strained conversation about his expedition to Gaza. Pete was sat on the edge of his chair, arms resting on knees, leaning forward towards him. He had a slightly glazed expression on his face and he stared at a point just above Daniel's right ear, clearly not hearing a word that was being said. Sam, used to her best friend's mannerisms, could tell by Daniel's occasional glances towards his teammates that he was getting annoyed at this lack of concentration. SG1, and more specifically O'Neill, frequently ignored his ramblings about one ancient civilisation or the other but at least they didn't insult his intelligence by pretending to be interested.
But, Pete, oblivious to Daniel's irritation, gazed on. His hair was auburn in the afternoon sunlight and was in stark contrast to the Colonel's dark grey on one side and Daniel's muddy brown on the other. He was quite handsome she supposed, not classically good-looking but attractive all the same. She didn't choose guys (the few that there had been) based solely on their looks, instead preferring men with a good personality and sense of humour. The looks were a bonus, she thought bemusedly.
Daniel stopped speaking in order to take a sip of his beer and Pete, sensing a gap in the conversation, began to talk. Sam listened idly; he was describing his recent trip to Mexico. She watched as he spoke. His eyes, previously reduced to green slits by the glare of the sun, now widened and he gestured enthusiastically at Daniel who listened politely.
Could she imagine herself ending up with Pete? She could, but then she could imagine a lot. Pete was the almost certainly the best boyfriend she had ever had. That could mean one of two things; either she didn't have much to compare him with or he was 'the one'. Although she desperately wanted it to be the latter, the little voice at the back of her mind that sounded strangely like Daniel told her that it was probably the former.
She sighed. Pete was… Well, he was sweet, kind and had a knack for choosing places to go for their dates. She had only ever seen him angry once and that was when she wouldn't tell him about the SGC. But that was all over now and ever since then he had been a fantastic boyfriend. Even so there something missing, something she couldn't quite put into words. Maybe words didn't exist to describe it. Or maybe she was being stupid, picking away at every shadow of emotion.
He had always said she thought too much.
Colonel O'Neill was sitting in the chair opposite her. He was bent over the table, long fingers drawing patterns in the ring of condensation on the table that had been left behind by his beer. He seemed to be deep in thought. He ran a hand through his greying hair, making it stick up in all directions and started to play with the label of his already-emptied beer bottle. Sam smiled. It was amazing how someone who had the attention span of a six year old whilst sitting in a street-side café on a bright summer's afternoon could stay perfectly still for hours at night whilst on watch off-world.
O'Neill suddenly pushed back his chair, making Teal'c twist around sharply in his chair to look at him. He raised his eyebrows at him then picked up the bottle from the table and held it up to the sun. He took his sunglasses off with one hand and put them down on the table with a loud click that made Pete turn around. The light through the glass cast a green shadow across his face.
There was a moment of silence. Then O'Neill noticed that Daniel and Pete had stopped talking and were stare He wearily put the bottle down and gave them both a Look. Sam could almost hear him saying 'What?' in an all too familiar pained voice. Daniel smirked and Teal'c raised an eyebrow, apparently they were thinking along the same lines.
Pete, however, could not find the humour in the situation; he glared at O'Neill who was once again investigating the effect of light shining through a beer bottle and then loudly resumed his conversation with Daniel.
As the shadow fell across his chocolate-coloured eyes, Sam thought about the times when O'Neill scared her. He was a soldier, a trained killer, that was his job and he was good at it. Throughout his military career and as the leader of SG1 he had had to make difficult decisions and some of them haunted him. Sam knew this; tent canvas didn't block out the sound of someone having a nightmare. But she also knew that, if put in his place, for each choice he made, she would have chosen the same.
Despite his flaws he was a good person and he had demonstrated on many occasions that, if necessary, he would die for his team…
Gradually she got the feeling she was being watched and she snapped out of her reverie. O'Neill, his head tilted to one side, was looking at her questioningly. Blushing slightly, she realised that she had been staring at him the whole time. She half opened her mouth to say something but no sound came out. It was not often that Major Samantha Carter was at a loss for words but ever since she had joined SG1 she found it happened more and more frequently and that the cause of her speechlessness was, for various reasons, usually the Colonel.
O'Neill, recognising the irony in her predicament, grinned at her and she grinned back. Then the grins faded and their eyes locked. The sounds around them; the dim rumble of traffic a street away, Daniel's and Pete's laboured exchange about the shortcomings of public transport in Mexico City and the occasional slurp of Teal'c's straw in the almost-empty milkshake glass, grew fainter. Time seemed to stop and Sam was conscious of nothing except him.
"O'Neill." The deep voice of Teal'c shattered the moment and she hastily looked down, intensely interested in the grain of the wooden table. "I believe it is time for us to depart for the hockey fixture." Teal'c stood up.
O'Neill flicked back the cover on his watch. "So it is." He too got up, closely followed by Daniel who looked slightly relieved. "You sure you don't wanna come Carter?" He asked Sam.
"Sorry, we've got plans." Said Pete pointedly, moving closer to her.
"Nice to meet you." Said Daniel politely to him.
"Indeed." Teal'c bowed his head.
"Yeah." Said O'Neill. "Well we'll see ya tomorrow then Carter." With that they walked off, leaving Sam feeling oddly alone. Pete took her hand.
"So that was your team then? You work with those three every day? They've saved the world?" He said mildly. In the middle distance she could see him, one arm resting on Daniel's shoulder and the other gesturing wildly in front of him, obviously explaining the tactics of hockey to Teal'c, who she could see, even from so far away, was looking faintly alarmed.
"Yes." She said, breaking away from him to pick up her beer bottle. And as Sam drank, she saw the green shadow that played across the fingers of her left hand and she thought.
