Title: Moving On
Author: CosmicalMadison
Rating: K
Summary: Sam is still grieving. She just can't believe that he's actually gone. Oneshot.
Dedication: To Kelli, a girl from my school who was killed in a car crash on Monday.
Author's Note: This story is just another one-sitting one shot that I love to do so much, written on a pretty bummy day. There was a car accident on Monday involving three girls from my school, so it was all everyone talked about. It also inspired me to write this. Hope you like it.
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Samantha Carter knelt in the middle of the cemetery, tears streaming down her face as she stared at the tombstone before her. The overcast day was silent; she could hear nothing but the wind rustling the bare branches of the trees.
It just didn't seem real. She still couldn't believe that he was actually gone.
Behind her, feet crunched softly on the autumn leaves, but she didn't bother to look up. She tried not to entertain the thought that it might be him, back again.
She knew it wasn't. He was gone, dead, and that was that.
A single tear rolled down her cheek as a gentle hand touched her shoulder. "Sam?"
She finally looked up to see the somber face of Cameron Mitchell as he knelt beside her.
"Are you okay?" he asked concernedly. "You've been out here for hours."
Sam just shook her head. She didn't know what to say to him. Of course she wasn't okay. She felt like she was dying, as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest.
"Do you want me to leave?"
"No." Yes, she wanted to be alone, but she feared the prospect just the same. And the thing that kept coming back to her mind was that old saying, Grief shared between two hearts is lessened.
"Do you wanna talk?" Cameron asked.
Sam almost laughed, though it would have been bitter and humorless. If he had some inkling that she wanted to be alone, why did he keep asking her all these questions?
"Carolyn says it'll help," he added hopefully.
"Oh, if she says so, then we'd better do it." Sam tried to laugh at her joke, she really did, but the sound came out more as a sob. Finally, she broke down and whispered, "I just can't believe he's really gone." She took a deep breath to calm herself. "And so suddenly like that. No one even saw it coming..."
Just thinking about what had happened set her off again. As the sobs returned she felt Cameron's arms go around her and she pressed her face to his shoulder.
"Easy," he comforted her, gently rubbing her back. "It'll be all right."
"No. This isn't fair!" she cried, suddenly angry. Pushing him away, she raged, "Of all the ways he could have gone, why this one? We were steps away from death so many times, but we always managed to make it through. And he has to die in a-a car crash?" she finished bitterly.
"That's life, Sam," Cameron said with a helpless shrug. "You can't do anything about it now, and no one could have prevented it then. You just have to let it be and move on."
Every fiber of her body wanted to deny it, but she knew he was right. She couldn't do anything for him now. She could grieve for as long as she wanted, but no amount of tears was going to bring him back. Eventually she would have to let him go.
Cameron shivered abruptly. "Brr, it's freezing out here. We should really go back inside. What do you say?" He stood and offered her his hand.
Sam sighed. Yes, someday she would have to move on. But that day wasn't today.
She let Cameron help her up and then lead her toward the cemetery gate. Before it passed out of view, she glanced over her shoulder to take one last look at the name chiseled into the cold granite stone.
General Jack O'Neill
1952 - 2006
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Author's Note: So, I hope you liked this as much as I liked reading it. Even though it's pretty sad and angsty I thought it turned out really good. Oh, and go ahead and ask me to expand it into a full story. I dare you. (Sad thing is I just might actually do it...)