Title: Emails to Sam
Author: Destiny Skywalker
Genre: Angst
Rating: K+
Period: Future
Disclaimer: It's not mine. I make no money off of this.
Pete Shanahan woke up slowly that morning. Overcoming the drowsiness associated with sleeping in on a weekend, he rolled over and smiled at the blonde woman lying next to him. She was sleeping on her stomach, with her face buried in the pillow while her blonde hair and right arm hid her features from the bright sunlight.
Suddenly, the harsh ringing of a phone interrupted his moment of reverie. Groaning, his girlfriend rolled over and snatched at the receiver and switched it on with the flick of a button. "Hello?" she grunted at the voice on the other end of the line.
Pete heard the telltale high-pitched voice of their excitable neighbor. The dog had probably dug through her gardenias again. He slapped the pillow over his face, but the conversation still made its way through the cotton fluff.
"What's that, Mrs. McMillan?" she was asking. "Mrs. McMillan, slow down, I can't understand a word your saying. The TV? Fine, I'll turn it on. Thank you." She clicked off the receiver and dropped it on the bed between them."
"Now what does she want?" Pete asked grumpily.
"I have no clue," she responded. "Where's the remote?"
Pete groped at the bedside table and found what he was looking for. He rolled back towards his companion, but refused to hand her the remote until she rewarded him with a quick kiss. "Good morning," she said teasingly before she clicked the power button.
The TV set leaped to life across the room. "… right here in Colorado Springs. But now, we'll take you to the news conference in Washington D.C," the news anchor was saying.
The picture suddenly flashed to the President of the United States walking towards a podium. "Must be big news," Pete commented as he got up to brush his teeth.
"Citizens of Earth," the President began. Pete thought it was a rather odd way to start out a speech, but went back to filling his glass up with water. "I am here today to tell you that we are not alone in the universe. For the pastfifteen years, we have been using an ancient technology called a 'Stargate' to travel to other parts of the galaxy."
The glass that Pete was holding fell suddenly from his hand. Luckily, it was plastic, or it would have shattered into hundreds of pieces. The clattering accompanied the shouts of surprise coming from the bedroom and the TV screen. "What?" he heard his girlfriend screech.
Pete came back into the bedroom, a dazed look on his face. "They're announcing it?" he asked.
The woman on the bed shot an odd look his way before shushing him. He found his way slowly back to the edge of the bed, a dumbfounded look on his face.
The President continued as soon as the rabble died down from the news correspondents. "The technology was discovered back in the 1920s in Giza, Egypt. Since the mid 90s, the United States Air Force has been performing experiments and traveling to other worlds with the Stargate, hidden in the deepest levels of Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs."
At this, Pete heard a gasp and an exclamation. "That's right near here!" This time, Pete was the one who did the shushing.
"They have made friends, and they have made enemies. I regret to say that the Earth has come under attack several times since then, but the brave people that make up Stargate Command have bravely turned them back each time. After a few years, we disclosed evidence of the program to several other countries that we are allied with. Russia, in particular, has provided assistance and personnel on numerous occasions. We have even set up several off world outposts. At this time, the Administration has decided that the rest of the world deserved to know what awaits us on the other side of the galaxy. We have managed to make some powerful allies, and it would be impossible to integrate some of the technology that they have introduced us to without disclosing the program to the public. The leaders at Stargate Command and Homeworld Security have assured me that at this time, the Earth is very safe." The President finally took a breath.
"I'm sure you have many questions. For this purpose, I'd like to introduce you toColonel O'Neill, head of Stargate Technology Research and Development and our foremost expert on the Stargate." The President stepped aside from the podium, letting someone in dress blues approach.
O'Neill, huh? Pete thought to himself, remembering Sam's former commanding officer. Never knew he was an egghead.
Instead of seeing Jack O'Neill, though, another face filled the screen. A smiling Samantha Carter thanked the President and allowed the journalist to bombard her with questions.
"Sam," Pete breathed. The woman still lying in bed looked at him, and then back at the screen. "You know her?" Carla asked.
"Yeah," Pete answered. "Well, I used to."
Pete and Carla watched the rest of the news conference in silence, both of them shocked and amazed at what they were hearing. More than anything, Pete could not believe what he was seeing. Sam looked great. She looked happier than he had ever seen her. Then again, the last time he had seen her, she was getting over the death of her father and breaking off their engagement.
But it was more than that. Her eyes were sparkling, and she looked so at ease up there answering questions. She had told him several times before how rewarding her work was, but she had the tendency to not talk about work too much with him. It was Top Secret and all that. Pete sighed as he remembered how frustrated it made him that the woman heloved could not share her every day life with him.
Next thing he knew, the screen had flashed back to a news anchor talking excitedly, instead of Sam doing the same. Carla turned toward Pete. "So how did you know that Sam woman?" she asked.
"I, uh…" Pete found he was suddenly embarrassed. He had never told Carla about Sam. "We dated for awhile."
"Really?" she asked, her eyes going wide. "For how long?"
Pete was becoming more and more uncomfortable by the minute. "About a year, I guess," he said.
A sudden realization hit Carla. "Was she working on this at the time?"
Pete grimaced. "Yeah," he responded reluctantly.
Carla's mouth dropped open. "You knew about this all along! Why didn't you tell me?"
"It was Top Secret. I signed a non-disclosure agreement." Pete suddenly sympathized with Sam for putting up with him constantly barraging him her for details about her work.
"Oh," Carla said simply. She turned back to the television, and the two silently watched a documentary about the Stargate program that had been classified until now. Pete could see Carla watching him out of the corner of her eye every time Sam was mentioned or spoke.
It was eerie watching the documentary. It did not take Pete long to realize that this documentary had been filmed soon after he met Sam. He remembered her grumbling something about it once, and remembered how upset she had been at the loss of her dear friend Janet, who was prominently featured in the documentary. Sam had been planning a dinner date for Janet and Pete to meet when Janet had been suddenly killed on an off-world mission. He had met Janet's daughter, Cassie, on numerous occasions. He remembered she had been a sad girl, still traumatized by the death of her mother.
"How come they keep calling her 'Carter'?" Carla asked, pulling Pete out of his reverie.
"That's her maiden name," Pete responded. "She's married now."
Surprisingly, it did not hurt as much as he thought it would. He had meant it when he told Sam that he hoped she got what she wanted. Meeting Carla had gone a long way towards healing that wound too. Carla was a social worker who Pete had met working a domestic violence case. He had been immediately drawn towards her caring manner but no-nonsense attitude. She took a lot of grief in her job from angry parents and relatives, and she always put the interests of the children first. She was a petite woman who definitely held her own against people much larger than her. Pete had not even realized he was looking at her and smiling goofily until Carla cocked her head at him with a quizzical look on her face.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said, still smiling.
She gestured back towards the TV. "This must be kind of weird for you," she commented.
"Aliens? Weird? Nah," Pete joked.
Carla looked at him somewhat exasperatedly. "If you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to," she said. Then she stood up and walked towards the bathroom. "I'm going to go take a shower."
"Carla," Pete reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her. He looked into her face. "Look, its not that I don't want to talk about it. It's just that, well, that was the past. And you're my future."
"Pete," Carla smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "I'll be out in a few minutes," she said, and continued her way towards the bathroom.
While Carla showered, the documentary ended and the news anchors blabbed some more about what an amazing revelation this was. Once the conspiracy theory wackos started to come on, Pete knew there was no point in listening for a few more hours.
For some reason, Pete found himself sitting in front of his computer, staring at his address book. There was an old email address in there that he was not even sure worked anymore, but he figured it was worth a shot. Worst case, it got returned. He finished right as Carla walked up behind him in a towel and kissed him on the cheek. Grinning, he stood up and followed her back into the bedroom.
Later that night, Sam plopped down on the couch in her Washington D.C. home, groaning. She was so tired after spending the day talking to journalists and briefing the scientific community. Tomorrow she had another busy day of interviews. Hopefully it would die down soon.
Her husband walked up and sat down next to her, drawing her legs into his lap and rubbing her calves gently. He knew she had been wearing uncomfortable dress shoes all day and her legs and feet had to be killing her. She briefly opened one eye at him, and let out a whoosh of air.
"I'm with ya," Jack responded. "You think we can convince Thor to beam us up for a vacation someplace nice and in a galaxy far, far away."
Sam opened both eyes. "And you say you hate science fiction."
"It's just not as exciting when your life is science non-fiction," Jack quipped.
Sam groaned, this time not from the aches in her body, and threw one of the throw pillows at him. Jack blocked it easily, but he still moaned about being bombarded all day, and now even his wife was having a go at him.
She decided to get up from the couch before she got too comfortable and spent the entire night on the couch. That would just result in even more aches and pains. "I'm going to check my email, and then I'm going to bed," she told her husband.
"No work before bed," Jack reminded her, waggling his finger at her. "You have fifteen minutes, Colonel."
She rolled her eyes at him, but walked up the stairs to her office anyway. She had no intention of checking her work email. There was no way she could wade through all of it in fifteen minutes. She was hoping for an email from Cassie. She had warned the young woman that disclosure was coming up, and Cassie was nervous that people would figure her out for what she really was. Sam had assured her that she would not be outed, but had arranged for some security types to keep an eye on her anyway. So far there had been no reports of problems, but the conspiracy theorists were already on a rampage.
There was indeed an email from Cassie, but surprisingly, there was another from a name she had not seen in a long time: Peter Shanahan. She tentatively clicked on the email, afraid of what she might find.
Dear Sam,
I saw you today on the news. You looked great. What I mean to say is that you looked happy. I'm glad you got what you always wanted.
All the best,
Pete
Sam smiled sadly at the screen. She had never meant to hurt Pete, but she did what she had to do. She was happy.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and her hand automatically went to cover it. "What's up?" Jack asked, seeing the thoughtful look on her face.
She twisted in her chair. "Just thinking about how lucky I am to have you," she responded, smiling up at him.
"Amen," Jack responded, earning a light punch from Sam. "Come on, time's up," he reminded her.
"Alright", she responded, turning off the screen and getting up out of the chair. "Let's go to bed."
"I never thought you'd ask."