Stronger Now Than We Ever Were
Starting after Family Ties and going roughly AU from there, this is a tale in which Cameron is tortured, Teal'c says 'indeed', Daniel is baffled, and Sam tries to figure everything out in time. Also featured are General Landry, Doctor Carolyn Lam, General Jack O'Neill, Vala Mal Duran, and others. Cam/Carolyn primarily, but major appearances from Daniel/Vala, Jack/Sam, and light Hank/Kim.
Disclaimer: Stargate and its characters do not belong to me. I'm just playing in the Cosmic Sandbox here.
A cool breeze blew through Colorado Springs that spring evening. As he hustled through traffic and jogged into the restaurant his daughter had told him to arrive at, Major General Hank Landry, USAF Commanding Officer of the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base and Stargate Command, quickly checked himself over to ensure himself – for the nineteenth time since leaving the Mountain – that he looked fine. He hadn't work his patched jacket like Carolyn had warned, there were no coffee spills or other stains present on his outfit, he had remembered to use the small electric razor from the glove box in his car, and he'd even taken some time to comb his short hair while driving over. As he jaunted in, Hank was reminding himself tonight that he was just Hank; there was no General Landry for all intensive purposes. After all, General Landry was the man who had gotten them all into the situation they were in now.
Hank was sitting down and conversing with Kim and Carolyn when Cameron Mitchell returned from the washroom. He'd stepped aside for a moment, letting Carolyn have a few minutes with her mother before Hank did or did not arrive. Cameron let the reunited family have a few moments to break the ice and so returned to the washroom to wash his hands... again. By the time he returned, his hands feeling remarkably clean and sparkling fresh, Hank and Kim seemed to be talking amicably with Carolyn seeming every bit the awkward outsider while her parents reacquainted after their five-year separation. Carolyn caught his eye and waved him over, so Cameron took that moment to return and ease himself into the trio's conversation.
"Mitchell," Hank said, only partially surprised to see him join them. Carolyn hadn't mentioned that her boyfriend would be present for dinner when Hank had talked to her and arranged the meeting with her at the base, but the topic had come out over the course of waiting for the man to return from the lavatory. He had only agreed to come after Carolyn's repeated insistence; she didn't particularly want to be alone with her parents.
Cam returned Hank's greeting with a nod. "Evening, sir."
The waiter arrived and offered a refreshing break from the muted awkwardness. The conversation picked back up after the meal had been ordered, both couples settled into the ease of each other's company and managed a passable family meal. Hank and Kim seemed to ignore the entire world around them as they ate and talked as if they hadn't been apart for over five years. Seeing that dinner was going so well, Carolyn had hardly stopped smiling through the entire meal. Cameron couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her look so happy. Her grabbed her hand across the table and squeezed it gently, giving her his undivided attention. Her smile, like everything else about Carolyn, was brilliant and full. She never settled for halfway.
Dinner had been done for some time at that point, the quartet surviving solely on red wine, so Cam and Carolyn took that as their cue to leave the other couple in peace and let them catch up without scrutiny.
"Cam and I should be going," Carolyn said, standing up and tossing her shawl over her arm. "Someone has an early mission tomorrow," she gave both Cam and her father a significant glance, almost a glare with regard to her father, but easing the look with one of her softer smiles.
"Right," Hank said, standing to offer his daughter a hug. "I'll see you both tomorrow," Hank reached out and shook Cam's hand. "Thank you for joining us tonight, son."
Cam offered one of his winning grins, full of Southern charm. "Anytime, sir. If there's one thing I do well, it's break the ice."
"And fall through it, if I remember correctly," Carolyn added matter-of-factly, alluding to the time SG-1 had brought a very cold, very hypothermic Cameron Mitchell back from some ice planet. He'd managed to find the only fault line on the entire ice crust and fall through it, plunging himself into the arctic waters and forcing the rest of the team to drag him out by the canvas loops on his rucksack.
He just coughed and tried to ignore the thinly veiled comment directed at him. Landry shared a knowing grin with his daughter before the younger couple left, leaving him and Kim alone at last.
-+-
Throughout the whole ride home, they couldn't keep their hands off each other. He drove, one hand on the wheel and the other on the shifter or center console, but her hand was always entwined with his. Every few moments their eyes met, sharing small smiles or a wink. At a red light, only a few blocks from his apartment, they shared a kiss and briefly forgot where they were. A loud honk interrupted the intimate moment, reminding the driver that he should probably make use of that lead foot of his and get them home.
On the porch outside the building they met in a warm embrace, just glad to be together another day. Cameron leaned down and pressed a kiss to the tip of Carolyn's nose, sparking a lighter moment that had them both erupting in laughter and smiles. "Let's get inside," Carolyn suggested, hesitantly breaking the embrace and pulling him along with her.
"Let's," Cam replied, keying the door and dragging her inside with him.
He dropped his coat on the chair right inside the door, shucking his shoes off one by one and joining Carolyn on the living room couch. It was more a futon really; heavy wood framing that could be adjusted and laid out to form a bed, covered in a thick midnight blue mattress that almost matched Carolyn's blouse exactly. He flopped down beside her, wrapping his arms around her and letting her melt into his touch. The familiarity they shared was natural now. They'd been seeing each other for quite a while, since around the time Cameron had his invisible adventure with Merlin's cloaking device, and they'd both grown close and learned how to live with and love the other.
"Carolyn," Cam whispered at last.
"Hmm?" she replied, her eyes closed in comfort as she leaned into Cam's strong shoulder.
"Thanks for inviting me out tonight."
She adjusted herself so she was cradled in his arm, but able to look up at him now. "I'm glad you came. It saved my sanity."
Cam laughed. "They got along fine."
"Yeah," she sounded surprised. "I wonder if they killed each other after we left, though."
"Unlikely, but possible," he replied, brushing a lock of hair off her face. "You think they'll get back together?"
Carolyn blinked a few times before simply shrugging. "I don't know. It'd be nice if they did. A dysfunctional as we are, it would still be nice to be a real family again."
Cam nodded thoughtfully.
She regarded him for a long moment, his mind far away. "What has you all introspective and thoughtful tonight? You look miles away. Where's my Cam?"
A laugh. "Just thinkin' 'bout everything," his accent came through thicker than usual.
"Everything is a fairly broad subject," she intoned, poking his chin teasingly.
"Yeah," he looked down at her. "I was just thinkin' about your parents fixin' their relationship, and Daniel proposing to Vala an' all that. Sam and General O'Neill have their honeymoon coming up too."
It was Carolyn's turn to nod thoughtfully. She shifted in his arms again. "How do you feel about marriage, honey?"
That was the million-dollar question. "My parents have been married for around forty years, so it can definitely work, but I ain't idealistic enough to ignore the stats that everyone tosses around these days. Divorce rate in the military is up around fifty-percent."
"Wow," she'd never heard Cam be so analytical. It certainly wasn't what she'd expected from him when she'd asked about marriage. "You ever thought about us?"
"Sure," he said as if it were obvious. "You?"
"Of course. I'm a girl, Cam. I've had the wedding planned out since I was 8 or so," she ignored his laugh, sticking her tongue out at him in reply. "It's what we do."
"Who'd you imagine the groom to be?"
"I never imagined that. I just kept it blank so I could fill the face in with whichever flame of the week," now she laughed.
Cam squirreled his face up in mock-horror, attacking his girlfriend at her sides, tickling her mercilessly. "So you think you could marry this guy someday?"
"I think I could imagine it," she said with absolute seriousness, laying her hand on his arm. "I love you, Cam."
He leaned down for a kiss. "I love you too, babe."
They broke the kiss off. She glanced at the clock in the nearby kitchen. 0100. Cam has to be at the base by 0600; I don't start shift until 0800. Cam was thinking the exact same thing; you could practically read the lamenting look on his face. "What do you say we postpone this discussion until you get back?" She touched his face lightly, turning his chin so that their eyes locked. "And then we'll talk about it more then?"
"Sounds good," he said with one of his big, goofy grins. He leaned back into the stack of pillows – pillows, one should remember, that appeared only after he and Carolyn had been dating for a few months – and wrapped his arms around her protectively. It wouldn't be the first time that they ignored the queen-size bed in his bedroom. They seemed to fall asleep in each other's arms on the futon on what seemed like a weekly basis. Despite the odd sleeping positions it often resulted in, they both had their best nights' of rest together on that futon.
For now, though, it was simply about enjoying the company you had around you, resting before what would be an eventful week, and looking forward to the future.
And thus concludes Chapter 1 of Stronger Now Than We Ever Were, the prodigal (and promised) hurt!Cam fic. The next chapter will outline the mentioned mission and proceed from there, so I hope you enjoyed this and are looking forward to the rest. More to come within the week. Thanks for reading. Please review!