Author: StarnightSam
Fiction Rated: MA - English - Romance/Drama
Warning: Angst/Language/Adult Themes/Sexual Situations/Character Death Series: Moebius- Interlocked Lives Characters: Sam/Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Katep, Others Spoilers: for Threads and Moebius I and II, references to Beneath The Surface.
Summary: Their lives were interlocked for all eternity. A love story about two people who waited too late, two people who felt as if they have always been connected and two people who finally have what they waited a life time to have. It is also the love story of a mismatched family from three realities.
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author's notes: These two episodes bugged me from the first time they aired in 2005. Here is my creation to the missing parts to the love stories in the lives of Sam and Jack in three realities.
The story is set during Season Eight, during Moebius.
Moebius - Interlocked by StarnightSam
Chapter One
General Jack O'Neill stood watching. She didn't know he was there. He knew at one time she could always sense his presence. He didn't think so anymore. He knew she hated being here even though she felt it was her penance.
They were stranded back in time 5000 years. Sam had let Daniel Jackson's enthusiasm and their need to find the ZPM convince her to persuade the General to make this trip. She was certain that if she hadn't agreed with Daniel, they wouldn't be here now. Jack couldn't convince her otherwise, no matter how many times he reminded her who was in command or how many times they argued the point. Maybe she really did know he would do anything she wanted.
She was somewhat better, now. At least she didn't cry at night when she thought he was asleep. At first, they all shared the same tent. There had been such bad blood between him and her, that Teal'c and Daniel had quickly decided they needed their own space. She didn' care one way or the other where she spent her nights. She wouldn't sleep much anyway. It seemed to her that life was over. No stargate to work on. No more technical toys to play with. No problems to solve. After all, they couldn't affect the time line in anyway.
She had been completely striped of her military identity. No place for a high ranking military woman, a woman in leadership, in this backwards place. With nothing to do or nothing to keep her mind entertained, Sam became more and more angry and depressed. Most of it was directed at herself. If she had just said no they wouldn't be here.
Sam could feel his eyes on her. She always knew when he was watching, even though she never let him know. She knew he no longer thought she could sense his presence. She didn't know why she played this cat and mouse game with him. It had something to do with her unworthiness. Lord knows, how guilty she felt.
"Jack is here, Samantha, Are you ready to go?" asked Ketra, the leader of the women of the local tribe that had taken them in. Each of the women had their daily duties. The tribe lived as a unit; each member had their own individual tasks. Sam was assigned to the kitchen, odd as that was, she had never done a lot of cooking. Not that she couldn't cook, she just had never had time in her pervious life. Even if she had cooked much before, this was entirely different. The desert food was so different from their regular diet. At times Sam would have died just for a pizza and diet coke. She did enjoy the baking though, rough as it was in the desert.
Sam gathered her wrap and tied it around her, finally looking up at Jack. "Hey."
"Hey, yourself." Jack smiled at her, then spoke to Ketra in the Aramaic words that he had learned from Daniel and Katep. Ketra returned his greeting. Jack knew just enough of the language to get by on good days. Sometimes he still said things he didn't know he was saying, but the tribe was getting used to SG1 and their strange ways.
They had been with them for six months and things were beginning to level out, somewhat. At least the loud, angry voices were no longer heard coming from their tent at night. The locals weren't used to such a vocal woman.
Jack took Sam by the arm and lead her to the common washing area tent. The men had already had their turn in the washing area. So Jack waited for Sam to finish.
"So, how was your day?" Jack asked, as they walked into the night toward their tent after leaving the washing area.
"Same as every day we spend here," she stated flatly. Jack glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Even though she seemed to be a little less depressed, she still wasn't the same Sam that he had loved over eight years. He didn't know if the loss of Pete was anything to do with her mood, or if it was all due to being stranded in this backwards place. It definitely was no place for the brilliant mind of Dr-Lt Colonel Samantha Carter, Astrophysicist; Earth's foremost gate expert; Leader of SG1, Star Gate Command's premiere team. She was completely out of place here. Jack felt guilty for that.
They entered their tent. Sam spread out the cloth containing the food she had brought back with her. Even though they all shared their meals in common, some of the scrapes would be no good tomorrow. There was no way to keep them refrigerated.
Teal'c would be by soon, she knew he never had enough at meal times. He didn't want to take away from the others, but he would always eat the leftover. So would Jack.
"Sam?" Jack watched as Sam busied herself. She sensed he wanted to talk about her again.
"What?" She snapped. She knew he was concerned for her, but she really was in no mood to discuss this with him again. When would he get it? She just didn't care about much anymore. Was that so hard to grasp?
"Sam, when the guys leave tonight, please say you will just talk to me? OK? Sam?" His voice was pleading. He always got to her, even if she didn't let him know.
She could still hear his voice when her Father was dieing. He had said so softly, "Always." She wasn't sure what he'd meant. He already had someone in his life. She thought it would be so much easier if he loved her as she loved him. But she knew he didn't, after all, he had been forced to leave his girlfriend, Kerry, behind. He was just as alone and lonely here as she was. She knew that was the only reason he seemed to cling to her.
They had been really good friends, well a lot more than that to her. Then she had meet Pete, and he had meet Kerry. God, she still hurt so much every time she remembered the day she'd made such a fool of herself. Showing him Pete's ring, begging him with her eyes and heart to tell her not to accept it. She had felt like such a fool when he walked away from her that night.
Then--what had gotten into her? Going to his house like that with every intention of telling him how much she loved him. Thank God Kerry had been there! What if she hadn't and she had said all those things to him as she had planned! What would he have done? Said? Would he have let her down easy or would he have just been embarrassed for her.
It still stung. Then there was the Pete thing. What had she been thinking? Or was she? She had felt so alone. Pete was fun, sexy, and he loved her. No one had loved her since Orlin. How she needed to be loved! She still missed that so much. Being held, kissed, the sex, someone who was actually interested in her as a women and not just a soldier. Someone who told her she was beautiful and sexy and made her feel like she actually was. How she missed that.
She had hoped, no prayed that she and Jack would have had some time to talk about things at the cabin. She had wanted to tell him that she had broken up with Pete. She also wanted him to know she was happy for him and Kerry. She was too uncomfortable to confront Jack with her true feelings for him. Though she really had wanted to talk to him, she wanted them to be alone when she did. The guys had kept her so busy, the whole three days, she and Jack were never alone.
She started to cry. Jack thought it was because she didn't want to talk. He tried to backtrack. "It's okay, Sam. Don't cry! I'm sorry, we don't have to talk. Ok? Please just don't cry."
She couldn't stop the tears. Daniel and Teal'c appeared in the tent door just as Sam started crying, they could hear Jack pleading with her.
"Jack? Sam? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Daniel couldn't hold his tongue. "Jack? What have you done to her now? Why can't you leave her alone?" Daniel's voice was loud and angry. He wrapped his arms around Sam and she clung to him sobbing even more.
"Indeed." Teal'c watched Jack's reaction to Daniel and Sam. He was also concerned for O'Neill. "O'Neill, where are you going?" Jack was gathering up his clothes.
"I thought Daniel and I could change tents, its obvious Sam will be much happier sharing with him. She can't seem to stand to be around me."
"Jack?" she moved out of Daniel's embrace, and reached out to touch his arm. "Jack, please don't leave me. I don't want you to go, please." Her voice was tearful and whisper soft.
"Sam, I don't understand? You don,'t talk to me. You're so unhappy around me. It's so obvious to me than I make you miserable. Why would you want me here?"
Jack drowned in her eyes. The eyes of the woman he loved more than anything in this world, the woman he loved more than life itself. If she could love him just a little, he would be the happiest man alive; even though they were stuck here. He would be happy just to be her friend again, much less get to hold her. In the six months they had been here, all they had done so far was argue. They seemed to rub each other wrong within ten minutes of being alone.
Just after realization set in, and they really knew they couldn't leave here; Sam had spent much of her time learning how to just be a woman among the local women. Ketra took an instant liking to her and helped her to fit in.
Most of the woman had been distant with her. She was different. She was blond, had blue eyes, and none of their husbands could keep their eyes from her. She would actually looked their men in the eyes. Women didn't do that. Add to that, she had come here wearing the same clothing as the men that came with her.
The three men seemed to do anything she asked of them. Never mind the fact that they all seemed to love this blond woman very much. This alone made her an outsider here with the women.
No man paid much attention to any woman unless he was her husband, and then only in private. They were unsure of the four-way relationship that existed between SG1. There were many private conversations among the women concerning just who this blond woman belonged to? They could not understand her sharing a tent with all three men.
It didn't take Sam long to realize that she not only had to hide her feelings for Jack, but also Daniel and Teal'c. This seemed to be hardest, because Daniel was always so loving with her and never once seemed to care how uncomfortable anyone was with his show of affection, including Jack. He knew that it bothered Jack, but he never failed to read her moods and embraced her often.
Teal'c still held her in such high esteem as a warrior and would seek out her opinion. She asked all of them to be aware of the other women when talking to her. Teal'c and Jack had made it a point to talk with her on matters that seemed to be a man's business only in the privacy of their tent.
Daniel, however, just didn't get it. Sam was much more than a sister to him, she was his best friend; one he would never give up, not for these people or Jack. Daniel loved Sam. She was more important to him than anything things people thought of her.
After Daniel and Teal'c moved into a separate tent, the talk died down somewhat. Especially since the arguing between Jack and Sam seemed to almost stop. The locals just assumed it had stopped because the woman had made her choice of a mate. That couldn't have been farther from the truth. It stopped because Sam and Jack almost stopped talking to each other.
Personal conversation between them had always been difficult, even at their best times, before the Za'trac and the Thera and Jonah incidents. After having to rein in their feelings for one another, they never knew what to say to each other. Given their ranks and the regs, it was impossible to hold a personal conversation.
After Orlin, Jack gave up. He knew Sam would not wait for him to retire. She was too young and beautiful, and alone. He really didn't want her to be alone, especially after Orlin. Jack had realized what her feelings for himself had cost her, especially after their 'indiscretions' on the Ice Planet. He knew just how much of a woman Sam was. He knew from experience how passionate and 'hot' she was. He knew she needed to be loved and held, kissed and have someone make love to her on all those lonely nights.
He just couldn't bring himself to retire, not even when she had asked him about marrying Pete. He had even convinced himself that he didn't love her as he once had, that his feelings for Sam had cooled. So he convinced himself to let her go. Completely. Or so he had thought during all those months when he distanced himself from her while she was with Pete.
He had even convinced himself that he had strong feelings for Kerry. Jack was not a man to use a woman. Maybe he'd had one nighters over the years, but the women he chose always knew upfront. Most were bar pickups and three sheets to the wind anyway.
Kerry was different from the start. She was young and beautiful and smart and charming. She was strongly attracted to him, not that he could understand why. She helped him to forget about Sam for a few minutes out of the day. Their romance had begun to blossom just when Sam showed up that day in his backyard.
That had certainly thrown a monkey wrench not only into his relationship with Kerry, but his sex life, which he had really enjoyed. He hadn't had any sort of steady sex since Sara, his ex-wife.
Sam had also messed with his mind. He felt sure she was there to say more than she was having second thoughts about her wedding. That was the kind of conversation she would have with her best friend. He was definitely not her best friend. He instinctively knew he was the reason for the second thoughts.
He just shoved those thoughts back under the door of that damn room and tried not to think about it. Then Jacob died. Holy Crap! That did it. He couldn't keep his mind off Sam. Kerry had witnessed their feelings for each other first hand. It was very clear to her.
Kerry had never played the second best in her life and she had no intent to start now. She chose to end their affair just as suddenly as it had started. Kerry no longer trusted Jack with her heart; she knew he would break it if she kept seeing him. She had always known something was missing from him, but hadn't realized he was in love with someone else until she watched his and Sam's reaction to each other that day in his backyard. Kerry knew immediately why Jack had insisted that they keep their relationship so quiet. She had thanked her lucky stars that she had only invested three months. She had gotten out before he had totally broken her heart.
Jack knew he didn't really love Kerry like he had loved Sam or Sara. He had still resented the fact that he had lost her. His intention in inventing Sam to the cabin was to get a chance to clear the air between them. To find out if they still had a chance. He had strongly suspected that Sam would not be marrying Pete.
Sam had never told him that she had broken up with Pete. Even now he didn't know, just as Sam didn't know Kerry had broken up with Jack. That was part of the unbearable silence between them, each was forced to live with the one person they not only loved but was in love with. Both were such idiots, neither knew how the other felt or that there were no ties holding them back other than the regs of course.
TBC
Chapter End Notes:
Any and all comments are most appreciated. And if I can figure out how to add the next chapters??!!