Charitē, by DrGemini86 (DrGemini24)

Summary: Tag to Grace, Sam finally lets go of what's been holding her back from everything she could have hoped for.

Pairing: SamDaniel, a little SamJack (if you don't like SamDaniel, shut your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears, and hum Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner at the top of your voice regardless of where you are – go on, I dare ya… brother and sister, my foot).

Rating: T

Genres: A/U, Episode-related, Post-Meridian Angst, Romance-focussed

A/N: I've been meaning to write a little post-Grace fix-it for so long but one thing led to another… but here I am! lol. This particular fic plotline is probably a bit of a cliché by now, but hey, the more the merrier, I suppose. : D I must get round to writing that Unending fix while I'm at it (I'll get the What I Should Have Told You series back up one day, which has an Unending fix in it, amongst other fixes… but if you can't/don't/won't wait, it's on Scientific Minds and FanLib under my old username of drgemini24).

Oh… and Charitē is the Greek word for Grace... or at least the Ancient Greek word for it… lol. I changed the plural ending to singular after looking it up in my Who's Who in the Ancient World book (that really is the title – it wasn't me doing my Cam voice… lol).

Double oh, I'll bet no-one spots the Rocky Mountain High mention in this chapter.

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Sam leaned against the front of the bar at O'Malley's watching Jack and Teal'c play Pool, the Jaffa soundly trouncing the Colonel. The Astrophysicist was lost in thought as she sipped her drink, thinking about what had happened aboard the Prometheus during her concussion-induced hallucinations.

Each hallucination had been striking in their own way, and strangely similar to their real-world counterparts: Teal'c, overwhelmingly strong but wise and cautious; Daniel, thinking light years outside of the box and representing her scientific side; Jack, ever the motivator in his own way… and her Dad, representing her hopes, fears and dreams.

She needed love.

'You're content, you're satisfied, you're in control and that's the problem.'

She loved what she did, her job, her millions of Wormhole Miles, her friends… what had he, or rather the hallucination of him, meant? He'd told her the answer to a question that she had longed to ask him for so long… After knowing what would happen, would he have still given his heart to her mother? Would he still have loved her, started a family with her?

'And if I were young again and I met her for the first time even knowing her fate, I would do it all again…'

Granted, he had technically been a figment of her imagination, the little speech coming from something that she wanted to believe, but it still gave her a sense of peace that despite their problems, her parents really did love each other and that she and her brother weren't accidents.

What was an even bigger bringer of peace was her realisation that she didn't love the Colonel, that he was her safety net. He was her safety net because as long as she kidded herself long and hard enough that she loved him, still knowing that he was unattainable, she could never have him and as a result, he could never break her heart.

'As long as I'm thinking about you, setting my sights on what I think is unobtainable, there's no chance of being hurt by someone else.'

The focus of her thoughts looked up from the Pool table, remarking, "Carter, you still not playing? It's your party. You'll hurt Daniel's feelings… hey, where is Dannyboy by the way?"

Sam glanced around the restaurant, replying as Jack and Teal'c looked too, "I think he went to the Men's room, Sir."

"Figures… you'd think he'd be able to hold more than a thimbleful of beer in that bladder of his… I'll go check to see he hasn't escaped to go back to his office. That man…"

As Teal'c smirked at the real reason for the Colonel's departure – chiefly, the Jaffa's landslide victory – Sam said, spotting the Archaeologist in the distance, "Sir, no need – he's here."

Jack followed her gaze and then shrugged, remarking as he returned to the game, "At least the boy didn't get kidnapped on the way to the bathroom for once... You gotta wonder who he ticked off in a past life."

Sam smiled briefly into her drink and then watched the Archaeologist make his way back to them, getting accosted by a loud and tipsy Ferretti in the process. Sam watched him, an eye on the game and she frowned slightly as she returned to reflecting over what had happened.

Daniel had appeared to her, twice. The first time he had appeared, he had been batting his eyelashes and bugging her about the cloud quite possibly being sentient, telling her that running the same Hyper Drive simulations over and over wouldn't throw up anything new.

'Yep, I'd say you're stuck all right. Oh come on Sam, you're running the same diagnostic for probably four hours now. What makes you think the results are suddenly gonna change? Sam? Hello?'

But that hallucination of him had been so cheerful, so playful, so full of passion… and so unlike her. Her Dad was right, she was content. She wasn't truly happy. When was the last time she marvelled at the ripples in an active event horizon? When was the last time she looked up at the stars and saw an infinite number of pretty little lights casting their shadows softer than a lullaby on a dark mountaintop?

She was brought of our her reverie by a familiar voice asking, "Penny for your thoughts?"

Startled, she looked to her left, seeing Daniel leaning against the bar next to her, and he said with a small smile, "Sorry… you just seemed light years away."

She replied softly as her gaze moved out to the Pool table again, "I guess I was."

He asked, concerned, "Are you ok?"

She looked at him again and replied with a tiny smile, "I'm fine."

He gazed at her for a moment and then said, "You had a tough day yesterday."

"Tell me about… on second thoughts, don't."

Noticing that her glass was almost empty, he asked, "Do you want another drink?"

"Are you trying to get me drunk?"

He blushed and then remarked with a cheeky smile, "Only if you want me to."

She smiled, inwardly surprised at the uncharacteristic… wait, was that flirting? She closed her eyes for a moment and then said with a shrug, "It's nice just to watch things for once."

He nodded in understanding and then Jack called, "Dannyboy, how long did it take you to shake the dew off the lily?! Jesus."

Daniel promptly blushed as Sam cleared her throat softly in embarrassment at the metaphor, looking down at her glass, and Teal'c said, "It is neither wise nor courteous to relate humorous remarks of a vulgar nature in MajorCarter's presence. On Chulak, you would be pelted with the remains of a festering rodent for three days and nights."

Jack grimaced, remarking, "Well buddy, thankfully we're not on Chulak."

He looked at Daniel and said, "You joining us or what?"

Daniel looked at Sam for a moment, the Astrophysicist nodding and he was about to join the men when he was approached by a female. Sam couldn't make out the words but by the way the woman ran her fingers slowly up his forearm, it definitely wasn't casual. He shook his head and said something, inclining his head towards the Pool table and the woman promptly looked disappointed, shooting a bemused Jack an odd look.

Sam smiled as she placed her now empty glass on the bar top behind her, remarking to herself that they really did need to do something about going out as a team if they even hoped to 'get Daniel a girl by Christmas', as the Colonel once said not long after the Archaeologist had got his memories back.

Her smile then vanished at the thought of him with another woman and she mentally chastised herself for thinking such thoughts. Her head began to swim from the small amounts of alcohol that Janet would certainly kill her for if she ever found out, and the Astrophysicist sat down on a stool and continued to watch her friends while her head was continuously bombarded with thoughts, many of them painful.

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