Unending Her Happily Ever After
Spoilers for "Unending"
Summary: So much left unsaid...what if Teal'c allowed himself to give just ONE anonymous hint. Sam/Jack
Sam sat in her quarters, staring at the cello. Her cello. Ten years. She'd been practicing the cello for ten years. Ever since she'd locked them in a time dilation field, trying to protect the Asgard legacy.
She thought back to her last conversation with Thor. Perhaps they really were the Fifth Race. But whether they were or not did not mean that they were capable of caring for the massive database or the hundreds of new technologies. They were too infantile in their understanding of the universe. And the longer she sat here, the longer she realized it. She had made a mistake. A single mistake in her quest for salvation. She had promised Thor she would try not to make the same mistake as the Asgard, but she had. Suspended in time, she had made the extinct race's same mistake.
Thinking about the Asgard, their mistakes, and the Tau'ri position as the Fifth Race made her think of the one person she wished most were here: her husband. She retrieved the photograph taken at their impromptu wedding in a hotel ballroom in Las Vegas. She would have been fine running to one of the dozens of wedding chapels, but he wouldn't hear of it. He'd booked one of the smaller hotel ballrooms, called a minister, and their friends. He'd offered to wait a few more days, but she couldn't wait. She wouldn't wait any longer. They'd waited eight years to finally explore new worlds of their love and attraction, and she would wait no longer.
So, Cassie, Daniel, Teal'c and General Hammond had flown in for the event. She and Jack had called Mark, but he had refused the invitation because of her recent break-up with Pete. Apparently, he thought Jack was merely the rebound. That this engagement would last a day or so before she realized it wasn't a good idea.
She caressed the photographic Jack's face, wishing that the Asgard technology, able to turn matter into anything they could desire, could find some way to reunite her with Jack. After all, Daniel and Vala had one another. So, why couldn't she have Jack?
She knew it was selfish. Cameron Mitchell, who'd recently been getting fairly serious with Carolyn Lam, was without her. And General Landry had recently patched things up with Carolyn, and really begun to act like her father. Neither of them had their loved ones. Teal'c didn't have Rya'c and Corrin. He didn't have Ish'ta. And she wasn't thinking of them. Only of Jack and the fact that after eight years, they should have been able to live their "happily ever after". She shouldn't have been growing old without him.
There was a beep indicating a visitor requesting permission to enter. She REALLY didn't want to talk to anyone, but as she was the only scientist on board, she was on-call all the time in case something happened to the ship. Something might be catastrophically wrong. Not that being stranded in a time dilation field wasn't something already catastrophically wrong, she thought wryly.
She carefully placed the picture on her nightstand, much like her counterpart from the SGA all those years before. Then, she walked over and opened the door to find Teal'c.
"Colonel Carter." He greeted with a slight nod in her direction.
"Teal'c, we've known each other for more than twenty years. I think you can at least call me by my name instead of my rank."
"Samantha Carter...O'Neill." He corrected.
Tears welled up in her eyes. "Today's our twelfth anniversary, Teal'c. And I've barely seen him for six months of that time. Not to mention that I'm on a God-forsaken ship with all of my family EXCEPT him and to make matters worse, in his time line, for all I know, it's been just a little under two years since we've gotten married! I mean we're not even celebrating the same anniversary on the same day, let alone together!"
Teal'c stepped forward and silently embraced her.
"I miss him so much." She admitted, vulnerably.
"Do you regret the time you've spent as his wife, even if you have not had him with you at all times?"
"No." She whispered, her voice dulled by her tears.
"Then this is merely a test in your relationship. An opportunity for growth. Perhaps even a test of your resolve."
"My resolve?" She asked, puzzled.
"How eager are you to return to his side?"
She sighed. "I've tried, Teal'c. Believe me, I have. But I don't think I can make it."
"What would O'Neill say?"
She chuckled through her tears. "Come on, Carter, you've blown up a sun, for cryin' out loud! Now, get off your butt and save yourself!"
Teal'c smiled appreciatively. "If that is what he would say, then honor his request, if only in his memory."
She nodded. "Thanks, Teal'c."
He turned to leave before he stopped, seeing her cello in the corner of the tidy room.
"What is it?"
He turned to look at her again. "Is it not usual to have sheet music when you play a musical instrument?"
She nodded. "Yes, it is. But even the Asgard computers can't create music..."
"If you were unable to access music to play, how then did you manage to learn to play this instrument?"
She smiled. "When I play, I think of Jack. And I play whatever melody I have in my head until the one coming out of the cello matches it."
"Then you are truly gifted, Samantha."
She looked at the solo instrument. "Thank you, Teal'c. But the cello isn't just a dream of mine. It's a representation of my dreams that I've set aside for when 'someday' comes."
"I do not believe I understand."
"My relationship with Jack was something that I hoped for, longed for, prayed for. But I always wanted it 'someday'. For forty years, I've wanted to play the cello. But I put it off saying I would learn 'someday' when I had the time. Well, the irony is that I have both of those things, but the time that I needed to learn to play the cello has forced me away from Jack."
She sighed. "For eight years, I wanted to hold Jack, to call him my own...but even when 'someday' suddenly became 'today', I held onto the idea of 'someday'. Someday I would retire, and we would start a family. Someday, we would actually live under the same roof. Go to bed together and wake up together. And now, I'm light years, and literal years, away from him because of a mistake I made in trying to procure the time to make sure I could get back to him."
Teal'c turned a wise eye to his friend after glancing once again at the cello. "If your regrets fuel your desire to set things right again, hold onto them until they have fulfilled their purpose. But if they distract you from your task, your goal, or your endeavor, release them with the firm blieve that O'Neill would want nothing less than your happiness."
She smiled sadly. "Thanks, Teal'c. I'll try to keep that in mind."
--
(After the reverse time-field is activated, and SG-1 and Landry returns home)
Sam beamed into the DC apartment to find her husband puzzling over a large package in their living room.
"What's that?" She asked, setting down her bags. Landry had given SG-1 a couple of weeks' leave, suggesting that after sixty years on duty they could use a break, even if they didn't remember a thing.
"I don't know. But it's addressed to you." Jack said, looking up to see his wife.
"To me?" She asked, surprised.
"Yep."
"From whom?"
"Doesn't say." He said, puzzled. He walked over and kissed her, leaving his arm around her waist as they turned back to the large package. "Got a lover I don't know about?" He teased.
She lightly slapped his arm. "Jack!"
"I'm teasing!" He protested. "My theory is that Daniel was shopping online again and found some rock he thought you would appreciate."
She chuckled. "That we could display in our little apartment?"
Jack looked at her with a mock gasp. "It's not so little." He grumbled, theatrically.
She laughed. "You want me to open it, don't you?"
"Darn right I want you to open it. I'm just dyin' to know what's inside."
She laughed. "Okay...just give me a sec..."
Nearly twenty minutes later, they had finally pried the box open to find a cello case. Inside the case was a beautiful mahogany-colored cello.
"Jack!" She gasped as tears sprang to her eyes.
"Whoa!" He said, surprised.
"Thank you, Jack." She said, turning to throw her arms around him.
"Why're you thanking me?" He asked, seriously. "I didn't get this..."
"But...I haven't told anyone else that I..." She closed her eyes as a soft smile touched her lips. "Teal'c."
"Teal'c?" Jack asked, surprised.
"Get some coffee...this'll be a long story." She said, turning back to the cello.
"My favorite." He said, grinning as he went into the kitchen.
She laughed before noticing the small note that was slipped between the strings and the bridge. 'Someday' is today.
She looked toward the kitchen, a tiny memory tugging at her mind. She could ALMOST place the conversation, but it managed to keep eluding her.
She bit her lip before reaching for her cell phone and dialing a familiar number. "Landry." He answered.
"Sir, it's Colonel Carter. I'd like to request a transfer..."