Sam woke with a start and sat up in bed. Whatever terrible monster had been lurking in her dreams quickly faded away, and she rubbed her eyes with the tips of her fingers. Stupid aliens, she thought.
She lay back down on her pillow and turned to face the slender woman sleeping peacefully next to her. The doctor always slept so soundly, her breaths deep and even, the slightest hint of a smile on her face. At least I have this. She smiled to herself and watched Janet sleeping, envying the easy way she shrugged the cares of the day for this mantle of tranquility.
It was not always so for the doctor. There was a time, soon after Cassie came to them, that Janet would often be the one waking from nightmares. On nights when Sam was staying over in the guest room, Janet would go crawl into bed with her for the rest of the night, glad for the company of her dearest friend. Other nights saw her awake on the couch watching reruns until first light and time to start a new day.
Those weeks had been hard on Janet, Sam knew, and wished they had known then what they knew now. So many nights when she could have held her friend close and offered her the comfort she really needed – no, deserved – but that neither of them realized to be a possibility.
But that time was long past and their relationship had strengthened and deepened over time to a point where no other result was possible. Sam liked to think that, in the infinite alternate universes she knew to exist, with every variation of every possible scenario imaginable, this was an infallible constant – Sam Carter loves Janet Fraiser. She imagined it as an immutable property governed by quarks and gluons, leptons and hadrons. She decided, in her sleepy fog, that she must test this theory one day. I'll just go to lots of other universes, collect enough data points…
As she started to fall back to sleep, she reached for Janet's hand and gently stroked her fingers. Janet picked up Sam's hand and kissed her palm. She opened her eyes long enough for a silent exchange - you ok? and in response, I am now, love. She smiled, then her eyes closed again and she returned to whatever peaceful place she occupied during the night. Sam watched her for a moment longer before joining her there, their fingers still entwined.