Who's The Blonde Stranger?
Rated: PG
Category: Team, J/S, Angst, Fluff, POV, Slice of Life
Season: Seven, Set Several Weeks After Heroes
Spoilers: Heroes
Summary: A Night At Jack's House Leads To An Interesting Discovery.
Note: To those non-Parrotheads out there, Jimmy Buffett has an album called 'Riddles in the Sand'. It's not a happy album, but it's a good one. A while back, I realized just how many songs on said album could be applied to my favorite sci-fi 'couple', Sam and Jack. So, a self challenge to write a story for each song on the album ensued. This is the first. Not a song fic.
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"Who's the blonde stranger, who entered my life? Making me over in the moonlight?"
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We've been spending a lot more time together lately.
A lot more.
All of us. Me, Carter, Daniel, and T.
We're all hurting, in our own ways, and while none of us will admit it, I think we're scared.
We're scared to be alone right now.
We've seen death a hundred times, sometimes a lot closer up than we'd like. It should be pretty routine to us, and unfortunately, it often is. But this time…well…this time it's not.
One of our own was taken from us. Again, it's not the first time, and it won't be the last, but this one just hits really hard. Janet Fraiser was a good friend to all of us and a damn good doctor. None of us would be here if she hadn't patched us up a million times in the last seven years.
To lose her healing soul to a random staff blast is just so unfair, and as I think about Janet's death for what seems the billionth time in the last few weeks, I feel the familiar anger start to swell within me. Why did it have to be her? She was an innocent. She was only there to try to help. I haven't seen the tape, and I don't want to. I have enough picture perfect play-by-plays of horrific scenes in my head, thank you. But Daniel told me, finally, what happened on that battlefield. Janet died like she lived. Reaching out to help another with no thought for herself.
Damn Janet Fraiser and her irrepressible compassion.
The only good thing to come out of her death was that my team is closer now. Daniel was seriously screwed in the head for a few weeks after we lost Janet, and while we never discussed it, one of us stayed with him almost twenty-four seven.
He made me nervous. He didn't talk, he didn't eat, and more than once I thought he and I had somehow swapped roles. Daniel became me after I lost Charlie. He took risks on missions he didn't have to take, and he was just so angry. He raged a losing battle against the world.
He's better now, though, and slowly but surely his little boy smile is coming back. It will be long time before he heals, but I'm not so worried these days.
Besides, we're spending our down time together lately, so I can keep my eye on him. Somehow, as if we're drawn together by some sort of irresistible magnetic force, my team and I are gravitating toward group outings again. We haven't done that sort of thing in a long time, but it's nice. Really nice. I've missed it.
We don't have to say it, but none of us wants to spend much time alone yet. It's when you're alone that the pain comes back. With nothing to distract you, Janet's face floats in front of you, and you feel her loss right to the core of your being.
And so, tonight, yet again, I find my house full. It's a beautiful night, and Carter and Daniel are sitting on my deck stargazing. There isn't a cloud in the sky, and the soft breeze that ruffles the leaves of the trees is cool but not cold.
I watch them from inside for a moment before returning to my task. After all, I was only supposed to refill Carter's wine and grab another beer for myself. Guess my thoughts ran away from me for a minute when I realized that Janet wouldn't approve of Sam's beverage.
Carter's on some pretty good meds right now. She took a tumble on our last mission, and her ankle is the size of a grapefruit. Nothing broken, though, so she'll be back up and running before long. I know that alcohol and pain meds don't really mix, but I simply can't deny giving Sam this simple pleasure on such a nice night.
I head back out to the deck, wine and beer in hand, just in time to hear Daniel saying good night.
Daniel's standing behind Sam, and he gives her shoulder a light squeeze before nodding to me and stepping around me to go inside. He knows he's welcome to the spare room, the couch, the floor or even my bed anytime, and he looks almost asleep on his feet, so I just nod back and let him go.
I sit in the lounge style lawn chair he's just vacated and join Carter looking up at the sky.
It really is a gorgeous night, but as I hand Sam her wine, I realize the night is nothing next to the woman next to me. An entirely unprofessional thought wanders across my mind, but I quickly shut it out. Sam's had a hard time with the loss of Janet, too, but, as always, she's stayed too busy to notice herself. I see the tighter, deeper lines around her mouth, the slight slump to her shoulders, and the shadow of something melancholy in her eyes when she thinks I'm not looking, but I pretend not to notice. Sam is strong, and she's got to be even stronger now. She's been looking after Cassie ever since we lost Janet, and I know that's taking a toll on her. I'm thankful that tonight, at least, she gets a break. Teal'c took Cass to the movies, and those two are likely to be out all night.
Fine by me.
Sam deserves a break. She needs to unwind a bit.
We sit there on the deck silently for what seems like eternity. The only sounds are the rustling leaves around us and the occasional sigh or tiny sipping noise as one of us drinks.
It's a comfortable silence.
I finish my beer eventually, and set my bottle down on the deck next to me with a little thunk.
Carter seems to come awake from a near doze at the sound, and she looks over at me with amusement in her eyes. She makes the tiniest chuckling sound, and I can't help but wonder what's so funny.
"What?"
Sam shakes her head dismissively. "Nothing."
I look at her in the soft moonlight for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to let it go at that. Her eyes are soft, and she looks more relaxed than she's been in a long time, so I do.
"Ok."
She laughs softly again and surprises me by speaking.
"It's just that this reminded me of something."
"Really? What?"
"It's silly, really."
"So?"
Carter laughs at that, a real honest-to-goodness laugh. It takes her a minute to respond.
"Good point. It's just that…well…when I was little…I don't know, maybe five or six, my dad used to take me stargazing up on this hill near our house. It was a great place to see everything, and it was so quiet. God, I haven't thought about that in years."
"So we can blame Jacob for your career choice then."
Sam laughs again. God, it's nice to hear that laugh tonight.
"In more ways than one, I guess…that's not the funny part of the story, though…"
"Oh?" I feel my eyebrows inch upward, wondering what's coming.
Carter smirks at me slightly and answers. "Yeah…my dad…well…I asked him what the stars were. I was really little, and…well…he told me that the stars were little fairies, and that each and every one of them was sent to earth to watch over a little girl and keep her safe."
My mind has a hard time wrapping itself around the image of a Samantha Carter, at any age, not knowing everything about everything, and I'm quiet. I don't know if it's the wine or the night or the meds talking, but Sam keeps going and she tells me something that I never would've expected to hear from her in a million years.
"And I believed him."
I find my voice, finally, and reach out to Carter with barely a whisper.
"Really?"
Sam snorts, and looks over at me with a dreamy look. She's lost in the past, in a happy memory, and I feel almost like an intruder.
"I was a little girl, Jack, and he was my father. Of course I did."
Sam's openness startles me a little, as does her use of my name, and although I like both very, very much, I can feel my resident defense mechanism of sarcasm stirring to life in response to the closeness. When I speak, though, the bitterness is lost somehow, and only open curiosity and concern come out in my voice.
"For how long?"
Another snort issues from Carter's nose, and she laughs to herself again. "Probably about a year."
"Fast learner."
Sam looks up at the sky again wistfully and it's a long moment before she speaks again.
"Yeah…sometimes I still want to believe that, though…it's a nice thought…."
I look skyward, too, and I can't help but agree. There's not a touch of cynicism in me right now, and I'm grateful that Sam doesn't seem embarrassed by her confession.
"Yeah, it is…"
We fall silent again, and my gaze eventually slides back to the chair beside me. I'm struck suddenly by how little I really know about this woman. I feel privileged to have been allowed to share a treasured memory with her, and I realize that I want more. I want to know Sam Carter. I mean, really know her. I want to know that she used to believe in fairies and that there are nights that she longs for those innocent days of carefree imaginings, where not everything could be explained away and the world still held some magic.
My mind wanders over the possibilities of more nights like this, and a smile tugs at my lips. I know that tomorrow is another day, and I'll have to go back to my professional distance from my 2IC, but for tonight…just for tonight…well, like the woman said…it's a nice thought, and as thoughts of truly getting to know Samantha Carter, with all her strengths AND her weaknesses, ramble around in my head, I drift off to a peaceful and comfortable sleep.
The last thing I see is the upturned still awake face of my friend, bathed in silvery moonlight, and it's an image I won't soon forget.
When I wake, I'm alone.
It's a little chilly, but there's a blanket thrown over me, and I'm comfortable.
I smile a silent thanks to Sam for the cover, and stand to stretch wearily before heading into the house. In the near darkness of the living room, I make out Daniel asleep on the couch, with one arm dangling over the edge. As I make my way to my bedroom, I peek into the guest room to see Carter nestled snugly under the blankets there.
Briefly, I want to join her, just for the night, but as a smile plays across my face, I softly shut the door and continue on my way. I fall asleep again quickly, knowing I did the right thing, and comforting myself with thoughts that maybe someday I'll get to know that blonde stranger down the hall, after all.
Maybe someday…stranger things have happened. After all, Carter believes in fairies.