Title: It's always the aliens!
Author's Note: Written for the "Aliens made them do it"challenge, obviously hehe! Set during the cabin trip in the end of season 8. It turned out a bit longer than I intended , but I hope that's ok. And there's a little bonus just for you as to the identity of the aliens. =D
Summary: Naturally it's the aliens as always. But this time what they made them do, cost them much more than they were willing to give. The question is, did the aliens take too much?
Genre: Angst, Romance with a touch of Humor
Special Note: This is for you Adela… hope you like it…. it's to make up for being a busy girl that doesn't reply…. hope am forgiven =D
O'Neill and Sam were sharing a sofa. Daniel and Teal'c the other. The weird cuddly toy sat alone on the armchair. For a moment it seemed to have blinked.
"Carter, is it just me or is your cuddly toy creepy?"
"Sir?"
O'Neill just pointed towards the weird figure on the chair.
"It's not mine, sir. I thought it was part of you cabin decoration."
"Come on Carter, I have better taste than that." He turned towards Daniel "A bit too old to still travel with our Teddy aren't we now Dannyboy?"
"Haha… very funny Jack, but I have never seen little 'Teddy' here before tonight."
Silently the three of them turned towards Teal'c. Without saying anything but with eyes full of amusement and accusation.
"I do not own this furry creature."
Jack's gaze lingered on Teal'c for a second longer to make sure of the validity of his words. "If none of us brought it here, then who did?"
At that the toy seemed to blink again and made a run for the door. But of course Teal'c had already intercepted it from behind, O'Neill had his sidearm pointed at it, Daniel was in the ready position for introductions and Carter was already in front of the creature with the first conclusions.
"You're…." she started to ask.
"Exactly Colonel Carter. I am from a race called the Furrlings."
"Oh my god. It's an honor to meet you. We've been…" Daniel started but O'Neill interrupted with a warning "Daniel! It's all very interesting, I'm sure. But who are you and what the hell are you doing in my cabin!"
"I'm Fluffy."
"Fluffy?" there were 7 raised eyebrows and three voices with questioning exclamations. All were met with careless blinking.
"And I was studying."
"Studying?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"You."
"Me?"
"No. You." He said pointing at both O'Neill and Carter.
"Oh!"
"Why?" Carter cut in, leaving the baffled O'Neill with his realization.
"Because your race has a very interesting physiology and thus a unique approach to human interactions. We spent years trying to unravel the nature of the phenomenon you call love. We were able to break down its cause to a small print that's hardwired into the DNA of human beings, as you would put it. So we decided to choose subjects upon which to verify our assumption. We needed two human beings who were an exact match for each other."
"Exact match?" Daniel, O'Neill and Carter all inquired at the same time.
"You see, we realized that in order for two human beings to fall in love-real love- with each other they need to have matching prints. All the couples we found had a match of at most 96% but not you. You are the only couple out there with 99.5%."
"Couple?" O'Neill exclaimed.
"So we chose you as our subjects for the experiment."
"Subjects?" O'Neill again.
"You experimented on us? How?" Carter wanted to know.
"We wanted to see if such a match could be denied progression. We devised some radiation that should have neutralized the effects of your matching prints. But your being here proves we've failed. We were so close to succeeding, though. But it seems your race is really the only race capable of true love. And for you true love really prevails at the end, no matter how high the test."
"You….?" O'Neill didn't even know what he wanted to ask. Carter's all too smart brain was having a hard time wrapping itself around all the new information and Daniel was equally stunned.
Surprisingly it was Teal'c who broke the silence "You took it upon you to mess with the lives of two fine humans, just to satisfy your own need for answers. We have once met an Asgard with such ignorance and little respect for another's life. He is called Loki, perhaps you are familiar with him."
"Please understand, my actions are nothing like those of Loki. When I came upon you, I had found you both trying to do with your brain what I have been trying to achieve with my radiation. You were both trying to deny yourselves your feelings, you had both decided to leave them inside a room, the same day you had to actually admit they existed. That's why I believed there would be no harm, I was was trying to aid you in what you were desperately trying to achieve. I succeeded on many occasions, and failed miserably on other's, just like yesterday, when you comforted her and invited her here and when you ended your engagement."
"You broke up with Pete?" that was the only thing O'Neill could react to, during the whole conversation. Carter just nodded.
"See? Even now your feeling are winning over you. You're both delighted by the facts I've given you, relived that all the avoiding wasn't really your doing."
"You mean, you actually stood between them and prevented them from being together on many occasions?" Daniel asked.
"Yes."
"That day with the ring?" Carter asked with a realization, to no one in particular.
"That was the hardest of them all. I had to apply three times the normal doze, to prevent him from acting upon his feelings."
Jack felt fury rise within him and also deep pain. He'd hurt her that day. True it wasn't really him, but it had been bothering her all this time. He gave her an apologetic look, which she returned with an understanding, relieved one. It hadn't been him.
"You! You little, cuddly nothing of a creature… you…." Jack started swearing. The sound of it wasn't pretty.
"Sir."
"Carter! This Teddy needs some perspective and I'm more than…."
"Sir!" she repeated, this time forcing him to look at her. And then he saw it. He knew what she meant. "It was not us." the realization came as almost a whisper. It was too much.
"As I said, though your love prevailed at the end, you had your own holding back at the…." the Furrling started to explain before being harshly interrupted by O'Neill. "You say nothing more! You've done enough!"
"I think it's best if you come with us. They both need some privacy, after all this intruding." Daniel suggested while leading the Furling and Teal'c outside.
"Carter, I….. ahem… Sam…. I think we need to talk."
"I guess we do… Jack."
"It was all these little aliens. They made us…."
"It was part us, too. The Air Force. The job."
"Ah!" he was a little hurt at the realization. Then another realization came to him "But when it really mattered, where it was now or never, it was entirely them."
"It is a relief to have known that." Sam admitted.
"Was it the same with you too?"
"You mean with… Pete?"
O'Neill just nodded.
"Fluffy! Did you do that with Pete too?" she shouted to the intruder in the yard.
"Indeed it was, Colonel Carter."
"Hah! What a relief!" Jack exclaimed with a grin.
"Believe me, for both of us."
"It's always the aliens and their gizmos."
Carter just giggled at how all knowing and wise he made that comment sound.
"So?"
"So?"
"Will you go out with me in my back yard, tonight?"
"Ya sure you betcha!"
So? You liked it? What do you think? Let me know… please please please =D