Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine; I just enjoy playing with them. No remuneration of any kind has been exchanged in relation to this work of fiction. All rights are retained by the legal owners of the Stargate franchise, its subsidiaries, licensees and assigns.
Summary: The word hasn't been spoken between them in years. For Sam and Jack it's finally time to talk about fishing. Set just before the final scene in Threads/Moebius. S/J established (almost).
Note: A little piece of fluffiness that came to me in the wee morning hours, as these things so often do. Because I've frequently contemplated what that final fishing invite was like before we see Sam and Jack sitting together on the dock behind Jack's cabin.
It's About Fishing
They stood together side by side in the dappled sunlight—looking straight ahead, their shoulders barely touching—dressed in the crisp pressed blue of the United States Air Force. Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter stood erect before the final resting place of her father, Retired General Jacob Carter. Her luminous blue eyes shone with tears she refused to let fall. After all the dangerous adventures and near death experiences they had shared over the previous six years there was still a part of her that could not believe he was actually gone.
General Jack O'Neill remained beside Sam as the rest of the funeral party had offered condolences and gradually melted away. It was an unspoken understanding among the team that he would not be leaving until she did. So he waited.
Jack wanted nothing more at that moment than to take her in his arms like he had when she came to him in his infirmary room after Janet had died; to help ease the pain and loss both of them were feeling. But here, in the open, attired in all the trappings of their military ranks and positions, it just wasn't possible.
He heard Sam give a quiet sniffle beside him, as if she had just about passed the limit of what she could hold in and he couldn't not reach out to her. His index finger gently rubbed across the knuckles of her nearer hand. Just once. Back and forth. Before he could pull his hand away again, Sam's own index finger hooked around his and held it fast.
Minutes passed as the two officers continued standing together, not quite holding hands.
"Jack." Sam's tentative voice finally broke through the silence.
Startled by the highly unusual occurrence of hearing his first name falling from her lips, Jack abruptly turned to look down upon his former second in command. Her face was shadowed by the cover she wore over her burnished blond hair. Still, he could see determination there as she continued to look fixedly ahead.
"I want to go fishing." She expressed with conviction.
His own equally shadowed brow rose in question. After the slightest pause he responded. "You sure about this?"
A slight smile unfolded on Sam's lips as she turned her gaze upon him. He was giving her an out, perhaps afraid that she was too vulnerable at this time with the loss of her father and her recently broken engagement. But she didn't need an escape clause. She knew exactly what she wanted.
"Yes." Sam intoned firmly, with a slight but dazzling smile.
Jack pursed his lips in a vain attempt to hold back his own delighted grin as he spoke, "Okay."
They continued to regard one another openly. Jack's deep brown eyes reflecting and returning the unbounded affection found in Sam's shimmering blue depths. It was as if time no longer had a hold upon them and for an instant they were transported back to that moment of raw emotion when they stood before one another separated by an invisible force shield that had briefly pulled down the intangible barriers between them. What they had shared then had only magnified and intensified through the intervening years, and could no longer be contained in any room.
Reluctantly, Sam released Jack's finger. She stepped over to the rose draped casket and placed a hand on the shiny mahogany surface. Her father always wanted to be right at the end. She would take his advice and be happy.
Sam stood and moved back to Jack's side. Wordlessly they turned together and headed down the path toward the waiting car, not actually touching but no longer apart.