TITLE: The Right Thing
AUTHOR: Sorraia
FEEDBACK: Any and all...Please Review!!! :-)
ARCHIVE: Please ask first
WRITTEN: 7/24/04
SPOILERS: hmmm...Seasons 7 & 8 mostly I guess, some of my info is based on spoilers posted at Gateworld for S8.
TIMELINE: Speculative Season 8 after the proposal in 'Affinity'
RATING: PG, I guess, for mild language - not sure how this works...
CATEGORIES: Angst/Drama/Romance/Friendship - not sure how this works either...
SUMMARY: Sam got in a fight with Pete...where do you think she went for comfort? vbg S/JAUTHOR'S NOTE: While this is not actually the first fan fiction I have ever written, it is the first one I have made public anywhere on the net. I chose this one as the first for two main reasons.1.) It explores a storyline I personally would very much like to see continued/played out on the show.
2.) It sticks to the show canon and the S/J characters(not necessarily Pete) as they would be seen if it aired in a real episode. In other words, they would never resign or retire or go against the regs, therefore in this fic, they don't either. Sorry to disappoint the shippers.
I am a shipper myself, and thoroughly love to read about the Sam and Jack exploits 'off the air' so to speak. However I think I would be disappointed in them as characters if they ever went against the values they so truely believe in on the show. Not that I wouldn't be eeeeping like crazy if they actually did anything! :-)
That said, a note on stalker- boy.g I am not anti-Pete, I think he was a good addition to the show to help flesh out Sam's character a bit more. I just don't want him to stick around til the end. This fic is an exaggeration of how I think things between them would most likely play out. I say exaggeration because I don't think Pete would actually be this brutal, but it was necessary for this particular story. I may still breakdown and write another version with an alternate ending where things go, um, a bit differently for our two favorite angst-ridden soldiers. But this fic shall remain in tact as is and completed.
Lastly, my biggest concern for this fic is keeping the characters true, so please review and let me know if I'm way off on something they might say or do. Thanks so much! Here goes...
Note: Thoughts are in parentheses.
THE RIGHT THING BY SORRAIA
She raises her hand to the door to knock for the third time, and for the third time she drops it back to her side.
He had just shut off the tv, ready to call it a night, when he thought he heard a noise outside. (Probably just the wind or trees, it is raining pretty hard.) No, there it was again, almost, a whimper? (Could there be a dog out there? Maybe hurt in the storm.) He gets up and walks to the front door...
It's pouring. It takes a brief moment for his brain to process the person before him. She's soaked through, and she's crying, her tears completely blending with the rain. But he can still tell, her eyes are all red and puffy as she stands slouched in a posture of emotional defeat.
"What the hell...Carter!"
She barely raises her head to look at him.
"Oh for cryin' out loud, get in here."
She steps in over the threshold as he turns to get a towel from the hall closet. He wraps it around her and trys to steer her into the other room. But she stops and looks at him with such pain and anguish.
"It's over. He's gone."
She spoke so softly, he wasn't even sure he had heard her correctly until she started to cry again. Unsure what else to do, he just pulls her into his arms and lets her cry, suppressing his first reaction to go beat the crap outta him for hurting her.
Moments pass, him not knowing what to say, so he remains silent and holds her, just trying to be there for her. She stays wrapped in the cocoon of the towel and doesn't hug him back.
As her sobs start slowly abating, she starts to move away, and he releases her reluctantly, hands still on her shoulders for support. He brushes some stray, wet hair out of her eyes and just smiles sweetly as she finally looks up at him.
"Thank you, Sir."
Looking away, maybe a little too quickly, he says, "Ah jeez, Carter, you're dripping all over my floor. How long were you out there anyway?" Not really wanting or expecting an answer.
She smiles very slightly, shrugging silently, her shoulders relaxing a little.
He just nods (Good, that's a start.) and walks her into the living room.
She looks around like she's never been here before, feeling like she's coming out of a dream, or maybe even still in one. (What am I doing here? Why is this happening?) Her mind clears a little...
"I should go, Sir, it's late, I'm sorry I bothered you..."
"Carter." He looks at her questioningly.
"Sir? I'm sorry, I don't know why I came...I should...I should just go"
"Obviously you needed someone to lean on and talk to, or to drip on as the case may be."
She couldn't help but smile a little at his awkward attempts to lighten the mood.
"C'mon, sit down, I'll get you a drink."
"Yes Sir. Um, maybe I should, uh, just go get a little dried off first. Wouldn't want to drip on anything else." She smiled weakly.
He frowned at the Sir, but then relaxed at the last comment. He nodded his head toward the hall.
"Go ahead. There's more towels in the bathroom. And you should probably take those clothes off."
He winced slightly as her head shot up. "Oh, er..I meant, if you want to change out of those cold, dripping wet clothes...there's, uh, sweats and a robe behind the bathroom door. You can toss the wet stuff in the dryer, next room over."
Slightly smirking at his comment and attempted recovery, "Thank you, Sir."
She returned to find him sitting on the couch, beer in hand.
"Hey." She sat down at the opposite end of the couch, sideways so she was facing him and curled her legs under the robe
"Hey. Better?"
"Yes. Thank you Sir. I'll get out of your hair as soon as the clothes are dry."
"It's OK Carter, stay as long as you need to. I'm used to not getting much sleep because of... things." (Did he really almost say because of her? That wouldn't have been good.)
"Things, Sir?"
"Yeah, you know, things...like Daniel's babbling, being held prisoner by Goa'uld, the end of the world as we know it, soaking wet Colonels on my doorstep..." He looked sideways at her with a shrug "You know, things...Happens all the time."
"yes, Sir" she grinned
"Here." He handed her a cup of hot tea. "Drink that to warm up, then I've got a beer with your name on it."
"Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir"
"Carter. Drop the Sir...please. At least while you're in my house...wearing my clothes...it's just...weird."
"Yes, Sir" She replied with a smile that told him that one was on purpose.
"Cute" He smirked back.
She sipped her tea slowly, thinking.
They sat in silence for awhile. Her not knowing what to say, how to say it, or how much of what had happened she even wanted to tell him. He just sipped his beer and waited, knowing she would talk if and when she was ready to.
"He left."
He didn't need to ask who, he knew.
"I thought everything was OK. I thought we were happy. I thought I had found...I don't know, something, to make my life more complete. Apparently he thought otherwise. Or I thought otherwise. Or, she sighs I really don't know..." She started to cry a little again.
He just sat there, letting her continue, not wanting to do anything to make her stop when she seemed to need to get it out so badly.
"Everything seemed fine. It was...normal. I got home, we ordered dinner, we ate like always, discussing each other's days...everything seemed fine. Then, I don't know...all hell broke loose. Suddenly, we were fighting, screaming at each other." She starts crying harder at the memory of it.
He reaches out to put a hand on her shoulder, but hesitates, not sure if it's the right time for it yet. She sees and tries to give him a half-smile for his effort. "It's OK." So, he let's his hand fall to her shoulder, giving a slight squeeze and a half-smile back.
"So what was the fight about? If you want to tell me, of course."
"I'm not sure, or I am, but..." She takes a deep breath and gathers her thoughts. He can see from her expression that whatever it was it's distressing her to think about it.
"It's OK, Sam, you don't have to..."
"No, actually, I think maybe I do."
He nods and waits for her to continue.
"Basically, it was a normal after work, over dinner conversation for us. He had just finished telling me about the stake-out and arrest of a drug dealer he had been chasing for some time and I was telling him about Teal'c and Ishta and Daniel's latest escapades with the translation of that new tablet. Then I was in the middle of telling him about Colson, when he just started pacing like crazy. Asking tons of questions, most of which I couldn't answer and asking me about Daniel and Teal'c and you and...I don't know, somewhere in there we backtracked to the conversations we had when he first proposed. About me being in danger all the time and what if we have kids someday and that I'll never let you go."
She started to cry again and this time he knew just what to do.
"C'mere" he said reaching out his hand to her. She took it and moved over next to him to lean her head on his shoulder. Their hands dropped to the couch to lay between them, still intertwined.
"I told him this was silly, he does the same thing everyday, going out there and risking his life too. But he kept going. He said I was never there for him, that if you or the SGC calls I jump with no second thoughts what it does to him. But I have thought about it. I've lost sleep over it. And he knew right from the start what my life and my work entailed. And then he said the worst thing, I actually slapped him."
"What? What did he say?" Jack could tell he was starting to let anger slip into his voice, but he needed to know what this bastard had the nerve to say to her that hurt her so badly.
"He said, 'Well, I don't want to have to worry about where you are and what you're doing and with who. If him and that mountain are more important than me and what I want then I don't want you in my bed anymore. Make your choice Sam. Him and your 'team' or me.' At first I was so shocked. At him and the words he said, that he could say them so easily with such brutality, spitting them out at me, and then the ultimatum he gave me. I started shaking and crying and screaming. I yelled at him that it tears me up everytime I go through that gate, that I might not come back to him. He just looked at me with this look I can't even described and said, 'Are you worried you might not come back to me, or him?" I slapped him and I threw his ring at him and told him to get the hell out of my house. At first I didn't think he was going to leave. He just stared at me and at the ring on the floor. I thought he would appologize, or hold me, or do something to make it all right and normal again. But he didn't. He picked up the ring, put it on the table next to me and said it was to remind me of what I had just given up. Then he walked out the door. He's really gone."
Jack looked down at their hands still intertwined on the couch between them. He lifted them up and looked at her finger where the ring she had been so proud to show off just days earlier no longer was. Not knowing why, he brought her hand to his lips and brushed a soft kiss across her finger where the ring used to be.
She looked up at him, first with a look of surprise in her eyes, followed closely by appreciation and thanks for the comfort he was providing her. It was exactly what she needed. He wasn't asking for anything in return, he just wanted to be there for her. To be the best friend she knew he always will be no matter what happened. How could Pete have ever asked her to give that up. But she knew why, because he had known why. He had seen what she had tried to block away and ignore. That these people, her team, all of them, but especially Jack, meant so much more to her. And that they would always come first. She smiled slightly at him as he lowered their hands looking at her cautiously, his eyes asking if she was OK.
She put her head back on his shoulder and they sat like that for awhile.
"Jack..." He looked at her at the use of his name, but she kept her head on his shoulder, eyes lowered.
"Earlier, When I got here and I broke down crying, dripping on your floor..."
"It's OK, nothing a mop won't fix..."
She smiled, "No, that's not it. You...you didn't say a word, you just held me and let me cry."
wincing slightly "Sorry, you know I'm not very good at saying the right thing or dealing with situations like that"
"But that's just it, you were perfect, you did exactly what I needed you to do. You always know what to do. Sometimes it might not seem like it at the time, but it usually works out right."
He gave her hand a little squeeze to show he understood.
"You asked me before how long I was out in the rain. I'm not sure, exactly. I was very confused. I couldn't figure out why I came here, what I would say. I almost knocked three times before you opened the door, suddenly there, just like I needed you to be. You say you're no good at this, and maybe sometimes you're not. But tonight, in every instance, you did just the right thing. The towel, the tea, the wise-ass remarks, all of it. And that's why I was here. I realize that now. I thought I could complete my life by looking outside the SGC. That there was no way everything I could ever need to make me happy would be right there. But it is. You guys are my family, the Air Force is my life, the Stargate is my wildest dreams come true. I get to do what I love to do and be with the people I love to be with every single day. I am happy. Granted, I'm not too thrilled with certain aspects of my life, but perfection would boring. she laughed a little Without the Goa'uld fights and the complicated new technologies and the excitement of saving the world every week...without you guys...my friends, my family then I would be incomplete. And maybe I can't have everything my heart desires she squeezed his hand slightly, at least not right now, but the dreams and hope still get me through. And knowing that you're there, will always be there, gets me through. Knowing that you, we, are doing the right thing."
"Sam..."
"I know, but the time will come, and it will all work out. Until then I'm OK with the dreams and the hope that you give me."
She finally lifted her head to look at him, his eyes telling her everything she needed to know but he couldn't say. He squeezed her hand and she put her head back down on his shoulder. He very lightly placed a kiss on her forehead and just leaned his head against hers. He didn't need to see the content smile on her face to know it had been the right thing to do.
Fin