Reassignment - part 3
Hey guys - just saw Atlantis S5 episode 2: 'The seed'. I hate Woolsey slightly less now, as he's learning that the rules are not God. Still hate the IOA for replacing Sam though, and Woolsey is far from house trained - he still needs a LOT of breaking in by the SGA boys. And girls. Teyla and Jennifer are awesome.
"Daniel?" Sam called as she rounded the corner to his office. It was empty. "Huh."
She looked at her watch, and realized her mistake, turning on her heel and walking back the way she'd come. She almost collided with Jack in the hallway.
"Hey!" He greeted her. "Daniel not home?"
"It's 10:30 on a Tuesday." She responded with a grin. "They're playing basketball."
Sam had not even got through the doorway to the sport hall before she was almost knocked off her feet by a 5'8 raven haired alien emitting a high pitched squeal.
"Hi Vala." Sam said, returning the hug with a grin.
"Sam! When did you get in?" Cameron Mitchell asked with a huge smile, as the three men of SG-1 broke off their match to swamp the astrophysicist in hugs.
"About forty five minutes ago."
"She even beat me here." Jack said, ambling in after his wife and succeeding in drawing the group's attention away from her for a moment.
"Hi Jack." Daniel said with only a little surprise. He supposed it only made sense for Jack to be here as Sam got back to Earth for the first time in over two months.
"Daniel. Teal'c. Kids." Jack nodded at the four, Vala looking slightly affronted at being referred to as a kid.
"I'm gonna have another crack at finding Woolsey." Jack said. "But I want her back at 1700 hours." He added, looking pointedly at Teal'c, knowing he'd make sure she was ready to leave on time, before leaving Sam with her old team.
Daniel frowned at Sam. "Woolsey?"
"Yeah. I guess you haven't heard."
"Heard what?" Cam asked.
Sam took a deep breath. "I've been removed from command. The IOA are replacing me with Woolsey. He told me in as I got back in the Gateroom."
For a moment no one said anything, shock wiping out the team's speech.
"What?" Cameron blurted out eventually.
"Why?" Vala added.
"Politics." Daniel said angrily. "That's it, isn't it? They want complete control of Atlantis, and what better way to do that than to put one of their own in command."
"It will be a great loss for the Atlantis expedition." Teal'c said gravely. Sam smiled at him.
"Thanks, Teal'c."
"So, what are you going to do now?" Daniel asked.
"I don't know." Sam answered honestly.
"You know, we'd love to have you back on SG-1." Cameron said.
"It's not the same without you." Vala said. "Too much testosterone, too little brains."
Sam shared an amused grin with her while Daniel and Cam glared at the alien woman.
"That's certainly an option I'm considering." She told them.
"Have you been made an alternative offer?" Teal'c asked.
Sam hesitated before telling them. "Commander of the Phoenix."
Cam's eyes widened. "Really? Wow, Sam …"
"That's great! Are you going to take it?" Daniel asked.
"I don't know yet. It's very tempting, but … I don't know, I think I might like to stay on Earth now. For a while, at least."
"Missing the hubby?" Vala asked sympathetically.
Sam smiled and ducked her head, giving away the truth behind Vala's guess. The truth was, since Sam and Jack had been married, they'd never had gone more than two weeks together without Sam's job pulling her away from Earth, be that in her duties with SG-1 or her stint as commander of Atlantis.
"I must admit, it'll be nice to only need to use a telephone rather than a Stargate to talk to him." She said with a coy smile.
"He's really missed you, you know?" Daniel said, nudging her playfully.
"I know."
"So, how about we get showered and changed and then the five of us go do some proper catching up?" Mitchell suggested.
"I'd like that." Sam said. "I'll go pop my head round Bill Lee's door while I wait."
"Okay." They all started moving towards the door.
Cameron, walking on her right, hooked an arm round her shoulders again. "It's good to have you back, Sam. We all missed you."
Sam smiled at them all. She had missed them too. Maybe her reassignment, while disappointing, would be made easier for being with her oldest friends once more.
PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE review! You get an imaginary cookie if you do!
Beka
