Choices Matter
Chapter 19 -
Jack invited her for dinner every night after that. It was easy to relax with him, since he was so much like her Jack. The main reminder that she wasn't home was the vegetarian meals, especially since that meant no blue jello. Most nights their conversation stayed light, but a couple times memories led them into topics that made it hard to sleep afterwards. Tonight was one of those nights. When Sam woke, covered in a cold sweat, she was twisted in her sheet. She'd been getting whipped by Turgen, but this time Hanson had been standing with him telling her that she was unworthy of love. As she struggled to get her breathing under control, she knew her mind was dredging up these moments from her past because they'd spent dinner talking about how much they had all changed over that first year. Although they had laughed about her brave talk that first day in the conference room, they had also talked about how hard it was to face off against Turgan and stand up to her former fiancé.
Sam was determined to have a less disturbing evening after waking twice the night before, so she decided to direct the conversation to some of their happier moments.
"Do you remember when Daniel fell in that purple creek and it stained his face and hands since they weren't covered?"
"It took nearly two weeks to wear off."
"And for the first two days he left fingerprints every time he touched something."
"Including Janet."
"Jack!"
"What? Are we still pretending that didn't happen?"
"She was so embarrassed when I saw those purple spots on her thigh that night when I dropped Cassie off after dinner."
"They kept that relationship darn quiet."
"Which is probably why they both thought we got together much earlier than we did."
"They did?"
"Cassie told me later that Janet was convinced we'd been together since we got our memories back after the ice planet."
"If only."
"Do you think we could have stayed professional if we had?"
"We managed it after. You kept siring me like there was no tomorrow."
She giggled. "I might have even said sir more after we started dating, just to try and throw everyone off."
"Then there was my other favorite phrase...with all due respect. You know every time you said it, we all knew we were about to get schooled."
"I always tried to be polite as I told you why you were wrong."
"And I always knew it was best to listen, especially when you started with all due respect sir."
"Well, most of the time."
One eyebrow rose. "Most of the time?"
"You almost sold your kidney on 432."
"That was a total misunderstanding."
"Yep, because you weren't listening."
"I'm pretty sure you left off the with all due respect part that time."
"Maybe, but you still should have listened." She stabbed a mushroom and lifted it up towards her mouth. "You also could have avoided that scar on your right butt cheek if you'd listened to me."
"Now you're playing dirty." Sam giggled at him as she ate her mushroom. "Like you did when those kids challenged you mudball, isn't that what it was called?"
"I won too."
"And you were absolutely filthy. I swear you took five showers before you found all that mud."
"You were counting?" He shrugged. "What surprised you the most about her?"
His eyes twinkled. "I knew she had an inner daredevil, I mean all pilots do and she'd been on the astronaut pathway for a while, but she seemed so restrained at work that when we started spending time alone together her need to be a bit wild surprised me." His eyes bored into hers. "I also loved the screaming. I was surprised by it, but I loved it."
"The screaming?" Sam cocked her head to one side in confusion.
"Yeah, when we had sex."
He watched the blush crawl up her neck and along her cheeks. "Oh."
"It was an absolutely beautiful sound and she couldn't control it. Scared the hell out of Daniel once when he fell asleep on the sofa after a late dinner."
Sam put her hand on her face. "Oh God I remember that. There was no hiding our relationship after that."
"It was time to stop hiding anyway."
"There were more subtle ways to do it."
"Teal'c had known for a while."
"Really?"
Jack shrugged. "He was insightful."
"That he was." Sam bit her lip and looked down. "I'm sorry you lost them all."
"So am I." He reached out for her hand. "You've been on your own for a while now too."
She shook her head. "Not really, I've had you in every reality." She squeezed his hand.
When they got to Atlantis, they found Beckett was still in stasis. Jack ordered that he be released, and Sam helped Dr. Keller stabilize him. Once he was moving Sam explained that he needed to finish his virus research. She told him as much as she remembered and helped him and Dr. Keller. Once they had a working prototype Jack took them out to a Wraith ship. Sheppard helped them infiltrate the ship and release the virus, which was just as successful as they had hoped. About ten percent of the wraith died when exposed and the rest screamed as their anatomy and physiology were quickly altered.
"Can you make it more lethal?"
Dr. Beckett turned to Woolsey in shock. "Are you serious?"
"Absolutely serious. Even without feeding on our energy there are still a lot of them, and they will still be deadly fighters."
Jack waved his hand towards Woolsey. "The man has a point, although I hate to admit it."
Beckett shook his head. "If I alter the virus it might lose its ability to alter them."
"Can't afford that. We need to be able to mass produce it."
"I will get your infirmary everything they need."
On the trip back Sam spent most of her time helping produce virus. She also made multiple chips and crystals that contained the information the Jaffa and Tokra needed if they were going to help make or deliver the virus.
"Sam." He gently laid his fingers on her shoulder.
"Hmmm. Oh, Jack. Hey."
"Dinner?"
Sam looked down at her watch. "Oh, I'm so sorry." She looked down at the bench in front of her. "Ten minutes?"
"A real ten minutes or a busy Sam Carter ten minutes?"
"A real ten minutes." Her eyes crinkled as she smiled.
Twenty minutes later when she got to Jack's quarters her soup and her dinner plate were sitting on her side of the table. Jack's plate was half empty.
"I am so sorry Jack. It took longer than I expected and…"
"You beat the Sam Carter ten minutes."
"What?"
"A Sam Carter ten minutes is always at least thirty minutes."
She took her seat. "This looks delicious."
"Glad you think so."
She quickly ate her soup and started on her broccoli rice. "I have a favor to ask."
"Ask away."
"Can we start virus deployment on Earth?"
"Right to the heart of the dragon huh?"
"If this works, I'll probably be moved back to my reality. So far where I appear in the next reality is based where I am in the current reality."
"You'd rather not appear in space?" He sighed. "You don't just want Earth, you want the SGC don't you?"
She lowered her eyes for a moment and then looked back up. "That would be my preference."
"As you wish." He reached across the table and wrapped his hand around hers. "I'll miss you." She opened her mouth to answer but he held his free hand up. "Don't. I know it isn't the same for you." He gave her a sad smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You're going home to him."
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"We've made thirty large canisters, enough to cover most of North America. We also made ten smaller canisters. They can be used on ships or inside buildings."
"Such as the SGC." Jack looked over at Sam.
"Yes, sir." She bit back her grin as she fell back into an old habit. "As a matter of fact, that's a key part of the plan we've outlined."
Sam was about to leave her quarters and head to the cargo bay to meet the rest of the incursion team when there was a knock on her door.
"Jack."
"Hey. I ummmm…."
Sam stepped back. "I was about to leave."
"I know. I wanted to see you first." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Good work on those transporters. You sure they'll penetrate the Wraith shields?"
"I can't say I'm positive, but I think there's a darn good chance."
"You've helped us come up with a good plan too. I think it just might work."
"So do I." The sadness in her eyes tore at him.
He reached out and cupped her face. "Sam." She swallowed as he stepped well into her personal space. "I wanted one more goodbye." He leaned into her slowly, ready for her to pull away. When her eyes closed and her head tilted, he closed the small gap and gently pressed his lips to hers.
When they dropped out of hyperspace in Earth's orbit, they transported canisters to the three Wraith ships also in orbit. Sam joined ten airmen who were transported directly into the SGC. Her team appeared in the gate room while the other team of five were transported into the base air control room. Sam's team was the distraction so the other team could release the virus. The Hammond engaged the three ships around Earth long enough to transport the larger canisters to the multiple preselected locations throughout North America. Once all the canisters were in position and the virus was being released the Hammond left orbit.
Sam's team was quickly surrounded when they appeared in the gate room. They opened fire on the Wraith who descended on them in numbers much greater than they had expected. Apparently, the Wraith had decided to add more personnel since Sam escaped a few weeks earlier. Mason went down to her right, so she moved closer to protect him. Sam took a shot to the leg, which sent her sprawling across Mason. He groaned as she hit him and then rolled off, continuing to fire at the Wraith around them. Just as Sam was wondering if this was going to work three of the Wraith screamed and fell. As the other Wraith looked in their direction pain seared through them as well. Their distraction was all the SG airmen needed to get the upper hand.