Before the Mountain
A/N: Just a little oneshot + epilogue for our favorite couple! Some suspension of disbelief is required
Enjoy!
Sam took a deep breath, letting the roasty smell of the freshly brewed coffee comfort her frayed nerves – no matter where she was on Earth, coffee was her calming constant. 'On Earth.' Those two little words sent an expectant shiver down her spine. She'd only ever been on Earth before.
It was with a bizarre, removed feeling that Sam realized those words wouldn't be true after tomorrow. After so many years, after so much work…she was going to go through the gate. She should have gone through last time with that first team. She had pushed back hard on her orders to stay put, but in the end, the powers that be had argued her expertise was not needed out there…it was needed here.
On Earth.
After the Stargate Program had been shuttered, Sam hadn't been able to help the uncharitable thoughts –okay, and maybe some choice words too – that had flooded her. Maybe if she'd gone, maybe if they had let her go, she could have made some difference. Maybe her inclusion would have been the difference between the mission going completely sideways like it did and it succeeding.
When she had received her orders to report to Cheyenne Mountain two weeks ago, Sam hadn't hesitated. She'd packed up the few belongings she had collected whilst in Washington and caught the first flight she could out to Colorado Springs. The Air Force had secured her temporary housing and Sam figured she'd start looking for something more permanent after she came back from her first mission.
If she came back.
"Ma'am?" Sam startled, eyes refocusing as the kid behind the register watched her with growing annoyance. "Can I get something started for you?"
"No." Sam screwed up her face momentarily and gave herself a little shake. She couldn't afford to be killing herself off before she'd even actually gone through the gate.
"No?" The baristo repeated, nonplussed and apparently very over her. "Next!"
"Uh, wait. Sorry, yes. Coffee, please. Black. Large." Sam mustered an apologetic smile and handed over a few bills. Her colleagues in DC had made fun of her for stuff like this almost constantly – she could pilot a fighter jet without blinking, go up against the biggest bureaucrats in Washington and never break a sweat…but normal social interactions weren't always her strong suit.
Oh well. She supposed the complete lack of social life that the Stargate Program inherently fostered had its purposes.
Thanking the young man and dropping her change into the tip jar, Sam stepped to the side and waited for her steaming cup of common sense. It was still early, not even 0800, and she was inclined to blame her absent mind on lack of sleep and those jangling nerves. She was still in a little bit of shock – tomorrow, she would finally meet the team that she hoped to join on a permanent contract.
Sam indulged herself in another deep breath, letting the warm café bustle wash over her as she held that fleeting feeling of familiarity fast in her heart. This was the last day before the rest of her life. A small, private smile played over her lips as she took her coffee from the counter and turned away, intent on finding a little corner seat all to herself. Instead, she got a face full of fabric.
"Whoa there."
Two hands came up to rest briefly on her upper arms to steady her. To Sam's credit, she hadn't actually stumbled. To her dismay, she'd just sort of frozen like a deer in the headlights.
"Sorry." Sam widened her eyes in what she hoped was a genuinely apologetic gesture. "I, uh, haven't had my coffee yet." She raised the still-very-full coffee cup by way of explanation.
"Yes, well." The man she'd run into shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and, in a gesture completely antithetical to normal human etiquette, he did not step back. Sam tried not to awkwardly look at him, but his immediate proximity was sort of forcing her to crane her neck upwards. It was also sort of making her forget that she should probably say something…or at least move out of the way?
As soon as she was able to really focus on his face, she noted a jolt of familiarity – had she met him before? His eyes, guarded and dark, were incredibly magnetic—familiar, she corrected herself hastily. The way that his mouth quirked into the barest of smiles was also…
"Large, black coffee?" The barista behind Sam called questioningly, causing the young captain to startle once again.
"Mine." The man in front of Sam raised a casual hand and reached around her, not breaking eye contact and not remotely taking any care to avoid brushing her arm. Where his arm touched hers, Sam felt the little hairs stand on end. His expression gave no indication that he had felt that little electric shock, but his eyes narrowed on hers minutely.
Swallowing in what she hoped was an inaudible fashion, Sam glanced down at her traitorous feet. 'Move.' She silently willed them to do something. 'Sidestep, Captain.' Finally, her brain seemed to make contact with her legs and they responded in a jerky, but effective movement. Putting a reasonable amount of distance between herself and the man who seemed hell bent on massacring all polite social dictations, Sam molded her face into a passably polite expression.
"Sorry again." Raising her coffee in a half-salute, Sam moved off to find a comfy little seat as the stranger nodded once at her – his eyes still giving nothing away. As soon as her back was to him, Sam felt the polite expression drop from her face and be replaced promptly by utter mortification. What on Earth had just happened?
Despite the hot embarrassment currently coursing through her, Sam bit back a smile as she thought 'on Earth.' Apparently, that was going to be a running theme today.
Spotting the only free table left in the small café, Sam dropped into the seat furthest from the door and rolled her eyes at herself. She hadn't been struck dumb by a man since she was in her early twenties and it certainly was not supposed to be happening now. She'd just moved to town, for cryin' out loud. Not to mention, she was about to go on an assignment that she may not come back from.
For good measure, Sam rolled her eyes at her extreme, but momentary lapse in self-possession once last time and resolved to put that weird interaction behind her by taking a tentative sip of her coffee. 'Yes, this is exactly what I was missing.' The coffee was good and Sam was actually very glad that she had found a decent café near her new job. Sure, she could make coffee at home, but it was never quite the same.
Sam felt more than saw the figure encroaching on her table and, consequently, her blissfully wandering coffee thoughts. Turning her head just a tic, Sam watched the man she'd run into approach from her periphery. He was definitely headed for her table – the café was small, all the other seats were full, and the exit was on the opposite end of the shop.
Cool.
"Hi." He grinned as he approached her table and Sam got the sudden impression that he was making an effort to come off as totally harmless and non-threatening. That was interesting…Sam did not intimidate easily, but even she had to admit that, to a stranger, her total freeze up a few minutes ago could very much have resembled fear.
Instead of attraction.
Because who just stands there like a weirdo when they're hit with a metric ton of 'hello, hot stuff'?
Her, that's who.
"Hi." Sam answered in what she felt was a languid and completely unbothered tone. She was now very determined to maintain control of her faculties and her perspective – so determined, in fact, that she realized she was now glaring at the man in what was probably a very aggressive manner. Oops.
Softening her glare and instead squinting like the sun coming in from the window had caused her super intense expression, Sam tried for a gracious smile. "Are you—do you want to sit?" She gestured as casually as she could towards the empty seat at her table.
"If it's not taken?" His grin, if anything, widened as she fake-squinted at him and Sam had the strangest feeling he knew exactly what she had been thinking.
"Nope. Totally available."
The mischievous twinkle in his eye had Sam wondering if he thought she had meant herself instead of the chair.
Belatedly, Sam also wondered if she had meant herself instead of the chair.
"I can't stay long, so you'll only have to put up with the company for a few minutes." He plopped into the chair gracefully enough, but Sam watched as he edged his chair into a slightly angled position so his back wasn't completely towards the door.
Again, that little niggling feeling of familiarity wormed its way through her mind. Shaking it off with another sip of coffee, Sam half-shrugged and looked back out the window. "It's fine."
The two strangers sipped their coffee in amicable, if not ambivalent, silence as they watched the sleepy street outside the café window slowly start to wake. Men and women in business dress hurtled past, harried but somehow still polished. Parents tugged their children along, little hands tucked safely into bigger ones as they crossed the street.
Like a ton of bricks, Sam was hit with the sudden and strange feeling of belonging. In this moment, she knew she was exactly where she was supposed to be. On this street, in this café, at this table…with this stranger?
Sam abruptly sat up straight, her coffee momentarily forgotten on the table in front of her as she tried to analyze the feeling even as it slipped away from her. It was like déjà vu only much more acute – she hadn't lived this moment before, but she knew she was supposed to live it now.
Except Samantha Carter absolutely and unconditionally did not believe that the future was predetermined. And she definitely did not believe in fate when it came to complete strangers.
So it must just be the elevation. Altitude sickness or something.
A pointed cough next to her brought Sam crashing back to the present. "You okay?"
"Yes, yeah, I'm fine." Smiling in what she knew was a convincing representation of just how not fine she had apparently been all morning, Sam forced herself to relax back into her chair. "So…" She blew out a breath as she searched for something neutral to break the tension that had crept up into the air between them. "Lived here long?"
"You could say that." His answer was casual, but his fingers tensed on the paper cup. "You?"
"No, new in town." Sam had to work to pull her gaze from his. To her almost sadistic delight, he looked like he was struggling to look elsewhere also. Something like a pained expression had crossed his face, but Sam didn't catch it.
"Well, we usually have a better welcoming committee." He shot her a mock-eyeroll look before taking another swig from his cup.
"I was gonna say." Sam gave a small laugh and looked back out the window. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him smile into his cup when he thought she wasn't looking and her stomach did a little backflip.
"Well, you should congratulate yourself then."
"Oh?"
"New in town yet you managed to find the city's one hidden gem for coffee." He tapped his cup gently against hers as a belated 'cheers.'
"I have a sixth sense for these sorts of things." Sam allowed her heart to give one little extra fast beat before reminding herself that she was literally not in any sort of position to be even considering dating anyone right now. But this was…nice.
He was nice.
"I used to know someone else who had that same sense." A troubled, but wistful look clouded his eyes for a moment. "They're the one that turned me on to this place, actually."
Sam noted the look and his use of the past tense and for one crazy second, she considered reaching out to touch his arm. Thankfully, her sense came rushing back to her just in time and she redirected her hand, tucking her hair behind her ear instead. As she congratulated herself internally for not making a complete creep out of herself, the man sitting next to her checked his watch and shifted a little in the chair.
"It's getting to be that time." He threw her a quick smile. "Thanks for letting me intrude."
"A welcome intrusion." Sam wasn't even surprised to find that she meant it. Apparently, she drew her line for personal space at "hot, mysterious stranger with a clearly troubled past." Her friends had always said she had a soft spot for the lunatic fringe, after all.
"See you around?" He tapped two fingers against the table as he stood.
"Sure." She couldn't silence the little pragmatic voice in her head reminding her that was probably a lie. There was every chance she would never be able to return to this café again.
He had taken a step towards the door when he turned back, his shoulders tense. "You know, maybe next time, we could-," he broke off as, for the first time, his nerves seemed to fail him.
Thinking of that secret smile she'd seen from the corner of her eye, Sam smiled softly. "Next time would be nice."
Holding her gaze for another beat, her stranger winked and then disappeared out onto the busy street. It took several seconds before Sam realized that not only had they not exchanged contact info…they hadn't even exchanged names. Other than that completely crazy sense of belonging and that little niggle of familiarity, she had no friggin idea who that guy was.
After another minute, Sam released a tense breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She had to admit, it was better this way. No attachments, not so soon. Not right when everything she had ever dreamed of and worked for was about to come to fruition.
Finishing her coffee, Sam glanced ruefully out the window. 'Sorry, stranger.'
TBC
A/N: Please R&R! Epilogue up soon!