by Avalon (avalon99@telusplanet.net)
fanfic at http://members.dencity.com/avalon_online
PG-13, S/J, part 6/6
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD VI
Returning By the Road We Came
Knowing that Sam and the others hadn't given up on him had made all the difference this time. Jack lowered his pickaxe for a moment and straightened, trying to ease the cramps from his lower back. He wiped away the sweat on his brow with the back of one sleeve, feeling the muscles in his right arm complain as he did so. Working on excavating the Stargate during the evenings after toiling in the fields all day to earn his keep, had been difficult. More than difficult.
It hadn't been so bad when he was just shovelling through dirt -- at least then he could see that he was making progress. No, things had gotten much harder when he had hit the layer of melted Naquadah, forming the dome over the buried Stargate. He didn't have the proper tools to break through it and had been reduced to picking away at it with the axe, managing to break off only the tiniest of flakes each day. It had been much easier the last time, O'Neill thought sourly, when Teal'c had used his modern mining gear from underneath the dome, leaving O'Neill to uncover only the last of the dirt covering the Naquadah. But then again, Teal'c had barely survived his ordeal. If Jack had been a little slower, or the Jaffa a little less stubborn (and if Laira had told him just a little later, part of Jack's mind whispered traitorously), his friend would have died. It was that thought that had kept Jack at the almost futile task, even when he had sometimes felt that if he had to pick up that damned axe one more time he would scream... but he hadn't quit. No, not this time. This time there had been no solitary canoeing trips, no long conversations with various villagers...and no wild parties that had led him to places he no longer wanted to go. And this time, the conversation he had had with Laira about a hundred days of mourning had had quite a different ending -- with him continuing to dig while she had rather sadly returned to her house -- alone.
The sore muscles, the ragged sense of exhaustion, and the sunburn were all worth it though, he decided as he drove the pickaxe into the Naquadah yet again. After all, if Sam and the others back home were rewriting the laws of physics and working around the clock, he would do his part too. Hey, if it took moving heaven and earth to get him home, then he could at least be responsible for moving the earth. Ignoring muscles that screamed at him, he swung the axe once again.
* * *
They had done it. Sam brushed her hair back with a hand that only trembled slightly and stared at the rippling event horizon before her. They had heard from Teal'c and a rather jubilant sounding O'Neill fifteen minutes ago. The Jaffa had made it through the Naquadah before his air ran out and the way had been cleared for the rest of them. SG1 could go through at any time.
"If I weren't so exhausted," Sam thought, checking the climbing gear she was carrying to help her scale the Naquadah dome when she arrived, "I would be ecstatic." Nevertheless, there was an odd lightening to her heart as she moved forward, and she was smiling as she stepped through the Stargate.
* * *
"If I weren't so tired," O'Neill thought as he waited impatiently, "I'd be doing cartwheels." Actually, he couldn't do a cartwheel if his life depended on it, but the sentiment was right. When he had heard Teal'c's voice on his radio and then later, helped break open the Naquadah to pull the Jaffa out, he had finally believed that he was going to succeed. That Sam would not die. That things would be different...this time.
Yes, there was still PX3-1142 to worry about but he'd deal with that later. For now, he'd savour the moment. Sam was alive and he was going home, this time with his conscience intact. Only...where were they anyway? Impatience mounted within him.
* * *
Sam walked slowly down the dusty road, watching the overjoyed Edorans hurry past her and Daniel. She tried to lengthen her strides a little but her tired limbs refused to obey. She was on her last legs -- literally. She was craving sleep. Too many long hours working on the particle accelerator, accompanied by too much strain and worry...her body had finally had enough, and was telling her in no uncertain terms. "Soon," she told it. "Soon you can sleep for a week if you want..." The thought of her head hitting a pillow was so real for a moment that she stumbled, jolting herself out of the half-daze she had fallen into. Daniel put out a quick arm toward her, but she had regained her footing and didn't need his help. Nevertheless she shot him a grateful look. Nice to know that someone would pick her up when she fell on her face in the dirt...
"You okay Sam?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah. Just a bit tired."
There was an edge of worry in his voice. "Are you going to take some time off when we get back?"
She nodded. "If I can."
"I think you..." Daniel began, but broke off as Jack O'Neill pelted suddenly up the road and descended on them like a force of nature. Sam only had a moment or two to blink in surprise and then he had seized her by the upper arms, pulled her close...and was kissing her. Hard. For a moment the universe spun -- and not just because her superior officer was kissing her in full view of -- well, everyone -- but it was almost as if the universe had shuddered, as if time itself had come to a halt. At that moment a voice broke in on them...and time resumed its natural course.
"Uh...Jack?"
The next minute, as if only just realizing what he was doing, the Colonel released her abruptly and was pounding Daniel on the back, hard enough to send the archaeologist stumbling across the dirt road. "We missed you too," Daniel said, regaining his balance. "Now stop hitting me."
The Colonel came to a halt, still grinning idiotically at them both. "Sorry," he said, without an ounce of remorse in his voice. "It's just good to see you. Both. All." His gaze went from Sam to Daniel, back to Sam, then over his shoulder to where Teal'c was coming up behind them. "I've missed you guys."
"We've missed you too, Sir." Sam had regained her breath a bit but still felt more than a little windblown...and off-balance. It wasn't every day that one was swept off one's feet and kissed by one's superior officer. A faint blush lit her cheeks and she refused to admit just how...nice... it had felt. Suddenly all the work of the past three months was worth it. More than worth it.
* * *
O'Neill's exuberance had dimmed a little, but not the happiness underlying it. He had done it. She was alive and whole. Uninjured. And...he had kissed her. Oops. He had tried to cover it with his enthusiastic greeting to Daniel, but he had still crossed a line back there. Still, at this moment he didn't really care. She was alive. Sam was alive!
She was also speaking to him. "...so when the third MALP sent just a few seconds of telemetry we knew the gate was horizontal..."
He interrupted her gently, meeting her eyes. "I knew you'd find a way to get me home," he said. "I never had any doubts." 'This time,' he added silently to himself. A pleased smile lit Sam's face and Jack returned it, then looked away to include Teal'c and Daniel in his words. "Thank you. All of you." A companianable silence fell between them and deepened, then Sam glanced over his shoulder and touched his arm briefly.
"Ah, Sir. I think..." Her voice trailed off.
Jack turned to look behind him. It was Laira. Waiting patiently to be noticed. For a moment a flicker of irritation went through him. This was his moment. With his team. With Sam. He didn't want to be interrupted. But then he remembered what she had done for him, both in this and the other timeline, and he knew he owed her a proper farewell. At the very least. His gaze returned to the others...well, to Sam, to be precise. "Excuse me for a minute?" He didn't wait for an answer but turned and walked back up the road toward the Edoran, feeling Sam's gaze on his back as he did.
"You must be happy to be going home," Laira said. There were tears not far beneath the surface of her voice and once again Jack felt a twinge of remorse go through him. Why did he always end up hurting those he cared about? And he did care about Laira, despite her hesitation in telling him about Teal'c's radio call the first time. He understood now why she had done it. And part of him, a small part, wished that things could have been different. But the cost would have been too high...not only Sam's life but his own soul. He didn't belong here. He never had.
"Yes," he said softly. "I am."
The words hurt Laira, even as Jack sensed relief emanating from the woman behind him. He regretted the one, basked in the other. Gently he pulled Laira into a hug, so different from the one before, from the last time he had bid her farewell. Now, there were only might-have-beens between them, and gratitude. He owed her his life. But no more than that. "Thank you, Laira," he said quietly.
"You are welcome. Will...will I see you again?"
He could give her this much. Jack nodded briefly then stepped back, out of her arms. "We still have that trading agreement to work out, right?"
"Yes." She was smiling now, a pained smile, but nevertheless a smile. "Fair day, Jack."
"Fair day, Laira." And then he turned around and walked back to the three people standing close together, waiting for him. There was a spring in his step and he was smiling again by the time he had reached them. "Let's go home," he said simply.
TO BE CONCLUDED