by Avalon (avalon99@telusplanet.net)
fanfic at http://members.dencity.com/avalon_online
PG-13, S/J, Epilogue
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
EPILOGUE: Wherever My Road May Lie
SEVERAL MONTHS LATER:
It had taken an act of will not to order Sam to stay behind when the team went to PX3-1142. Jack had wanted to. What if everything he and General Carter had done was for nothing, and she was killed by Apophis anyway? Jack wasn't sure he could cope with that. Correction, he knew he couldn't cope with it. But he had had no good reason to keep her from going and something told him they all needed to be there, Sam included.
Whatever the reasons, this time PX3-1142 went much differently. This time SG1 came out of the Stargate with guns blazing and the Goa'uld's attack failed. True, Daniel was still shot in the arm, Teal'c sustained a hefty knock on the head from a flying piece of stone, and Jack got a few bumps and bruises along the way...but Sam was alive. And uninjured. He had done it.
He hadn't been able to come up with a good explanation for how he knew there would be a Goa'uld ambush on the planet. In the end he had simply asked his team to believe him... and they had. Their faith in him was astonishing sometimes. He knew he didn't deserve it. Nevertheless, the knowledge filled him with warmth.
Sam kept shooting him curious glances though as she handed her equipment back to a corpman. To stave off the questions that might, or might not be coming, Jack turned to Doctor Frasier, who was just moving toward them. "How are Daniel and Teal'c?"
Janet paused, obviously intent on reporting to the General. "Teal'c will be fine. It was only a mild concussion and his symbiote is coping with it fine. He's heading for the briefing room now."
"And Daniel?" For a moment Jack went cold. What if...?
"It's pretty bad, but he will recover full use of his arm. It's going to take time though, and he's going to have a fairly spectacular set of scars. He won't be going anywhere for several weeks, so it looks as though you'll both have some time off." Janet moved on, shooting a strange look as she did at Sam, who for some reason reddened a little and fumbled with the strap of the helmet she was holding. Feeling as if he had missed something important, Jack reached over to help her. As he did, his fingertips brushed hers. An electric current seemed to leap between them and Jack jumped slightly, his eyes meeting Sam's startled blue ones. Carefully he pulled his hands away and took a small step back, still holding her helmet.
He wasn't going to tell her, he had decided. None of it. Not the time travel, what he and her father had done to save her, or his feelings for her. Especially not his feelings for her. There were rules to think about, good and valid Air Force rules. Rules he had always believed in...and still did. If he wanted to maintain the working relationship they had now he had to keep things as they had always been. And yet...assuming she was even interested, then there were options. There were always options. A transfer for one of them, perhaps some sort of special dispensation? Even early retirement... again. But -- no. Jack wasn't ready to change, to possibly break up his team. Not yet. But perhaps someday. He loved her...but he loved SG1 too. He loved his job, loved what they did together, loved exploring the galaxy. Hell, he even loved the danger.
For a moment the thought that he could lose her again went through him, chilling him. He already knew how much that could hurt. The memory of the other timeline, the first one, was beginning to fade, as if time didn't want him confusing things by remembering too much, but he knew he would never totally forget the pain he had felt as he had held her broken body in his arms. He couldn't go through that again...but he might have to. Theirs was a dangerous world. She could die tomorrow and he had the feeling that the universe wouldn't let him do what he had done again -- he had played his only card and that was it. But he couldn't ask her to give up doing what she evidently loved as much as he did, simply because he loved her. He knew she wouldn't anyway. And he couldn't spend his days protecting her and wrapping her in metaphoric cotton wool. She wouldn't thank him for it.
Still, no matter what happened, every day from now on was more than he ever thought he would get.
Jack blinked several times then refocused on Sam and wondered what was going through her mind. He couldn't tell what emotions were lurking behind her gaze and as her commanding officer he couldn't ask. He handed her helmet back and once more his fingers brushed against hers lightly -- or perhaps it was hers that brushed his -- and the same spark leapt between them. Suddenly the questions racing through his mind didn't seem quite so unanswerable anymore.
* * *
'Holy Hannah!' The words flashed through Sam's mind. 'What was that?' She had felt the current go through them both when Colonel O'Neill had touched her and for a moment the memory of the kiss on Edora hovered before her. What was happening to her? To them? First she had admitted -- way too much -- to Janet, then he had kissed her, and now this. She wasn't imagining things, she knew. This -- whatever it was -- was real. And becoming more real every day.
And something else had happened to her. To him. To all of
them. Sam hadn't been able to shake the feelings that had been growing
inside her all week. When she had first heard the name "PX3-1142",
a chill had gone through her and a sense of foreboding had only increased
as the days passed. But now it was gone. Completely.
It was the strangest thing, almost as if the universe knew something she
didn't. What with that and now this new "awareness" between her and
the Colonel...
He was moving away now, slowly, almost reluctantly, turning to walk
toward the stairs leading up to the briefing room. Sam's gaze dropped
back down to helmet she was holding. She refused to watch him go.
This wasn't the time or the place for that. It couldn't be.
And yet the realization was creeping over her that she wanted more than
what she and Colonel O'Neill had. A lot more. And, given the
way he had stood just a little too close, the way his eyes hadn't left
hers once...maybe they would have something more...
...in time.
* * *
Jack climbed the stairs slowly. He didn't look back as he went and knew she wasn't watching him...but the memory of her fingers on his made him smile. Maybe there would be a happy ending for them after all...
...in time.
THE END