A/N: Well this is it folks, the final chapter. To me it has seemed like the obvious solution to their dilemma all along. Hope you enjoy it and I'd love to hear what you thought of it, good or bad.
Chapter 3
"Still don't get it do you Sam"
Sam spun around at the sound of another voice nearly losing her balance as her head protested at the sudden movement.
"Daniel…. I hope you're not here to give me more riddles to solve". "My head is really killing me and I don't think I can take much more".
"You know for an incredibly intelligent woman you can be really dense at times" he quipped.
"Look Daniel if you've just come to hand out compliments save them for my eulogy cos the way things are going, I think you'll be the one to write it".
"Sorry Sam, didn't mean to kick you while you're down." "It must be the bump on your head that's slowing down your grey matter.
Sam noticed that Daniel was holding a clipboard and was sketching something. She tried to see what it was but could not make it out as her vision started to blur.
"I'd sit down for a minute if I were you", Daniel suggested. "You know I said you don't look so good earlier, well now you've gone a deathly shade of pale." He handed her the remainder of the water she had been drinking and resumed his sketching.
"You know that was what I missed most about my Mum". He continued.
"I'm sorry Daniel, you've lost me, what are you talking about"? she sat on a nearby stool and swallowed the remainder of her drink.
"Her embrace, her touch, the smell of her perfume, they all made me feel sort of …… safe". "Is that how it was for you?" he questioned.
The tears threatened again lurking just below the surface ready to pour forth if she would but let them, but Sam swallowed hard and in no more than a whisper answered, "Yes, yes that's what I missed most."
"Did I ever tell you I used to go on digs with my Mum and Dad when I was young"? Daniel continued not waiting for a reply. "They were the happiest days of my life before I met Sha're". A sad, wistful look came into his eyes as he stared unfocused into nothingness.
There followed an uncomfortable silence before he continued, "You two were meant to be together you know". "The odds are in your favour." "You managed it in two other alternate realities, you just have to work it out in this one". Sam was speechless, she just didn't know what to say to that and before she could think of something Daniel continued on a totally different track. "Did you know one of the first writings that I learned to interpret were pictographs". "Dad said I had a natural talent for understanding them." "He reckoned it was probably easier for a child to read them than an adult because a child tends to only see things in black & white, no confusing shades of grey to cloud the picture." All the time he was talking Daniel continued to draw. "I used to draw my own pictographs." "I used to create stories with them and then give them to my Mum to see if she could tell me the story." "She was pretty good at reading them too."
Silenced lapsed about them again until Daniel starting humming a tune. Sam closed her eyes to try and obliterate the blurriness and found herself picking up the tune and humming it as well. "I know this one," she thought as her brain tried to put words to the song. Gradually a few sentences fell into place and she began to recite:
If a picture paints a thousand wordsThen why can't I paint you?
The words would never show
The you I've come to know…
She opened her eyes again and was not at all surprised to find Daniel had vanished once more, but in his place was the clipboard he had been holding.
Sam carefully stood and walked slowly over to where Daniel had been. She picked up the clipboard and looked at the drawing.
It was more a sort of caricature than a classic drawing. It showed a picture of the earth, the stars and her as an Apollo moon rocket. She could see it was a representation of her because the heart of the rocket clearly had her features and the initials Dr. The outer booster rockets had been given her Major's insignia and were dropping away from the main rocket as it breached the earth's atmosphere.
Suddenly, like a light bulb going on in her brain, it all made sense. To get an Apollo rocket off the ground you needed additional rocket boosters to counteract the earth's pull and to get the ship up out of the Earth's atmosphere. Once that was achieved the boosters were surplus to requirements and were jettisoned. Thus leaving the heart of the rocket to continue its journey to the stars.
Daniel had drawn a comparison between the booster rockets and the Air Force. The Air Force had been the means by which she had achieved her ambition. He had been trying to make her realise she no longer 'needed' the Air Force. She would still be needed by the SGC whether she was military or not. Her alternate selves had proved that. Her position on the team would probably not change. After all Daniel was a civilian and technically so was Teal'c. She could resign her commission and then the fraternisation rules would not apply between her and the Colonel. Her heart quickened as the very thought gave her withdrawal symptoms. Could she really be considering leaving the Air Force? What would her father say? His words came flooding back to her "there is a life beyond ambition and career". He had been trying to tell her there was more to life than work. "I would never ask you to give up your career" Jack had said. She realised that for longer than she could remember she had thought of her position in the military and her work in astrophysics to be one and the same…her career. Now she was able to see them as two completely separate things. Did Jack see the difference? . "What's stopping you if you really want to know". What had been stopping her wasn't the thought of giving up the Air Force, it was the thought of giving up her work at the SGC and she now realised that they were not one and the same. What if she gave up her position in the Air Force and he didn't want her? What if he didn't love her? She felt panicked like a lovesick teenager.
Taking several deep breaths she tried to think like a scientist, calmly and logically. On the one hand she had her rank, her work, frustration and no Jack. On the other hand she hoped she would have Jack and still have her work, both which she loved very much, but she would no longer be a Major. Would that really bother her? It surprised her to realise that the answer was no, it really wouldn't bother her at all. Was it worth taking the risk? Taking risks was part of her life. Every time they stepped through the gate they took risks. Educated, considered, informed risks. Well life was a risk and weighing up the pros and cons she felt it was worth it, he was worth it.
Her mind now made up she felt at peace with her decision. How safe a bet was he? It was the only way to find out one way or another if he felt the same way about her as she did about him. If he didn't want to pursue a relationship after that then at least she would know for sure. She couldn't keep on living like this, wondering, hoping… She had to be true to herself!!
Her thoughts were interrupted by alarms sounding throughout the ship. If she ever got out of this mess she had some important changes to make in her life but for now she had a ship and crew to try and save…………………..
The End (Or is it just the beginning).
A/N The song Daniel was humming was 'If' by Bread.