Title: "Out of the Darkness"
Author: Jackie W.
Email: jackiesfica...
Rating: PG-13
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She couldn't sleep of course so eventually she felt her way quietly through the corridors to the room that Jack had discovered her in two nights ago. She slid down the wall and took up a similar position with her knees drawn in. This time it was Gwn who found her.
"Dr. Carter. Should you not be sleeping?" he asked politely.
"I wasn't tired Gwn, and please call me Sam, or Samantha," Sam replied.
"Perhaps you should take something to aid you," he suggested.
"No, I just needed a place where I could see the stars," Sam said, then sensing his confusion she added, "Figuratively speaking."
"I'm glad to have a chance to talk to you. I wanted to apologize for the incident in the medical pod yesterday," Gwn told her.
"You couldn't have known, Gwn. It wasn't your fault," Sam assured him.
"Still I should have noticed the increased respiration and heart rate sooner," he apologized.
"There was no harm done," she relied.
"And yet you are unable to sleep," Gwn worried.
"Oh, that really doesn't have anything to do with my panic attack," Sam mused. "I just have a lot to think about now that I'll be putting my life back together one final time," Sam confessed.
"Yes, and that is another thing that we wish to apologize for. The defense system on Yetola was obviously set at too high a setting. It has been adjusted," Gwn informed her.
"That's good, although it was a stupid accident really. What were the odds that I would be in the perfect position to get zapped in the face just as the second volley went off," Sam postulated.
"It was unfortunate timing," Gwn agreed.
"I do want to thank you for your help. With any luck now I should be able to see well enough to at least work in the lab," Sam gratefully told him.
"It was our honor. We value your friendship and assistance. It would have been tragic for us as well to have you incapacitated," the tiny alien admitted.
Sam blushed slightly at the compliment, then before she could think of a reply a small yawn escaped.
"I believe you might be ready to rest now. May I escort you to your quarters?" Gwn asked.
"Thank you Gwn," Sam agreed getting to her feet and reaching out a hand.
In a moment she felt a cool, fragile hand placed within hers, and they walked in silence to her quarters. Once there she surprised the Asgard by leaning down and kissing him on the top of his head.
"Goodnight Gwn," she said before slipping inside.
"Goodnight Samantha," Gwn replied.
And then one totally besotted Asgard headed off into the bowels of the giant ship.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sam and Jack spent the next few days in pleasant companionship. Mostly they sat in comfortable silence as Sam read and Jack played his GameBoy or watched one of the DVD's Sam had brought for him. They spent more social time together playing cards and working together to come up with creative meals using their limited supplies. They walked the halls of the great ship for exercise as well as doing some light workouts each morning.
On the fifth day after Sam's procedure it was determined that the bandages could come off her eyes. She sat in an almost dark room as they undid them and held onto Jack's hand with a grip that told of her anxiety. After a moment of blinking in the dark, a light came on at the far end of the room, and Sam was given the Asgard version of an eye test. The results were encouraging. Sam could see clearly out of both eyes with two exceptions. There was a minor loss of peripheral vision out of the left eye, but it wasn't as bad as she had feared. The larger problem was a definite flaring and halloing of lights when it was dark. The Asgard assured her that this was simply a result of the cornea transplants not being totally healed and that the effect would diminish over time. The bad news was that it would probably take months to go away completely.
Despite this unexpected setback, Sam left the medical bay sporting a pair of dark sunglasses and a smile that Jack hadn't seen since before this whole crisis had begun. He couldn't help but grin at her in return.
"Well I think this calls for a celebration," he commented.
"What did you have in mind?" Sam asked turning to study him. She loved that she could see his face again, even if it was a bit shadowed from the glasses.
"Well, I had some special supplies loaded when we left. Thor has been nice enough to keep them appropriately stored. So how about a nice NY Strip steak and baked potato dinner. There are veggies too, but they are frozen, cause I wasn't sure how fresh ones would hold up. And there's champagne and a surprise for dessert," he told her.
Sam stopped in her tracks. "You arraigned all of that?" she asked with a lump in her throat.
"Yeah, well I figured we would both be ready for a nice meal by now," Jack quipped, unable to meet her eyes as he downplayed the fact that he'd done anything special for her.
"Thank you," she grinned. Now that she could see him again she found it much easier to read between the lines of what he said.
And she was beginning to have a glimmer of hope that maybe she hadn't totally ruined any chance of a real relationship between them.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Over the next few days she tested that theory. Using the advantage that the dark glasses she was wearing gave her, she immersed herself in an advanced class in Jack O'Neill. She studied him when they were playing card, eating, or watching a movie for any sign of his true feelings for her. And by the end of the third day she found she could predict the patterns perfectly.
There were basically two. One she called 'Hitting Jack's Brick Wall'. The way it worked was that the two of them would be laughing and joking around and just when she thought that maybe she was breaking through to him she saw the wall get thrown up. It happened regularly over the course of the three days, often enough that she honestly felt like she was suffering from whiplash.
It left her feeling lost and slightly less hopeful each time it happened.
The second pattern that she saw qualified as the 'up' part of the emotional ride. At least twice a day she would catch Jack staring at her with a look in his eyes that made her heart practically leap out of her chest. If she were careful not to give any indication that she noticed it sometimes the look would last a full minute. It was like a man dying of thirst who had just spotted the oasis. Eventually he would look away, and she would see him shake his head as if to clear it. A moment later it would be as if nothing had occurred.
By the time Gwn gave her the all clear and they were packed up and ready to fly home on the 'Daniel Jackson', Sam was frustrated at being on the seesaw. Although she was still hopeful, she really was no closer to knowing for sure how Jack felt about her beyond being a good friend.
But she definitely knew how she felt about him. This time there was no denying it. She was head over heals in love with the man.
And there was nothing standing in her way except her own fear of rejection.
tbc
Author: Jackie W.
Email: jackiesfica...
Rating: PG-13
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
She couldn't sleep of course so eventually she felt her way quietly through the corridors to the room that Jack had discovered her in two nights ago. She slid down the wall and took up a similar position with her knees drawn in. This time it was Gwn who found her.
"Dr. Carter. Should you not be sleeping?" he asked politely.
"I wasn't tired Gwn, and please call me Sam, or Samantha," Sam replied.
"Perhaps you should take something to aid you," he suggested.
"No, I just needed a place where I could see the stars," Sam said, then sensing his confusion she added, "Figuratively speaking."
"I'm glad to have a chance to talk to you. I wanted to apologize for the incident in the medical pod yesterday," Gwn told her.
"You couldn't have known, Gwn. It wasn't your fault," Sam assured him.
"Still I should have noticed the increased respiration and heart rate sooner," he apologized.
"There was no harm done," she relied.
"And yet you are unable to sleep," Gwn worried.
"Oh, that really doesn't have anything to do with my panic attack," Sam mused. "I just have a lot to think about now that I'll be putting my life back together one final time," Sam confessed.
"Yes, and that is another thing that we wish to apologize for. The defense system on Yetola was obviously set at too high a setting. It has been adjusted," Gwn informed her.
"That's good, although it was a stupid accident really. What were the odds that I would be in the perfect position to get zapped in the face just as the second volley went off," Sam postulated.
"It was unfortunate timing," Gwn agreed.
"I do want to thank you for your help. With any luck now I should be able to see well enough to at least work in the lab," Sam gratefully told him.
"It was our honor. We value your friendship and assistance. It would have been tragic for us as well to have you incapacitated," the tiny alien admitted.
Sam blushed slightly at the compliment, then before she could think of a reply a small yawn escaped.
"I believe you might be ready to rest now. May I escort you to your quarters?" Gwn asked.
"Thank you Gwn," Sam agreed getting to her feet and reaching out a hand.
In a moment she felt a cool, fragile hand placed within hers, and they walked in silence to her quarters. Once there she surprised the Asgard by leaning down and kissing him on the top of his head.
"Goodnight Gwn," she said before slipping inside.
"Goodnight Samantha," Gwn replied.
And then one totally besotted Asgard headed off into the bowels of the giant ship.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sam and Jack spent the next few days in pleasant companionship. Mostly they sat in comfortable silence as Sam read and Jack played his GameBoy or watched one of the DVD's Sam had brought for him. They spent more social time together playing cards and working together to come up with creative meals using their limited supplies. They walked the halls of the great ship for exercise as well as doing some light workouts each morning.
On the fifth day after Sam's procedure it was determined that the bandages could come off her eyes. She sat in an almost dark room as they undid them and held onto Jack's hand with a grip that told of her anxiety. After a moment of blinking in the dark, a light came on at the far end of the room, and Sam was given the Asgard version of an eye test. The results were encouraging. Sam could see clearly out of both eyes with two exceptions. There was a minor loss of peripheral vision out of the left eye, but it wasn't as bad as she had feared. The larger problem was a definite flaring and halloing of lights when it was dark. The Asgard assured her that this was simply a result of the cornea transplants not being totally healed and that the effect would diminish over time. The bad news was that it would probably take months to go away completely.
Despite this unexpected setback, Sam left the medical bay sporting a pair of dark sunglasses and a smile that Jack hadn't seen since before this whole crisis had begun. He couldn't help but grin at her in return.
"Well I think this calls for a celebration," he commented.
"What did you have in mind?" Sam asked turning to study him. She loved that she could see his face again, even if it was a bit shadowed from the glasses.
"Well, I had some special supplies loaded when we left. Thor has been nice enough to keep them appropriately stored. So how about a nice NY Strip steak and baked potato dinner. There are veggies too, but they are frozen, cause I wasn't sure how fresh ones would hold up. And there's champagne and a surprise for dessert," he told her.
Sam stopped in her tracks. "You arraigned all of that?" she asked with a lump in her throat.
"Yeah, well I figured we would both be ready for a nice meal by now," Jack quipped, unable to meet her eyes as he downplayed the fact that he'd done anything special for her.
"Thank you," she grinned. Now that she could see him again she found it much easier to read between the lines of what he said.
And she was beginning to have a glimmer of hope that maybe she hadn't totally ruined any chance of a real relationship between them.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Over the next few days she tested that theory. Using the advantage that the dark glasses she was wearing gave her, she immersed herself in an advanced class in Jack O'Neill. She studied him when they were playing card, eating, or watching a movie for any sign of his true feelings for her. And by the end of the third day she found she could predict the patterns perfectly.
There were basically two. One she called 'Hitting Jack's Brick Wall'. The way it worked was that the two of them would be laughing and joking around and just when she thought that maybe she was breaking through to him she saw the wall get thrown up. It happened regularly over the course of the three days, often enough that she honestly felt like she was suffering from whiplash.
It left her feeling lost and slightly less hopeful each time it happened.
The second pattern that she saw qualified as the 'up' part of the emotional ride. At least twice a day she would catch Jack staring at her with a look in his eyes that made her heart practically leap out of her chest. If she were careful not to give any indication that she noticed it sometimes the look would last a full minute. It was like a man dying of thirst who had just spotted the oasis. Eventually he would look away, and she would see him shake his head as if to clear it. A moment later it would be as if nothing had occurred.
By the time Gwn gave her the all clear and they were packed up and ready to fly home on the 'Daniel Jackson', Sam was frustrated at being on the seesaw. Although she was still hopeful, she really was no closer to knowing for sure how Jack felt about her beyond being a good friend.
But she definitely knew how she felt about him. This time there was no denying it. She was head over heals in love with the man.
And there was nothing standing in her way except her own fear of rejection.
tbc