by ALC Punk!
"Samantha Carter."
The cold is gone, replaced by vague fuzzy warmth.
She tries to answer, but she's lost the words for what she wants to say.
The voice tries to soothe her, and she's suddenly falling back into a black abyss.
"Hey, Carter." Fingers trail across her cheek.
"Go 'way." She mumbles, determinedly clinging to the warmth and the dark. Where it's safe, where it doesn't hurt, where she doesn't have to face the pain of Fifth's torture, or her memories. Daniel, burnt to a crisp as the days wore on... Smelled like chicken.
Jack catches her as she flails upwards, helping her stand even as she doubles over and retches into the bedding tangled around her feet.
She's dry-heaving almost immediately, and she wonders how long she was unconscious, this time.
The tremors finally subside, and Jack helps her away, handing her a glass of water a second later. She rinses and spits into the mess of cloth and bile, then turns away from it. "What happened?"
"Apparently, they were lookin' for you."
"Fifth."
"Yeah." He runs a hand through her hair, a thumb across her cheek, as if testing that it's really her. That's she's really alive. "Heimdahl and I figured out how to speed up the process, and, well, we found a solution to the bugs and went and saved you."
"I didn't feel guilty."
He blinks.
"Fifth wanted me to feel guilty about betraying him."
"Oh." He flinches, as if understanding that he isn't going to like where this is going, "I'm sorry, Carter, this is -"
"No. I could have pretended not to understand you." Her hands reach for him. He is real and vibrant under them, and she takes comfort in that. "What I meant was, I didn't feel guilty. I still don't. There are... worse things I feel guilty for."
His hands touch her, gently. "Carter."
"Daniel, Teal'c... The children I will never know."
There are still no tears as he pulls her against him. But it's still comfort all the same. "Carter, I wish I could wave a magic wand."
"I know." A swallow. "I love you."
He goes completely still. "That..."
"You don't," she pulls back and brushes a finger across his cheek. "I don't need to hear it. Ever. But I wanted to hear myself say it, because it makes you real."
His lips claim hers, suddenly, and she finds herself being kissed with a dizzying passion. "You're mine." The whisper is fierce against her ear as he holds her tightly. "I'm never letting you go again."
"Good." There are still going to be nightmares.
"Pardon the intrusion." Heimdahl seems almost embarrassed as they turn to look at him. "But we have reached Earth, and I must bid you farewell and return to the fight swiftly."
"Hey." Jack looks at him for a moment. "Kick their asses."
"We will endeavor to, O'Neill. Thank you for your assistance." A small case appears next to them. "This contains all of the knowledge on the Asgard weapon, please use it wisely."
"Sure."
A moment, and then the ship disappears, the SGC briefing room coalescing around them.
Sam shifts, suddenly conscious that she's still wearing the clothing Gairwyn gave her, the BDUs she'd worn all those days ago left behind when they took their walk.
"Think they'd notice if we just walked out?" He asks against her hair.
"Probably." Much as the idea is appealing, she does want to see her father again.
"Damn."
The intercom suddenly switches on. "Intruder alert, intruder alert!"
SFs begin boiling out of nowhere to surround them, and Generals Hammond and Carter appear from the direction of the control room. "What the hell is going on?"
"Well, General," his voice sardonic, Jack continues to hang onto her as he explains, "Mission accomplished. The bugs are being wiped out. And Carter and I would like to go home now."
"And Ba'al is dead." Sam pipes up. She's still inordinately proud of this fact.
"Right. And that bastard who tortured me is dead." Jack looks at her, "I still wish I'd gotten to kill him."
"Expediency, Jack."
"Uh-huh."
"What happened to SG-1?"
"They're dead." Jack replies bluntly. "Ba'al's been waiting for one of us to use the library device since he discovered it. His jaffa only brought Carter and I to him. Probably thought one of us would break if the other was tortured."
"Well, get yourselves down to the infirmary and get checked out."
"I want to go home." Sam says, her tone firm.
"Sam," her father starts.
"No. I have been tortured and poked and prodded! I'm fucking SICK of this shit. Heimdahl cleared us both, and I want to go HOME. Now." If it were dignified, she'd stamp her foot.
"The Asgard? What happened to Thor?"
"Thor's dead."
"A coup."
Hammond looks between the two of them. "I can't believe this. Neither of you are leaving until you've been debriefed and written full reports."
"Fine. We need food and sleep, then." Jack jabs a finger at them. "And a shower and fresh clothing."
Nodding, Hammond gestures, detailing two of the SFs, "Take them down to the locker room. Then one of you dig up BDUs for them. They are not to be allowed around the base without at least one of you with them."
"Sir." There are salutes.
"Gosh, George," Jack mocks, "You don't trust us anymore."
"Son, until I've heard from the President, I'm not even sure what we're going to do next."
"Oh, by the way," pointing at the small casket as she walks, one arm still around Jack, Sam smirks, "Heimdahl sent that for the weapons people to investigate. Try not to blow up the planet."
The locker room is empty when they get there. One of the SFs gestures towards the communal locker which contains various soap and shampoo products, then exits the room.
"I notice he didn't try to separate us."
Jack chuckles as he pulls his shirt off, "Hammond is getting smarter, Carter. Heh. That rhymes."
"Idiot." she says affectionately.
"Yup." He reaches out and slides a hand down her chest. "You know, what with everything that's happened..."
"Hrm?" Her skirt flutters to the floor and she steps away wearing nothing but her combat boots.
Jack is completely silent, his eyes wide, his gaze fixated on her.
"Uh, Jack?"
"Shut up. You'll wake me from my fantasy."
Sam feels her eyebrows raise. "And what fantasy would that be?"
"You, naked, wearing combat boots."
Shaking her head at him, she places her hands on her hips. "Get naked, Jack, there's soap and water at hand."
"Yes, ma'am."
She snorts and turns, then bends down to untie her boots.
A hand drifts across her ass.
"Jack."
"C'mon, you expect me not to touch?"
She glances over her shoulder at him and chuckles, "I -" his hand slides across her, and the desire she hadn't considered is there. Dear GOD is it there. Her breath quickens. "Jack, we're supposed to take a shower."
"We can." His fingers feather across her again, gently stroking, then he moves away. "We'll just take a nice long one."
Damn him.
She strips her boots and socks and grabs the soap and shampoo, heading into the shower area, and selecting a corner so they can use more than one shower head.
He follows not long after, pins her to the wall and kisses her. She finally breaks away to spin the knobs, yelping at the coldness of the water. It quickly warms.
Once in the shower, he maps her body with his hands and lips and tongue, with the water pounding down on them both until she shatters against the wall, his fingers buried inside of her. Then it's his turn and she urges him on, pushing as he thrusts, whimpering when he hits deeply, and kissing him fiercely as his own release spasms through them both.
Afterwards, they're careful as they use soap and water to clean themselves.
There are towels and a new set of clothing for each of them when they return to the locker room. Sam starts at her hair, grimacing at the length that now hangs past her chin. A towel smacks her on the ass, and she turns to glare.
"It was there."
"Uh-huh."
Retaliation leads to tickling and groping and they're both breathless with laughter when one of the SFs sticks his head in and coughs. "Um, sir? Ma'am?"
"What is it?"
"The General is wondering what's taking so long."
"Tell him we're busy."
"Jack."
"Fine, fine." With little grace he lets her go, but not before getting his hands on her ass again.
Sam sighs as she starts dressing. "You're an evil man, Jack O'Neill."
"Yup."
The Generals are eyeing them with disturbance when they return to the briefing room.
"General, General, airmen. Carter." Jack nods at them all, then sits. "So. Shall we?"
Sam claims the chair next to him and shifts it closer.
"Jack, Sam," Hammond sits down and looks at them. "Why don't you start from the beginning?"
"The beginning? Well, Heimdahl beamed us into here, and -"
"From the moment you arrived in Russia, Jack."
"We had a conversation," Sam says, "Then a week passed, and it all seemed okay. Then he wasn't at lunch. When I talked to Dr. Markhov, she claimed he'd left. I knew she was lying."
"Yup. She was. After Carter left that morning, I got jumped by goons with a syringe. Woke up in a chair, and they started beating me up. Don't know why."
"I figured out where they had to be holding him, broke him out, and we escaped by snowmobile. Cross country to the local rail line, then on to a village I knew of." Sam pauses, remembering the cold. "We stopped and bought provisions with the money I had, then took another train to Moscow."
"And then we went to Florida."
Hammond eyes them. "That's not all, but you're not going to tell me, are you."
"If you're asking did we sell any state secrets, sir, the answer would be 'no'." The sarcasm in her voice seems to startle the two Generals. "We might not have wanted to come back here, but we wouldn't jeopardize this planet needlessly, gentlemen."
"Then, you came and found us, sent us on that mission." Jack picks up the storyline, "We got the library downloaded into our heads, SG-1 was killed, we were killed, we were revived, tortured, killed, wash, rinse, repeat, until Carter brained some jaffa and killed Ba'al. Then we blew up his complex and went to Cimmeria to use their Hall of Thor for a chat with the Asgard."
"What do you mean, you both had the library in your heads?"
"Well, Jack didn't want to do it, and it wasn't working, but he didn't wait for me to move, and I guess... I believe it reacted to his presence and when it opened it took both of us with it."
"Continue."
"Apparently, Asa has taken over the Asgard in some sort of coup d'etat. Thor is dead. Asa wouldn't help us, but Carter worked her magic and managed to contact Heimdahl. Seems they'd wanted the knowledge in the library, but couldn't access it without our help. He wanted us to wait until the pathways in our brains resonated with it before removing it, so they could kick the Replicator's asses."
"They have asses, Jack?"
He remembers, too. His smirk makes her smile, "Yeah. At least we didn't blow up anything named after me, this time."
"So, they extracted the information, and were able to construct a weapon." Hammond is trying to keep them on track.
"Yup."
Her hand finds Jack's, and she wonders if the men watching them will realize he left something out.
They don't.
More questions. Hours of questions and answers until she's so tired she could cry. But Carters don't cry. Ever. Finally, they let them go, sending them down to quarters. The bed is barely big enough for one, and Sam realizes the SF is going to lead her off to another room.
"I'm staying here."
"Ma'am -"
"I'm staying here." She cuts him off, her voice firm.
He's a young sergeant, probably hasn't even had to fight anyone yet. He backs off. "I'll - yes, ma'am."
Too tired to do more than sleep, Sam removes her boots and lets Jack climb into bed first. He raises his arm. "C'mere."
Curling against him, she sighs. "You didn't tell them."
"Do they need to know?" His lips brush her hair.
"No."
Sleep takes her down into the depths of blackness.