A/N - Howdy folks. Thought I'd forgotten about this fic, didntcha? Deep apologies, but my muse packed up and headed over to Sunnydale for a little while. It's back now thou, and I'm almost positive that the SGC is home. g (my summer-home in Sunnydale is probably going to stay there thou)
Anyways, thanks to Ando, for the beta job, and for bouncing idea's around with me (and for listening to me prattle on about Sg nearly non stop) And to Fi and Jenny, for getting me back into Stargate when I was pretty sure I'd lost all hope.
Feedback - Do you know how LONG it's been since I got a review? I'm going through withdrawals! (yes, my fault I know for not posting for so long) PLEASE keep me and my muse happy!
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:Sam:
I stretched, my fingertips brushing against the headboard and my toes sneaking off the end of the bed. My eyes still closed against the soft afternoon sunlight filtering through the open china doors, I breathed in the cold ocean breeze and decided I never wanted to move from that spot ever again.
It was coming to the end of the fourth day of our honeymoon, and early tomorrow morning our flight left back to Colorado. When first talking about the honeymoon, Guy and I had originally planned on disappearing from reality for a couple of weeks, but after a phone call from the SGC earlier this morning, I'd had to break the bad news to Guy that we were cutting it short.
The only thing I could do was promise him an extra long holiday after the Goa'uld threat had gone, although I hadn't exactly phrased it like that.
Understandably, Guy hadn't been impressed with the emergency back at work that I couldn't tell him a thing about, and had taken off out of the hotel room without so much as a goodbye. I hadn't seen him all day, and as the light was fading outside I was starting to get a little worried.
Opening my eyes, I ran my fingers across the blood red satin sheets, feeling the softness against my bare skin, my thoughts still on my husband and the problem that would be between us for the rest of our lives.
How could I tell him that the fate of the entire world rested on the next few months, and just exactly how we handle the situation? I didn't blame him for being upset, but I desperately wished I could make him understand.
It was just at that very moment that said husband knocked softly on the door. Wondering idly what he expected to find behind the closed door, I called out to him to enter. He walked in, a small sheepish smile on his face, and a beautiful long stemmed red rose in his hand. My heart melted. Here I had found maybe the sweetest guy alive, and I was leaving him alone on our honeymoon. He came to sit next to me, his soft lips brushing against my cheek, and he handed me the rose.
"I'm sorry." He murmured against my ear, and then pulled away, "I didn't mean to take off like that."
"I'm the one who should be sorry." I told him honestly, my hand reaching up to touch his skin, all by its own accord.
He was silent for a long moment, his eyes locked on mine, "Don't go back." He whispered, and my hand automatically tensed in shock. He kept talking before I could respond, his voice hitched, "Listen to me Sam. I'm not a fool. Whatever you've gotten yourself into up in that mountain, it doesn't have to stay like that. I can help you...." He took a deep breath, "I want to help you Sam. But you have to trust me."
The entire world stopped spinning. The ground opened up and swallowed me. An anvil dropped on my head. Jack announced he was getting a sex change. Any one of these things would have shocked me less then what my husband had just said to me.
"Whatever I've....?" The sentence wouldn't even leave my mouth. Whatever I've gotten myself into? What was I, a teenager involving myself with a biker gang? I was utterly speechless, but my brain just wouldn't catch up, snap frozen in shock
The dumb struck look on my face was enough to keep him talking.
"You don't have to go back there Sam. We can stay here, start a new life together, and you can leave all of that behind. Whatever it is Sam, it'll be okay."
My hand found his, squeezing it hard, succeeding in my mission to keep him from speaking anymore. I needed time to process what he was saying, to wrap my head around the incredibleness of the fact that Guy was so utterly, completely, and tragically off course.
"Guy....I'm not....I work in Cheyenne....There's nothing else going on."
"Sam, please." He sighed, relaxing into the soft mattress, obviously prepared to convince me he knew what was going on, "Deep Space Radar Telemetry? You and I both know you are smarter then that."
A brief smile creased my lips.
"And Jack? What possible interest could he have in that? Jack is a field officer Sam. He told me himself he likes to get his hands dirty." He looked at me, his face expressionless, "They don't keep talented Military Colonels locked up in a mountain. And lastly, Sam....look at you." He reached over, his fingers brushing over a fading bruise I had gained on our last trip though the gate, "You come home after being away for weeks, battered and bruised like you'd been in a fight for your life....."
He trailed off as an unexplainable tear fell from my eye. Gingerly, he reached out to brush it away, "It's okay Sam. You can tell me."
Slowly, imperceptibly, I shook my head no, "I can't Guy." My eyes pleaded with him, "I can't tell you what is going on up in that mountain." I let my fingers intertwine with his. I had no thought bar that I absolutely had to convince Guy at that moment. Nothing else mattered except making sure Guy trusted what I said.
"You have to trust me. I'm doing good work up there, it's important. Guy..."
I watched the indecision scrawl across his face, the questions, the frustration, and in that split second, I came to a life altering decision.
"Six months. Guy, please, just give me six months, and I promise I'll quit."
Guy looked shocked, "Quit?" He echoed, "As in... quit the Air force?"
I nodded firmly. The idea had been sitting in the back of my mind for months now. I knew I could never desert the SGC just before the big battle, but if we won the fight, I figured I deserved a favour from them. If we lost....it wouldn't matter anyway. But I knew I couldn't loose Guy.
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:Jack:
"We want you back."
I blinked, uncomprehending, "Come again?"
On the other end of the phone, the General sucked in a deep lungful of air and expelled it quickly, as if talking to me was the last thing on this earth he wanted to do, "The SGC wants you back."
The side of my mouth tweaked, partly in surprise, the other half with the supreme knowledge that after everything, I was still indispensable to the SGC.
Well....that last bit may have been an overstatement. Maybe.
"Can I ask why?"
"You've spent the longest amount of time with the Stargate programme." The General explained tiredly, "I'm not even going to pretend that Colonel Carter hasn't been keeping you apprised of the situation here. When it comes down to it O'Neill, you are still the most experienced person we have, and the President feels we should pull in all our resources."
The smug grin stayed in place as he kept talking, "You wouldn't, however, be there in any officially capacity. Strictly a civilian. We will however, give you full security clearance, and enough authority to have yourself heard." There was a pause, "We need your help O'Neill."
"You know what General?" I spoke with assured confidence, knowing that the skinny upstart of a General was fuming on the other end of the phone. Admitting that he actually needed me after the fiasco that ended up with me retiring must have struck hard, "I'll get back to you."
I hung up the phone without so much as a goodbye, grinning like a school boy after his first kiss. Although I'd never admit it to anyone, I missed the SGC like a second home. And, a deep part of my brain taunted me, this way you would be able to spend more time with Sam.
I swallowed hard, closing my eyes, suddenly unsure. Maybe going back to the SGC wasn't such a good idea. A few days after Carter's wedding I'd finally understood something that I'd kept denying since that first year I'd known her.
I was in love with Sam.
Completely, utterly, hopelessly in love with this goddess incarnate. Only, I figured it out too late. The woman I loved had gone and married another. The best I could settle for was knowing she was happy. It wasn't nearly enough, but I no longer had any right to this woman. I'd let her slip by me.
Being near her, day after day, being so close, and knowing it was something I could never have? I doubted I could live through that....again.
And even as I thought this, I knew I could never stay away.
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:Sam:
Guy hadn't been convinced. I knew that deep down he didn't believe me. But, as he'd said with a soft kiss against my forehead, I was his wife, and that gave me a certain amount of leeway. He would wait, if not happily, until then. I wondered what exactly it was that Guy thought I was doing. He must have some horrible fantasy cooked up from those long nights spent waiting for me to come home.
The seeds of doubt had been planted.
Returning to Colorado was uneventful, and I stayed home long enough to put the suitcases away and change before heading back to Cheyenne Mountain. I was eager to get back to work, to find out what had been so urgent that they needed to call me back early from my honeymoon.
What I hadn't expected, as I strode confidently into the briefing room, was Jack, his eyes glued on the Stargate through the large glass window three stories down. His gaze travelled to me as I entered, and his face broke into a tight smile, "Hey Carter."
"Hi...uh...Jack? What are you doing here?"
"Helping out."
I spun around to face Lieutenant Jennifer Hayley, who stood behind me with a grin big enough to light up Texas, "Morning Ma'am."
"Lieutenant." I greeted her, turning back to face Jack, still confused, "Jack?"
"I called him in." Walking briskly into the Briefing Room was Major General Morgan Kaplan. Having succeeded Hammond as the Commanding Officer of the SGC, Kaplan had slipped into the role with little effort. After taking an instantaneous dislike to Jack seconds after walking through the door, he'd turned out to be a fairly even tempered General with a thirst for glory - at whatever cost.
Even if it was at the expensive of his own people.
I was happier at the Alpha site, running under my own rules, then being stuck at the SGC with this man who had no regard for the talent under him. Jack had felt very much the same way, opting to leave rather then put up with it. But, as Daniel had pointed out on several occasions, they couldn't all be like Hammond, and we'd settled into a fairly efficient Command over the past couple of years. Jack's return was surprising, but, as the General explained it, necessary.
"The President asked me to ask you here." Kaplan started off, letting everyone at the table: myself, Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Lieutenant Hayley and the SGC's 2IC, Colonel Shane Russell, know that he wasn't the reason behind Jack's return.
"He feels that, with concern to the Goa'uld, you are the best defensive strategist this planet has. You know them better then anyone else. He feels we can use you."
"How nice of him to think of me." Came back Jack's typical sarcastic response. I could tell, from the other side of the table that his defenses were up. He wanted to be anywhere else but in this briefing room with the General that had not only taken the position he felt was rightfully his, but had all but kicked him out as well.
The General went on to talk about the only other interesting piece of news he had. Tok'ra operatives had announced that the Goa'uld had entered hyperspace and were on their way. Half the table visibly paled at the news. After all our efforts to delay the Goa'uld, it hadn't helped, and they'd still left largely on schedule. Transit time was an estimated five months, but we had no way of knowing for sure. With the Goa'uld in hyperspace, we had lost all and any sort of surveillance of them, meaning whatever they did from now until they reached Earth would be unknown to all of us. I only hoped they stayed on course and we could beat this sooner, rather then later.
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Ahh, nother chapter down. More coming, and quicker this time! Honestly. Don't forget to Review! It's a reading requirement!!
