Chapter 6: Extraordinary Measures
The Following Morning, Peterson Air Force Base Brig
Jack and Daniel arrived at the visitor's station check-in desk at the Peterson Air Force Base Brig, where Sam was being held until her trial. One of the guards on duty at the desk immediately straightened when he saw a general approaching the desk. He inquired, "General...sir, who are you here to see?"
Daniel answered the nervous looking airman, "We're here to see Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter."
The guard flipped through his records and grimaced. "I'm sorry, sirs. It might take a few minutes. She's on suicide watch right now and her guard will have to get her prepared to go to the visitation room."
Both Daniel and Jack were visibly upset by this news. "Thank you, Lieutenant," Jack replied calmly. The guard picked up a phone and called down to those guarding Carter, letting them know that she had visitors.
Once he had hung up the phone, the airman offered, "Let me go ahead and take you down to the visitation room. You can wait inside until the Colonel arrives."
As they were walking behind the airman, Daniel whispered to Jack, "Suicide watch? What does that mean for Sam?"
Jack grimaced. "Basically, they take away anything that she could use to kill herself. That includes certain articles of clothing, bed sheets, maybe even her pillow."
"You don't actually think she would hurt herself, do you?"
"No, I don't Daniel. But she is in a tough place right now. We don't know what her state of mind is like."
They were escorted into a room with two chairs at a desk facing a glass wall. The glass overlooked a room on the other side. The room had an eerie glow, as the dim fluorescent lights sputtered above them. There was a phone on the wall near the desk to communicate with the person who would soon be on the other side.
Daniel and Jack both took seats at the desk and waited in silence. Suddenly, the door on the other side opened and in walked Sam Carter being guided by a female guard. She was wearing a dark gray prison jumpsuit, looking pale and worn out. Her hands and feet were bound in handcuffs that were connected together by a series of chains. She took a seat opposite them and stared at her friends wearily without even offering her trademark smile in greeting. She reached up with both hands and pulled down the phone off of its hook. She fumbled clumsily with it until she finally managed to place it up to her right ear.
Daniel carefully picked up the phone on his side of the room. He smiled at his friend thoughtfully. "Hi Sam. We think we may have come up with a way out of this for you."
Sam continued to stare at Daniel, no sign of hopefulness or enthusiasm appeared on her face. She sighed in disappointment, "How, Daniel? The evidence against me is solid and I don't want to spend the rest of my life on the run. So if the plan is to have Thor beam me out of here, no thanks."
Daniel smirked. She really did know them well. "Actually, we already thought about that and Thor said no. In fact, I'm just going to step out for a bit and let Jack explain the plan to you in private."
Daniel seemed nervous to her as she watched him hand the phone to Jack and get up to leave. Sam eyed his back suspiciously as he left the room. She then turned to face her commanding officer. "Okay, sir. Out with it. What is this big mysterious plan of yours?"
Jack looked down at the desk nervously and replied, "Actually, it's Daniel's plan."
Sam demanded, "Then why are you explaining it to me and not him?"
Jack traced circles on the surface of the desk and squirmed a bit in his chair, "Well, you see...I have a bigger role to play in the plan than he does and I think he thought it would be better coming from me. I have no idea why. I'm more likely to screw this up. You know me. I'm not really good at explaining things."
Sam sighed, her frustration building gradually. "Just tell me the plan, sir."
He looked up into her eyes again. "Have you ever heard of diplomatic immunity?"
Her forehead crinkled in confusion. "Yes. But what does that have to do with my case? I'm not a diplomat."
"Well, it seems that I am," he explained, smiling proudly. "It seems I have been the Asgard ambassador to Earth for the past oh...about six years without even knowing it."
"Yes," she stated matter-of-factly.
Jack was dumbfounded. "You knew?"
Sam nodded slightly. "Thor mentioned something about it to Daniel after the whole cloning incident."
"Why am I always the last one to know about these things?"
She was starting to get annoyed with the way he was evading her questions. "The plan, sir?"
"Okay. It seems that under U.S. and International law, diplomats and their relatives are immune from arrest and prosecution."
"Relatives?" Sam inquired skeptically.
O'Neill averted his eyes from hers. "Yeah. Like say...wives."
She looked confused for just a second and then quickly composed herself. Her mouth gaped open in shock. "You are not really suggesting what I think you are suggesting? Are you sir?"
Jack waved his free hand in the air. "Carter, there is no easy way to say this...Will you marry me?"
She looked him directly in the eyes and offered a curt and decisive answer, "No."
Strangely enough, Jack did not look upset or surprised in the least. He had been expecting this. Daniel and Teal'c may have thought that Carter would jump at the opportunity, but he was more realistic. He knew she would have to be reassured of all the details before she could commit to the plan.
"Look, Carter. I know you have a fiancé, I know you have no desire to marry me, but you are possibly facing the death penalty here. They are not going to go easy on you." He paused and continued to reassure her, "It will be a marriage in name only. We will have the official documentation, but I'm not expecting you to have dinner on the table everyday by 1800 hours. If you marry me, Thor will take you wherever you want to go. You could join the Tok'ra and be near your Dad, you could stay with the people in the Land of Light. Hell, Thor has even offered to let you stay with the Asgard, although I don't think you would enjoy that as much considering your distaste for Asgard cuisine. Anything is better than lethal injection, Carter." His jokes were met by silence and a steely expression.
"No," she repeated resolutely and shook her head firmly in the negative. She added for good measure through gritted teeth, her tone fierce and determined, "I would rather die."
This time, he was astounded by her response. "What? Are you saying you would rather face the death penalty than marry me?" O'Neill exclaimed in bafflement.
"Yes. I won't do it," Sam reiterated.
Her words hurt and angered him to the core. Jack knew their relationship had been strained in recent months, but he had no idea she disliked him enough to choose death rather than a marriage to him. Jack glared at her and rose to leave. He had to escape from her presence before he was completely unable to contain his anger. "Glad to know how you really feel. Good luck in court, Carter. You're going to need it." With that he abruptly hung up the phone, turned and left the room, slamming the door on his way out.
If he had turned back only for a second, he would have witnessed the look of longing in Sam's eyes and the tears streaming down her face.
Daniel was waiting anxiously outside the room. He smiled at Jack in anticipation. His smile quickly faded as he saw the anger and confusion on O'Neill's face.
"She turned it down," Jack stated simply. He shrugged his shoulders and then ran his hands roughly through his hair.
Daniel was dumbfounded. "What? Are you kidding?"
Jack looked at his friend sadly. "No. Said she would rather die than marry me."
Daniel opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to find the words to form a response. He shook his head in disbelief, "I can't believe it. I know she was set to marry Pete, but she's willing to sacrifice her life to remain loyal to him? That's just crazy."
Jack reproachfully replied, "Maybe there are other factors that you didn't consider, Daniel."
"Like what?"
"Like the fact that she probably takes the institution of marriage seriously. She is not going to marry someone she doesn't love."
As Jack stormed down the hall to leave, Daniel yelled after him, "Jack, you're right. She wouldn't marry someone she didn't love. But she does love you."
Without turning back to look at his friend, O'Neill quietly stated, "That's where you're wrong, Daniel. That's where you're wrong."
Daniel reentered the visitation room. Sam had risen from her seat and was facing away from him. Although he could only see her back, he could tell from her movements and posture that she was quietly sobbing. He picked up the phone and tapped on the window to get her attention.
She turned around as she wiped awkwardly at her wet cheeks. She didn't want to face him, but she reluctantly picked up the phone on her side of the room.
"Sam, what have you done?" he asked in reproach.
"I won't do it, Daniel. I know you want me to, but I can't. Please don't ask me to," she begged. Her voice was ragged and weary from crying.
"Why not, Sam? Why can't you marry Jack? Even if you didn't want that type of relationship with him, it's not like he is going to force you to act like husband and wife. It would be just a formality – a marriage on paper." He paused for second and then inquired, "Is this about Pete?"
Sam sniffled a little before replying, "No. I gave the ring back just before our last mission. I knew what I had to do and I didn't want him to be around to see the consequences. It's not his fault that he fell for someone with such a complicated life. He doesn't deserve this. He doesn't deserve a mess of a person like me. And neither does the General."
Daniel sighed, "Did you love Pete? Is that why you let him go?"
Sam closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Not really. I guess the guilt just finally caught up with me. I didn't love him like I should have, Daniel. I never loved him enough. If I did, I never would have gone on that mission and contacted Thor. I would have kept my big mouth shut and kept myself safe and out of prison."
Daniel could not hide the confusion in his voice. "If it's not Pete, then why? Why won't you marry Jack? And don't say it's because you don't like him enough. I know the truth. I know you love him, Sam. He loves you too."
Sam became agitated. She answered firmly, "No, Daniel. Even if he felt that way about me once, he hasn't felt that way in a very long time. I won't drag him into this. I won't make him sacrifice his life to save mine."
Realization suddenly dawned on Daniel. "That's what this is about, isn't it? You think he doesn't really love you and want to marry you?" His voice became insistent, "Let me tell you something, Sam, he loves you so much that he was willing to let you go – willing to give you up so you could have a normal life with Pete. Possibly have children even. He wants everything that is good for you, Sam. Even if it doesn't include him."
Sam began crying again. She could no longer control the tears. Yet through the tears, Daniel could clearly hear the determination in her voice. "Even if you're right...I will not let him give up his life for me. If we get married, do you actually think that they won't court-martial him for fraternization? It'll be payback for allowing me to escape. They will remove him from the SGC, kick him out of the Air Force with a dishonorable discharge, and take away everything that he has worked so hard to achieve."
"Do you actually think any of that is worth anything to him if you die? It will destroy him, Sam. He would gladly give it all up to save you." Daniel smiled as another thought came to him, "Anyways, he has diplomatic immunity. They can't prosecute him."
Sam protested, "But they can discharge him. He is still a member of the United States Air Force. You really don't get it, Daniel. He may be willing to give it all up, but I'm not willing to let him. I think you should leave now. I'm really tired and want to go back to my cell now."
Her expression worried him. He had not seen his friend this despondent since the incident when Jolinar died. It was like she had already given up and for the first time since arriving he was grateful that the prison officials had been wise enough to put her on suicide watch.
He pleaded with her one last time, "Sam, just think about it some more... please. If you won't do it for yourself, think about all of the people who love you. I don't want to lose you and neither do Teal'c, your Dad, your brother, and especially Jack. We love you and our world would be empty without you."
Her eyes were empty and cold as she uttered her final words before turning away to call the guard, "Goodbye Daniel. Don't come here again."
Daniel left the room and walked down the hall to the check-in desk. He signed out on the visitor sheet and slowly made his way out of the building. Jack was standing beside his truck, waiting on Daniel and lost in his own thoughts.
Daniel approached him and stated resolutely, "You need to talk to her again. Convince her to go along with the plan."
Jack was impatient to go and didn't care to continue the conversation further. "I don't think so, Daniel. She made her feelings on the subject quite clear."
Daniel sighed in exasperation. "I really don't know what to do with you two. You are probably two of the most stubborn, obstinate people I know. You know, she only refused to marry you because she didn't want to drag you into the whole mess. She knows it would probably mean the end of your career."
Jack shouted gruffly at his friend, "Carter doesn't give a damn about me or my career. She just doesn't want to betray Pete." His eyes were still full of anger and hurt.
Daniel felt like screaming at his friend's stubborn ignorance. "That's not what she told me. She practically begged me not to ask her to go along with the plan. The reason she gave was that she wouldn't let you sacrifice your life and career for her. Besides, she called it off with Pete just before all this went down. She knew, Jack. She knew she would probably be arrested. She didn't want any loose ends, so she broke it off with him."
Jack's face briefly lit up with hope, which was quickly replaced with stoicism. "She still loves him, though."
"I think she cared about him a great deal," Daniel reasoned. "I'm not so sure she was ever in love with him. More like she was in love with the possible life he had to offer – a normal life with someone to come home to and children, a life where she was no longer alone at the end of the day."
Daniel paused before continuing, his tone unyielding, "Jack... she is still in love with you. She never stopped loving you. Don't you see? That's why she won't go along with the plan. She thinks you don't care about her in the same way and that you would only be doing it to save her life. She knows you care about her, and she thinks you would be giving it all up to be in a phony marriage that you don't even want."
Jack laughed cynically, "You have an overactive imagination, Daniel. She was engaged to another guy! She's not in love with me. Even if she did feel something for me... it was a very long time ago."
Daniel laughed at the familiar words. "Funny... she said the exact same thing about you just a few minutes ago. Think about it, Jack. She waited until she was off world to go off on her own to contact Thor. She didn't tell any of us what she was up to. She didn't ask for our help, she didn't even tell us what she had done when she got back."
Daniel continued to rationalize, "Why? Because she knew there would be a heavy price to pay and she was determined to be the only one to suffer the consequences. She still is. She doesn't regret what she did. It's almost as if she expects to die and is okay with it. That is, as long as we don't go down with her."
Jack remained doubtful. "She won't marry me because she wants to be the only one to carry the burden? You got all this from a fifteen minute conversation with her?"
Daniel nodded in affirmation. "Precisely. If she goes through with the trial and gets the death penalty or a life sentence, she feels as if she has succeeded. She has protected the Earth by getting rid of the weapon and she has protected those she loves by keeping us out of the line of fire. Typical Sam, if you ask me."
Daniel's words finally sunk in and Jack realized that his friend had made an accurate appraisal of the situation. All of the anger, all of the confusion suddenly melted away and all that was left was a feeling of warmth and an ardent determination.
"Damn!" Jack exclaimed. "Daniel, get in the truck and let's get out of here. I need to get a marriage license and someone to officiate at a wedding. Today, if at all possible."
"What about Sam?"
Jack smiled rebelliously at Daniel and responded decisively, "Colonel Carter is going to marry me, even if I have to use extraordinary measures."
TBC
