title: all that I've got
Based on: "all that I've got" by the used
Started: April 7, 2005
Summary: In the years following the publication of the SGC, SG1 drifts apart. What happens as they're forced to reunite by uncontrollable circumstances? (S/J)
Samantha Carter was running furiously to the stargate. She was using every ounce of strength she had to propel her tired body forward. Her commanding officer was on her left, her friend and archaeologist was on her right, and the alien liaison, for lack of a better description, was on her six. They all fired on the Jaffa coming from seemingly all angles and sides. But their staff blasts were coming too fast. She followed a yelled command from her CO to kneel behind a large and rather well-placed boulder in the desert-like planet she thought looked more like Nevada than P7X-879.
The abundant supply of Naquada on P7X-879 was discovered four months ago. Since then, SG teams were a regular—pop in, check on the natives' supply of clean water and medical supplies, get some Naquada , pop out. It was simple enough. Or so it had been. Apparently word traveled fast; those pesky Tau'ri were at it again. Thus gliders and hatak vessels had begun their descent on Nauguri, as P7X-879 was also known as, about 34 minutes ago. Of course, whatever goa'uld (or goa'uld plural) was responsible for all these annoying weapons being pointed at the collective face of SG1, had made it his (or her… or their) first order of business to secure the gate.
So they ran. They ran like hell, which just means that they ran like they always did. But the Jaffa were closing in, and fast. But the DHD was now in sight.
O'Neill knelt beside Carter and lay cover-fire for her, as she did the same for him. "Cover me!" he barked.
Before she had time to fully comprehend what the colonel had ordered, he was running to the DHD to dial them home—the DHD that was right in the open. By some miracle, he managed to shoot and kill the four Jaffa who had guarded the DHD. Four Jaffa guarding the DHD? There were at least 25 now closing in on her team, but the major continued to lay cover-fire for her CO, just as she had done many times before.… but she couldn't remember ever feeling the feeling that was now creeping up her spine. It was this horrible burning sensation…
O'Neill punched in the first gate symbol and the inner ring of the gate began to spin. The first chevron clicked into place ("engaged" as Walter (or Picard for that matter) would say) and then spun in the opposite direction. It was like a giant combination lock that opened up to reveal so much more than her Chemistry books, her jacket, her tiny locker-sized posters and three stale peanut butter and jelly sandwiches like in high school.
The burning sensation was now this horrible weight the size of nine elephants in the pit of her stomach, like she knew… no. this time would be different.
"DANIEL, GO!" he yelled when the seventh chevron had "locked." Daniel obeyed.
"TEAL'C!" Teal'c obeyed.
"CARTER!" Carter froze, a sense of déjà vu leaving her distracted and as if she were missing something vital.
"CARTER, LET'S—" his words stopped short and she looked up to see her commanding officer clutching his left arm. He'd been shot.
"NOOOOO!" she screamed. In a heartbeat, Major Samantha Carter was kneeling next to O'Neill, cradling his head in her arms on her lap. "Come on, Colonel! Get up! Let's go!"
He stared up at her with eyes that knew the end…Déjà vu… eyes that pleaded with her to leave him to the inevitable, to death. His arm raised up and he touched her desert-fatigued arm. "Sam…" he croaked.
"Come on, colonel! The gate is going to close! You have to—"
He somehow managed to wipe a tear from her face with one of his bloody hands. "Sam, I—I—"
"And good morning to the tri-state area! The time is now six a.m. and let me tell you, it is a chilly December morning here in Woodhaven, Connecticut!"
"That's right, Becky-Sue! And with only 12 days to go before Christmas, we here at WPLJ hope you have all your shopping done! Because once that—"
Samantha Carter gave the alarm clock a good smack, knowing that whatever damage she could manage to inflict upon the gadget would be fairly easily repairable.
The movement allowed her to feel the sweat making her cotton pajamas stick to her skin. She cupped her face with her hands before running them through her hair. That damned nightmare again. She'd heard of recurring dreams but this was ridiculous.
It happened more or less once a month since the Stargate program had become public knowledge. They recurred more frequently during Christmas or when she thought about… him. And each time got more vivid, and some mornings she woke herself when she screamed. Others, she woke with tears running uncontrollably down her cheeks. But once she remembered where she was; once she remembered where he was…
She could never understand why it was that each time she had the dream, the events were exactly the same—the number of Jaffa, the places they were shot, and Jack's last words were always the same…but he never outright said them—how was it that everything was always a surprise! She'd asked one of the other professors once but he had wanted to psychoanalyze her or something so that never quite worked out.
Speaking of the other professors…
Sam slipped out of bed and into the bathroom. She turned on the hot water and brushed her teeth as she waited for the water to heat up. Once it was as scalding as she could physically endure, she peeled off her sweaty clothes and stepped in—toe first. The hot water running down her body was the best thing for all mornings but today it was pure bliss. The urea from the sweat on her skin and the tear-stains from her face were all washed away with everything else—the memories of her past life were washed away as well as the grease in her hair. Not to say that all of her past life was as grease in her hair, but…
Fifteen minutes later, she was done. She wrapped her terry robe around her naked body and put her dirty clothes in the hamper. She quietly padded her way down the hall and stopped at the first door to her left. She turned the doorknob and just before she entered, she recognized the faint smell of coffee coming from downstairs—another refreshing morning thought.
Heavy breathing resonated through that first room on the left. She walked over to the source of the noise and picked up a small child in her arms. The child didn't fuss but began to suck his thumb in replacement of breakfast. Sam cradled the baby, gently attempting to wake him up enough that he would recognize that breakfast was in his tiny face.
A short while later, the baby of only 1 month was fed and burped. Sam replaced her son in his crib for a little extra sleep while she had her breakfast. She made her way downstairs to the coffee.
"Another nightmare?" her husband asked as soon as she'd made her entrance into the kitchen.
"Uh, yeah." She answered, slightly uncomfortable to speak about her dream with him. "Why? I mean, I didn't wake you up, did I?"
"No, no… I could just. Tell." He took his usual seat at the head of the table as Sam made her way to the sweet nectar of life. "Jake was fed?" he asked.
"Uh huh." She answered, stifling a yawn. "I'm seeing four potential sitters today," she noted. The baby, Jake—Jacob— was too young to be placed in the care of a sitter yet but maternity leave from Yale University, where Sam taught, gave her plenty of time to interview potentials.
"Hopefully you won't get any today."
"Hmph," she agreed. "Any" reffered to some of the potential sitters who were only SGC enthusiasts looking for an autograph, a speech on wormwhole mechanics, or just to meet her. It was a little scary sometimes. Had she known that SG1 would become world-famous (hell, universally famous) after the disclosure of the stargate program, she thought, she would have changed her name and gotten a good deal of plastic surgery beforehand.
Her husband got up and moved towards his wife. "I'm going to go say 'bye' to Jake. I love you, Sam. Have a great day, " he gave her a peck on the cheek.
She returned the gesture, "Bye, Pat. "
to be co n t i n u e d
A/N: Feedback is GREATLY appreciated. Thanks for reading. Next chapter (about jack) to be posted SOON. In case you were confused, Jack and Sam are NOT married and Jack IS alive.