Title: Though a Candle Burns…
Chapter: 7 of ?
Email: What if Daniel had managed to get Jack to ascend in Abyss?
Category: Angst/Romance
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Guess. Go on, I bet you can't. Okay fine, S/J.
Season: 6
Spoilers: Meridian and Abyss are the obvious ones, but there are spoilers through all of season 6.
Content Warnings:
Archive: My Site: Yes
SamandJack: Yes
Anywhere else: Yes
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Author's Note: Sorry about the massive gap, same excuses – I mean reasons! Anyway, sorry. And thanks again to everyone that sent feedback, I can't tell you how much it means to me
Sam didn't jump; she didn't scream.
For a moment she did nothing at all.
Jack felt unable to move again, still in shock that he was actually touching her. That he could.
Then Sam let out a long breath, almost a sob.
"This isn't happening." She said, almost to herself, obviously trying to regain control. "I'm going to turn around and there'll be no one there."
"I'm really here." Jack said, feeling her tense under his hand as he spoke. "Carter… Sam. Trust me."
Desperate to distract herself, Sam tried to recall the last time he'd actually called her Sam.
He was doing it again.
"Sam."
She shivered. His voice was just as deep as she remembered, the fingers resting on her shoulder just as long and elegant.
She squeezed her eyes shut against his presence, as though she could make him disappear.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said as though reading her thoughts.
"You were just here." Sam said, still avoiding turning around and facing him. "In my bedroom."
Jack felt inexplicably uncomfortable. "Uh… yeah. About that…"
"You were angry."
"Not with you." Jack assured her. "You gonna look at me, or what?"
"I'm afraid to." Sam admitted.
"Afraid of me?"
"I've never been afraid of you."
"Then what?"
"I'm afraid I'm dreaming again."
Neither of them moved for a full minute.
Then Sam felt Jack shift behind her.
She felt the barest brush of his fingers at the nape of her neck and her eyes slid closed.
The hand that rested on her shoulder slid down her arm and around her waist pulling her inexorably back against him.
"We needed you," Sam said suddenly, unwilling to give in to the sensation.
Jack said nothing, just held her.
"We needed you and you didn't come back."
"I'm back now."
"Why? Because I needed you?" Sam sounded angry.
"No."
"How can you say that?"
Jack's hands disappeared from her body, making Sam regret the tone she had taken. He walked around her until he was standing directly in front of her.
Sam glared up at him, her eyes shining with tears.
"I came back," Jack said softly, "because I needed you."
He wasn't touching her, but all Sam's senses were alive to his presence. She could feel him there. She could hear him breathing.
"You needed me?" Sam asked.
Jack cocked his head to one side, a half-smirk playing on his lips. The expression was so familiar that it startled Sam. "Yeah, I know," Jack was saying, "hard to believe, huh?"
Sam's eyes finally managed to leave his face and travelled down his body, taking in the unfamiliar clothes. The clothes that had bloodstained tears and holes in them.
Tentatively, she reached out and touched one of the holes.
It was smooth at the edges, as though it had been burned.
"Acid." She said softly.
Jack nodded.
"He killed you with acid?"
Jack shook his head.
"But…"
"Sarcophagus." Jack supplied.
"But you died." Sam said.
"Not exactly." Jack replied. "Daniel… intervened."
"Daniel?" Sam said, apparently unaware that she had yet to remove her hand from his chest.
"Yeah. He stopped the sarcophagus doin' its thing and ascended me."
"But you're alive?"
Jack nodded. "Apparently Daniel jumped the gun. I wasn't supposed to die there; you guys would have saved me. You, Jonas and Teal'c."
"How?"
Jack shrugged. "No idea. Like I said, Daniel jumped the gun. Oma turned up and said I had to come back."
"Why wait so long? Why come back here? Now?" Sam asked.
Jack shifted uncomfortably. "I… uh… I didn't want to come back."
"You didn't want to…? Why not?"
"I didn't think there was any point. You guys don't need me."
"You were just going to leave us and go off in search of what? Eternal enlightenment?" Sam sounded angry, but she still hadn't moved her hand.
"I am sick of fighting a war for nothing." Jack said.
"Not for nothing!" She snapped back.
"Oh yeah? What have we got to show for it?"
"We've taken down system lords…"
"And more just keep poppin' up." Jack retorted. "It's pointless." He sighed and turned away from her, stalking over to the other side of the bed and sitting down heavily with his back to her. "I can't do it anymore."
"But you came back," Sam said, questioningly.
"Yeah, I came back."
"Why?"
"Because Oma showed me what's gonna happen."
"She showed you the future?"
"Kinda." Jack said, not bothering to elaborate.
Sam walked around the bed and stood in front of him. Beyond her shock at just seeing him alive now, she noticed other things about him.
The biggest thing was that he was exhausted as she'd never seen him. His silver hair was completely messed up, but that wasn't unusual. His eyes were dull, as though he'd been recently horrified. "What did you see?" She asked softly. Still unable to call him by his first name and unwilling to call him sir, she bit the sentence off at the end.
Jack was staring at the bedroom rug. "Everyone died. The entire SGC. The Asgaard. Everyone."
"That's why you came back?"
He nodded. "I have to stop that happening." He looked up at her. "I can't watch you die again."
Sam stared at him, unable to speak.
"Bit much, huh?" Jack asked wryly. "Look, Sam, I'm gonna crash on your couch, if that's okay?"
"Sam?" Sam repeated, finally calling him on his use of her first name.
"Hey! I'm dead, remember? Cant be dead and your CO." He replied defensively.
"I guess not." Sam said.
"You okay? You look a little lost."
"You're asking if I'm okay?" She asked incredulously.
"Yeah. All this must be a bit…"
"Odd?" Sam said.
Jack smiled. "Yeah. I'm gonna go crash, you look like you should sleep too." He stood, apparently misjudging the distance between himself and Sam and bumping into her. He murmured an apology, but didn't move back, Sam didn't seem able to move either. They stood for a moment, inches away from one another.
Hesitantly, she reached out and touched one of the acid holes again, poking her finger through and touching his chest.
Jack watched her intently for a minute then slowly brought his own hand up to capture hers. "Stop thinkin' about it."
"This hurt a lot."
"Ya think?"
The sarcasm brought Sam back to herself. "It's really you. You're really here."
Jack nodded, unable to speak.
"Don't go." Sam said.
"I'm not goin' anywhere." Jack said.
"Don't sleep on the couch." Sam said, seeing that he had misunderstood.
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea."
"I don't care." Sam replied. "The idea that I would never see you again terrified me beyond belief. It scared me more than-" She broke off, unwilling to go on.
Jack cocked his head to the side inquisitively. "More than what?"
"More than this scares me." Sam said hoarsely, gesturing between them.
"This scares you?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"Me too." Jack said.
Sam tilted her head back and pulled Jacks lips down to meet hers.
