Such Sweet Sorrow
Chapter 1
The Fume of Sighs
Finally, wakes the way he's wanted.
The scent of her shampoo—something floral, but not something he can pin down—wakes him and he tightens his arms around her, knowing she'd wake first even without the whooping cough.
She laughs and tucks her head against his chest falling back into an easy sleep and he didn't think it would be this easy to convince her to stay with him. Knows its dangerous, could easily be reprimanded, be suspended, but he thinks a little time off wouldn't hurt anything. He could get back into a jogging routine, maybe take her to go visit his momma, finally have a Thanksgiving a home.
What is dangerous is Lorne.
Was actually pretty close with Lorne before his plane went down over Antarctica. Trained the major until the SGC scooped him up for fast tracking and gate jumping. He's been drinking with Lorne and had drunken conversations with him while they waited for cabs. He knows about the carnality he tries to keep buried, the violence just rippling below the surface waiting to get out. He sat and listened as Lorne complained about an ex-girlfriend who filed a restraining order against him even though he doesn't live in that state anymore. How another fled their house in the middle of the night, taking only a bag of her belongings with her. How he set the rest of her stuff on fire.
Didn't know how deep rooted the behavior was until Lorne rolled him into the interrogation and she squirreled back as far as she could into her chair and away from Lorne anytime he entered the room. The bruises and cuts on her arm that looked a little too fresh to be four months old. He knew and he hates himself for not doing something sooner. For not doing more.
Shifts his hand down her arm, her skin unmarred and healed of those bruises and cuts. She sighs in her sleep, the rise and fall of her chest unburdened with no wet crackles or marked skin where a bullet ripped through her.
There are no more wide eyes tracing a body in panic.
No chains or prison wear.
Just her and him.
And he'll be damned if anyone even tries to take her away.
The debriefing runs long.
It's basically just Jackson giving an in-depth lecture about a new religion called Origin. Apparently while he and Vala were on the press tour, Jackson and Sam managed to inhabit the bodies of two people in a neighboring galaxy where the word of Origin is spreading like wildfire because if people don't obey they're burnt up like marshmallows.
He does appreciate a good rundown of any potential dangers, but a two-hour seminar brings him right back to high school history class.
At this point he asks a question just so there's a break in Jackson's speech. "So, this is dangerous because this galaxy's got an Ori leak?"
"Well, the good news we've only found one case of the Ori being present in this galaxy." Sam grins and folds her hands against the table. "We just want to stop it from spreading."
"And you believe threatening this fellow into not threatening others will work?"
When he glances at her, Vala looks about as bored as him. Her face is a bit tired, smashed into the palm of her hand as she leans her elbow against the table.
"The plan is a little more complex than that." Lorne interrupts before Sam can even get a syllable out. His chest all puffed out and his eyes are falling dangerously close to a glare. Should have pushed for them to transfer him onto the president's security detail, but then he might have got into good favor with Landry and that's a dangerous thought.
"Forgive me, but it simply sounds like a bully bullying another bully."
"Dr. Jackson has one of the most sophisticated minds at the SGC," Lorne jams his finger into the table to enunciate each word, "his plan is more complex than—"
"No," Jackson interrupts, "she pretty much got it in one."
It's beyond weird wearing a spacesuit.
Even weirder helping her into a spacesuit.
"Why do I need to wear this?" Scrunches her nose as she shimmies into the heavy fabric, he's already got most of his on, just missing the helmet. Jackson and Sam stand to the side, fully dressed, ready to go out on another SG-1 adventure because this is what they normally do, and he can't help but feel a little jealous.
"Because there's no atmosphere on that planet."
"Then how is that fellow breathing down there?" Grunts as she slides her arms into the suit, flipping her hair back over his arms.
He starts zipping her up, directing her hair back over the front of her shoulders. "The Prior?"
"Yes."
"Will of the Ori, I guess."
"So, he's the only one on the planet?"
"Seems that way."
Her cheek touches the curve of her shoulder, her eyes downcast on his fingers slowly stamping her into the suit. "Then why does it bother your planet so much if he continues to be there?"
"Because he's a threat."
"How is a single man on an uninhabitable planet a threat."
"Honey," he sighs, resting his forehead against her shoulder and her lips press cool against his temple.
"I just wanted to make sure that I'm doing the right thing before I unleash the full fury of my previous host on some poor, suffocating man."
"I think he's not so much a threat by himself, but if others follow him—"
Her eyes trail him as he sidesteps away from her to grab the last piece of her suit. "So, you agree?"
Palms the helmet between his two hands like a basketball, staring down at the shining glass, then back up into her eyes. "Yeah—"
"Then say no more." Her hand pets the side of his face caressing underneath his chin but drops quickly when Lorne enters the room. She keeps her grin for him though—just for him—then leans in and whispers, "I trust you."
A/N: Story and chapter title borrowed from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.