Smiling, Sam left Cam and Landry reliving old victories and went to Teal'c. Their years together brought a comfortable familiarity and she hugged him without self-consciousness. "How do you feel? Are you experiencing any unexpected side-effects from staying outside of the time dilation field?"
He inclined his head formally, but smiled as he replied, "I am well, and far more content not being alone with my remembrance of our life aboard the Odyssey."
She squeezed his hand. "Its funny though, now that the initial rush of memories is over, I still remember, but I have a clearer memory of saying goodbye to Thor and what I ate at the commissary the night before the Odyssey departed than I do of instructing you on the use of the crystal. It's almost as if those experiences are being stored further back in my chronological memories."
She ran her hand through her shortened locks of hair and this time didn't notice anything odd about its length. "These current memories, the ones that should be before our time on the Odyssey, are so clear. Protocols and procedures for the SGC, rules I'm sure I'd forgotten before I was fifty, I can again now list by rote."
Teal'c tilted his head and lifted an eyebrow, waiting for her assessment.
"Well, that will make settling back on the base easier," she said philosophically.
He nodded regally, noting Samantha Carter's sensible outlook as Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran walked over to them, hand in hand. A hint of a smile touched Teal'c's lips.
Much knowledge of great value had accrued during their time on the Odyssey, but none was of richer fortune than the understanding achieved between this pair.
Pity, though. Notions of how they would again rediscover one another had entertained him. Some things are meant to be. Daniel Jackson had lost and suffered much, but the universe fittingly delivered the piece to repair and complete his soul.
Teal'c remembered the fist time he had been in the company of both Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran.
Daniel Jackson had thrown pillows.
He felt the ghost of a smile deepen into a smirk. The universe worked in mysterious ways.
Sam greeted Daniel by throwing her arms around his neck and giving him a quick hug before repeating the gesture to Vala. She grinned happily for them and, for the first time in decades, without even the tiniest bit of resentment. She was past envy. Her life was an open possibility again.
Life.
Not simply work.
Though her former self wanted to tremble and protest that she was too late, Sam knew better. Where there is life, there is hope and now there was time too. The chances she had been afraid to take in the past still remained. She had time and she would not waste any more of it.
Even if her life, her personal life, did not go in the direction she hoped, she could try.
She felt light and free.
For fifty years, she'd attempted to mend her mistake, never really forgetting that ultimately, it was her actions that were responsible for putting them in living suspension. It didn't matter that no one else held her responsible. Her own feelings of guilt kept her from reaching out and connecting as anything more than a colleague and friend.
There had been moments where possibilities could have been explored, but she'd chosen the safe route. What route would she choose now? Not knowing excited her. A touch on her arm brought her out of her speculation.
"Sam," Daniel began, but paused to frown and furrow his brow in that way he did when he was especially nervous about something. His agitation surprised Sam. She glanced at Vala to see if something was wrong.
Vala stood silently next to Daniel, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. Sam recognized that her silence spoke volumes to the depth of their mutual concern. "What is it? What's wrong?" Sam's voice echoed through the bridge. Cam and Landry cut off their jocular ribbing mid sentence and rushed to stand next to Sam and Teal'c.
"Sam, what's happening?" Cam asked at the same time Teal'c spoke.
"Are you unwell Daniel Jackson?" He asked with concern.
"No, no. Physically I feel fine. Fine, I mean, apart from physically manifesting symptoms associated with nerves…" Vala place her free hand on his forearm and with a light touch, forestalled a verbal ramble.
They exchanged looks, the kind of silent communication developed after decades of intimately knowing and loving another person. Daniel took a deep breath and started again.
"We're physically fine, but worried."
Sam shook her head in confusion and asked again, "What is it?"
Daniel asked a question instead of answering hers. "Regaining our memories of our life on the Odyssey, this wasn't an anticipated side effect of reversing the time field, was it?"
"If you're asking did I expect it? Then no. But the chance existed, however minutely."
"But are they permanent?" Vala rushed to ask. Sam suddenly realized the source of their worry, but before she could speak, Daniel jumped in, exposing his naked fear.
"If they are temporary, there has to be something we can do to preserve them, to hold on to them." He broke off. His jaw worked furiously and he swallowed hard. His eyes had a bright sheen to them. When he spoke again, his voice was raw. "Sam, I don't think I could handle saying goodbye a second time."
Sam reached for Daniel and Vala's free hands. She squeezed them and looked in turn into their eyes. "Based on my earlier research into this possible phenomenon and barring traumatic head injury, there is no reason why you will ever altogether lose those memories. You are no more likely to forget our time on Odyssey than anything else that has happened in our lives."
She let her gaze fall and linger on the remaining members of her team and on their commander. A long time ago, before she ever boarded the Odyssey, Daniel and Teal'c had become more than just team members. They had become almost like family.
She looked around the room and realized there was no distinction any longer, no almost. She might have tried to hold back out of a misplaced sense of remorse, but it hadn't mattered in the end. These people were her family.
She smiled and wiped away a tear at the same time. "Those fifty years on the Odyssey, that's a journey I never intended to make. But now, I'm glad I didn't have to lose that voyage. I can promise all of you, those memories will forever be a part of who we are."
Author's note: Chapter 3 is heavily Daneil and Vala (Romance!! Angst!! Comfort!! Humor!! Naked Daniel!!) and will be up within a couple days!