She found her where she'd expected to find her, outside on the balcony overlooking the alien sea, gazing up at the moons floating overhead. They seemed so close she felt certain she could reach out and touch them.
Jennifer cleared her throat before speaking. "Colonel Carter?"
The other woman turned with a start. "Yes?"
She pointed towards the Colonel's ear. "We tried to page you…?"
Carter fumbled briefly with the device in her ear. "Oh, yeah. I turned it to emergency only…"
Jennifer refused to take the hint. "We're having a sort of… party… thing inside. For Carson Beckett. It was Sheppherd's idea. Something about keeping Rodney from 'brooding', I believe." She smiled, keeping her tone light and making quotation marks in the air around 'brooding' as she spoke.
The Colonel returned her smile, though her eyes remained shuttered. "Yeah… I'd heard. I think I'll pass, actually… but thanks."
Keller studied the other woman intently for a moment. "I'm thinking… Maybe Rodney's not the only one who shouldn't be brooding…?"
This time Sam's smile was more genuine. "That obvious?"
"Yeah," Jennifer admitted.
Carter sighed heavily. "I guess putting Beckett into stasis today just stirred up some old… memories."
"Standing out here's helping, then?"
Sam snorted in self-derision. "No, I guess not."
Jennifer gestured back inside with her thumb. "Then come back inside. Join us."
Carter hesitated, but at least she was considering it. "Oh.. I dunno… I mean, I am the boss and all…"
"It wasn't my idea to come find you, you know," Jennifer observed. "I just figured I might know where you were…"
"Really?" Hesitancy had been replaced with something else. Hope, maybe.
Keller laughed. "You may be the boss, but you don't exactly, you know, suck."
Then Sam really did laugh. "Well, as long as I don't suck…"
"See? So… C'mon."
"Sure. Why not?" And, still laughing, she followed Keller back inside.