WARNING - CANON CHARACTER DEATH
Samantha Carter - Stargate: SG1
"I am treating you as my friend asking you share my present minuses in the hope I can ask you to share my future pluses." Katherine Mansfield
April 2011 - Paris, France
"Thank you"
The brunette stood and walked away from the cafe, ignoring pain in her side and the lump in her throat.
This was how it had to be now. She was doomed to living a half-life... a ghost and nothing more.
Emily Prentiss was dead.
She walked down Avenue du Marechal Gallieni, with sure and steady steps, head held high, years of practice allowing to be just another local on their way home.
It wasn't until she reached Pont Alexandre III that she looked inside the packet and as her new reality truly set in and she allowed the tears to fall. Stepping up to side of the bridge she turned to face the Seine, right arm resting on the stone railing clutching her new identity, left wrapped around her still healing wound.
She isn't sure how long she stands there forcing herself to simply breathe, to will Genevieve Marceau into existence when an unexpected presence appears by her side. Automatically on her guard the woman flickers her gaze to the left and sees a fairly unassuming man.
Medium build, brown hair, glasses. He's very carefully not looking at her but out over the river. Whoever he is, she can tell he's not agency or one of Doyle's. An agent would never approach her so openly less than an hour after she met with JJ and if he was one of Doyle's he wouldn't just be standing there. He would have put a bullet in her head and walked away.
Horny tourist looking for a good time?
No, wrong vibe, he wanted to talk... lonely tourist looking for a friend.
"C'est une belle soirÈe, n'est-ce pas?" (It's a beautiful evening isn't it?) he turned his head slightly so she could see his bright blue eyes.
She copied his move and cocked her eyebrow slightly, trying not to shudder at his atrocious accent.
"Pas vraiment..." (Not really...).
He smiled "Sam a dit que tu me ferais travailler pour ça." (Sam said you'd make me work for it.)
"Qui?" (Who?)
Emily had known a number of Sam's throughout her life, so had Lauren... Genevieve didn't know any.
"Elle a aussi dit que tu avais raison à propos de Jonas, son complexe de Dieu était sa chute.." (She also said you were right about Jonas, his God complex was his downfall.)
She shrugged lazily and turned to lean back against the bridges barrier flashing back to a drunken night in DC while in between assignments for Interpol. The blond had wandered up to the pool table she'd been sitting by and Emily had nearly bounced with glee. The other woman played the girl card pretending to be a mediocre player at best but Emily could see the way she was assessing all the other players. The set of her shoulders was a little too relaxed and she held the pool cue too confidently. With a cocky grin and a wink at the blond Emily tossed $100.00 on edge of the pool table "End of the night, she walks away undefeated!"
Both Emily and Sam had cleaned up that night and sometime around 3 am they were eating pancakes in a greasy diner and talking about anything but their classified work. Over the next decade they kept in touch mostly via email and the occasional beer when they were both in DC which was rare.
Very few people knew about her friendship with Sam and none of them would have known about that particular observation Emily had made not long after her friends engagement broke up.
"Qu'est-ce que Sam a dit d'autre sur moi?" (What else did Sam say about me?)
"Even with proof you wouldn't trust him..."
How Sam managed to get so close without her hearing Emily didn't have the energy to figure out right then.
"You shouldn't be here..." All of a sudden a bone deep weariness washed over her and it was taking everything Emily had to keep herself upright...
"Did you really think I wouldn't find out the truth?" Sam asked as she slipped a supporting arm around her friends waist and started to guide her the rest of the way across the bridge.
"It's supposed to be classified" Emily grumbled more upset at the lack of cooperation from her body than her friend managing to track her down despite being dead.
"You think you're classified..." Sam snorted as they reached the car "Just you wait"
With Daniel's help she poured Emily into the back seat of the SUV and headed off towards the hotel they were staying at.
By the time they arrived Emily had managed to regain some of her equilibrium and was almost vibrating with curiosity. The beauty of a friend like Sam was that she understood classified in a way most people didn't. They knew the other couldn't talk about their work so beyond the generic 'how's everything going' they didn't ask.
It seemed Sam now knew a big chunk of Emily's classified and may even be planning on spilling some of her own.
Once Emily was settled on the lounge she took a moment to study the two sitting in front of her. Narrowing her eyes slightly at Sam's friend (who's name she hadn't managed to catch yet), there was something familiar about him but she couldn't quite pin it down. She reached out a hand to him.
"Emily Prentiss... or Genevieve Marceau... Depends on who you ask"
He smiled over the top of his glasses and took her hand gently in his "Daniel Jackson, nice to meet you."
She definitely knew that name... 3 am... a hotel lobby... desperate to read something not related to their current case she had picked up an old copy of an Archaeology magazine. She and Reid had ended up debating the merits of his theories on the way back to DC 4 days later.
"Oh..." she grinned maybe she could finally win that bet with Reid "hey, did you ever manage to find more evidence to back your cross polinisation theories? I've got 50 bucks riding on you having proof but no one being willing to publish it!"
"Ha!" Sam crowed from the kitchenette where she was getting drinks "You all owe me 20 each, I told you she would have heard of you."
Daniel's head dropped, what were the chances a FBI behavioural analyst knew his work.
Walking over to where they were sitting Sam handed Daniel a beer and Emily water before settling herself on the couch.
"Here's the deal" Sam moved onto the real reason they had tracked Emily down.
"Over a year ago Daniel and I submitted a proposal to bring a behavioural analyst onto the project we work on. Someone who can not only read, interpret and predict behaviour but also teach others how to do it. We finally got the go ahead to bring someone in when I got word of your funeral, Colonel O'Neill was visiting a friend in Bethesda while I was there and recognised you so we went digging and found your cover. Your friends Hetty and Kate were quite helpful in getting everything sorted to bring you in."
"I was still unconscious and under armed guard when they had the funeral" Emily looked at them suspiciously "and why would deep space radar telemetry need an archaeologist let alone and behaviouralist?"
"That's... a very long story that we can't tell you until you sign on to the project." Daniel squinted up at her.
Emily eyed him carefully noting the way he maintained eye contact while keeping his elbows on his knees, shoulders slightly hunched. He was comfortable in his own body and confident in his knowledge and intellect. He was someone who was used to people attempting to intimidate and bully him using either their body or voice and would have his own coping mechanisms in place to avoid giving in to that kind of behaviour. Gentle cajoling might work, on the other hand he struck her as the type of man who would respond to curiosity more than anything, and he wanted to share his knowledge with anyone who would listen.
She didn't say anything, merely tilted her head to the side slightly and raised an eyebrow, a classic 'I'm listening' pose.
She could wait him out.
Sam watched the silent exchange, this would be an interesting preview of how everyone else would react to Emily. She should not be looking forward to the first meeting between Emily, the Colonel and Teal'c so much.
As expected Daniel was unable to abide unfulfilled curiosity and after several seconds of Emily sitting there expectantly his head snapped up and hands went into the air as he went into lecturer mode.
"You see…"
"Daniel!" Sam interrupted sharply before he could get going. The Archaeologist turned to Sam confused about the interruption for a moment before turning back to Emily.
"Oh you're good" Daniel shook his head at how quickly and easily he'd been played.
"You do know why I'm here under an assumed identity?" Emily's eyes darted between the two.
"Yes we do" Sam assured her "No one will be looking for you in Colorado Springs and the base is secure. No one will question your identity and we can easily protect you and if it comes down to it we can hide you in ways that would make WitSec cry."
"I'll get full disclosure? Access to everything I need to design and run this behavioural analysis program you need?" Emily confirmed.
"Yes" Sam and Daniel spoke at the same time.
"I'm in"
Emily's head was spinning. What the hell made her think that this was a good idea? She was going to smack Sam for bringing her into this.
She was sitting who knew how many levels beneath Cheyenne Mountain staring dumbfounded at the General seated at the head of the table who had just given her a brief on the project Sam worked on.
A stone ring that created a wormhole to other planets, aliens... one of which was apparently sitting in front of her.
"You see..." Daniel started, only to stop abruptly as Emily's hand flew up palm outwards to silence him.
He looked sideways at Sam, hoping for some indication as to what Emily was going to do or say next. The Major could only shrug, she could predict physics not people, The Colonel had the biggest chance of reading Emily. A quick glance at the man in question and Sam could see he had no idea either.
Emily sat forward and pulled the abridged version of the SGC that Sam and Daniel had put together towards her. She opened the file to the first page and started reading.
Every time someone started to speak Emily's hand flew up again to halt them as she read.
This went on for several minutes as Emily read through the basics of how the program got started as well as Jack, Sam and Daniel's part in it, she was sure she would get to Teal'c, General Hammond and Doctor Fraiser eventually. Leaning back in her chair her eyes met General Hammonds.
"I was promised full access to everything?" She questioned.
"And you've got it. We've set up an office for you on the same level as Dr Jackson." General Hammond assured her.
"I..." Emily paused to gather her thoughts "have a lot of catching up to do. Let me get through the reports and then I'll come and ask any questions I have."
"That's it?" The Colonel couldn't hide his surprise at her reaction. "No gnashing of teeth no wailing over how it can't be true... Just let me catch up?"
"Colonel, I'm legally dead and in hiding from an International Terrorist and Weapons dealer I don't have the time or energy to wail or gnash. I believe what I've just been told because Sam and Daniel are shit liars, they use big words hoping whoever they're lying to will be so discombobulated that they won't notice the whopper they're being told. You're a very good liar but only when you need to be, which is not in this room and with these people. The General hedges the topic so that he doesn't have to lie, same with Doctor Fraiser as for your…" she waved her hand helplessly at Tea'lc "friend I'm betting he sits in silence neither lying nor telling the truth."
While not hysterical there was an edge to Emily's voice. She needed time, space, information and chocolate.
As she sat there chewing on her lower lip everyone slid another $10.00 over to Sam.
It took Emily a week to get through all of the mission reports. In that time she made friends with Harriman and Siler the two men stopping by her office regularly to make sure she had everything she needed. Emily learned quickly that they could get their hands on just about anything she needed, including several whiteboards and all the stationary she would ever need.
A few hours into her reading she found her way to Sam's lab and requested an Astrophysics for dummies text, early the next morning she asked Daniel for an English to Goa'uld dictionary.
That afternoon Daniel wandered in to check on her progress and was surprised to discover Emily standing between three white boards. The first had a working timeline of the programme, he winced as he saw her write a note in the timeline marking their trip to Nassya and Sam's subsequent blending with Jolinar. The second board contained a similar timeline but focussed on their contact with various Goa'uld, their language, culture and hierarchy. The third time lined the scientific discoveries they made, he noted that all three had post-it's with questions marked at various points.
They were good questions, smart questions.
He cleared his throat to her Emily's attention as she dropped a file into one of several piles scattered on the bench.
"Chel hol Dr Jackson" Emily smiled over her shoulder at him. Her pronunciation was off but his eyes lit up at her correct use of the Goa'uld greeting.
"Chel hol Emily." he walked up to her Goa'uld board and studied the information she'd deemed important enough to note absently filing away her repeating the correct pronunciation under her breath and making a note next to the word.
"You're going to need more boards."
"I've got Walter and Siler hunting them down for me." She grinned "Worse comes to worse I can clear off the walls and use those. Siler offered to build me one but Walter turned the strangest shade of green…"
"Ahh yeah… don't let Siler build you anything. I can answer the questions you have so far" Daniel offered
"No thanks" Emily declined "I'm guessing a lot of the answers will be further along in the reports and I don't want your opinions to colour my own conclusions." Seeing his slightly puzzled look she continued.
"It's a standard investigative technique, we get as much information as possible first hand before asking the local investigators for their conclusions. Now that isn't possible here but the files all have multiple perspectives, from a behavioural point it will give me a good starting point."
"Ahh" He nodded in understanding. "Makes sense..."
They chatted for a while, Emily skillfully keeping the conversation to topics that had been covered in the files she had already read.
Day 3 saw Janet Fraiser dragging her to the infirmary for a battery of tests and a check up on her still healing wounds. The physician clucked over the angry red scar tissue and the still healing muscles and internal organs before laying down a brutal diet and physical therapy routine commenting that she wouldn't allow anyone to think Emily got second rate care in her infirmary.
Emily also learned the Doctor was intelligent, well read and had a hilariously dry sense of humour so when Sam went off world on Emily's fourth day in the mountain she had someone who was easy and fun to talk to.
Within 6 weeks Emily was healed enough to pass the physical for gate travel and she finished a basic first contact program for the teams. Wanting to see how well it worked in the field Emily took SG-7 and 9 through the training and proceeded to go off world on a first contact mission with them.
With the personal experience under her belt she started to tweak the program to better deal with what the teams were faced with... especially when there were language barrier issues.
One problem she hadn't managed so solve yet was how do you use human behavioural techniques on non-humanoid aliens.
She shelved everything but first contact and managed to talk the general into letting her do a tour of friendly planets with SG-9.
8 weeks and 25 planets later Emily was much more comfortable with the plan she had in mind for the first contact teams and the diplomatic corps. SG-9 were easy, they were the diplomats and already had rigorous training in well… people. It was the military shoot first question later she was trying to teach out of a chunk of the teams.
Ironically the hard scientists were worse to work with, simply because they didn't care. They had their theories and experiments and they didn't want to worry about people.
Emily quickly gained a reputation for being a nag. Daniel's department loved her and Sam's hated her.
Girls nights with Sam and Janet were fun and relaxing but nothing like going out with JJ and Garcia. Both the other women were sensitive enough to not bring up the friends Emily had left behind.
She was off world with SG-9 when the call came in from Tom... The six hour hike back to the gate left her with no nails... and lucky for her the Prometheus was in orbit and she was quickly beamed to a public toilet in a park near the Pentagon where Paul Davis was waiting to drive her to Quantico.
When all was said and done Declan was safe, Doyle and Donaghy dead and she was free to come back to her life.
She had been standing at the memorial wall staring at her own photo as the team slowly joined her. Then Strauss had walked up to give them the news.
"There may be more paperwork considering your situation, but the team is lucky to have you... if you're interested?"
Emily could never resist being a smart arse "May I think about it?"
"Of course..." she didn't think she'd ever seen Erin Strauss this surprised.
Emily turned and regarded her team... it would take time to but they would get there.
"Officially I've been on loan to the JCS consulting on a military project... all the paperwork will be sent over by close of business" Emily grinned "I'm in..."
They seemed to ignore the first part of her statement and focus on the second... except for Rossi who looked at her suspiciously before wrapping her in his arms "Welcome back... we'll talk later" he whispered.
"I missed you guys so much" she whispered back.
"Agent Prentiss!" a voice only Emily recognised called out to the group. Turning they all saw Paul Davis standing there looking uncomfortably apologetic.
Throwing a glare his way, knowing immediately she was going to hate what he had to say Emily stayed with her team hoping he would get the hint.
"Major Davis..." the entire team picked up on the iciness in her tone as she glared at the officer.
"I'm so sorry..." he starts "but you're needed back on base tonight. The disclosure project has been approved and phase 1 starts in 72 hours."
Normally Emily wouldn't let her distress at the news show in such a public place but the last 48 hours had been exhausting and she hadn't slept since leaving P9X-384 and to top that off with the emotionally charged reunion with the team she couldn't control the slump of her shoulders or the tears of disappointment that sprang to her eyes. Emily knew this was a fight she couldn't win but she was going to try anyway.
"No" her voice cracked with the refusal "The General and I had an agreement. Anything I need to do I do from Quantico. I don't need to be there for this. I need to be here..."
It was a lie... the General wanted her monitoring Bregman from start to finish, Colonel Rundell was good but Emily was better. They'd known this was coming but hadn't anticipated the Doyle situation being resolved before hand.
"Emily...?" Rossi was the first of the team to find his voice.
"I've been helping the Air Force with some Behavioural Analysis training. They found me in Paris and invited me in." she admitted "All the prep work is done and the agreement is 6 months from now I go back to make sure everything is running fine and monitor everything else from here. Be available for a weekly dial in and to answer questions via email." her eyes snap to Paul's her anger at Hammond leeching over to him "Tell the General I'm not available"
"He knows and he tried" Paul felt for her... he really did "He said you weren't needed but was overridden."
Emily let her eyes slide shut as she read between the lines... Presidential order. She needed time with her team, her family.
"I can buy you a couple of hours..." Paul relented "I'll get you on the 8pm hop"
JJ and Hotch would understand and be ok with her disappearing for another week or so. Garcia would come around as long as Emily was contactable the same with Rossi. Spencer was hurting too much at the lie to accept her leaving again, Morgan's anger would be taken out on the rest of the team until they had a chance to clear the air.
Emily nodded her acceptance chin quivering as Paul walked away.
"Your survival was classified eyes only" JJ stared at her confused "How did the Air Force know where to find you and why wasn't I notified?"
"Your clearance isn't high enough..." talk about throwing fuel on the fire "The only other person in the Bureau who has been read into the project is the Director and Paul is probably briefing him now on my involvement." Emily let her eyes drift over her friends "I don't know about you guys but I'm starving."
It was early in the afternoon but knowing their time with Emily was limited the team headed off for a meal. When Paul arrived to pick her up just before 7 Emily quickly wrote down three numbers and handed them to Hotch.
"My current cell and landline and the third is Walter... one of the base support staff. If I don't answer call him and he'll know where I am."
3 Day's later she's watching Emmet Bregman through the camera's, watching and listening to everything he's saying and doing to the rest of the staff. He's pushy and opinionated and comes very close to the line several times.
She's not a soldier but she's qualified enough to assist on a rescue mission and doesn't hesitate to suit up and go through to gate to help rescue SG-13. She's essentially a pack mule for the medics and follows Janet and Daniel through the fire fight to find Well's lying on the cold ground, scared and bleeding. She's kneeling next to Janet... her friend... when a stray staff bolt skims past her face and into Janet. Once the shock has passed her eyes meet Daniels and without a word they haul Janet and Wells up and make for the gate.
Emily arrives back on earth from P3X-666 burns marking her face from the plasma… eyelashes singed off and her dead friend slung over her shoulder.
Two weeks after the disclosure and the night Emmett Bregmans documentary airs she's just been reinstated as Unit Chief. Emily never told the team she had a 2 star General pressuring Barnes to reverse her decision. The Senator is simply the final nail in her coffin.
As promised Bregman never used the footage from Daniel's camera but he somehow managed to get a still shot from the security cameras of Emily returning with Janet's body. The images are terrifying... and so symbolic of the SGC as a whole.
Her phone rings constantly for nearly an hour as one by one the team tries to get an explanation.
Emily isn't surprised when they start banging on her door, she's even less surprised when JJ uses her key to let them all in.
Spencer studies her intently before pulling $50.00 out of his pocket and handing it over.