Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Stargate or Sanctuary universes, though I wish I did. It's a travesty, I know.
Author's Note: This is unbeta'd so all mistakes are my own.
She lays in the hammock and watches the sky, her mind wandering as freely as the clouds drifting past. Sam's smile dances in her memory, followed closely by the sound of her laughter and the crinkling around those impossibly blue eyes; it's all so perfect until a shadow falls across Janet's form and interrupts her daydreaming. The snap back to reality is harsh but Janet finds she barely has the energy to roll her head to the side and stare blankly at Daniel's concerned face.
"I've been saying your name for five minutes," Daniel says, squatting down to bring himself to her eye level. "Cassie called and asked me to check in on you, said you haven't been sounding well and she's concerned."
"I'm fine," Janet replies automatically and even she can hear the monotone quality of her voice. She can't bring herself to care, though, and watches as Daniel's eyebrow heads for his hairline.
"I don't think you are, Janet. We're all really worried about you," he says and Janet shrugs.
"I'm fine," she repeats and turns her head to look back at the clouds. She hears Daniel moving around but can't be bothered to look at him again. When he speaks again, his voice comes from right beside her head.
"I know how hard it is to lose your wife, Janet, remember? I don't know exactly what you're going through but I do know what it's like to live while she's gone. You can't just give up because then Cassie would lose both parents," he says quietly. "What would Sam want you to do?"
"I don't know." She stares up at the clouds and blinks when her vision suddenly blurs with tears. "I don't know because this isn't anything we ever anticipated and I don't know what to do anymore." She sniffles and closes her eyes. "I can't even go to the Mountain anymore because all it does is remind me of Sam and it hurts too much."
Daniel takes her hand as he says, "So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to leave the Air Force."
The diner is small, cramped, and so far from Colorado that Janet loves it immediately. She's been sitting a corner booth for the last two hours, nursing a cup of coffee that's been cold for most of that time, and her attention is split between the waitress serving the customers and the cook making the food. There's something about the small restaurant that caught her attention as she drove by, though she has no idea what that something is.
She left Colorado Springs yesterday and drove straight for Canada, desperate to put distance between her and the ghosts of her loss. General Hammond - and all of SG-1, really - tried to convince her to stay but she doesn't regret resigning her commission. She's given twenty years of her life to the Air Force and it's time she moves on. What she'll do now is a mystery but she's content with her choice to retire; surely someone somewhere needs a doctor. Cassie is back at school and Janet knows she doesn't need her mother anymore, though she promised to always have her phone on so her daughter can call whenever she wants.
The sound of angry voices draws her attention and Janet looks over just in time to see a hooded figure raise a gun at the diner's waitress. The sound of the gunshot thunders through the small diner and the figure takes off out the door before the waitress even falls. Janet's on her feet in a heartbeat and she hurries over to the waitress's side; it takes only a glance to know that the woman is dead and Janet turns sharply to run out the door after the shooter, her training kicking in instinctively.
She sees the figure duck around a corner into an alley and she follows, running as hard as she can to try to catch up. When she rounds the corner, she skids to a halt and scans the empty alley. There's nowhere the figure could've gone but there's no one else in the alley and Janet's brow furrows in confusion.
"What the hell?" she mutters, turning in place. A faint breeze lifts the hair from the back of her neck and she spins around when she feels something brush past her arm but there's nothing there. Her heart is pounding and she shakes her head slightly, more confused than ever.
"There!"
The softly accented voice that calls out from the mouth of the alley makes Janet jump and she looks over to see a brunette woman standing with a golden gun pointing at her. Janet throws her hands up and shakes her head - ready to step back and declare her innocence - but a sudden pressure around her throat makes her yelp; there's an arm around her throat and judging by the harsh metal against her temple, there's a gun pressed to her head. She's caught off-guard by her sudden predicament; she didn't even hear her captor approach.
"Let her go," the brunette says and when she steps closer, Janet's shocked to see the mysterious woman bears a striking resemblance to her dead wife; the blue eyes, the strong jaw, the almost palpable confidence - they all remind Janet of Sam. The British accent and long brown hair, though, those aren't familiar.
"Why should I? She was chasing me." Janet notes the male voice and is ready to lash out with her foot when her captor whispers, "Don't even think about it."
"Let her go, Micky," the mystery woman says and Janet stares intently at her as the man's arm tightens around her throat. "Don't make me shoot you."
"Do it," Janet says, her eyes locked with the woman's as she licks her lips and steels herself. "Take the shot."
The woman shakes her head but keeps her gun steady as she says, "I don't have a clean shot. I'd hit you."
"Do it," Janet insists. "I watched him shoot the waitress and I can assure you that this wouldn't be my first gunshot. Take the shot."
"I'm truly sorry," the woman says and when the gunshot rings out, Janet's surprised for a moment that she actually took the shot. There's a moment where nothing changes and then she's falling, her assailant's arms loosening as he stumbles backward. Janet hits the ground hard, the pain from the bullet wound spreading through her shoulder as she lies on the asphalt. Her breathing is ragged as she fights the pain; it's not a fatal wound, of course, but it hurts like hell and she has to struggle to stay conscious. Apparently she's forgotten how much getting shot actually hurts.
She can hear the mystery woman issuing orders to someone - "Get Micky and I'll get her." - and suddenly the woman's face comes into her line of vision. Swallowing thickly, Janet grunts as the woman presses on the bleeding wound in her shoulder and her last thought before the pain overwhelms her and forces her into the welcome oblivion of unconsciousness is that the woman's eyes are a stunningly familiar shade of blue.