Memories of the Heart by Betty Bokor
Sam/Daniel. A mission goes horribly wrong while Sam's life is changed forever. Spoilers: All seasons, including 10 to the end.
Disclaimer: The Stargate original characters belong to MGM/Showtime, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Film Corp. This was written strictly for the purpose of entertainment. No attempt at copyright infringement has been made.
Memories of the Heart
Chapter 7
A.N. Hi. I just wanted to warn you. This chapter has some facts that may offend some readers. If you do not like to talk about anatomy, sex, and anything related to them, steer away from this story. It is definitely not graphic, but this and the following sections will talk about such things. Please, do not complain if you keep reading and then you do not like what you read. On the other hand, if you are enjoying the story, be kind and let me know. Thanks.
After the meeting with his lawyers, Sam drove back home worried about everything she would have to do before going back to work. Her first priority was Daniel's house. She would have to put it on the market; there was no way she could take care of two properties from another galaxy. Besides, Daniel had never been too fond of the house; he had chosen it just because it was close to Cheyenne Mountain.
She called a friend who owned a real state business and put him in charge of selling Daniel's house while she was gone. Then, she called a moving company and arranged for everything in the house to be carefully packed and put in a long term lease storage unit.
That same afternoon, she drove to Daniel's house and picked out the things that she knew he cared the most about: pictures, some books and pieces of art, some artifacts, and a few more things she wanted, including a beige sweater that he had left on his bed. It simply reminded her too much of him.
She still had two more days to come and get other items she could need, before everything was taken away.
The last thing she decided to keep was his piano. She called the moving company and arranged for the piano to be taken to her house instead of the storage. Then she went home.
On the way to her house, she picked up some take out food to avoid having to cook for herself. While she was eating, she took out the papers the lawyers had given her. She wanted to make sure she did not miss anything.
First she separated the originals from the copies she had asked from the attorneys. She put away the originals and displayed the copies on the table. She wanted to be able to write on them and mark items out as she took care of them.
Daniel had not left anything in particular to anyone, just the bulk of the estate in Sam's hands. She would have to choose what to give their friends so that they could all keep something of him. She decided she would write some letters asking each one what objects they would enjoy having and then make her decisions according to the responses. She did not have to do it right now. She could take as long as she wanted.
Looking at the first page, she found a suggestion from Daniel. Though he had no legal rights over most of what was in his Cheyenne Mountain's office, he offered his opinion that the place could be turned into a library/group work room for the members of his department or anyone else who needed it.
Sam smiled. How many times had Daniel come back to find that his office had been re-assigned? He had then had the task to track and get it all back together, sometimes with many loses in the process… She guessed that he was probably thinking there was a chance he would come back one more time.
She decided to talk to Landry about it.
By the end of her meal, Sam had a plan for the rest of the week. She would have time to take care of all the major issues and she would deal with the rest later on. Some things could be even done from Atlantis.
After cleaning up the table, she grabbed an envelope that she had left for the end. The lawyers had explained that it contained instructions to find documents and other important items. It was carefully sealed and Sam thought that it might contain something related to their jobs that Daniel did not want hi attorneys to see.
She took the envelope upstairs and sat on her bed to read what was in it. Inside she found a folder with many items. The first was a detailed list with the location of every key, document, or password Sam could need.
Sam smiled one more time. It was so perfectly structured… she would really need the list to find anything in Daniel's crowded desk. No; she was unfair. It was an organized mess, as he called it, and he always knew where everything was.
After the list there was a smaller envelope. Sam opened it and found a letter from Daniel. She spent a moment looking at his beautiful handwriting. She felt like touching the letter, passing her fingers over the paper, trying to communicate with Daniel… She got tears in her eyes and quickly pushed them away. She was not crying.
The date on the letter clearly indicated that he had written it more than a year before, so there was no hope that he could say anything about what had happened between them. There had been no time for him to get to change anything before he d-… he disappeared.
Daniel started by apologizing for leaving such a burden on Sam. He basically explained that after so many deaths, he was worried about putting Jack through the same thing again. He thanked her in advance and he said he was sorry for not asking her beforehand. He just did not want her to add another worry to the many they had at the time.
Next, he said he had one more thing to ask from her.
"I know this is a subject we don't usually talk much about, Sam, but, lately, I've been giving more and more thought to the idea of someday having a family. It's true that it won't be possible any time soon, but −who knows− maybe I'll get there. I guess that, if you're reading this right now, it means that I've missed my chance, but, still, in this line of work, we never know.
I've also thought of all the dangers we face everyday and worried that, by the time I want to have my own children, I won't be able, for any reason. I know that after the incident with radiation poisoning, I got back without problems, but the next time could be different, or I may need radiation to treat something else, or I could be badly injured… You understand the general idea.
In any case, last month I made a decision about it and took care of the problem. I'm over forty already and that's another disadvantage. I just want to keep the possibilities open.
In the next pages in the folder you'll find a contract I signed to store some of my sperm. It's called Sperm Banking. Perhaps you've heard about it. The sperm is stored in liquid nitrogen until it's needed; then it's thawed and it's ready to use.
I have a yearly storage agreement."