O'Neill was all smiles when he got to the clinic. He had remembered to bring Sam's ipod and he was looking forward to her reaction. He was shocked to find her room empty. He panicked at the sight of the bed without sheets. He ran back to the front of the clinic looking for Leila and scared a short blond assistant sitting behind a desk near the door.
O'Neill leaned down on her desk "Where is Leila?"
The poor scared woman looked up at O'Neill, "Are you Jack?"
O'Neill pushed up off the desk and stood up. "Yes."
"Leila said to tell you that Samantha has been released and you should join everyone for dinner at Jamale's shop. Please don't tell her I didn't catch you as you entered. I was supposed to tell you as soon as I saw you but I was reading and…and…"
O'Neill breathed a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Thanks for telling me. It will be our secret."
The cute girl grinned slightly, still a bit scared. "Thanks."
O'Neill made his way over to Jamale's with a spring in his step. He was glad Carter was out of the clinic even if it required having dinner with Jamale. The shop was dark when O'Neill arrived but he could see lights around the back of the building so he walked around the corner. Two little girls were running around outside chasing what appeared to be a cat. The poor animal looked terrified and changed hiding spots twice while O'Neill watched. Two teenage boys were lounging in the grass and arguing about something.
"Jack!" Jamale headed across the yard. "I am glad you are here. Dinner is almost ready."
O'Neill pointed to the little girls. "I thought you only had boys."
"You are correct Jack. The other children belong to Leila and her mate Seema. They are also joining us for dinner."
The idea of meeting Leila's family made O'Neill grin. He liked Leila's determination and the girls both seemed to be bundles of energy. More people also meant less chance he would get stuck one on one with Jamale all night.
"Lead on my fine man. It sounds like we're having quite a party tonight."
Jamale nodded, "Samantha's good health and the arrival of warmer weather are both worth celebrating."
Jamale led O'Neill into the main portion of his house where Sam was sitting with Leila and her husband. The girls ran in after them and headed straight for Sam. The youngest girl started climbing up on Sam's lap. Seema quickly grabbed her as Leila started fussing.
"Samantha has just gotten out of the clinic today. I doubt she wants you climbing all over her."
"I'm afraid your mom is right. My legs are still a bit sore but maybe after dinner I can tell you a story."
The older girl jumped up and down. "We like stories about animals."
"An animal story it is." Sam looked up and saw O'Neill. "You found me."
"I did indeed."
Sam looked back at the girls. "The real story teller has arrived. His lap is also perfect for climbing."
Both girls spun around to take in the newest person to join the party. They both sized him and decided he was worth pestering. Leila let them grab onto his legs and begin asking for a story. O'Neill picked up the youngest girl and laughed.
Leila stood up and walked over to the girls. "Dinner first, then we can see if there is time for stories."
"Awwwww. We can eat and listen to stories. We're real good at eating and listening."
"You can prove that by eating and letting the grownups talk. If you behave well you can have pie and possibly stories."
Both girls looked at their mother and grew serious. "Yes, ma'am."
Leila bent down and kissed her older daughter. She held her arms out and took her younger daughter from O'Neill.
"Speaking of dinner let's fill our plates." Jamale led the way to counter which was piled high with food. His sons were already waiting with plates in their hands. Leila made plates for the girls. O'Neill made a plate for Sam. The children sat at the table in the kitchen while the adults sat on the sofa and chairs in the main living area.
The girls chatted about the cat that had managed to escape and find a hiding place out of their reach. The adults mostly talked about the upcoming planting season and weather, a major concern for all farmers. The boys attempted to chime in occasionally in the adult conversation but they eventually grew bored and started their own conversation.
After dinner the girls sat beside O'Neill, waiting for pie and a story. O'Neill was happy to oblige and told them all about Goldilocks and the three bears. Even the adults and teenage boys listen attentively. Leila and Jamale delivered pie to all the story listeners as O'Neill moved from the three bears to Cinderella. By the time his story finished Sam and the girls were having trouble keeping their eyes open.
Leila picked up her youngest and Seema picked up their older daughter. They carried them out to their small vehicle, thanked Jamale, and set out for home.
O'Neill leaned down over the chair Sam was sitting in. "It's time for us to head home Carter. You can barely keep your eyes open."
Sam looked up at O'Neill. "I'm sorry but I promised Leila that I'd stay in town for a week or so. She wants to be able to check up on me often. She wouldn't have let me out of the clinic if I was headed back to our house."
O'Neill stood up. "Oh. So where are you staying?"
Sam straightened. "Here, in the room where I stay between work days actually so not really in here." Sam's arms moved wildly pointing around the room.
"I see." O'Neill helped Sam up to her room while Jamale and his sons tackled the dishes. "Are you sure you'll be ok here?"
Sam nodded. "I'll be fine. I'll be home in a week or so. It won't be that long."
O'Neill rubbed the back of his neck. "Right. No time at all." He turned, trying to hide his scowl, and headed towards the door.
"Radio me when you get home." Sam hated to see him leave since she knew he was unhappy but she was too tired to discuss how they had ended up here.
O'Neill walked through Jamale's kitchen towards the back door. The boys were sitting at the table playing some kind of game. Jamale was out back beside his truck. The bike was already loaded in the back.
"It is too late for you to bike home. Let me give you a ride."
O'Neill relented, since he wasn't too keen on a long ride home and the bike was already loaded. The ride was quiet until the pulled up to the house.
"Samantha plans to come home as soon as possible. I do hope you plan on having a place for her to sleep other than the barn."
O'Neill scowled. It was a fair point but it still made him angry. "It's covered."
"Good. Please feel free to join us for dinner while Samantha is staying with us. Your company and stories would be entertaining."
O'Neill stepped out of the truck. "I'll consider it." He closed the door and Jamale drove off. He went in the house and looked around. Jamale was right about Sam needing her own space and a real bed. He spent a couple hours measuring and making plans before going to bed.
O'Neill was up early the next morning. He moved all the furniture in his bedroom and drew out plans on the floor for the wall he planned to build. Sam's room was smaller than his but that was the only way to keep a window in both rooms. Neither of them had many belongings so he decided to make the wall between the rooms into a small closet they could share. That would let him open up what was a closet on the far wall in her room. The entrance to the bathroom was in his room but they could make that work too. He was pleased with his plans, now all he needed was some wood and nails.
He finished his second and last run through the third of the three fields, got a shower, and headed to town. He went to Jamale's to check on Sam. He heard her politely laughing when he entered. She looked in his direction as he entered and her face got a little brighter.
"I came by to talk plants, figured it was about time to invest on our farm." Jamale joined the conversation and within an hour they had a list of supplies needed for the first and second plantings. Jamale, Sam, and O'Neill piled in the truck and went to Marl's store. They were able to pay for about one third of the seeds they needed and Marl let them open a credit account for the rest of their supplies, including the wood and some nails.
Jamale dropped Sam off at the shop, the afternoon out had visibly worn her out and a nap was in her immediate future. He took O'Neill and the supplies back to Sam and O'Neill's home. He helped O'Neill unload, looked over the plans for making two rooms out of the current bedroom, and then took O'Neill back to the shop so they could all have dinner. The boys hinted multiple times about wanting more stories so O'Neill told them all about Superman. Jamale gave O'Neill and the bike a ride home after dinner.
O'Neill took the wood and nails into the bedroom and started working as soon as he got home. He remembered his promise to talk to Sam at bedtime so he quit working and pulled out the radio.
"O'Neill to Carter." He waited a moment but didn't get a response. He thought she might already be asleep or she could still be talking to Jamale. That thought made him very angry. Jamale was free to be affectionate with Carter, unlike O'Neill. "O'Neill calling Carter."
"I'm here. Sorry it took me so long to answer. I was brushing my teeth."
"I'm glad I caught you before you went to sleep."
"My nap this afternoon gave me some extra energy. I'm still wide awake actually but Jamale won't let me keep working."
"Good for Jamale."
"So what was all the wood for? Some kind of repairs? Did something happen while I was vacationing?"
"You call that a vacation? We need to work on your definition of getting away from it all for a while."
"Does that mean you aren't going to tell me what you are up to?"
"We can both keep secrets, at least for a little bit."
"I guess we can. Has the tractor been working ok for you?"
"It's wonderful. You did a great job. I'm really impressed."
"Good. I knew we'd need it. If we missed the first planting we might not have enough food to make it through next winter without more help."
"You really are convinced we aren't going home aren't you?"
"Yes I am. My star observations haven't led me to any conclusions about where we are located. Now I'm going to have a gap in my observations too. I doubt these two weeks would have given me any big break through but I hate having a gap."
"If you could figure out where we were would that help you get us home?"
"I doubt it."
"So why keep staying up late and getting up early if knowing won't get us home?"
"You've met me, right? I have this insatiable need to collect data and answer questions, even if I can't solve the problem in the end."
"That drive has saved me more than once and I am counting on you coming through for us again."
"I hate to disappoint you but…"
"Then don't. Once you get home you can get back to collecting your data and one day you will get your eureka moment."
Sam sighed. "Right, my eureka moment. I wish it was that easy."
"Get some sleep Carter."
"I'll try. Are you going to start planting tomorrow?"
"My goal is to finish field one and the garden next to the house."
"That's a lot for one day. I'll understand if you don't make it to dinner."
"You sure?"
"Yes, but we'll still talk tomorrow."
"Absolutely."
The reprieve from needing to go to town meant O'Neill had time to plant the first field, part of the garden, and put up some of the studs in the bedroom. It was one of the most productive days he'd had since arriving in Uraba. He slept well, after having a nice chat with Sam, and woke ready for another busy day. His knee was protesting a bit but he ignored it and moved on to field two.
He ditched the garden and new wall to get cleaned up and head back into town. He arrived in time to help peel the potatoes. He talked shop with Jamale until Sam and the boys closed the shop and came in for dinner. Sam told him about Leila's midday visit. She was glad to see Sam was able to perform minute movements with her hands and her balance had improved. She was well on her way to being fully recovered.
Jamale dropped O'Neill off early enough that he was still able to work on the wall for a couple of hours. One of the benefits of the long nights was extra time to work. Another benefit was feeling like you got to sleep in every day. After two more days the wall was done and O'Neill got the furniture put back in place. The problem he had not solved was getting a second bed.
The next night when he was getting a ride home with Jamale he mentioned the second bed issue. Jamale smiled and passed the turn to O'Neill and Sam's house. He pulled up in front of the house that Sam and O'Neill had decided not to take.
"Nobody is using the bed in here. If someone moves in we'll work it out."
Jamale jumped out of the truck. O'Neill thought the plan was brilliant so he followed Jamale into the abandoned house. It only took them a few minutes to lead the bed into the truck. Jamale helped O'Neill move the bed into Sam's tiny bedroom before he headed home.
All the fields were planted by the time Jamale dropped Sam off at home two days later. O'Neill had dinner ready when she walked through the door. They both invited Jamale to stay but he declined the invitation because he needed to get home to his sons.
O'Neill served dinner to Sam and insisted that she not help clean up at all.
"I'm not an invalid."
"I get that but you can let me pamper you a little."
"Tonight only. Tomorrow things go back to normal."
"If you insist. Are you ready to see that surprise?"
Sam scooted forward in her chair and sat on the edge. "Absolutely."
"Now don't go getting too excited. Come this way." O'Neill led her into the bedroom door. "Go on in."
Sam opened the door and turned on the light. She immediately noticed the room was much smaller. She walked in and went through the opening in the wall between the rooms. The second room was smaller but there was enough room for a bed and a chair.
"We'll have to share the closet and there's still only one bathroom but I thought this might give you some privacy and keep you out of the barn stalls."
Sam turned around to face him. She was beaming. "Thank you so much. I know this was a lot of work. This is great."
"I know it's really small…"
"We've both had smaller. I love it."
"There's only one overhead light and it is in here so I put a camping lighter beside your bed. We can work on getting you something better and I'll get you a dresser too."
"Stop fretting. This is great." She wanted to hug him but she knew better. Her words didn't seem like enough but she didn't want to make him uncomfortable. He helped her make her bed and he gave her an extra blanket. Both rooms shared the geothermal heat but he still worried her room would get cold.
He let her have first dibs in the bathroom. She took a long shower and brushed her teeth before she went to her room. She had brought home a couple of new books so she curled up and read while he got ready for bed.
O'Neill turned out the light in his room. "Your light won't bother me so feel free to read as long as you like."
"Not a problem. I can sleep." Sam turned out her light. The large moon was shining in her window. It made the room very bright.
"Good night."
"Good night."
They were both a bit restless and the bright moonlight didn't help. They tossed and turned and tried to ignore that they could hear the other person was also awake. O'Neill was the first one who fell asleep. Once she could hear his soft rhythmic sleep breathing Sam slipped out of bed, put on some warm clothes, and went out to do some star gazing. After a couple hours she was tired enough to go back to bed. O'Neill heard her sneaking back in but he stayed quiet.
The next morning Sam insisted on going out to the fields so O'Neill could explain what he had planted where. She was pleased to see he had labeled the rows in the garden next to the house. The chicken-ettes had started laying eggs after a neighbor had brought over a rooster. It turns out the females will only ovulate if there is a male nearby. Once the neighbor realized they didn't have a rooster they donated one to them. The eggs made their mornings much sunnier.
Sam went back to her old routine of spending two days on the farm and two days working in Jamale's shop. She was happy the bike made the trip so much faster. Jamale had made a few upgrades to the bike, which made it ride smoothly and gave her the ability to carry more goods home. Half of her paycheck each week went to paying off their bill at Marl's and the other half was split between buying food and purchasing supplies for the farm. Uraba didn't have a banking system, since most people owed so much to Marl by the end of winter that a savings account seemed like a silly concept. Marl did let people pay ahead though so it was a little like having a bank account.
Sam's ability to figure out what was wrong with any kind of machine and get it fixed quickly had made her very popular among the farmers in Uraba. She had also been asked to help repair a couple of the vehicles, something else she managed well. Word spread that although she lived with Jack they were not a couple, making her an eligible maiden. A couple of the eligible bachelors became regular customers, especially Jorl and Rint. Jamale began to suspect the Jorl was purposefully breaking the belts in his tractor just to have a reason to come in each week. He always request Sam's help and chatted her up as she worked. She seemed oblivious to the attention.
By the time the first harvest was ready Sam and O'Neill had managed to buy a couple pigs, a cow, and a horse. Jamale told Sam to stay home for harvest week. With her help all of the major repairs had been completed well before harvest week so the only customers he expected would be for emergency repairs. He knew he and his sons could handle that and Sam was needed on the farm.
Sam and O'Neill spent the whole week harvesting, drying, canning, and preparing the fields for the second planting. Sam had borrowed books about food preservation, which turned out to be a hot and messy job. She had also put headlights on the tractor, which gave O'Neill about another useable hour a day in the fields. Their hard work paid off. By the end of the week they had enough food preserved to get them through a moderate winter and fresh vegetables for the first time since they arrived on Uraba. They each discovered new favorite foods and a couple they preferred to skip.
There were very few people in town during the week because everyone was spending all their daylight hours in the fields and their nights preserving the harvest but on the last day of the week the town came alive. Everyone gathered for a huge midday feast to celebrate a successful first harvest. Sam had made a huge salad for the feast. O'Neill teased her a bit since salad was her usual contribution at SGC gatherings. Sometimes she made a regular salad and other times it was a fruit salad but it was always a salad.
O'Neill found a place to sit near Leila's family. The girls were thrilled to see their favorite story teller and quickly started begging for a new story. O'Neill was happy to oblige. He went with Snow White this time and it was a big hit with the girls and the adults. A small band started about an hour after everyone finished eating. Jamale was the first to ask Sam to dance and she happily obliged. Jorl was the second man who asked to take her on a spin around the town courtyard. Despite numerous attempts Leila was unable to get O'Neill to dance. Her daughters even tried but he insisted that he didn't dance. Sam knew that wasn't true, he had been a popular dance partner at the annual military ball, but she wasn't going to tell on him. If he had a reason to say no she would let him keep that to himself. Many of the men who had met Sam through her work at Jamale's asked her to dance. O'Neill disliked seeing her spinning in the arms of all these men but it was when she danced with Jamale that his heart felt like icicles were forming between his cardiac muscle cells.
The party broke up about two hours before dark. O'Neill got hugs from both of Leila's girls before they got in their vehicle. Jamale, Jorl, and Sam were talking next to one of the last tables being cleaned off. O'Neill swallowed the bile climbing up his throat as he saw Sam genuinely laugh. It was one of those laughs where her head actually tilted back. He hadn't seen her laugh like that in a long time and it hurt that men other than him could induce that laugh. There was a time when she laughed for him but he had pushed her away, for her own sake.
Sam saw O'Neill looking at her and felt guilty, even though she knew that was a ridiculous response. They'd had a good day with their new friends and there wasn't anything wrong with finding pleasure in this new life. It wasn't her fault that he was unwilling to accept their inability to get home. She picked up the now empty bowl they had brought and joined O'Neill for the walk home. They stopped a couple times on the way home to pick some wild berries. Sam collected a bouquet of flowers too.
Weeks passed with Sam spending her evenings at home reading while O'Neill worked at the woodworking bench he had set up in the barn. Sam was working on a hay tedder and a bailer for the tractor when she stayed the night in town. The third planting was usually reserved for making hay to get the animals through the winter and she wanted them to be ready.
They were a couple weeks from the second harvest when Sam woke early, snuck through O'Neill's room and started making a big breakfast. It was the smell on bacon that woke O'Neill. He brushed his teeth, used the bathroom, and headed for the main living area.
"Is that bacon?"
Sam smiled, "The Uraba version, yes. Marl was having a special and I picked some up."
O'Neill made his way over to the stove. He saw bacon, eggs, and what appeared to be cinnamon rolls. "What's the special occasion?"
Sam turned away from him and looked back down at the stove. "I can't just make a big breakfast?"
"You can but you never have before."
"True. Happy Birthday."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes." Sam started plating up the eggs and bacon. She handed a plate to O'Neill and he picked up one of the gooey hot rolls.
"Well ok. I didn't realize so much time had passed."
"Shorter days back home so a year there is a little more than half a year here."
"And you've been keeping up with it?"
"Of course." Sam made her own plate and sat down at the table across from O'Neill.
"Kinda thought you'd given up on home." He nudged his eggs.
"There is a difference between giving up on going home and knowing we can't get back. I've thought about ways to locate Earth but we don't have the materials I need and even if we did I could spend my whole life trying and never succeed."
"Right." O'Neill ate bacon and stared at his plate. "Thank you for my birthday breakfast."
Sam gave him a lopsided grin. "You're welcome."
"I've been thinking that since things are under control here I'd like to hike out to the gate."
Sam tilted her head to the side. "The gate? Why?"
"I want to leave some kind of note or something to say we're here and I guess I just really want to see it. I'd been thinking it was time to go and now that I know we've been here for ten Earth months it feels like I've been derelict in not going before now."
"I can go with you."
"No. Somebody needs to stay here with all these animals that we've collected."
"It will take you at least three days to get there and back. You really shouldn't go it alone."
"I'll be fine. I'll even do a bit of hunting on the way back. I'll stay in radio contact."
"When do you plan to leave?"
"I assume you're headed back to Jamale's tomorrow."
"That was my plan."
"I'll leave the day after you come back home."
"Do you want me to pick you up any supplies before I come back?"
"I think I have everything I need but I will double check today."
Sam stood up and turned towards the sink. "Alright."
He could tell her shoulders were stiff. "Thanks again for breakfast."
"You're welcome." Sam washed her plate and headed to her room. O'Neill finished his breakfast, cleaned his plate, and headed out to the barn. Once she heard him leave Sam came out and cleaned up all the dishes from breakfast. She missed having a dishwasher. Sam spent the day working in the garden while O'Neill went between the fields and the barn. There was no other mention of O'Neill's trip to the gate at their midday meal or dinner.