12 - Photographs

~*Sam*~

Pete notices my mood. I've been distant the last few weeks, but we have both been too busy for him to really notice until now.

"What's wrong?"

"Two good friends of mine died."

He sits by me.

"Amb and Malek." I watch his reaction.

"Oh."

"Pete," I reply angrily.

"I didn't say anything."

"The men were probably tortured to death. This is not the time for your petty jealousy."

"I'm not jealous," he promises.

I sigh.

"How did you know Amb?"

I hesitate, but we have to be able to trust each other. "The same way I knew Malek."

He looks to the floor, but says nothing. "I take it, they knew each other?"

"They were…very close." I see him frown. "That's all I can tell you."

~*Selmak*~

"You should see Samantha."

Jacob looks up to Aldwin.

"Before the mission…concerning Malek."

"They barely knew each other."

"They shared a bond in mourning Martouf and Lantash. Now Amb and Malek have been killed. She took their deaths hard."

"You told her?"

He didn't reply.

"What's going on here?"

"They were…close."

"What?"

Oh my naïve Jacob, at least when it comes to his daughter.

Jacob, I think, he's being vague for a reason.

What? No. No. I didn't need to know that! He winces, then sighs. "I'll go see her."

~+~+~.

"Dad." She looks relieved to see us.

"Sammy."

She has a ring.

I see the ring.

"Come in."

She's not marrying anyone I haven't approved of. He walks in. "How are you feeling?"

Jacob. She has to make her own choices.

"Dad? Do you want anything to drink?"

"Water's fine. Unfortunately, I can't stay long. Duties." He sits down. "Aldwin said that I should come see you. I didn't get quite what he meant, but Selmak did."

Sam hands him water before sitting by him.

"Neither you nor Malek indicated that you were friends."

"Uh."

"I'm not going to ask." He drinks some water.

"Thank you."

We sit down.

"I think we mostly bonded over mourning Martouf and Lantash."

Jacob quickly convinces himself that they talked a lot about that. "How are you feeling?"

"We never even got to say goodbye."

Jacob frowns. "He wanted to go back after the alliance was broken. He wouldn't say why."

"Did it matter?"

"No, not to me. Selmak and I supported his request. As did Garshaw, but…"

"It was denied."

Jacob nods.

"Per'sus didn't support him?"

"Normally, yes, but…"

He's taken Egeria's death hard. He was at the meeting, but…not really. However, it would be a betrayal to tell people.

"He wasn't at that particular meeting."

I suppose that's technically true.

Jacob pauses. "I suspected it was…someone. I just didn't expect it to be you."

"Really?"

"His behavior. He was happier. Like he was with Lantash." Jacob smiles. "Then after the alliance was broken, he was…very sour. Furious at Delek. He thought the break was a huge insult to Martouf, Lantash, and everyone else who died for the alliance. Malek would spend entire meetings just glaring at him."

"That must have been fun."

Jacob laughs a bit. "It was pretty icy at times."

"Has anything else been figured out?"

"No…"

"But?"

"I don't know. You know the council doesn't tell me everything. Malek's request might have been enough to hide something, especially if others picked up on him being in a relationship."

Sam glances down. "As far as I know, no one else in the SGC met Amb."

"That's too bad. He was a good man-" I would approve of him. Him and Malek. "-but I'm not surprised. The place made them both feel pretty uncomfortable. We were surprised that they began asking for assignments to go there."

She doesn't say anything for a bit. Finally... "I know you noticed the ring."

"I figured you would bring it up when you were ready."

"His name is Pete. He's…uh…put in a transfer, bought an apartment to be closer."

Shouldn't that be a good thing? I ask. Tau'ri customs still sometimes confuse me.

Normally. "When is the wedding?"

She hesitates.

"Sam?"

"I don't know yet."

I don't think she is fully committed to this Pete, I think.

That's usually the sort of thing you tell me not to say.

"It was in a few months, but that was before… I should postpone."

"You've known about their deaths for a couple of months now."

"I guess it hit harder than I expected."

"Well, I'd like to meet this guy."

"So you can judge him?"

"That's my right as a father," he replies.

Sam smiles to that.

"I would like to meet him before, but…I'm going to be gone a while."

She frowns in worry. She has no idea how worried she should be. We are taking up Malek's old assignment.

"I have something for you." He takes out an envelope.

Sam takes it. "What is…" She begins crying.

"Aldwin suggested that you might appreciate their pictures."

I feel nervous.

You don't have to be nervous.

Sam smiles as she sees a picture of them together. It wasn't anything special, just them both working. We could see how much it means to her though.

She might not appreciate all the pictures.

Then the next photo… Martouf is reading. Malek is behind him, touching his shoulder while kissing his head.

After Jolinar died, it was nice to see Lantash seeking solace with Malek.

The picture after, Martouf is looking up at him with a smile.

"They were in love."

Jacob smiles. "They were."

She smiles, admiring each picture before going to the next. We even included some pictures of Martouf and Amb When were they were much younger.

I wiggle nervously.

She sees Lantash in a tank. He's blue purplish with a silver belly. She gasped slightly.

I tighten my fins down harder than usual. Jacob gives me a comforting rub.

"He's beautiful," she says in tears.

I told you that she accepted them for what they were. He gives me control.

I see wonder and love in her eyes. After three years, she doesn't just accept him, but she still loves him.

He never knew.

Sam stares at the photo, memorizing it. Then she goes to the next, smiling as she sees Malek. Black with blue tips.

"Why were they in tanks?"

"Lantash's previous host died before we could find a new one. Malek… That's before his first host."

"Wow. He is young here." She frowns. "I thought he grew up in a lake."

"We moved all the larvae after we lost our queen."

"When he spoke to Egeria, she called him Young One."

I grin.

"They both have freckles." Sam smiles, staring at Malek. "He's beautiful too." She looks to me. "What do you look like?" She's worried the question will offend me.

"I'm pink with freckles."

"Pink." She grins.

"What."

"Sorry. It's just that…pink with freckles. You sound cute."

She thinks I'm cute! I wiggle excitedly.

Jacob would be laughing if he were in control.

Sam looks back to the photos. "What did Jolinar look like?"

"Her head and front half was purple. It became darker into black."

"I should have known that."

"And freckles. Egeria enjoyed freckling us."

Sam laughs. "She designed her own children."

"Queens always do. It's how our species breeds. She combined different needs and wants. Malek was designed very much as I was, to be a leader."

"He has a very different personality."

"We were never made to be identical, and hosts influence us, as they should. He's also half my age." I pause, frowning in pain before correcting the statement softly. "He was half my age. That made him impulsive, emotional, and too young to see the faults of our people. For a thousand years, he was the youngest of us. He still had much to learn."

Sam looks to me.

"And far too serious." I smile. "I was worried about him when Martouf and Lantash died. He took their deaths hard. He was still mourning them when you first met them. Amb was helping him." She paused. "I am glad they found comfort with you."

"I don't know if I did much of anything."

I give Jacob control, and he finishes our water, then stands. "I do need to get going."

She's nervous. "How long will you be gone?"

"If all goes well… It's going to be a while. I'm going to miss your wedding, even if you do postpone."

"Oh."

Jacob hugs her. "When I get back, I'm going to meet this Pete, then tell you everything I don't like about him."

She laughs.

We all know he's not kidding.

"Thanks for coming, and thank you for showing me the real them. I wondered, but…"

"It's not offensive to ask. Quite the opposite, actually, so long as the question is sincere."

If Jack asked, it would be offensive. I just know it would be.

~*Sam*~

"You want to postpone now?"

"I'll make the rearrangements. I'll…"

Pete sighs.

"My dad wants to meet you," I excuse.

"I'd like to meet him."

I sit down.

"What did they look like?"

"Who?"

"Amb and Malek."

"That's classified."

"Classified," he replies in disbelief, which I admit, does sound ridiculous. He can't see what Malek actually looks like though.

"They weren't from this planet."

~*Pete*~

She must have pictures of them.

I have been going to her house to make her dinner after work, so that gives me time to search without her. I am careful to make sure nothing is displaced.

It takes a couple of days to realize she has a locked drawer. I pick the lock.

Photo albums! I grin in victory.

I search through them for before finding a locked box. A photo album is inside. It's empty except for a unique envelope.

Photos. Multiple pictures of the same two men. A blonde and a brunette. They were very good looking.

Why is she keeping these photos? They are her past. They should be nothing.

"Which one is which?" I grit my teeth as I flip through. I stop at a picture of the two men being affectionate. Close indeed. The photo begins to wrinkle in clenched fists before I realize what I'm doing.

Are those snakes? Eh. They must be something she is studying or something. I put the pictures back, then realize something else is tucked inside.

I flip the pages.

No!

The brunette is on my fiancée. On her. She's clearly enjoying him. He's holding her wrists. I want to destroy this picture.

The next picture, he's behind her. She told me she never did that with anyone. She lied. She lied to me! I almost rip the picture before closing my eyes, forcing myself to calm down.

I look back at the photo of the two men then winced as I picture them both on her once.

I really want to destroy these photos.

I look through more sex photos, getting angrier and angrier. They have done many things that she didn't do or rarely did with me.

Then I gasp in horror as I see the date and times. This was one session!

If I destroy them now she will know. I must find a way for them to accidentally be destroyed later.

I make copies of the photos, scanning them into my lab top. I will investigate them.

~+~+~.

"Amb and Malek. I don't know which one is which," I tell a friend who will help. "I don't know their last names either."

~+~+~.

"I got nothing on them. I might be able to bribe someone for information, but it'll cost."

~+~+~.

"I didn't get much. Malek is the brunette. I don't know anything about Amb. The blonde is named Martouf…and he's very, very dead."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sending you a video."

I watch Martouf standing among other people. He's suddenly starts attacking them. People get down. People dodge. He's shot in the leg. He's still going? He's shot multiple times.

"Shit. How is he still standing?"

"Dude had stamina," my friend says.

"Shut up."

Then he is electrocuted by a weapon, and even that barely slows him. For some reason he starts pointing the weapon at himself. He doesn't want to? This is confusing. Finally, he is electrocuted again. I watch Sam go to and hold his body.

"This was four years ago." I frown, then looked at the copy of Sam with Malek. Had she been with Malek that long?

I look at the photos of the two men again. I hate them.

to be continued…