Summary:

"He takes a deep breath. 'You got hurt again,' he mumbles. 'Except, this time…'

'This time what?'

Jonas squeezes his eyes shut. 'This time I think you died.'"

OR

Present-Day AU. A malfunctioning time travel device and a harrowing mission force Sam and Jonas to finally confront what happened in Florida. But they're running out of time to clear the air before Jonas' latest vision comes true - a vision of Sam's impending death. Sequel to "band-aids don't fix bullet holes."

A/N: Well, here we are, the final installment of this fic 😭 I can't believe we're at the end! This has been a labor of love for me for the last several months, and I still can't believe a) that I was able to carry on for this many chapters, and b) that I actually managed to finish it. Finishing big projects has always been a massive struggle for me, so to bring this story through to completion is a huge milestone that I'm honestly pretty emotional about. But I couldn't have done it without the support of everyone who read and followed this fic. That's part of what kept me going for all these months, and I am grateful beyond words. Thank you so much for giving my niche little story some love and providing me with the incentive to push through to the end ❤️

Epilogue: the time that is given us

It takes her no less than six tries before he finally moves away from the tank.

Jonas pouts as Sam drags him away from the sea otter exhibit. "I wanted to take some more photos," he whines.

Sam laughs. "You already took about a million," she argues. "Plus three whole videos."

Jonas wrinkles his nose. "Yeah," he says, "but what's a few more?"

Sam laughs again and loops her arm through his. "You literally just got to feed an otter up close. Was that not enough for you?"

His lip twists, and Sam can tell he's trying hard not to crack. "No," he grumbles.

She rolls her eyes. "Okay, fine," she says. "How about this? I'll get you a plushie in the gift shop on our way out."

Jonas' expression softens. "Nah, I'm just kidding," he replies, his mouth breaking into a smile. "You already paid for the otter encounter thing."

"I thought you said it wasn't enough?"

"I said I was kidding."

Sam smirks and gives him a playful nudge. After some consideration, the two of them decided to take full advantage of their time off and go on a real vacation for once. Sam surprised Jonas with a visit to the Georgia Aquarium to meet a sea otter behind the scenes, which he was unsurprisingly ecstatic about. So ecstatic, in fact, that when Sam first presented him with his ticket, he burst into tears and pulled her into a hug so tight that she could barely breathe.

They weave their way through a few more exhibits, stopping every so often to allow Jonas time to snap an inordinate amount of photos. She doesn't know why he wants to take so many pictures of fish, but then again he's always had a soft spot for marine life. In the back of her mind, she hopes that Cam is actually remembering to take care of Jonas' tank back at the SGC.

They do eventually end up in the gift shop, where Sam insists on buying Jonas a sea otter plushie anyway. "Consider it a welcome home gift," she says when he protests.

Jonas looks as if he wants to protest again, but then he seems to think better of it. "Okay, fine," he concedes. "But I'm only letting you buy me one if I get to buy you one."

Sam shakes her head, but she smiles nonetheless. "All right," she agrees. "But maybe it'll be easier if we just split fifty-fifty on that?"

She points to a different shelf, this one housing pairs of sea otters each joined at the paw with what appears to be a magnet.

Jonas grins. "Sounds good to me," he says.

On their way out of the store, he lets his knuckles brush against hers. "You know," he murmurs, tilting his head towards her, "sea otters hold hands to keep each other from drifting apart."

Sam glances at him. "Yeah, I know that."

Jonas' grin widens. "Well," he continues, "I kinda like the idea that humans do that too."

Sam blushes as he takes her hand.

When they walk outside, still hand-in-hand, a dark cloud is looming on the horizon and the air is thick with the promise of rain. "We'd better hurry back," Sam remarks, quickening her steps. "It looks like a storm is coming."

She is, in fact, correct. By the time their rental car pulls into the parking lot of their Airbnb condo, the rain is pouring down in sheets. She checks to see if they brought an umbrella, only to realize that they must have forgotten it inside.

Jonas, however, is completely unbothered by this development. "Oops," he says, his eyes twinkling. "Guess we'll just have to make a run for it again."

And then, before she can say anything to the contrary, he throws open the passenger side door and leaps out into the downpour.

"Race you!" he yells.

Sam laughs and rolls her eyes before following suit. Jonas is already halfway across the lot. He turns around and starts running backward as she stumbles towards him. "That's the best you can do?"

"Shut up!" she hollers over a loud clap of thunder. "You had a head start!"

"Excuses, excuses!" he teases before spinning back around and making a beeline for the front porch.

When Sam finally catches up to him, they're both drenched and gasping for air. "Cheater," she mutters, lightly slapping him on the chest.

Jonas chuckles and catches her hand, bringing it to his lips. "Sorry," he apologizes. "You're cute when you're mad, though."

Sam snorts but doesn't pull her hand away. "You're lucky you're cute," she says, "or I'd be a lot madder."

Jonas smirks and kisses the heel of her palm. "Do you wanna go inside or would you prefer to keep scolding me out here?"

Sam rolls her eyes again, but after a beat she leans forward, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Inside," she whispers, her lips brushing against his ear. "I'd prefer to get out of these wet clothes."

Jonas' face is flushed pink when she pulls back. God, he's adorable when he's flustered. "Come on," she prods, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the door. "I'm getting a bit chilly."

One hot shower later finds them on the deck outside, gazing out at the dwindling storm. Jonas, now dressed in a dry t-shirt and shorts, wraps his arms around Sam's waist and draws her back against his chest. She smiles when his mouth - warm, soft, and inviting - finds the space behind her ear. "You smell good," he whispers.

Sam chuckles, shivering a little when he starts peppering kisses down the side of her neck. "Considering we used the same shampoo, I'm sure you smell good too."

His lips make their way to her shoulder, where he nudges the strap of her tank top aside with his nose. "You hogged it," he mumbles. "I got half as much shampoo as you."

Sam scoffs. "I did not," she counters. "And anyway, you don't even need that much shampoo."

His nose traces a feather-light pattern atop her skin. "Neither do you."

She snorts and elbows him gently. His only response is to tighten his grip on her and pull her closer.

Sam threads her fingers through his as he begins to trail kisses back up the side of her neck. She tilts her head and lets her eyes flutter closed, savoring the warmth of his embrace. When she opens them again, she catches sight of something off in the distance. Her lips curve into another smile. "Jonas, look," she says softly.

Jonas presses a few kisses to her jaw before pulling away to see what she's talking about. "Oh, wow," he breathes, leaning his cheek against hers. "That's even bigger than the one in Florida."

A rainbow arches across the sky just ahead, glowing brightly through a silvery sheen of mist. Sam's heart lifts. "It's beautiful," she whispers.

Jonas kisses her temple. "Mhm," he hums. "But not as beautiful as you."

Sam blushes and turns in his arms to face him. "You're not so bad yourself."

He merely shrugs in reply and leans forward, capturing her mouth with his own. Sam immediately folds into his touch, her lips parting as his arms wind around her back. One hand crawls into his hair and the other lands on his chest, soaking up the steady thrum of his heartbeat.

He breathes her name before breaking away to lower his lips to her collarbone. "I love you," he murmurs, his breath hot against her skin.

Sam kisses the side of his head and gently strokes his hair. "I love you too," she sighs.

Jonas pulls back, a grin plastered on his face. "What?" Sam asks.

He shrugs again. "I just like hearing you say it."

Sam returns his grin with one of her own. They've exchanged those words about a million times just in the past week or so. In some small way, it feels as if they've both been trying to make up for lost time. "I don't mind saying it," she says, leaning in for another kiss.

When they break apart again, Sam wraps her arms around Jonas' waist and lays her head on his shoulder. "This is nice," she whispers. "I'm glad we decided to get away for a bit."

"Yeah," Jonas agrees, nuzzling her hair. "The last few weeks have been pretty crazy."

On instinct, Sam's grip on him tightens. Although this moment is very real and Jonas is very much alive, she still feels haunted by the echo of his loss. A part of her can't help but cling to him as if that will somehow keep time from stealing him away again.

Jonas senses her mood shift and rubs a comforting hand across her back. "I'm okay," he murmurs, kissing her forehead. "I'm not going anywhere."

Sam swallows back a sudden swell of tears. "I know," she replies. "But sometimes I get scared that I might lose you again."

Jonas lifts his hands to her face and gently pries her head off of his shoulder. "You're not going to lose me," he says, firmly looking her in the eye. "I'm right here. I'll always be right here."

Sam holds his gaze for a moment before speaking. "It's not just that," she finally admits, a different thread of fear now knotting in her stomach. "I messed with the timeline to save you."

Jonas frowns. "So?"

She takes a deep breath. "So," she replies, "a part of me keeps wondering if something's going to happen. I mean, I know nothing has so far, but meddling with time almost always has consequences. I just chose to ignore that because saving you was more important to me."

Jonas sighs and strokes her cheeks with his thumbs. "That doesn't necessarily mean something will happen."

"But what if it does?"

Jonas leans his forehead against hers. "Well," he answers, "if it does, that doesn't mean it has to be bad, right?"

Sam considers this. "I guess not," she says. "But still -"

"Shh," he interrupts, running his fingers through her hair and then down the back of her neck. "Worrying about it isn't going to do anything, okay? You're just going to freak yourself out more."

Sam sighs. "I know. It's just hard not to worry about it."

Jonas' hands drift down to her waist. "Then let's promise each other something."

Sam frowns. "What?"

He takes a breath. "Let's promise that unless something does happen, we won't think about it until then. We'll just focus on what's happening right now instead of what could happen in the future."

A tiny smile works its way across Sam's lips. "That's a bold statement coming from a man who has psychic visions."

Jonas chuckles. "I mean it, Sam."

She lets out another sigh. "Okay," she says. "I promise."

He holds up a hand between them, his pinky outstretched. "Pinky promise?"

Sam snorts. "Really?"

"Indulge me."

She grins in spite of herself and curls her pinky finger around his own. "All right. I - we - pinky promise."

Jonas grins back. A moment later his hand returns to her waist. "Now, speaking of living in the moment…"

Sam smirks. "Yes?"

He leans in again, his breath dancing across her lips. "I think I'd like to keep this one going for a little while longer."

Sam's smirk blossoms into a full-blown smile. "I guess I can't argue with that," she whispers, edging closer. "After all, we are on vacation. We've got all the time in the world."

A/N: The title of this epilogue is taken from Gandalf's quote in The Fellowship of the Ring. I considered going with another song lyric, but I ultimately decided on this instead. I thought it not only fit the theme of the story, but was also a nice callback to Jonas being a Tolkien fan, which was mentioned in the first chapter.

The sea otter encounter at the Georgia Aquarium is a callback to Chapter 3, when Sam first suggests that she and Jonas visit. The encounter is an actual experience at the aquarium where the caretakers take you behind the scenes at the sea otter exhibit to observe a training session and learn about conservation efforts.

If Sam and Jonas' conversation about messing with the timeline seems like it's sequel bait...that's because it is 😂 SURPRISE! I'm still ironing out some plot details but I've already started writing it so I hope to be able to start posting it soon. I wasn't sure if I was going to write a sequel at first, so while I sprinkled in hints to a possible one throughout this story just in case, I made sure to wrap it up in a way that felt complete in case I decided not to continue. But this AU has completely taken over my life and I simply can't let go of it, so Part 5 of this series, here we come 😂

Once again, thank you to everyone who followed along with the emotional rollercoaster that was this fic, I'm so grateful for you all and I hope you'll stick around for the next one!