Amor Fati by Aquila

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Colonel Jack O'Neill of the United States Air Force stepped through the glimmering sphere ring on that was situated in the middle of a grassy valley. Next, out stepped Major Samantha Carter who paused, like her superior, to look at the new world. The two were followed by Doctor Daniel Jackson and Teal'c, the ex-first prime of Apophis.

The planet was not overly large, but was home to many new and thriving species of plant. General Hammond, the group's supervisor, thought it might be fruitful for the team to go and explore, bring back samples, and in all haste - relax. They had been through many hardships in the past few months and he thought the trip would be nice break for the team. Vines loomed over their heads - just as green as the grass below, and the sky was a bright blue with two large moons hovering nearby.

"The Oxygen level is normal, as are the other chemicals in the air, Sir," spoke Major Carter, directed to O'Neill, "I think that it is safe to proceed."

Being shocked out of his reverie, Jack turned to face the rest of his team. "Any signs of Goa'uld?" he asked Teal'c.

"I concur with Major Carter," replied the Jaffa, "I believe that it is safe to proceed. The Goa'uld are destroyers. If they had found a planet such as this, they would destroy it out of pure pleasure."

"Gotta love those guys." quipped O'Neill. "Well campers, let's see if we can find a place to set up camp." Turning to his second in command he ushered her to the front of the team with his arm, "Ladies first." He put on his best fake smile and got a glare shot in his direction from Carter. She stepped off the ramp and before Jack was able to move Daniel pushed past him wandering over to a large yellow flower-like plant. Jack turned around to see that Teal'c was already examining a brightly colored rock. So, like any good soldier, he marched down the ramp and found a stump to sit on and leaned back and closed his eyes.

Jack didn't know how long he had been asleep, but he was awakened by a fit of sneezing coming from Daniel's general direction.

For crying out loud! Is that man allergic to everything? It's a wonder he can even get out of bed in the morning!

"Daniel? You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah Jack. I'm fine. I think I'm allergic to the sap from these trees. That's all."

"Okay Danny-boy, why don't you take a puff of your inhaler and --- Wait!--- Did you say TREES??? TREES!!! As in big green-leafed, brown-barked TREES?!? I didn't see any TREES when we walked onto this planet!"

"Colonel, they've been here all along, they're mostly behind the Stargate." broke in Carter.

Jack spun around so quickly that he lost his pack and sunglasses in the commotion. Sure enough, right behind the Stargate there were millions, if not billions of trees. Okay, maybe there weren't quite that many, he did have a tendency to over exaggerate, but when you have to look at the same trees over and over and over again on mission after mission after mission ... I think you get the point.

"Oh, for crying out loud! Don't you guys ever take a vacation or something? Do you follow me around? Are you trying to kill me, or make me kill myself?" Sarcasm laced his voice as he directed the trees.

"O'Neill," came a deep muffled voice from somewhere in the trees, "We come in peace."

Jack fell off the stump he was sitting on two feet to the ground with a thump. He stared into the trees with a startled look on his face and slowly spoke, "Wha..? Who...? Wh..Ahh..um..? Okay.?!" He finished lamely, still startled while the million possibilities of a tree conspiracy and aliens flowed steadily through his brain.

Daniel was the first one to laugh. He sort of sneezed at the same time so he sounded like an elephant with a cold and Sam went into hysterics shortly after him. Jack kept one eye on the forest and walked over to his friends, who were now rolling on the ground, laughing so hard that tears were falling down their faces. He looked down at them suspiciously and looked around the valley to see what the source of their sudden outburst was, only for his eyes to settle back on the trees.

"C..co...he..okay...." Daniel tried to talk but failed and had to sit up and take a deep breath before yelling in the direction of the trees. "Come on out now!"

Jack looked from Daniel to a red-faced Carter and slowly turned around. A huge figure came into view and stepped out of the trees into the sunlight.

Teal'c stood at the base of the forest with a broad grin on his face. Sam started laughing again almost immediately and Jack turned sharply to Daniel, who in turn held up his hands innocently. "We watched a bunch of old alien videos last Tuesday." This was all that the young man was able to get out before laughter once more dissolved him. Teal'c walked over to O'Neill stood straight faced for five seconds before smiling widely. This time, Jack could not resist the temptation of laughing. He slapped Teal'c on the shoulder.

"Well Big Buddy, you finally put one over me. It's a rare thing, trust me."

By this time Daniel's laughter had died away to a small fit of sneezes, but Sam's was still full-fledged. Jack turned to her with a scowl and walked so he was positioned not one foot in front of her. "No Giggling Major. Haven't I told you that before?" This only seemed to feed her laughter. By now, Daniel's sneezing fit had died down and he was extremely interested in the situation at hand. He glimpsed a bright shade of blue protruding out of Sam's jacket pocket. In one swift move he reached over and grabbed the square object - along with a piece of flimsy plastic-like paper. Sam's laughter died immediately and she gave him a glare that could have killed Medusa, but luckily he was looking at the piece of plastic with an image of the Colonel shaping on it.

Sam stared at Daniel, then at Jack as he grabbed the picture of himself from him. Teal'c leaned over the Colonel's shoulder and Daniel started to giggle again, mumbling something about understanding now. Jack's eyes wandered from the picture, back to her and then to the blue Polaroid camera that was placed in-between Daniel and Carter. Sam lowered her eyes and decided that her shoelaces were suddenly very interesting.

"Major..." he started. "Is that the camera Janet gave you for your birthday?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Is this a picture of me sitting on the ground, wide-eyed, looking into trees?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Well, I can't blame you for thinking I'm photogenic ... but I can't argue either." Sam's head shot up at this. The sarcasm in his voice was clear and there was a teasing twinkle in his eyes. She knew he wasn't mad. He took one last look at the picture and crumpled it up and stuffed it in his pocket. "Shall we set up camp now, kids?" he said with a light tone of voice, "the sun's going down." Teal'c and Daniel walked off in the direction of their long since forgotten packs. Sam started on her way too.

"And one more thing Major," O'Neill called. Stopping five feet ahead of him, Sam turned around and looked up at her friend. "And I want the truth. You were planning to put this up on the message board in the cafeteria, weren't you?"

Sam sighed and nodded. With that Jack walked past her. "I was going to..." she mused out loud. Jack stopped and turned around to face her again. "That was the best one...but...," her teasing voice told him something was up. By now Daniel and Teal'c had stopped ahead to observe the situation.

"But what, Major?" Jack said, unsure of himself and his voice betraying him by showing it.

"But...." she sighed, "I guess one of these will have to do." She held up three other pictures dug out from her other pocket. They were all of him - falling off the stump, staring into the trees, and talking to the trees. His mouth hit the ground and then bounced back up as his face took on a determined soldier look. Sam must have seen this coming because she stuffed the pictures safely in the front breast pocket of her T-shirt and ran toward Daniel and Teal'c. Jack bounded after her.

Daniel first wore a bemused expression on his face when Sam decided to run around Teal'c, leading Jack into a rather confusing cat/dog chase. His features now lit up into a smile. Soon they were doing figure-eights around himself and Teal'c then you would only see them running past out of the corner of your eye. Finally, Jack came to a halt and all three men looked around. Sam was nowhere in sight. The men looked to their sides, fronts and backs but she was still to be found.

Suddenly, a wisp of white came floating by Daniel's head. Two more followed and fluttered around them before settling on the ground. They all looked up in-sync. Sam was lying on a large tree branch about five feet above their heads. She looked at Jack and put on her most innocent face.

"Truce?" She asked him, her blue eyes wide.

Jack sighed. "Truce. Now get down from that tree, MaryAnne." He spoke the last part of his sentence in teasing tone-of-voice.

Sam chuckled and obeyed him. Teal'c looked utterly confused and Daniel also had a look of slight curiosity on his face. "Whatever you say, Gilligan." Sam said as she landed on the ground. Teal'c's face was no longer filled with a confused expression. Daniel and he had been recently observing different Earth cultures, which in English meant TV shows. Daniel had finally decided to sit down and watch with Teal'c after one of Colonel O'Neill's endless ribbing sessions about how his 'Space Monkey' knew more about P3F759 culture than he did about that of Earth. Daniel sneezed again and pulled out another pack of military-provided kleenexes. Then, uttering some obscenity in what sounded like German, pulled out a surgical mask and stuck it over his mouth and nose.

"Ginger." stated Sam and Jack at the same time. Teal'c could only nod in agreement. Daniel Jackson could, at times, be extremely fussy.

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The sun had set and stars lit up the dark night sky on P5J712 and a fire was heating the small camp that SG-1 had set up by the Stargate. Teal'c was slowly sipping his coffee while Daniel and Sam were talking about the theory of gravitational waves being emitted by black holes and their possible connections with cold fusion. Bits and pieces of their conversation drifted back to Jack, who was drinking coffee like Teal'c and writing his report about their finding so far.

He didn't enjoy the paperwork that came with his job, but he surely didn't want to spend a week cooped up in his office finishing reports from their last ten missions like he did last month. 'Better to do it in your spare time,' was, sadly, his new motto. For some reason, the 'Why do it today when you can do it tomorrow' motto was not to the General's liking. They had collected samples of the grass, air, soil, flowers, pollen, tree bark, sap and pines and some small moisture samples that Carter found under a rock. He recorded these things, along with observations and temperature levels in his journal and turned off the light in his tent. He walked out of the cloth cover and took his seat next to Sam and Teal'c around the fire place. Daniel's allergies had long since subsided, as soon as Doc Fraiser's wonder cure had kicked in. I wonder what she puts in that stuff she gives him for his allergies - placebo? morphine? Prozac? He felt the smile spread across his features as he imagined what it would be like to handle a Daniel on Prozac. Then he shuddered. Sam and Daniel's conversation had died down and all four friends sat in the heat and glow of the fire in a comfortable silence, sipping their coffee every so often.

Jack's mind wandered back to the first day he had met SG-1. His team. His friends. His supporters, and the ones who he looked after and in turn looked after him. They were a team all right. Sam. God he adores her. She's so full of life, her eyes always twinkle and her laughter is always the sweetest music. She was the one who had cheered him up when he was last stuck doing paperwork detail. She was the one who suggested he keep track of everything in a journal as they were on missions - making it easier to find information and references and cutting back his time back at the base stuck in his office considerably. She also mentioned that General Hammond would be pleased, but warned him not to take it too far... the General might think he had been replaced by a clone - suspicions which would most likely lead to a long physical exam from Doc. Fraiser. He had cringed then laughed at her last comment as she left his office. The first day they met, she had outright challenged him. She has guts, that girl. I had my doubts of course, she was a scientist, a beautiful, extremely young, bright eyed person, and a female. (She still is - all of these and more. I thank God for that every day. I don't ever want her to change.) She quickly proved herself and now I trust her more than anything. We're actually really good friends. We like to lounge a lot together; watching TV, listening to music, reading. We can also talk a lot. We get on to the strangest topics (although usually after an SG-1 downtime get-together at someone's house when Daniel's out on the couch and Teal'c has long since wandered to a nearby chair to meditate, and we both have usually had enough to drink to get us a little tipsy.) We had one of these sessions just two days ago, when we had to go into the SGC the next morning to be briefed on this mission by Hammond: The TV screen was lit up with the Simpsons (one of SG-1's favorites) and we were both lying in front of it, each under one of my heavy cotton quilts and we were talking about how the green house effect (the melting of the entire North and South poles, to be precise) and how it would effect all those cute little penguins that Sam loves. Somehow from there we got to the effects of Saturn's gravitational pull on Australian dingos. I smile and shake my head at this.

I remember the rest of that night clearly too. Daniel had gotten the new South Park 4 player game and brought it over. For someone who appears so professional and caught up with his work, he sure has interesting taste. Everyone agreed to play - even Teal'c, who had discovered the wonderful world of video games months before. I distinctly remember the day when he told me that, the surprised look that must have been on my face, and then the lecture he gave me on the graphics, acoustics and storyline of Crash Bandicoot. I smile at that memory, especially the part where Ferretti chose to walk in and walk out after he heard "then this great big polar bear...." So that night two days ago we ate pizza, drank beer, laughed, watched TV, and played the video game. It was quite amusing, I must confess. The string of swears and obscenities coming from the television set made me laugh and at the same time made me wonder what this world was coming to - what are we trying to save? Then my senses had come back to me and I brushed it off with another swig of my beer. After Danny had fallen asleep and Teal'c did whatever exactly it is he does, me and Sam talked. She fell asleep halfway through the next Simpson's episode after that, and I carried her to my spare bedroom. I fell asleep shortly after in my own. I wonder about my relationship with Sam a lot. I know I love her, and I think she loves me too. We are great friends and I don't ever want to jeopardize that relationship - and I won't. When the time is right, we'll know. General Hammond has surely made it clear that he doesn't mind that kind of relationships between persons on the base, even if they are both in that all important 'Chain of Command'. In fact, when Hayworth and Garbs came to him about their relationship (he's a lieutenant and she's a captain) he even went as far to tell them that even the big Pres himself didn't really understand that rule. It was okay as long as they kept their private life away from work. Although, if I could look into those blue eyes every morning and be able to hold her near on Friday nights or cuddle up with her on the couch, I'm not quite sure if I'd come to work. Well, I guess I would. I couldn't just turn away from Daniel, Teal'c, General Hammond, Dad (Jacob Carter), Janet, and even Cassie. Another memory comes floating back to me: The day that I gave Cas her dog. Sam's eyes had shined then and I forever hold that image of her smiling in my mind. Yes, I love her, but for now we are friends, all of us. Sam and I will make the right choice when the time is right, who knows, that may not happen for ten years yet, but I hope it does. No pressure though.

Daniel stirs across from me and I'm brought back to P4J...um7....3..no...1..um...Oh whatever this damned, tree-infested planet is called. Teal'c has his head relaxed against his pack and is casually gazing up into the night sky, studying the moon closest to us at the moment. Sam is looking into the fire and suddenly looks at me and says, "Colonel? Can I ask you a question?"

I reply, "Of course Major, what can the magic 8 ball do for you this fine evening?"

This gets me a smile and she continues, "You're Scottish, right?" When I answer her with a small nod she keeps going, "So.... how do you know when to tune your bagpipes?" She asks this with a straight face and with an angelic like tone of voice. It takes all of us about five seconds to register this question before bursting with laughter. Sam laughs too, this was obviously her goal.

Daniel manages to pause his laughter long enough to say, "What's another word for Thesaurus?" This makes us all laugh harder and I decide to get a word in.

"I dunno? Maybe the answer to that is the same reason that 'abbreviation' is such a long word." Even Teal'c is laughing now.

"O'Neill, It is possible that the same people who created that word also did the same with 'television sets.'"

We all look at him. I with my brows raised in anticipation, Sam with a look of slight confusion on her face and biting her lower lip and Daniel with one arched eyebrow and a look of interest in his eyes. Teal'c continued, "Why do they call it a 'set' when you only receive one?" With that last comment in the air we all laugh heartily.

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"Finally a mission with no injures, weapons, aliens, glowing eyes, prisons or creeps." states a sleepy Sam, her voice muffled in her sleeping bag which she has brought out of her tent.

"Yeah," agrees Daniel, "well, if you don't count Jack, that is."

"Hey!" I cry and jump up toward Daniel. He buries his head into his coat and quickly excuses himself to go get the rest of our sleeping bags. Teal'c looks on with an expression of, well, I guess it's an expression, the blank-straight-faced-not scared-no emotion showing-trained... well, you get the idea. But his eyes read different. I can tell he's amused by Daniel's performance. Carter laughs beside me and rolls onto her back to gaze at the stars as the Jaffa had done earlier. Daniel comes back with our sleeping bags and shows he's not scared of me by shaking my 'friends again' hand that I hold out to him. It's pretty much decided that we're sleeping by the fire tonight.

"Anyone know any good ghost stories?" Carter mumbles.

From my own bag I direct a comment at Daniel, "Daniel, talk about some Egyptian thing or one of your rocks. That'll be sure to put us asleep." I pause long enough to let him mumble back a retort about them being 'Artifacts Jack, for the love of God, Artifacts' and long enough for me to yawn. "Come on Danny," I probe. "That'd be just as scary as a ghost story, if not more." He lets out a frustrated sigh and I can hear him shift in his sleeping bag. I know it's just for show though, he knows I'm joking, and I'm sure he'll have lots of new material to bug me about back on base after that little tree 'incident.' I jump up. That reminds me! I have to get rid of those pictures. Destroying the evidence, eh O'Neill? I rummage through the pockets of my jacket, long since removed, but still within an arms reach, and pull out the 3 photographs. Then, I dig into my pant's pocket and bring out the crumpled humiliator that was held there. I take one last look at them and toss them into the welcoming flames of the fire. My eyelids are starting to get really heavy now and I take one last look at my sleeping team before slipping into a dream world of yellow brick roads, talking trees, and a array of Gilligan's Island characters.

My last thought before I drift away is: We're all friends. True friends. Through good and bad; in essence: LIFE.

I fall asleep with a smile on my face.

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Daniel was the first person to wake up the next morning. The flames of the fire had long since gone cold and the day was already bright and warm. There is a slight breeze which was a welcome thing. He wakes up Teal'c who goes about waking Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter. Daniel makes coffee and soon the team is fed, and ready to go home.

Carter makes sure that they have all the samples and they each help one another take down the unused tents. Jack takes count of their current supplies and finds everything as it should be, but just as they leave he takes one last check in his pack for his field journal. It's there.

SG-1 starts their short journey back to the Stargate and Doctor Daniel Jackson starts to dial them home. Within a minute the seventh chevron is encoded and Major Samantha Carter sends through SG-1's signal. They all turn back to take one last look at the lavish and beautiful planet before turning and walking through the 'Gate.

Jackson goes first, followed by Carter, then Teal'c and finally O'Neill.

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SG-1 steps through the 'Ring of God's' on the other side of the Universe. The SGC is at its regular busy state and General Hammond's voice rings through the microphone: "Welcome back SG-1."

The wormhole disengages.

The End

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Note's from the Author: Well, there it is. My first ever attempt at fanfiction. Hope you liked it. It took me nearly 5 hours of sitting staring at my computer to write this. Not to mention the time editing and stuff. It was so worth it, though! I'm glad that there's a great show like this that we can manipulate characters and borrow them from. {If anyone is wondering about the title it's Latin for "Love of Fate." I though it just suited this story because of Jack's willing to wait and see what will happen with he and Sam; not rushing fate, and for friendship. I personally think these 4 were 'fated' to meet, be friends, and love one another. } Comments? (No Flames please)

e-mail me at raptus@mailcity.com Thx. for Reading.

~Aquila~