Fate by Ginamarie

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Story Notes: Spoilers: 2010

Archive: SJ, anywhere else, please ask first

Feedback: *greatly* appreciated solitarygurl@gmx.net

As always, thanks to Alli for beta-ing

Red. Her lips were red as jewels. They were as red as a petal crowning a freshly picked rose.

She possessed the sweetly intoxicating air of a rose too. A perfectly elegant woman in a little black sleaveless dress, a single string of pearls gracing her neck, and seductive perfume distilling the air surrounding her. It was an expensive perfume. Maybe a gift... maybe from him...

An expensive perfume befitting the future wife of the Chief Ambassador.

She sat quietly still yet I felt as though any second, she was going to jump up and run away. It wasn't a feeling I got from the constant glancing at a watch, or the impatient tapping of a foot. It was just a feeling, a kind of sixth sense I developed to be able to know and predict her actions, back when I was still her commanding officer.

She's probably running late for a meeting or something. She's always busy now, going to some function or other: dinner with President Kinsey, a luncheon with the Senator and his wife, a public appearance for charity... always something or other. And just maybe, just perhaps, when she can find a few minutes to spare, dinner, with an old friend.

Around us, people chatter and laugh. The soft wailing of a violin drifts in the background. It's almost enough to drown out the silence that hangs between me, and the lovely woman sitting across the white clothed table. It's been almost a year since I've seen her. Time seems to still treat her rather kindly. Her face is much livelier, and prettier than when I last saw her.

"So..." She finally says, her voice trailing off into emptiness.

"So." I reply and take a drink of my Jack Daniel's.

More silence.

"How have you been, Sir?" Her tone flickers with forced easiness, a blatant try to put the past aside, and make everything normal again.

I take another drink of my whiskey. "Oh, you know me. A secluded cabin, a lake, fish... it's heaven." I finish with a sarcastic smile so big that three years ago, it would have been rewarded with a bright smile from my second in command.

She continues staring forward. Her rose-red lips remain tightly pursed together and her fingers reach up to caress her ivory-white pearls.

"Ya know," I say after a few more seconds of every-imposing silence. "My invitation has always been open."

She looks up at me and releases a small chuckle. "I'm getting married next week sir."

"Ah," I reply dryly. "How could I forget."

"The Aschen Ambassador and President Kinsey will be there." She pauses. "I really wish you'd come Sir"

Now it's my turn to chuckle. "I think you know me better than that Carter."

"I guess I'd thought you'd be willing to put opinions aside for a friend."

"And I guess I thought you'd be level-headed enough not to let lofty promises and bureaucratic power affect your better judgement" I snap back before I can stop myself.

I look away from her stare, expecting a strong reproach, a glass of water thrown on my face, a slap, anything... but instead I only get more silence.

I suppose arguing is getting old. Difference of opinion is what alienated us in the first place. It's what drove her away from me. Her insistance at an alliance with the Aschen is what led her to personaly meet with the man who, without the SGC's knowledge, had been appointed as ambassador to any planet willing to share vital technology and information with Earth. It was an alliance I was completely against, for the simple fact that no one even bothered to ask the question of why these aliens were so willing to share this stuff with us.

In the end, it came to picking sides, with me on one end, and Carter, the Ambassador, the President, the Senate, the House, and the large majority of the American people on the other.

In the end, it came to picking sides, and she didn't choose me. For the first time since her arrival at the restaurant, I allow myself to notice the giant ring anchored to her finger.

From what People magazine had gathered, he had it specially designed from some snub designer in Los Angeles. The band was titanium. It was a scrap from the now unneccessary and decommissioned iris.

"I guess..." she says queitly. " I guess we didn't know each other as well as we thought we did.

I take a long and final swig of my whiskey. "Or maybe" I add. "Not as well as we could have."

I suddenly feel as though all reasons for staying disappeared with the last drop of my drink. I stand up, and reach for my coat hanging on the back of my chair.

"Why?" Her question hits me with a sudden dose of fresh pain.

"Maybe it just wasn't meant to be." I answer after slipping into my coat.

"You mean fate?"

"Yeah,"I nod. "Something like that." and I walk away, away from the table, to the door, and into the black emptiness of the cold moonless night.

************************

Pink. Her lips are as pink as the sky around a dawning sun. The pure, sweet scent of honeysuckle shampoo infiltrates my nose.

"So..." She says, threading the thin metal chain of her dog tags between her fingers.

"So" I reply, putting my arm around her, and pulling her closer to me, ignoring the possibility of someone from the base seeing us, and reporting us to General Hammond.

The restaurant is full of chattering people blending with the sultry stringing of a Spanish guitar, but they are hardly noticeable next to the radiant smile beaming on the lovely face of the woman beside me.

It's a smile I can't help but reciprocate.

"Have anything planned for the next few days of leave?" I ask, taking a drink from my beer.

"Well, I was planning to work on the simulation for the naquadah reac--"

I gently place my finger on her lips, cutting her off.

"Didn't I once order you to get a life, Major?"

She smiles and reaches for my hand. "I like the one I have just fine."

I lean forward, pulling her closer and tenderly place my lips on hers. She responds, opening her mouth and languidly slipping her lips over my own. The thin taste of beer mixed with her own intoxicating flavor seeps into my mouth, and straight to my palpitating heart in the form of pure contentment.

She pulls away, ending the kiss as beningly as it had begun.

Before anything else can happen however, a shadow looms over the table.

"Sam Carter?" I look up to see a man in a blue Armani suit, with dark hair, and dark mysterious eyes gazing in disbelief at the woman in my arms.

"Oh my gosh..." She quickly stands and gives him a hug that lasts slightly longer than I'd really care it to.

"How've you been Sam?" His hands remain firmly clenched on her arms, and a stupid smile is plastered on his face. "It's been so long!"

"Yes, it has" She responds casually.

"I hear you got a job in Cheyenne... something about stellar telemetry? I'm still stuck in D.C., trying to work my way up I guess. I got a job with one of the Senators."

"Really? Which Senator would that be?" I finally cut in to their conversation, purposely allowing a bit of annyance filter through my words.

"Uh... this is Jack." Sam gestures towards me. "Would you like to have a drink with us?" She asks him.

He looks at me for the first time, and I meet his gaze, unflinching.

He lets go of her.

"Well, I'm actually in a bit of a hurry, but if you're ever back in DC," He reaches into his pocket and retrieves a business card. "Be sure to look me up. We can go out, it would be just like old times!"

She nods and smiles, and he places a quick kiss on her cheek. "It was great seeing you Sam!"

"It was great seeing you too" she responds, and he leaves just as quickly as he had arrived.

"Who was that?" I ask once she settles back in the seat beside me.

"That was Joe." She says, matter-of-factly and takes a sip of my beer. "I met him at a party while working at the Pentagon."

"What happened?" I ask, curious of the mysterious man who seemingly appeared out of no where.

"We went out for about a month," She answers "But I guess we just weren't meant to be." Her voice trails off and her gaze becomes distant, no doubt delving into memories of the past.

I'm hit with the reality of just how lucky I am. Of all the guys in all the world, she chose me. The valiant and strong Samantha Carter chose me, an aging Air force Colonel with dulling grey hair, and a shady past. The more I think of it, the more convinced I am of just how unlikely our pairing is.

I look back up at her, and I find her staring at me with a little grin tugging at the sides of her dew-pink lips.

"Ya know," I begin. "My invitation to Minnesota has always been open."

The grin slowly extends to a full fledged smile. "Nothing wrong with two co-workers-- friends, if you will-- going on a little trip" she replys, taking my hand and leading me out of the my chair.

I grab our jackets, and we walk away, away from the table, to the door, and together, face the cold, moonless night that fate has tossed us into.

End Notes: "Truth never damages a cause that is just" -Mahatma Gandhi

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