samandjack.net

Story Notes: Email: dgose@startrekmail.com

Spoilers: Divide & Conquer

Season: Takes place during Season 4

Archive: SJA yes, Heliopolis and SG1fans.net

Authors Note: Thanks to AQ (Deanna) and Dimensi for Beta'ing this for me. And thanks for the Sam and Jack list, which inspired this, my first Sam and Jack fic. Feedback is always appreciated. Flames will be fed to my dog.


The artifact sat on the table in Major Samantha Carter's lab. It didn't look like anything of importance to anyone, including Dr. Daniel Jackson. The artifact was a smooth cylinder that appeared to be made out of red clay. There were a few markings on it that ran along the exact center of cylinder. A small box design was notched into the center of both ends of the cylinder. Daniel could not make out what any of the symbols represented so he had left to do some research on them. In the meantime, Sam was submitting it to various tests in the hopes of finding out what the object was made of. So far, she wasn't having any luck. Picking up the artifact, she carefully held onto the ends of the cylinder and placed her index fingers over the notched boxes while she started to spin the cylinder around. The notched boxes gave way under the pressure of her fingers and her fingers slipped inside. The artifact started to emit a soft red glow. Looking at the cylinder, Sam saw the markings in the center start to glow in a brilliant gold hue. One of the markings shot a beam out and into her eyes.

Sam looked around her. She was no longer in her lab at the SGC but she was in a room that overlooked a large body of water. Looking down at her body, she noticed that she was wearing a robe. A breeze blew in through an open window, lifting the sheer curtains up for a few feet and then gently set them back down. The breeze was perfumed with the scents of blooming flowers and the smell of the ocean. A squawking parrot made her spin around. She noticed a lap top computer was open and running a simulation of some kind, but what it was she couldn't tell. She heard the shower turn off. 'Funny' she thought. 'I must be back in my lab and hallucinating.'

The person in the bathroom started whistling. 'Oh no! I know that whistle.' Sam was panicking. 'How did I get here?' She wondered as she quickly looked around for more appropriate clothing than a robe. Seeing her suitcase, she quickly opened it and dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. Hearing the door open, she didn't look to see who it was. The arm slipping around her waist and the kisses on the neck startled her. "Good morning Beautiful!" Noticing her jump, Jack backed off. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

Turning around to face him, she smiled at him. "That's okay. I was just thinking and I didn't hear you come out."

Jack nodded and turned around and noticed the open laptop. "Sam, I thought we agreed that you wouldn't work on our honeymoon." He had turned back around to face her and was gently shaking his head as if he had expected this.

She looked embarrassed and shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry. You know me, always working." In the meantime, her mind was wheeling from the events. Jack was standing before her, wrapped in a towel with water dripping down his body. And they were on their honeymoon. 'What happened to the regs?' she wondered. 'Did he retire? Did I retire? Do the rules exist anymore?' She had so many questions but decided that perhaps now was not the best time to be asking questions. It was hard to concentrate when the man you loved and now were married to just dropped his towel and started kissing you on the neck and backing you up into the bed.

"I think someone needs another lesson of what a honeymoon is for." Jack teased as lowered her to the bed.

A light started glowing in the corner of the room. It was red and was softly pulsating. Sam stared at it. A gold beam shot out from the light and hit Sam in the eyes again.

When the beam faded, she realized that she wasn't in a room by the ocean anymore. In fact, it looked like she was in a hospital room. 'Why am I in a hospital room?' she wondered to herself. 'And what does that glowing light mean?' 'And how did I get here?' She couldn't remember where she had seen it before, but she knew that it meant a change was about to take place. This time, when she looked around, she saw several machines that were attached to her. She could see people but she couldn't hear what they were saying. Jack was close to her and was holding her hand.

Suddenly, pain wracked her entire body. "Push Sam! You're doing a great job but you need to push again." Jack was coaching her. But why did she need to push. She realized then that she was lying down on a bed. She looked at her body and saw that she was pregnant. 'I must be labor.' Her next thought was interrupted by the next contraction.

"One more push Sam and then you're done. Come on honey, you can do it. On the next contraction, push really hard okay?" A surgeons mask covered Jack's face but she could see his eyes. She had never seen his eyes so full of joy and happiness. She nodded her head and took a deep breath as the next contraction hit. Pushing with all of her might, she felt the baby slip out into the doctor's hands. A few moments later, Jack handed the baby to Sam. As Sam took the baby into her arms, her eyes filled with joy.

A softly glowing red light made Sam look up. A gold beam hit her in the eyes.

Jack yelled beside her. "COME ON REF! YOU KNOW THAT SHE WAS SAFE!" Jack sat back down. "Can you believe that? The Ref called her out when she was safe by a mile!" Noticing that Sam hadn't responded, he looked at her and noticed that she wasn't looking well. "Sam? You feeling okay?"

Hearing her name, Sam jerked her head around and stared at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"I asked if you were okay? You don't look too good. Maybe we should go home after the game instead of going over to Janet's house?" Jack put his arm around Sam and felt her forehead with his other hand. "No fever but you do feel kind of clammy."

"I'm fine." She said with a smile. "Just got to thinking about things and forgot to breath I guess. I'll be fine in a minute."

Jack seemed satisfied with that answer and turned back around towards the game. "You know, our daughter is one hell of a player. She reminds me of her brother at that age. Although he was never this dedicated to perfecting his batting technique."

She smiled and watched the high school team switch places as the inning changed. She saw a sandy blond hair girl put on her cap and grab her glove and run out to take her place at shortstop. The name on the back was O'Neill.

Behind her daughter, a red glowing object started to form. "Oh no. Not again. It's too soon." Sam moaned.

"What's too soon? Sam?" She vaguely felt Jack put his arm around her before the gold beam struck her in the eyes.

The light slowly faded from view. When Sam looked around at her surroundings, she noticed she was in a cemetery. The weather was a bit chilly but the snow had not come yet. The light breeze brought the smells of late fall and of wood burning chimneys to Sam's nose. The sun was casting long shadows, as it was getting ready to set for the day.

The headstone she was standing in front of was her brother Marks. She noticed the date on the headstone. Thirty years had seemingly vanished between the flashes of gold light. 'It must have been a while since he died. I can't see any traces of a newly buried person.' She thought to herself.

Hearing a noise she turned around and saw her now adult daughter approaching her. Holding her hand was a young boy, Sam's grandson. Sam smiled at them as they approached.

"Dad said you would be out here today." Her daughter said. "Uncle Mark was a good man mom. And now the truth has come out and everyone believes his side of the story, just like you did all along. How did you know that he didn't do what they said?" Sam looked down at her grandson. "I just always did." Smiling, she turned back around to look at the gravestone again.

"Come on home mom. Dad is waiting for us." Her daughter held out her hand. Sam turned around and took her hand and the trio started walking back towards the car. "I've got an announcement mom. I was going to wait till we were all together but I want to tell you now." Sam stopped walking and waited for the news. She had a pretty good idea what it might be. "I'm pregnant mom. You and dad are going to have another grandchild to spoil." Her daughter's face was lit in a huge smile that reminded Sam of Jack, especially with the brown eyes she had inherited from her father.

Smiling from ear to ear, Sam saw the faint glow of a red cylindrical object. She knew what was coming now and turned around to face it. "What do you want to show me this time?" She asked it. Noticing her daughter looking at her quizzically, she smiled and then the bright gold light shone in her eyes.

This time when the light faded, she found herself staring into brown eyes. She knew those eyes. She would know them anywhere. "Jack?" She called out to him. There was no response. She looked around her and saw that they were back in the SGC and it looked as if a war had been going on around them. Chunks of concrete were missing out the hallways and the smell of gunpowder was all around them. The emergency lights were on. "Jack?" She called him again and felt a hand placed on her shoulder.

"Jack must rest and not be bothered. We should do your blending now too." Sam looked up into her father's eyes and noticed that the voice she heard was Selmak's. "He can save him right?" Sam looked hopefully at her dad. "Yes Sammie, Jack will be fine. But if you two are going to join the Tok'ra and fight with us, then we must get you joined now. Anise can't keep Frey'a alive for much longer." Her dad responded.

Sam nodded her head and looked over at Frey'as frail body. "Well Frey'a, I guess you get to be with Jack after all." A small smile tugged at Sam's lips as she recalled the irony of the situation. Lying down next to Frey'a, Sam opened her mouth and closed the gap between them. Anise quickly jumped into Sam's body and Sam jerked as her body relived the nightmare of Jolinar. But this time she knew what was going to happen and had willingly accepted it.

Feeling the pain of the blending starting to subside, Sam looked around what once used to be her lab. She saw herself staring at a cylinder that was softly glowing red and shining a gold beam into the other one's eyes. Sam walked over to herself, the much younger version of herself and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Sensing the presence of someone, the younger Sam turned around and looked at her older version. "Is it worth it?" She asked herself. "Is the pain worth it?"

Smiling at her younger self, she nodded her head yes. "Yes it is all worth it." Turning to look at Jack lying next to the now expired Tok'ra host, she noticed her twin was looking at the same thing. She walked over and laid her hand on Jack's hand as he started to wake up. Looking at his Sam, he smiled. "Good Morning Beautiful."

Suddenly the objects glow increased in its intensity and then faded away. Sam looked around; she was back in her lab. She pulled her fingers out of the cylinder and noticed that Jack, Daniel and Teal'c were looking at her, worry evident on their faces. Smiling at them, she tried to categorize everything that the cylinder had just showed her. Quiet mornings spent sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. Playing with her children, and then her grandchildren. Watching her brother's casket be lowered into his grave. Crying with Jack when he was diagnosed with cancer that had no cure on this planet. Deciding that the Tok'ra's offer for a cure was the right decision to make. But more than anything, she remembered the peace and love and safety she always felt when she was around Jack. He was her guiding light and anchor to reality.

Putting the cylinder down and ignoring Daniel's questions, she walked over to Colonel O'Neill. Staring into his eyes, she smiled at him. And in her eyes, Jack saw his love for her reflected back for him in her eyes. They both knew that their relationship had changed at that point. Although it was still sometime before they were able to date and then get married. But at the point, they both knew what the future held and were content with the natural course of things.




The End




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