Holding hands as they walked into the Gateroom, Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter and Jack O'Neill (retired!) felt strange. Strange to be holding hands on base, and strange to be heading for the Stargate in comfy civilian clothing. Jack wore a backpack with some clothes and the GDO, but there were none of the other typical accoutrements of Gate travel.
Jack fingered Sam's engagement ring, and stole a sidelong glance at her as the Gate *Kawooshed* to life. No, this time out, they weren't going to "seek out new life and new civilizations," but they were on another kind of reconnaissance mission. They were going to return to some of the beautiful planets they had saved from one doom or another to find the ideal honeymoon spot. There were some perks for being the two American officers who had saved the planet again and again.
Argos had topped the list from the moment Sam reminded Jack of his quip about retiring there some day. Why spend a lot of money on an island getaway when they could really get away. . . from the whole planet. Jack was looking forward to a real hero's welcome.
"O'Neill, you have a go."
Jack nodded to the figure in the control room. Although he and Hammond had retired at the same time, it was still another strange difference. Jack gave Sam a quick kiss, then led her up the ramp. They had never had a happier reason to fling themselves across outer space. Their fingers still laced together, they stepped through the event horizon.
The MALP hadn't shown any activity in Pelops' old temple, but it looked like it had become a kind of archive. "Apparently they have found good use for their thousands of days." Sam mused while walking past the shelves of scrolls. "They appear to be progressing rather well."
"I guess I showed them how important it is to think for themselves, yep." Jack put an arm around Sam's shoulders and was looking pretty self-satisfied until he heard a voice behind him.
"Jack O'Neill?" The voice was sweet and vaguely familiar.
Jack and Sam turned to see a matronly woman who appeared to be in her late thirties. Her clothing was much more utilitarian than they had seen before on Argos, and her hair was pulled back, but the smile, though wiser, definitely belonged to. . .
"Kynthia?" Jack's arm loosened from Sam a smidgen, while her own hand tightened around his waist. Jack came back to himself at the slight pressure, and they stepped toward her. "Well, long time, no see. How's it going?"
"I welcome you back to Argos. This is our library. I am its keeper, and I help to teach the children. They require so much more attention now. . . . But please, will you stay to meet my family?"
"Family?" Sam asked, suddenly a lot more interested.
"Yes. When the moon had changed twice since your departure, Timos and I were married. I was afraid because of all the changes at first, but I knew that I wanted to spend my thousands of days with him."
She led them to a small dwelling not too far from the temple. Apparently, communal living had grown old when it stretched to many changings of the moon.
"I have returned, my love," Kynthia called, as she entered the house. Two little boys skampered to her knees, and she hugged them. "This is little Timos, and the younger one is Jack."
"Well, now Daniel isn't the only one with a little Argosian named after him." Jack hunkered down to see the little blond boy eye to eye.
"Is this the bringer of years? It has been so long a time."
A man who could neither be called young nor old stepped into the room.
"Yes, Husband. I have invited him and his companion to have the evening meal with us."
"You both are welcome. Perhaps you will teach us some more about life where you come from. Those who came after you had many questions but few answers."
Kynthia shooed the boys away, and told the men that the meal would be ready shortly. She invited Sam to the eating area, and as soon as the men were out of earshot, she began asking questions. "Sam, do you know about the birth of children?"
Sam's expression changed from sympathy to shock. "Uh, not much, really. Why?"
"When we only had one hundred days, a woman and a man would marry. A few days later, she would awaken and find herself with child. The child would be born that day. In this way, a woman may have many children in her days. Now. . ."
Sam took a deep breath. "Now, a woman is with child for many months? Many moon changes?"
"Yes," Kynthia said. "And there are other changes. Pain and anger come to some with every new moon. At first, we thought it was a sickness, but it comes back . Can you tell me what it is? Is this a part of living thousands of days?"
Sam pressed her lips together and nodded her head. Apparently the nanocites had controlled more than just the aging process. "Well. . ."
* * *
The next morning, Sam woke up surrounded by cushions and curled up on a mat. She opened her eyes and peered around the room where she and Jack had settled in for the night. He appeared to be sleeping. She snuggled back under the sheet to wait for him to wake up. The movement woke him though, and he rolled toward her, opening his eyes.
"Good morning, future Mrs. O'Neill."
"Mmm. Good morning, yourself." Sam murmured, smiling dreamily and barely letting her eyelids flutter open.
Jack leaned over to her and touched his lips to hers. She fully awakened to his touch and responded to the warmth until. . .
"Hey! What?" But Sam's response wasn't going to get any more coherent because she soon erupted into a fit of laughter. "No giggling." Jack taunted as his hands tickled and eluded at an alarming speed.
She knew that she couldn't beat him at this game, but she grabbed a round pillow and. . .
*BONK*
She hit the side of his head, and it stunned him long enough for her to grab a second pillow and *THWACK* him in the arm before rolling out of the way.
A full-scale pillow fight ensued, and soon the two figures in t-shirts and sweats were just one panting heap on the floor.
Timos walked into the room and informed them that they could begin preparing for the day.
* * *
After washing up a little and changing clothes, Jack and Sam ate breakfast with Kynthia and the boys. Since Timos had left earlier to begin the farm work, it was just the five of them that would go into the village to the school. The walk through the village was an eerie shadow of their last trip to the planet. No more flowing Grecian gowns and togas. No more celebrators adorned with flowers. Sam noticed that there seemed to be a lot of children around six years old, but that made sense in light of what she had been told the previous night. Nearly every woman in the village had gotten pregnant within a very short amount of time.
Sam sat on a bench in the columned building that had once been the communal sleeping area. Kynthia had turned it into a school, and whatever Sam had thought of her years before, she had to admit that she had a lot of respect for her now. Kynthia had become part scholar and part visionary. It must have been difficult to convince some of the easy-going Argosians of the need for a school and then become the teacher. Sam wondered how Kynthia had ever convinced the anthropologists to teach her to read and write.
Sam watched the students, and she watched Jack, who was entertaining the three-year-old who shared his name. Something almost magical happened to Jack when he was around kids. He caught her eye and winked.
There was so much behind that playful gesture: the now oft- spoken, "I love you;" the more subtle, "you're beautiful;" and the deep desire for children of their own that beat within both of their hearts. With their wedding only a few months away, Sam still sometimes felt too old.
The morning passed pleasantly, and by afternoon, word had spread about the two visitors from Earth. After school was dismissed, a few women gathered to see the Bringer of Years. The crowd had grown by the time Kynthia was ready to return to the library. Jack and Sam were used to crowds of natives following them, but Jack was beginning to sense that something was on their minds. He had a bad feeling that they were not as welcome as he had thought they would be.
Many in the crowd began to whisper, and finally one voice broke out. "What are you doing here? You have destroyed our celebration of days. Have you another evil to curse us with?"
The woman was pointing at Jack, who looked helplessly at Kynthia and Sam.
Kynthia strode forth. "Jack opened our eyes to the freedom, and Samantha discovered how to lengthen our lives. We should be thankful, for now we can explore and-"
"Now our women lash us with angry tongues!" A man interrupted. "Now we toil and build and have little time to celebrate the days!"
"We spend lifetimes carrying a child, and the child needs care for lifetimes more. The children of the change are only recently able to care for themselves at all."
As soon as that woman stopped, another took up the rant. "We had feared that without Pelops' blessing, we could no longer have children, but the sickness continued as we spent many painful changes of the moon growing as the waxing moon itself."
"Leave us!" One voice yelled, and the crowd echoed. "Leave us!"
The shouting was rising in pitch and volume. Having heard the roaring throng, Timos ran into the temple and pulled Kynthia into his arms. They guided their children away from the yelling villagers.
Finally, Jack had enough. "All right, already! For cryin' out loud, we'll go!"
The silenced crowd stood still for a few moments, then dissipated. Jack felt Sam squeeze his arm gently. "I know." He answered her unasked question. "Dial it up."
He looked around at their legacy, the archive of knowledge. "I guess we were wrong about the hero's welcome."
Sam and Jack said good-bye to Kynthia's family. As they walked toward the gate, Sam took Jack's hand. "I hear the Tauri homeworld has some beautiful vacation spots."
Right before they stepped through the Gate, she heard Jack reply. "There is no place like home."
Copyright (c) 2003 Allie O'Neal ivonova@white-star.com
Story Notes: AUTHORS NOTE: Thanks Jen and Ashke for the Beta, and sorry Tarra that I let this get between me and my epic. I will return to it now that I have gotten rid of this plot bunny. Dedicated to my hubby, s8c1, who is a trophy plot bunny hunter.
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]