“Sir, we’ve got a problem,” Sam said as Colonel O’Neill picked up his phone.
“Arter,” he managed to groan out, indicating that Sam must have woken him up, which considering it was like 3 AM, the day after their all night stakeout, was a likely thing.
“Colonel!”
“What is it Carter?” Jack asked, obviously slightly more awake now then he had been a few seconds ago.
“Pete followed me to the stakeout at Daniel’s house.”
“What did you tell him?” Jack asked now wide awake. Possibly having the cover completely blown off the most top secret program on the planet could do that to a man.
“I tried telling him that he must have been imagining things when he claimed he saw Sarah’s eyes glow, but when that didn’t seem to convince him, I told him it was top-secret, stolen technology. I’m not sure he bought that any more than the usual cover story,” Sam admitted. She knew that she hadn’t exactly stuck with their typical cover story, but she had tried to do the best she could with what she had to work with.
“Where is he now?”
“At his hotel.”
Jack paused, weighing his options. “Let me call Hammond, see what he wants us to do,” he finally said.
One short phone call later left Jack cursing the fact he had ever told Carter to get a life. For the time being, they were to do nothing, and hope that the cop bought Carter’s story.
When Pete did buy Carter’s lame explanation, Jack was left wishing that he hadn’t, just so he could possibly throw the man in jail.
Two years later and he was still kicking himself.
Jack had become Major General Jack O’Neill, Head of Homeworld Security. He pushed paper for a living, dealt with politicians on a daily basis, and lived in constant fear of nothing more dangerous then getting a paper cut or being bored to death in one of his numerous daily meetings.
He was bored out of his mind, but work kept him from thinking about his team, or more specifically about a particular woman on that team.
No it wasn’t Vala, the woman who seemed to have taken up Jack’s penchant for driving Daniel nuts, but one Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter.
And the worst part was that for the first time since he had met her, they weren’t technically in the same chain of command, and he still couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
All because she was still engaged to slime ball Shannahan.
He was pretty sure that Carter had been on the verge of calling the whole thing off the day she had come to his house, only to find Kerry there.
But still, Pete had been the one there holding her hand and offering a shoulder to cry on when Jacob got sick, almost dying, and only surviving because of a last second intervention on the part of the Asgard. Still, it took months for Jake and Selmac to fully recover, and ‘Dad’ had to spend most of that time aboard Thor’s vessel.
Yet a week later, Daniel told him that Sam had casually dropped the fact that the wedding had been put on hold.
“She said she couldn’t go through it right now without her father here to give her away,” Daniel explained with a shrug, giving Jack a look that clearly said ‘I don’t believe a word she said and I think you have something to do with it’.
Jack had chosen to ignore his pointed comment and kept right on signing requisition forms.
Doctor Daniel Jackson had just sighed and walked out of Jack’s office.
Now though, Jack wondered if given the opportunity, Daniel would have told him something else.
Being so far away from her, and the fact he hadn’t seen her in almost a year, Jack could now admit that he loved Samantha Carter.
Loved her enough that he worried about her.
He thought it would get better after he got to D.C. only to discover that not being there made it worse. Now he had to rely on others to let him know how SG-1 was doing.
Unsurprisingly, Teal’c was Jack’s best and main source of information, apart from the mission reports that found their way to his desk in a steady stream.
But mission reports weren’t the same as hearing it directly from them, and especially not the same as being there in person.
Yet he still read them like they were bread handed to a starving man.
Because to him, they were the only thing he read that he actually liked. Not to say that he understood any more of Sam’s reports now then he had eight years ago, but he loved the fact she still formatted it the same way she always had and used the same number of big words, like she knew Jack would be reading it.
And occasionally, she would bury some sort of analogy in there that Jack could actually understand. For those brief seconds it was almost like they were back in the control room and she was telling him about the wormhole and the apple again. Then the multi-syllable words would return and Jack was pulled back to his office at the Pentagon.
He couldn’t begin to count the number of times he had picked up the phone, intent on calling her and asking her to explain it to him, just so he could hear her voice.
Something always stopped him though. Jack gave himself the excuse that he was worried that he would call at an inopportune time.
If he called her lab, he might interrupt an important experiment.
If he called her cell, she might actually be out somewhere with Pete or Cassie.
And calling her house might mean Pete would answer.
Yeah, like he actually wanted to talk to that man! He’d heard from Daniel that Pete still blamed him for the first two times Sam’s wedding had been put on hold.
Yeah, twice now Sam had delayed the wedding. The first was obviously after her father’s illness, the second had been during the Ori plague.
Jack had been a week away from a vacation that involved stepping on a plane to go to Colorado for the big day when word had come from Landry that he was locking down the mountain. It hadn’t been good, but at least Sam had been able to give Pete and her family a decent excuse. Travel had been restricted and all government instillations were on lockdown. It hadn’t made her future relatives very happy, again, but considering they couldn’t get there, they couldn’t complain… too much.
Even though he was going to Colorado Springs for the next week because of her upcoming wedding, Jack didn’t have to like it.
Yet he couldn’t begrudge Sam the future she would get with Pete.
A family, a life, and someone that could take care of her exactly like she deserved to be taken care of.
He couldn’t offer that to her, and he had already had his chance at all of that… so he would go, and he would smile, because that was what Sam wanted and deserved.
But the last thing he wanted was what happened next.
“O’Neill,” he said after he picked up the line, the one that had a direct line from the SGC.
“SG-1 is missing Jack,” Major General Hank Landry reported.
ooooo
Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, soon to be Carter- Shannahan at least at home, wondered which forces in the universe were stacked against her.
Her wedding dress hung in Daniel’s apartment because she feared if she left it at her house, Pete would eventually find it, and after all the time she had spent shopping for it with his mom and sister, Sam was going to make absolutely sure that her wedding day was the first time he saw it.
Hence it’s current location.
The wedding dress was one of the many concessions that Sam had already made in her relationship with Pete.
She had let him talk her into a huge wedding when Sam wanted nothing more then something simple, with a few of her and Pete’s closest friends and family members.
Sam was thankful she had talked him out of the house though. With his transfer to the Colorado Springs Police Force still up in the air, it didn’t make sense for him to buy a house until he could get a job closer.
But the grand wedding had meant more work than Sam had ever wanted to endure. She had spend weekends of downtime dress shopping, picking out flowers and place settings, and worst of all, selecting gifts for their wedding registry.
Sam didn’t need or want anything- other then a new toaster.
But she had willingly done it all because of the one thing she refused to concede.
Pete wanted her to leave the Air Force and “Do something less dangerous.”
Sam had refused.
Multiple times.
It hadn’t stopped Pete from continuing to ask though.
In her mind, she knew she should refuse to enter into a marriage when there was such a large bone of contention between her and Pete, which actually made her glad that their wedding kept getting pushed back.
The day she had left on this unexpected mission, she had called Pete.
The conversation hadn’t gone well.
//Flashback//
“I’m going to be out of contact for a few days Pete.”
“Not again Sam. The wedding is in a little more then a week.”
“I should be back in plenty of time Pete,” Sam assured her worried fiancé.
“Can’t someone else go do whatever it is that you have to do?”
“No,” Sam simply said, hoping to leave it at that. Truly no one else could go on this mission. The warriors of the Sodan had specifically requested the presence of SG-1 on their planet.
And the Sodan only negotiated with the members of SG-1.
Silence greeted her from the other end of the phone. “Is it always going to be like this?”
Sam sighed. “I think we need to talk Pete,” leaving it open ended as to what they would be talking about.
“Now?” Pete questioned.
“No, when I get back,” Sam corrected. She didn’t have time to talk now. A quick glance at her watch told her she needed to get a move on or even Daniel would beat her to the gateroom.
“And just when will that be?” Pete inquired in a raised voice.
Sam took a deep breath which was meant to calm her down, but had little to no effect. “When I do.”
“What should I do about the wedding?” Pete finally asked.
“I don’t know,” Sam admitted, knowing that her words held two meanings. She really didn’t know if she would be back in time, and even she was, she wasn’t sure that she would actually be getting married to Peter Shannahan.
This mission would offer her a chance to think about what she really wanted.
Pete’s words interrupted her thoughts. “I love you.”
For the first time since Pete had started saying it, Sam hung up without returning the sentiment. Briefly, she wondered when she had started to return the sentiment out of habit rather then because she actually felt that way.
Author's Notes: Title: The Lives of Sam, Sam, and Samantha
Spoilers: Anything up to and including Season 10 of Stargate and SGA Season 4. Summary: The life of Samantha Carter from three different realities as she deals with her relationship, or lack thereof with Jack O’Neill.
Pairings: Sam/Jack
Length: ~52,000 words, written specifically for Summer of Stargate
Author’s Note: This story is without a doubt the most confusing thing I have ever written- and will therefore probably be confusing for you to read! I apologize ahead of time =) Anyways, the main piece of background that you need to know is that this story has five (main) chapters and centers around the lives of two different Samantha Carters. There is a bonus sixth chapter which provides a background for Samantha.
Spoilers: Anything up to and including Season 10 of Stargate and SGA Season 4. Summary: The life of Samantha Carter from three different realities as she deals with her relationship, or lack thereof with Jack O’Neill.
Pairings: Sam/Jack
Length: ~52,000 words, written specifically for Summer of Stargate
Author’s Note: This story is without a doubt the most confusing thing I have ever written- and will therefore probably be confusing for you to read! I apologize ahead of time =) Anyways, the main piece of background that you need to know is that this story has five (main) chapters and centers around the lives of two different Samantha Carters. There is a bonus sixth chapter which provides a background for Samantha.
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 ]