“Yellow Rose” sequel to “Bluer Than Blue”
Chapter one
When General George Hammond thought back to the day, two years ago, when he had first told his two best officers about the new settlement on P1T-001, he got all misty-eyed. He had known he was going to miss those kids, and not just because they had been an asset to his command. He would miss them because they were like family. In fact he had been like a father to Samantha Carter. And Jack O'Neill was....well age-wise Jack was more like a younger brother than a son to George, even though he affectionately called Jack 'son'.
The thing that had made George think about two of his favorite people today of all days was an invitation he had received by gate messenger just that morning. The carefully folded note, in Sam Carter's neat handwriting, lay on his desk awaiting his reply. There was no doubt in is mind that he wanted to attend the event in question, and he would write and tell her so. It was just the memories of all that had transpired to keep the two apart that currently filled the General's mind, delaying him from writing his acceptance.
On P1T-001, aptly named Egeria after the Goa'uld queen who had spawned the rebellious Tok'ra race, someone else had been thinking back over the past two years. Brigadier General Jack O'Neill sat with his feet up on his desk, and on his lap he held a blonde, blue-eyed baby girl of almost twelve months of age. That is to say, he was trying to hold her.....to make her sit on his lap, when all she wanted to do was get down and go exploring. Malinda, or Mellie as people tended to call her, was said to be the spitting image of her late father, but Jack thought he could see something of her mother in her too. Just then the woman in question stuck her head into Jack's office and smiled at both of them.
"Hey there, you two! How's it going? Has she worn you out yet?" Sam asked as she came to stand beside them. Now he was busy trying to keep Mellie's fingers out of his eyes. Each time he pulled her hand away, back it went again, her tiny finger jabbing at his eyeballs...one and then the other...as she giggled incessantly.
"We've been having fun, haven't we, Mellie?" Jack asked her, as he put her pudgy hand to his mouth and pretended to take a bite out of it, while making sounds as though he were eating something really tasty. Mellie giggled even more, but then Sam grabbed the baby around the middle and picked her up. Malinda let her mother know precisely what she thought of the interruption, by letting out an ear-piercing screech and then bursting into tears.
"I know you don't want to leave Uncle Jack, sweety, but it's time to go home," Sam said loudly over the crying. Jack dropped his feet from the desk and stood up as Sam began dropping things into the diaper bag on his desk. Distracted by something she'd said, Jack automatically began to help her pack up the baby's toys and other things.
"Sam, don't you think it's time you started calling me something other than 'Uncle Jack' in front of her?" he asked, a disgruntled look on his face. This wasn't the first time he had asked her this, but he hoped it would be the last. After all, in just two weeks they would be man and wife, and Malinda would be his daughter too!
Sam stopped what she was doing and reached up to plant a kiss on his cheek. "I'm sorry, Jack. Old habits, you know."
Not satisfied with just a quick kiss, he put an arm around her and held her in place, giving her a long kiss on the lips. Of course Mellie had to get involved too; the baby tried to shove her index finger in between Jack and Sam's lips. Sam pulled her face away, while Jack grabbed Malinda's finger and sucked on it, causing the baby's tear-stained face to break into a huge smile once again. When she smiled like that, Jack thought she looked just exactly like Sam.
Together they managed to get the baby into her coat. Jack zipped it up and pulled the hood down snugly over her blonde curls, before tying the cord under her chin. Then he gave the baby a kiss on the nose, while he stood with his arms around both of them.
"You know I love you both very much," he said softly as he nuzzled the side of Sam's head.
"I know you do. You won't be late for dinner, will you?" Sam asked him quietly, as she stared into his dark molasses eyes. She loved him so much....always had. She sometimes found it hard to believe how much time had passed since she'd first told him she loved him. And then there had been the dark time....the time when she and Jack were separated...not by distance, but by feelings.
"No, I won't be late. I promise!" he added. She smirked at him as if to say she had her doubts. Then he watched as she gathered up the diaper bag in one hand, while clutching Mellie's squirming body in her other arm.
"Are you sure you can make it home without dropping something, Major Carter?" Jack asked as he gave her a lopsided grin.
He really wished they had some sort of smooth, dry surfaces where she could push a stroller, but for now their efforts had to be concentrated on other things, like building shelters and putting in an underground system for plumbing and electricity. Building the wind turbine/solar electric facility had taken fourteen months, and it was just the first of many that would be needed to support the ever-growing population. Paved sidewalks and streets simply had to wait, even when the rainy weather turned the dirt paths into quagmires, which it had done this week.
As he watched her leave, he noted that Sam was wearing sturdy foot gear, and her boots were laced up all the way to the top, just as they should be. He wasn't always a stickler about his people's use of proper military attire, especially since not all forms of dress were always available to them. But he did insist that everyone maintain good safety habits, and that included the wearing of protective foot gear.....and protective head gear too, especially at construction sites.
"I'll be fine, Sir. Come on, junior airman, let's hit the road!" Sam said as she headed out the door.
"Bye bye, Sweety Pie!" Jack called out to both of them, as he stuck his head out the door of his office. The two female lieutenants who were working in the outer office both looked over and smiled at their boss. He could be a grouch sometimes, but when that baby was around....or her mother....General O'Neill was an absolute Teddy bear.
Figuring there was enough daylight left for him to go out and check on the progress of the new air terminal, Jack pulled on his jacket and went out to his Jeep. Very few personnel were allowed to have motor vehicles, and the only vehicles allowed on Egeria were powered by clean fuels. Jack had been very relieved when the word had first come down from the Tok'ra High Council that they didn't want their new homeworld polluted by toxic gases and other waste. He had grown up in rural Minnesota, and to him there was nothing worse than chemical plants that polluted rivers and gasoline engines that polluted the air.
In a few minutes he was driving, albeit slowly, up the sloped road to the unfinished air transportation terminal, that was to serve the Tok'ra ships when they finally brought all of their people to live on the planet. It would also serve in the future, as their ships grew in number and they ventured into space exploration.
The track, which was very muddy from the recent rains, was even worse than the last time he'd been up here. Jack down-shifted to try and get more traction, but even with the four-wheel drive, the vehicle would only creep forward up the hill with excruciating slowness. Finally he grew impatient with his progress and decided to park and walk the rest of the way to the summit, where he would have a good over-all view of the project. In less than five minutes he was standing at the top of the hill, looking down over the huge flat, paved surface approximately one hundred feet below him. 'There's the reason we can't have paved streets just yet,' he thought to himself.
This summit was a good place to get a perspective as to how things were taking shape, and so it was where Jack chose to come almost every other day. However, due to the inclement weather, this was his first trip out here this week. And since it was late in the day, all of the workers had already gone back to the city, leaving the huge complex looking deserted and desolate. Jack just stood there in the silence, watching as the sun sank beneath the horizon. It was time for him to start back.
Jack was taking one last look out over the construction site, when he heard what sounded like a distant rumble. Then he felt the ground shake, and his vision seemed to blur. Realizing that it was not his eyesight that was the culprit, but some kind of quake in the planet's surface, Jack stood there waiting for the movement to stop. After a minute or so, he heard another rumble, but this time it seemed to be coming from somewhere up and behind him. He turned around just in time to see a gigantic mud slide come rushing down the hill. In a matter of seconds it took his Jeep and a large section of the road with it. He stood awestruck and watched as a large part of the hill behind him slid down the mountain toward the flat, gray surface below. By the time the rumbling and the wave of mud stopped, about one- sixth of the gigantic landing pad was covered in a layer of brown soil.
"Well, that just sucks! Now Ill have to walk!" he complained in his usual quick-witted way of handling a stressful situation. It was more than just an inconvenience for him. The project had just suffered a severe setback, and Jack couldn't help but wonder whose head was going to roll for this mistake. 'Surely someone should have seen this coming,' he thought as he started to walk toward the slide area. Now there was only mud, uprooted trees and giant boulders, where before there had been a flat dirt roadway.
He wasn't certain he could climb over the mess, or even if he dared risk it. But he knew that walking all the way around the mountain would take at least a day, and he really didn't feel like spending the night out here. He was walking up and down along the area near where his Jeep had been parked and wondering just how stable the land was, when he heard another dull roar. Jack turned just in time to see another wave of mud and vegetation come rushing toward him, carrying everything in its path, including shrubs and trees.
"Oh, shit!" he yelled. He began to run as the ground continued to shake. Suddenly it was as though his legs were stuck in quicksand, as the mud began filling in around his feet, preventing him from moving. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something coming toward his head, and then everything went black.
TBC
Yellow Rose by ziva
Author's Notes: There are a lot of dream sequences in this story, so be sure to pay attention to the wording so you won't get confused.
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 ]