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"Hourglass"
Title: Hourglass
Rating/Warning: Mature themes,language
Wordcount: 4,881
Spoilers: None
Fandom: SG-1
By:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kellifer_fic
Category: Sam/Jack
Summary: Stranded offworld, but that's only the beginning of their problems...
“And today had started out so… normally.”
Sam rolled over and cracked open her eyes, seeing Jack sitting a few feet from her, legs stuck straight out like a kid and blinking up at the sky.
“Sir…?” Sam would sit up but she felt like she was fused to the ground with pain. She was pretty sure her side is just one long bruise.
There’d been the launch of a new aerial MALP, the event horizon opening and an explosion behind them, which meant in the actual ‘gate room itself. She’d been shoved forward and now knew it must have been Jack.
Sam dragged herself up to a sitting position, ignoring the various aches that set off and then wobbled to her feet like a new fawn. She looked back at the ‘gate they’d tumbled through and it was disengaged, a pile of smoking metal at its base that she figured would have once been her shiny new MALP.
Sam frowned at the ‘gate, knowing something was missing but unable to figure out what through the dull roar in her mind.
“No DHD,” Jack supplied when he saw where she was looking and Sam nodded, immediately wishing she hadn’t because the movement sent a black wash of pain through her temple. “You okay?” Jack asked and he sounded like he was right behind her now.
“I think…” Sam began to say.
000
“Sir?” Sam was lying prone with her head on something soft. She put her hand up and behind her head and found material and when Jack sauntered into her view in just his t-shirt and BDU pants, she assumed it was his jacket that was currently serving as her pillow.
“Fainting? Do I need to tease you mercilessly or just let this one go?” Jack asked, canting his head to the side and moving around until his shadow blocked the sun from her eyes, which she was pathetically grateful for because the direct light was causing icy spikes of pain through her head.
“I didn’t faint,” Sam grumbled, grabbing a handful of dirt and hurling it in his general direction. She pushed herself upright again and this time thought maybe she could stay that way. “What happened?”
“I have no idea. There was an explosion and we went through the ‘gate-”
“You pushed me,” Sam corrected with a wry grin and Jack shrugged.
“I saved your ass,” he said, waggling a finger at her. “Be more grateful.”
“Is that an order?”
“Yes. A direct one,” Jack said and held a hand out to Sam, pulling her to her feet. She swayed for a moment and his hand let go of her arm but hovered until she stood straight and gave him a shaky smile. “Any idea where we are?”
“P4X-909,” Sam answered, dusting herself off. The sand beneath them was a light turquoise and she would have thought it was pretty if they weren’t stranded.
“Yes, I know that,” Jack said in exasperation. “How far from Earth, real time?”
“Why?”
“Because, no DHD. They’re probably going to have to either send through a portable power pack so we can dial the ‘gate manually, or send someone to pick us up.”
Sam looked at the ‘gate for a moment, fingers wandering up to her chin to rub at a faintly sore spot. She must have rolled when she came through, maybe hitting rocks as she did. “No, we’re not too far out to be picked up but I think they’d send another MALP through before…” Sam suddenly felt cold all over as she was thinking and something occurred to her.
Explosion.
“Sir, the-”
“So, sending this MALP. Probably should have done it by now, huh?” Jack interrupted, pre-empting what Sam was going to say.
“Not necessarily,” she said slowly, queasiness rolling through her belly. She’d made them, all of them, come to watch the launch of the aerial MALP because she’d been excited. Daniel and Teal’c had been…
“Sir-”
“They’re fine,” Jack said, cutting his hand through the air like he could cut off the direction her mind was going with the gesture. “Daniel was right by the door and Teal’c’s tough.”
“But-”
“Carter! Nothing we can do about it right now. So, the SGC wouldn’t necessarily send the MALP through right away, because…?”
Sam took a moment to look at Jack, trying to gauge his expression. She thought she read determination and a little desperation underneath. Please give me something else to focus on, he seemed to be saying. Because I’m worried about them too.
“Well, there might be debris, the ‘gate might have been damaged or the iris. The focus would be on getting everything operational before they would start trying to make contact. I’d say we give them about twelve hours before we start to worry.”
“Good enough,” Jack said, nodding. “Well, I for one skipped breakfast this morning,” he added, patting himself down with a frown. “And I wasn’t exactly ready for an offworld jaunt.”
Sam mimicked him, coming up with a candy bar Daniel had handed her only half an hour before everything went to hell. For some reason, the candy machine on the seventeenth floor had a crush on Daniel and dropped two or three of everything he punched in. It didn’t do it for anyone else.
“Breakfast of champions?” Sam offered, unwrapping the bar and breaking it in half.
Jack grimaced but took the proffered candy, shading his eyes to scan their surroundings as he chewed.
“We know anything about this place?” he asked.
“Nada,” Sam sighed, wandering over to the wrecked MALP and kicking it dejectedly. “We lucked out though.”
“How d’you figure?” Jack asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow.
“Well, not all planets in our dialling computer have oxygen,” Sam pointed out.
“Ah.”
000
A scout of the area immediately surrounding the ‘gate didn’t give them much hope. The ground was a flat plain with a grouping of mountains to the West that would be a day’s march if they were lucky. There was no vegetation and more worryingly, no sign of water.
“We’d better start walking,” Jack said, pointing in the direction of the mountains when they’d both explored enough to know that there was nothing promising in their immediate vicinity.
“There’s another three hours before we worry, remember?” Sam prompted, sitting on the bottom of the ‘gate and wrestling one of her boots off, pouring sand out.
“We can leave some kind of sign that we were here and what direction we went in, but we have two days before the water thing becomes an issue and three to four before it becomes deadly. It’s going to take us maybe a day to walk to the mountains and even then, we don’t know what we’ll find. If we wait we’re putting ourselves at a big disadvantage.”
“You’re right,” Sam agreed.
“Any idea what time of day it is?” Jack asked, picking his jacket up off the ground and shaking it out before tying it around his waist.
“Not sure. There’s no way of knowing what time of day we came through. It looks like we’re in a two-sun system.” Sam pointed North where there was a sun setting and East where another was rising. “We might not get night here.”
“That’s a cheery thought,” Jack commented.
“At least it’s temperate,” Sam noted, scrubbing a hand through her hair and dislodging more sand. She really wanted to find a body of water so she could belly-flop. She felt like she had sand everywhere. “It doesn’t feel like it’s gotten either colder or hotter since we’ve been here. It’s like Fall weather.”
“Good thing too,” Jack agreed, tugging on Sam’s shirtsleeve. She hadn’t been wearing a jacket and was only in BDU pants and the long-sleeved black shirt she preferred when on base. If they’d come through to a world that had been on the cold end of the spectrum, both of them would have been in trouble.
000
The last thing they were expecting was a tiny village at the base of the mountains.
Sam was thinking, thank god, please be friendly, right up until they got close enough to notice that the place looked deserted. There was a ring of smaller buildings and one long town-hall type structure in the center and everything looked empty. There were pens attached to some of the houses that looked like animals would have been kept but those were empty too.
They’d been to hundreds of planets and an empty village was never a good sign.
Jack slowed his pace but corrected slightly so as they approached he was in front of Sam. He looked back at her with something dark and unreadable on his face. She could tell he was worried and wanted to suggest they avoid the place, but they didn’t have much choice.
They skirted the village anyway, not wanting to walk through the middle and found a river set behind it, turquoise sand tapering away to dark blue grasses and violet blossoms. Jack looked at the water and then back at Sam, torn.
“We have no way to test it,” she said, knowing that she was speaking his thoughts aloud.
“I’ll try it, we’ll give it an hour and if I don’t die then we’ll know it’s safe.”
“Like hell,” Sam snapped. “We’ll flip for it.”
“I can make it an order,” Jack warned. “Besides, I don’t have any change on me.”
“Sir-”
“Carter, I’m not arguing about this. If Teal’c were here I’d get him to do it because I’d trust his symbiote to protect him and also tell us if there was something bad. I won’t let you and I wouldn’t let Daniel take the risk if I’m able.”
“Okay,” Sam gritted and Jack looked at her for a beat before hunkering at the water’s edge, scooping a handful of water up and bringing it to his mouth. Sam’s stomach rumbled and she ran a tongue over her own dry lips, watching his throat work as he swallowed.
“Tastes okay,” Jack noted, shrugging and then sat back on his heels, rubbing an absent hand on his stomach. “Y’know, I would almost prefer there to be something up with the water. Least then we’d know what happened to the people.”
“The village is pretty small. They might have a couple of places they live and move with animal migrations, expected weather conditions, anything like that.”
“Hmmm, maybe,” Jack sighed and stood, looking over the village with a speculative eye. “I guess we should check it out.”
000
Jack didn’t drop dead and their search of the village gave no clue as to why it was empty. There were signs of habitation, meat hung in drying rooms behind some of the dwellings and personal touches, bowls and cups and decorations. There were no clothes, however, and sand coated everything, getting in through the cracks in walls and doors over time.
Sam was lying on her belly on the river’s edge, scooping water into her mouth when a shadow fell over her. She looked up and around and saw Jack, tossing something that looked like a rough baseball from hand to hand. “It looks like they might have left, doesn’t it?”
“Possibly,” Sam said, turning over onto her back and then curling up to her feet. “Something feel off to you though?”
“Yeah, it really does,” Jack admitted, grimacing. “But there’s food that can travel and a couple of water flasks so we can supply up and head back to the ‘gate.”
“We could.”
“Walking back here if we have to wait will be a bitch though,” Jack mused, still tossing the ball.
“It really will.”
“Villages are usually closer to the ‘gate, aren’t they?”
“Generally speaking, yes.” Sam nodded and then looked back in the direction they’d come. “These people might have been trying to avoid being raided, or they saw the ‘gate as something benevolent. You can’t even see it from here.”
“You think they might have dismantled the DHD? Maybe discourage visitors?”
“Possibly. I’m not about to start guessing as to the motivations of a completely alien culture,” Sam said. “I mean, I’m not Daniel.”
“Oh, okay, let’s get some dinner into you. You’re grouchy.”
“I’m not… okay, maybe. Don’t tell Daniel I said that.”
“Oh I’m going to,” Jack said, grinning. “The very next time you both decide it’s fun to gang up on me. Let’s see who the cute little brother-sister team is then!”
“So, wacky alien mystery jerky, or do we try and find something else?” Sam asked, trying to change the subject and Jack grinned.
“I’d say the meat, unless you have more candy hiding in your pockets?”
“Fresh out,” Sam said, turning her pockets inside out to verify she wasn’t hiding anything. Jack grunted in disappointment and turned towards one of the drying shacks.
“I don’t suppose I could talk you into carving?” he ventured and Sam snorted, making a shooing motion with her hand.
“Bring me back a wing,” she said and Jack groaned.
000
“Not like I thought,” Jack said contemplatively, tearing a strip off the hank of meat he was holding with his teeth. They’d banked a fire and held the meat over, skewered on their knives. Jack’s argument had been that everything tasted better warmed up and Sam had countered that with the warm yoghurt they’d had to drink on P37-776. Jack had made a “Yeargh!” of protest and they’d stopped talking about it.
Sam had made another circuit of the village and inside some of the buildings as Jack had been serving up dinner and now had what looked like a journal balanced on her knee. “I wish Daniel was here,” she said, a touch of wistfulness in her voice as she stared down at the lines and squiggles that wouldn’t resolve themselves into words for her. No matter how hard she stared.
“I’m preferring just us for once,” Jack said and then clapped a hand to his mouth, staring at Sam with wide eyes.
“Sir?” Sam blinked at him slowly as Jack turned a disturbing shade of red.
“That thing you said about Daniel before? Did it feel like it just popped out?” Jack asked, still with a hand over his mouth so his voice was muffled.
“Kinda, but I thought I was just tired,” Sam said slowly.
“Ask me a question. Something I wouldn’t normally answer,” Jack prompted, finally taking his hand from his mouth and getting to his haunches, tossing his mystery meat aside and rubbing hands down his thighs.
“Sir?”
“Just do it Carter,” Jack snapped and Sam frowned.
“Okay. Do you ever look at Daniel and Teal’c in the shower, you know, measuring yourself up?” Sam asked, smirking.
Jack made a weird face, like he was fighting a sneeze and then blurted, “Yes, Christ! Carter!”
It was Sam’s turn to stare at Jack with wide eyes, before she rolled backwards, hysterical giggles taking her over completely. “Oh my god, I didn’t… I didn’t think…you weren’t supposed to answer that,” Sam gasped between giggles as Jack stared at her and if she’d thought he was red before, it was nothing to the purple he was turning then.
“Having fun?” Jack growled. “You weren’t supposed to tell anyone about the thing on ‘585 but you did, didn’t you?”
“I told Janet as soon as we got back… crap!” Sam exclaimed.
“I knew it.” Jack threw up his hands, rising and pacing the small circle around their fire. “I think we have a serious problem.”
“No more questions,” Sam said, looking shaken.
“Absolutely,” Jack agreed, looking pale.
“Because the last thing we need is, mphhmmphmzee,” Sam trailed off as Jack’s hand smacked over her mouth.
“We don’t need questions, do we? We’re just going to blurt stuff, aren’t we?” Sam’s eyes were big and solemn over Jack’s fingers as she nodded. “So, no talking at all.”
“Maybe that’s what happened,” Sam said when she got her mouth back.
“You’re violating the no talking thing,” Jack warned.
“I mean, can you imagine blurting whatever you’re thinking? What kind of trouble that would make, especially amongst a small group of people?”
“You think they could have killed each other?”
“Or moved off because they found out what was causing it.”
“Well, what is causing it?”
“Can’t be the meat because I said that thing about Daniel before I ate it.”
“I don’t know, you could’ve just been being bitchy,” Jack said and then smacked a hand to his face. “Wow, did I not mean to say that.”
“That’s alright, I think you say things sometimes just to be an asshole,” Sam responded and then bit her lip. “I don’t suppose making a deal not to be offended won’t really work, will it?”
“Not so much, no,” Jack said gravely.
000
“I don’t see how we have a choice,” Jack said, holding a skin full of water out to Sam, who had backed away a step. “I’m going to pick hydration over the need not to randomly blurt embarrassing truths.”
“Are you sure?” Sam asked incredulously. “I mean, I get the feeling that everything you say is through a filter.”
“You’d be right,” Jack said, grinning tightly. “Now drink the damn water.”
Sam accepted the skin and took a long swallow. It tasted a little stale, like dam water but was perfectly palatable otherwise. Plus, they hadn’t exactly verified that the water was the source of their sudden urge to relate everything that popped into their heads. It could have still been the meat. Hell, Sam thought dryly, it could be the sand.
Sam knelt down after handing the skin of water back to Jack and ran her hands through the sand, letting it trickle through her open fingers. Up until then, she’d forgotten about the crazy urge to tell Jack that he had a nice ass as they’d walked towards the mountains, because she hadn’t actually done it.
She rubbed the sand between her palms and a fine spray of something yellow drifted up. Sam breathed in deep and then said, “I just wish you would forget all this regulation crap and fuck me.”
Jack had been fidgeting with the baseball-type toy again but went still. Sam felt everything go still and swallowed hard. “I think it’s the sand, or something in it,” she said slowly.
“Carter-”
“I have never, ever in my life wanted more than for you to not say anything right now,” Sam said gravely, not looking up. She dropped the sand that was still in her hands and dusted her palms off on her knees. She then ripped a strip of material off the bottom of her shirt and tied it about her face. “I think we’re breathing in spores of some kind,” Sam said as she tightened her makeshift mask about her face. “This isn’t perfect but it should minimise our exposure, at least a little.”
“I want to,” Jack said in a choked voice and Sam didn’t need to ask to know what he was responding to. “Dammit,” he grumbled and she heard the sound of ripping material.
“I think that no questions thing was a bad plan,” Sam noted, standing up and still not able to meet Jack’s gaze. “I think the more we fight it, the more we think about the very worst thing we could say. Obviously, case in point.” Sam made a helpless gesture with her hands, settling her eyes on the mountains beyond the village. “So maybe we could try talking about safe embarrassing things.”
“While we gather supplies and head back to the ‘gate?” Jack prompted and Sam nodded.
000
“Let’s make something clear first,” Jack said as he and Sam worked cutting strips off the mystery meat and packing it into an oiled satchel they found. “What’s said in the abandoned village under the influence of truth-sand, stays in the abandoned village.”
“Deal,” Sam agreed, knowing that there would be some kind of fallout for what she had said, but happy to play ignorant with Jack, at least until they got out from under the influence of the sand. “So,” Sam said and Jack paused in his cutting, waiting for her opening gambit. “Does Daniel annoy you that much or do you pick on him just because it’s fun?”
Jack pressed his lips together and Sam raised her eyes and looked at him levelly. “No trying to suppress,” she reminded him and Jack rolled his eyes.
“Fine, it scares me how much I care about him so I do it to keep him at a distance,” Jack snapped.
“Really?”
“No, not really, I’m lying,” Jack griped, with another eye-roll thrown in for good measure and Sam scowled.
“See? Asshole,” she said primly.
“My turn,” Jack announced and Sam was suddenly extremely interested in the meat she was cutting. “Have you ever snuck a look at any of us while we’ve been dressing or showering?”
“Of course, and you don’t exactly have to sneak a look where Daniel is concerned because he tends to parade around and oh my god, stop me.” Sam’s voice had turned shrill at her last words and she pressed the heel of her palm into the middle of her forehead. “I thought we were going to stay in safe areas,” she complained and Jack raised an eyebrow at her.
“You got a shower question, so do I,” he said smugly. He opened his mouth and got a chunk of meat thrown in it. Jack coughed and hawked it out, glaring.
“You were going to ask who I thought had the best body!” Sam accused. “You can’t ask me that!”
“Okay, fine. What-?”
“My turn,” Sam snapped, grimacing at the meaty rip as a fairly large chunk came away in her hands. “Did you tell General Hammond I should have my own team like you claimed?”
Jack took a moment to look mortified, pulled the face like he was trying to stop a sneeze again and then said, “He asked me and I told him it would be a bad idea. What happened to safe topics?”
“Why?” Sam asked, blinking at Jack in confusion.
“You’re not ready.”
“Oh, really?” Sam said in a small, tight voice.
“Carter, you don’t trust your instincts in the field. You trust yourself in a lab but when you have to make a military decision, you hesitate.”
“I-”
“You still look to me, I see you do it. I’m waiting for the day when you don’t.”
“Oh,” Sam breathed, trying not to let the hurt show on her face but having a hard time of it. She’d wanted to know and what Jack had told her was actually constructive, she could work on it, but she felt a pang knowing he didn’t trust her leadership. There was an implied yet in what he said though and Sam smiled grimly and nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yes, okay. Right now, I couldn’t say okay if it wasn’t.”
“True,” Jack allowed. “So, still think this is a good idea?”
“Believe me, it’s better than the alternative. I would rather uncomfortable than to say something we couldn’t recover from,” Sam said, looking at Jack carefully. She was worried that her outburst earlier had already crossed that line but Jack just smiled at her, his patented lopsided grin and nodded.
“Fair enough. Okay, is there any woman on base you would make out with?” Jack asked and received another hunk of meat thrown at him, this time solidly hitting him in the temple.
000
Sam had fashioned a knapsack for each of them with some bedroom linens she’d found and they both carried enough food and water to last them approximately five days. “Day four,” Jack had said, “We head back here and resupply for a longer stay by the ‘gate.”
Sam had agreed and they headed out. Now she knew what to look for, she could see the sprays of fine yellow dust that they both kicked up as they walked. She wasn’t sure if the masks were doing anything or if it was the questions they’d allowed themselves to ask, but she didn’t feel like blurting things at random. Whenever she’d start to get an itch in the back of her throat, she’d ask Jack something and he seemed to be doing the same.
She’d found out that he hadn’t been sure when he’d put their fate in Teal’c’s hands, he was still angry at Sarah for leaving even though he could understand why and sometimes he found himself actually interested in what Daniel was saying but complained to be contrary.
She’d told him how she was scared that the opportunity to have kids was passing her by, how she’d kissed a girl in the Academy just to see what it was like and that she felt a stab of jealousy when Cassie called Janet, mom.
All in all she thought they were doing okay right up until Jack said, “So, that thing you said before…?”
“Colonel,” she said, her tone one of warning.
“We’re going to have to talk about it and maybe I want an honest answer,” Jack hedged and Sam stopped, narrowing her eyes at him.
“What we do is more important than what we want,” Sam said and then blinked. She wondered if she really believed that, and thought she must. Jack had come to a halt beside her.
“So if I turned up on your doorstep and said, just this once, no one has to know-”
“Sir.”
“Carter, I’m just-”
“No, Sir, look! There’s a MALP,” Sam said, breaking into a run towards the ‘gate which had the ripples of an active event horizon across its surface. As she jogged towards it, she saw the mounted camera pan, catch her movement and zero in on her. She waved, grinning, hearing Jack’s steadier footfalls behind her. She skidded to a halt in front of the MALP, slapping a flat palm on the top.
“Colonel Carter?” A fuzzy voice enquired and Sam felt the crazy compulsion to hug the camera.
“General Hammond, thank god,” Sam laughed, stepping aside so Jack could poke his head in front of the lens.
“Sir, is Daniel and Teal’c-?”
“Jack?” Came an unmistakable voice and Jack turned a grin on Sam.
“Daniel, damn it’s good to hear your voice,” Jack gushed and then coloured, ducking his head.
There was the sound of a throat clearing and then Daniel said, “Ah, it’s good to hear you too, Jack. Are you okay? Did you hit your head?”
“We’ll explain later,” Sam said, butting Jack aside. “There’s no DHD on this side and-”
“We know that, Major. There is a portable naquadeh generator on the MALP. I assume you will be able to figure out how to hook it up?”
“Yes, Sir,” Sam said, grinning. She turned to Jack, who was frowning. “What?”
“Better tell them to get people in hasmat in there to contain us.”
Sam looked down at herself, literally coated in sand. “General Hammond, Sir, we have a small problem.”
000
“Do you think it’s worn off?” Sam picked at the hem of her scrub top. They’d been stuck in the infirmary for three days and so far, whenever someone had asked a question, Sam had blurted whatever came into her head. Considering their lives were about keeping secrets, Hammond had thought it prudent to restrict them to base and to the infirmary for their own safety.
The nurses, being the saints they were, had kept both Daniel and Teal’c out.
“Does Daniel have a nicer ass than me?” Jack asked.
“Of course not, Sir,” Sam replied and then grinned when Jack raised an eyebrow at her. “I think it might have worn off.”
“Wait, oh that’s not nice,” Jack protested.
“You were the one who said I was bitchy,” Sam snorted and Jack grimaced.
“Well, you called me an asshole.”
“True. I think we’re even.”
“Yeah, and we have a conversation to get through.”
Sam looked down at her feet, swinging them off her bed idly. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I didn’t say it had to be now Carter, geez,” Jack said and Sam looked up.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking there’ll be a ceremony, too much champagne and then a conversation.”
“In a few years though, right?” Sam prompted, looking torn.
“I don’t know.” Jack half-shrugged. “I think I’m one knee-surgery away from not really having a say in it.”
“Just… for the record, I’m fine with the waiting.”
“You’re lying to me,” Jack said slowly, frowning. Sam coloured and looked away. “Yeah, I can tell now. Strange that.”
“Look-”
“No, Carter, I get it. I do,” Jack said, scrubbing a hand over his face. “This isn’t the place anyway, is it?”
“No, Sir,” Sam said, voice hollow.
“You never answered my question, anyway.”
“Which one?” Sam asked, curious despite herself, knowing it was a bad idea.
“About me turning up on your doorstep. I can… I think I’d like to maybe leave it unanswered. Gives me something to… just gives me something.”
“Okay,” Sam said, nodding. She wasn’t sure she would’ve told Jack anyway that even with the truth sand; she wasn’t sure what her answer would be.
She wouldn’t know until the day he actually did.
Rating/Warning: Mature themes,language
Wordcount: 4,881
Spoilers: None
Fandom: SG-1
By:
kellifer_ficCategory: Sam/Jack
Summary: Stranded offworld, but that's only the beginning of their problems...
“And today had started out so… normally.”
Sam rolled over and cracked open her eyes, seeing Jack sitting a few feet from her, legs stuck straight out like a kid and blinking up at the sky.
“Sir…?” Sam would sit up but she felt like she was fused to the ground with pain. She was pretty sure her side is just one long bruise.
There’d been the launch of a new aerial MALP, the event horizon opening and an explosion behind them, which meant in the actual ‘gate room itself. She’d been shoved forward and now knew it must have been Jack.
Sam dragged herself up to a sitting position, ignoring the various aches that set off and then wobbled to her feet like a new fawn. She looked back at the ‘gate they’d tumbled through and it was disengaged, a pile of smoking metal at its base that she figured would have once been her shiny new MALP.
Sam frowned at the ‘gate, knowing something was missing but unable to figure out what through the dull roar in her mind.
“No DHD,” Jack supplied when he saw where she was looking and Sam nodded, immediately wishing she hadn’t because the movement sent a black wash of pain through her temple. “You okay?” Jack asked and he sounded like he was right behind her now.
“I think…” Sam began to say.
“Sir?” Sam was lying prone with her head on something soft. She put her hand up and behind her head and found material and when Jack sauntered into her view in just his t-shirt and BDU pants, she assumed it was his jacket that was currently serving as her pillow.
“Fainting? Do I need to tease you mercilessly or just let this one go?” Jack asked, canting his head to the side and moving around until his shadow blocked the sun from her eyes, which she was pathetically grateful for because the direct light was causing icy spikes of pain through her head.
“I didn’t faint,” Sam grumbled, grabbing a handful of dirt and hurling it in his general direction. She pushed herself upright again and this time thought maybe she could stay that way. “What happened?”
“I have no idea. There was an explosion and we went through the ‘gate-”
“You pushed me,” Sam corrected with a wry grin and Jack shrugged.
“I saved your ass,” he said, waggling a finger at her. “Be more grateful.”
“Is that an order?”
“Yes. A direct one,” Jack said and held a hand out to Sam, pulling her to her feet. She swayed for a moment and his hand let go of her arm but hovered until she stood straight and gave him a shaky smile. “Any idea where we are?”
“P4X-909,” Sam answered, dusting herself off. The sand beneath them was a light turquoise and she would have thought it was pretty if they weren’t stranded.
“Yes, I know that,” Jack said in exasperation. “How far from Earth, real time?”
“Why?”
“Because, no DHD. They’re probably going to have to either send through a portable power pack so we can dial the ‘gate manually, or send someone to pick us up.”
Sam looked at the ‘gate for a moment, fingers wandering up to her chin to rub at a faintly sore spot. She must have rolled when she came through, maybe hitting rocks as she did. “No, we’re not too far out to be picked up but I think they’d send another MALP through before…” Sam suddenly felt cold all over as she was thinking and something occurred to her.
Explosion.
“Sir, the-”
“So, sending this MALP. Probably should have done it by now, huh?” Jack interrupted, pre-empting what Sam was going to say.
“Not necessarily,” she said slowly, queasiness rolling through her belly. She’d made them, all of them, come to watch the launch of the aerial MALP because she’d been excited. Daniel and Teal’c had been…
“Sir-”
“They’re fine,” Jack said, cutting his hand through the air like he could cut off the direction her mind was going with the gesture. “Daniel was right by the door and Teal’c’s tough.”
“But-”
“Carter! Nothing we can do about it right now. So, the SGC wouldn’t necessarily send the MALP through right away, because…?”
Sam took a moment to look at Jack, trying to gauge his expression. She thought she read determination and a little desperation underneath. Please give me something else to focus on, he seemed to be saying. Because I’m worried about them too.
“Well, there might be debris, the ‘gate might have been damaged or the iris. The focus would be on getting everything operational before they would start trying to make contact. I’d say we give them about twelve hours before we start to worry.”
“Good enough,” Jack said, nodding. “Well, I for one skipped breakfast this morning,” he added, patting himself down with a frown. “And I wasn’t exactly ready for an offworld jaunt.”
Sam mimicked him, coming up with a candy bar Daniel had handed her only half an hour before everything went to hell. For some reason, the candy machine on the seventeenth floor had a crush on Daniel and dropped two or three of everything he punched in. It didn’t do it for anyone else.
“Breakfast of champions?” Sam offered, unwrapping the bar and breaking it in half.
Jack grimaced but took the proffered candy, shading his eyes to scan their surroundings as he chewed.
“We know anything about this place?” he asked.
“Nada,” Sam sighed, wandering over to the wrecked MALP and kicking it dejectedly. “We lucked out though.”
“How d’you figure?” Jack asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow.
“Well, not all planets in our dialling computer have oxygen,” Sam pointed out.
“Ah.”
A scout of the area immediately surrounding the ‘gate didn’t give them much hope. The ground was a flat plain with a grouping of mountains to the West that would be a day’s march if they were lucky. There was no vegetation and more worryingly, no sign of water.
“We’d better start walking,” Jack said, pointing in the direction of the mountains when they’d both explored enough to know that there was nothing promising in their immediate vicinity.
“There’s another three hours before we worry, remember?” Sam prompted, sitting on the bottom of the ‘gate and wrestling one of her boots off, pouring sand out.
“We can leave some kind of sign that we were here and what direction we went in, but we have two days before the water thing becomes an issue and three to four before it becomes deadly. It’s going to take us maybe a day to walk to the mountains and even then, we don’t know what we’ll find. If we wait we’re putting ourselves at a big disadvantage.”
“You’re right,” Sam agreed.
“Any idea what time of day it is?” Jack asked, picking his jacket up off the ground and shaking it out before tying it around his waist.
“Not sure. There’s no way of knowing what time of day we came through. It looks like we’re in a two-sun system.” Sam pointed North where there was a sun setting and East where another was rising. “We might not get night here.”
“That’s a cheery thought,” Jack commented.
“At least it’s temperate,” Sam noted, scrubbing a hand through her hair and dislodging more sand. She really wanted to find a body of water so she could belly-flop. She felt like she had sand everywhere. “It doesn’t feel like it’s gotten either colder or hotter since we’ve been here. It’s like Fall weather.”
“Good thing too,” Jack agreed, tugging on Sam’s shirtsleeve. She hadn’t been wearing a jacket and was only in BDU pants and the long-sleeved black shirt she preferred when on base. If they’d come through to a world that had been on the cold end of the spectrum, both of them would have been in trouble.
The last thing they were expecting was a tiny village at the base of the mountains.
Sam was thinking, thank god, please be friendly, right up until they got close enough to notice that the place looked deserted. There was a ring of smaller buildings and one long town-hall type structure in the center and everything looked empty. There were pens attached to some of the houses that looked like animals would have been kept but those were empty too.
They’d been to hundreds of planets and an empty village was never a good sign.
Jack slowed his pace but corrected slightly so as they approached he was in front of Sam. He looked back at her with something dark and unreadable on his face. She could tell he was worried and wanted to suggest they avoid the place, but they didn’t have much choice.
They skirted the village anyway, not wanting to walk through the middle and found a river set behind it, turquoise sand tapering away to dark blue grasses and violet blossoms. Jack looked at the water and then back at Sam, torn.
“We have no way to test it,” she said, knowing that she was speaking his thoughts aloud.
“I’ll try it, we’ll give it an hour and if I don’t die then we’ll know it’s safe.”
“Like hell,” Sam snapped. “We’ll flip for it.”
“I can make it an order,” Jack warned. “Besides, I don’t have any change on me.”
“Sir-”
“Carter, I’m not arguing about this. If Teal’c were here I’d get him to do it because I’d trust his symbiote to protect him and also tell us if there was something bad. I won’t let you and I wouldn’t let Daniel take the risk if I’m able.”
“Okay,” Sam gritted and Jack looked at her for a beat before hunkering at the water’s edge, scooping a handful of water up and bringing it to his mouth. Sam’s stomach rumbled and she ran a tongue over her own dry lips, watching his throat work as he swallowed.
“Tastes okay,” Jack noted, shrugging and then sat back on his heels, rubbing an absent hand on his stomach. “Y’know, I would almost prefer there to be something up with the water. Least then we’d know what happened to the people.”
“The village is pretty small. They might have a couple of places they live and move with animal migrations, expected weather conditions, anything like that.”
“Hmmm, maybe,” Jack sighed and stood, looking over the village with a speculative eye. “I guess we should check it out.”
Jack didn’t drop dead and their search of the village gave no clue as to why it was empty. There were signs of habitation, meat hung in drying rooms behind some of the dwellings and personal touches, bowls and cups and decorations. There were no clothes, however, and sand coated everything, getting in through the cracks in walls and doors over time.
Sam was lying on her belly on the river’s edge, scooping water into her mouth when a shadow fell over her. She looked up and around and saw Jack, tossing something that looked like a rough baseball from hand to hand. “It looks like they might have left, doesn’t it?”
“Possibly,” Sam said, turning over onto her back and then curling up to her feet. “Something feel off to you though?”
“Yeah, it really does,” Jack admitted, grimacing. “But there’s food that can travel and a couple of water flasks so we can supply up and head back to the ‘gate.”
“We could.”
“Walking back here if we have to wait will be a bitch though,” Jack mused, still tossing the ball.
“It really will.”
“Villages are usually closer to the ‘gate, aren’t they?”
“Generally speaking, yes.” Sam nodded and then looked back in the direction they’d come. “These people might have been trying to avoid being raided, or they saw the ‘gate as something benevolent. You can’t even see it from here.”
“You think they might have dismantled the DHD? Maybe discourage visitors?”
“Possibly. I’m not about to start guessing as to the motivations of a completely alien culture,” Sam said. “I mean, I’m not Daniel.”
“Oh, okay, let’s get some dinner into you. You’re grouchy.”
“I’m not… okay, maybe. Don’t tell Daniel I said that.”
“Oh I’m going to,” Jack said, grinning. “The very next time you both decide it’s fun to gang up on me. Let’s see who the cute little brother-sister team is then!”
“So, wacky alien mystery jerky, or do we try and find something else?” Sam asked, trying to change the subject and Jack grinned.
“I’d say the meat, unless you have more candy hiding in your pockets?”
“Fresh out,” Sam said, turning her pockets inside out to verify she wasn’t hiding anything. Jack grunted in disappointment and turned towards one of the drying shacks.
“I don’t suppose I could talk you into carving?” he ventured and Sam snorted, making a shooing motion with her hand.
“Bring me back a wing,” she said and Jack groaned.
“Not like I thought,” Jack said contemplatively, tearing a strip off the hank of meat he was holding with his teeth. They’d banked a fire and held the meat over, skewered on their knives. Jack’s argument had been that everything tasted better warmed up and Sam had countered that with the warm yoghurt they’d had to drink on P37-776. Jack had made a “Yeargh!” of protest and they’d stopped talking about it.
Sam had made another circuit of the village and inside some of the buildings as Jack had been serving up dinner and now had what looked like a journal balanced on her knee. “I wish Daniel was here,” she said, a touch of wistfulness in her voice as she stared down at the lines and squiggles that wouldn’t resolve themselves into words for her. No matter how hard she stared.
“I’m preferring just us for once,” Jack said and then clapped a hand to his mouth, staring at Sam with wide eyes.
“Sir?” Sam blinked at him slowly as Jack turned a disturbing shade of red.
“That thing you said about Daniel before? Did it feel like it just popped out?” Jack asked, still with a hand over his mouth so his voice was muffled.
“Kinda, but I thought I was just tired,” Sam said slowly.
“Ask me a question. Something I wouldn’t normally answer,” Jack prompted, finally taking his hand from his mouth and getting to his haunches, tossing his mystery meat aside and rubbing hands down his thighs.
“Sir?”
“Just do it Carter,” Jack snapped and Sam frowned.
“Okay. Do you ever look at Daniel and Teal’c in the shower, you know, measuring yourself up?” Sam asked, smirking.
Jack made a weird face, like he was fighting a sneeze and then blurted, “Yes, Christ! Carter!”
It was Sam’s turn to stare at Jack with wide eyes, before she rolled backwards, hysterical giggles taking her over completely. “Oh my god, I didn’t… I didn’t think…you weren’t supposed to answer that,” Sam gasped between giggles as Jack stared at her and if she’d thought he was red before, it was nothing to the purple he was turning then.
“Having fun?” Jack growled. “You weren’t supposed to tell anyone about the thing on ‘585 but you did, didn’t you?”
“I told Janet as soon as we got back… crap!” Sam exclaimed.
“I knew it.” Jack threw up his hands, rising and pacing the small circle around their fire. “I think we have a serious problem.”
“No more questions,” Sam said, looking shaken.
“Absolutely,” Jack agreed, looking pale.
“Because the last thing we need is, mphhmmphmzee,” Sam trailed off as Jack’s hand smacked over her mouth.
“We don’t need questions, do we? We’re just going to blurt stuff, aren’t we?” Sam’s eyes were big and solemn over Jack’s fingers as she nodded. “So, no talking at all.”
“Maybe that’s what happened,” Sam said when she got her mouth back.
“You’re violating the no talking thing,” Jack warned.
“I mean, can you imagine blurting whatever you’re thinking? What kind of trouble that would make, especially amongst a small group of people?”
“You think they could have killed each other?”
“Or moved off because they found out what was causing it.”
“Well, what is causing it?”
“Can’t be the meat because I said that thing about Daniel before I ate it.”
“I don’t know, you could’ve just been being bitchy,” Jack said and then smacked a hand to his face. “Wow, did I not mean to say that.”
“That’s alright, I think you say things sometimes just to be an asshole,” Sam responded and then bit her lip. “I don’t suppose making a deal not to be offended won’t really work, will it?”
“Not so much, no,” Jack said gravely.
“I don’t see how we have a choice,” Jack said, holding a skin full of water out to Sam, who had backed away a step. “I’m going to pick hydration over the need not to randomly blurt embarrassing truths.”
“Are you sure?” Sam asked incredulously. “I mean, I get the feeling that everything you say is through a filter.”
“You’d be right,” Jack said, grinning tightly. “Now drink the damn water.”
Sam accepted the skin and took a long swallow. It tasted a little stale, like dam water but was perfectly palatable otherwise. Plus, they hadn’t exactly verified that the water was the source of their sudden urge to relate everything that popped into their heads. It could have still been the meat. Hell, Sam thought dryly, it could be the sand.
Sam knelt down after handing the skin of water back to Jack and ran her hands through the sand, letting it trickle through her open fingers. Up until then, she’d forgotten about the crazy urge to tell Jack that he had a nice ass as they’d walked towards the mountains, because she hadn’t actually done it.
She rubbed the sand between her palms and a fine spray of something yellow drifted up. Sam breathed in deep and then said, “I just wish you would forget all this regulation crap and fuck me.”
Jack had been fidgeting with the baseball-type toy again but went still. Sam felt everything go still and swallowed hard. “I think it’s the sand, or something in it,” she said slowly.
“Carter-”
“I have never, ever in my life wanted more than for you to not say anything right now,” Sam said gravely, not looking up. She dropped the sand that was still in her hands and dusted her palms off on her knees. She then ripped a strip of material off the bottom of her shirt and tied it about her face. “I think we’re breathing in spores of some kind,” Sam said as she tightened her makeshift mask about her face. “This isn’t perfect but it should minimise our exposure, at least a little.”
“I want to,” Jack said in a choked voice and Sam didn’t need to ask to know what he was responding to. “Dammit,” he grumbled and she heard the sound of ripping material.
“I think that no questions thing was a bad plan,” Sam noted, standing up and still not able to meet Jack’s gaze. “I think the more we fight it, the more we think about the very worst thing we could say. Obviously, case in point.” Sam made a helpless gesture with her hands, settling her eyes on the mountains beyond the village. “So maybe we could try talking about safe embarrassing things.”
“While we gather supplies and head back to the ‘gate?” Jack prompted and Sam nodded.
“Let’s make something clear first,” Jack said as he and Sam worked cutting strips off the mystery meat and packing it into an oiled satchel they found. “What’s said in the abandoned village under the influence of truth-sand, stays in the abandoned village.”
“Deal,” Sam agreed, knowing that there would be some kind of fallout for what she had said, but happy to play ignorant with Jack, at least until they got out from under the influence of the sand. “So,” Sam said and Jack paused in his cutting, waiting for her opening gambit. “Does Daniel annoy you that much or do you pick on him just because it’s fun?”
Jack pressed his lips together and Sam raised her eyes and looked at him levelly. “No trying to suppress,” she reminded him and Jack rolled his eyes.
“Fine, it scares me how much I care about him so I do it to keep him at a distance,” Jack snapped.
“Really?”
“No, not really, I’m lying,” Jack griped, with another eye-roll thrown in for good measure and Sam scowled.
“See? Asshole,” she said primly.
“My turn,” Jack announced and Sam was suddenly extremely interested in the meat she was cutting. “Have you ever snuck a look at any of us while we’ve been dressing or showering?”
“Of course, and you don’t exactly have to sneak a look where Daniel is concerned because he tends to parade around and oh my god, stop me.” Sam’s voice had turned shrill at her last words and she pressed the heel of her palm into the middle of her forehead. “I thought we were going to stay in safe areas,” she complained and Jack raised an eyebrow at her.
“You got a shower question, so do I,” he said smugly. He opened his mouth and got a chunk of meat thrown in it. Jack coughed and hawked it out, glaring.
“You were going to ask who I thought had the best body!” Sam accused. “You can’t ask me that!”
“Okay, fine. What-?”
“My turn,” Sam snapped, grimacing at the meaty rip as a fairly large chunk came away in her hands. “Did you tell General Hammond I should have my own team like you claimed?”
Jack took a moment to look mortified, pulled the face like he was trying to stop a sneeze again and then said, “He asked me and I told him it would be a bad idea. What happened to safe topics?”
“Why?” Sam asked, blinking at Jack in confusion.
“You’re not ready.”
“Oh, really?” Sam said in a small, tight voice.
“Carter, you don’t trust your instincts in the field. You trust yourself in a lab but when you have to make a military decision, you hesitate.”
“I-”
“You still look to me, I see you do it. I’m waiting for the day when you don’t.”
“Oh,” Sam breathed, trying not to let the hurt show on her face but having a hard time of it. She’d wanted to know and what Jack had told her was actually constructive, she could work on it, but she felt a pang knowing he didn’t trust her leadership. There was an implied yet in what he said though and Sam smiled grimly and nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yes, okay. Right now, I couldn’t say okay if it wasn’t.”
“True,” Jack allowed. “So, still think this is a good idea?”
“Believe me, it’s better than the alternative. I would rather uncomfortable than to say something we couldn’t recover from,” Sam said, looking at Jack carefully. She was worried that her outburst earlier had already crossed that line but Jack just smiled at her, his patented lopsided grin and nodded.
“Fair enough. Okay, is there any woman on base you would make out with?” Jack asked and received another hunk of meat thrown at him, this time solidly hitting him in the temple.
Sam had fashioned a knapsack for each of them with some bedroom linens she’d found and they both carried enough food and water to last them approximately five days. “Day four,” Jack had said, “We head back here and resupply for a longer stay by the ‘gate.”
Sam had agreed and they headed out. Now she knew what to look for, she could see the sprays of fine yellow dust that they both kicked up as they walked. She wasn’t sure if the masks were doing anything or if it was the questions they’d allowed themselves to ask, but she didn’t feel like blurting things at random. Whenever she’d start to get an itch in the back of her throat, she’d ask Jack something and he seemed to be doing the same.
She’d found out that he hadn’t been sure when he’d put their fate in Teal’c’s hands, he was still angry at Sarah for leaving even though he could understand why and sometimes he found himself actually interested in what Daniel was saying but complained to be contrary.
She’d told him how she was scared that the opportunity to have kids was passing her by, how she’d kissed a girl in the Academy just to see what it was like and that she felt a stab of jealousy when Cassie called Janet, mom.
All in all she thought they were doing okay right up until Jack said, “So, that thing you said before…?”
“Colonel,” she said, her tone one of warning.
“We’re going to have to talk about it and maybe I want an honest answer,” Jack hedged and Sam stopped, narrowing her eyes at him.
“What we do is more important than what we want,” Sam said and then blinked. She wondered if she really believed that, and thought she must. Jack had come to a halt beside her.
“So if I turned up on your doorstep and said, just this once, no one has to know-”
“Sir.”
“Carter, I’m just-”
“No, Sir, look! There’s a MALP,” Sam said, breaking into a run towards the ‘gate which had the ripples of an active event horizon across its surface. As she jogged towards it, she saw the mounted camera pan, catch her movement and zero in on her. She waved, grinning, hearing Jack’s steadier footfalls behind her. She skidded to a halt in front of the MALP, slapping a flat palm on the top.
“Colonel Carter?” A fuzzy voice enquired and Sam felt the crazy compulsion to hug the camera.
“General Hammond, thank god,” Sam laughed, stepping aside so Jack could poke his head in front of the lens.
“Sir, is Daniel and Teal’c-?”
“Jack?” Came an unmistakable voice and Jack turned a grin on Sam.
“Daniel, damn it’s good to hear your voice,” Jack gushed and then coloured, ducking his head.
There was the sound of a throat clearing and then Daniel said, “Ah, it’s good to hear you too, Jack. Are you okay? Did you hit your head?”
“We’ll explain later,” Sam said, butting Jack aside. “There’s no DHD on this side and-”
“We know that, Major. There is a portable naquadeh generator on the MALP. I assume you will be able to figure out how to hook it up?”
“Yes, Sir,” Sam said, grinning. She turned to Jack, who was frowning. “What?”
“Better tell them to get people in hasmat in there to contain us.”
Sam looked down at herself, literally coated in sand. “General Hammond, Sir, we have a small problem.”
“Do you think it’s worn off?” Sam picked at the hem of her scrub top. They’d been stuck in the infirmary for three days and so far, whenever someone had asked a question, Sam had blurted whatever came into her head. Considering their lives were about keeping secrets, Hammond had thought it prudent to restrict them to base and to the infirmary for their own safety.
The nurses, being the saints they were, had kept both Daniel and Teal’c out.
“Does Daniel have a nicer ass than me?” Jack asked.
“Of course not, Sir,” Sam replied and then grinned when Jack raised an eyebrow at her. “I think it might have worn off.”
“Wait, oh that’s not nice,” Jack protested.
“You were the one who said I was bitchy,” Sam snorted and Jack grimaced.
“Well, you called me an asshole.”
“True. I think we’re even.”
“Yeah, and we have a conversation to get through.”
Sam looked down at her feet, swinging them off her bed idly. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I didn’t say it had to be now Carter, geez,” Jack said and Sam looked up.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking there’ll be a ceremony, too much champagne and then a conversation.”
“In a few years though, right?” Sam prompted, looking torn.
“I don’t know.” Jack half-shrugged. “I think I’m one knee-surgery away from not really having a say in it.”
“Just… for the record, I’m fine with the waiting.”
“You’re lying to me,” Jack said slowly, frowning. Sam coloured and looked away. “Yeah, I can tell now. Strange that.”
“Look-”
“No, Carter, I get it. I do,” Jack said, scrubbing a hand over his face. “This isn’t the place anyway, is it?”
“No, Sir,” Sam said, voice hollow.
“You never answered my question, anyway.”
“Which one?” Sam asked, curious despite herself, knowing it was a bad idea.
“About me turning up on your doorstep. I can… I think I’d like to maybe leave it unanswered. Gives me something to… just gives me something.”
“Okay,” Sam said, nodding. She wasn’t sure she would’ve told Jack anyway that even with the truth sand; she wasn’t sure what her answer would be.
She wouldn’t know until the day he actually did.