A little something for New Year's Eve
Title: The Beginning of Something New..part 2
Author: elfcat255
Pairing: Sam/Janet/Vala
Rating: PG...sorry..did you think I was just gonna write smut with them all the time..sheesh
Spoilers: Umm...my Season 10 world
Warnings: picks up where first one left off
AN: Like I said ...did you really think I was just gonna use my new OT3 just for smut?...oh no..I have to go and make things get all wonky...hope you like the new series I'm starting!
When the elevator door opened onto Level twenty-eight the two women ran down the hallway to the team’s locker room, meeting the men as they walked out.
“Give us ten minutes guys,” Sam said quickly as she and Vala rushed past the men into the room, slamming the door behind them.
Cam looked at Daniel, “Do you think we’ll get the real story of why they were late out of them?”
Daniel shrugged, “Sam never…Vala yes more than likely,” he said with a small grin.
The two men laughed and Teal’c just twitched an eyebrow at the comment as they walked towards the embarkation room to wait on the two women.
**************
Inside the locker room both women were quickly undressing and changing into their desert camo uniforms; Sam reached in her cubbyhole and pulled a tan sleeveless mock turtleneck out, she turned to see Vala pulling on a tank top and tossed the shirt at her, “Wear that instead,“ she said as the shirt landed on the dark-haired woman’s head.
Pulling the shirt from her head, Vala looked at the piece of clothing and asked, “Why?”
“Do you really want to explain those,” she said moving closer and pointing at the faint bruises around Vala’s throat area, “especially since they know you stayed with us this weekend.” Then she turned away to pull a turtleneck of her own on and bent down to lace her boots, “I don’t feel like talking about my sex life with Cam this trip; he’s worse at pestering than Jack ever was,” she explained when she glanced up and saw the confused look on her friend’s face.
Vala thought for a moment and then asked softly, “Are you ashamed of what happened this weekend?”
Sam stopped lacing her boot and looked up at her friend, “Oh god no…don’t even think that; both Janet and I loved having you spend the weekend with us. Actually I think we’d like to spend more time with you…it’s just that I know for a fact Cam won’t let up until you shoot him, which is what I almost did the last time he started in on me after I showed up after a rather wild night,” Sam explained, giving the woman a grin.
“Really?” Vala asked perking up some.
“Well…I just shot the ground in front of him, not actually at him,” Sam replied, finishing with her boot.
“No…not that; did you mean what you said about this weekend?” the dark-haired woman clarified.
Sam stood up, nodding, “Yes…I did and if we had more time we’d talk about it, but right now you need to hurry up and get dressed,” she said moving to stand before her friend and placing a finger under Vala’s chin. She raised the woman’s bowed head, “You still want that Twinkie don’t you?” She asked grinning at her friend and tweaking her nose as she turned away to gather their backpacks.
Vala returned the grin and quickly tugged the tank top off, replacing it with the other shirt. She sat down to begin pulling her boots on and by the time Sam finished readying their packs she stood dressed and ready to go. Passing Vala her backpack Sam picked up the bag of snacks from the bench and tossed them to her as well, “Just one,” she said, shouldering her own pack and turning to walk towards the door.
Opening the Ziploc bag, Vala took out one of the golden treats then put the snacks away in her backpack; she shouldered the pack and followed Sam out of the room, walking quickly to catch up with the woman as she opened the snack cake.
***************
They entered the embarkation room to find the gate already active and the others waiting on them, along with General Landry. Sam snapped to attention and Vala did as well, the Twinkie behind her back.
The General walked over to stand before the two women, “I’m assuming you have a good excuse for missing the briefing this morning?” he asked eyeing the two.
“Yes Sir, a very good one and we did study the pre-mission reports this weekend Sir,” Sam replied and Vala just nodded quickly.
“Well then…consider this your first warning…but don’t let it happen again Colonel,” he said sternly.
Twin replies of “Yes Sir,” answered him and he walked past the pair out of the room.
Sam sighed in relief, relaxing her pose and walked to stand next to Cam; he glanced over at her, “Aw…Big Daddy’s letting you slide,” he quipped.
Before she could reply, Walter’s voice sounded from the loudspeaker, “SG-1 you’re cleared to go,” he said.
Sam moved forward taking point and Vala rushed to follow her, finishing the Twinkie as she walked past Mitchell. He saw her eating the snack and whined, “Hey…you let her have a Twinkie…no fair.”
The blonde-haired woman turned to grin at him and then turning back to the gate she stepped through; Vala gave him a little wave and followed her, still chewing and smiling widely.
Cam looked at the other two men, “That’s not fair,” he stated.
Daniel shrugged and walked past him up the ramp, “Come on…you can whine about it off world, “ he said to the man before he stepped through the gate.
Cam walked up the ramp with Teal’c close behind; the Jaffa could hear him still grumbling about it not being fair as they entered the gate.
**************
A blast of hot, dry air welcomed Sam as she exited the gate onto PX5-986, that and the blaring glare of bright sunlight reflecting off white sand. She pulled her shades out of a pocket and put them on along with tugging her boonie cap down a bit lower. Vala appeared behind her and quickly did the same thing as she walked down the stone ramp past her friend; she halted at the bottom of the ramp and looked up at Sam, “Sun…sand…” she began and then stopped as she caught the object thrown at her.
“Sunblock,” quipped Sam as she walked to stand next to her fair skinned friend.
“Ah…yes…thanks,” Vala told her as she opened the tube and pulled her glasses off to apply some to her face.
They waited as the other three members of the team appeared from the gate; Daniel shaded his eyes and pulled a compass from one pocket, “We need to head to the east, that’s where the UAV spotted those ruins,” he told the others, pointing towards the direction.
“All right then, I’ll take point, big man you take rear and the rest of you just walk along quietly,” Mitchell said as he walked down the ramp and started in the direction Daniel pointed; as he passed Sam and Vala they heard a muttered, “Twinkie thief.”
Vala started to reply but Sam stopped her, ”It will only encourage him,” she said to her friend as she began walking after him.
Vala huffed but kept silent, placing her glasses back on she stuck the sunblock in her vest pocket and started walking beside Daniel as he came down the ramp; Teal’c followed along behind them and the team began the long trek across the dune covered desert to the ruins the unmanned probe found.
******************************
While they trudged across the sandy landscape, Sam let her thoughts wander back to the conversation she and Janet shared that morning. There had to have been a reason for them both to begin feeling the way they were towards the dark-haired woman so new to their lives. Yes…she was charming, beautiful, witty and undeniably sexy but there had to be another explanation. Sam knew that inviting her for the weekend could open a can of worms but she had no idea this was what would happen; true she had told Janet that the flirting Vala had been doing was taking its toll on her but that couldn’t be the only reason.
Pinching the bridge of her nose Sam grumbled to herself, “Damn it, why do things have to be so complicated? For just once why can’t there be a simple explanation?”
Still pinching her nose and grumbling Sam failed to notice the shadow appear next to hers’ as Vala drew alongside her. In fact she didn’t notice she had company until the woman nudged her, making her stumble slightly.
“Now Sam…talking to one’s self can not be a good sign; anything you’d like to share?” the dark-haired woman asked with a smile.
Not ready to discuss matters with her friend yet Sam quickly said, “Nope…just wondering aloud how long it will take us to get to those ruins,” she told her as the climbed another dune.
“Ah…Daniel informed me it would take at least half a day. Why do we have to walk everywhere anyway? Why can’t we bring one of those wonderful motorcycles through with us?” Vala asked the woman.
Shaking her head Sam answered her, “Because…you never know what we’ll find civilization wise; the probes don’t always find everything. It might freak out the native people if we showed up on strange machines, walking makes us more acceptable.”
“But still wouldn’t it be easier than trudging through mud, sand and whatever else we find on these worlds?” Vala asked waving a hand at the landscape as they reached the top of the dune.
Pulling off her hat, Sam wiped the sweat from her brow, “Yes it would be easier but not practical in the long run,” she told the woman as she placed her hat back on and began to half walk, half slide down the other side of the dune.
Vala watched her move away and with a little shrug to her shoulders followed; when she caught up with Sam at the bottom she settled for walking along beside the other woman quietly until after a few more dune climbs Mitchell called out time for a rest stop. Daniel made his way up to the top of the hill of sand they stopped below and stood peering into the distance while the others pulled out canteens to re-hydrate themselves.
“Hey Sam…come take a look at this!” he called out.
Leaving her pack on the ground Sam made her way to the top of the dune to stand beside Daniel; Vala ever the curious one decided to follow after her, as she neared them she overheard part of the conversation.
“Is that what I think it is?” she heard Sam ask.
“Looks like it,” Daniel answered.
Reaching them Vala peered into the distance with a hand shading her eyes, “It looks like the top of a pyramid,” she said.
“The UAV didn’t spot it in the flyby,” Sam told them.
“Could have been covered by all this sand,” Vala said kneeling down and grabbing a handful, letting it trickle through her fingers.
Sam began to rattle off something about weather patterns and Vala blocked it out, her eyes scanning the horizon and the ground below them. So wrapped up in trying to figure out where the structure came from her two friends failed to notice movement in the sand just in front of them but Vala saw the sand start to ripple and then a probing tentacle reached out of the sand near Sam’s foot. Thinking fast she jumped up, tackling the pair and sending all three of them over the edge of the dune.
They rolled and slide down the sand dune in a wild tumble of limbs, landing in a tangled pile, with Sam on the bottom having taken the full brunt of the landing. Vala untangled herself from Daniel and helped him up and then reached a hand down to help Sam up, “Well that was close,” she said grinning.
“What was close and why did you do that?” Sam asked halfway up and then she fell back; “Oww…stop,” she said suddenly.
Vala released her hand and knelt beside her, “What’s wrong?” she asked in a worried tone.
“It‘s my knee…why did you tackle us?” Sam asked her tone growing curt as she realized what this meant.
“Yes…why did you do that?” Daniel asked kneeling next to Sam as he dabbed at his busted lip with a handkerchief.
“There was something in the sand, it was reaching for your foot,” she said looking at Sam, “so I just reacted…I’m sorry you were injured.”
“Well dammit next time yell or something!” Sam exclaimed pounding the ground with her fist, “We’re going to have to turn around and go back to the gate now; I don’t think I can keep going on this knee.”
“Hey guys! Stop moving!” they heard Mitchell yell and the three froze.
Vala looked around them and saw the sand rippling again, she whispered, ”That’s what it did before I tackled you two.”
The three sat still, watching as the sand continued to move and then slim tentacles appeared from the sand. The sound of weapons fire and then sand being kicked up as bullets hit the ground a few feet from them made the trio duck down, covering their heads. Teal’c and Cam ran up to them and each grabbed Sam under an arm, dragging her away from the area with Daniel and Vala following close behind. The team turned and watched as the spot where the trio had been now churned as something very large was obviously upset by the spray of bullets.
“Okay that wasn’t in the pre-mission report,” Sam said from her position between Cam and Teal’c.
“Obviously,” Vala quipped, ”there would have been one of those red flag thingies then …right?”
“Indeed,” Teal’c stated, “I believe it would be best for us to move from this area as fast as possible Colonel Mitchell.”
“No argument against that from me big guy,” Cam replied as the sand began to sink and a large wriggling mass appeared, “Let’s move people!”
The two men helped Sam to stand and with her arms thrown over their shoulders they began moving as fast as possible away from the area and whatever the thing was; Daniel grabbed his nearby pack and followed close behind until he realized Vala wasn’t following him.
He turned to see her running back to where she and Sam’s backpacks lay, on the other side of the strange creature, “Vala!” he yelled but she kept on running. This made the others stop and turn around, they watched as she skirted the mass of tentacles, barely dodging a few of them to gather the backpacks up and run back to where they now stood.
The dark haired woman bent over breathing heavily and then looked up at them, ”What? I’m supposed to be watching the snacks,” she said grinning and gave Sam a wink.
“That was stupid,” Sam told her.
“We can discuss how stupid it was later…I think we need to move…fast,” Daniel said pointing to where the sand was beginning to ripple not far from the other creature.
Vala hefted both hers’ and Sam’s backpacks, “I agree,” she said moving to take the lead as the team moved as quickly as they could away from the disturbances once more.
****************************
The trip back to the gate took a little longer, what with Sam having to be half carried most of the way. She had tried to walk on her own only to discover her knee wouldn’t support her weight, so with a few muttered curses allowed Teal’c and Cam to help her along. They also had to move slower because at various times both Vala and Daniel would spot the sand rippling around them; during these moments they would all freeze and after a few moments it would pass then they could begin moving again.
Finally they reached the gate and Daniel dialed the address, sending their IDC through; when they received the all clear, Cam and Teal’c helped Sam through the gate with the other two following close behind. Appearing on the other side Mitchell called for a medical team and they set Sam down on the ramp steps, waiting for the medics to arrive.
“Colonel Mitchell…why the early return other than the obvious?” the General asked over the comm.
Mitchell looked up into the booth, ”Well Sir…seems like there were some rather nasty beasties the probes failed to pick up…we’ll tell you all about it in the debriefing,” he said.
“Colonel Carter?” the General asked, leaving the question hanging.
Sam waved a hand at him, “I’m fine Sir… it’s just a twisted knee,” she said and then grumbled under her breath, “I hope.”
Sitting next to her on the steps Vala heard the grumbled words, “I’m sorry,” she said to her friend.
“It’s okay…it could have been a lot worse if whatever that thing was had grabbed me…stop saying you’re sorry,” Sam told her.
“But still…” Vala’s next words were cutoff by the arrival of the med team led by Janet. The doctor rushed in to find everyone standing under their own power except for Sam and Vala. She ran a practiced eye over the group before her and stopped in front of the two women then spoke, “Alright who’s hurt other than Daniel with the bleeding lip and Vala with the nice shiner?”
Vala pointed at Sam who raised a hand and at the same time they both said, “She is…I am.”
Janet looked at Mitchell and Teal’c, “And you two?”
“We’re fine Doc,” Cameron told her and Teal’c nodded.
The doctor knelt before her partner, “Which leg?” she asked.
“Right knee,” Sam told her and then hissed as Janet felt around the throbbing joint, “Ow...can you wait to start poking until we get to the infirmary?”
Janet shot her a glare and then stood up, motioning for her two nurses to help the woman up onto the gurney. Before they could move though Vala stood and helped Sam up, letting her lean her full weight on her then shuffled over to the gurney. When Janet gave her a questioning look once Sam was seated on the gurney Vala just shrugged and spoke, “It was my fault.”
Janet just gave her a confused look and Sam groaned, lying back on the gurney, ”Would you stop already…I told you it didn’t matter,” she muttered.
Knowing she would get the full story in the infirmary Janet motioned for Daniel to come closer and she examined his lip, ”Doesn’t look like you need any stitches but come by the infirmary and let me disinfect it really good,” she told him.
“Yes Janet…can I get cleaned up first?” he asked brushing sand from his shirt.
“Yes...that’ll be fine,” she told him and then turned to look up into the control booth, “Once I take some x-rays I’ll let you know how she is General,” the doctor told Landry.
“Very well…the rest of you meet in the staff room in half an hour, we need to discuss these beasties,” he told the others.
Mitchell gave him a wave and a “Yes Sir,” and they followed the medical team out of the embarkation room. The men went to get cleaned up while Vala trailed behind the med team; when they reached the elevator she gave Janet a pleading look and with a nod the doctor made room for her to slip into the car with them.
*****************************
They gurney wheeled into the infirmary and the nurses help Sam over onto one of the empty beds; Janet pulled a pair of scissors from her lab coat, approaching her partner with the full intention of cutting her pants leg to get to her knee.
“Uh uh…no…this is my favorite pair of desert camos, you are not going to cut them off of me; I can get undressed,” Sam informed her partner with a raised finger.
“The longer you wait the more pain you’ll be in Sam,” Janet told her with a disapproving look.
“I can handle the pain; I did the whole way back to the gate…let me get undressed…and take a quick shower to get the sand off of me,” Sam told her in a curt tone.
Janet sighed, crossing her arms and gave her stubborn partner her best doctor’s glare, but it was met with a glare even more unfaltering as they locked eyes. Finally throwing her hands in the air Janet turned to one of her nurses, “Beth go look behind the door in my office and bring me those crutches,” she asked.
“Yes ma’am,” the nurse said and left to retrieve the item.
Janet walked over to a nearby shelf and found a set of scrubs, she reached into her pocket and took out her scissors; walking back to the bed she shook out the pants and cut the right leg off of the pants then tossed them at her partner, “Here put those on after you shower; are you going to need help?”
“No…I’ll be fine,“ Sam told her, with a stubborn set to her jaw.
Beth soon returned with the crutches and handed them to the doctor; she then gave them to Sam, “Here…get cleaned up…use the infirmary shower though…please,” she said her partner.
“Yes ma’am Dr Fraiser,” Sam said a little too sarcastically as she eased off the bed and tucked the crutches under her arms, she threw the scrubs over her shoulder and then moved away from the bed, handling the crutches easily as she made her way to the shower room.
“Beth follow her and make sure she doesn’t hurt herself more and then take her to x-ray…in a chair if you have to,” she told the nurse who nodded and followed after the Colonel.
Janet sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Damn stubborn woman” she muttered. Looking back up she saw Vala standing in the doorway, the woman still carried their backpacks and there was a forlorn look on her face; the doctor motioned for her to put the packs down and come in. Turning away, Janet walked to the mini fridge and pulled out an ice pack she then turned back to find Vala seated on one of the beds, staring at the floor.
Moving over to stand before her Janet lay the pack on the bed and reached a hand up, cupping Vala’s chin to raise the woman’s head up, she ran her fingers over the cheekbone, checking for any hint of underlying damage, “Does that hurt when I press down?” she asked.
Vala shook her head, “No…well just a little bit…I think Daniel’s elbow caught me when we rolled down the dune,” she said, wincing slightly when Janet hit a sore spot.
“Put this on it for right now and after they finish with Sam’s x-rays we’ll double check to make sure you don’t have a fracture,” she told Vala, handing her the ice pack.
“Okay,” Vala said softly.
Janet looked into her eyes, “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Sam’s mad at me,” she replied softly holding the icepack to her eye as she bowed her head down again.
Pulling the curtain around the bed the doctor turned back to the dark haired woman sighing Janet put a finger under her chin, raising Vala’s head up yet again, “No she’s not…right now she’s more mad at herself for getting injured; it just means she has to miss more missions, that upsets her more than anything,” Janet told her.
“But it was my fault she was injured,” Vala said and began telling Janet what happened on the planet.
After she finished Janet quirked an eyebrow at her, “Well it sounds like if you hadn’t reacted quickly things could have been worse…right?”
Shrugging Vala nodded, “I guess so,” she said softly.
“Hey you,” Janet said softly, rubbing Vala’s arm, “don’t let her sulky mood get to you, she’ll be fine once I give her something for the pain and she calms down…don’t worry.”
“Are you sure?” the woman asked, her voice growing hopeful.
“Believe me after almost ten years together...I’m sure,” Janet told her with a grin and then pulled Vala into hug, squeezing her tight, “now you keep that ice pack on and I’ll get back to you as soon as I finish with Sam.”
“Yes ma’am,“ Vala told her, perking up slightly.
Janet left the curtained area and walked over to the dispensary where she then readied a shot of morphine, wanting to have it waiting for when Sam returned from x-ray. She was just in time too as she heard the loud voice of her partner growing closer to the infirmary, “I don’t need the chair Beth,” she heard Sam protest as she hobbled back into the room on her crutches and over to a bed.
Beth gave Janet an exasperated look, “I tried Dr. Fraiser…really,” she told the doctor.
“It’s okay Beth, you head back and bring me those x-rays as soon as they’re ready,” Janet told her.
Beth moved the chair out of the way and replied, “Yes Ma’am,” then left once again.
Janet walked over to the bed where her partner sat, she helped her bring her leg up and made her comfortable, raising the head of the bed up so she could lean back then tugged the waistband down on her pants quickly injecting the morphine just below her hip, “Oww…you could have warned me first,” Sam whined.
“And give you more chances to protest…no way,” Janet told her, tossing the syringe in the waste material basket, “besides, I’m tired of your attitude…so consider it payback.”
Sam crossed her arms and huffed but the doctor ignored her partner’s actions; she turned away and left the bed to return shortly with several icepacks, which she placed on the very swollen knee. She looked up at Sam’s face and saw that the pain medication was beginning to kick in; she knew this because her partner’s jaw relaxed from its stubborn set and her eyes were starting to get that glassy look.
“When your x-rays get back I’ll go over them and let you know how bad it actually is; until then lay here and don’t move,” she said shaking a finger at the woman. The doctor didn’t wait for a reply and started to turn away then stopped, she turned back to her partner, “Oh…you need to apologize to Vala too,” she told her.
“For what?” Sam asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.
“For your attitude…she thinks you’re mad at her because of your knee; she’s never seen you when your injured so she doesn’t know the drill Sam,” Janet told her.
Sam let her head fall back onto the pillow, “Where is she?” she asked, sighing heavily.
Janet pointed towards the curtained area and then left to wait on Beth and the x-rays in her office.
Grumbling softly to herself, Sam rubbed her hands over her face and then called out, “Vala…I know you’re behind the curtain…Vala.”
The dark haired woman poked her head through the split in the curtain; she still held the icepack to her face, “Yes?”
Motioning for her to come over, Sam patted the bed and Vala eased out of the curtain to come sit beside the injured woman. Reaching a hand up Sam moved the ice pack away, “Whoa…that’s gonna be a really nice shiner,” she joked playfully, tracing the bruise with her finger.
“I caught an elbow when we rolled down the hill I guess; I didn’t realize it until Janet pointed it out in the gate room,” Vala told her softly, “I was more worried about you.”
Sam let her hand fall back to lay on her stomach, “I’m fine…I told you it wasn’t your fault so there’s no need to worry about me…Janet does that enough already,“ she said with grin, trying to make her friend smile.
“But…” Vala began and Sam held up a hand stopping her; “No buts…it’s over and done with…it’s just a twisted knee…no big deal, really,” Sam assured her as she started to relax from the pain medication, “I’ll be good as new in a week I bet.”
Janet returned at that moment carrying the x-rays, she overheard Sam’s last remark and sighed, “I’m afraid it’s going to be more than a week Sam; you’ve torn some ligaments and a tendon, I’ll have to operate to repair them.”
Sam groaned, thumping the bed with a fist, which caused Vala to jump and hop off the bed, “I’m going to get cleaned up Janet, I’ll be back for that x-ray later,” she said quickly and then rushed out of the room.
Janet watched her leave and turned back to her partner who had an arm thrown over her face now; Sam peeked out from under her arm and when she saw the look the doctor gave her sighed, “I told her it was no big deal Janet I don’t know why she ran off.”
Janet walked to stand beside the bed, “I’ll talk to her when she comes back for an x-ray…for now you just lay here and relax, we need to let the swelling go down some before I can operate, “ the doctor told her partner, she brushed the bangs out of Sam’s eyes and leaned over placing a kiss to her forehead.
Sam’s eyes were beginning to droop as the morphine took full effect and she just nodded, “Yes ma’am, “ she whispered and then closed her eyes as the medication overtook her.
Janet tucked the blanket around her partner and checked the icepacks, making sure they were okay for now then pulled the curtain around the bed as she left the woman to rest. She made her way back to her office and sat behind her desk, propping her elbows up; she rested her head in her hands then sighed. When Sam woke up she would tell her the bad news…Janet discovered while they were gone on the mission that she was the only doctor on call for the rest of the month, both Warner and Lam where attending to personal matters and had taken leaves of absence; there was no way her partner could stay at home alone after surgery, she would need to stay here. That was one conversation she was not looking forward to having with the injured woman. Groaning she let her head fall to thump on the desk…could it get any worse?
Author: elfcat255
Pairing: Sam/Janet/Vala
Rating: PG...sorry..did you think I was just gonna write smut with them all the time..sheesh
Spoilers: Umm...my Season 10 world
Warnings: picks up where first one left off
AN: Like I said ...did you really think I was just gonna use my new OT3 just for smut?...oh no..I have to go and make things get all wonky...hope you like the new series I'm starting!
When the elevator door opened onto Level twenty-eight the two women ran down the hallway to the team’s locker room, meeting the men as they walked out.
“Give us ten minutes guys,” Sam said quickly as she and Vala rushed past the men into the room, slamming the door behind them.
Cam looked at Daniel, “Do you think we’ll get the real story of why they were late out of them?”
Daniel shrugged, “Sam never…Vala yes more than likely,” he said with a small grin.
The two men laughed and Teal’c just twitched an eyebrow at the comment as they walked towards the embarkation room to wait on the two women.
**************
Inside the locker room both women were quickly undressing and changing into their desert camo uniforms; Sam reached in her cubbyhole and pulled a tan sleeveless mock turtleneck out, she turned to see Vala pulling on a tank top and tossed the shirt at her, “Wear that instead,“ she said as the shirt landed on the dark-haired woman’s head.
Pulling the shirt from her head, Vala looked at the piece of clothing and asked, “Why?”
“Do you really want to explain those,” she said moving closer and pointing at the faint bruises around Vala’s throat area, “especially since they know you stayed with us this weekend.” Then she turned away to pull a turtleneck of her own on and bent down to lace her boots, “I don’t feel like talking about my sex life with Cam this trip; he’s worse at pestering than Jack ever was,” she explained when she glanced up and saw the confused look on her friend’s face.
Vala thought for a moment and then asked softly, “Are you ashamed of what happened this weekend?”
Sam stopped lacing her boot and looked up at her friend, “Oh god no…don’t even think that; both Janet and I loved having you spend the weekend with us. Actually I think we’d like to spend more time with you…it’s just that I know for a fact Cam won’t let up until you shoot him, which is what I almost did the last time he started in on me after I showed up after a rather wild night,” Sam explained, giving the woman a grin.
“Really?” Vala asked perking up some.
“Well…I just shot the ground in front of him, not actually at him,” Sam replied, finishing with her boot.
“No…not that; did you mean what you said about this weekend?” the dark-haired woman clarified.
Sam stood up, nodding, “Yes…I did and if we had more time we’d talk about it, but right now you need to hurry up and get dressed,” she said moving to stand before her friend and placing a finger under Vala’s chin. She raised the woman’s bowed head, “You still want that Twinkie don’t you?” She asked grinning at her friend and tweaking her nose as she turned away to gather their backpacks.
Vala returned the grin and quickly tugged the tank top off, replacing it with the other shirt. She sat down to begin pulling her boots on and by the time Sam finished readying their packs she stood dressed and ready to go. Passing Vala her backpack Sam picked up the bag of snacks from the bench and tossed them to her as well, “Just one,” she said, shouldering her own pack and turning to walk towards the door.
Opening the Ziploc bag, Vala took out one of the golden treats then put the snacks away in her backpack; she shouldered the pack and followed Sam out of the room, walking quickly to catch up with the woman as she opened the snack cake.
***************
They entered the embarkation room to find the gate already active and the others waiting on them, along with General Landry. Sam snapped to attention and Vala did as well, the Twinkie behind her back.
The General walked over to stand before the two women, “I’m assuming you have a good excuse for missing the briefing this morning?” he asked eyeing the two.
“Yes Sir, a very good one and we did study the pre-mission reports this weekend Sir,” Sam replied and Vala just nodded quickly.
“Well then…consider this your first warning…but don’t let it happen again Colonel,” he said sternly.
Twin replies of “Yes Sir,” answered him and he walked past the pair out of the room.
Sam sighed in relief, relaxing her pose and walked to stand next to Cam; he glanced over at her, “Aw…Big Daddy’s letting you slide,” he quipped.
Before she could reply, Walter’s voice sounded from the loudspeaker, “SG-1 you’re cleared to go,” he said.
Sam moved forward taking point and Vala rushed to follow her, finishing the Twinkie as she walked past Mitchell. He saw her eating the snack and whined, “Hey…you let her have a Twinkie…no fair.”
The blonde-haired woman turned to grin at him and then turning back to the gate she stepped through; Vala gave him a little wave and followed her, still chewing and smiling widely.
Cam looked at the other two men, “That’s not fair,” he stated.
Daniel shrugged and walked past him up the ramp, “Come on…you can whine about it off world, “ he said to the man before he stepped through the gate.
Cam walked up the ramp with Teal’c close behind; the Jaffa could hear him still grumbling about it not being fair as they entered the gate.
**************
A blast of hot, dry air welcomed Sam as she exited the gate onto PX5-986, that and the blaring glare of bright sunlight reflecting off white sand. She pulled her shades out of a pocket and put them on along with tugging her boonie cap down a bit lower. Vala appeared behind her and quickly did the same thing as she walked down the stone ramp past her friend; she halted at the bottom of the ramp and looked up at Sam, “Sun…sand…” she began and then stopped as she caught the object thrown at her.
“Sunblock,” quipped Sam as she walked to stand next to her fair skinned friend.
“Ah…yes…thanks,” Vala told her as she opened the tube and pulled her glasses off to apply some to her face.
They waited as the other three members of the team appeared from the gate; Daniel shaded his eyes and pulled a compass from one pocket, “We need to head to the east, that’s where the UAV spotted those ruins,” he told the others, pointing towards the direction.
“All right then, I’ll take point, big man you take rear and the rest of you just walk along quietly,” Mitchell said as he walked down the ramp and started in the direction Daniel pointed; as he passed Sam and Vala they heard a muttered, “Twinkie thief.”
Vala started to reply but Sam stopped her, ”It will only encourage him,” she said to her friend as she began walking after him.
Vala huffed but kept silent, placing her glasses back on she stuck the sunblock in her vest pocket and started walking beside Daniel as he came down the ramp; Teal’c followed along behind them and the team began the long trek across the dune covered desert to the ruins the unmanned probe found.
******************************
While they trudged across the sandy landscape, Sam let her thoughts wander back to the conversation she and Janet shared that morning. There had to have been a reason for them both to begin feeling the way they were towards the dark-haired woman so new to their lives. Yes…she was charming, beautiful, witty and undeniably sexy but there had to be another explanation. Sam knew that inviting her for the weekend could open a can of worms but she had no idea this was what would happen; true she had told Janet that the flirting Vala had been doing was taking its toll on her but that couldn’t be the only reason.
Pinching the bridge of her nose Sam grumbled to herself, “Damn it, why do things have to be so complicated? For just once why can’t there be a simple explanation?”
Still pinching her nose and grumbling Sam failed to notice the shadow appear next to hers’ as Vala drew alongside her. In fact she didn’t notice she had company until the woman nudged her, making her stumble slightly.
“Now Sam…talking to one’s self can not be a good sign; anything you’d like to share?” the dark-haired woman asked with a smile.
Not ready to discuss matters with her friend yet Sam quickly said, “Nope…just wondering aloud how long it will take us to get to those ruins,” she told her as the climbed another dune.
“Ah…Daniel informed me it would take at least half a day. Why do we have to walk everywhere anyway? Why can’t we bring one of those wonderful motorcycles through with us?” Vala asked the woman.
Shaking her head Sam answered her, “Because…you never know what we’ll find civilization wise; the probes don’t always find everything. It might freak out the native people if we showed up on strange machines, walking makes us more acceptable.”
“But still wouldn’t it be easier than trudging through mud, sand and whatever else we find on these worlds?” Vala asked waving a hand at the landscape as they reached the top of the dune.
Pulling off her hat, Sam wiped the sweat from her brow, “Yes it would be easier but not practical in the long run,” she told the woman as she placed her hat back on and began to half walk, half slide down the other side of the dune.
Vala watched her move away and with a little shrug to her shoulders followed; when she caught up with Sam at the bottom she settled for walking along beside the other woman quietly until after a few more dune climbs Mitchell called out time for a rest stop. Daniel made his way up to the top of the hill of sand they stopped below and stood peering into the distance while the others pulled out canteens to re-hydrate themselves.
“Hey Sam…come take a look at this!” he called out.
Leaving her pack on the ground Sam made her way to the top of the dune to stand beside Daniel; Vala ever the curious one decided to follow after her, as she neared them she overheard part of the conversation.
“Is that what I think it is?” she heard Sam ask.
“Looks like it,” Daniel answered.
Reaching them Vala peered into the distance with a hand shading her eyes, “It looks like the top of a pyramid,” she said.
“The UAV didn’t spot it in the flyby,” Sam told them.
“Could have been covered by all this sand,” Vala said kneeling down and grabbing a handful, letting it trickle through her fingers.
Sam began to rattle off something about weather patterns and Vala blocked it out, her eyes scanning the horizon and the ground below them. So wrapped up in trying to figure out where the structure came from her two friends failed to notice movement in the sand just in front of them but Vala saw the sand start to ripple and then a probing tentacle reached out of the sand near Sam’s foot. Thinking fast she jumped up, tackling the pair and sending all three of them over the edge of the dune.
They rolled and slide down the sand dune in a wild tumble of limbs, landing in a tangled pile, with Sam on the bottom having taken the full brunt of the landing. Vala untangled herself from Daniel and helped him up and then reached a hand down to help Sam up, “Well that was close,” she said grinning.
“What was close and why did you do that?” Sam asked halfway up and then she fell back; “Oww…stop,” she said suddenly.
Vala released her hand and knelt beside her, “What’s wrong?” she asked in a worried tone.
“It‘s my knee…why did you tackle us?” Sam asked her tone growing curt as she realized what this meant.
“Yes…why did you do that?” Daniel asked kneeling next to Sam as he dabbed at his busted lip with a handkerchief.
“There was something in the sand, it was reaching for your foot,” she said looking at Sam, “so I just reacted…I’m sorry you were injured.”
“Well dammit next time yell or something!” Sam exclaimed pounding the ground with her fist, “We’re going to have to turn around and go back to the gate now; I don’t think I can keep going on this knee.”
“Hey guys! Stop moving!” they heard Mitchell yell and the three froze.
Vala looked around them and saw the sand rippling again, she whispered, ”That’s what it did before I tackled you two.”
The three sat still, watching as the sand continued to move and then slim tentacles appeared from the sand. The sound of weapons fire and then sand being kicked up as bullets hit the ground a few feet from them made the trio duck down, covering their heads. Teal’c and Cam ran up to them and each grabbed Sam under an arm, dragging her away from the area with Daniel and Vala following close behind. The team turned and watched as the spot where the trio had been now churned as something very large was obviously upset by the spray of bullets.
“Okay that wasn’t in the pre-mission report,” Sam said from her position between Cam and Teal’c.
“Obviously,” Vala quipped, ”there would have been one of those red flag thingies then …right?”
“Indeed,” Teal’c stated, “I believe it would be best for us to move from this area as fast as possible Colonel Mitchell.”
“No argument against that from me big guy,” Cam replied as the sand began to sink and a large wriggling mass appeared, “Let’s move people!”
The two men helped Sam to stand and with her arms thrown over their shoulders they began moving as fast as possible away from the area and whatever the thing was; Daniel grabbed his nearby pack and followed close behind until he realized Vala wasn’t following him.
He turned to see her running back to where she and Sam’s backpacks lay, on the other side of the strange creature, “Vala!” he yelled but she kept on running. This made the others stop and turn around, they watched as she skirted the mass of tentacles, barely dodging a few of them to gather the backpacks up and run back to where they now stood.
The dark haired woman bent over breathing heavily and then looked up at them, ”What? I’m supposed to be watching the snacks,” she said grinning and gave Sam a wink.
“That was stupid,” Sam told her.
“We can discuss how stupid it was later…I think we need to move…fast,” Daniel said pointing to where the sand was beginning to ripple not far from the other creature.
Vala hefted both hers’ and Sam’s backpacks, “I agree,” she said moving to take the lead as the team moved as quickly as they could away from the disturbances once more.
****************************
The trip back to the gate took a little longer, what with Sam having to be half carried most of the way. She had tried to walk on her own only to discover her knee wouldn’t support her weight, so with a few muttered curses allowed Teal’c and Cam to help her along. They also had to move slower because at various times both Vala and Daniel would spot the sand rippling around them; during these moments they would all freeze and after a few moments it would pass then they could begin moving again.
Finally they reached the gate and Daniel dialed the address, sending their IDC through; when they received the all clear, Cam and Teal’c helped Sam through the gate with the other two following close behind. Appearing on the other side Mitchell called for a medical team and they set Sam down on the ramp steps, waiting for the medics to arrive.
“Colonel Mitchell…why the early return other than the obvious?” the General asked over the comm.
Mitchell looked up into the booth, ”Well Sir…seems like there were some rather nasty beasties the probes failed to pick up…we’ll tell you all about it in the debriefing,” he said.
“Colonel Carter?” the General asked, leaving the question hanging.
Sam waved a hand at him, “I’m fine Sir… it’s just a twisted knee,” she said and then grumbled under her breath, “I hope.”
Sitting next to her on the steps Vala heard the grumbled words, “I’m sorry,” she said to her friend.
“It’s okay…it could have been a lot worse if whatever that thing was had grabbed me…stop saying you’re sorry,” Sam told her.
“But still…” Vala’s next words were cutoff by the arrival of the med team led by Janet. The doctor rushed in to find everyone standing under their own power except for Sam and Vala. She ran a practiced eye over the group before her and stopped in front of the two women then spoke, “Alright who’s hurt other than Daniel with the bleeding lip and Vala with the nice shiner?”
Vala pointed at Sam who raised a hand and at the same time they both said, “She is…I am.”
Janet looked at Mitchell and Teal’c, “And you two?”
“We’re fine Doc,” Cameron told her and Teal’c nodded.
The doctor knelt before her partner, “Which leg?” she asked.
“Right knee,” Sam told her and then hissed as Janet felt around the throbbing joint, “Ow...can you wait to start poking until we get to the infirmary?”
Janet shot her a glare and then stood up, motioning for her two nurses to help the woman up onto the gurney. Before they could move though Vala stood and helped Sam up, letting her lean her full weight on her then shuffled over to the gurney. When Janet gave her a questioning look once Sam was seated on the gurney Vala just shrugged and spoke, “It was my fault.”
Janet just gave her a confused look and Sam groaned, lying back on the gurney, ”Would you stop already…I told you it didn’t matter,” she muttered.
Knowing she would get the full story in the infirmary Janet motioned for Daniel to come closer and she examined his lip, ”Doesn’t look like you need any stitches but come by the infirmary and let me disinfect it really good,” she told him.
“Yes Janet…can I get cleaned up first?” he asked brushing sand from his shirt.
“Yes...that’ll be fine,” she told him and then turned to look up into the control booth, “Once I take some x-rays I’ll let you know how she is General,” the doctor told Landry.
“Very well…the rest of you meet in the staff room in half an hour, we need to discuss these beasties,” he told the others.
Mitchell gave him a wave and a “Yes Sir,” and they followed the medical team out of the embarkation room. The men went to get cleaned up while Vala trailed behind the med team; when they reached the elevator she gave Janet a pleading look and with a nod the doctor made room for her to slip into the car with them.
*****************************
They gurney wheeled into the infirmary and the nurses help Sam over onto one of the empty beds; Janet pulled a pair of scissors from her lab coat, approaching her partner with the full intention of cutting her pants leg to get to her knee.
“Uh uh…no…this is my favorite pair of desert camos, you are not going to cut them off of me; I can get undressed,” Sam informed her partner with a raised finger.
“The longer you wait the more pain you’ll be in Sam,” Janet told her with a disapproving look.
“I can handle the pain; I did the whole way back to the gate…let me get undressed…and take a quick shower to get the sand off of me,” Sam told her in a curt tone.
Janet sighed, crossing her arms and gave her stubborn partner her best doctor’s glare, but it was met with a glare even more unfaltering as they locked eyes. Finally throwing her hands in the air Janet turned to one of her nurses, “Beth go look behind the door in my office and bring me those crutches,” she asked.
“Yes ma’am,” the nurse said and left to retrieve the item.
Janet walked over to a nearby shelf and found a set of scrubs, she reached into her pocket and took out her scissors; walking back to the bed she shook out the pants and cut the right leg off of the pants then tossed them at her partner, “Here put those on after you shower; are you going to need help?”
“No…I’ll be fine,“ Sam told her, with a stubborn set to her jaw.
Beth soon returned with the crutches and handed them to the doctor; she then gave them to Sam, “Here…get cleaned up…use the infirmary shower though…please,” she said her partner.
“Yes ma’am Dr Fraiser,” Sam said a little too sarcastically as she eased off the bed and tucked the crutches under her arms, she threw the scrubs over her shoulder and then moved away from the bed, handling the crutches easily as she made her way to the shower room.
“Beth follow her and make sure she doesn’t hurt herself more and then take her to x-ray…in a chair if you have to,” she told the nurse who nodded and followed after the Colonel.
Janet sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Damn stubborn woman” she muttered. Looking back up she saw Vala standing in the doorway, the woman still carried their backpacks and there was a forlorn look on her face; the doctor motioned for her to put the packs down and come in. Turning away, Janet walked to the mini fridge and pulled out an ice pack she then turned back to find Vala seated on one of the beds, staring at the floor.
Moving over to stand before her Janet lay the pack on the bed and reached a hand up, cupping Vala’s chin to raise the woman’s head up, she ran her fingers over the cheekbone, checking for any hint of underlying damage, “Does that hurt when I press down?” she asked.
Vala shook her head, “No…well just a little bit…I think Daniel’s elbow caught me when we rolled down the dune,” she said, wincing slightly when Janet hit a sore spot.
“Put this on it for right now and after they finish with Sam’s x-rays we’ll double check to make sure you don’t have a fracture,” she told Vala, handing her the ice pack.
“Okay,” Vala said softly.
Janet looked into her eyes, “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Sam’s mad at me,” she replied softly holding the icepack to her eye as she bowed her head down again.
Pulling the curtain around the bed the doctor turned back to the dark haired woman sighing Janet put a finger under her chin, raising Vala’s head up yet again, “No she’s not…right now she’s more mad at herself for getting injured; it just means she has to miss more missions, that upsets her more than anything,” Janet told her.
“But it was my fault she was injured,” Vala said and began telling Janet what happened on the planet.
After she finished Janet quirked an eyebrow at her, “Well it sounds like if you hadn’t reacted quickly things could have been worse…right?”
Shrugging Vala nodded, “I guess so,” she said softly.
“Hey you,” Janet said softly, rubbing Vala’s arm, “don’t let her sulky mood get to you, she’ll be fine once I give her something for the pain and she calms down…don’t worry.”
“Are you sure?” the woman asked, her voice growing hopeful.
“Believe me after almost ten years together...I’m sure,” Janet told her with a grin and then pulled Vala into hug, squeezing her tight, “now you keep that ice pack on and I’ll get back to you as soon as I finish with Sam.”
“Yes ma’am,“ Vala told her, perking up slightly.
Janet left the curtained area and walked over to the dispensary where she then readied a shot of morphine, wanting to have it waiting for when Sam returned from x-ray. She was just in time too as she heard the loud voice of her partner growing closer to the infirmary, “I don’t need the chair Beth,” she heard Sam protest as she hobbled back into the room on her crutches and over to a bed.
Beth gave Janet an exasperated look, “I tried Dr. Fraiser…really,” she told the doctor.
“It’s okay Beth, you head back and bring me those x-rays as soon as they’re ready,” Janet told her.
Beth moved the chair out of the way and replied, “Yes Ma’am,” then left once again.
Janet walked over to the bed where her partner sat, she helped her bring her leg up and made her comfortable, raising the head of the bed up so she could lean back then tugged the waistband down on her pants quickly injecting the morphine just below her hip, “Oww…you could have warned me first,” Sam whined.
“And give you more chances to protest…no way,” Janet told her, tossing the syringe in the waste material basket, “besides, I’m tired of your attitude…so consider it payback.”
Sam crossed her arms and huffed but the doctor ignored her partner’s actions; she turned away and left the bed to return shortly with several icepacks, which she placed on the very swollen knee. She looked up at Sam’s face and saw that the pain medication was beginning to kick in; she knew this because her partner’s jaw relaxed from its stubborn set and her eyes were starting to get that glassy look.
“When your x-rays get back I’ll go over them and let you know how bad it actually is; until then lay here and don’t move,” she said shaking a finger at the woman. The doctor didn’t wait for a reply and started to turn away then stopped, she turned back to her partner, “Oh…you need to apologize to Vala too,” she told her.
“For what?” Sam asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.
“For your attitude…she thinks you’re mad at her because of your knee; she’s never seen you when your injured so she doesn’t know the drill Sam,” Janet told her.
Sam let her head fall back onto the pillow, “Where is she?” she asked, sighing heavily.
Janet pointed towards the curtained area and then left to wait on Beth and the x-rays in her office.
Grumbling softly to herself, Sam rubbed her hands over her face and then called out, “Vala…I know you’re behind the curtain…Vala.”
The dark haired woman poked her head through the split in the curtain; she still held the icepack to her face, “Yes?”
Motioning for her to come over, Sam patted the bed and Vala eased out of the curtain to come sit beside the injured woman. Reaching a hand up Sam moved the ice pack away, “Whoa…that’s gonna be a really nice shiner,” she joked playfully, tracing the bruise with her finger.
“I caught an elbow when we rolled down the hill I guess; I didn’t realize it until Janet pointed it out in the gate room,” Vala told her softly, “I was more worried about you.”
Sam let her hand fall back to lay on her stomach, “I’m fine…I told you it wasn’t your fault so there’s no need to worry about me…Janet does that enough already,“ she said with grin, trying to make her friend smile.
“But…” Vala began and Sam held up a hand stopping her; “No buts…it’s over and done with…it’s just a twisted knee…no big deal, really,” Sam assured her as she started to relax from the pain medication, “I’ll be good as new in a week I bet.”
Janet returned at that moment carrying the x-rays, she overheard Sam’s last remark and sighed, “I’m afraid it’s going to be more than a week Sam; you’ve torn some ligaments and a tendon, I’ll have to operate to repair them.”
Sam groaned, thumping the bed with a fist, which caused Vala to jump and hop off the bed, “I’m going to get cleaned up Janet, I’ll be back for that x-ray later,” she said quickly and then rushed out of the room.
Janet watched her leave and turned back to her partner who had an arm thrown over her face now; Sam peeked out from under her arm and when she saw the look the doctor gave her sighed, “I told her it was no big deal Janet I don’t know why she ran off.”
Janet walked to stand beside the bed, “I’ll talk to her when she comes back for an x-ray…for now you just lay here and relax, we need to let the swelling go down some before I can operate, “ the doctor told her partner, she brushed the bangs out of Sam’s eyes and leaned over placing a kiss to her forehead.
Sam’s eyes were beginning to droop as the morphine took full effect and she just nodded, “Yes ma’am, “ she whispered and then closed her eyes as the medication overtook her.
Janet tucked the blanket around her partner and checked the icepacks, making sure they were okay for now then pulled the curtain around the bed as she left the woman to rest. She made her way back to her office and sat behind her desk, propping her elbows up; she rested her head in her hands then sighed. When Sam woke up she would tell her the bad news…Janet discovered while they were gone on the mission that she was the only doctor on call for the rest of the month, both Warner and Lam where attending to personal matters and had taken leaves of absence; there was no way her partner could stay at home alone after surgery, she would need to stay here. That was one conversation she was not looking forward to having with the injured woman. Groaning she let her head fall to thump on the desk…could it get any worse?