Title: Touching Stars
Author:
rollesonFandom: SG-1
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing: Sam/Elizabeth
Spoilers: The Lost City etc.
Warnings: None.
Summery: Sam bangs her head.
Notes: Written for the
sg_rarepairings fic battle. 952 words.
“Major Carter?” Her voice sounded hollow in the lab, and made her think no one was in the room, until she heard a shuffle and a mumble from the other side. She walked around the bench, the panels of lights distracting her slightly. She wanted to run her fingers over them, because in the dim light of the lab, they looked a little like stars, and Elizabeth had always wanted to touch the stars.
On the other side of the lab, she could see Major Carter crouched under the bench, grumbling to herself. She smiled, she'd found that most of the personnel at the SGC talked to themselves at one time or another, she did herself often enough.
“Major?” The blonde didn't respond, and when Elizabeth placed her hand on the woman's shoulder, Sam jumped, hitting her head on the sharp edge with a 'crack'.
“Ah,” Sam hissed and both hands flew to the back of her head as she came out from beneath the bench and fell onto the floor. Elizabeth crouched down beside her, hands going to her head and hovering over her hair, wanting to touch but not wanting to do any further damage.
“Major, I'm so sorry,” she said, “is it bad?”
“Yeah,” she said, then seeing the guilt and pain on her boss's face, tried to smile, “it's okay.”
“Let me see.” She moved closer to Sam then, leaning over and gently brushing blonde strands of hair aside. “It's bleeding.”
“I feel a bit sick.”
“We need to get you to the infirmary now,” Elizabeth said, straightening up, and helping Sam to her feet. “You going to make it.”
“It's not that bad Doctor,” she said, “just a bit of pain.”
“It's bleeding,” she said, linking her arm with Sam's as they walked to the elevator, “I'm so sorry,”
“You just startled me, I wasn't expecting anything, anyone, to touch me.”
“Sorry,” she repeated, trying to make it sound sincere, trying to make it sound like every apology she had wanted to make to the major for a million things she hadn't done, but just because she was here and Colonel O'Neill wasn't.
It was foolish, but Sam Carter had that effect on her.
“Too engrossed in my work,” Sam said, “always knew it would be my downfall,” her voice was a little out of sync with her words, and Elizabeth check the wound on the back of the head to see how bad it was. Her blonde hair was staining red, and she felt all the blood rushing from her in panic.
“I think you have a concussion.”
“Me too,” Sam grinned, “not my first,” she added at the surprise, “it's okay Dr Weir, I'll be fine.”
“Dr Jackson and Teal'c are going to crucify me.”
“Yeah.” Elizabeth laughed at that, then breathed out in relief as the door opened, and she could try and rush Sam into the infirmary. Not that Sam would, or could, be rushed.
“Can I have some help please?” she called out, helping Sam onto a bed. A nurse came running out and Elizabeth stepped back to let her work, another nurse joining her soon after.
She wanted to apologise again, because she'd just injured the most brilliant person in the mountain. The most brilliant person she had met. The most beautiful person she had met.
“Does it need stitches?” she asked instead, the two nurses had moved away from Sam's head. A head so important she needed two nurses.
“No, it looks worse than it is,” the blonde nurse, Caleb said, pulling her bloody gloves off.
“The scalp bleeds a lot,” the other nurse explained, “you might want to go easy when you wash your hair,” she added.
“Yeah,” Sam said.
“Concussion?” Elizabeth asked.
“I don't think so.”
“I do feel better,” Sam said. The civilian leader looked at her carefully, looked into her eyes, trying not to get caught staring, or falling into them.
“Oh, good,” she breathed, smiling.
“Just the initial shock of it, I suppose,” Sam continued, not smiling back, lifting a hand to gingerly feel her head.
“Let me make it up to you,” Elizabeth said, making the blonde smirk, a little blush colouring her face. “What?”
“The last time someone said that to me, I ended up with two bruised ribs.” She smiled, and raised an eyebrow in question.
“Another time,” Sam said, the blush spreading a touch. “Maybe when we get the Colonel back you can buy me dinner.”
“I'll buy you both dinner if-when we get him back.”
“No,” she said softly, “just me.”
“I...” She didn't know what the major was trying to say. What she wanted.
“Just you and me.” She looked into blue eyes for a long as she could, until, it was too intense, the looked up at the blood stained blonde hair, guilt filling her again.
“Like a...” She didn't want to say date. She wanted it to be a date, but she didn't want to say it, say the word.
“Like a...dinner,” Sam said, smiling and looking around at the nurses. Elizabeth understood and reached out to touch her hand for just a moment.
It was like touching stars.
She took a deep breath, to stop from snapping her hand away in shock. Sam simply smiled at her, curling her fingers around Elizabeth's, and holding them tight for just a second, then letting them fall away.
“When Colonel O'Neill is back; when I don't have his life hanging over my own,” she said, and Elizabeth nodded.
It made her feel better, the promise of something, of dinner at least but Elizabeth still thought of the situation as 'if they saved Colonel O'Neill' rather than 'when'.