Sam/Daniel Ficathon: Trimuvirate Moons
Sam/Daniel Ficathon
Assigned:
** For: qzeebrella/qzee
** Guidelines for story derived from requests of the member: Friendship Developing Onward - Sam babysitting a new member, growing respect for Daniel’s talents: Alien World, Chap’a’i out of commission - pending planetary alignment for re-initiating the gate function - approx 2 wks to 3rd moon rise for alignment to be correct.
Writer: Aynne P Morison LJ: aynne_witch
Start Date: 3/30/07
Rating is at Maximum: NC17 - Warning:
Explicit Descriptions of Sexual Situations and Language. Please take my warnings very seriously. If you are not old enough to read this material and do so anyway or can be easily offended by this type of material and choose to read it, remember that it was your choice.
Triumvirate Moons
Col. Mitchell watched the members of the two teams, plus additional scientists, assembling at the bottom of the ramp. SG-1 and SG-20 were going on a joint mission to PX10-4R3, nicknamed Triumvira, for the three moons. Dr. Jackson had translated a tablet that showed that they had called the moons the Triumvirate because without the cooperation of all of them, the Cha’pa’i would not operate.
There were other interesting phenomena that made the planet interesting so a semi-permanent base had been set up. Teams rotated in and out in staggered cycles because of the eccentricity of the planet’s system. Only when the Triumvirate Moons were in alignment in the sky would the Stargate work.
The alignment held for about two hours every two and a half to three weeks. For the first week after the alignment that allowed the gate to work only ships which could withstand the gravitational turbulence between the moons could come or go. Supplies were brought in by both ship and gate, but basically once the gate closed behind them this time they would be on their own for about two weeks until one of the scheduled ships came by.
He decided it was time to remind them all again as he heard Walter starting the dialing sequence that if they missed the window back for any reason it would be two weeks, on the planet, on their own, waiting for pick up on the supply run or waiting to make the next window in the alignment. “So, if you are base crew just helping move supplies, pay attention! This is not a good mission for long good byes!”
“Mark your calendars people and move out!” He shouted when the event horizon settled into the gate frame.
He, Sam and Major Bronson moved through weapons ready, followed by the rest of the teams all carrying supply crates. Another three service personnel followed them through with extra supplies. They would be dialed back to Earth as soon as the outgoing wormhole was severed. They were at the start of their two hour window and would be able to shift materials for a short time if anyone forgot anything.
The Go’auld had given up this place because of the temperamental access. It appeared that they had pulled all the Jaffa back on a last transport ship after the miners had been killed where they stood. The naquada wasn’t that rich here so it was, after all, expendable. Daniel and the other scientists headed off to the large building they had assigned as the lab. Other buildings remaining from the settlement had been fitted out and assigned as other work spaces, barracks, offices, etcetera.
All in all it was fairly comfortable. Solar panels provided climate control, pumped and heated water, ran appliances and equipment. The first team to visit this planet at least had the luxury of coming by Hermes with all of the attendant work force to start converting this site to its current functionality.
Thor had given them a heads-up on the eccentric alignment issue so in most cases, accidents of being left behind were avoided. It had happened a couple times over the years, of course but then it rarely had any effect other than the ‘unexpected vacation’ the team had. Sam looked around the compound one more time before allowing one of the other members to take over as watch until they had the monitoring systems up. It had been about two months since the last team had been here so everything had been locked down except water, lights and food storage.
Like the moons, the planet itself had some odd habits. Two months of its year was so bitterly cold that teams were not sent. At the other side of that calendar was an equal length of time were the heat hovered around one hundred and thirty in the shade. If necessary the buildings and the cooling equipment could handle the extremes. However, this was not a vital base so teams were pulled out and were not replaced for those seasons.
Major Bronson moved up to walk beside Colonel Carter. “Colonel, we have been assigned the Alpha House, so we get the private showers.” Major Bronson smiled at the Colonel’s exclamation.
“Hallelujah! I still think that Murphy put the women in Gamma last time because he liked to see us have to get up and dressed to get back and forth to the showers hoping we’d get pissed and just say the hell with getting dressed.” Sam’s eyes hardened, “if I could prove it I’d bust that weasel.”
“Well, Colonel Mitchell seems to have remembered what you said about it.” She smiled again, “he told me to make certain you knew as soon as possible.” The petite redhead stopped and Sam halted to face her.
“I wanted to thank you for recommending me for SG-20.” Her green eyes lost their usual confident look for a moment. “I know it was nothing that I could prove directly, but I do think that Colonel Murphy was cutting it very close on that last mission. If he had waited even another second we would have been trapped here, he and I.” She looked away from Sam briefly. “He made me very uncomfortable but never went far enough to get caught.”
“Well, you are on SG-20 now, and he’s…” Sam hesitated when she heard the gate spring to life again. They both turned to see who would be chancing coming through now, and what was so important that it couldn’t wait.
Colonel Murphy took a couple stumbling backward steps through then stood on the platform looking back at the gate. The event horizon sizzled, went a strange shade of green then vanished. The window was over. He shook his head and gave an exaggerated gesture of disapproval before moving down to the steps to the main compound. As soon as he spotted Sam and Cara Bronson he gave a rather dismissive wave and headed for Delta.
It was not only the D building on the map of the compound but was delta shaped. Three long exterior walls surrounding a large central space that had tables and chairs. One hallway was the food storage and galley. The next hallway was set up as officer’s office space and the armory. The remaining wall was a semi-glassed colonnade that kept the air circulating through the rest of the building.
Colonel Mitchell looked up from his desk when the door opened without a knock. “Murphy, what brings you here,” he glanced at his watch, “and just in time to stay for two weeks?”
“Hey, I thought I was just putting a box of stuff through. Either I tripped or someone shoved me.” He scuffed the toe of his boot.
“You’re lucky it didn’t break the connection while you were in transit! Now, what are you carrying?” Mitchell was standing now.
“Doctor Jackson left this on his lab table.” Murphy held out a box of instruments.
Mitchell was not happy or buying the ‘left it’ story. Daniel had said nothing to him about needing the equipment and he knew to verify immediately if anything had been left behind. “Now you are here, with no gear, not even a change of clothes, for two weeks.”
“Actually, I believe I left a small bundle of things here the last time,” he shrugged, “I guess I missed them when I packed.”
“Ah, yeah.” Mitchell looked down at the map, “you will be bunking with me, I’ve assigned out all the rest of the spaces already.” Actually there were spaces, but in Gamma and he was not putting Murphy in Gamma under any circumstances. He wanted him where he could keep an eye on him.
“Sounds good,” Murphy said but his voice was strained. “I’ll go check my space from the last mission and see if the bundle is still there and if it is move it to your room.”
*****
Sam and Cara finished putting their personal gear into Gamma. It was a circular building with the shower/toilet room in the center and the sleeping rooms arranged like spokes on a wheel. In the beginning they decided that they could spread out and each have a room, but after seeing Murphy they decided to take the largest room with multiple beds and stay together. It was farther from the toilets, but in this case worth the extra steps through the showers.
A knock at the door post had both women whipping around, both on the alert. Daniel froze until he was certain he’d been recognized. “Ladies,” he gave a little cough, “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He took a tentative half step into the room. “Is everything okay here?”
“Yeah, Daniel, sorry,” Sam smiled and relaxed. She also noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Cara got a dreamy look that crossed her face at the sight of the handsome man in the door. An unsettling, unfamiliar jolt of jealousy jumped through her and she had to stop herself from reacting. “Murphy showed up at the last second, and…”
“Yeah, Sam, about that,” he remembered that Sam had had misgiving about Murphy and had talked with him about the situation. “Mitchell told me he came here with some story about equipment I left in the lab.” He took another couple steps in and adjusted his glasses. “Not only did I not leave equipment that was needed, the box of items he brought is all broken parts I was collecting to send to maintenance.”
“You told Mitchell right?” Sam asked even though she knew he would have done so. “Come on Cara, we’re going to see Mitchell right now.”
The three of them trouped out across the compound. Murphy stood in the shadow of Gamma and watched them go. He knew it wouldn’t take long for them to come back so he had to work quickly. He darted in and around to all the rooms until he found the one the women had claimed. He cursed briefly under his breath when he found they had chosen to share.
In quick order he had placed small wireless devices, cameras and microphones, in places to capture the whole room. He only stopped briefly to be tempted to take and settled for just a touch of each woman’s personal possessions. Next he hit the shower room. Finally he made his way to the place he’d stashed his bundle in the room he’d used before. With this in hand he was ready to face the curious and angry stares of Sam, Daniel, Cara and John Mitchell.
“Colonel, Colonel, Major, Doctor,” he gave a tense smile as he held up the bundle to Mitchell’s inspection. “Got lucky, it was still here.” He watched the jaw muscle across from him tighten. “I’ll get these over to the other barracks and then see if anyone needs any help with set up.” He cut to the side and moved with a purpose.
“Colonel, you and the Major go in and check your room,” Mitchell glanced over his shoulder, “Jackson, with me.” They headed into the shower room.
******
“I hope we are wrong, but if we are not I hope they can’t pick him up with a ship for, oh, a few extra days anyway.” Mitchell was looking high while Daniel was surveying the corners near the floor.
Daniel got the distinct impression that Mitchell seriously wanted Murphy to be returned to Earth in less than perfect physical condition. But then, Daniel wasn’t far behind him on that. “Good thing you actually looked in that box. Oh my god, doesn’t anyone clean before they leave?” Daniel said from one of the stalls.
“Murphy has never been big on policing his area. Somehow he always forgets it’s the maid’s day off.” Mitchell was standing on a shelf that showed a faint boot track in the dust. “I guess he figured since it was coming on the hot season that it would cook the crud off.” He poked at something, “ah ha!” He grabbed on to a small device then jumped down.
“Find one?” Daniel looked back over his shoulder at Mitchell. “Because here’s another one.” He dangled the tiny camera by the hair fine antenna. “He’s gone way over the edge.” Daniel’s voice took on a hard edge that Mitchell was still not quite used to associating with the archaeologist.
“Come on, let’s check in with Carter and Bronson.” Mitchell had a hard set to his eyes and jaw.
Daniel absently reached down and checked that he had a sidearm with him. It was bad enough that the people on these teams had to face outside forces trying to take them out without having someone inside, someone who was supposed to be trusted, destroying things from the center. “They are supposed to be safe with people in this command.” He would make certain Sam was safe, regardless. The thought of anyone hurting her in any way made his blood boil.
Mitchell stopped short and made Daniel halt. “Daniel, listen to me. We are going to make sure that nothing happens to either of them and both of them are trained, battle ready soldiers. They won’t be easy targets.”
“They shouldn’t be targets from inside our own ranks to begin with,” Daniel started to shove past Mitchell.
“Whoa, hold up.” Mitchell got a better grip on Daniel and realized that the arm he held was shaking and Daniel was near to being out of control. “You need to back up and get a grip. Going off in a red haze is not going to help either of them and is just as likely to get you killed. If he realizes you are on the way to kill him, which you are telegraphing right now, he’ll drop you like a bad habit from across the compound.”
Sam watched from the doorway, she could hear part of what was being said but she could read Daniel’s face easier than hearing the words. He was ready to kill Murphy. She wondered at the changes in her friend. When he had first become part of SG-1 he had cried after battles when he’d had to kill. He was not a soldier.
Gradually she had watched as he became, out of necessity, more the warrior than he had ever thought to be. Right now that warrior was ready to defend them without regard for himself at all. She did miss some of the gentle man that she had first met but had grown to depend on him even in a pitched battle. The bumbling professor with the heart of a poet and the mind of a savant. When he walked away from Mitchell to take a few deep breathes Sam went to him passing a quick nod with Mitchell as he went to check on Cara and the objects found surveilling the bedroom.
****
She walked up beside him and gave him a shoulder to shoulder nudge. “Hey.”
“Hi, Sam.” He gave a great shuddering sigh. “Find anything?”
“Enough,” she crossed her arms under her bosom to keep from following through on the unexpected urge to hug him. “What about you?”
“Yeah, some.” He flushed deep red when the anger tried to well up again. He stuffed his hands in his pockets then looked up at the ceiling. “Sam, I know I didn’t do this, but I’m sorry it’s happening to you and Cara.”
“Thanks,” she bumped his shoulder again, “besides, if you hadn’t said something to Mitchell about the parts in the box in the first place he might have done worse. Mitchell might not have found the monitor equipment at the bottom.”
Daniel started walking and Sam stepped along beside him. Once they were away from the common room and out of sight of the doors he turned and faced her. “It is killing me to think anyone would do this to you. I wanted to kill him with my bare hands Sam, that’s not like me.”
“No, its not, but then this was much more personal. You’re my friend and he’s supposed to be a trusted member of our command. We are supposed to be able to feel safe around members of our command. In your case he used you to try to get to me. It was indirect, but he did it.”
“You are amazing you know. All this and you are so calm.” She dropped her eyes to the side. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. In an instant he realized that her calm exterior was battle dressing. She was trembling. He tipped chin so that she had to give him her eyes again. Fear and fury boiled up in her and showed in the depths of her eyes. He brought his arms around her. “You are safe, Mitchell, Teal’c, me, we have your back Sam.”
“I know that,” she leaned against his strong form. “I’m more pissed than frightened. But I’m pissed because he could frighten me.”
“I’d be worried if you weren’t at least a little frightened by this. It would mean that you have shut off too much.” He gave her another comforting squeeze. Daniel knew they needed to get back to Mitchell and see the rest of this through, but just then he was content to be standing there with Sam in his arms.
***
‘Sam. In his arms.’ The thought tumbled through his mind. He was standing in a dim room, with Samantha Carter in his arms. She was leaning against him comfortably. Nothing provocative specifically. Unless he thought about the way she felt in his arms or the way he felt when he realized her arms were also around him. Her strong hands on his back, fingers flexing softly.
Sam felt her fingers slip over the solid muscles of Daniel’s back and thought about needing to eventually get back to Mitchell. ‘Eventually.’ Where had that come from? In fact, why had she not already taken a step back? She could accept Daniel’s comfort as a friend and be fine with that couldn’t she? Then why were her arms still around him and why was it so difficult to think of letting go?
Daniel gave her one last squeeze then stepped back slowly, letting his hands glide down her arms, still reluctant to give up all contact. “Better?”
Sam nodded, “you?”
“Yeah,” he gave a little cough, “we’d better get back to the others.” He gestured for her to proceed him back through the doorway into the common room.
They both jolted when Mitchell called out, “where the hell have you two been? We were beginning to think you’d gone after him yourselves and left us out.” He was trying to keep his words light in spite of the circumstances.
“We both needed to calm down and over the years we’ve gotten good at talking each other down.” Daniel offered.
“Hey that’s what your buddies are for,” Mitchell chimed in. “Now, let’s go deal with Murphy.”
***
Easier said than done. Murphy had not been put in command of a unit for nothing. Even if he was a complete creep and an emerging psychopath he was also still a soldier, with good instincts about his own survival. He had grabbed weapons, some gear and food and busted a move into the outlying bush.
Mitchell organized search teams and got Sam and Cara situated with their own projects to keep them occupied. He left them with the contingent of scientists, Daniel among them. Daniel was to work the communications equipment and monitor for response from any of the ‘friendly’ ships that might come close enough to pick up the signal being broadcast for the Hermes, the newest in the growing Earth Space Fleet. They were all hoping that when Murphy had weaseled his way through the gate that someone had started an emergency plan.
Sam walked over from the science station she’d been trying to stay focused on to see if Daniel was picking up any return signals at all. “Any noise?”
“Just static,” he sighed and shifted in his seat. “I was hoping that, since he was probably just supposed to put the box through, being that close to the cut off, they would have sent one of the ships to check on us.”
“General Landry has probably started the process, but may not have realized it was especially urgent.” She shrugged, “besides, its still going to be a week before a ship could land to take him away.”
“Yeah, it would still be nice if they knew the situation though.” Daniel was having trouble thinking about anything rationally. All he had thought about since they had discovered Murphy’s bugs was how good it had felt with Sam in his arms and how much he wanted to hurt Murphy.
“Is something bothering you besides Murphy?” Sam watched his face. She knew he was working on a puzzle of some sort, his eyebrows were knit together.
“Ah, just some stray thoughts.” He gave an unconvincing smile, “Life, the universe and everything kind of stuff.”
“Are you re-reading Douglas Adams again?” She leaned down conspiratorially, “tell me you brought them with you, I forgot my off duty reading list.”
“Ah, not the books, the cds.” He grinned, “but I’ll share.”
“Good,” she smiled and started back to her project, “how about after dinner?”
“Okay, I’ll bring the player over.” He grinned then focused in on the radio unit again. For the next few hours there was little to do but send the hail and wait for the pickup.
Finally as dusk was falling. “Hey, we’ve got a signal from the Hermes!” He waived at Sam. “Hermes this is SG-1 Dr Jackson. We have a serious situation.”
“Dr. Jackson, this is Hermes, can you give us the nature of the situation?” The communications officer responded.
“Colonel Murphy got here under false pretenses and has targeted the two female officers at the base. He fled into the bush. Once he is apprehended he needs to be immediately transported away from this base and back to Stargate Command.”
“Dr Jackson, you are aware that we can not make planet-fall until the gravity turbulence has subsided to navigable levels.” The response came back.
“Yes, we are aware, but we want you to be aware that this incident was not accidental and requires immediate attention as soon as Hermes is able to enter the system.” Daniel growled into the microphone.
“The situation and urgency is being relayed to Stargate Command. We will continue to monitor this frequency and will relay our orders and arrival once we have that information. Hermes out.”
“Understood, Jackson out.” Daniel released the microphone switch. He turned to Sam, “at least they know now.”
“Yes, they do.” She gave a quick shudder. “Cara and I are supposed to meet for dinner. Care to join?”
“Um, actually, I kind of need to,” Daniel stood. “Mitchell doesn’t want either of the two of you without at least one other body around for the time being.”
“Ah, so you are supposed to be our body guard?” Sam gave him a crooked smile.
“Would you rather it was Felger?” Daniel checked his sidearm for the second time that day, “at least I hit what I aim at ninety eight percent of the time on the range now.”
“Not Felger, that’s worse than McKay!” She laughed then flinched when Felger’s head popped up from his work station.
Daniel popped an arm around her shoulder and turned her toward the door, “let’s go find Cara, before he comes over okay.” He was trying to stifle a laugh and having trouble keeping it in.
***
They found Cara with two of her new teammates discussing the last mission here with Murphy. One was paying careful attention to the information the other was listening with half an ear and keeping a careful scan of the surroundings.
“Colonel Carter, Dr. Jackson,” the three stood at their approach.
“Are all the search teams back?” Sam inquired.
“Yes, ma’am.” The lieutenant said quickly, “Colonel Mitchell decided that there were too few of us to continue a full search and with it getting dark it was decided to come back in and set up a perimeter here.”
“You two get some rest then, we’ll escort Major Bronson to the mess.” Sam motioned for Cara to come along. The two men moved off toward the barracks they were assigned to.
“This is all so bizarre, to have to have guards from one of our own.” Cara fell into step with Daniel and Sam.
***
After dinner Mitchell saw Carter and Bronson back to Gamma and checked in with the two men that had stayed there guarding it while Daniel went to get his cd player and his copies of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to play for he and Sam. Cara, Mitchell and a few of the others set up a game of cards.
Daniel set the player between them. “We could use the outside speakers, but I think if we turn it up enough to hear comfortably we are likely to disturb the game. There should be enough separation of the ear buds that we can each have one if we sit side by side.”
“That works,” Sam arranged some pillows against the wall and slid back to sit comfortably. Taking the offered ear bud she fitted it to her ear and waited.
“I’ll turn it down at first and we’ll take it up to where we can both hear and its not too loud for either of us.” Sam nodded and Daniel got himself comfortable and started adjusting the sound level.
“That’s good.” Sam said and Daniel stopped fiddling and restarted the cd at the beginning.
At first neither of them noticed that they had settled in closer together than was strictly necessary for the accommodation of the ear wires. Daniel noticed first that their hands were resting between them, in comfortable contact. He had to fight the urge to intertwine his fingers with hers. He could see the others at the table playing cards and technically she was off duty, but they had never been ‘together’ before this and it was still a mission.
He tried to redirect his thoughts back to the story but his mind had begun to take a completely different tack and he shifted slightly to draw his knee up and rest the ‘offending’ hand on that knee. It appeared relaxed to anyone glancing but it kept his uncomfortable secondary reaction from being too obvious.
Sam was a bit more that disappointed when Daniel shifted his hand away. Hers now felt cool where his had been. She began to wonder where these feelings were coming from. They’ve known each other for years, what had changed to make this happen now? Trying to focus on the story was not helping. Pulling the ear bud out she shifted to the side slightly and moved to the edge of the bed.
“Sam,” Daniel hit stop and also removed his ear bud, “you okay?”
“Yeah, I guess I’m just not ready to settle yet,” she stood and stretched, “think it would be okay if we walked around a bit, inside the common room, but just moved around a while?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem.” He stood and looked toward the table, “we’re taking a stroll around the common room, we aren’t leaving the building.” The 'common room' was actually a very wide hallway that banded the building. There were wide spots with benches part of the wall and the doors to the rooms on one side and the exterior wall had spaced windows along it. The thick alien glass was steel hard so they were not worried about being 'in the open'.
Mitchell looked up, waived and tossed chips into the center. “See if Timmons wants to rotate in, I’m gettin’ my ass whooped.”
“Will do,” Sam called over her shoulder.
They headed to the main door first and stood watch while Timmons and Mitchell changed places. Heading back into the dim common room they started a circuit around the large circular space. Neither spoke for some time.
As they started the third circuit Sam first scrubbed her hand along her thigh to remove the sweat of tension then took a chance and took Daniel’s hand. His hesitation was only momentary before his fingers twined with hers.
“Sam, I…,”
“Not, yet.”
Shortly they were standing back in the room they had talked in earlier. They stood, still hand in hand, not saying a word. Just finding comfort in being close. Daniel raised his other hand and caressed her cheek. She leaned into the touch.
They were not certain who moved first, they only knew that there was an electric jolt through them both when their lips met. The shock took their breath away and that first kiss was short lived. Daniel untangled their fingers and drew his other hand up her arm until he was cradling her face in both hands. He heard her breath hitch before he brought his lips down on hers again.
The kiss quickly became intense and their arms wound around each other. Sam backed up against the wall for stability and Daniel leaned into her. She could feel him growing hard between them and knew that this could get out of hand in another few moments, but she didn’t want to stop any more than he did. With serious effort they began to disentangle themselves.
“I don’t know why this happened now, but I am not sorry,” Daniel kissed her again, but lightly this time.
“Why should anything with us be any easier than anything else?” She gave him a smile then rested against his chest.
He kissed the top of her head, then nuzzled down until he could kiss her ear, “I want to make love with you Samanthan.”
She shuddered at the touch of his breath on her skin. “God, Daniel, I want to.”
“And we can’t,” he sighed against her neck, “I know we can’t.” He lifted his head and looked into her eyes, “not now, but soon Samantha.”
“I can’t remember ever wanting to so badly,” she drew him in for another steaming kiss. Her body shuddered against his. His hardness pushing against her heat and his hand cupped her breast.
He groaned and pulled away, “oh, this is not helping.”
“I…I know,” she ran a trembling hand through her sweat dampened hair. “We should go back.”
“Go back, yeah,” Daniel took a few steps away looked out into the empty hallway. He could hear the laughing and talking from the card game. “I think I’ll be able to walk straight in a few more minutes.”
“Daniel, we both know its going to be difficult to be alone together any time soon.” She sighed.
“And we both know it is going to be difficult to not want to be together and not act like we want to be together.” He walked back to her.
“We will manage.” She took his hand and they walked back toward the noise and light. Just at the edge of it they kissed again then let go their hands.
***
Over the next few days they were able to pass off the growing tension between them as edginess due to the situation. Daniel sat in the lab one evening trying to figure out where this turn in their relationship had come from while pretending to work on a tablet. They had been friends for so long that this change was unsettling in the extreme. He was very concerned. What if it was only loneliness and the stress? He decided it was time to tread carefully, very carefully.
***
Sam rechecked the data on her screen for the tenth time. She kept seeing Daniel’s face on the screen. She gave up and clicked it off and still saw his face in the screen. Swiveling around she came face to face with the man who made the reflection in the black screen. “Hi, been there long?” She closed the laptop with a click.
“Just a second ago,” he grinned and shuffled, “feel like going to eat?”
“Not that I hate your company or anything, but I’m really not hungry right now.” She looked around the room and realized everyone else had gone elsewhere. “Can we talk?”
“Sure,” he sat down beside her.
“I’m scared Daniel, and its not about Murphy.” Her fingers gripped the edge of the table.
“I’m scared too Samantha,” he took her hand, “I’m scared to death that we could be tearing apart a relationship that means the world to me.” He kissed her hand, “and I’m scared that we could be over thinking ourselves out of something wonderful.”
She gave a deep sigh, “well, that’s one thing,” she gave a weak smile, “we are still thinking on the same wave length.”
“The one thing that I don’t ever want to do is hurt you or loose you.” He turned her eyes to him, “I can’t imagine my life without you no matter what happens. I don’t ever want to be without you.”
“I know,” she smiled, “I love you too.” The kiss they shared then was not of heat but tenderness. The heat followed as they allowed their kisses to continue until finally they separated when they heard others coming near the lab.
“Maybe we should go eat now.” Daniel stood and shifted around a bit.
“Yeah,” Sam stood and they walked out together to put some space between the discussion and any chance at taking action.
***
Some how, Murphy managed to raid the mess a couple times and not get caught during the intervening days until they were able to dial home again. The Hermes had stayed close in the beginning in case they caught him before the whole team was ready to leave. The gravity was still an issues and they would have to beam anyone in and out one at a time to maintain safety.
In the end, Hermes got an urgent call to Earth and left about two days before the gate was useable. With the situation seeming to be mostly in hand, even if Murphy was still on the loose, the teams began systematically shutting off controls and temporarily disabling as many as possible. Someone who knew the command codes could reset the functions, but they would leave Murphy no way to access anything left on the base.
On the first dial out the teams sent the normally Earth-bound scientists back with their research while the armed teams guarded the gate. SG-20 went next, taking Cara Bronson with them back to the safety of the base. Each one carried as much gear as they could manage. SG-1 kept survival equipment with them because as the last team to go they were going to cut the window close so that Murphy would not have a good chance to dial out to anywhere. This meant that if Murphy showed and slowed them down they may have to hold out for a bit while they waited for the next exit window.
Mitchell and Teal’c scanned the area while Daniel finished dialing and picked up his load, Sam was right beside him. The gate flashed open and in that instant Murphy struck. The shots from the zat knocked Sam and Daniel flat and Murphy charged the gate from behind Mitchell and Teal’c.
Teal’c made a grab and took a zat blast to the chest that pushed him back into the event horizon. Mitchell took on Murphy hand to hand but the momentum carried both of them in behind Teal’c. For a few moments there was just the hum of the Stargate. Sam and Daniel roused just in time to see the event horizon flash the strange green and flicker out of existence.
“Well that just sucks rocks.” Daniel rolled to sit up. He looked at Sam’s face and knew that she was agreeing with him. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just tingly from the damn zat.” She looked around the platform. “Teal’c and Mitchell must have ended up going through with Murphy.”
“We’ll hope they had enough time then.” Daniel stood and dusted off his pants. “At least we still have some supplies left,” he glanced at her, “and I’m guessing you have the command codes to unlock the water supply.”
“Yeah, and we’d better get to it, it will be dark soon.” She hoisted up gear and started for Delta.
“So, I guess I should be glad I’ve still got my cds.” Daniel picked up a couple boxes and followed behind Sam.
***
“This will be simpler if we take the office and commander’s quarters in Delta. That way I only have to restore the one building.” Sam said as she poked information into her laptop that was now back in the network system.
“That works,” Daniel was testing controls as Sam directed him to make certain that the equipment was coming back on line properly. “We’ll have water, power, food. We should be pretty comfortable for the duration.”
“We should be able to at least radio out in a few hours.” Sam finished keying information and took some of the packs toward the mess. “I’m going to get this stuff back under refrigeration.”
“Okay, I’ll move the other gear to the bunk rooms - you want right or left?” Daniel called after her.
“Left is fine.” Sam called back just before she entered the mess. She was happy to find that the refrigeration that they had left on had indeed stayed up. They hadn’t had time to test the background circuits they’d left on, but the fridge was still cold and it would have started to warm up since they’d shut everything down hours ago. When she unlocked the seals everything was as it should be.
She heard Daniel behind her, “hey, we didn’t loose the ice cream, want some?”
“Sure, why not?” He grinned and took the offered tub of Ben and Jerry’s and popped up on the counter to sit. “That means the rest of the ‘abandoned’ food will be okay too - great.”
“Yeah,” she smiled around the spoon. Finishing the bite, “at least we know we can shut almost everything down between missions during the work seasons if we need to.”
“So we didn’t think about that before why?” Daniel was waving his spoon around.
“It didn’t seem important at the time.” Sam
“And we decided to do it this way this time because?” Daniel reached out his spoon and snatched a bite of Sam’s and offered his tub for reciprocal bite snatching.
“Because, we didn’t want Murphy to have access, but if ‘we’ got stuck here trying to catch Murphy….” Sam popped the spoonful of Caramel Sutra from Daniel’s tub in her mouth then waved her spoon around.
“Lucky for us then, huh?” Daniel snatched another bite of Phish Food from Sam.
“Hey Mister, you could ask you know.” Sam hopped down from the spot on the counter she’d perched on and started to walk away.
“Okay,” Daniel dropped to the floor and followed behind her, “so, Samantha, wanna share ice creams?”
“I might be persuaded,” she grinned and headed around toward the offices at a quick walk. ‘God, what the hell am I doing? I’m ‘playing catch me’ with Daniel!’ The thought made her walk faster so she could think. ‘What do I do if he ‘catches’ me? I mean, do I want to take another step when I know what is on his mind?’ Her thoughts went back to the day they first kissed. “I want to make love with you Samantha.” His voice echoed in her mind and she was running without realizing it.
Daniel thought it was cute at first but then saw her picking up speed. He propped the ice cream on a window ledge and sprinted after her. Something was wrong, she was flat out running. He caught up and carefully blocked her from running farther ahead. When she stopped he gently set his hands on her shoulders. “Samantha, what is it?”
“I think I scared myself,” she was shivering slightly but he did not move. “I started asking myself what I was doing? Was I joking with my friend, or was I inviting something else.”
“Hey, this is me,” Daniel leaned his forehead against hers, “we are both still worried about this, I would have understood if you said no.”
In that moment Samantha saw again the gentle man she had first met. He was still there, mixed in with the warrior he had become. “I know you would have,” she gave a little shrug, “but I’m not certain I would have understood it myself.”
“No one needs to be in a rush here,” Daniel said quietly, “and we have time to talk, no interruptions. At least until they can divert a ship here.” He slipped an arm around her shoulder and headed back toward the offices. When they neared the door he picked up the melting tub of ice cream from the window ledge and carried it with him.
They sat in companionable silence and finished the now mostly liquid contents of the two containers. Both of them immersed in their own thoughts. At about two hours past sunset they finally got at least a radio contact with the Hermes.
“This is Colonel Samantha Carter. Dr Jackson and I are fine, it was just a zat stun. We have re-powered the Delta building and have food and water. No one is injured. We’ll be fine until we can be picked up or the gate is clear again. What is the status with Murphy?”
“This is Hermes, good to hear that you two are okay Colonel. We have some tense people back at SG Command that will be able to stop pacing once they hear this report. Murphy was taken into custody after Colonel Mitchell was peeled off of him. They came through the gate wrestling for the zat. Teal’c had a slight cut on his head from falling through the gate and landing hard. Both of them are reported fine and the rest of the personnel made it through without a problem. They were hoping that you had gotten ‘stuck’ rather than having tried to make it at the last second and been lost.”
“Yeah, we’re thinking its better to have an unauthorized vacation than having not made the timing.” Sam confirmed.
“Per General Landry, you are both ‘off duty’ for the duration so, if you two want to play scrabble or work cross words for the next short while, it won’t go on your records as dereliction.”
“Thanks, I think.” Sam and Daniel both laughed.
“Hermes will be monitoring this frequency while we are in range. If we have to leave we’ll send a message and they should have another ship here as soon as possible. If we can we will get you out as soon as the gravity allows us in. Have a nice vacation! Hermes out.”
“We’ll be here, Carter out.” Sam clicked off the microphone. “Well, all around everything is pretty okay.”
“Yeah, Murphy is caught, no one was badly injured and they all got back safe.” Daniel looked back at the screen on his laptop. “Hey, I thought I’d deleted these, I guess not.”
“What?” She peeked over his shoulder. A list of movies pulled up from the thumb drive he had plugged in.
“I thought I’d cleared this drive for other stuff,” Daniel hummed and kept scanning the list, “maybe I grabbed the wrong drive, I just recorded this one.”
“Well, either way it means we have something other than your cds to pass the time.” Sam sat back down and looked at her own computer. She was still shaky after their encounter earlier.
“You want the shower first?” Daniel sat back and stretched but did not look at her.
“Thanks, but I’ve got something running here, you go ahead.” Sam taped a few more keys.
“You aren’t ‘working’ are you?” Daniel asked then peeked over her shoulder. “Sam, those are very scary looking equations.”
“Not so much, just an energy project,” Sam looked up at him, “and this is relaxing just now, there’s no deadline and no one is expecting this, it’s a personal puzzle.”
“As long as its not work Colonel.” Daniel patted her shoulder and headed out for the showers.
***
When Sam finally shut the computer down for the night and headed toward the rooms she found Daniel on a bunk in the room he’d chosen, head phones on, asleep with the lights on. She clicked the switch off then went to the room she had asked for and got her things together for the shower. The silence of the place was soothing now that they were certain everything was settled for the time being.
Stepping into the warm spray she let her mind wander. She thought again about Daniel, the kisses they’d shared, the wanting that surprised her and the need that was strong enough to be unsettling. It didn’t surprise her that she did want, that was not the problem. It was ‘whom’ that was causing her concern. After all, how many times had she fallen for someone, someone who she would not have to keep the ‘secrets’ from, only to have them die. One at her own hands. The thought of loosing Daniel in so final a way brought her to the edge of tears. She had lost him, over and over in one way or another during their missions. Could she handle loosing him at all if she let herself fall in love?
The time they’d spent together over the last couple weeks replayed in her mind. She realized then she was already ‘in love’ with him, she didn’t just ‘love her friend’. Once they crossed the physical line there would be no turning back. She poured the bath gel in her hand and began to wash.
‘And if we don’t cross the physical line, if we don’t find out what ‘being in love’ is for us, we’ve lost each other anyway.’ With her hands slick from the gel skimming over her skin the sensations reminded her of what she had felt when they kissed. The little shivers that crossed her skin began to send other tingling sensations over her body despite her attempts to focus away from them. The more she tried to resist the temptation of a fantasy the more insistent the desire to explore became. ‘Maybe I’m just horny, its not like I’ve been with anyone recently.’
With that thought in her mind she allowed her fingers to dance over her skin and tried to visualize anyone but Daniel. That was only partly successful. She could start off with someone else in mind but came back to Daniel in moments. When her body hit its peak she bit her lip to keep from crying out his name. Gulping air when she could breath again she finished her shower quickly and turned off the taps. The rough towel chaffed over sensitive skin but she finished and dressed before going back to the rooms.
Pausing for one brief moment she looked at the sleeping Daniel and felt an almost painful desire to go to him now. That, she decided, was not the way. They would both be awake, no surprises, no ambush the first time. Samantha Carter admitted it to herself, she wanted a first time with Daniel and likely many more times. Turning from the door she went to her bed on the other side of the hall. She did not sleep immediately, and when she did her sleep was filled with dreams of Daniel.
**
Daniel lay in the dark, not moving. He had seen her standing there watching him and wondered what she was thinking. Her quiet footsteps had sounded loud to him in the deep silence of the place. He had heard the water running, heard her sharp gasps and quiet moans. They echoed down the dark hallway between the rooms and the showers. Try as he might the image of her slick with water and soap flooded his mind and he had responded by finding release in his own way. He wondered who was in her mind as she touched herself and hoped it was him.
***
Both of them were up with the sunrise the next day. Both had the look of a sleepless night. Both dove into coffee as soon as they were able. Both avoided looking directly at the other and spoke only in single words until the coffee had started its magic migration through their respective systems.
“I hope to hell we don’t run out of coffee before the end of this.” Daniel mumbled over the rim of his second cup.
“Two ten pound canisters.” Samantha quoted back at him
“We might just make it.” Daniel sipped again and sighed.
Samantha laughed at the thought that the two of them might not make it if the coffee didn’t hold out. “Addiction is a real bitch.”
“Yeah, it certainly is,” he smiled and sipped again. “So, did you sleep okay? Its so quiet here that the few sounds around seem to echo all over. Last night I thought it was raining and it was just the shower.”
Sam almost bobbled her coffee. “I didn’t realize I woke you, I’m sorry.” She was wondering exactly how much he could have heard.
“No problem, it was just different.” He gave her a quick wink, “after being used to traffic or the base, its just different here.”
“Different, yeah, it sure is.” She finished her coffee and started thinking about actual food now that her system was primed. “You interested in food?”
“Sure, you got a plan or just wondering?” Daniel stood and went to the fridge.
“I was thinking, we’ve got all the stuff for pancakes and no one else to worry about.” Sam pulled out a mixing bowl.
“Sounds good, I’ll work on bacon or sausage - ah, got a preference?” He was still bent over in the fridge and she ended up focused on his butt rather than the question.
“Um, nice,” she shook her head when he straightened and looked over his shoulder at her. “Ah, I said some bacon would be nice.”
“Okay,” he gave her a funny look, but got out the bacon and eggs for the pancakes. He had this tingly feeling running up his back that happens when he catches someone he wasn’t necessarily expecting to be ‘checking him out’. Now, since they’d been dancing around the issue he was pleased, but it was just so different with Sam. Just like the silence was different, pleasant but slightly unsettling in a way.
They spoke little while cooking, but Daniel did take a moment to return the admiring glance when Sam took her turn bending into the refrigerator. ‘Damn Samantha.’ He was brought back to his task by bacon grease snapping onto the back of his hand.
Once the food was ready and they sat to eat it was Sam’s turn to comment about last night. “You know, you fell asleep with the lights on last night.”
“Um,” Daniel looked up from his plate, “I did, but they were off…. oh, thanks.”
“No problem,” she poked at the last few bites, “you looked so relaxed I didn’t want to disturb you.” The silence that followed was slightly awkward.
“Tell you what, since you did the ‘big’ portion for breakfast I’ll wash up.” Daniel started gathering the dishes.
“I’ll dry, since you did the bacon.” Sam took the mugs and followed.
Washing up turned into a foam fight ending with both of them dotted with dish suds. They were laughing until their sides hurt and water was splashed around the kitchen.
“Good thing we were finished cleaning up before we got foolish.” Sam said swatting at him with a towel.
“Yeah, I guess we are just too responsible for our own goofiness.” Daniel came toward her intending to brush a clump of bubbles from her hair. “You have bubbles in your hair fair lady, scattered around like spring flowers for May Day.” His fingers touched the bubbles and Sam’s eyes caught his.
“If I’m a fair lady, does that make you the knight in shining armor?” She caught her breath when his fingers slid into her hair and toyed with it.
“I’d like to be.” He brought his lips to hers and felt the fire light between them.
The kisses grew deeper until Daniel began kissing her face, then along the line of her jaw to her neck. Samantha molded herself to him while giving him more access to the side of her neck. She stiffened then relaxed into his hand when he caressed her breast through her shirt.
Her eyes were heated and unfocused when he stepped back from her. The cool touch of the air now between them drew her attention. Looking up into his eyes she saw not only desire but love shining back at her. “Come to bed Samantha, let me make love with you.”
“My room, I’ve got the bigger bed.” She said quietly before taking his hand and walking with him back to the rooms.
***
They walked in and she turned to face him again. They moved together renewing the heated kissing. Daniel loosened her tee shirt from the waist of her pants, drawing it up and over her head. No bra kept his eyes or hands from her and shortly his tee shirt joined hers. He guided her to sit on the edge of the bed and knelt before her, kissing and caressing all of her that was now uncovered. Taking each in turn he kissed and suckled each breast reveling in the encouraging sounds she made.
In another few moments he was sliding pants and panties toward the floor down her long and toned legs. Trailing kisses down her body he crept lower until his lips caressed her heat. A long moaning sigh escaped her when he stroked his hands over her body and made love to her with his mouth. She rose on the sensations until her body shook and broke, her mind splintering into shards of light.
When finally her body subsided Daniel rose from the floor and slid up beside her on the bed. Subtle caresses and kisses both soothed and inflamed her again. Her hand took his length and stroked it carefully to not dislodge the condom he had already put on.
Rising over her he settled between her open legs and let her guide him in. “Sam, open your eyes love.” He waited until she focused on him. With their eyes locked he slid into her for the first time and held there for just a moment.
She gave one sighing breath then called his name softly, “Daniel.” He began to move in her, feeling her body surrounding him. Rocking up to meet his thrust she encouraged him on. “Oh my god, Daniel.”
“Too good, not going to make…” sweat beaded on his brow.
“Fly love, take me with you.” Sam cooed to him and he changed his pace. Sam felt her body aching to find release again. Daniel shifted his hips and the angle changed. The sensation flooded through her like a storm. Her body contracted around him hard, over and over, going back up and releasing again before the last one had even stopped racing through her.
Daniel felt her body below him, engulfing him, shudder and quake. Responding to his touch. Finally on a hard thrust in he held himself deep within her his muscles straining, locking up, as he emptied himself. Rocking slowly, thrusting gently after the first explosion he eased himself down from his release while the last of it moved through him. Moving slightly to the side he lay down without crushing her, taking her with him to settle against his chest. They lay, still conjoined, stroking each other while their bodies fought for breath. They fell into a gentle doze while Triumvira’s sun climbed toward mid-day.
***
Sam woke first. She stretched and purred like a contented kitten. Looking down at her lover’s face she saw the lines he had earned smoothed away in the relaxation of sleep. On a whim, she found his glasses and perched them back on his face. There was the face of her first memory of him. Geek glasses, and the open face of one who had not yet faced all the hardship and heartache of the battles they have since fought.
Love and lust coursed through her. With talented fingers she teased him back into readiness. He moaned in his sleep and called her name. She considered a condom but her shot of depo had been renewed just before this mission, they were safe for at least another 3 months and there was no doubt that they were both ‘clean’.
Rising up she straddled his hips, then leaned down and kissed him awake. His eyes opened and focused. His hands began stroking and molding her form. She sat back and prepared to take him deep. “Ah, Samantha…” he started.
“Shhh, we’re safe.” With double gasps their bodies slid together for the first time with no barrier at all. When she felt her body settled down against his she began to rock and slide on him. He fit her body well and she relished the feel of him naked inside her.
Feeling her shifting position for better contact Daniel slipped his hand down and pressed his thumb into her, teasing her sensitive flesh and feeling her crash over the edge into bliss. With a few more thrusts he followed her.
***
Sam woke still laying over his chest. He had managed to remove his glasses in the intervening time. “Um, if breakfast affects us like this, I wonder what lunch and dinner will do for us?” She sighed when his hands stroked down her back.
“With any luck, it will do the same thing at a minimum.” He gave a quiet moan when she kissed his neck. “Hmmm, I feel like I would like a shower.” He caressed her ass. “Care to join?”
“We do that together and we will never get out of bed for the rest of the day, and we do need more food and definitely some water.”
“I’ll go take a quick shower and then make sandwiches.” He rolled them to their sides. “How does that sound?”
“Perfect.” Sam kept a hand on him as long as she could while he got up from the bed.
***
She heard the water running and lay back, stretching from her fingers tips to her toes. ‘I am not going to be able to give this up when we get home.’ She sighed and stretched again. ‘We’ll have to talk about that.’
When the water went off and she heard the slap of wet feet on the tile she picked up her towel and headed to the showers. The warm spray felt wonderful. She was mildly sore from lack of any other recent encounters and the fact that he was a bit ‘more’ than she was used to. It wasn’t a bad thing, in fact, it was a reminder of her recent pleasure, but it did make her think that they may not be able to spend their entire time doing nothing else.
***
Daniel had gone to the kitchen fresh from his shower, sans covering. Why bother currently? That was his question. He grabbed the sliced chicken breast, bread, mayo, lettuce and tomato. In short order he was on his way back to the bedroom with cans of soda and nicely made sandwiches. He entered the bedroom to a delightful sight.
Sam stood with her back to the door and just as he entered her towel dropped to her feet. “Now, that is definitely an appetizing sight.” He kissed her shoulder then deposited the food on the bedside table.
“All this and a naked chef too, what more could a girl want?” Sam teased at him.
He smiled but a serious note crept into his voice. “I want to make sure that you want for nothing. Not ever again.”
“I like the sound of that.” She let herself be drawn into a deep kiss.
“I will not go back home and pretend this didn’t happen,” he looked deeply into her eyes, “I love you Samantha and I want us to be together. If not on the team then at home, between missions, I want to be able to tell the world I love you.”
“One of us will have to transfer…” Sam started and Daniel put a finger over her lips.
“I’ll do it. I can be the ‘walking library’ on any team.” He smiled. “As long as I have you to hold when we are home, I can handle anything else. Marry me.”
“Ho..mar…wha?” Sam sputtered for a moment, then, “I was going to say ‘that was fast’, but its been 10 years coming hasn’t it?” He simply nodded. “Yes, Daniel, just as soon as we can.”
“As soon as we can?” Daniel smirked, “because we can call up the Hermes and have the Commander handle it.”
“That’s fine by me.” Sam set the challenge back on him.
“Alright, I’ll get them on the radio.” Daniel headed for the unit.
“Daniel!” Sam caved. “Let’s get home and get the paperwork sorted first.” She swatted his arm when he began to laugh. “After all, this happens too fast and someone will think we got pregnant while here.”
“Anything you want Samantha,” Daniel drew her into another kiss, “anything at all.”
~c’est fini~
Assigned:
** For: qzeebrella/qzee
** Guidelines for story derived from requests of the member: Friendship Developing Onward - Sam babysitting a new member, growing respect for Daniel’s talents: Alien World, Chap’a’i out of commission - pending planetary alignment for re-initiating the gate function - approx 2 wks to 3rd moon rise for alignment to be correct.
Writer: Aynne P Morison LJ: aynne_witch
Start Date: 3/30/07
Rating is at Maximum: NC17 - Warning:
Explicit Descriptions of Sexual Situations and Language. Please take my warnings very seriously. If you are not old enough to read this material and do so anyway or can be easily offended by this type of material and choose to read it, remember that it was your choice.
Triumvirate Moons
Col. Mitchell watched the members of the two teams, plus additional scientists, assembling at the bottom of the ramp. SG-1 and SG-20 were going on a joint mission to PX10-4R3, nicknamed Triumvira, for the three moons. Dr. Jackson had translated a tablet that showed that they had called the moons the Triumvirate because without the cooperation of all of them, the Cha’pa’i would not operate.
There were other interesting phenomena that made the planet interesting so a semi-permanent base had been set up. Teams rotated in and out in staggered cycles because of the eccentricity of the planet’s system. Only when the Triumvirate Moons were in alignment in the sky would the Stargate work.
The alignment held for about two hours every two and a half to three weeks. For the first week after the alignment that allowed the gate to work only ships which could withstand the gravitational turbulence between the moons could come or go. Supplies were brought in by both ship and gate, but basically once the gate closed behind them this time they would be on their own for about two weeks until one of the scheduled ships came by.
He decided it was time to remind them all again as he heard Walter starting the dialing sequence that if they missed the window back for any reason it would be two weeks, on the planet, on their own, waiting for pick up on the supply run or waiting to make the next window in the alignment. “So, if you are base crew just helping move supplies, pay attention! This is not a good mission for long good byes!”
“Mark your calendars people and move out!” He shouted when the event horizon settled into the gate frame.
He, Sam and Major Bronson moved through weapons ready, followed by the rest of the teams all carrying supply crates. Another three service personnel followed them through with extra supplies. They would be dialed back to Earth as soon as the outgoing wormhole was severed. They were at the start of their two hour window and would be able to shift materials for a short time if anyone forgot anything.
The Go’auld had given up this place because of the temperamental access. It appeared that they had pulled all the Jaffa back on a last transport ship after the miners had been killed where they stood. The naquada wasn’t that rich here so it was, after all, expendable. Daniel and the other scientists headed off to the large building they had assigned as the lab. Other buildings remaining from the settlement had been fitted out and assigned as other work spaces, barracks, offices, etcetera.
All in all it was fairly comfortable. Solar panels provided climate control, pumped and heated water, ran appliances and equipment. The first team to visit this planet at least had the luxury of coming by Hermes with all of the attendant work force to start converting this site to its current functionality.
Thor had given them a heads-up on the eccentric alignment issue so in most cases, accidents of being left behind were avoided. It had happened a couple times over the years, of course but then it rarely had any effect other than the ‘unexpected vacation’ the team had. Sam looked around the compound one more time before allowing one of the other members to take over as watch until they had the monitoring systems up. It had been about two months since the last team had been here so everything had been locked down except water, lights and food storage.
Like the moons, the planet itself had some odd habits. Two months of its year was so bitterly cold that teams were not sent. At the other side of that calendar was an equal length of time were the heat hovered around one hundred and thirty in the shade. If necessary the buildings and the cooling equipment could handle the extremes. However, this was not a vital base so teams were pulled out and were not replaced for those seasons.
Major Bronson moved up to walk beside Colonel Carter. “Colonel, we have been assigned the Alpha House, so we get the private showers.” Major Bronson smiled at the Colonel’s exclamation.
“Hallelujah! I still think that Murphy put the women in Gamma last time because he liked to see us have to get up and dressed to get back and forth to the showers hoping we’d get pissed and just say the hell with getting dressed.” Sam’s eyes hardened, “if I could prove it I’d bust that weasel.”
“Well, Colonel Mitchell seems to have remembered what you said about it.” She smiled again, “he told me to make certain you knew as soon as possible.” The petite redhead stopped and Sam halted to face her.
“I wanted to thank you for recommending me for SG-20.” Her green eyes lost their usual confident look for a moment. “I know it was nothing that I could prove directly, but I do think that Colonel Murphy was cutting it very close on that last mission. If he had waited even another second we would have been trapped here, he and I.” She looked away from Sam briefly. “He made me very uncomfortable but never went far enough to get caught.”
“Well, you are on SG-20 now, and he’s…” Sam hesitated when she heard the gate spring to life again. They both turned to see who would be chancing coming through now, and what was so important that it couldn’t wait.
Colonel Murphy took a couple stumbling backward steps through then stood on the platform looking back at the gate. The event horizon sizzled, went a strange shade of green then vanished. The window was over. He shook his head and gave an exaggerated gesture of disapproval before moving down to the steps to the main compound. As soon as he spotted Sam and Cara Bronson he gave a rather dismissive wave and headed for Delta.
It was not only the D building on the map of the compound but was delta shaped. Three long exterior walls surrounding a large central space that had tables and chairs. One hallway was the food storage and galley. The next hallway was set up as officer’s office space and the armory. The remaining wall was a semi-glassed colonnade that kept the air circulating through the rest of the building.
Colonel Mitchell looked up from his desk when the door opened without a knock. “Murphy, what brings you here,” he glanced at his watch, “and just in time to stay for two weeks?”
“Hey, I thought I was just putting a box of stuff through. Either I tripped or someone shoved me.” He scuffed the toe of his boot.
“You’re lucky it didn’t break the connection while you were in transit! Now, what are you carrying?” Mitchell was standing now.
“Doctor Jackson left this on his lab table.” Murphy held out a box of instruments.
Mitchell was not happy or buying the ‘left it’ story. Daniel had said nothing to him about needing the equipment and he knew to verify immediately if anything had been left behind. “Now you are here, with no gear, not even a change of clothes, for two weeks.”
“Actually, I believe I left a small bundle of things here the last time,” he shrugged, “I guess I missed them when I packed.”
“Ah, yeah.” Mitchell looked down at the map, “you will be bunking with me, I’ve assigned out all the rest of the spaces already.” Actually there were spaces, but in Gamma and he was not putting Murphy in Gamma under any circumstances. He wanted him where he could keep an eye on him.
“Sounds good,” Murphy said but his voice was strained. “I’ll go check my space from the last mission and see if the bundle is still there and if it is move it to your room.”
*****
Sam and Cara finished putting their personal gear into Gamma. It was a circular building with the shower/toilet room in the center and the sleeping rooms arranged like spokes on a wheel. In the beginning they decided that they could spread out and each have a room, but after seeing Murphy they decided to take the largest room with multiple beds and stay together. It was farther from the toilets, but in this case worth the extra steps through the showers.
A knock at the door post had both women whipping around, both on the alert. Daniel froze until he was certain he’d been recognized. “Ladies,” he gave a little cough, “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He took a tentative half step into the room. “Is everything okay here?”
“Yeah, Daniel, sorry,” Sam smiled and relaxed. She also noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Cara got a dreamy look that crossed her face at the sight of the handsome man in the door. An unsettling, unfamiliar jolt of jealousy jumped through her and she had to stop herself from reacting. “Murphy showed up at the last second, and…”
“Yeah, Sam, about that,” he remembered that Sam had had misgiving about Murphy and had talked with him about the situation. “Mitchell told me he came here with some story about equipment I left in the lab.” He took another couple steps in and adjusted his glasses. “Not only did I not leave equipment that was needed, the box of items he brought is all broken parts I was collecting to send to maintenance.”
“You told Mitchell right?” Sam asked even though she knew he would have done so. “Come on Cara, we’re going to see Mitchell right now.”
The three of them trouped out across the compound. Murphy stood in the shadow of Gamma and watched them go. He knew it wouldn’t take long for them to come back so he had to work quickly. He darted in and around to all the rooms until he found the one the women had claimed. He cursed briefly under his breath when he found they had chosen to share.
In quick order he had placed small wireless devices, cameras and microphones, in places to capture the whole room. He only stopped briefly to be tempted to take and settled for just a touch of each woman’s personal possessions. Next he hit the shower room. Finally he made his way to the place he’d stashed his bundle in the room he’d used before. With this in hand he was ready to face the curious and angry stares of Sam, Daniel, Cara and John Mitchell.
“Colonel, Colonel, Major, Doctor,” he gave a tense smile as he held up the bundle to Mitchell’s inspection. “Got lucky, it was still here.” He watched the jaw muscle across from him tighten. “I’ll get these over to the other barracks and then see if anyone needs any help with set up.” He cut to the side and moved with a purpose.
“Colonel, you and the Major go in and check your room,” Mitchell glanced over his shoulder, “Jackson, with me.” They headed into the shower room.
******
“I hope we are wrong, but if we are not I hope they can’t pick him up with a ship for, oh, a few extra days anyway.” Mitchell was looking high while Daniel was surveying the corners near the floor.
Daniel got the distinct impression that Mitchell seriously wanted Murphy to be returned to Earth in less than perfect physical condition. But then, Daniel wasn’t far behind him on that. “Good thing you actually looked in that box. Oh my god, doesn’t anyone clean before they leave?” Daniel said from one of the stalls.
“Murphy has never been big on policing his area. Somehow he always forgets it’s the maid’s day off.” Mitchell was standing on a shelf that showed a faint boot track in the dust. “I guess he figured since it was coming on the hot season that it would cook the crud off.” He poked at something, “ah ha!” He grabbed on to a small device then jumped down.
“Find one?” Daniel looked back over his shoulder at Mitchell. “Because here’s another one.” He dangled the tiny camera by the hair fine antenna. “He’s gone way over the edge.” Daniel’s voice took on a hard edge that Mitchell was still not quite used to associating with the archaeologist.
“Come on, let’s check in with Carter and Bronson.” Mitchell had a hard set to his eyes and jaw.
Daniel absently reached down and checked that he had a sidearm with him. It was bad enough that the people on these teams had to face outside forces trying to take them out without having someone inside, someone who was supposed to be trusted, destroying things from the center. “They are supposed to be safe with people in this command.” He would make certain Sam was safe, regardless. The thought of anyone hurting her in any way made his blood boil.
Mitchell stopped short and made Daniel halt. “Daniel, listen to me. We are going to make sure that nothing happens to either of them and both of them are trained, battle ready soldiers. They won’t be easy targets.”
“They shouldn’t be targets from inside our own ranks to begin with,” Daniel started to shove past Mitchell.
“Whoa, hold up.” Mitchell got a better grip on Daniel and realized that the arm he held was shaking and Daniel was near to being out of control. “You need to back up and get a grip. Going off in a red haze is not going to help either of them and is just as likely to get you killed. If he realizes you are on the way to kill him, which you are telegraphing right now, he’ll drop you like a bad habit from across the compound.”
Sam watched from the doorway, she could hear part of what was being said but she could read Daniel’s face easier than hearing the words. He was ready to kill Murphy. She wondered at the changes in her friend. When he had first become part of SG-1 he had cried after battles when he’d had to kill. He was not a soldier.
Gradually she had watched as he became, out of necessity, more the warrior than he had ever thought to be. Right now that warrior was ready to defend them without regard for himself at all. She did miss some of the gentle man that she had first met but had grown to depend on him even in a pitched battle. The bumbling professor with the heart of a poet and the mind of a savant. When he walked away from Mitchell to take a few deep breathes Sam went to him passing a quick nod with Mitchell as he went to check on Cara and the objects found surveilling the bedroom.
****
She walked up beside him and gave him a shoulder to shoulder nudge. “Hey.”
“Hi, Sam.” He gave a great shuddering sigh. “Find anything?”
“Enough,” she crossed her arms under her bosom to keep from following through on the unexpected urge to hug him. “What about you?”
“Yeah, some.” He flushed deep red when the anger tried to well up again. He stuffed his hands in his pockets then looked up at the ceiling. “Sam, I know I didn’t do this, but I’m sorry it’s happening to you and Cara.”
“Thanks,” she bumped his shoulder again, “besides, if you hadn’t said something to Mitchell about the parts in the box in the first place he might have done worse. Mitchell might not have found the monitor equipment at the bottom.”
Daniel started walking and Sam stepped along beside him. Once they were away from the common room and out of sight of the doors he turned and faced her. “It is killing me to think anyone would do this to you. I wanted to kill him with my bare hands Sam, that’s not like me.”
“No, its not, but then this was much more personal. You’re my friend and he’s supposed to be a trusted member of our command. We are supposed to be able to feel safe around members of our command. In your case he used you to try to get to me. It was indirect, but he did it.”
“You are amazing you know. All this and you are so calm.” She dropped her eyes to the side. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. In an instant he realized that her calm exterior was battle dressing. She was trembling. He tipped chin so that she had to give him her eyes again. Fear and fury boiled up in her and showed in the depths of her eyes. He brought his arms around her. “You are safe, Mitchell, Teal’c, me, we have your back Sam.”
“I know that,” she leaned against his strong form. “I’m more pissed than frightened. But I’m pissed because he could frighten me.”
“I’d be worried if you weren’t at least a little frightened by this. It would mean that you have shut off too much.” He gave her another comforting squeeze. Daniel knew they needed to get back to Mitchell and see the rest of this through, but just then he was content to be standing there with Sam in his arms.
***
‘Sam. In his arms.’ The thought tumbled through his mind. He was standing in a dim room, with Samantha Carter in his arms. She was leaning against him comfortably. Nothing provocative specifically. Unless he thought about the way she felt in his arms or the way he felt when he realized her arms were also around him. Her strong hands on his back, fingers flexing softly.
Sam felt her fingers slip over the solid muscles of Daniel’s back and thought about needing to eventually get back to Mitchell. ‘Eventually.’ Where had that come from? In fact, why had she not already taken a step back? She could accept Daniel’s comfort as a friend and be fine with that couldn’t she? Then why were her arms still around him and why was it so difficult to think of letting go?
Daniel gave her one last squeeze then stepped back slowly, letting his hands glide down her arms, still reluctant to give up all contact. “Better?”
Sam nodded, “you?”
“Yeah,” he gave a little cough, “we’d better get back to the others.” He gestured for her to proceed him back through the doorway into the common room.
They both jolted when Mitchell called out, “where the hell have you two been? We were beginning to think you’d gone after him yourselves and left us out.” He was trying to keep his words light in spite of the circumstances.
“We both needed to calm down and over the years we’ve gotten good at talking each other down.” Daniel offered.
“Hey that’s what your buddies are for,” Mitchell chimed in. “Now, let’s go deal with Murphy.”
***
Easier said than done. Murphy had not been put in command of a unit for nothing. Even if he was a complete creep and an emerging psychopath he was also still a soldier, with good instincts about his own survival. He had grabbed weapons, some gear and food and busted a move into the outlying bush.
Mitchell organized search teams and got Sam and Cara situated with their own projects to keep them occupied. He left them with the contingent of scientists, Daniel among them. Daniel was to work the communications equipment and monitor for response from any of the ‘friendly’ ships that might come close enough to pick up the signal being broadcast for the Hermes, the newest in the growing Earth Space Fleet. They were all hoping that when Murphy had weaseled his way through the gate that someone had started an emergency plan.
Sam walked over from the science station she’d been trying to stay focused on to see if Daniel was picking up any return signals at all. “Any noise?”
“Just static,” he sighed and shifted in his seat. “I was hoping that, since he was probably just supposed to put the box through, being that close to the cut off, they would have sent one of the ships to check on us.”
“General Landry has probably started the process, but may not have realized it was especially urgent.” She shrugged, “besides, its still going to be a week before a ship could land to take him away.”
“Yeah, it would still be nice if they knew the situation though.” Daniel was having trouble thinking about anything rationally. All he had thought about since they had discovered Murphy’s bugs was how good it had felt with Sam in his arms and how much he wanted to hurt Murphy.
“Is something bothering you besides Murphy?” Sam watched his face. She knew he was working on a puzzle of some sort, his eyebrows were knit together.
“Ah, just some stray thoughts.” He gave an unconvincing smile, “Life, the universe and everything kind of stuff.”
“Are you re-reading Douglas Adams again?” She leaned down conspiratorially, “tell me you brought them with you, I forgot my off duty reading list.”
“Ah, not the books, the cds.” He grinned, “but I’ll share.”
“Good,” she smiled and started back to her project, “how about after dinner?”
“Okay, I’ll bring the player over.” He grinned then focused in on the radio unit again. For the next few hours there was little to do but send the hail and wait for the pickup.
Finally as dusk was falling. “Hey, we’ve got a signal from the Hermes!” He waived at Sam. “Hermes this is SG-1 Dr Jackson. We have a serious situation.”
“Dr. Jackson, this is Hermes, can you give us the nature of the situation?” The communications officer responded.
“Colonel Murphy got here under false pretenses and has targeted the two female officers at the base. He fled into the bush. Once he is apprehended he needs to be immediately transported away from this base and back to Stargate Command.”
“Dr Jackson, you are aware that we can not make planet-fall until the gravity turbulence has subsided to navigable levels.” The response came back.
“Yes, we are aware, but we want you to be aware that this incident was not accidental and requires immediate attention as soon as Hermes is able to enter the system.” Daniel growled into the microphone.
“The situation and urgency is being relayed to Stargate Command. We will continue to monitor this frequency and will relay our orders and arrival once we have that information. Hermes out.”
“Understood, Jackson out.” Daniel released the microphone switch. He turned to Sam, “at least they know now.”
“Yes, they do.” She gave a quick shudder. “Cara and I are supposed to meet for dinner. Care to join?”
“Um, actually, I kind of need to,” Daniel stood. “Mitchell doesn’t want either of the two of you without at least one other body around for the time being.”
“Ah, so you are supposed to be our body guard?” Sam gave him a crooked smile.
“Would you rather it was Felger?” Daniel checked his sidearm for the second time that day, “at least I hit what I aim at ninety eight percent of the time on the range now.”
“Not Felger, that’s worse than McKay!” She laughed then flinched when Felger’s head popped up from his work station.
Daniel popped an arm around her shoulder and turned her toward the door, “let’s go find Cara, before he comes over okay.” He was trying to stifle a laugh and having trouble keeping it in.
***
They found Cara with two of her new teammates discussing the last mission here with Murphy. One was paying careful attention to the information the other was listening with half an ear and keeping a careful scan of the surroundings.
“Colonel Carter, Dr. Jackson,” the three stood at their approach.
“Are all the search teams back?” Sam inquired.
“Yes, ma’am.” The lieutenant said quickly, “Colonel Mitchell decided that there were too few of us to continue a full search and with it getting dark it was decided to come back in and set up a perimeter here.”
“You two get some rest then, we’ll escort Major Bronson to the mess.” Sam motioned for Cara to come along. The two men moved off toward the barracks they were assigned to.
“This is all so bizarre, to have to have guards from one of our own.” Cara fell into step with Daniel and Sam.
***
After dinner Mitchell saw Carter and Bronson back to Gamma and checked in with the two men that had stayed there guarding it while Daniel went to get his cd player and his copies of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to play for he and Sam. Cara, Mitchell and a few of the others set up a game of cards.
Daniel set the player between them. “We could use the outside speakers, but I think if we turn it up enough to hear comfortably we are likely to disturb the game. There should be enough separation of the ear buds that we can each have one if we sit side by side.”
“That works,” Sam arranged some pillows against the wall and slid back to sit comfortably. Taking the offered ear bud she fitted it to her ear and waited.
“I’ll turn it down at first and we’ll take it up to where we can both hear and its not too loud for either of us.” Sam nodded and Daniel got himself comfortable and started adjusting the sound level.
“That’s good.” Sam said and Daniel stopped fiddling and restarted the cd at the beginning.
At first neither of them noticed that they had settled in closer together than was strictly necessary for the accommodation of the ear wires. Daniel noticed first that their hands were resting between them, in comfortable contact. He had to fight the urge to intertwine his fingers with hers. He could see the others at the table playing cards and technically she was off duty, but they had never been ‘together’ before this and it was still a mission.
He tried to redirect his thoughts back to the story but his mind had begun to take a completely different tack and he shifted slightly to draw his knee up and rest the ‘offending’ hand on that knee. It appeared relaxed to anyone glancing but it kept his uncomfortable secondary reaction from being too obvious.
Sam was a bit more that disappointed when Daniel shifted his hand away. Hers now felt cool where his had been. She began to wonder where these feelings were coming from. They’ve known each other for years, what had changed to make this happen now? Trying to focus on the story was not helping. Pulling the ear bud out she shifted to the side slightly and moved to the edge of the bed.
“Sam,” Daniel hit stop and also removed his ear bud, “you okay?”
“Yeah, I guess I’m just not ready to settle yet,” she stood and stretched, “think it would be okay if we walked around a bit, inside the common room, but just moved around a while?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem.” He stood and looked toward the table, “we’re taking a stroll around the common room, we aren’t leaving the building.” The 'common room' was actually a very wide hallway that banded the building. There were wide spots with benches part of the wall and the doors to the rooms on one side and the exterior wall had spaced windows along it. The thick alien glass was steel hard so they were not worried about being 'in the open'.
Mitchell looked up, waived and tossed chips into the center. “See if Timmons wants to rotate in, I’m gettin’ my ass whooped.”
“Will do,” Sam called over her shoulder.
They headed to the main door first and stood watch while Timmons and Mitchell changed places. Heading back into the dim common room they started a circuit around the large circular space. Neither spoke for some time.
As they started the third circuit Sam first scrubbed her hand along her thigh to remove the sweat of tension then took a chance and took Daniel’s hand. His hesitation was only momentary before his fingers twined with hers.
“Sam, I…,”
“Not, yet.”
Shortly they were standing back in the room they had talked in earlier. They stood, still hand in hand, not saying a word. Just finding comfort in being close. Daniel raised his other hand and caressed her cheek. She leaned into the touch.
They were not certain who moved first, they only knew that there was an electric jolt through them both when their lips met. The shock took their breath away and that first kiss was short lived. Daniel untangled their fingers and drew his other hand up her arm until he was cradling her face in both hands. He heard her breath hitch before he brought his lips down on hers again.
The kiss quickly became intense and their arms wound around each other. Sam backed up against the wall for stability and Daniel leaned into her. She could feel him growing hard between them and knew that this could get out of hand in another few moments, but she didn’t want to stop any more than he did. With serious effort they began to disentangle themselves.
“I don’t know why this happened now, but I am not sorry,” Daniel kissed her again, but lightly this time.
“Why should anything with us be any easier than anything else?” She gave him a smile then rested against his chest.
He kissed the top of her head, then nuzzled down until he could kiss her ear, “I want to make love with you Samanthan.”
She shuddered at the touch of his breath on her skin. “God, Daniel, I want to.”
“And we can’t,” he sighed against her neck, “I know we can’t.” He lifted his head and looked into her eyes, “not now, but soon Samantha.”
“I can’t remember ever wanting to so badly,” she drew him in for another steaming kiss. Her body shuddered against his. His hardness pushing against her heat and his hand cupped her breast.
He groaned and pulled away, “oh, this is not helping.”
“I…I know,” she ran a trembling hand through her sweat dampened hair. “We should go back.”
“Go back, yeah,” Daniel took a few steps away looked out into the empty hallway. He could hear the laughing and talking from the card game. “I think I’ll be able to walk straight in a few more minutes.”
“Daniel, we both know its going to be difficult to be alone together any time soon.” She sighed.
“And we both know it is going to be difficult to not want to be together and not act like we want to be together.” He walked back to her.
“We will manage.” She took his hand and they walked back toward the noise and light. Just at the edge of it they kissed again then let go their hands.
***
Over the next few days they were able to pass off the growing tension between them as edginess due to the situation. Daniel sat in the lab one evening trying to figure out where this turn in their relationship had come from while pretending to work on a tablet. They had been friends for so long that this change was unsettling in the extreme. He was very concerned. What if it was only loneliness and the stress? He decided it was time to tread carefully, very carefully.
***
Sam rechecked the data on her screen for the tenth time. She kept seeing Daniel’s face on the screen. She gave up and clicked it off and still saw his face in the screen. Swiveling around she came face to face with the man who made the reflection in the black screen. “Hi, been there long?” She closed the laptop with a click.
“Just a second ago,” he grinned and shuffled, “feel like going to eat?”
“Not that I hate your company or anything, but I’m really not hungry right now.” She looked around the room and realized everyone else had gone elsewhere. “Can we talk?”
“Sure,” he sat down beside her.
“I’m scared Daniel, and its not about Murphy.” Her fingers gripped the edge of the table.
“I’m scared too Samantha,” he took her hand, “I’m scared to death that we could be tearing apart a relationship that means the world to me.” He kissed her hand, “and I’m scared that we could be over thinking ourselves out of something wonderful.”
She gave a deep sigh, “well, that’s one thing,” she gave a weak smile, “we are still thinking on the same wave length.”
“The one thing that I don’t ever want to do is hurt you or loose you.” He turned her eyes to him, “I can’t imagine my life without you no matter what happens. I don’t ever want to be without you.”
“I know,” she smiled, “I love you too.” The kiss they shared then was not of heat but tenderness. The heat followed as they allowed their kisses to continue until finally they separated when they heard others coming near the lab.
“Maybe we should go eat now.” Daniel stood and shifted around a bit.
“Yeah,” Sam stood and they walked out together to put some space between the discussion and any chance at taking action.
***
Some how, Murphy managed to raid the mess a couple times and not get caught during the intervening days until they were able to dial home again. The Hermes had stayed close in the beginning in case they caught him before the whole team was ready to leave. The gravity was still an issues and they would have to beam anyone in and out one at a time to maintain safety.
In the end, Hermes got an urgent call to Earth and left about two days before the gate was useable. With the situation seeming to be mostly in hand, even if Murphy was still on the loose, the teams began systematically shutting off controls and temporarily disabling as many as possible. Someone who knew the command codes could reset the functions, but they would leave Murphy no way to access anything left on the base.
On the first dial out the teams sent the normally Earth-bound scientists back with their research while the armed teams guarded the gate. SG-20 went next, taking Cara Bronson with them back to the safety of the base. Each one carried as much gear as they could manage. SG-1 kept survival equipment with them because as the last team to go they were going to cut the window close so that Murphy would not have a good chance to dial out to anywhere. This meant that if Murphy showed and slowed them down they may have to hold out for a bit while they waited for the next exit window.
Mitchell and Teal’c scanned the area while Daniel finished dialing and picked up his load, Sam was right beside him. The gate flashed open and in that instant Murphy struck. The shots from the zat knocked Sam and Daniel flat and Murphy charged the gate from behind Mitchell and Teal’c.
Teal’c made a grab and took a zat blast to the chest that pushed him back into the event horizon. Mitchell took on Murphy hand to hand but the momentum carried both of them in behind Teal’c. For a few moments there was just the hum of the Stargate. Sam and Daniel roused just in time to see the event horizon flash the strange green and flicker out of existence.
“Well that just sucks rocks.” Daniel rolled to sit up. He looked at Sam’s face and knew that she was agreeing with him. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just tingly from the damn zat.” She looked around the platform. “Teal’c and Mitchell must have ended up going through with Murphy.”
“We’ll hope they had enough time then.” Daniel stood and dusted off his pants. “At least we still have some supplies left,” he glanced at her, “and I’m guessing you have the command codes to unlock the water supply.”
“Yeah, and we’d better get to it, it will be dark soon.” She hoisted up gear and started for Delta.
“So, I guess I should be glad I’ve still got my cds.” Daniel picked up a couple boxes and followed behind Sam.
***
“This will be simpler if we take the office and commander’s quarters in Delta. That way I only have to restore the one building.” Sam said as she poked information into her laptop that was now back in the network system.
“That works,” Daniel was testing controls as Sam directed him to make certain that the equipment was coming back on line properly. “We’ll have water, power, food. We should be pretty comfortable for the duration.”
“We should be able to at least radio out in a few hours.” Sam finished keying information and took some of the packs toward the mess. “I’m going to get this stuff back under refrigeration.”
“Okay, I’ll move the other gear to the bunk rooms - you want right or left?” Daniel called after her.
“Left is fine.” Sam called back just before she entered the mess. She was happy to find that the refrigeration that they had left on had indeed stayed up. They hadn’t had time to test the background circuits they’d left on, but the fridge was still cold and it would have started to warm up since they’d shut everything down hours ago. When she unlocked the seals everything was as it should be.
She heard Daniel behind her, “hey, we didn’t loose the ice cream, want some?”
“Sure, why not?” He grinned and took the offered tub of Ben and Jerry’s and popped up on the counter to sit. “That means the rest of the ‘abandoned’ food will be okay too - great.”
“Yeah,” she smiled around the spoon. Finishing the bite, “at least we know we can shut almost everything down between missions during the work seasons if we need to.”
“So we didn’t think about that before why?” Daniel was waving his spoon around.
“It didn’t seem important at the time.” Sam
“And we decided to do it this way this time because?” Daniel reached out his spoon and snatched a bite of Sam’s and offered his tub for reciprocal bite snatching.
“Because, we didn’t want Murphy to have access, but if ‘we’ got stuck here trying to catch Murphy….” Sam popped the spoonful of Caramel Sutra from Daniel’s tub in her mouth then waved her spoon around.
“Lucky for us then, huh?” Daniel snatched another bite of Phish Food from Sam.
“Hey Mister, you could ask you know.” Sam hopped down from the spot on the counter she’d perched on and started to walk away.
“Okay,” Daniel dropped to the floor and followed behind her, “so, Samantha, wanna share ice creams?”
“I might be persuaded,” she grinned and headed around toward the offices at a quick walk. ‘God, what the hell am I doing? I’m ‘playing catch me’ with Daniel!’ The thought made her walk faster so she could think. ‘What do I do if he ‘catches’ me? I mean, do I want to take another step when I know what is on his mind?’ Her thoughts went back to the day they first kissed. “I want to make love with you Samantha.” His voice echoed in her mind and she was running without realizing it.
Daniel thought it was cute at first but then saw her picking up speed. He propped the ice cream on a window ledge and sprinted after her. Something was wrong, she was flat out running. He caught up and carefully blocked her from running farther ahead. When she stopped he gently set his hands on her shoulders. “Samantha, what is it?”
“I think I scared myself,” she was shivering slightly but he did not move. “I started asking myself what I was doing? Was I joking with my friend, or was I inviting something else.”
“Hey, this is me,” Daniel leaned his forehead against hers, “we are both still worried about this, I would have understood if you said no.”
In that moment Samantha saw again the gentle man she had first met. He was still there, mixed in with the warrior he had become. “I know you would have,” she gave a little shrug, “but I’m not certain I would have understood it myself.”
“No one needs to be in a rush here,” Daniel said quietly, “and we have time to talk, no interruptions. At least until they can divert a ship here.” He slipped an arm around her shoulder and headed back toward the offices. When they neared the door he picked up the melting tub of ice cream from the window ledge and carried it with him.
They sat in companionable silence and finished the now mostly liquid contents of the two containers. Both of them immersed in their own thoughts. At about two hours past sunset they finally got at least a radio contact with the Hermes.
“This is Colonel Samantha Carter. Dr Jackson and I are fine, it was just a zat stun. We have re-powered the Delta building and have food and water. No one is injured. We’ll be fine until we can be picked up or the gate is clear again. What is the status with Murphy?”
“This is Hermes, good to hear that you two are okay Colonel. We have some tense people back at SG Command that will be able to stop pacing once they hear this report. Murphy was taken into custody after Colonel Mitchell was peeled off of him. They came through the gate wrestling for the zat. Teal’c had a slight cut on his head from falling through the gate and landing hard. Both of them are reported fine and the rest of the personnel made it through without a problem. They were hoping that you had gotten ‘stuck’ rather than having tried to make it at the last second and been lost.”
“Yeah, we’re thinking its better to have an unauthorized vacation than having not made the timing.” Sam confirmed.
“Per General Landry, you are both ‘off duty’ for the duration so, if you two want to play scrabble or work cross words for the next short while, it won’t go on your records as dereliction.”
“Thanks, I think.” Sam and Daniel both laughed.
“Hermes will be monitoring this frequency while we are in range. If we have to leave we’ll send a message and they should have another ship here as soon as possible. If we can we will get you out as soon as the gravity allows us in. Have a nice vacation! Hermes out.”
“We’ll be here, Carter out.” Sam clicked off the microphone. “Well, all around everything is pretty okay.”
“Yeah, Murphy is caught, no one was badly injured and they all got back safe.” Daniel looked back at the screen on his laptop. “Hey, I thought I’d deleted these, I guess not.”
“What?” She peeked over his shoulder. A list of movies pulled up from the thumb drive he had plugged in.
“I thought I’d cleared this drive for other stuff,” Daniel hummed and kept scanning the list, “maybe I grabbed the wrong drive, I just recorded this one.”
“Well, either way it means we have something other than your cds to pass the time.” Sam sat back down and looked at her own computer. She was still shaky after their encounter earlier.
“You want the shower first?” Daniel sat back and stretched but did not look at her.
“Thanks, but I’ve got something running here, you go ahead.” Sam taped a few more keys.
“You aren’t ‘working’ are you?” Daniel asked then peeked over her shoulder. “Sam, those are very scary looking equations.”
“Not so much, just an energy project,” Sam looked up at him, “and this is relaxing just now, there’s no deadline and no one is expecting this, it’s a personal puzzle.”
“As long as its not work Colonel.” Daniel patted her shoulder and headed out for the showers.
***
When Sam finally shut the computer down for the night and headed toward the rooms she found Daniel on a bunk in the room he’d chosen, head phones on, asleep with the lights on. She clicked the switch off then went to the room she had asked for and got her things together for the shower. The silence of the place was soothing now that they were certain everything was settled for the time being.
Stepping into the warm spray she let her mind wander. She thought again about Daniel, the kisses they’d shared, the wanting that surprised her and the need that was strong enough to be unsettling. It didn’t surprise her that she did want, that was not the problem. It was ‘whom’ that was causing her concern. After all, how many times had she fallen for someone, someone who she would not have to keep the ‘secrets’ from, only to have them die. One at her own hands. The thought of loosing Daniel in so final a way brought her to the edge of tears. She had lost him, over and over in one way or another during their missions. Could she handle loosing him at all if she let herself fall in love?
The time they’d spent together over the last couple weeks replayed in her mind. She realized then she was already ‘in love’ with him, she didn’t just ‘love her friend’. Once they crossed the physical line there would be no turning back. She poured the bath gel in her hand and began to wash.
‘And if we don’t cross the physical line, if we don’t find out what ‘being in love’ is for us, we’ve lost each other anyway.’ With her hands slick from the gel skimming over her skin the sensations reminded her of what she had felt when they kissed. The little shivers that crossed her skin began to send other tingling sensations over her body despite her attempts to focus away from them. The more she tried to resist the temptation of a fantasy the more insistent the desire to explore became. ‘Maybe I’m just horny, its not like I’ve been with anyone recently.’
With that thought in her mind she allowed her fingers to dance over her skin and tried to visualize anyone but Daniel. That was only partly successful. She could start off with someone else in mind but came back to Daniel in moments. When her body hit its peak she bit her lip to keep from crying out his name. Gulping air when she could breath again she finished her shower quickly and turned off the taps. The rough towel chaffed over sensitive skin but she finished and dressed before going back to the rooms.
Pausing for one brief moment she looked at the sleeping Daniel and felt an almost painful desire to go to him now. That, she decided, was not the way. They would both be awake, no surprises, no ambush the first time. Samantha Carter admitted it to herself, she wanted a first time with Daniel and likely many more times. Turning from the door she went to her bed on the other side of the hall. She did not sleep immediately, and when she did her sleep was filled with dreams of Daniel.
**
Daniel lay in the dark, not moving. He had seen her standing there watching him and wondered what she was thinking. Her quiet footsteps had sounded loud to him in the deep silence of the place. He had heard the water running, heard her sharp gasps and quiet moans. They echoed down the dark hallway between the rooms and the showers. Try as he might the image of her slick with water and soap flooded his mind and he had responded by finding release in his own way. He wondered who was in her mind as she touched herself and hoped it was him.
***
Both of them were up with the sunrise the next day. Both had the look of a sleepless night. Both dove into coffee as soon as they were able. Both avoided looking directly at the other and spoke only in single words until the coffee had started its magic migration through their respective systems.
“I hope to hell we don’t run out of coffee before the end of this.” Daniel mumbled over the rim of his second cup.
“Two ten pound canisters.” Samantha quoted back at him
“We might just make it.” Daniel sipped again and sighed.
Samantha laughed at the thought that the two of them might not make it if the coffee didn’t hold out. “Addiction is a real bitch.”
“Yeah, it certainly is,” he smiled and sipped again. “So, did you sleep okay? Its so quiet here that the few sounds around seem to echo all over. Last night I thought it was raining and it was just the shower.”
Sam almost bobbled her coffee. “I didn’t realize I woke you, I’m sorry.” She was wondering exactly how much he could have heard.
“No problem, it was just different.” He gave her a quick wink, “after being used to traffic or the base, its just different here.”
“Different, yeah, it sure is.” She finished her coffee and started thinking about actual food now that her system was primed. “You interested in food?”
“Sure, you got a plan or just wondering?” Daniel stood and went to the fridge.
“I was thinking, we’ve got all the stuff for pancakes and no one else to worry about.” Sam pulled out a mixing bowl.
“Sounds good, I’ll work on bacon or sausage - ah, got a preference?” He was still bent over in the fridge and she ended up focused on his butt rather than the question.
“Um, nice,” she shook her head when he straightened and looked over his shoulder at her. “Ah, I said some bacon would be nice.”
“Okay,” he gave her a funny look, but got out the bacon and eggs for the pancakes. He had this tingly feeling running up his back that happens when he catches someone he wasn’t necessarily expecting to be ‘checking him out’. Now, since they’d been dancing around the issue he was pleased, but it was just so different with Sam. Just like the silence was different, pleasant but slightly unsettling in a way.
They spoke little while cooking, but Daniel did take a moment to return the admiring glance when Sam took her turn bending into the refrigerator. ‘Damn Samantha.’ He was brought back to his task by bacon grease snapping onto the back of his hand.
Once the food was ready and they sat to eat it was Sam’s turn to comment about last night. “You know, you fell asleep with the lights on last night.”
“Um,” Daniel looked up from his plate, “I did, but they were off…. oh, thanks.”
“No problem,” she poked at the last few bites, “you looked so relaxed I didn’t want to disturb you.” The silence that followed was slightly awkward.
“Tell you what, since you did the ‘big’ portion for breakfast I’ll wash up.” Daniel started gathering the dishes.
“I’ll dry, since you did the bacon.” Sam took the mugs and followed.
Washing up turned into a foam fight ending with both of them dotted with dish suds. They were laughing until their sides hurt and water was splashed around the kitchen.
“Good thing we were finished cleaning up before we got foolish.” Sam said swatting at him with a towel.
“Yeah, I guess we are just too responsible for our own goofiness.” Daniel came toward her intending to brush a clump of bubbles from her hair. “You have bubbles in your hair fair lady, scattered around like spring flowers for May Day.” His fingers touched the bubbles and Sam’s eyes caught his.
“If I’m a fair lady, does that make you the knight in shining armor?” She caught her breath when his fingers slid into her hair and toyed with it.
“I’d like to be.” He brought his lips to hers and felt the fire light between them.
The kisses grew deeper until Daniel began kissing her face, then along the line of her jaw to her neck. Samantha molded herself to him while giving him more access to the side of her neck. She stiffened then relaxed into his hand when he caressed her breast through her shirt.
Her eyes were heated and unfocused when he stepped back from her. The cool touch of the air now between them drew her attention. Looking up into his eyes she saw not only desire but love shining back at her. “Come to bed Samantha, let me make love with you.”
“My room, I’ve got the bigger bed.” She said quietly before taking his hand and walking with him back to the rooms.
***
They walked in and she turned to face him again. They moved together renewing the heated kissing. Daniel loosened her tee shirt from the waist of her pants, drawing it up and over her head. No bra kept his eyes or hands from her and shortly his tee shirt joined hers. He guided her to sit on the edge of the bed and knelt before her, kissing and caressing all of her that was now uncovered. Taking each in turn he kissed and suckled each breast reveling in the encouraging sounds she made.
In another few moments he was sliding pants and panties toward the floor down her long and toned legs. Trailing kisses down her body he crept lower until his lips caressed her heat. A long moaning sigh escaped her when he stroked his hands over her body and made love to her with his mouth. She rose on the sensations until her body shook and broke, her mind splintering into shards of light.
When finally her body subsided Daniel rose from the floor and slid up beside her on the bed. Subtle caresses and kisses both soothed and inflamed her again. Her hand took his length and stroked it carefully to not dislodge the condom he had already put on.
Rising over her he settled between her open legs and let her guide him in. “Sam, open your eyes love.” He waited until she focused on him. With their eyes locked he slid into her for the first time and held there for just a moment.
She gave one sighing breath then called his name softly, “Daniel.” He began to move in her, feeling her body surrounding him. Rocking up to meet his thrust she encouraged him on. “Oh my god, Daniel.”
“Too good, not going to make…” sweat beaded on his brow.
“Fly love, take me with you.” Sam cooed to him and he changed his pace. Sam felt her body aching to find release again. Daniel shifted his hips and the angle changed. The sensation flooded through her like a storm. Her body contracted around him hard, over and over, going back up and releasing again before the last one had even stopped racing through her.
Daniel felt her body below him, engulfing him, shudder and quake. Responding to his touch. Finally on a hard thrust in he held himself deep within her his muscles straining, locking up, as he emptied himself. Rocking slowly, thrusting gently after the first explosion he eased himself down from his release while the last of it moved through him. Moving slightly to the side he lay down without crushing her, taking her with him to settle against his chest. They lay, still conjoined, stroking each other while their bodies fought for breath. They fell into a gentle doze while Triumvira’s sun climbed toward mid-day.
***
Sam woke first. She stretched and purred like a contented kitten. Looking down at her lover’s face she saw the lines he had earned smoothed away in the relaxation of sleep. On a whim, she found his glasses and perched them back on his face. There was the face of her first memory of him. Geek glasses, and the open face of one who had not yet faced all the hardship and heartache of the battles they have since fought.
Love and lust coursed through her. With talented fingers she teased him back into readiness. He moaned in his sleep and called her name. She considered a condom but her shot of depo had been renewed just before this mission, they were safe for at least another 3 months and there was no doubt that they were both ‘clean’.
Rising up she straddled his hips, then leaned down and kissed him awake. His eyes opened and focused. His hands began stroking and molding her form. She sat back and prepared to take him deep. “Ah, Samantha…” he started.
“Shhh, we’re safe.” With double gasps their bodies slid together for the first time with no barrier at all. When she felt her body settled down against his she began to rock and slide on him. He fit her body well and she relished the feel of him naked inside her.
Feeling her shifting position for better contact Daniel slipped his hand down and pressed his thumb into her, teasing her sensitive flesh and feeling her crash over the edge into bliss. With a few more thrusts he followed her.
***
Sam woke still laying over his chest. He had managed to remove his glasses in the intervening time. “Um, if breakfast affects us like this, I wonder what lunch and dinner will do for us?” She sighed when his hands stroked down her back.
“With any luck, it will do the same thing at a minimum.” He gave a quiet moan when she kissed his neck. “Hmmm, I feel like I would like a shower.” He caressed her ass. “Care to join?”
“We do that together and we will never get out of bed for the rest of the day, and we do need more food and definitely some water.”
“I’ll go take a quick shower and then make sandwiches.” He rolled them to their sides. “How does that sound?”
“Perfect.” Sam kept a hand on him as long as she could while he got up from the bed.
***
She heard the water running and lay back, stretching from her fingers tips to her toes. ‘I am not going to be able to give this up when we get home.’ She sighed and stretched again. ‘We’ll have to talk about that.’
When the water went off and she heard the slap of wet feet on the tile she picked up her towel and headed to the showers. The warm spray felt wonderful. She was mildly sore from lack of any other recent encounters and the fact that he was a bit ‘more’ than she was used to. It wasn’t a bad thing, in fact, it was a reminder of her recent pleasure, but it did make her think that they may not be able to spend their entire time doing nothing else.
***
Daniel had gone to the kitchen fresh from his shower, sans covering. Why bother currently? That was his question. He grabbed the sliced chicken breast, bread, mayo, lettuce and tomato. In short order he was on his way back to the bedroom with cans of soda and nicely made sandwiches. He entered the bedroom to a delightful sight.
Sam stood with her back to the door and just as he entered her towel dropped to her feet. “Now, that is definitely an appetizing sight.” He kissed her shoulder then deposited the food on the bedside table.
“All this and a naked chef too, what more could a girl want?” Sam teased at him.
He smiled but a serious note crept into his voice. “I want to make sure that you want for nothing. Not ever again.”
“I like the sound of that.” She let herself be drawn into a deep kiss.
“I will not go back home and pretend this didn’t happen,” he looked deeply into her eyes, “I love you Samantha and I want us to be together. If not on the team then at home, between missions, I want to be able to tell the world I love you.”
“One of us will have to transfer…” Sam started and Daniel put a finger over her lips.
“I’ll do it. I can be the ‘walking library’ on any team.” He smiled. “As long as I have you to hold when we are home, I can handle anything else. Marry me.”
“Ho..mar…wha?” Sam sputtered for a moment, then, “I was going to say ‘that was fast’, but its been 10 years coming hasn’t it?” He simply nodded. “Yes, Daniel, just as soon as we can.”
“As soon as we can?” Daniel smirked, “because we can call up the Hermes and have the Commander handle it.”
“That’s fine by me.” Sam set the challenge back on him.
“Alright, I’ll get them on the radio.” Daniel headed for the unit.
“Daniel!” Sam caved. “Let’s get home and get the paperwork sorted first.” She swatted his arm when he began to laugh. “After all, this happens too fast and someone will think we got pregnant while here.”
“Anything you want Samantha,” Daniel drew her into another kiss, “anything at all.”
~c’est fini~