The paper she held confirmed that it was finally real, she was a doctor.
Doctor Samantha Carter. Wow. The words swirled around in her head like a cloud; ominous and heavy.
“I’m damned proud of you, kid,” her dad told her, slipping an arm around her shoulders. “Your mom is too.”
She grinned up at him from the chair she’d needed to take while opening the envelope. “Thanks, Dad.”
“You act like she’s a real doctor or something,” her brother groaned, rolling his eyes as he leaned against the TV cabinet. “It’s just a PHD, Sammie.”
“Just a PHD?” she responded, frowning at him. “Just?”
Mark shrugged, taking a sip of his Coke before answering, “That’s right. You won’t be saving lives.” He sneered. “Just…glued to that damned microscope of yours.”
“Now you wait just a damned minute, Mark,” she started, getting to her feet, face flush with anger.
“Hey, hey now,” her mother interrupted, coming to stand between her two children. “Let’s not turn this day into a war, alright?” She turned to her daughter, grabbing both shoulders and smiling. “I’m very, very proud of you, Samantha. And you too, Mark.”
Her mother kissed her forehead, and while she smiled back Sam’s temper still simmered just under the surface. If there was anything she hated more than her brother’s obnoxious mistreatment it was her mother’s placating personality. She’d worked unbelievably hard, long hours to get to where she was, and she wasn’t about to let her family ruin it for her.
She kissed her father on the cheek, bid her mother goodnight, and gave one last, scowling glare at her brother. He stuck out his tongue in retort and it took everything inside her to resist taking him out at the kneecaps.
As she climbed the stairs to her room, however, she tried to make herself relax. Her research had truly paid off and her paper on the physics of accretion flows and jets around black holes and neutron stars, while not garnering a job with NASA, had impressed them enough to be forwarded to some government officials. She was to report for her new position at Cheyenne Mountain in one hundred and eighty days. Six months and counting until she could move out on her own.
The thought made her giddy and as she crawled into bed that night, beneath her ceiling of green, glow-in-the-dark stars, and pulled her comforter up to her chin, she giggled.
Doctor Samantha Carter. Who’d have thought?
She couldn’t wait to find out what the future had in store.
***
Jack held her close and she breathed in the smell of his skin, knowing full and well it could possibly be for the last time.
“I love you,” he whispered into her ear, and tears sprung to her eyes, making her cling to him briefly before he pulled away. She caught the eyes of the man she loved and silently pleaded with him to come back safely.
But as her fiancé and the man from another Earth, a quantum mirror reality away, hurried off together to defend the base from Goa’uld attack, Doctor Samantha Carter already knew the truth.
In her reality, she’d never see Jack O’Neill again.
~fin~
Another Earth von lilferret
Story Bemerkung:
Prompt: LJ User MacGyvergal gave me: “The paper she held confirmed that it was finally real, she was a doctor.”
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.