A Thousand Words
A Thousand Words
by Rainbow
Title: A Thousand Words
Author: Rainbow
Email: kaliasmuse@hotmail.com
Category: Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Season: any Season
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Rating: PG
Warnings: character death
Summary: Sam discovers that a picture really can say a thousand words.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Sam stared at the photograph in her hand, the tears that fell down her cheeks blurring Jack's face as he stared back at her. The man in the photograph continued to smile at her as she cried, and there was laughter sparkling in his brown eyes. Laughter that she would never see again. A tide of grief and loneliness washed over her and the photograph slid from her grasp as the sobs racked her body, the glass smashing on the floor. Sam sank to the floor, drawing her knees up to her chest as she covered her face with her hands and let her world fall away into the pain and the grief. Why? Oh God, why? Why did this have to happen? Why? "Why?" Sam whispered aloud through her tears, closing her eyes and letting herself fall back into the past, back to where it had all happened.
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The snow was a cold white blanket extending in all directions, looking as white and fluffy as cotton wool. It crunched under her boots as she stepped down from the Stargate and she squinted, in an attempt to reduce the glare of the sunlight reflecting off the brilliant whiteness. It was beautiful; the way it touched the tree branches with silver fingers and fell in swirling patterns all around them, resting upon the flakes that had already fallen. The snowflakes fell like the tears of an angel, each one individual, and precious, and covered all of them. They covered their hair, their uniforms, their boots, and even their faces as they stood their, frozen in time and watched the snow drift downward. It's like something out of a fairytale, Sam thought as she watched the snowflakes falling and she wished that they could stay forever.
Hours later, they were running for their lives, racing through Sam's fairytale while death-gliders circled overhead and the sound of hundreds of heavy-booted feet chasing them filled their ears. It had been a trap, all of it, and they had realised it when it was too late, when there was already no chance of escape. Now they were running, where too exactly, they had no idea, but it was the only thing they could do to prevent themselves getting killed. The great-unbroken expanse of whiteness that had once seemed so beautifully perfect now seemed like an endless obstacle that they were never going to be able to overcome. Sam could hear her heart thumping in her ears as she ducked into the cover of the trees behind Jack and Daniel, followed by Teal'c and the adrenaline coursing through her system made her forget the cold, temporarily. Eventually, they came to a halt as the thud of heavy-booted feet disappeared into silence and they realised that they had no idea where they were or where they were going. "We've got to get to that Gate." Jack said, stating the obvious as he crouched down, pressing his back against a tree. "Carter, how far would you say it is from here to the Gate?" "About 6 or 7 miles, sir, but..." Sam began, only to be cut off by a slightly impatient Jack, who jumped in and asked, "But, what, Carter?"
"That's the direct way, over completely open ground, sir." She finished ignoring his impatience as she cast a glance in Daniel's direction to illustrate her point. Sam felt an almost electric sensation shoot through her as she shifted her gaze to meet Jack's thoughtful brown eyes and she chased it away by focusing on the feeling of the tree bark digging into her skin. Now is not the time for the time for this, she thought. "The other way?"
"Between 10 and 15 miles, sir."
"Cover?"
"Up to the last 3 or 4 miles at a guess, sir." "Good enough. Let's get going, Teal'c, you and Sam take point and I'll pick up the rear." Jack ordered and Teal'c complied, moving to the front of the group and standing beside Sam without question. Sam frowned, Jack always took point what was different this time, she thought, but she knew better than to question him under pressure.
9 miles later and they came to a halt for the second time as they reached the edge of the tree line and the beginning of the open wasteland. "Daniel, I want you to start dialling home as soon as we get to the Gate." Daniel nodded in response. "Carter'll cover your back. Carter, you, and Daniel go through first and tell them to seal the Gate as soon as Teal'c and me step through. Got it?" Sam nodded, not needing to give a more developed response. "Teal'c, buddy, you're with me, we hold off as many as we can while Daniel dials up and then run like hell." Teal'c simply inclined his head, the way he always did to show that he had heard and understood what was required of him. The journey over open ground was worryingly uneventful and it left Sam on edge, expecting hundreds of Jaffa to appear out of nowhere. Two hundred yards from the Gate and they saw the first signs of their enemy since they had entered the tree line, in the form of four Jaffa, guarding the Stargate. Several staff blasts and gunshots later, and all four lay motionless on the ground, dead as dodos, but Sam still couldn't help wondering about them. Why only four, when we saw hundreds earlier? Moments later, her question was answered as hundreds of Jaffa appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and started firing at them. In the background, behind the noise of the firing was the sound of a wormhole engaging and Daniel began racing toward it as instructed. "Go, go, go!" shouted Jack and all three of them began running toward the Stargate, taking out as many Jaffa as they could along the way. Then it happened. The Jaffa surged forward on the offensive, in a confusing mass of staff blasts and a single staff blast hit Jack full on in the chest before he had a chance to react. His body crumpled and collapsed to the ground as the world went into slow motion. The Jaffa continued to surge forward regardless as Sam stopped dead in her tracks and screamed, "Jack!" She raced back to where he lay, determined not to leave behind the man she loved, ignoring the incessant sound of Teal'c calling her name. As she crouched to kneel beside him, he murmured, "No, Sam! Go!" His voice was weak, but the urgency both in his voice and reflected in his brown eyes was as strong as it could ever have been. All around her, the Jaffa were getting closer and closer, determined on catching their prey as Sam whispered, "No, Jack! I won't leave you! I can't! I love you!" There were tears glistening in her blue eyes as she said the words and she blinked them away, forcing herself to hold back her emotions for his sake as she reached for him. Catching hold of her hand, Jack met her blue eyes with his own brown ones as he whispered, "Please, Sam. For me." His hand slipped from hers and as Sam stared down at the blood stained snow, she whispered, "For you, Jack. For you."
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"For you, Jack. For you." Sam whispered as she re-opened her eyes and found herself unable to leave the memory behind as it refused to fade. Rising to her feet, Sam dried her tears with the back of one hand and took a deep breath, in an attempt to quell the trembling inside of her as she rummaged through her bag for her car keys. Sam left without bothering to sweep up the glass from the photo-frame that littered the tiled floor, she simply climbed into her car and started driving, knowing exactly where she wanted to go without having to think it. As she drove, Sam found her thoughts drifting back to the planet and the second time they had visited it, unable to resist that call of her memory.
Jack had looked so peaceful lying there on top of the snow, his brown eye staring at the blue sky as though he were searching for something. As she had gotten closer to him, she had noticed that his lips had taken on a bluish tinge and his right hand still rested on his P-90, almost as though he were going to suddenly spring up and tell them that it had all been a practical joke. Sam started blinking back the tears that threatened to spill down her face as she leant over Jack's motionless body and gently removed his dog tags. "I love you, Jack." Sam whispered, her voice trembling as she placed a kiss on his cold blue lips before standing up and walking back toward where Daniel and Teal'c stood a respectful distance away. Once she reached them, she hesitated before continuing back toward the Gate, stopping briefly to survey the scene before her. Jack's body lay staring peacefully up into the sky, surrounded by the violent crimson of the blood stained snow. The crimson was beginning to slowly fade as the snowflake continued to flutter down to earth as though nothing had happened, covering Jack's lifeless body. When she had absorbed it all, Sam turned and started toward the Gate, not bothering to shrug off the comforting arm Daniel slipped around her shoulders. In truth, she welcomed it and the sense of support that it brought with it, reassuring her that she wasn't alone in this nightmare.
When Sam reached the cemetery gates, she stopped the car and began making her way through the forest of moss covered grave stones to one particular grave. Standing in front of Jack's grave, she wondered why was I so afraid of coming here? The tears spilled freely down her cheeks, splashing down to the ground below as Sam bent down to place the smiling photograph of Jack in front of the flowers his ex-wife had left. The brown eyes in the photograph continued to stare at her as she straightened and Sam stared back at them, knowing that she was never going to see him smile again. Turning to make her way back to the car, Sam had the eerie feeling that she was being watched, but she brushed it off as grief induced paranoia. As she took her first steps toward her car, she was filled with a strange certainty that everything was going to be ok.
Standing in the shadow of the trees, a tall figure wearing a leather jacket watched as a young blonde woman placed something on one of the graves. There were tears running down her face as she straightened and she hesitated before walking slowly back to where her car was parked haphazardly across the gravel driveway. Jack watched her as she went, his brown eyes hidden behind a pair of expensive sunglasses that disguised the tears that glistened in them, threatening to spill down his face. As he stared after her, the light surrounding him became brighter until it blocked out everything else around him, even Sam's retreating figure. Inhaling deeply, Jack ran his right hand back through his hair and took a step toward the source of the light, knowing that everything was going to be all right.
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