In The Dark III
by Laura Y
TITLE: In The Dark III
AUTHOR: Laura Y
EMAIL: mrdrdoc@hotmail.com
CATEGORY: Angst, Missing Scene/Epilogue,POV,Romance,Series
PAIRING: Sam/Jack
SPOILERS: Beneath the Surface
SEASON / SEQUEL: 4. This story is a sequel to: In The Dark I and In The Dark II
SERIES:In The Dark
RATING: PG
CONTENT WARNINGS: none
SUMMARY: What if more happened between Sam and Jack than we saw? Daniel's POV.
STATUS: Complete
ARCHIVE: Heliopolis
DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. We 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 authors. Not to be archived without permission of the authors.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This isn't really a sequel, but it helps if you've read the others. It's been a while since BtS, but this has been in the back of my mind and it's finally come out.
I lie awake in the dark, my churning thoughts not allowing me to get some much-needed sleep. Only a little bit of light makes it into this corner, and, since I have a top bunk, even when all the fires are lit it’s fairly dark. For the last few days I’ve been kept awake by these ideas and images flying around in my head, and eventually someone’s going to notice. I turn over to face the wall, but in a few minutes I’ve shifted back again.
I don’t belong here. I’ve spent most of my life feeling like I didn’t belong. I don’t know where or why, but I know. But this time is different. It’s not just that I don’t belong here, it’s that I know that I belong somewhere else, doing something else. Somewhere…better. Something more important.
And it’s not just me. I mean, I’m the only one with these ideas, but I really think that there are others here who don’t belong. They’re not convinced. Jonah thinks I’m a crackpot, but Thera is a little more open minded. It’s so frustrating; Jonah’s so stubborn and just doesn’t want to hear it.
He and Thera are model workers. Maybe Jonah’s right and we aren’t all supposed to be together. They have such respect for authority, and are quick to do what they’re told. I, on the other hand…
They both follow all the rules, but lately she’s been pushing the boundaries with Brenna. She still respects her authority, Brenna’s that is, and wouldn’t ever do anything to endanger the plant, but Thera’s getting a little fed up with having a superior who won’t listen to her ideas. I think she may be easier to bring around than Jonah, and if she believes me, then he will too. I think he’d believe her if she told him he’d be warm out on the surface.
The morning call will come soon, so there’s not much point in trying to sleep any more. I sit up and let my legs dangle over the side of the bed. The call comes and I watch as the other workers start to stir. I watch as a curtain is pulled back from around a cot near the back of the sleeping area. I watch as the two people who sleep there lean into each other for one last touch, one last kiss, before moving towards the eating area.
I can’t help but feel as though I’m watching something that I shouldn’t, and I wish I knew why. They’ve been together for as long as I’ve been here. Watching them together, I can guess with a fair amount of certainty that they’ve been together since long before I was transferred from the mines. It’s a subtle thing, but they have a deep connection.
Unions between workers aren’t prohibited here, but they aren’t actually encouraged, either. It’s strange, but as close and as happy as they are together, they both seem surprised by it sometimes. They’re both so careful when they know that everyone can see them, but they sit so close when we’re eating that you couldn’t slide a hair between them.
When I see them like that it makes me smile, and I feel envious of Jonah. Not for Thera, there wasn’t ever a chance for me there, no matter how pretty and smart she is. Someone else. I know I loved her but I have a sense of loss as well. I lost someone, but I don’t remember who, and this just makes me more sure that I’m not meant to be here. Maybe she’s waiting for me somewhere.
Thera’s going to see Brenna again today about the next idea she has for a refit or the old machinery. I don’t know what we’d do without her here. She’s saved us all a couple of times with the automatic pressure release system she designed and built. She and Jonah work together so well. He usually looks blank when she starts explaining some new idea she has, but he’d go to hell and back if he though it’d help her in some way.
It’s a dumb thought, but I think that if Brenna told them today to split up or have one of them transferred to another section, they’d just nod and take it. Stupid, Carlan, like that would ever happen.
I’d better be right about all this, since I’ve all but destroyed my chance of having friendships with anyone but Jonah and Thera. Keegan’s a sweet girl, she’s just not one of us. The others think that she’s going to report us to Brenna, but I don’t think that she’d do that.
I’m feeling drowsy, this lack of sleep is catching up with me, and I shake my head to clear it, changing my position in the crook of the tree that supports me during this watch. It’s time for Sam’s shift, and I get up, making sure to make just enough noise to let her know that I’m coming, but not enough to wake Teal’c from his sleep.
The moonlight is just bright enough that I don’t need to use my flashlight to cross the campsite. It’s also just bright enough that I can see the tracks of tears on Sam’s face as she gets up to relieve me. No one watching them during the day or on Earth would ever guess how close they’d gotten in that time we spent underground.
They slipped back into their lives as though it had all been a dream. Nothing changed, nothing was different, and maybe if I hadn’t been there I wouldn’t know either.
The only time it’s different is at night, and only when we’re off world. We don’t talk about it, and they don’t talk about it. In the dark, we can pretend that they don’t spend each night we’re off world watching when the other is on sentry duty. And I can pretend that I don’t see the marks of Sam’s tears as she watches him or the moisture shining in Jack’s eyes as he watches her.
It’s only because I know them so well that I know that they’d never, ever let anything interfere with the functioning of the team. And so I head to my bedroll, touching Sam’s arm as she passes me, and not looking at Jack as he follows her with his eyes.
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