Swing, Swing
Janaury 30, 2003
Sam Carter (Milton Park, Colorado Springs)
By Adrianne Boudreau
Part Of The Rabilia Series
A Snapshot.
It was a typical late spring afternoon; the sun high in the sky, in the height of the season's dominion over the year, as Sam Carter walked passed the pine trees, the glorious elegance of a thicket of redwoods, and oak trees. She tilted her short blonde head to the sky, basking in the warmth of the sun. She always loved springtime, loved to witness as nature woke from its deep long winter's sleep, producing the fragrances of different flowery scents which never failed to bring her tumultuous emotions to a peaceful halt.
She could not hold on the anger or the deep seeded bitterness in her heart, when she was surrounded by such beauty. The ugliness of man and world seemed always to fade away.
In her younger years, when her father used to disappoint her, when her mother had died, when the world seemed it most unaesthetic, she would run as fast as she could to the nearest park, or open field. Nature, along with her books, had been her only escape. And it served her well all those years ago.
Especially today.
After coming home from her strange experience on the Prometheus, the talks with the hallucinations of her teammates, her father, and, especially, Colonel O'Neill, along with the revelations there had made re-evaluated her life. And she found that even with her many accomplishments that her life was seriously lacking in the most important things. Like love and family. A girlish part of her yearned for the house with the picket fence, the perfect husband, and the children. So the astrophysicist decided to let go of her dreams of happily ever with Jack O'Neill, and instead she went out there, and opened her emotional walls, and decided to plunge into the dating pool again after her long hiatus.
It took no time at all, with the help of her nosy big brother to entangle herself with a man, her brother's college friend Pete Shanahan. He was a cute and single detective on the Denver PD, and he made her laugh.
And she had fun for a while.
Her friends, however, were not too excited over her new beau. They tried to hide it from her. Tried to be cheerful, and welcoming, yet she could see the look in their eyes that told her their true feelings of him. He was an intruder, and he was not really welcomed amongst their small makeshift family.
He was not Jack O'Neill, was not their version of her happily ever after. They figured that if there was anyone that could beat the Military Regulations and have a happy ending it would be them.
She firmly put away her illusions of a relationship with her commanding officer, and she was firmly working in reality, and stubbornly held on tight to Pete. She was determined to make this relationship work. Yet because of that reasoning it was two and half months into their relationships before she FINALLY noticed that something was wrong.
He would call and cancel for their dates, and she would not think anything of it, they both had pretty demanding jobs, and it didn't really mean anything. When she decided to go up there to surprise him for lunch, after canceling their dinner date the night before, when another earth-shattering emergency popped up, she found him talking to some curvy little brunette. When she asked Pete about the brunette, he basically told her that she was just a friend. And she had let that go, she had male friends and that didn't mean she was having sex with any of them. Sam was hell bent on not turning into the A typical jealous girlfriend.
Until she began getting mysterious phone calls.
Every time she picked up the phone, she would get only dead air for several moments, before hearing the piercing sound of the dial tone. Then there were the used condom wrappers in his pockets, and the scent of perfume on his collar.
For being such a hot shot detective, Pete was really, really sloppy.
It all culminated when she decided to surprise her lover. She had gone to Victoria's Secret earlier that day, spent a small fortune on lingerie and other unmentionables, packed her bag, and headed for Denver. What she found instead was her boyfriend of three and half months fucking that same brunette that she caught him talking to at the station.
Only friends, eh?
She inwardly gave a completely unladylike snort.
He tried to explain, but the little scene she walked in, basically said it all. So she did what she wanted to do since she caught sight of them.
She kicked him in his groin, and left him bawling on the floor, crying like a baby.
So here she was three days later, trying to figure out where she had gone wrong, the beauty of the park around her. As she walked farther down, she noticed an empty swing set. Wishing for a moment that she was not so grown up, such a responsible adult with the failure of her relationship, and the weight of the world (literally) draped on her thin shoulders.
She walked closer, and then after a long moment of internal arguments with herself, she sat down on the swing. The thick rubber of the swing was welcome against her skin. And she held on tight to the parallel chains, and pushed off. Up and Up she went. Enjoying the familiar feeling of weightlessness from the swing that she never appreciated while flying in one of the Goa’uld scout ships. The air rushing through golden hair, her cheeks flushed in childlike delight.
Unknown to her at the time, she was being watched ever so carefully. He was taking in every detail so he can engrave them into his memory. Something that he would carry when the world got a little too dark and narrow in his line of work, something that was entirely possible. The man stood there for a long time watching her, taking her in, the moments in time seemed to slip past him like grains of sand.
Finally he had enough, and was about to leave, when he heard her voice call out his name.
"Jack?"
Jack O'Neill gasped, and spun on his heel to meet her cornflower blue eyes. Surprised to hear her, of all people, call him by his given name, instead he sighed, and walked up to her.
"How's it going Carter?"
She stopped swinging, her heels digging into the gravel, and cocked her head.
"Why are you sneaking around here, Jack?"
He blinked at her again. What was up with THAT? No trace of the usual military decorum, no sirs, or Colonels. Just Jack...that was just a bit freaky, and a little disconcerting.
"What's with calling me Jack?"
"You answer my question, I will answer yours."
He gave a deep resigned sigh, and took a seat on the swing next to her.
"I...I heard about you and whatishisname, and decided to see if you were alright...happy now?" he mocked pouted. Which she was not going to even mention to him that she found absolutely adorable.
She gave him her patented 100 watt smile. "Yep, very."
"Now, Major Carter--"
"Stop that." she said softly.
He raised his eyebrow at her. "What?"
"No Majors, No Colonels, No Sirs. Just Jack and Sam today. Can we just do that?"
He was a bit confused and bewildered at her uncharacteristic behavior, but he would do anything for her, anything to see her smile so he just gave a nod and sat down on the swing next to her.
"So you didn't answer my question Car...Sam?"
She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head in dismay. "I'm just tired, I guess. Tired of the games, tired of the rules, so very tired of failing and for once I just want to be free."
She looked so sad, so resigned, that a major part of him, that part that had loved her since the moment she walked in that briefing room almost eight years ago, wanted to just pull her into his arms and never let go.
For a long while they just sat there in silence, listing to sounds of the birds, the trees, the chirps from the grasshoppers going about their business in the nearby thicket.
And then the tranquil silence was broken, when Sam pushed off once again, swinging back and forth, faster and faster. It was minutes, or seconds, later--neither could tell, that Jack had joined her.
Doing something that he had not done in decades. Playing on the swing like he was eight years old again, and the only adult thought he had was 'did he have enough money to buy his favorite comic book?'
He shook his head, clearing of thoughts, and concentrated on swinging.
Swing, Swing.
Higher and Higher, Faster and Faster. The freedom of it brightened their souls. For that moment, frozen in time, there was no more pain, no more strife.
Just Happiness, and Liberty.
And Both had to admit it felt wonderful.
THE END.