Reassurances
Reassurances
by Allison West
TITLE: Reassurances
AUTHOR: Allison West
EMAIL: awest@pcpostal.com
CATEGORY: Romance, Drama, POV, Thoughts
PAIRING: Sam/Jack
SPOILERS: Jolinar's Memories, Upgrades, The Devil You Know, The Sentinel
SEASON / SEQUEL: 5
RATING: PG
CONTENT WARNINGS: none
SUMMARY: Feelings are resurfaced in The Sentinal.
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 is a response to the "Sentinel Challenge" on the S/J List. The challenge was what is going through Sam and Jack’s minds as the force shield separates them in "The Sentinel". In the episode the scene goes very quickly and there doesn’t leave much time for introspection, so I’ve slowed it down a little bit to fit in with the story. It’s a little embellished I’ll admit, but who cares it’s still a pretty good read.Single quotation marks indicate thought, double quotation marks indicate speech.DEDICTION: I’d like to dedicate this to my friend Denise who issued the challenge. She’s a brilliant Fan Fic writer and her work always manages to entertain and inspire me.
‘Where are those Jaffa going?’, Sam wondered as she watched them leave the cave. Her team was still inside the forcefield protected from anything the Jaffa would fire at them. They had been there for several hours as they waited for Grieves and Kirshaw to fix the Sentinel. It didn’t look like they were getting anywhere fast. Kirshaw believed that the malfunction of the Sentinel had something to do with the absence of the caretaker that Grieves had killed on their previous mission, but there was no way Sam could be sure that that was the reason. Daniel had made a little progress, translating some of the words on the side of the device, yet it still didn’t give them much of an insight into how to fix the thing. Until they figured out how to work the Sentinel they were stuck inside the boundaries of the forcefield. Sam was more than a little concerned that they hadn’t heard anything from Grogen or the Colonel. They had split up hours ago and still no word from either of them. The forcefield was apparently blocking radio transmission. She could only hope that they were having more luck than they were. A rustling at the cave entrance turned her attention back to the doorway.
‘Oh my God’, she thought as she saw the Jaffa return, pushing her CO along with them. Her heart stopped as she saw him. She visibly flinched as they knocked him to the ground and onto his knees. His hands were bound behind him, wrapped around an iron bar, preventing his movement. A large iron collar was bound around his neck. It could only mean one thing, he had been tortured with the Goa’uld Firestick. Sam winced as she recalled a memory of Jolinar. Years ago, while she was held prisoner on Netu, Jolinar had been tortured by Sokar. Sam remember the pain. She had experienced the same terrible sensation when she was forced to recall the memories. She remembered herself crying out against the pain. It was unbearable.
"Colonel", she said, as he dropped to the ground. Their eyes met and she held his gaze for a several seconds. Looking into his deep brown eyes she was hit with a wave of déjà vu. A memory that she had buried deep in her mind suddenly resurfaced. In a second they were there again, back on Apophis’s ship, back behind the forcefield. Him on one side, her on the other. Separated by an invisible curtain, so close but so far apart. She remember that he couldn’t get to her, that she was trapped. She recalled the sound of Jaffa coming from behind her, yet he still wouldn’t leave. Their physical bodies could not pass through the shield that day, but so many other things had. Their feelings for one another had been revealed in that very private moment when the world stood still for a second. Now here they were again. Him on one side, she on the other, but this time it was he who was in danger and she found it hard to put aside those old familiar feelings and focus on the situation.
"You know, now would be a good time to turn that thing on!", he winced at the pain that shot through his bad knee. His eyes fell to the ground as he tried to breathe through it.
"Lower the shield or your friends will be killed", the loud voice of the Jaffa leader commanded her. O’Neill looked up and caught her gaze again, willing her not to listen to the armoured man behind him.
"Sir", her voice was firm as she looked at him for an answer.
"Don’t do it, Carter. It’s an order", he told her, the expression in his eyes enforcing the command. As much as he didn’t want the Jaffa to get to the Sentinel, he didn’t want to let them get to her either. It may have been a personal decision, but it was also strategically the right decision. If the Jaffa got to that machine then they would destroy it forever and then kill them anyway. The only thing that was keeping them safe was that shield, and he wouldn’t let her lower it just because his life was at stake, he wouldn’t do it.
"Jaffa!". The Jaffa Commander nodded to his second in command who was holding the metal firestick. The Jaffa touched the stick to the metal collar around Jack’s neck. His skull lit up with light as he screamed out in pain.
"Ahh, god", he spat through clinched teeth. Sam watched him as his body fell forward. She forced herself not to close her eyes at the image she was seeing. She hated watching this happen to him, to anyone, but she couldn’t look away. He was stuck behind the forcefield just like she had been. Now she knew how he had felt that day. That day that had seemed like yesterday.
"Blow it up. Don’t let them have it", he yelled. His eyes pleaded with her to listen to him, to obey his command.
"Jaffa". The firestick crashed down against him once more and he fell to the floor with pain.
"Ah", he yelled. He took a deep breath and returned his gaze to Sam. He wouldn’t let the Goa’uld win. He stared into her eyes intently, sending her a message that she would listen to, telling her to do what she had to, what he ordered her to do. "Do it!", Jack yelled, his voice full of conviction.
"Yes, sir!", she told him, turning to get up.
"Wait", as voice said. It was Grieves. Sam stopped and looked up at him. "I can deactivate the forcefield. I can do it from here", he said, walking up to the device.
"I’m gonna let Colonel Grieves take down the forcefield, sir", she said glancing at Grieves who was standing ready at her command.
"Carter", Sam turned her attention back to O’Neill who was bending forward near the ground, still suffering the effects of the firestick. "I gave you a direct order". He breathed hard through his pain, trying to make her listen to him. It was then that he remembered, and everything seemed to stop as he recalled the memory. He saw her on the other side of that forcefield, begging him to go on without her, telling him to leave her. They were in Apophis’s Mothership, separated from each other with only a few minutes until the whole ship exploded. He couldn’t’ leave her then, he couldn’t live if she were to die. He’d rather die himself than lose her. Now he knew how she had felt. It was almost as if their positions were now reversed.
"Yes, sir, I understand that". She emphasised the ‘sir’, trying to return his attention to the situation that they were now in, not the memory they were reliving. "But I think it’s the right thing to do". Her eyes bore into his, speaking to him from afar, telling him that they would be okay. She nodded to Grieves to continue. He placed his hands on the side of the Sentinel, feeding his life into it. Suddenly they were enveloped in a huge wave of light. They all shut their eyes at its intensity.
As the wave radiated out across the face of the planet, the forcefield that separated them came down.
Sam sat in her lab late that night, adding the final touches to her mission report. She rubbed her eyes and yawned as she clicked the ‘Save’ button. Shutting down the little laptop computer she stood and began clearing her notes into the crisp manilla folder that sat on the bench beside her.
Knock. Knock. She heard a firm tapping on her door. "Come in", she said as she unplugged the computer from its outlet and began to pack it away. She heard the door open and looked up to see who was calling by her lab so late at night. It was the Colonel. He had to talk to her about today. He had to know how she knew that they would be okay. How she knew the device would work if Grieves touched it.
"Hi", he murmured from the doorway.
"Hello, sir", she said.
"How’s it goin’?", he asked as he came into the room. He leaned on the bench and watched her packing away her computer.
"Tired", she admitted. "I’ve finished my mission report though. It’ll be on you’re desk in the morning".
"You don’t waste anytime, do ya?", he laughed. "We’ve only been back for a few hours".
"Yeah, well, I wanted to get it done while it was still fresh in my mind".
"Sweet. So, Sam…", he began. "How did you know we’d be okay?"
"I don’t know, sir, I guess I just knew. We made it the first ti…", she stopped herself before she reminded him of their previous situation.
"Little bit of déjà vu today, huh?", he said, not afraid to bring the issue up. "Accept this time it was you on the other side and me with the Jaffa". She looked at him and then down at the floor, recalling vividly those emotions that had passed between them.
"Yeah. It was weird", she confided. "I haven’t thought about what happened last year for a long time". She took a breath, before continuing. "It’s nice to know that it’s…"
"Still there", he finished her sentence, acknowledging that he agreed with her.
"Yeah", she smiled shyly. They both stood there in silence for several moments before Jack spoke. "Carter", he said. She looked up at him., his face softening into a smile. "I’ll make a deal with ya. Next time we’re trapped behind a forcefield, let’s make sure we’re both on the same side". She laughed and gave him one of her brilliant smiles.
"It’s a deal, sir"
The End.
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