Ripple Effect - Confluence of Circumstance - Chapter 8
Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, I am only playing in the world
A/N: Here is another side story / companion piece to my series of SG-1 tales. This one will be different to the others in that I plan to keep adding to it little by little. It may spur me to add on to the other Ripple Effects later on.
Previously: Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7
Ripple Effect - Confluence of Circumstance - Chapter 8
Colorado Springs, February 2006 (alternate reality)
Cam pushed the trolley down the aisle of the supermarket and smiled when Sam came around the corner, still limping ever so slightly, with several boxes of jello in her hands, which she dumped into the cart in front of him with a smile. She was moving back in to her place after staying with him for a few weeks since their road trip and they were buying her groceries. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He'd gotten used to seeing her sitting on his couch of an evening, tapping away on her laptop or writing in her journal. Now he was wondering what he was going to do when she was gone.
"I don't know about you, but I'm going to miss always having you nearby." she whispered as she stood by the trolley and idly fidgeted with a head of lettuce. He smiled softly at her admission.
"I am too." he replied. She looked up with a faint flush of her cheeks over a small smile and turned to head up the aisle again as he followed on behind more slowly.
"Then maybe we can... I don't know... arrange something like dinner together a few nights a week? We could alternate or something." she asked, babbling a little as she nervously rubbed her fingers together in front of her.
"I'd like that. What about... Tuesdays, Thursdays and a night on the weekend?" he offered. She smiled brightly and nodded happily. "We can start tonight, at your place. Any ideas what you want to make for me?" She paled slightly and he lifted an eyebrow in curiosity.
"I want to, but the place is kind of a mess still." she replied with a wince.
"I don't care." he said gently, but she shook her head adamantly and he chuckled. "Okay, okay, my place it is then. I know. You cook when it's at my place, and I'll cook at yours. How about that?" She seemed to like that idea very much as she launched into brainstorming about what she could cook for him. He grinned, admittedly he had done the lion's share of the cooking while she stayed with him, especially while she was recuperating, but she'd prepared several meals for them herself. He was looking forward to this.
Maybe she was nervous for some reason, but after they'd driven back to his place, shoved her groceries in his fridge temporarily and she got down to the business of making them a meal, it all went a bit pear-shaped, she was a mess. It's possible that she was trying a little too hard, which hadn't been the case for the small meals she'd made for them over the previous fortnight. He made sure the spills and splashes got cleaned up quickly and did his best to make her at ease with conversation. She rallied and got it together, and after a while she was back to normal.
He came up beside her and his hand came to rest on the small of her back as they talked about an upcoming mission. She dipped the wooden spoon into her saucepan and lifted out a sample to taste, then held it out for him to critique. She cupped her hand below the spoon as he took a taste and smiled with a nod. She leaned a little closer to him as her shoulders sagged slightly in relief.
He wondered idly why it was he had no personal space when it came to her. How he never seemed to feel the need for it. As he turned to face her she leaned her shoulder back against him and turned her head over it to look at him. All he could see were her lips, soft and full, parted ever so slightly and drifting towards him.
No, he had no personal space anymore where Sam was concerned, and he didn't care. He leaned forward a little and captured her lips with his. He closed his eyes as she tilted her head back slightly and his hand moved around her lower back to wrap around her waist while hers moved to lay atop his, her fingers spreading his open so they could nestle in between. His other hand lifted up to touch her cheek and run along the line of her jaw, caressing the soft skin while they kissed.
She tilted her head a little and broke the contact between their lips, her breathing slightly rapid, his eyes opened slowly to see hers twinkling just a span of nothingness away in front of him. He could feel her chest rising and falling in a soft, giddy laugh through her back leaning flush against his chest. Her forehead was still pressed against his and she turned her face slightly and all he could think of was her soft fringe brushing against his skin. He cleared his throat lightly.
"Sam, it's been less than a month, it's been a lifetime, it's been... I don't know anymore. Do you understand what I mean when I say I don't like the thought of you leaving?" he breathed and pulled back a little to get a look at her face. She smiled slightly and nodded, then turned around to face him and raised her hand to his cheek as she leaned forward to kiss him tenderly once more. It was intoxicating.
"Yes, but I need to. Right now we're... I can't believe I'm saying this... we're too close. I can't tell where you end and I begin, Cameron. I won't go far. I won't go for long." she whispered, running her fingertips over the skin of his cheek and around his ear to run into the short hair at the back of his head. Her blue eyes were ablaze and he couldn't look away. "Will you wait for me?" He slipped his arms around her waist and she shifted to press herself against him. He nodded and kissed her smile.
Stargate Command, February 2006 (alternate reality)
She tapped away at her laptop and reached for her mug of coffee only to find it empty. She frowned slightly and looked up, scrubbing at her eyes. She glanced at the clock on the screen and frowned unhappily. It had only been an hour. She shouldn't be missing seeing him. And it wasn't just for the coffee she knew he'd bring either. She looked over the data from Daniel's communication stone again, specifically the intermittent amplitude spikes in the theta band range. Those were definitely induced by the device. Humans, adult humans at any rate, usually did not see a lot of theta activity. She frowned again. Except sometimes it had been observed while in deeply relaxed or meditative states, or during bursts of creativity.
"Hey, hey, hey. You have the thingamajig out." came his voice from her doorway. She looked up and smiled as he walked in and leaned in close to the Tok'ra long-range subspace communicator. "Aww, it's not hooked up. I was hoping for some pretty lights." She gave him a little smirk and a glare and he put down a mug of coffee in front of her. She looked at it and sighed happily.
"We're nowhere near having a need to hook it up, Cam. I'm still sorting through all this telemetry." she explained, motioning towards the wave patterns moving across her screen. He grunted. He only cared about the blinking lights.
"Are ya gonna tell me what you and Daniel are working on?" he asked, leaning back against her bench with his arms crossed over his chest. She looked up and smiled, but shook her head. "Man, you're both thick as thieves now. It ain't fair." He was adorable when he pouted and grumbled like that.
"This is still pie in the sky stuff. I'm not even sure I can get it to work." she said while glancing at the laptop.
"You can get it to work." he said confidently while laying a hand on her shoulder. She smiled and blushed and let her fingers brush over the back of his hand. "Whatever it is." She grinned.
"You'll be the first to know if we get it up and running." she assured him and he gave her a smile.
"I just don't want Jackson turning into a zombie. Or worse." he warned. She shook her head.
"I won't turn into a zombie." Daniel said as he walked into the lab. "Though 'or worse' is a distinct possibility." He chuckled when Cam glared at him, then gave Sam a wink.
"See? Thick. As. Thieves!" cried Cam as he pointed between them. She was grateful no one seemed to want to spoil these moments with the obvious.
"Is that me?" Daniel asked with a finger pointed at her screen. Sam nodded.
"That's your brain when you're not in residence." She smiled as the linguist came to look over her shoulder.
"There's still a lot going on, isn't there?" Daniel muttered.
"Gah, so full of yourself!" teased Cam and the archaeologist glared at him. Sam laughed at both of them.
"It's all some sort of feedback system." she explained, forestalling the incipient hostilities. "You'll notice there's practically nothing going on in the beta and gamma bands. That's where your motor control and cognition would be showing up." Daniel plucked at his lip as he looked at the graphs showing only very weak responses. They all looked up, startled, when the white flash and distinctive thrum of an Asgard beam deposited Heimdall on the other side of her bench.
"Greetings, all, I'm afraid I can't stay to chat, I'm just here to pick up that," the Asgard pointed at the contraption sitting in the corner of the lab, "Kvasir called and told me he needed it." Sam scowled.
"Wait a minute, I haven't even looked at it. I don't even know what it does!" she pleaded. Heimdall blinked his limpid black orbs at her.
"I'm sorry, Colonel Carter, but, what's the expression? My hands are tied?" replied the alien. Sam looked up forlornly at Cameron and she could see his resistance crumbling.
"Could you at least tell her what it's called, Heimdall?" he asked after managing to tear his gaze from hers. The Asgard looked between them both for long moments.
"As fascinating as I find the concept, Colonel Mitchell, we Asgard do not confer personal appellations upon mundane technological equipment." Heimdall said in his overly brisk manner, Cam blinked and was about to speak when the alien carried on. "Now I simply must be on my way, have a pleasant day." He put a hand on the device and beamed away in a flash of white light.
"Do you give your lab equipment pet names, Sam?" Daniel asked after they'd looked around at each other for a few moments.
"No, but I think Bill calls his mass spectrometer Marianne."
P2M-903, February 2006 (alternate reality)
She patted Daniel on the back and he moved over to the other side of the ring room and covered the front entrance back outside. She positioned herself so she could cover both that and the doorway which led further into the structure. She gritted her teeth, hoping Cameron wouldn't be too much longer. When she'd felt the Ha'tak lifting up off the pyramid above them her heart began clenching painfully in her chest, but she had to believe he would be okay and just hold the ring transporter from the Jaffa still trying to make their way to the pyramid, not only was it his escape route, but each alien warrior who got past her would be one more for him to deal with up there. She and Daniel both opened fire as a group of Jaffa streamed into the small room. She quickly moved behind the cover of a corner and continued to shoot. Suddenly, the rings activated and came down from the ceiling onto the pad. She was relieved beyond measure when she looked between them and spotted Cameron and Teal'c, with Bra'tac leaning heavily with an arm over each man's shoulder, standing with their weapons raised at the ready. They added their own firepower to the fight and quickly subdued the surprised remnants of Ba'al's garrison.
She moved quickly from her spot in cover to lay a hand on Cameron's shoulder and then Teal'c's. Both indicated to her they were fine and she nodded, checking with Bra'tac who just gave her one of his patented 'don't worry about me, child' looks. She smiled, motioning for them to make their way back down to the Stargate. The remaining Jaffa quickly succumbed to the press of SGC and Tok'ra personnel. They reconnected with Colonel Reynolds and the newly-minted leader of SG-2, Colonel David Dixon, and Sam took their reports of the fighting in the rest of the small valley below the pyramid. It felt slightly odd to be giving orders to full Colonels, but she was nominally in command of the operation. She nodded gratefully at Reynolds as she saw the medics were almost finished giving Teal'c a preliminary check up after having taken care of Bra'tac then formally transferred command to him so he could dismiss her to take Cam and Daniel back to the SGC while Teal'c went to Dakara with Bra'tac. She saluted the Colonel and walked to where Cameron was standing, looking out over the rocky ground and the Stargate. When she approached and stood beside him he gave her a quick glance and a slight smile.
"Sorry, I kind of... lost it." he said softly.
"Yes, you did, Cam." She deliberately added a hint of reproach to her voice and he looked at her with a look of chagrin. "I was very worried." she whispered much more gently and he nodded.
Many hours later she was dressed in her civvies and waiting outside the men's locker room, hovering really, if she were to be honest with herself. She had just returned with Daniel and Teal'c from Dakara following the successful passage of the democratisation referendum in the High Council. She'd been worried ever since they'd returned from P2M-903 and Cam had told her he was heading back to Petersen instead of going with them to the Jaffa capital. She understood why, he was hoping to see Bryce one last time. It had been hard for her to let him go alone though it was obvious he needed to. And now he was in that locker room and she was about to walk right in and drag him home if she had to. She turned at the feel of a large hand on her shoulder and smiled softly at Teal'c as he stood behind her.
"Colonel Mitchell is within?" he asked and she nodded. "I think it would be best, Colonel Carter, if you allow me to speak with him right now. I believe there are things he may ask of me he could not ask of you." Her brows knit though she knew he did not mean what the small wretched corner of her heart expected he meant. "Or needs to say to me which he could never say to you." She looked up at him and nodded once, he bowed slightly as he walked past her. She leaned against the wall beside the door and listened to them talking. She covered her mouth with her hand when Cameron told Teal'c that it was their job to watch each other's backs, that the Jaffa owed him nothing. She wondered if that is what Teal'c meant by something Cam could never say to her. He then asked Teal'c how he had resisted Ba'al's brainwashing.
"To resist the influence of others, knowledge of one's self is most important." the Jaffa told him. Cameron acknowledged him and Teal'c walked out again, only to stop and turn to Sam when Cam spoke again more softly.
"Yeah, I'm working on it." It was a different sadness from that which she remembered from him when he spoke of his Sam. Yet still powerful in its own way. It was laced with a sense of guilt she had noticed when she'd taken that odd alien contraption to him at Petersen before the mission to P2M-903. Teal'c canted his head slightly as he looked at Sam.
"The rest I leave to you, Colonel Carter." he whispered with a nod. She nodded also and waited a few moments before poking her head inside to watch him for a second until he looked up at her. She walked in when he nodded to her and stood in front of him. She didn't say anything, just held out her hand. He put his own inside it and stood up when she pulled on it. He slipped the pamphlet he had been reading into his locker, closed it and let her lead him out into the corridor and towards home. She wasn't going to leave his side tonight.
P5R-612, February 2006 (alternate reality)
He looked off into the distance and spotted Sam and Teal'c walking side by side at the top of the ridge on their perimeter check. He glanced back at Daniel as he stood with his hands on his hips in the middle of the small set of Ancient ruins they were examining. He lifted the green patrol cap off his head and ruffled his hair before setting his cap back on his head, but back to front. Daniel turned around to look at him from under his bandanna and pointed at a wall covered with glyphs.
"That right there is a warning." he said matter-of-factly. Cam glared at him.
"A warning of what, Jackson?" he demanded, moving forward.
"Not to take the Signet beyond the boundaries of the valley." he replied with a slight smirk. Cam looked around.
"What Signet?" he asked in confusion. Daniel just shrugged. "Jackson." he said in warning.
"If I find anything which could possibly be construed as a Signet you'll be the first to know, Mitchell." Daniel said with a smirk and his hands raised in a placating way. Cam gave him a look and then raised a hand to his radio.
"Sam, Teal'c, come in." he waited until she piped up with an acknowledgement. "Jackson's found a warning in one of these inscriptions not to remove a Signet beyond the borders of the valley."
"What purpose is there in keeping the offspring of swans from roaming beyond this vicinity, Colonel Mitchell?" asked Teal'c with a hint of amusement in his tone.
"Very funny, Mr. Homophonically Inclined." Cam called into the radio with a roll of his eyes at a chuckling Daniel. "I'd advise against picking up any bits of Ancient looking... stuff... and carrying them around with you."
"So if we find any cygnets that happen to have wings, we can let them do as they please?" asked Sam's melodious voice allowing him to clearly hear the smile on her lips.
"Unless they happen to also be some bit of Ancient decorative stonework I think you're okay to ignore them." he said with a sigh and a smile.
"Copy that, Cam, we'll just mark the location if we find anything. See you in a bit." she signed off.
"The funny thing is that both words are Latin in origin, and so likely both Ancient as well." Daniel said with a quick laugh. "Unrelated etymologically though, I assure you." Cam gave him a warning look and pointed at the inscriptions. The archaeologist didn't have to be told twice.
"Maybe this place is in ruins because the Signet's already gone." Cam said after looking around the demolished and dilapidated buildings around the monument Daniel was examining. The archaeologist turned to look at him for a moment.
"I suppose that's feasible." He reached into his pack to get out his camera and began shooting video with voiced commentary. Cam moved off a little ways and remained quiet as much as possible. He crouched down beside some low walls and idly brushed his hands over the top of the tumbled and weather-beaten blocks. He felt her coming up behind him and smiled slightly to himself when she sat down on one of the blocks by his side. He twisted slightly in his crouch and looked at her checking over her P90.
"We didn't find anything." she offered with a slight smile, but without looking up. He grunted and turned to watch Teal'c approaching Daniel over by the inscriptions.
"You've just about won everyone over now I think." he said softly and she did look up at that. "I know you don't want to replace her, but I expect most people will just transfer their relationship with her onto you." She shrugged.
"For the most part those relationships are the same as in my old reality. I'm okay with that." she replied with a rueful smile, then let it drop as her eyes began to glint. "I find myself thinking more about the relationships which are different." He moved his hand over and let the backs of his fingers brush against her thigh, she smiled at the contact. "Remember when I told you I was scared of how you affected me in ways the Cameron from my old reality didn't?" He nodded. "I'm not anymore." she said as her hand moved to slip into his and hold it against her leg. "You're coming to my place tonight, right?"
"Of course." he replied. She smiled. "I was thinking a simple penne al'arrabbiata." She giggled slightly. "What?"
"You do like your pasta." she murmured. He grumbled only for her to reach over and caress his cheek. "I like your pasta too." she said with a grin.
"Hey! No flirting until we're back at the SGC, you wastrels!" cried Daniel from in front of the monument as he pointed at them in warning. Sam chuckled and waved at the linguist happily. "They're like a pair of teenagers, Teal'c." he said in irritation as he turned back around. Teal'c simply followed him with his gaze as he stood slightly to the side with his hands clasped behind his back.
"You forget I am over a century old, Daniel Jackson. To me, you are all mere youngsters." the Jaffa said after a few seconds. Daniel turned a glare on him.
On to Chapter 9