Fic | The City | Sam/Baal [FRT]
Fandom: Stargate SG1
Characters: Baal, Sam Carter
Pairing: Baal/Sam
Rating: FRT
Written for: the spook-me challenge.
Word Count: 4,000
Note: Apparently I completely fail at writing even mildly scary.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
As Sam stared at the overgrown ruins of the Ancient city, she could only agree with Cam’s statement. It rose from the surrounding jungle like grey, broken teeth. The mist that clung to the vine-draped remains just added to the general sense of wrongness.
“I’ve seen movies like this,” Cam continued. “No one comes out alive.”
Sam rolled her eyes, her gaze falling on their “extra” member. Baal didn’t seem to have heard Cam, or maybe he was just ignoring him, but the pensive expression gave her more pause than her teammate’s allusion to horror movies.
“What is it?” she asked, keeping her voice down.
His eyes flickered to her face and then back to the city. “I am... unsure.” His forehead creased. “But Colonel Mitchell is right - something feels... wrong.”
Okay, that was unsettling. Sam pursed her lips and repositioned her rifle. “Right, well I highly doubt General Landry would be impressed if we don’t investigate just because it looks a little spooky.” She pulled the life-sign detector out of a pocket of her vest and checked it. “There’s no sign of life, so I think we’re good. Just... let’s stick together.”
“Sure thing, Velma,” Cam said, offering her a grin when she glared at him.
“Does that make me Daphne?” Vala asked, her eyes wide. “And are you Fred?”
“Can we please go?” Sam heard the plaintive note in her voice and sighed. Baal had a curious look on his face. Oh, she was so not explaining this. “Come on.”
“I’m Shaggy,” Cam was saying as she trudged towards the city. She rolled her eyes as Vala giggled and inquired if that meant Teal’c was Scooby.
“Oh, the possibilities,” Baal murmured.
Sam threw him a look, surprised he got the reference. “Don’t.”
“Scrappy,” he said and she had to bite her bottom lip to stop herself laughing. She looked up at the grey towers. Her humour drained.
“If you have anything more than a vague feeling, feel free to share.”
His smirk faded. “I will.”
A hollow sensation yawned in her stomach. “This is a bad idea, isn’t it?”
“Very possibly. We should stay together. And be on your guard.”
“I do that anyway. Comes of having a Goa’uld as a spare wheel.”
He gave her a look that was probably intended to make her quail. She simply arched her eyebrows. He huffed and kicked at an innocent clump of grass. Sam knew that it was more than the tenuous agreement with the SGC that prevented him pursuing the argument further. She’d gotten over the weirdness of his attraction, gotten to the stage where tweaking him over it had become something of a pastime. She watched him sulk and tried not to smile.
They reached the entrance of the city. Cam and Teal’c covered the door as Daniel worked the lock. It slid open on a cloud of dust and the smell of rot. They all shared a glance that held a silent question. Cam shook his head with a snort.
“Teal’c, take six.” He yanked his flashlight free and switched it on. “Jackson keep flank with Carter.” His eyes fell on Baal. “You just keep quiet.”
“Whatever.”
“Stay close,” Sam said, more aware of his lack of weapon than ever. Not that giving him one was a great idea. Still...
He said nothing, but kept to her side as they walked into a wide room that reminded her of the ‘Gate room on Atlantis. Only there was no Stargate; just a lot of dust and thick cobwebs and a definite eerie sensation that itched at her skin.
“Jackson, see if those consoles respond,” Cam ordered. Daniel went over, Vala almost attached to his side. Sam understood how she felt - the urge to grab Baal’s hand was overwhelming.
“This feels wrong,” she announced. They all felt it; she knew from their expressions. “Daniel, come away from there.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
He backed up. However, the city seemed to sense his presence and the console lit up. A soft breath of air whispered through the room, stirring the covers and cobwebs. It smelt of death.
Sam grabbed Baal’s arm. “Out!” she yelled, no longer caring whether Landry thought them all insane - there was something wrong, something evil here. The grind of ancient machinery that made the whole structure shudder just made her run quicker. Cam was ahead of them. Teal’c held point, his staff weapon primed.
She heard Vala scream the moment that the ground was no longer firm beneath her feet. Her stomach flipped as she fell. Pain lanced through her shoulder as something stopped her.
“Sam.”
Baal had caught her, his hand tight on her wrist. Her eyes met his. “Don’t,” she breathed, then the structure shook again.
A loud snap sounded, sharp as the report of a pistol. Gravity took hold. Pressure banded around her chest and she couldn’t even scream. She tumbled into darkness.
***
Everything hurt. Sam rolled onto her side with a groan. A mental run down didn’t reveal in any serious injuries, though how she’d avoided that, she’d no idea. Cuts and bruises, a hell of a headache, but at least nothing was broken. That was... something? She looked up - there was no sign of the hole that had opened. Nor was there a lot of light.
Another groan made her freeze. She fumbled her flashlight free, switched it on and cast the beam around. It appeared she’d fallen into an underground chamber. And she’d not been the only one. Guilt and worry fought for dominance as she crawled over the rubble to Baal’s side: if he’d not tried to stop her falling, he wouldn’t have done.
She shook his shoulder. “Hey, wake up.”
He grunted. “Ow.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. Are you okay?”
“Fabulous,” he said, tone dark with sarcasm.
“Sorry.” The apology came automatically. She sighed. “Thanks for the attempt, though.”
“Oh, you’re welcome.” He sat up slowly, wincing and putting a hand to his ribs. “Always happy to take a fall for you, Samantha.”
She smiled in spite of herself. Running the light beam over his body, she checked for injuries. Like her, he seemed not the worse for the fall, though his expression was tight. Given the position of his hand and the short breaths, she reached a painful conclusion. “You bust a rib?”
“I’ll survive.”
“Baal, we fell into a hole. Right now I can’t see a way out. We have very little food and only a small amount of water. Cut the crap, okay? I’m not impressed by your being all stoic.”
He sighed, only to wince at the motion. “At least one. My symbiote can take care of that, though.”
She had actually forgotten about that. “Well, that’s... good. Can you get up? We’re not going to solve this problem sat on our asses.”
“You have a lovely ass.”
Oh, please. “I’m going to pretend that you hit your head and have concussion.”
He laughed softly, then cringed at the pain that had to have caused him. “Ow,” he said again.
Sam rolled her eyes and stood up. The chamber was high but narrow. More like... “I think it’s a passageway. Question is - which way do we go?”
Baal got to his feet slowly and with more than one wince. He stared in one direction, then the other. He closed his eyes and breathed out. Sam arched her eyebrows, but held her tongue and waited. After a moment, he pointed to her right. “That way.”
“What makes you so sure?”
An all-too-familiar smirk slid over his mouth. “I’m a God. Gods-”
“Get their ribs broken?” Sam finished for him archly. “I’m not impressed by that pretence either.”
“You are a hard woman to impress, it seems.”
“Not that it’s stopped you trying.”
The grin returned. “I like a challenge.”
“You’re certifiable, you know that right?”
“Perhaps,” he said affably. “But I am correct about the direction.”
Sam was tempted to go the other way just to spite him, but she trusted his instincts. Which was a very scary thought. She shrugged and motioned with her rifle.
They walked in silence. Sam had no clue as to how far down they were, or if the others were attempting to reach them. She supposed that they would, but given how the chamber had sealed itself...
Her breath caught. Stopping dead, she closed her eyes and banked the panic down. We are not trapped, we are not trapped, we are not-
“Sam?”
“I’m okay.” She forced her eyes open, her feet to take another step. Tried to ignore the incredulous expression of Baal’s face.
“The hell you are,” he said.
“Let’s just... keep moving.” Don’t make me stand still, please. She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t let him see the fear that was close to overwhelming her. “We need to find a way out.”
“We will.” His hand on her arm stopped her, then he slid it down. Her fingers wound around his despite her best efforts not to cling. “It’s just a little further.”
She was grateful that he didn’t say anything about the hand holding. Not that she doubted there’d be hell to pay for it later. Right now, though, she was just thankful for the comfort. She concentrated on how warm his palm was and not about how much rock was hovering above their heads.
“It had to have been a failsafe,” she said, needing to talk. The silence was oppressive. “We stumbled into a trap.”
“I agree, but I am not sure that this is an Ancient design.”
Sam shone the flashlight up a little way. He was right - nothing about the structure appeared Ancient. “This place hasn’t been inhabited for more than a hundred years, though.”
“Not by Ancients,” Baal noted. “Or anything you would recognise as human. But I believe something has been here.”
She thought about the cobwebs. “Sentient spiders?”
“I have seen stranger things.”
“You’re just trying to creep me out.”
He looked at her. “Why would I do that? Keeping you calm is one of my top priorities right now. The last thing I need to deal with is a hysterical female.”
Sam snorted. “You know, I wonder how you can say things like that and still wonder why I won’t go on a date with you.”
“I have no need to wonder - you are just a Tau’ri, even if that’s a more intelligent example of the species - I expect a little stupidity.”
For almost a minutes, Sam was so incensed that she could barely think, never mind make a come back. He was unbelievable! Did he seriously think she was charmed by such misogyny? She yanked her hand out of his.
“Of course you do - you’re an asshole.”
She stalked into a wider area, only to slow as she realised that the passageway had opened into a proper chamber, complete with Ancient consoles. Her fury died. She promptly realised that the anger had burnt away her incipit claustrophobia... and that Baal had more than likely engineered that. She watched him cross to one of the panels, an apology on the tip of her tongue. The impossible man - just when she thought that she had him figured out, he went and did something completely at a tangent.
As Sam shone her flashlight over the ground, she noticed a rather familiar shape. Frowning in confusion, she bent to take a closer look.
“It is a ring platform,” Baal announced. “I believe that it leads back to the surface.”
“That would be good. Can you get it to work?” She winced at his hard look. “Forget I asked.”
Baal’s fingers flew over the panel, working fast. Sam got herself in position and prayed that the rings didn’t dump them somewhere even creepier.
“You know what?” he said as he joined her. “I’d really love a gun about now.”
There was a whoosh as the rings lifted from the floor, and then everything went white.
***
The main room of the city was empty. Sam turned round slowly, looking for her teammates. There was simply no sign of them. Or of any kind of life whatsoever.
“Cam?” she called out, then tried her radio. “Cam?”
Silence from the city, static from the radio. She glanced at Baal. “What happened?”
“Why are you asking me?”
“I thought you were all-knowing?”
He rolled his eyes. “Petty, Samantha.”
“What did you expect from a Tau’ri female?” She shouldered her rifle. “I’m going to check outside. You stay here in case they come back.”
Not giving him a chance to argue, she stalked to the door. It had closed since their arrival. She entered the same sequence on the panel that Daniel had, only she got no response. She frowned and tried it again. Nothing.
“Door won’t open,” she announced.
“Did you try knocking?”
“I’ll knock you in a minute - come and help.”
Baal gave a hard-done-by sigh and trudged over. He entered the sequence. Nothing happened. He glared at her. “You’ve broken it.”
“I didn’t do anything! It’s more likely that the sequence has been changed.”
“By what?”
A howl went up. Sam whirled, her rifle coming down automatically. Her eyes scanned the room, seeing nothing. However, her skin crawled; a sense of deep unease settling in her stomach. “You had to ask,” she muttered at Baal. He hitched a shoulder.
“I wasn’t expecting that answer.”
For all his calm, she caught the shift in his stance. He was primed for a fight, just as she was. Common sense had a brief argument with military regulations, then she gave in and fished out her ‘zat. “Don’t get any ideas,” she told him. “It’s just so you can defend yourself.”
“Landry would have a fit,” he observed, activating the weapon. “You can’t even claim that I brainwashed you.”
Sam’s eyes narrowed at that reference. “Don’t go there, Baal. Or I might forget that I’m not supposed to shoot you.”
He chuckled. She noticed how this time he didn’t wince. Bastard: she could only wish to heal so quickly, though she’d no intention of taking that sort of measure. He was too busy examining the panel to notice her glare.
“There are over a thousand possible combinations,” he mused. “So this could take a while, even assuming that whatever changed it last time doesn’t do it again.”
The howl sounded again. It was a hollow noise that echoed around the room, making it impossible to locate the source. Sam drew closer to Baal.
“D’you think that-”
“Maybe. I did say that there had been something here since the Ancients. I just hadn’t counted on it still being here.”
“There’s nothing on the scanner,” Sam noted. Her breath felt tight in her throat. “Whatever it is isn’t anything we’ve encountered before.”
Baal tilted his head. “Wraith?”
Horror swept through her. “That’s impossible,” she stated, though she didn’t even sound sure to herself. “Isn’t it?”
“I have no idea. It might explain the disappearance of your team, though.”
“Or they could be looking for us.”
“And just not answering their radios?”
“Interference.” They had not been devoured by Wraith. Not here. “Could be anything, really.”
“Oh, absolutely.”
His tone was disbelieving. Sam shuddered but refused to contemplate the possibility. Then again, if it was a Wraith, she would at least know what she was dealing with. As things were...
“Let’s assume worst-case scenario,” she said. “I can calibrate the detector to pick up Wraith life signs. You try to get that damn door open.”
Baal nodded and set to task. Sam sat on the floor, her rifle across her legs, and began to reprogram the detector. The acoustics of the room carried every sound - the whisper of wind, the creak of ancient structures, and the sound of her own breathing. There were other sounds that she couldn’t place and that made her heart pound harder. She made the last alteration and restarted the detector.
Three dots showed up on the screen.
“Baal,” she said, voice low and hoarse.
“Is that a ‘yes’?”
“Yeah.”
“Hm. That could prove problematic.”
Problematic? Was he for real? “There are Wraith in the city!” she hissed at him. “My team is missing. That’s a little more than problematic, Baal!”
“Calm down,” he scolded. “Blind panic will not solve anything.” He came over and plucked the detector out of her hands. “They are deeper in the city, but there are no other life signs. Either there is a section that is shielded, or your team is... elsewhere.”
She was grateful that he didn’t say dead, but knew that they were both thinking that. She thumbed her bottom lip. “There’s no telling how long we were out. They could have gone back to the SGC for more personnel and equipment to try and extract us.”
Baal nodded. “We should assume the latter and try to get out. Once we’re at the ‘Gate, we can contact Landry and see. If they didn’t go back... Well, we shall transverse that bridge when we get to it.”
His version of the phrase made Sam smile in spite of the situation. She didn’t quite know why he attempted to sound more human, but it was kind of cute. In a really weird and slightly creepy way.
“How do we get out, though?”
“Got any C-4?”
“Oh, you and your explosions,” Sam sighed, but dug in her pack. “You do realise that a noise that loud is going to attract the Wraith’s attention, right?”
“We can handle it.”
“You and me against three Wraith? I’m not sure I’d bet on those odds, Baal.”
He gave her a toothy smile. “If it was easy, then it would be no fun.”
She shook her head. “You are a very strange person.”
“Yes, I know; but it’s kind of attractive, isn’t it?”
Sam snorted and slapped the C-4 into his outstretched hand. “Only in your dreams,” she countered.
“You have no idea.”
She really didn’t want to know. Nor was she about to admit that he had figured in one or two of hers. Instead, she checked on the detector and then on the amount of ammunition she had.
“Right, this is set.” Baal stepped backwards and held her gaze. “The moment it’s safe to do so, you run. Despite your doubts, I am more than a match for three Wraith.”
“I’m not leaving you behind.” As annoying as he was, Sam refused to contemplate abandoning him. “We need to stick together.”
He came to her, hands settling heavy on her shoulders. “Now is not the time to get emotional on me, Samantha. You get yourself safe.”
“But-”
“Please.”
His brown eyes held her doubtful gaze. The intensity in them made her shiver. She had no idea why he felt the need to play the hero now, but she didn’t like it. However, it was very hard to look into his eyes and deny him.
“Baal...”
She rocked back at the unexpected kiss. Her hand froze; half ready to shove him away, before it got a mind of its own and settled on his shoulder. Her eyes drifted closed as his tongue parted her lips and then slid between them.
Okay, so he could kiss. his timing sucked though. However when he pulled her closer, she wound her other arm around his neck. The frustration of the past few weeks, his flirting, the disparaging remarks, the “accidental” touching - Sam poured all the aggravation into the kiss, biting at his tongue and tasting blood. He gave a dual-toned growl. Her eyes snapped open to find his shining brightly.
“What?” she murmured. Then an explosion made her ears ring.
She was shoved towards the hole in the door.
“Run.”
She did. Her feet stumbled over the rumble. The fresh breeze was like a slap after so long breathing in the stale air of the city. It hurt her throat. Or was that the pain in her chest? She didn’t realise that she was crying until she brushed her hair from her eyes.
Behind her came an inhuman roar. The Wraith. Baal. Oh God.
A tree foot snarled one foot and sent her sprawling. She lay in the leaf litter, breathless and disorientated. She hauled in a deep breath. Damn him, but she was not going to run away from this fight. Pulling herself together, Sam rose and readied her rifle.
The snap of a fallen twig made her reel. She almost dropped her firearm.
“Cam!” Bolting to him, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him hard. “I thought you were dead! There were Wraith-” Her stomach roiled at the thought of Baal facing them alone. She pulled back and plucked at her friend’s sleeve. “Baal,” she gasped. “We have to help-”
“Oh, there’s no need for that.” He strolled into the clearing as if nothing had happened. However, there was a dark red smear on his previously flawless blue shirt. “I told you that I could handle three of them.”
“Just,” she said, nodding at his chest. Then, “Are you okay?”
“If I say no, do I get another kiss?”
“What?” Cam looked shocked. Sam dropped her face into her hands. “You kissed him?”
For a moment, she kept her eyes closed and wished that the ground would open up. Then a small, rebellious part rose inside her. Why did she need to justify what she’d done? Baal was no longer considered a threat, at least as far as the IOA were concerned. She wondered how much of her putting him off had been down to what other people might have thought.
Irritation flickered and she lowered her hands, threw back her shoulders and lifted her chin. “So what if I did?”
Surprise crossed Cam’s face, but it wasn’t as satisfactory as the shock on Baal’s at her clear declaration. He blinked, mouth agape, then snapped his jaw shut with a frown. She watched him stare at the ground and thought that there was a little more colour to his cheeks than usual.
“I believe that you owe me twenty dollars, Colonel Mitchell,” Teal’c intoned, making her stare at him. “I had them down at four months.”
Disbelief washed through her. “You’ve been betting on us?”
Daniel snorted. “Try the entire base. You two already argue like an old married couple; sooner or later you were either going to get together or else try to kill one another. I actually had fifty on you punching him again.”
Sam looked from him to Teal’c, then Cam and finally Vala. They were all grinning, completely unrepentant. She rubbed at her neck.
“I thought that you’d...” Her gaze went to Baal. Something thick tangled in her throat and she had to cough before she could continue. “I thought you’d all be against it.”
He looked up, sadness clear in his eyes, then away again. Oh, Baal. Without another word, she walked over to him. Turning his face back to hers, she cupped it in both hands and then kissed him gently on the mouth.
“Okay, I’m stupid,” she murmured, smiling at the flicker of his lips at that statement. “Feel free to gloat.”
“Me? Never.” He smirked, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Sam...”
“Hey, I’m always willing to admit being wrong, which kind of makes one of us, but... I was and I’m sorry.”
He tilted his head, the light of mischief entering his eyes. “Do I get that date now?”
Sam laughed and hugged him. His embrace was tight. She rested her forehead against his shoulder, smelling the tang of his blood-soaked shirt. It still startled her that he had been willing to sacrifice himself for her, but perhaps it shouldn’t do. Perhaps she finally needed to accept that he really did care about her.
“Yes,” she breathed, meeting those warm brown eyes once more. They crinkled at the corners as he smiled and meant it. “But it has to be better than this one.”
Characters: Baal, Sam Carter
Pairing: Baal/Sam
Rating: FRT
Written for: the spook-me challenge.
Word Count: 4,000
Note: Apparently I completely fail at writing even mildly scary.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
As Sam stared at the overgrown ruins of the Ancient city, she could only agree with Cam’s statement. It rose from the surrounding jungle like grey, broken teeth. The mist that clung to the vine-draped remains just added to the general sense of wrongness.
“I’ve seen movies like this,” Cam continued. “No one comes out alive.”
Sam rolled her eyes, her gaze falling on their “extra” member. Baal didn’t seem to have heard Cam, or maybe he was just ignoring him, but the pensive expression gave her more pause than her teammate’s allusion to horror movies.
“What is it?” she asked, keeping her voice down.
His eyes flickered to her face and then back to the city. “I am... unsure.” His forehead creased. “But Colonel Mitchell is right - something feels... wrong.”
Okay, that was unsettling. Sam pursed her lips and repositioned her rifle. “Right, well I highly doubt General Landry would be impressed if we don’t investigate just because it looks a little spooky.” She pulled the life-sign detector out of a pocket of her vest and checked it. “There’s no sign of life, so I think we’re good. Just... let’s stick together.”
“Sure thing, Velma,” Cam said, offering her a grin when she glared at him.
“Does that make me Daphne?” Vala asked, her eyes wide. “And are you Fred?”
“Can we please go?” Sam heard the plaintive note in her voice and sighed. Baal had a curious look on his face. Oh, she was so not explaining this. “Come on.”
“I’m Shaggy,” Cam was saying as she trudged towards the city. She rolled her eyes as Vala giggled and inquired if that meant Teal’c was Scooby.
“Oh, the possibilities,” Baal murmured.
Sam threw him a look, surprised he got the reference. “Don’t.”
“Scrappy,” he said and she had to bite her bottom lip to stop herself laughing. She looked up at the grey towers. Her humour drained.
“If you have anything more than a vague feeling, feel free to share.”
His smirk faded. “I will.”
A hollow sensation yawned in her stomach. “This is a bad idea, isn’t it?”
“Very possibly. We should stay together. And be on your guard.”
“I do that anyway. Comes of having a Goa’uld as a spare wheel.”
He gave her a look that was probably intended to make her quail. She simply arched her eyebrows. He huffed and kicked at an innocent clump of grass. Sam knew that it was more than the tenuous agreement with the SGC that prevented him pursuing the argument further. She’d gotten over the weirdness of his attraction, gotten to the stage where tweaking him over it had become something of a pastime. She watched him sulk and tried not to smile.
They reached the entrance of the city. Cam and Teal’c covered the door as Daniel worked the lock. It slid open on a cloud of dust and the smell of rot. They all shared a glance that held a silent question. Cam shook his head with a snort.
“Teal’c, take six.” He yanked his flashlight free and switched it on. “Jackson keep flank with Carter.” His eyes fell on Baal. “You just keep quiet.”
“Whatever.”
“Stay close,” Sam said, more aware of his lack of weapon than ever. Not that giving him one was a great idea. Still...
He said nothing, but kept to her side as they walked into a wide room that reminded her of the ‘Gate room on Atlantis. Only there was no Stargate; just a lot of dust and thick cobwebs and a definite eerie sensation that itched at her skin.
“Jackson, see if those consoles respond,” Cam ordered. Daniel went over, Vala almost attached to his side. Sam understood how she felt - the urge to grab Baal’s hand was overwhelming.
“This feels wrong,” she announced. They all felt it; she knew from their expressions. “Daniel, come away from there.”
“Yeah, I think so.”
He backed up. However, the city seemed to sense his presence and the console lit up. A soft breath of air whispered through the room, stirring the covers and cobwebs. It smelt of death.
Sam grabbed Baal’s arm. “Out!” she yelled, no longer caring whether Landry thought them all insane - there was something wrong, something evil here. The grind of ancient machinery that made the whole structure shudder just made her run quicker. Cam was ahead of them. Teal’c held point, his staff weapon primed.
She heard Vala scream the moment that the ground was no longer firm beneath her feet. Her stomach flipped as she fell. Pain lanced through her shoulder as something stopped her.
“Sam.”
Baal had caught her, his hand tight on her wrist. Her eyes met his. “Don’t,” she breathed, then the structure shook again.
A loud snap sounded, sharp as the report of a pistol. Gravity took hold. Pressure banded around her chest and she couldn’t even scream. She tumbled into darkness.
***
Everything hurt. Sam rolled onto her side with a groan. A mental run down didn’t reveal in any serious injuries, though how she’d avoided that, she’d no idea. Cuts and bruises, a hell of a headache, but at least nothing was broken. That was... something? She looked up - there was no sign of the hole that had opened. Nor was there a lot of light.
Another groan made her freeze. She fumbled her flashlight free, switched it on and cast the beam around. It appeared she’d fallen into an underground chamber. And she’d not been the only one. Guilt and worry fought for dominance as she crawled over the rubble to Baal’s side: if he’d not tried to stop her falling, he wouldn’t have done.
She shook his shoulder. “Hey, wake up.”
He grunted. “Ow.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. Are you okay?”
“Fabulous,” he said, tone dark with sarcasm.
“Sorry.” The apology came automatically. She sighed. “Thanks for the attempt, though.”
“Oh, you’re welcome.” He sat up slowly, wincing and putting a hand to his ribs. “Always happy to take a fall for you, Samantha.”
She smiled in spite of herself. Running the light beam over his body, she checked for injuries. Like her, he seemed not the worse for the fall, though his expression was tight. Given the position of his hand and the short breaths, she reached a painful conclusion. “You bust a rib?”
“I’ll survive.”
“Baal, we fell into a hole. Right now I can’t see a way out. We have very little food and only a small amount of water. Cut the crap, okay? I’m not impressed by your being all stoic.”
He sighed, only to wince at the motion. “At least one. My symbiote can take care of that, though.”
She had actually forgotten about that. “Well, that’s... good. Can you get up? We’re not going to solve this problem sat on our asses.”
“You have a lovely ass.”
Oh, please. “I’m going to pretend that you hit your head and have concussion.”
He laughed softly, then cringed at the pain that had to have caused him. “Ow,” he said again.
Sam rolled her eyes and stood up. The chamber was high but narrow. More like... “I think it’s a passageway. Question is - which way do we go?”
Baal got to his feet slowly and with more than one wince. He stared in one direction, then the other. He closed his eyes and breathed out. Sam arched her eyebrows, but held her tongue and waited. After a moment, he pointed to her right. “That way.”
“What makes you so sure?”
An all-too-familiar smirk slid over his mouth. “I’m a God. Gods-”
“Get their ribs broken?” Sam finished for him archly. “I’m not impressed by that pretence either.”
“You are a hard woman to impress, it seems.”
“Not that it’s stopped you trying.”
The grin returned. “I like a challenge.”
“You’re certifiable, you know that right?”
“Perhaps,” he said affably. “But I am correct about the direction.”
Sam was tempted to go the other way just to spite him, but she trusted his instincts. Which was a very scary thought. She shrugged and motioned with her rifle.
They walked in silence. Sam had no clue as to how far down they were, or if the others were attempting to reach them. She supposed that they would, but given how the chamber had sealed itself...
Her breath caught. Stopping dead, she closed her eyes and banked the panic down. We are not trapped, we are not trapped, we are not-
“Sam?”
“I’m okay.” She forced her eyes open, her feet to take another step. Tried to ignore the incredulous expression of Baal’s face.
“The hell you are,” he said.
“Let’s just... keep moving.” Don’t make me stand still, please. She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t let him see the fear that was close to overwhelming her. “We need to find a way out.”
“We will.” His hand on her arm stopped her, then he slid it down. Her fingers wound around his despite her best efforts not to cling. “It’s just a little further.”
She was grateful that he didn’t say anything about the hand holding. Not that she doubted there’d be hell to pay for it later. Right now, though, she was just thankful for the comfort. She concentrated on how warm his palm was and not about how much rock was hovering above their heads.
“It had to have been a failsafe,” she said, needing to talk. The silence was oppressive. “We stumbled into a trap.”
“I agree, but I am not sure that this is an Ancient design.”
Sam shone the flashlight up a little way. He was right - nothing about the structure appeared Ancient. “This place hasn’t been inhabited for more than a hundred years, though.”
“Not by Ancients,” Baal noted. “Or anything you would recognise as human. But I believe something has been here.”
She thought about the cobwebs. “Sentient spiders?”
“I have seen stranger things.”
“You’re just trying to creep me out.”
He looked at her. “Why would I do that? Keeping you calm is one of my top priorities right now. The last thing I need to deal with is a hysterical female.”
Sam snorted. “You know, I wonder how you can say things like that and still wonder why I won’t go on a date with you.”
“I have no need to wonder - you are just a Tau’ri, even if that’s a more intelligent example of the species - I expect a little stupidity.”
For almost a minutes, Sam was so incensed that she could barely think, never mind make a come back. He was unbelievable! Did he seriously think she was charmed by such misogyny? She yanked her hand out of his.
“Of course you do - you’re an asshole.”
She stalked into a wider area, only to slow as she realised that the passageway had opened into a proper chamber, complete with Ancient consoles. Her fury died. She promptly realised that the anger had burnt away her incipit claustrophobia... and that Baal had more than likely engineered that. She watched him cross to one of the panels, an apology on the tip of her tongue. The impossible man - just when she thought that she had him figured out, he went and did something completely at a tangent.
As Sam shone her flashlight over the ground, she noticed a rather familiar shape. Frowning in confusion, she bent to take a closer look.
“It is a ring platform,” Baal announced. “I believe that it leads back to the surface.”
“That would be good. Can you get it to work?” She winced at his hard look. “Forget I asked.”
Baal’s fingers flew over the panel, working fast. Sam got herself in position and prayed that the rings didn’t dump them somewhere even creepier.
“You know what?” he said as he joined her. “I’d really love a gun about now.”
There was a whoosh as the rings lifted from the floor, and then everything went white.
***
The main room of the city was empty. Sam turned round slowly, looking for her teammates. There was simply no sign of them. Or of any kind of life whatsoever.
“Cam?” she called out, then tried her radio. “Cam?”
Silence from the city, static from the radio. She glanced at Baal. “What happened?”
“Why are you asking me?”
“I thought you were all-knowing?”
He rolled his eyes. “Petty, Samantha.”
“What did you expect from a Tau’ri female?” She shouldered her rifle. “I’m going to check outside. You stay here in case they come back.”
Not giving him a chance to argue, she stalked to the door. It had closed since their arrival. She entered the same sequence on the panel that Daniel had, only she got no response. She frowned and tried it again. Nothing.
“Door won’t open,” she announced.
“Did you try knocking?”
“I’ll knock you in a minute - come and help.”
Baal gave a hard-done-by sigh and trudged over. He entered the sequence. Nothing happened. He glared at her. “You’ve broken it.”
“I didn’t do anything! It’s more likely that the sequence has been changed.”
“By what?”
A howl went up. Sam whirled, her rifle coming down automatically. Her eyes scanned the room, seeing nothing. However, her skin crawled; a sense of deep unease settling in her stomach. “You had to ask,” she muttered at Baal. He hitched a shoulder.
“I wasn’t expecting that answer.”
For all his calm, she caught the shift in his stance. He was primed for a fight, just as she was. Common sense had a brief argument with military regulations, then she gave in and fished out her ‘zat. “Don’t get any ideas,” she told him. “It’s just so you can defend yourself.”
“Landry would have a fit,” he observed, activating the weapon. “You can’t even claim that I brainwashed you.”
Sam’s eyes narrowed at that reference. “Don’t go there, Baal. Or I might forget that I’m not supposed to shoot you.”
He chuckled. She noticed how this time he didn’t wince. Bastard: she could only wish to heal so quickly, though she’d no intention of taking that sort of measure. He was too busy examining the panel to notice her glare.
“There are over a thousand possible combinations,” he mused. “So this could take a while, even assuming that whatever changed it last time doesn’t do it again.”
The howl sounded again. It was a hollow noise that echoed around the room, making it impossible to locate the source. Sam drew closer to Baal.
“D’you think that-”
“Maybe. I did say that there had been something here since the Ancients. I just hadn’t counted on it still being here.”
“There’s nothing on the scanner,” Sam noted. Her breath felt tight in her throat. “Whatever it is isn’t anything we’ve encountered before.”
Baal tilted his head. “Wraith?”
Horror swept through her. “That’s impossible,” she stated, though she didn’t even sound sure to herself. “Isn’t it?”
“I have no idea. It might explain the disappearance of your team, though.”
“Or they could be looking for us.”
“And just not answering their radios?”
“Interference.” They had not been devoured by Wraith. Not here. “Could be anything, really.”
“Oh, absolutely.”
His tone was disbelieving. Sam shuddered but refused to contemplate the possibility. Then again, if it was a Wraith, she would at least know what she was dealing with. As things were...
“Let’s assume worst-case scenario,” she said. “I can calibrate the detector to pick up Wraith life signs. You try to get that damn door open.”
Baal nodded and set to task. Sam sat on the floor, her rifle across her legs, and began to reprogram the detector. The acoustics of the room carried every sound - the whisper of wind, the creak of ancient structures, and the sound of her own breathing. There were other sounds that she couldn’t place and that made her heart pound harder. She made the last alteration and restarted the detector.
Three dots showed up on the screen.
“Baal,” she said, voice low and hoarse.
“Is that a ‘yes’?”
“Yeah.”
“Hm. That could prove problematic.”
Problematic? Was he for real? “There are Wraith in the city!” she hissed at him. “My team is missing. That’s a little more than problematic, Baal!”
“Calm down,” he scolded. “Blind panic will not solve anything.” He came over and plucked the detector out of her hands. “They are deeper in the city, but there are no other life signs. Either there is a section that is shielded, or your team is... elsewhere.”
She was grateful that he didn’t say dead, but knew that they were both thinking that. She thumbed her bottom lip. “There’s no telling how long we were out. They could have gone back to the SGC for more personnel and equipment to try and extract us.”
Baal nodded. “We should assume the latter and try to get out. Once we’re at the ‘Gate, we can contact Landry and see. If they didn’t go back... Well, we shall transverse that bridge when we get to it.”
His version of the phrase made Sam smile in spite of the situation. She didn’t quite know why he attempted to sound more human, but it was kind of cute. In a really weird and slightly creepy way.
“How do we get out, though?”
“Got any C-4?”
“Oh, you and your explosions,” Sam sighed, but dug in her pack. “You do realise that a noise that loud is going to attract the Wraith’s attention, right?”
“We can handle it.”
“You and me against three Wraith? I’m not sure I’d bet on those odds, Baal.”
He gave her a toothy smile. “If it was easy, then it would be no fun.”
She shook her head. “You are a very strange person.”
“Yes, I know; but it’s kind of attractive, isn’t it?”
Sam snorted and slapped the C-4 into his outstretched hand. “Only in your dreams,” she countered.
“You have no idea.”
She really didn’t want to know. Nor was she about to admit that he had figured in one or two of hers. Instead, she checked on the detector and then on the amount of ammunition she had.
“Right, this is set.” Baal stepped backwards and held her gaze. “The moment it’s safe to do so, you run. Despite your doubts, I am more than a match for three Wraith.”
“I’m not leaving you behind.” As annoying as he was, Sam refused to contemplate abandoning him. “We need to stick together.”
He came to her, hands settling heavy on her shoulders. “Now is not the time to get emotional on me, Samantha. You get yourself safe.”
“But-”
“Please.”
His brown eyes held her doubtful gaze. The intensity in them made her shiver. She had no idea why he felt the need to play the hero now, but she didn’t like it. However, it was very hard to look into his eyes and deny him.
“Baal...”
She rocked back at the unexpected kiss. Her hand froze; half ready to shove him away, before it got a mind of its own and settled on his shoulder. Her eyes drifted closed as his tongue parted her lips and then slid between them.
Okay, so he could kiss. his timing sucked though. However when he pulled her closer, she wound her other arm around his neck. The frustration of the past few weeks, his flirting, the disparaging remarks, the “accidental” touching - Sam poured all the aggravation into the kiss, biting at his tongue and tasting blood. He gave a dual-toned growl. Her eyes snapped open to find his shining brightly.
“What?” she murmured. Then an explosion made her ears ring.
She was shoved towards the hole in the door.
“Run.”
She did. Her feet stumbled over the rumble. The fresh breeze was like a slap after so long breathing in the stale air of the city. It hurt her throat. Or was that the pain in her chest? She didn’t realise that she was crying until she brushed her hair from her eyes.
Behind her came an inhuman roar. The Wraith. Baal. Oh God.
A tree foot snarled one foot and sent her sprawling. She lay in the leaf litter, breathless and disorientated. She hauled in a deep breath. Damn him, but she was not going to run away from this fight. Pulling herself together, Sam rose and readied her rifle.
The snap of a fallen twig made her reel. She almost dropped her firearm.
“Cam!” Bolting to him, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him hard. “I thought you were dead! There were Wraith-” Her stomach roiled at the thought of Baal facing them alone. She pulled back and plucked at her friend’s sleeve. “Baal,” she gasped. “We have to help-”
“Oh, there’s no need for that.” He strolled into the clearing as if nothing had happened. However, there was a dark red smear on his previously flawless blue shirt. “I told you that I could handle three of them.”
“Just,” she said, nodding at his chest. Then, “Are you okay?”
“If I say no, do I get another kiss?”
“What?” Cam looked shocked. Sam dropped her face into her hands. “You kissed him?”
For a moment, she kept her eyes closed and wished that the ground would open up. Then a small, rebellious part rose inside her. Why did she need to justify what she’d done? Baal was no longer considered a threat, at least as far as the IOA were concerned. She wondered how much of her putting him off had been down to what other people might have thought.
Irritation flickered and she lowered her hands, threw back her shoulders and lifted her chin. “So what if I did?”
Surprise crossed Cam’s face, but it wasn’t as satisfactory as the shock on Baal’s at her clear declaration. He blinked, mouth agape, then snapped his jaw shut with a frown. She watched him stare at the ground and thought that there was a little more colour to his cheeks than usual.
“I believe that you owe me twenty dollars, Colonel Mitchell,” Teal’c intoned, making her stare at him. “I had them down at four months.”
Disbelief washed through her. “You’ve been betting on us?”
Daniel snorted. “Try the entire base. You two already argue like an old married couple; sooner or later you were either going to get together or else try to kill one another. I actually had fifty on you punching him again.”
Sam looked from him to Teal’c, then Cam and finally Vala. They were all grinning, completely unrepentant. She rubbed at her neck.
“I thought that you’d...” Her gaze went to Baal. Something thick tangled in her throat and she had to cough before she could continue. “I thought you’d all be against it.”
He looked up, sadness clear in his eyes, then away again. Oh, Baal. Without another word, she walked over to him. Turning his face back to hers, she cupped it in both hands and then kissed him gently on the mouth.
“Okay, I’m stupid,” she murmured, smiling at the flicker of his lips at that statement. “Feel free to gloat.”
“Me? Never.” He smirked, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Sam...”
“Hey, I’m always willing to admit being wrong, which kind of makes one of us, but... I was and I’m sorry.”
He tilted his head, the light of mischief entering his eyes. “Do I get that date now?”
Sam laughed and hugged him. His embrace was tight. She rested her forehead against his shoulder, smelling the tang of his blood-soaked shirt. It still startled her that he had been willing to sacrifice himself for her, but perhaps it shouldn’t do. Perhaps she finally needed to accept that he really did care about her.
“Yes,” she breathed, meeting those warm brown eyes once more. They crinkled at the corners as he smiled and meant it. “But it has to be better than this one.”