New fic: Into The Blue
Am I quick or what?
Title: Into The Blue
Author: Pepper
Rating: PG.
Season: 9
Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine, blah blah blah.
Featured Character(s): Sam, Cam
Pairing(s): Sam/Cam. It's all
surrealphantast's fault!
Summary: "So is this normal procedure for the six-month review?" he asked, shuffling his shoulders to a more comfortable position beneath her head...
A/N: I've only seen a few episodes with Cam, so I may not be getting him quite right. I'm trying not to make him merely an amalgam of Jack and Daniel, with shades of Jonas. Don't know if I quite managed it. Will try harder next time. (Next time??!)
Hoorah for prompts that get my brain working again! Prompt, from
surrealphantast: "Sam/Cam?... Stuck in a car on a snowy highway... (I would not be averse to having Jack's shadow there with them.)"
And someone outside my office is running their car engine. There's a low, constant hum, on just that frequency guaranteed to give me a really bad headache, and just loud enough to be really. fucking. annoying. If they don't turn the damn thing off or go away soon, I'm going to drop my in-tray out the window on them.
edit, after 45mins of it: Or maybe my small filing cabinet.
edit, after he goes away and comes back and starts again: Definitely the filing cabinet.
---
It was definitely getting darker.
Sam peered out of the windscreen, and swore under her breath. Any more of this, and they'd have to... well, she wasn't sure exactly. 'Get out and walk' didn't hold much appeal. She glanced at her companion, wondering if he was really asleep or just faking. She couldn't help but remember that when he used to come with her on this trip, he'd be doing something childish, like drawing on the windows, or watching the steamy plumes of his breath. As it was, the journey had been fairly quiet. They'd chatted at first, and then he'd closed his eyes and told her to wake him if she wanted a break. Well, she didn't intend to be the only one suffering boredom... "Cam!"
He started, and blinked open bleary blue eyes. "Wha-? Are we there?"
"No. We've got to make a decision. Carry on fighting through, or find somewhere to stop and wait it out."
He blinked at her for a moment, and then looked out the window at the swirling snow. "Oh. Shit."
"Yeah."
"Wow." He shivered, suddenly and dramatically, and wriggled upright in his seat, rubbing a hand through his hair. "How far away is it?"
"About another hour's drive under normal conditions. Who knows how much more in all this." She waved a brief hand at the blizzard, but then put both hands firmly back on the wheel.
"I vote we stop. Dying on the way to the six-month review isn't quite the climactic end to my career that I'd pictured. What d'you think?"
That was another thing. He wouldn't have asked. He would have stated. Not in a bossy way - well, okay, slightly bossily - but mostly just in a used-to-being-the-one-in-command way. She wasn't used to this... this democratic way of working with someone.
"Yeah, I guess we'd better stop. Keep your eyes peeled."
Cam wiped his window clear, and peered out. The world beyond was opaque white. "Uh... I don't think that'll help, Sam." He gave her a cute grin.
Sam sighed. "Dammit." Wiping her window, and keeping an eagle eye on the rear-view mirror, she slowed, and gingerly pulled off the road. Fortunately, the drifted snow didn't conceal any dangerous drops. Getting as far off the road as she dared, she stopped, and paused with her hand on the ignition, glancing at Cam. "I've got blankets under the back seat. I'd love to leave the heater running, but I don't want to be stranded tomorrow with a dead battery."
Cam nodded. "Blankets it is." She shut off the engine whilst he leaned over the seats and rummaged for the blankets, finally pulling them free with a yank, tossing one to her with a grin. She looked at the blanket, and then at her companion, who raised his eyebrows. "Have I ever told you about the time I nearly died in Antarctica?" he asked. "Cold. Really, really cold."
"Been there, done that," she said, shivering in remembrance.
So they made themselves a comfortable cocoon, snuggled together, wrapped in both blankets. And it was nice. She hadn't snuggled with a man since she'd given back Pete's ring. Cam was comfortably warm and solid, smelled nice, wrapped his arms around her in a way that was close without being too invasive - all in all, he rated a high 9 on her Snuggleometer.
"So is this normal procedure for the six-month review?" he asked, shuffling his shoulders to a more comfortable position beneath her head.
"Not the one in July," said Sam, dryly, taking the opportunity to give him a subtle sniff. He really did smell nice - a scent that she suspected was a combination of soap and leather jacket. Yum.
"Ha-ha. Funny. I meant with, y'know, General O'Neill."
"I've never been on a six-month review with General O'Neill."
"Sa-aam..."
"Okay, okay - with Colonel O'Neill... no. We never got stuck before." Yet another opportunity she'd lost along the way. There was a thoughtful pause, and Sam tried to picture being in this position with him. Somehow, it was difficult. For a start, they probably wouldn't have been so comfortably close. They'd have tried to stick it out under separate blankets, and probably ended up with pneumonia. Snuggling was definitely better.
"So, how'm I doing?"
"Huh?" She tried to remember what they'd been talking about.
"Well, we've had six months working together. How'm I doing?"
"Oh." She gave it some thought. "You're fine."
"Well, it's not quite the glowing report I was hoping for..."
She grinned at the window, watching the snow drift higher. "Okay, okay, you're great. You fit well with the team. You've made the odd mistake, but we all do. You don't treat Teal'c like 'the alien', and you actually seem listen to Daniel - which has thrown him nicely, let me tell you."
"And you?" asked Cam, lightly.
"Oh, you don't boss me around. It's a nice change."
"Is it?"
The tone of his voice made her wriggle around to see his expression. The deepening gloom made that difficult. "What do you mean?"
"I mean... I know you'd probably rather have him back."
She frowned at Cam. "Do I give you that impression? Because I don't mean to. I like having you on the team." Guiltily remembering her earlier thoughts, she asked: "I've not been comparing you two, have I?" Because not only was that rude, it also made her look embarrassingly fixated.
Cam smiled wryly. "Not exactly. Just, you... you get this look sometimes... like you'd expected me to react differently."
Sam laid her head back down, and made an effort to think of Cam as an entity separate from 'the-Colonel-on-SG-1'. It wasn't easy - and that made her think that she probably should have done it sooner. He was an odd combination of puppyish enthusiasm, and a heart-clenchingly familiar cynicism and humour. Abruptly, she realised that she'd mentally classified him as a sort of younger-O'Neill-without-so-much-baggage. Shit. That had to stop. "It's not a reflection on you," she said, slowly. "I guess I'm just used to having things be a certain way. I mean, we were a team for years. I'm not... it just takes time to adjust."
Cam wrapped a hand around her shoulder, rubbing slightly. "You know the team's yours if you want it," he said - as he had from the beginning. "I don't consider myself the leader just 'cause I have a coupla months seniority. You led SG-1 for-"
"I know," she interrupted. "It's okay. I like the way things are." And she was surprised to realise that she really meant that. When she'd come back from Area 51, she'd thought it would be a temporary reassignment - and since then, she'd gotten used to the new way the team worked. Democratically. He didn't give her orders, and she didn't give him orders. (No one, of course, had ever been able to give Daniel or Teal'c orders.) It was... appropriate, given their parallel ranks and differing strengths. It worked. He'd been good for the team. At the time, she'd felt like it was time to let go, to move on. She'd been happy to move on, in fact - even if it had felt a little like she was leaving the best part of her life behind. But then Cam had come bouncing in, and his infectious enthusiasm and awe had rejuvenated them all.
"Good," said Cam. His hand stopped rubbing, and now gripped her shoulder warmly. "Because I don't want you to be my subordinate. That'd be totally weird."
Sam grinned. Yes, it would. "I have no intention of being your subordinate," she assured him. "But please do give me a kick in the ass if you feel I need it."
"Oh, I have no problem with your ass," Cam assured her, a smile in his voice, and then stilled. "Uh, giving you a kick in it, I mean. Um."
And, with a 'pop', it was there. The Tension. Sam tried not to freeze too obviously.
"Just ignore me," said Cam, in a studiously nonchalant tone. Sam stared blindly at the grey-white windscreen. Damn. That was... unexpected. Oh, Holy Hannah. She was so totally screwed up.
"Cam?" she said, quietly. He grunted enquiringly, and she sat up. He sat patiently as she looked him over with the clarity of vision that had suddenly come to her. He had nice eyes. Blue eyes. A strong jaw. He was attractive. He was also a good man. He had a generous spirit. And he'd had the strength to fight the 27 combined years of weary cynicism accumulated by the three other members of SG-1, and win.
"Sam?" he asked, softly. She stared him in his attractive blue eyes. Swallowed. And leaned forwards.
He stayed perfectly still as she brushed her lips tentatively against his. Then she leaned back again and stared at him, feeling absurdly like a teenager on her first date. "I'm not going to wait another nine years," she told him, in a rush.
Cam raised his eyebrows. "Decisive much?"
"Cam..."
"Sorry. I just... you took me by surprise, a bit." He blew out a breath. "Really?" he asked, finally. "Me?"
Sam smiled, wryly. "I can be very blind, for a long, long time, but eventually I see what's right in front of me," she informed him.
Cam grinned, and it made her feel reckless and so very free. "Well, hell," he said. "A man'd have to be ten times a fool to let you slip away."
And he threaded his warm hands into her hair, and their lips met.
---
END.