Xeen's Corner :: For Crying out Loud :: Just Another Night On Earth ::

Just Another Night on Earth
© Xeen - January 23, 2002

Spoilers: Meridian + minor spoilers up to season 6
Season: any
Rating: R
Warnings: violence, character death
Summary: things turn real bad
Note: this was written before Meridian was aired. So, consider it normal not to be consistent with canon

*

"Sir, can you hear me?" Major Samantha Carter shouted in her comlink. Fuzzy interferences answered her call.
She managed to hide deeper into the cave and gave a quick glance behind her shoulder. She was stuck like she had never been before. Teal'c was badly injured, blood squirting out of his right leg. Daniel had passed out from exhaustion and pain. She cursed between her dry lips and crawled back to him. She placed her head on his chest. He was still breathing, but judging from his damaged chest, not for long. Fever was running higher and a steady whistling was coming from his right lung.
She grabbed the comlink and cried out for help for the umpteenth time. "Colonel!? Colonel O'Neill! Please respond! Carter reporting! We are currently under fire. Repeat… under fire!" she sighed and put a light hand on Daniel's forehead. "I have two men down, two men down!"
All she was hearing was the static. She cursed again and resumed her previous position. From the dust and swaying of the small trees below, she could tell that it won't be long until they get to them, probably a matter of minutes now.
"Colonel? Carter here, do you copy? We need urgent reinforcement, sir! Are you in any position to dial out? Sir…"
A moan from Teal'c and she crouched even more, silencing him with a look and crawling back to the darkness of the cave.
"Major Carter," said the deep voice of the Jaffa before she could reach to him, "it is necessary that you search for rescue. Maybe with O'Neill's help, you should fight your way back to the stargate."
Teal'c closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. She could see the salient bone of his jaw jerking in the dark. Even Teal'c would not resist this situation for long, she thought. Eyes burning with fever, he grabbed her arm and said in such a low voice she had to put her ear close to his mouth.
"You are our only hope major Carter…" he whispered, before passing out as well.
She tilted her head and kissed him gently on the cheek and nodded. He was right.

She silently proceeded out of the cave, clutching her P90, and took the fastest run she could to the position once before occupied by O'Neill. Nobody from the enemies seemed to notice her escape. She kept running. She was not far from Jack now. She would see him any minute.
She stopped, kneeling down, out of breath and snapped in the comlink "Sir? You there? I'm on my way…"
She took the binoculars out of her right pocket and adjusted the view.
"What the heck was that…"
Up north. Ten hours. It seemed like a battle dress uniform.
"It can't be."
She started running to the spot, bending down, stumbling on the stones and branches, eyes filling with tears. When she was close enough, she fell down and crawled to the shredded body.
He looked peaceful. At last.
She threw herself on him and oblivious of the enemies, of the stargate and everything she was trained to cope with, she started to yell her grief to the world.

*

"Jack! Jack! … No!!"
"Sam! That's ok, calm down, I'm here… yeah, yeah, that's it," says a soothing voice in her ear. He turns on the light and a gentle hand takes away from her swollen eyes a strand of hair. She sees deep velvet brown eyes meeting hers.
"Come on."
"Jack!" she cries. "Oh Jack!"
"Ssshh…I know, I know, you had a bad dream. You're all right. You're gonna be fine."
"I dreamt I… You… you ok?" she asks somehow hesitating.
And all of a sudden she remembers. The radiations, the infirmary, the tears in Janet's voice, Teal'c's embrace, the devastated face of general Hammond and the expression of utter loss on Jack's face.
Daniel is gone.
For ever.
She had no time to talk to him before it was too late. She'll never see his boyish smile and the glimmer in his eyes when he is teasing Jack or challenging her.
"Oh my god," she whispers, her head resting on Jack's chest. "I'm not dreaming now, am I?"
"No honey, you're not," he says, hugging her even closer. "There was nothing that you could have done, Sam. It's not anybody's fault…"
She cuddles up in his arms and feels tears rolling down his chin. She moves away from him and gently wipes them away. Then, she manages to look up at him.
"We never found a way to tell him, Jack," she says, her voice trembling.
"He knew, honey, I'm quite sure," Jack said avoiding eye contact. "And now, he definitely knows."
"You think he's still around?"
"Who knows?" Jack answers, his eyes eventually meeting hers. "At least, Charlie is not alone any more," he whispers, taking her in his arms again. "We should get back to sleep Sammie, it's almost dawn."
Her lips brushes his and she lies down, Jack's body spooning hers. He puts his arm around her and she feels his uneven breath against the nape of her neck. A light snore tells her that he is back to sleep.
She closes her eyes. Images of Daniel on Abydos appear instantly behind her closed eyelids.
"Sha're is not alone any more either," she sighs.
Jack's hand shivers on her waist and she goes back to her light agitated sleep.

THE END