All Right - Chapter 4

Disclaimer in part 1

Rating: one swear word

Info: Ok, I seemed to have forgotten what model of gun SG-1 carries…

The atmosphere in the air as SG-1, Jacob, and Martouf stepped through the Stargate that afternoon was full of mixed feelings. Curiosity, concern, remorse, sadness…

He watched as Martouf tried to talk to Sam again and although, she did talk to him, it was clear that what she had said caused Martouf to turn and look hurt. He observed that as the mission went on, Martouf took to trailing Sam, but made no further effort to talk to her again.

I wonder what happened…Daniel couldn’t get the distraught picture of Sam out of his mind all day. He had been shocked and speechless to see her lose control like she did when he had stopped by her office earlier today, to see her making a mess in her lab; throwing her techno doo-hickeys and whatchamacallits around like they were nothing more than junk – that was a sure sign to Daniel that something was terribly wrong, Sam was possessive of her machines like Daniel was possessive of his artifacts…and coffee. The fact that Sam also looked like she was hysterical, with tears coming down her face and the look in her eyes…Daniel shuddered as he remembered the misery and sadness in who he considered his best friend. But what hurt Daniel the most was that Sam had chosen to shut him out and prevent him from comforting her, Daniel recalled the way she closed the door on his face and the way that he stood there for a few minutes after listening to her cry.

Daniel had thought to seek out Martouf to ask what happened, but decided not to since he didn’t want to interfere in a lover’s spat, but if things continued on the way Daniel was looking at, then it looked irreconcilable.

Again, Daniel was pondering what could have happened to make Sam, strong, reliable, calm Sam, lose her composure like that. Remembering back to the gate room, when waiting to embark, Daniel had observed Martouf as he entered the gate room alone; he looked so sad and remorseful. He didn’t even rise to the remarks that Jack made, giving a curt nod to Jacob who asked him if everything was all right. Sam was the last one to show up and she took so much time that Daniel was about to suggest that he find her when she rushed in, wearing a hat and sunglasses covering her eyes, mumbling a quiet excuse of not finding all her equipment that she needed. She made no move to talk to Martouf even after he stepped up to stand beside her to whisper something in her ear. She brushed by him, grabbed Daniel by the sleeve and started to ask him about what he could find out about the Yalan civilization while pulling him through the gate. Before stepping through the wormhole, Daniel had glanced back to see Martouf staring at Sam with such regret and sorrow before following them through.

And here they were, trekking through ancient ruins of a technologically advanced dead civilization and things were already showing something was wrong. The rest of the team could just sense that today was just not a good day. Daniel and Sam, nicknamed the ‘hyper twins’ by Jack should’ve been bouncing from one end of the ruins to the other, shouting out in excitement and joy over their discoveries like two kids in a candy-store. Jack should’ve been yelling out sarcastic remarks in mock-fashion to his excited scientist and clumsy anthropologist among other things. Teal’c should’ve been standing guard, yet gazing at his teammates, his family with fondness. But today, everyone, including the Tok’ra, was moving silently through the ruins being led by Jacob to the cavern where the Tok’ra scout had spotted the abandoned technology. There were no conversations, but everyone’s thoughts were occupied with thoughts, none of them happy.

According to the briefing yesterday, Jacob said the spot was a large underground cavern with a concealed entrance about twenty miles from the outskirts of the ruined city in a westerly direction and was located in a large plain surrounded by trees. Daniel shouldered his pack and fiddled for his sunglasses as the glare of the sun made his eyes water and as he looked ahead, he silently thanked Janet for recently upping his allergy medication as he saw the field of wildflowers Jacob was walking through.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Martouf attempt to talk quietly to Sam. Daniel saw that this time, Sam shook her head and say something to Martouf. Martouf appeared to begin to plead with her as he caught hold of her hand and brought it up to hold against his chest; he talked lowly and his posture looked as if he were trying to make Sam understand something. Sam, for her part, had taken off her sunglasses and Daniel could see her nod and say something back, he was starting to get worried as he saw a tear slide down her face. Martouf moved to wipe it off her face, using the opportunity to stop Sam from walking and turn her to face him.

Daniel stopped watching, knowing that what they had to say was private and he hurried to catch up to Jack, Teal’c, and Jacob telling them that Sam and Martouf should be left alone for awhile as they appeared to be discussing something important and private. Jack seemed hesitant to leave them alone on a planet they knew hardly anything about, but Teal’c pointed out that the Tok’ra had assured them that the planet had been abandoned thousands of years ago and the Tok’ra scouting party had encountered no life-forms for the duration of their stay. Daniel backed Teal’c up and reassured Jack that Sam and Martouf were capable of taking care of themselves and that when they finished their private talk; Martouf knew where to find them. Jack relented and went ahead to tell Jacob and that was when everything went wrong.

~~~~~~

Sam watched as Daniel subtly picked up his pace to talk to the colonel and Teal’c and she silently thanked them. She knew he realized something was up with her and Martouf and gave them some privacy.

She turned back to face Martouf who had taken a hold of her hand and caressing her cheek with his other hand.

“Samantha…are you still angry with us? Please understand that the words Lantash had spoken earlier were not meant to hurt you; that is the last thing we wish to do to you. Forgive us please for causing you such grief today; we would rather die ourselves than see you cry.” Martouf pleaded softly, his gray eyes expressing his pain at the distance between them.

Sam bit her lip as she stared at the man she loved more than anything else. She shook her head slowly and whispered, “How can we love each other and live our lives together if there are so many problems standing in our way?”

“We will make it work, my love, we just need time to plan things carefully, but know this, we are not willing to live without you, Samantha, as you are our world.”

Sam felt another tear slide down her face. “What Lantash said today, Martouf, it hurt a lot, to know that you think of me like that. A burden on the Tok’ra because I won’t take a symbiote…” Pain reflected in her eyes. “I love you so much, but something like that will never go away, I don’t know how…”

Martouf let go of Sam’s hand and cradled her face in hands. “We will not hear you talk like that, beloved, there is always a solution to every problem and we will not accept being separated from you.”

A faint cry from Daniel caused Sam and Martouf to snap their attention to the scene ahead of them. What they saw caused their eyes to widen in horror and break out into a run toward Daniel and Teal’c who was currently firing his staff weapon into the forest left to them. Daniel was on his knees, clutching his arm that Sam could see was badly singed by a staff blast. She quickened her pace, raising her gun, her eyes searching for any viable cover. Martouf was running beside her, zat in hand, when he grabbed her sleeve and pointed to a pile of rocks to their left. As she nodded, Martouf shouted that he would retrieve Daniel and retreat with Teal’c to join her.

Sam changed her direction, headed for the pile of rocks, diving behind them and shoving her backpack off to raise her gun, and provided cover fire for Martouf who was running and firing zat blasts at the oncoming Jaffa. Sam sprayed gun fire at the Jaffa, cursing them and this day for turning out so bad. Her heart jumped as she saw that Martouf had reached Daniel and was coaxing him to his feet; Daniel, for his part, had risen painfully while pulling out his berretta and taking a few shots of his own at the Jaffa. The left part of his uniform covering his arm was burned off, revealing blistered red skin and blood. Martouf shouted for Teal’c to follow and Martouf led the way back to Sam who was still firing away.

Sam knew her ammo was going to run out soon and tried to reach into her vest, one-handed, to retrieve more ammunition clips. Martouf was almost to her position when a shout from Daniel caused him to turn around in time to witness Teal’c and Daniel seemingly swallowed up by the ground. Sam yelled at Martouf as he ran back to see what had happened to Daniel and Teal’c; she knew she was down to her last round and with Martouf preoccupied with finding Teal’c and Daniel he wasn’t concentrating on firing at the Jaffa.

“Martouf!” Sam shouted desperately one last time. Martouf turned and looked at her and sensing the urgency in her voice, immediately began to run toward her, doubling his pace, not even stopping to fire.

“Shit!” Sam swore as she ran out of ammo and frantically yanked out another clip to shove into her gun. Something told her to look up and as her head snapped up to look at Martouf, she saw a Jaffa taking aim to shoot at him. “No!” She cried, jumping to her feet and began running toward Martouf, firing her reloaded gun at the Jaffa as she ran.

“Martouf!” She yelled at him. She was almost there and for a split second their eyes met and Sam understood that Martouf knew their chances of making it out of this was slim. There were too many Jaffa, they only had two weapons, and the worse was that they had been caught unawares and in a place that didn’t provide much cover.

“No.” Sam whispered as she saw that the Jaffa she had spotted earlier release a staff blast directly aimed at Martouf who was still trying to make his way to her. The other staff blasts pounded into the ground around them and it seemed to Sam that the ground shook hard. She didn’t have time to contemplate this fact as she reached Martouf and before he understood what was happening, Sam grabbed him and turned so that her back was facing the Jaffa. Sam saw Martouf’s eyes widen as he saw the staff blast closing in, understood that it was too close to dodge, and then what Sam was trying to do.

“Samantha!”  Martouf staggered as the staff blast hit Sam straight in the back. He caught Sam as she whimpered and then began to fall. “No! Samantha!” Martouf stumbled backwards and fell. As he did, he felt the ground give way and then all he could see was darkness.