We Love as One – Chapter 18A

Disclaimer in index

Spoiler: Ascension, I fiddled around with it!!!

“Great, I waste all last weekend trying to get out of a hospital bed only to wind up in...another hospital bed.” Jack complained, raking a hand through his gray hair.

“Would you still like to be lying unconscious on your living room floor, Jack?” Daniel asked from where he was standing beside his friend’s bed, hands tucked underneath his arms.

“Actually yes Daniel, I would, that way when I woke up I’d be looking at a wonderful pizza box and a two-four instead of waking up with tubes shoved up my nose and a breezy draft, hoping that it was beautiful nurse who put me in this *gown* instead of Big Bertha.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Janet said that she just wants to run a few tests, Jack. Hopefully it’s nothing.” He paused and then started to head out the door. “Maybe I should call Sam, just to tell her what’s up and to tell General Hammond.”

“Hey Daniel, while you’re out there, wanna get me a hamburger? With the works? Daniel?” Jack called out as his friend left the room without any further acknowledgement.

“Who is ‘Big Bertha’, O’Neil? And to what breeze are you referring? The atmosphere is quite calm here.” Teal’c stated in his usual stance as he stood beside the hospital bed, wearing his latest buy in the hat department, an orange baseball hat.

Jack shook his head and waved a hand. “Never mind, T.” He tried to hide the grimace of pain as he shifted a little on his bed.

~~~~~

Martouf wandered down the hall of Samantha’s dwelling- house, he corrected himself and found himself opening a door (he had grown used to the concept of doors rather quickly) and staring into darkness. Placing his hand against the wall beside him, he turned on the light (another concept he’d learned after being laughed at by Samantha for trying to change in the...bathroom in the dark). He was greeted by a stairway leading down to the lower part of Samantha’s...house.

He walked slowly down and let his eyes rove over everything. Apparently, this part of Samantha’s house was not used much for entertainment as it was devoid of any real and comfortable furnishings. He noted the difference between the upper floor and this one and-...what was that?

Was that...? It certainly looked like it, but it couldn’t possibly be...He had never seen one like this before. He would’ve thought it impossible. Martouf knew that Samantha was extremely intelligent, more so than most of the Tau’ri, but this...this was simply astounding. How had she done it? Not even the Tok’ra or the Goa’uld had accomplished such a feat; surely, Samantha would’ve shared this with the Tok’ra? Did it even work?

“Martouf? Are you down here?” Martouf heard Samantha, but he stood frozen, staring at the object in front of him. “Martouf?” Her voice grew closer until Martouf felt her hand curl up in his. She laughed nervously. “Oh...I guess you found the little baby Stargate.” She paused and said weakly, “Cool, huh?”

Martouf cocked his head to look at his love incredulously. There was a sudden shift in his feelings as he took in Samantha’s attire for the day. Those tight black pants she was wearing were extremely fitting... His mind was blank for a minute before returning to its original thought pattern. “Samantha, love, how is it even possible that you have a rather small Chappa’ai in your house?” He turned back to look unbelievingly at the object in front of him. True, it looked to be constructed out of materials that are more basic than Naquadah and was small enough to only allow one person access to it, but still...Samantha had her very own Chappa’ai in her house.

Samantha shrugged. “Ah, well...it’s a long story and a painful one too.” She stopped as she remembered the situation that had led to this stargate’s construction. “I didn’t build it, if that’s what you’re wondering. Another person from another planet built it as a means of escape. He was trying to stop us from getting hurt on another planet. He’s...he died...saving us,” She finished quietly.

Martouf’s attention immediately switched from the Chappa’ai to the sound of pain in his love’s voice. Squeezing her hand in his, he caressed her cheek. “I am sorry, love. I did not mean to bring up such memories of pain for you. You do not need to tell me more.”

He watched as Samantha gave him a wobbly smile before taking a deep breath. “It doesn’t work anymore, anyway. It only had enough energy that one time and it only went to one planet. Half the time I forget it’s even here. Surprisingly.” She tugged on his hand. “Come on, let’s go upstairs.”

As she led him away, Martouf glanced back at the Chappa’ai and marveled one last time that such a feat was possible to undertake. Following Samantha up the stairs, he sensed that her mood had dimmed a little after the topic of the Chappa’ai’s construction and he sought to make her happier. “Samantha, your attire is rather...provocative. Do you always dress in such a fashion when you are at home?” His eyes following her body’s movements as he walked up the stairway behind her.

Once at the top, Samantha gave him a mischievous smile. “Why Martouf, don’t you like what I’m wearing?” Besides her tight-fitting black leather pants, she was wearing a white halter top that had a deep V in the front, showing off her cleavage. (Kind of like that shirt, she wearing in Chimera in the coffee shop).

Martouf’s grey eyes roamed Samantha’s attire and a hungry look came into them. Pulling her close, he nuzzled her neck, planting kisses on her skin, and whispering, “I like your clothing very much, love. But perhaps right now, you would enjoy showing me how to use a shower again?”

Samantha’s hands came up to glide over Martouf’s white t-shirt covered chest and massaged his shoulders. “Forget the shower, how about we spend the rest of the day in bed?”

Martouf pulled back to look at her playfully. “Did we not do that yesterday, love?”

Samantha arched an eyebrow. “Are you complaining?”

“Not at all, love. Not at all.” Martouf whispered huskily as he lowered his mouth onto hers.

The silence that proceeded afterward was soon interrupted by the shrill of Sam’s phone and she reluctantly pulled away. Martouf took in her flushed face and daze in her eyes and smiled, knowing the exact same look was mirrored on his face. He let go of her and then followed her to the kitchen, where he sat down on a stool on front of her kitchen counter, pulling Sam to stand in between his legs.

“Hello?” Sam said into the cordless phone as Martouf wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Hey Sam, it’s me. How’s your weekend going with Martouf?” Daniel’s voice came over the line.

Sam smiled. “Hey Daniel. Weekend’s going fine, more than fine actually.” She laughed, playing gently with the edges of Martouf’s hair.

“That’s good. There’s actually a reason why I called, otherwise I wouldn’t have interrupted you guys, but Sam...Jack’s in the hospital.”

Sam straightened and gripped the phone, her eyes wide with worry. Martouf looked on with concern. “What?! What happened? Why is he in the hospital?”

Daniel hurried to reassure her. “Don’t worry, Sam. No need to panic. Apparently, Jack wasn’t paying much attention to the orders Janet gave him about not moving around so much. Teal’c and I came over and found him passed out on the floor.”

 “Oh my god, is he okay, Daniel?”

“Well, from what Janet was saying to me rapidly, she might as well have been speaking Polish which to everyone’s surprise, is one language I haven’t gotten around to actually learning yet-“

“Daniel.”

“...Sorry. Anyway, Janet wants Jack to undergo some tests so they can pinpoint the exact area of pain in his knee; she mentioned something about finding evidence of torn cartilage and she also wanted Jack to have some x-rays in case it’s something else. Maybe even doing an MRI. She said that it’s most likely torn cartilage and that if it is, Jack may have to undergo arthroscopic surgery.”

Sam’s forehead scrunched up in distress. “Maybe I should go over there too.”

“No, no Sam. It’s okay, really. Stay there; at this point, we don’t know anything yet and Janet said it‘d take time. If you came, you’d be doing nothing but waiting. I’ll call you first thing when something happens. Stay there and keep Martouf company, ok?” Daniel said calmly.

“But Daniel...” Sam protested.

“Sam. Stay there. You know I’m right. I’ll call you. I gotta go now ok?”

Sam sighed heavily. He was right. “Ok fine, but tell me if anything, *anything* at all happens. Bye Daniel.”

****As you can see, I chose to have the NID guys not take the baby Stargate from Sam. So she keeps it still in her basement.