We Love as One – Chapter 20

Disclaimer in index

Daniel barely refrained from tapping his pen impatiently on the briefing room table as he, Sam, and Teal’c waited for the general to put on an appearance. He glanced at Teal’c, who sat beside him, impassive as always with his hands folded over junior. Sam was staring, unblinking, at a spot on the table, undoubtedly lost in her own thoughts and Daniel briefly wondered where Martouf was at the moment.

Opening his mouth to ask something, Daniel was cut off as General Hammond walked in and took his seat at the head of the table. “Sorry to keep you all waiting, but there some things that needed to be taken care of first.” He took a deep breath and folded his hands, placing them on the table. “As you all know, Colonel O’Neil is in the hospital and his medical diagnosis is not good. As a result, he is no longer physically fit enough to warrant him to lead an SG team off-world.” General Hammond stopped to look at the remaining three-quarters of his best team and their worried expectant faces. The loss of Colonel O’Neil would be a heavy one, he thought. Not just to SG-1 and his close friends, but to the entire SGC. The colonel had no idea how popular and respected he actually was.

“Colonel O’Neil and I had a little chat yesterday as to what he was going to do from now on. He has accepted his condition,” General Hammond raised his voice to continue as Daniel opened his mouth to protest. “That he can no longer make frequent trips through the Stargate. To that end, he has agreed, albeit reluctantly, to taking on more formal duties at the SGC such as recruiting new soldiers, training them in the use of Goa’uld weaponry as well as teaching those how to fly Goa’uld ships. He will retain his position as my 21C, as there is no reason why he shouldn’t.”

“Wait a minute, general. Jack agreed to a desk job? A paper pusher?” Daniel asked incredulously even as both Teal’c and Sam’s eyebrows rose in astonishment at their friend and leader doing something he swore never to do and they were hard-put to picture him behind a desk.

General Hammond took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. “Yes, Dr. Jackson, he did. Again I might add, very reluctantly.” He shook his head mentally, remembering the sullen and annoyed look on the colonel’s face when he had agreed to the job. “We also discussed what would happen to SG-1.” He watched as the teammates shot looks at each other, half in question and half in unenthusiastic acceptance at having to put up with a new leader. Who was it going to be this time?

“Now ordinarily, there would’ve been a formal ceremony to this, but Colonel O’Neil requested that we hold off doing that until he was well enough to attend.” Again, the teammates exchanged looks, puzzled this time. General Hammond got up and picked up a blue jewelry box, slightly larger than the palm of his hand, from a side table and he came back to stand beside a slightly apprehensive Sam.

“Please stand, Major.” General Hammond requested and Sam stood up before the general, nervous.

“Major Carter, it is my honor and privilege to promote you to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Throughout your time here at the SGC, you have gone beyond the call of duty many times, risking your life for the good of the United States Airforce and for the entire world and your accomplishments, I believe speak for themselves. It is with great pleasure that I bestow upon you the responsibilities, the respect, and the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.” He opened the small box to reveal twin silver badges indicating the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

Sam’s mouth dropped open for a spilt second before hastily closing and she accepted the outstretched box with her new rank inside. “Thank you, sir.” She saluted him and dropped her hand after the general had returned her salute.

“Like I said, Colonel O’Neil requested that we wait until he is well enough to attend the formal ceremony, but we decided to go ahead and give you the promotion, especially when I tell you all what else the colonel and I had discussed.” Gesturing for the new Lt. Colonel to sit down, he took his seat and continued. “Colonel O’Neil suggested that instead of assigning a new team leader to SG-1 that you Lt. Colonel Carter should be given the opportunity to lead and I agreed. As of right now, Lt. Colonel, you are in charge of SG-1. Congratulations.”

Sam raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “You’re placing me in charge of SG-1, sir?” Her mind was whirling with astonishment and questions. Sure, she’d lead SG-1 before, but those were for small missions and only for a short period of time. It’s not as if she’d have to adjust to Daniel and Teal’c or anything, but she *was* going to adjust her role in the group. She’d always been the reliable, logical 21C and now she was the *leader*. It was a hard concept for her to grasp and worst of all, would she live up to the colonel and general’s expectations?

“The colonel seems to believe that you have what it takes to lead SG-1 and he has confidence in your leadership skills; I tend to agree, Lt. Colonel. It’s high time that you got your chance.” General Hammond nodded, smiling lightly at the small panic-stricken face of the Lt. Colonel.

“Unscheduled Off-World Activation.” Sgt. Davis’ voice announced through the P.A. system from the control room. The red klaxons went off and in unison; the entire group in the briefing room got up and headed for the control room.

Once there, Sgt. Davis said, “Receiving the Tok’ra IDC signal, sir.”

“Open the iris, Sgt.” General Hammond replied, heading to the gate room, followed by the ever-present SG-1. They assembled themselves at the bottom of the ramp and waited.

“I hope it’s not another surprise, I don’t think I could handle it.” Sam whispered to Daniel, thinking that the Tok’ra had made the most number of trips between their current base to the SGC in the past few days to rival all the other times they had visited.

A young male Tok’ra that none of them had ever met, but Sam thought looked familiar, stepped out of the wormhole before it shut down. He looked around before his gaze settled on the group waiting for him at the bottom. He assumed them to be the infamous SG-1 and their leader, General Hammond and he recognized from both Jacob and Martouf’s glowing description, his daughter, Major Samantha Carter.

The Tok’ra walked down the ramp and bowed his head in greeting. “Greetings to you, Tau’ri. I am-“

“Matthius. Right?” Matthius sent a startled look at Samantha Carter and nodded as she sent him a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, but since you stepped out of the wormhole, you looked really familiar. I was trying to come up with your name when I just blurted it out. Again, sorry.” She let out an embarrassed laugh.

“That is alright, Samantha Carter. I too, know of you.” Matthius smiled and continued, “I have come from the Tok’ra with an urgent message. Elias has been injured severely and- Samantha Carter, are you alright?” Matthius looked worriedly at the blonde woman.

The rest of SG-1 and General Hammond turned to look at the major to see that she had gone a tad pale. Her eyes were wide as she replied faintly, “I’m fine, please continue.”

“Elias has been injured and Lantash is trying to sustain him, but there is a large possibility that that if this continues, they will both die. Elias has asked for Martouf to return to the Tok’ra and once again become the host to Lantash, at least we are certain that was the message he was trying to convey. Where is Martouf, if I may ask?” Scanning the room, Matthius did not see Martouf.

Sam waved distractedly behind her. “He’s in my lab, waiting for me. I’ll...I’ll go get him and tell him. Please wait.” Sam started to walk backwards and then turned around to walk out of the gate room in sort of a daze.

Daniel glanced worried at her departing figure. “Do you think I should go after her? She looks likes she’s in shock.”

“It appears so, Daniel Jackson. However, there is nothing that you or I can do that Martouf cannot do better. It would be advisable if we were to wait here for Lt. Colonel Carter’s return.” Teal’c stated.

Daniel nodded worry still creasing his forehead. “I’m sure you’re right, Teal’c. Poor Sam, she keeps getting one surprise after another.”

~~~~~

Martouf stared in bewilderment at the large amounts of incomprehensible scribbles on a white board in his love’s lab. He had been trying to figure it out, but to no avail, since he did not understand the Tau’ri language. That was definitely one thing that Martouf was going to have to learn, now that he’d decided to stay on Earth with Samantha.

Turning, his hand went to pick up a small metal square-shaped object when he withdrew his hand quickly. Samantha had stressed for him not to touch anything unless he wanted to blow up the SGC, ‘fry his hair to a crisp’, or unleash a potentially dangerous and harmful situation on the entire base. None of those options sounded very appealing to Martouf at the moment. What he really wanted to do was return to Samantha’s, now his as well, dwelling and spend more time with her. Learning about her, the Tau’ri, Earth’s culture, and experience more things that Samantha did in her everyday life. Today, Samantha had made him French toast and Martouf fell in love with the condiment that he placed on top of his French toast. Maple syrup. He hoped to have it again soon.

Martouf sat down in Samantha’s favorite chair and stretched his jean-clad legs out. He stared at his...what did Samantha call it again? Sneakers? His footwear and shifted a little. One observation he made was that Tau’ri clothing was rather comfortable and that some of Samantha’s clothing was rather provocative, especially that piece of clothing she had worn to bed last night. Suffice it to say, Martouf grinned wolfishly as he replayed the events in his mind, that Samantha hadn’t worn that particular piece of clothing for very long.

Martouf jumped to his feet as he saw Samantha walk slowly into her office.

“Samantha, love, I have missed you. Is your meeting over?” He asked, walking up to her and wrapping his arms around her waist, planting a kiss on her hair.

Martouf pulled back slightly as Samantha made no response and it was only then that he saw how pale she was. He led her over to her chair and pushed her gently into it. Holding her hands in his, he peered into her eyes. “Love, what is wrong?”

He watched as Samantha opened her mouth a few times before choking out, “Elias is hurt. Badly. They don’t think he’s going to survive. The Tok’ra are here, they said that Elias has a request...” Sam didn’t finish the rest of her sentence as she raised her sad eyes to look at Martouf. She could tell he understood and realized exactly what Elias’ request was by the light in his eye and the twitch of his jaw. Martouf gripped her hands tighter, but he didn’t say anything.

“Martouf...love, you have to go.” Sam said quietly and she rushed to continue as Martouf’s grey eyes shot toward her in question. “You have to honor Elias’ request. You must save Lantash.” Sam got up from her seat and cradled Martouf’s face in her hands. “I love you. Remember what I told you that first night we made love? I will support you in any decision you make. You said it yourself Martouf that Lantash is your other half. You have the opportunity to have him back. No matter what happens, I will always be here for you; nothing will take me from you. We *will* work something out. I promise you.”

Martouf stared deeply at his beloved and her words were true. Lantash *was* his other half and no matter how hard he tried to deny it, Martouf could not stand by and let him die. He took a deep breath and leaned down to kiss Samantha gently. “I love you, Samantha. That will never change. And we *will* work something out.” He echoed her earlier words and added his own, “Because I am not willing to live without you, my heart.”