Culmination

Rating: Universal
Author: Angelicalangie
Series: Stargate SG-1
Pairing: Sam/?
Spoilers: None that I know of.

Standing on the sand dunes of Vorash, Samantha Carter, formerly of the United States Air Force, surveyed the world that had become hers. Wrapping her arms around herself, she thought of all the reasons as to why she had left the Air Force. The Air Force hadn’t taken too kindly to her affair with what they termed a diplomatic envoy. She laughed and shook her head. He, on occasion, could be about as diplomatic as a rhino in a china shop, his forthrightness was almost always with reason, but some people wouldn’t see that until he was proven right. She herself had learnt that lesson.

Smoothing down the flowing skirts she wore. She stared at the horizon of the world she inhabited, the one she was about to commit herself to. She would never have believed when she had first met him that she would have found him worthy of her affections. He was aggressive and combative, more than unruly and maybe even a little paranoid. It was only the second time they had an encounter she had seen his depth of the emotion. He would die to protect his people. The more she had talked to him, had listened, the better she had understood, and the closer they had become.

It had only been a matter of time before feelings between them had developed, first a friendship and a deep seated trust, then a deeper friendship and an unshakeable trust, leading finally to a relationship neither had foreseen. There had been many months when one did not know how the other was, and more than a few nights spent awake, with certainty that the other had perished. It had almost been inevitable that her superiors had found out, the pieces of the puzzle of her life became unsettled and typical questions often asked, by those who were considered her ‘superior’, were asked of her.

After a few months it had become intolerable, especially when he had been kept from her on a visit. Daniel, being the kind hearted soul had helped her see him. Unfortunately her superiors had found out. It had made her feel like an errant child and had forced her into a decision she had never wanted to make. When summoned to a meeting that would determine her future she made the decision to leave. She no longer felt the desire to belong to an organisation that ruled another’s heart as well as their lives.

Packing her things from the room she had had on the base as well as her house, she saw her life and the objects held within it as nothing more than anchorage to a past she no longer wanted. They were nothing more than symbols of a fragmented and transitory life. A feeling that began with her fathers passing and the development of a relationship and a possibility of a life held only in the recesses of her mind. A knock at her door had alerted her to a presence warranting her attention. Turning she took and item with her. At the door it was her lover.

“Samantha.” He had stood formally and in her surprised state she forgot to invite her in. He looked over her shoulder and saw the packing crates that now littered her living room. “You are leaving.”

“Um,” she stuttered out whilst her brain caught up to the fact that he was here and standing at her door, like a wanted and much desired mirage. “Yes, they kind of require you to vacate Air Force property when you leave. I have a rental property lined up.”

He stood, still at her doorstep, stunned that such an organisation could do that to an individual they had once valued so much. As suddenly as her manners had escaped her they had returned, and blushing, she invited him across the threshold.

“I think I may be able to make you an offer,” he had said it in his quiet way. She had stood there puzzled. “I would like for you to come back to Vorash with me. I would like for you to be my mate.” He frowned for a second before the question in his mind disappeared. It had been something he hadn’t planned to ask until she was on the planet. He waited to see her reaction, heart in his mouth and butterflies in his stomach. It was subtle, a cup placed on a dinning table that she had been packing away, and a head bowed. At first he thought she was trying to fathom how to let him down. It had only been the ghost of a smile that had let him know that she was not thinking at all of let him down.

“I think that might be the best possible solution for me,” she finally said. “Though I’m not sure that marriage so quickly would be such a good idea.” She quickly walked over to him and took his hand whilst searching his eyes for a hint of what he may be thinking.

“We could always take a long time preparing for such an event and delay it whilst you become accustomed to the ways of the Tok’Ra.” A part of him was uncertain. He feared that perhaps she was not ready to commit to him as he was to her. Deep within him though, his symbiote was restless and laughing, knowing that sometimes humans appreciated not having so many changes all at once, that rushing things would lead to far more complications than either would like.

“Growing accustomed would be best. Too much change and I become cranky.” He had frowned at the word and she had tried in vain to explain cranky in ways he would understand before finally settling on, “Well needless to say it’s just not good.”

Days had flown past, much of her belongs she sold or gave to friends. Her entire book collection she divided between her friends, her pulp sci-fi collection and a few crime novels went to Teal’c and Cam, Daniel got her entire non fiction catalogue. Her nieces and Cassandra gained all her remaining vestiges of childhood. Before too long it was time to leave the planet that had been her only home. All who knew her were sad to see her leave. The Air Force was about to list her as missing in action, presumed dead. There would be very little chance of her return. Her friends, those who were part of the SGC, would know where she was, but they would be all who would know.

The final day on earth came too quickly and all who had worked with her congregated in the gate room one last time. An hour was spent hugging, laughing over old times, mock fighting, giving gifts to each other and sharing photographs. It was the little things that had made this place home, it was those little things being ripped asunder that had made her realise that she would belong elsewhere.

A final countdown for her and the gate sprang to life, its silver event horizon bathing the walls of the room a pales bluish silver hue that never failed to make the room look more impressive than the simple missile silo it was. Looking behind her she saw her friends smiling, taking a final breath on her home world she stepped through and after the interminable cold of the wormhole, she was hit by the heat of the desert of Vorash.

So now a year from moving to a new planet and she had assimilated well to the Tok’Ra and her new life, a new life that also included a new group of people and a radically different ethos to follow. She was about to make a solid commitment to not just the man that she had fallen in love and who had galvanised such a change, but to a group of people who had fast become her family. Turning she walked slowly down to the assembled group of people and loosely held the hands of her lover. He looked deep in her eyes and smiled; at first it was small and tentative, but then it spread across his face, showing his host coming through.

The ceremony was quiet and filled with the people closest to the couple. In the open, by the sea of a planet many light years from where either had been born, they exchanged words designed to join them in a new life together. Following the tender joining ceremony they walked through the throng of well wishers and onto the chambers of the Tok’Ra for a feast. By late evening the food had been eaten, tales had been told and many hangovers gained, if the levels of alcohol Cameron and Daniel had imbued were anything to go by. However Samantha’s energy levels themselves were flagging and noticing this, her new mate made their excuses and took her to their new quarters.

Standing in her quarters she was almost too tired to move, she slowly removed her clothing and fell into their sleeping pad, still in her underwear. Within moments she fell asleep, the emotional toll of planning a wedding of sorts, and of standing in front of everyone who mattered, past and present had exhausted her. Her mate entered from an adjoining compartment of their quarters and saw his love laid out on top of the covers of their pad. Lifting her gently, he tucked her in, before moving himself into the bedding and wrapping himself around her to hold her whilst she slept. I her peaceful slumber she murmured his name. “Malek”