1. Sam knelt by the fresh gravestone, Martouf’s arm around her shoulder the only thing keeping her from collapsing further in her grief. Daniel was dead. Jack had died as naturally as one in his position could some years ago, a stray bullet finding his heart. Teal’c had given his life in a bold attack against the Goa’uld. But Daniel, Sam never thought he would actually die. She thought her life had ended when Jolinar took her as host, and had escaped the ashrak only to find that there was no willing host to take Sam’s place. Sam hadn’t wanted her to die, and so she didn’t press the issue—she didn’t realize that Jolinar’s emotions were capable of influencing her own, and before she knew it, she was as head over heels for Martouf and Lantash as Jolinar. But she had never wanted to be a Tok’ra—it had been an accident, and then a necessity. And now, alive and youthful when her team was dead and gone, she hated herself for her choices. But she couldn’t help but love Martouf now.
2 “I’ve always had a soft spot for the lunatic fringe,” she had once said, and joking as her tone had been, she had entirely meant it. Orlin was insane—sweet, but insane. Like so many others who had inexplicably fascinated her in spite of their all-too-often slightly off personalities, she had slowly found herself relishing her returns home. At first he was just her secret, someone outside of work who cared for her and who added a little excitement to her ordinary life. But even though she didn’t tell anyone, and had been wrong about them watching her, soon she forgot that he had started out as a novelty. Now he was her friend, her confidant…her soul mate too? But really, aside from his lack of an ability to behave like a normal human, what was there not to like? With that justification, Sam shrugged, and indulged her quirk with yet another of the lunatic fringe…
3. Not caring who saw, Sam wept tears of mingled pain and joy. When Ba’al had kidnapped her as a host for his queen, she had fought for months in hope of relief, only to be cruelly forced down so many times that she withdrew into near-despair. Forced into despicable acts of all kinds, she eventually longed for the release of death. And it had come, but not for her. Gasping, moving with limbs they had forgotten they once owned, she and he who had once been host to Ba’al moved gradually towards each other. They didn’t know who had released the symbiote poison, but it didn’t matter now. Their lives had been so broken, there was no hope of returning, only of pressing on to a new future. And they would do it together, since who else would understand?
4. Sam rested in Teal’c’s arms on the bed, comfortable physically and emotionally worn. Another year had passed on the Odyssey, another plan had failed in simulation. She would have torn Thor’s little grey head from his neck had he not been a hologram. Sighing, she settled deeper into the embrace, her mind wandering from one topic to another. How had she been such a fool to miss exactly how much she relied on her big, strong Jaffa. And was it him or her who had initiated that first kiss of more than friendship? Sometimes love grew so gradually and naturally that it defied memory after the fact.
Five times that Sam... Part 1
1. Sam knelt by the fresh gravestone, Martouf’s arm around her shoulder the only thing keeping her from collapsing further in her grief. Daniel was dead. Jack had died as naturally as one in his position could some years ago, a stray bullet finding his heart. Teal’c had given his life in a bold attack against the Goa’uld. But Daniel, Sam never thought he would actually die. She thought her life had ended when Jolinar took her as host, and had escaped the ashrak only to find that there was no willing host to take Sam’s place. Sam hadn’t wanted her to die, and so she didn’t press the issue—she didn’t realize that Jolinar’s emotions were capable of influencing her own, and before she knew it, she was as head over heels for Martouf and Lantash as Jolinar. But she had never wanted to be a Tok’ra—it had been an accident, and then a necessity. And now, alive and youthful when her team was dead and gone, she hated herself for her choices. But she couldn’t help but love Martouf now.
2 “I’ve always had a soft spot for the lunatic fringe,” she had once said, and joking as her tone had been, she had entirely meant it. Orlin was insane—sweet, but insane. Like so many others who had inexplicably fascinated her in spite of their all-too-often slightly off personalities, she had slowly found herself relishing her returns home. At first he was just her secret, someone outside of work who cared for her and who added a little excitement to her ordinary life. But even though she didn’t tell anyone, and had been wrong about them watching her, soon she forgot that he had started out as a novelty. Now he was her friend, her confidant…her soul mate too? But really, aside from his lack of an ability to behave like a normal human, what was there not to like? With that justification, Sam shrugged, and indulged her quirk with yet another of the lunatic fringe…
3. Not caring who saw, Sam wept tears of mingled pain and joy. When Ba’al had kidnapped her as a host for his queen, she had fought for months in hope of relief, only to be cruelly forced down so many times that she withdrew into near-despair. Forced into despicable acts of all kinds, she eventually longed for the release of death. And it had come, but not for her. Gasping, moving with limbs they had forgotten they once owned, she and he who had once been host to Ba’al moved gradually towards each other. They didn’t know who had released the symbiote poison, but it didn’t matter now. Their lives had been so broken, there was no hope of returning, only of pressing on to a new future. And they would do it together, since who else would understand?
4. Sam rested in Teal’c’s arms on the bed, comfortable physically and emotionally worn. Another year had passed on the Odyssey, another plan had failed in simulation. She would have torn Thor’s little grey head from his neck had he not been a hologram. Sighing, she settled deeper into the embrace, her mind wandering from one topic to another. How had she been such a fool to miss exactly how much she relied on her big, strong Jaffa. And was it him or her who had initiated that first kiss of more than friendship? Sometimes love grew so gradually and naturally that it defied memory after the fact.