DISCLAIMER: The story, and characters and anything and everything else concerning SG: SG1 belong to MGM, Gekko, Secret Productions etc, they are so not mine and no money is being made from this and no copyright infringement is intended, absolutely none what so ever. This is just a fanfiction using the characters that were created by some wonderfully imaginative people, brought to life by some wonderfully talented actors purely for entertainment. Oh yeah another note this story depicts a relationship of a loving and sexual nature between two consenting adult women.
SPOILERS: Secretes, Tok'ra I-II
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
All For Her
By Elizabeth Carter
Jacob Carter lay in the hospital bed, his breath at times a gasping ragged sound of lungs straining to draw in oxygen through the clear tube at his nostrils. He was tired and he was losing the battle. As long as he had served, he had not lost a battle. Not like this.
His mind fogged with the painkillers pumping into him via the IV. The one thing that haunted him was the look on Sam's face, his little girl, when he had told her he had cancer.
At the time he had felt betrayed.
He had pulled a lot of strings, had traded in a few markers. All for her. All so she could be accepted to NASA. And when they saw her record files, the glowing reports of her current CO, the fact that the President himself was honoring her with the airman's medal, they had wanted her. And he had done it all for her.
But she had turned them down.
He had dreams. Oh, did he have dreams. Ever since she was tested and deemed a child prodigy he had started to dream. She played with her astronaut dolls and dreamed of soaring to the stars. She was four when the first man walked on the moon and since that day she wanted to be the first woman to walk on its surface.
Jacob Carter had done everything he could to make sure that happened. He had pushed her, challenged her, in an effort to insure that she would reach the stars. He tested her after every achievement so she had something more to reach for. He knew his beloved wife coddled the girl. But if she wanted to be an astronaut she couldn't afford emotions. She couldn't openly display them. She had to be detached. Jacob gave her that. Since she was fourteen he gave her that wall. Pain, hurt, joy. All of it had to be buried. She had to be a warrior.
She had to be ten times the better man than any man with whom she served.
He had had to push her after her mother died. But he had known he had to gain her trust once more. She had to forgive him, so she would join the airforce and become involved with the Space Program.
All for her.
It had all been for her.
If she wanted to be anything, make something of herself then she would have to be hard like him. Jacob loved his little girl. Loved her dearly. She was his golden light. He made it so her dreams could become a reality. And she tossed it away. Whatever in Heaven's name she was doing under that Goddamn mountain could never compare with NASA. With her dream…
But she had forsaken her father and his dreams. And for what? Deep space telemetry? What a waste of an astrophysicist. Hammond was a good man. Hell, he was the girl's godfather, but, still, she deserved so much more.
But she turned away from the dream.
She had turned away from him
Angry and disappointed, he could only think of his hurt, and so he had hurt her.
He left her alone in that conference room. Left her to her tears.
He knew she would cry.
But she had hurt him.
Janet Fraiser, Chief of Virology, was doing rounds in the Airforce Academy Hospital and a name shocked her when she saw it. Jacob Carter: General USAF, retired. Diagnosed with lymphoma cancer; treatment status: undergoing chemo.
She wanted to see the man who was her beloved's father. Since Sam had received the news that her father had lymphoma cancer, she had been gravely concerned. She loved her father deeply, and what he had done that day in Washington had hurt her bitterly. He dropped the news on her as soon as she turned down his offer of NASA.
Janet instinctively knew that he had used it as a weapon. The dark thing was, so did Sam. And that had hurt the blonde even more. He would use the fact he was dying against her, knowing it would kill her inside. And it had.
Janet wanted to see the face of the man who could do such a thing as to deliberately hurt his daughter. Filled with riotous anger, the diminutive doctor stormed down to his private room. She caught herself short when she heard the familiar sound of a cell phone ring.
Jacob heard the ring of his cell phone and answered it after the second ring.
"Dad, hi, it's me, Sam."
"Sam, why are you calling?" he barely managed not to cough in the phone.
"What do you mean, why am I calling? Dad? You just told me that you have cancer, you can't..." her voice caught in her throat
"Listen Sam, I told you not to worry. Or are you going to ignore me on that too? I expect you to listen to me. You wouldn't in Washington. At the very least you can listen to your old man now."
"Alright, okay, never mind. Listen, er, I'm about to go on a little trip."
"I assume it's for the airforce. At least I hope it is, not that you would simply drop your work for play like your brother would," Jacob said with a bit of a clipped air to his voice.
He heard his daughter sigh before speaking. "Yes, it's for the Air Force."
"Where is the Force sending you? Where are you going?"
"It's not important where I'm going Dad. What's important is that I may be gone a while and I just wanted to call and see how you're doing."
"Didn't I just tell you I was fine? Now just go. I am fine."
"You're sure?"
She sounded so much like her mother sometimes. "I TOLD you I'm fine! Now just do your duty, and leave me to mine." and he hung up, not even giving her a real chance to say good-bye. He couldn't stand the faulting in her voice.
It was all for her.
What ever it is she was doing, wherever the Force was sending her, it was pretty damn important. Carter wasn't a general for nothing. He knew his daughter needed a clear head. She did not need to see her daddy all pasty faced, coughing up blood in bed.
He loved his little girl. What he was doing, he was doing for her. All for her. She couldn't see her daddy dying, and he didn't want her to. He was hard on her because he loved her. He knew that she would slam down the brave soldier's shield and do what she had to do, what ever it was. When she got back, perhaps he would spare her the pain of seeing him die. He would be dead already, at least he hoped he would be. All for her. So she wouldn't have to see him lose a battle. That was the last thing he wanted.
Coughing once more, Jacob knew in his gut that he had to set a few things right. He dialed the number on his cell.
"Hey George." Jacob coughed so hard, his stomach hurt.
"Jacob? You okay?"
"No. I think the big guy upstairs is recalling me. It's bad, George."
"Oh no, I'll be right there."
"I knew I could rely on you, buddy. Always could." He hung up; knowing his dearest life long friend would come quickly.
The old general smiled, thinking that it was his own stroke of fortune that he had asked George to be Sam's godfather. He was always there for Sam when Jacob couldn't be. He was there for Sam when Rebecca had died. He was even there when Sam was born because Jacob himself had been out on a mission. The first male to hold Sam, other than the doctor, had been George Hammond. Uncle George was always a powerful force in little Sam's life. And after he himself died, Jacob knew he could rely on his old friend to help his little girl through it.
Janet hadn't meant to eavesdrop. She was standing at the small workstation by his door when the phone rang. Once she heard General Carter utter Sam's name, something in her paralyzed her to the spot.
She couldn't tell what her lover was saying but from the responses of Jacob, she could guess. Sam was a woman of deep feeling, only she was very good at hiding them. When Sam came home from trying to find the Tok'ra there would be damage control to contend with.
'Oh Sammy, our fathers are cut from the same cloth. They want their little girls to love them, but when it comes to the unconditional part they can't handle it as well as they would like.'
The doctor heard the deep painful cough in the man's lungs. She wasn't General Carter's physician. So she couldn't do anything more than alert the nurses and Dr. Gibbson so at least they could attend to their patient. She knew from what she had read in his file that in the last few days he had had the lymph nodes removed from his body and was recovering from the procedure. In fact, he had several such procedures done in Washington. According to the recorders he had only a few months at best. At worst maybe a week. The cancer was destroying his liver.
'Oh, God, this is going to kill Sam. She's on a mission that only she can do, and meanwhile her dad is dying." Janet stopped, brought up short by the impact of the circumstances. "Oh, my love, I am so sorry. I promise you I'll be there for you, Honey. All the way, I'll be there for you. Always.'
Janet had prepared herself to deal with Sam as she had when Jolinar had died within her. That old snake gave its life for Sam, leaving the tall blonde to her despair. Now that damned snake had fucked with Sam again. Because of Jolinar's memories, only Sam could guide the way to the Tok'ra and she would not be able to say her final good-bye to her father, just like she had lost her mother.
Sam would pull very far into herself, becoming just a shadow. 'Oh, Sam, I wish he had the courage to tell you he loves you. That he is proud of you. He's keeping you at a distance because he fears. He fears for himself that you will think less of him because he can't win this battle. Oh, Sammy, doesn't he know that a daughter needs to tell her daddy she loves him?'
Janet's thoughts turned to the dying man. 'You have no idea what you did to her. I had to put stitches in her hands because she busted them open on that punching bag. She was so lost that night. She wept so hard, crying until I didn't think she had any more tears left in her. I held her long into the night because you, you bastard, dropped the fact you had cancer on her, and then just left her.'
The doctor looked up from the chart as a nurse passed by, but the brunette really didn't care who might see her standing there. What she cared about was Sam. Her gaze returned to the remnant of a man lying on the bed. 'You broke her heart, Jacob Carter. You have no idea how much she looks up to you. How much she craves your approval. She loves you and you turned her away. YOU'RE HER GODDAMN FATHER HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO HER?!'
Janet wanted so badly to storm into the old general's room and give him an earful. Let him choke on a piece of her mind. Instead Dr. Fraiser sought out a nurse assigned to Jacob and made sure that the old man would be given some painkillers and his physician notified of the change in respiration.
Jacob Carter sat alone in his misery. His mind, laced with morphine, drifted into the past.
"Dad? I've been looking all over for you." Sam smiled as she came into the press conference room where he had stolen away to shield his failing body. He had managed to gain some of his strength back before the tall blonde walked in on him.
'So much like her mother…so beautiful. The same haunting blue eyes. Sometimes I see you in them. Oh, Becca, you would be proud to see her now.' Jacob was startled at being caught thinking of his deceased wife. Instead of simply talking to his daughter he said almost accusingly, "You must be disappointed. Any idea why the President cancelled?"
Sam tried to greet her father with a daughter's smile, grim as though it was. "Colonel O'Neill witnessed an accident. The President couldn't adjust his schedule. Bad timing all round. General Hammond's going to present us with our medals at a private ceremony back at the base."
Jacob Carter would have preferred to see his little girl honored by the President, not his old friend. "Well, it's the honor that matters, whether I can be there or not." He said dismissively.
Clear disappointment shown in her eyes as did puzzlement. "Dad?"
So he hadn't been so good at hiding his weakness as he thought. Still she should know what was wrong with him. He would not be able to hide it for long. "I have cancer, Sam."
The abruptness of his delivery shocked her, just as his presence had in the hall during the reception. She was both pleased and shocked to see him. In fact, she wondered if Jacob would have preferred to not be there. As if somehow gaining the Airman's medal from the president still wasn't good enough.
He had managed to shock her again. Her ever-expressive eyes blinked and stared. "What?"
"Lymphoma." The older Carter said dryly.
"That's bad." Sam uttered, her blue eyes now taking pity on him, and then showing her loss and pain.
Jacob couldn't stand that expression. "Well, it's not good. But it's not the worst. Don't you worry. I'll be around for a while." Then he smiled.
"Oh God, Dad!" her voice trembled. She took a step closer to him, but Jacob took a step back. Then, after a few moments of hesitation, he allowed her to hug him. Mainly so he couldn't see her face.
Then he spoke of something he had wanted to since he came to Washington to see the honor his little girl would receive. Still holding her arms he said, "I was hoping to stick around long enough to see you become an astronaut. Sweetheart, I don't care what it is you do in that mountain, nothing in the world can live up to the chance to actually go into space. Not for you - it's something you've wanted your whole life. And I admit it, I want to see you fulfill your life's dreams before I die."
A wash of emotions swept across her face, disbelief, wonder, anger, fear and sadness.
"It's my dream, doesn't that make it up to me?"
"Fathers have dreams too." He gambled on her emotions, on the fact he could use the soft 'daddy's' voice to push her as he had done so often in the past. He had molded her for this moment, this opportunity. He was hard on her for her own good. So she could reach the stars.
"Sorry, I can't..."
But she had denied him
His daughter had denied him. Jacob was hurt, devastated that she had cast him aside. And for what?! For Hammond? For whatever it was she was doing under that mountain, wasting her talents. She had no idea what he had to do to make sure the dream came true. No idea at all. He would now have little more to do with her. She, like Mark, had forsaken him.
"Alright. Like I said, this thing's going to go on for months, so you don't have to check up on me tomorrow."
He wanted to make her feel his pain.
"Dad, please don't go like this..." Her blue eyes were filling with tears. But they would not cut through his armor. Her voice caught in her throat, an indication she was in pain, just as he was in pain.
His anger was overwhelming. "Congratulations on the medal. I'm sure you deserve it."
He could not stand to look at those eyes anymore. His anger, his jealousy of the hold Hammond had on her, rose as bitterness in his throat. He walked away, leaving Sam to stew in the pain she had left him in for her rejection of the dream and of him. The last thing he heard was his little girl's plea….
"Dad!"
It had been all for her. The dream, the hard work, all of it and he wanted to give her that dream. When Sam refused. Jacob felt a deeper pain than the cancer. His stomach churned with a deeper sickness than the chemo.
When he opened his eyes from his rest, he found that George had entered his room.
"George." He greeted his old friend.
"Jacob. Are you alright?" Compassion, a warrior's compassion shown in the blue eyes of his old friend.
"I've been better," Jacob tried to joke.
The larger man took a seat near the bedside. "I was under the impression that the cancer hadn't gone this far."
"So was I. They cleaned out all the lymph nodes; the problem is, apparently, one squadron of those little buggers got themselves reassigned to my liver."
"Let me make a call, get Captain Carter recalled."
Jacob hadn't forgiven his daughter for what she had done in Washington. "No, there's no need." But it was more than that.
"Jacob, she should be here." George leaned forward. He couldn't shake the image of Sam in the office, or the conversation he had overheard, without meaning to.
He knew his Captain well. He knew his goddaughter well. She would bury the pain in her heart. He had seen those blue eyes glassy from unshed tears. Jacob was killing her as surely as a Ribbon Device would. She had been like that after her mother had died. She had turned to her father, but Jacob decided that she needed to gain strength. And so it was George that held the fourteen-year-old in his great arms and let her cry, as he would have for his own daughter.
Hammond had told Jacob that he buried a wife and if he wasn't careful he would bury his children. Mark hated his father and Sam was close to it. Because of George's prodding, Jacob had begged forgiveness from his little girl.
Now the large man was interfering again. Pride, not anger, stood in Jacob's path. "Why? Let me tell you something, George. My little girl grew up seeing Daddy go off to God knows where to fight God knows who and I always came home alive and well. Now I'm going to let her sit here and watch me lose a war? To some little runts so small I can't even see 'em?"
"That's exactly what she thought you'd say. How about doing us all a favor, Jake. Cut the brave soldier routine. It's your daughter we're talking about here. She should have a chance to be here, to see you through this," George couldn't believe that his old buddy would turn Sam away as he was doing. The general loved Samantha as if he was her father, and could not understand why Jake was turning away from his daughter's love.
George also knew what this would do to her as an officer. He had gone to see her after Jolinar died and she was so pulled into herself he thought never to get her back. But Janet Fraiser had reached her. Janet, that tiny woman, had the power of a goddess, and it was for her Sam had come back. He prayed that when Jake died Janet would be able to do the same again. And good ol' 'Uncle' George would be there for her too, as her adopted uncle, her godfather, and as her general.
"I got a feeling she's on a pretty important mission right now. Am I right?" Jacob's voice revealed his weariness.
"Well, yes, but there are others." Well, no, that wasn't exactly true. Sam was right when she said she couldn't duck out of this mission. Because of Jolinar, she couldn't pull back. She was the only link to finding the Tok'ra.
"Then do me a favor and honor my wishes. Leave her there."
"This is ridiculous." George was becoming pissed off by his old friend. He couldn't stand by and watch as Jake Carter ripped that woman apart out of sheer stubbornness.
"There is one thing you could do for me, George." Jacob's breath was almost wheezing.
"Anything." Jake Cater was still his friend despite his cold stubbornness, and George loved him as a brother.
"Tell me what my little girl's doing." That was as close to begging as ol' Jake Carter got.
"Except that," George said. "You know it's classified."
"George, they're telling me I don't have much time left. Who am I gonna tell? God?"
George swallowed. He looked down as he said, "I'm sorry, Jake." The CO sighed and looked back to his friend's pale face. "Jake, you can know that if I was her father I couldn't be more proud of her. What she's accomplished, all that she has done. She is extremely remarkable, Jake, and she deserves a lot more than that medal she was awarded. I made a notation in her record that she is most deserving of the Congressional Medal of Honor. I can't tell you what she does, but what she does has ensured we are alive now.
"Jake, she loves you, despite the hell you put her in. If you weren't in that bed, I would have decked you, the way you left her in Washington. You've always played on her heart, on her love for you and her dedication. I watched it happen since she was five years old. Jake, get over yourself and do her a favor, do me a favor and be her Daddy. Let me be her General."
A day later Jacob flatlined. His doctor had informed General Hammond that he was in an aplastic crisis. He was to receive a unit of packed cells, and his vitals would be checked every fifteen minutes. It wouldn't be long now.
George had sent in the Marines to collect Samantha Carter, Captain of the USAF, so that she might bid her father goodbye, and that she loved him. Hammond hoped for Sam's sake Jake would let go of his pride and tell he was proud of her, that he loved her.
General Hammond entered into Jacob's hospital room, with Sam at his side. The old general gave one look to the staff in the room and made it very clear they were to follow his orders. "Clear the room, people."
"I told you not to recall her." Jacob bit back a cold reply.
"Happy to see you too, Dad." Sam's blue eyes betrayed her bravado. She knew her father was close to death. She had seen death many times; she had even delivered death to the enemy. But this was different. She felt sadness well up in her, but felt a hope as well. From what Garshaw had told her, the symbiote would heal him. And her father would be healthy once more. She believed that. She had a chance to save her father. She never had that with her mother.
"You wanted me to tell you what Captain Carter does, so I thought maybe she could tell you herself." The sound of the general's voice brought the young Captain back to herself. She made a move to sit next to her father on the bed.
"Yeah? What happened to the classification?" His voice was still flippant, almost bitter.
"It's still classified. But you just got clearance." Hammond grinned slowly.
"Why?" The older Carter let out a great sigh.
"Well, believe it or not, we need your help, Dad." Sam took her father's hand into her own and gently squeezed it. She felt a softness to his skin that was never there before, saw the translucence to his flesh.
Jacob couldn't believe his ears. He cracked up laughing, which led him into a fit of coughing. "What? The Pentagon wants me to deliver a message to God when I get up there?"
"Not exactly," Hammond said, pursing his lips into a fine lined grimace.
"Well I don't plan to see the other guy," Jake joked.
"Dad, have you ever heard of the Stargate program?" Sam cut in .Her voice questioningly soft.
"No, is that one of your satellites?" Even now his voice was almost snide
"I don't work with satellites, Dad. That was just a cover," Sam said, as if she had to tell her father of her first speeding ticket on her bike, rather than the largest secret in the world.
"No kidding. I never would have guessed. So tell me, what do you do that's so great you don't want me to get you into the astronaut program?" There he said it. He confronted her in front of the man she looked up to. Let her now forsake her father and the dream in front of Hammond. Let his old friend see the betrayal of the father.
"Well, this is gonna be a lot for you to take in at once," Sam winced.
"Stop beating around the bush. What do you do?" Now his impatient demeanor was shining through.
Once more Sam winced. "I travel to other planets. Much farther away than any astronaut goes."
"So you're not going to tell me the truth," Jacob almost snapped.
"She is telling you the truth, Jacob," George commented, his voice bordering on the tone of a commander.
"She goes to other planets. What, like in simulations?" He said almost as if his daughter wasn't present.
"No. In reality."
Sam turned her attention back to her father. "We discovered a piece of alien technology. It can send us to thousands of planets all over the galaxy."
"You're not kidding, are you?" His large brown eyes were locked onto his daughter's blue ones and he saw the truth within them.
"No." She smiled then.
Her father's eyes became as large as milk saucers. "Ho---holy Hannah!"
Hammond chuckled at that. 'Yep, no doubt about it. Sam is Jacob's daughter.'
"So what do you want me to do?" Jacob asked.
"Well, we'd like you to travel to one of these planets with us." Sam gingerly squeezed her father' hand once more. Here was her one chance to free her father from death and make an alliance with a force that could turn the Goa'uld threat away. This had to work. It had to because Sam didn't want to see her father die. She would not let him lose this battle even if she had to cheat to make sure he won.
"Why? So I can die there?"
Sam winced and closed her eyes once more. When she opened them, she stared at her father with a pleading, earnest expression. "No. Actually, I'm hoping what we want you to do will cure your cancer."
"They have a cure there? What's the catch?" Jacob felt as if he was making a bargain with the devil himself.
"It's a doozie, Jacob; I won't lie to you on that," Hammond said
"Dad. Some time ago…I was blended with…er…." She stopped and sighed. "Her name was Jolinar of Malkshur. She was Tok'ra, a symbiotic being. The Tok'ra are a resistance faction against some very nasty enemies. Dad, on all these other plants there are other life forms. Most are humans who have been transplanted. It's too big of a thing to go into right now." The captain paused to let the facts sink in.
"But Dad, on the planet I am going to take you to, the Tok'ra have the ability to make you well…only the way they do it is….well, they have to blend with you. Dad, please trust me, just for once just trust me on my word alone. It will be so much easier to show you than it is to explain everything right now." Sam squeezed his hand, her blue eyes begging him. "Dad, if you blend with one of the Tok'ra you become a part of them and they become a part of you."
Time has an odd way of passing. The Blending, the attack, all of it seemed to flitter past and now father and daughter were in the gate room surrounded by SF's, others of the Tok'ra, and SG1.
The restored general noticed that Martouf was trying to hit on Samantha, and noted that he would have to have a talk with the boy. If the alien wanted a date with his little girl he would have to earn the privilege. Besides, the older Carter felt Sam could do better than be, and excuse the pun, a symbiotic replacement for Jolinar. The same went for Jack O'Neill. Sara O'Neill had an uncanny likeness to Sam and Jacob wanted better for his little girl. Of course, Selmac was convinced, in the short time she had known Sam, that this bright young woman already had someone in her life. Jacob was grateful that in time he would be able to find out just who it was who captured Sam's heart. The old soldier couldn't help but think that the geek….er.. Daniel had something for Sam as well. And though the man was intelligent, Jacob Carter wanted something more for his little girl. He wanted it all for her.
And he smiled brightly when he saw those brilliant blue eyes and that wide smile that was so like her mother's.
"It's ironic, ain't it?" Jacob said suddenly, catching Sam off guard.
"What?"
"I was trying to find you a better assignment and you didn't need it. Now you've found me the best assignment an old soldier could dream up. Thanks, kid." And to her utter astonishment he hugged her in public view and kissed her cheek.
"You're welcome." Her smile was even brighter now. "Do you have to go so soon?" She was reluctant to let go of his hand. It was as if she was very young again, and he was the daddy she remembered in those days before her mother was killed.
"Yeah. I have to go. Apparently, I'm the oldest and wisest among us." He chuckled.
Sam rolled her blue eyes and shook her head. "Oh, jeez." Then she thought, 'There will be no living with him now.' Her smile was brighter still because in fact he WOULD live. And she sighed happily as she watched her father leave through the Stargate.
Samantha Carter would in a thousand life times rather see him go through the wormhole and rarely see him than to see his corpse buried in the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.
Her daddy was alive.
Janet came home rather late. She had pulled several end-to-end shifts at the Hospital. She was tired, beat and worried. Jacob Carter had been released into Sam's care. Dr. Gibbson figured the man had so few hours left that if he were to die at home, perhaps it was for the best.
But Sam had found a way. Once more the young woman had faced the odds, challenged the impossible, and won.
Janet knew what Gibbson did not. Jacob Carter was now Tok'ra.
Strolling through the dark house she found that the table was set for dinner, which was being kept warm on a low setting in the oven. Wine was breathing, and candles ready to light. But no Sam.
Going into the living room, Janet found the love of her life sacked out on the sofa, a picture of her father hugged to her chest and a small smile on her lips.
Janet kneeled down and gingerly took the photo from her lover's hands and set it on the coffee table so as not to make a sound. The tiny woman then leaned close to place a kiss upon Sam's full pouting lips.
Blue eyes fluttered open.
"He-ey," Janet whispered as she placed another kiss upon those sweet lips.
"Baby girl."
"How ya' doing?"
Sam took her lover into her arms, pulling her onto the sofa and cuddling her. "My dad will live." There was a smile in her voice. "I don't know when I'll get to see him next. But he's alive, Baby-girl."
"Oh, Sammy, I am so glad you were able to do this for him."
"He….he told me he was proud of me!" Sam said. "In all my life he has never really said that! But he did when we were in the tunnels before he blended with Selmac. He told me he was proud of me! He even told me he loved me in front of the guys. He's never said he loves me in public."
Janet smiled and held her lover. Most of Janet's weight was on the taller woman. "I am happy for you, Baby," Janet murmured as she snuggled deeper into the strong arms that held her.
And she thought this was so much better than having to put Sam back together again because her father had died. Being cradled now was an overwhelming relief, relief that the pain and suffering was over.
It had all been for her.
The End