DISCLAIMER: I only borrowed them for a while. MGM and whoever can
have them back whenever they want.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As ever for EEC
SPOILERS: Chimaera.
Chimera the Way it Should Have Been 2: Singing in the Rain
By Celievamp
I made us both a drink whilst Sam phoned her brother and kindly asked him not to set her up with insensitive jerks like Pete any more. I had no idea whether she would broach the subject of her relationship with me to him. It was her decision and I wouldn't pressure her into it.
I dunked the teabags one more time and added a little honey to Sam's tall glass mug of peppermint tea. I think she was still in something of a state of shock over what that prick had tried to do. I was just glad I was there to back her up. I sipped at my own preferred cinnamon and apple, wincing as I burnt my tongue a little.
I heard the phone go down, perhaps with a little more force than usual and decided I had lurked in the kitchen long enough. I picked up the mugs and backed out into the den.
"Everything okay?" I asked, then turned and wished I had kept my mouth shut. Everything was patently not okay. My love sat in the armchair, her knees drawn up under her chin, her pale cheeks streaked with tears. Very few people could reduce Sam Carter to tears. Her brother was one of them. It always seemed to take her to a dark place, the time after her mother's death. I put the mugs on the coffee table and crossed the room to her side, climbing up onto the chair with her, sitting on the arm, hugging her as tightly as I could as she sobbed against me for a moment or two.
"It's going to be okay, sweetheart, don't worry yourself," I said softly. "Did Mark say something in particular to upset you or is it just… everything?" Since she was recovered from the Prometheus something had been bothering her. Emotionally she had been fragile. Under normal circumstances she would have shrugged off her brother's attempts to set her up with someone and stayed home with me. I wished she would talk to me – to anyone - about it. Four days alone and injured in a high stress situation can do damn strange things to the psyche and the sense of self.
"I thought I was where I wanted to be, you know," Sam said softly, resting her head against my knee. "I had you and Cassie, I had my job. My life was great."
"So what changed?" I asked.
"Something in me, I guess. It started when I was on the Prometheus. I started to question myself, my values."
"Are you questioning us, this relationship?" I asked softly. I had to know the answer no matter how badly it might hurt me.
"No. Not in the way you think," Sam said, raising her head to look at me. The candid beauty of her eyes did for me as strongly as it did the first time I saw her. "I'm questioning my commitment to it, my commitment to you. I want to be known for what I am – your lover, your friend, your wife if you'll have me."
"In a heartbeat," I whispered. "I love you so much, Sam. When I saw you with that…"
"Neanderthal testosterone poisoned rednecked imbecilic prick," she giggled, remembering my phraseology.
"Exactly, I couldn't bear it. And how he treated you." I let my fingers brush delicately over her injured wrist. The shiver that ran through her had nothing to do with pain. For some reason when I was touching her the surface of her skin became one erogenous zone. And I could not put into words what she did to me.
"So what did you tell Mark?" I asked.
She sighed. "I told him exactly what had happened – and what Pete had threatened to do. I didn't confirm or deny anything about us and he will never ask me. But he might ask Dad."
"Would your dad tell him?"
"Dad would probably fudge around it. Selmac would tell him straight. She doesn't understand this Tauri thing about arguing with your children. She doesn't believe that secrets between people who love each other are a healthy thing."
"She talks a lot of sense, sometimes," I said, diplomatically. "So Mark is going to put Pete straight on a few things."
"I hope so, I really do," Sam said. "I can't believe how stupid I was agreeing to go out with him in the first place." She drooped a little and then straightened. She was planning something. "You did promise to spank me for being so… willful," she said, her cheeks dimpling again.
"Don't keep reminding me," I smiled, pressing a kiss to her brow. "But before that I want to pamper you a little."
She cuddled against me. "What did you have in mind?"
"'Singing in the Rain' is on the Classic Movie channel in about fifteen minutes. And I bought icecream earlier." I didn't tell her that I bought it earlier to solace myself when I was in a bad mood once she'd admitted she was going to go through with the date with Pete.
"The good stuff?" I got that wide eyed gaze again that had probably been getting her anything she wanted since the day she was born. And the sweet thing was that 99% of the time she had no idea she was doing it.
"The good stuff," I promised.
"Then it's a date."
The End