DISCLAIMER: Stargate and characters are the property of MGM, Gekko, etc. No infringement of copyright intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a challenge fic and could therefore stand alone as a story. It is however the epilogue to my recent fic entitled, "It's Funny How Things Never Really Change." It is not necessary to read that first though it might be beneficial <g>
SPOILERS: Heroes 1 and 2, Lost City 1 and 2, minor for One False Step, Singularity and Urgo
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Things Can Only Get Better
By Debbie
"All I ask of you, all I will ever ask of you is that you bring my woman home to me. I love her."
Those were the last words Dr Janet Fraiser had spoken to her the previous evening. They refused to leave Elizabeth Weir's head as she watched Colonel Jack O'Neill collecting materiel in the gateroom; he was preparing for a mission to find the Lost City in an attempt to defeat the amassing forces of the Goa'uld Anubis.
The civilian woman, who was now in charge of SGC wasn't sure she would be able to help much in fulfilling Janet's wish, but she sure as hell was going to do everything left in her power to achieve it. If that meant just giving support to SG1 in its own decision making then that was what she would do.
She approached Jack with a wry smile on her face. Still not sure if she had been accepted by this premier team of her new command, she attempted a joke, "Well, have you got everything you need? I think there's still a sink in the kitchen."
She saw Sam and Daniel glance at her with raised eyebrows as Jack answered sarcastically, "Is that a joke?"
She grimaced in reply, "Perhaps. A bad one."
Surprisingly, the sound of Jack's wry response pleased her more than she thought possible, "Yes, very bad. But I sense hope for you." At least he felt comfortable enough with her presence to be pleasantly sarcastic rather than irately sarcastic as he had been with Vice President Kinsey.
The blonde leader felt confident enough to send the remaining three members of SG1 on their way. Teal'c had gone on ahead to Chulak in the hope of finding more firepower. SG1 were also hoping he had found some form of transport for their journey into space. "Well, I hope for all of us that you find what you're looking for, Colonel."
Colonel O'Neill looked into the woman's eyes and surprised her once again with his earnest but simplistic words, "Thank-you"
With that said, he strode up the ramp away from her. Sam and Daniel shared a look with each other, and Sam glanced towards Elizabeth with the hint of a smile, before following their CO into the unknown.
Elizabeth Weir sighed audibly as her team disappeared through the event horizon and away from relative safety. She pondered the thought that she already thought of SG1 as *her* team. She now understood the reluctance of General Hammond to give all of this up. She had since spoken to General Hammond and had received his blessing and his assurance that if she needed any help or advice she only had to call. The generosity of this lovely man had warmed her soul and given her the belief that she could do this job. Her other major comfort of the hectic few days she had spent since being ordered here by the President was her immediate affinity to Major Carter and Janet Fraiser. She really did now understand the sense she had gotten of SGC being Sam and Janet's "family", and she hoped that family would remain unbroken in her care.
She turned on her heels with one last glance towards the Stargate and headed to her office. She had a phone call to make. If she did nothing else, she would keep Janet informed of any major happenings. She would let Janet know that Sam and her team were now offworld.
A few hours later, Dr Weir encountered her first real problem of her command. While watching the coward, VP Kinsey, attempt to make a run for the Alpha site, the lights of the gate-room flickered and went out, and the dialing sequence of the gate itself was halted.
Before she had a chance to ask her staff what was happening, Kinsey demanded to know what was happening.
When she heard her gate technician respond that main power was lost, she knew more than enough to know that the iris had to be closed manually, and it had to be done now. Grabbing the first SF she saw, she implored, "Manual iris control – close it now."
Satisfied, she heard it immediately clunk into place. The next few seconds were a blur. Kinsey screamed for the iris to be opened and the dialing sequence started again immediately, just as the technician informed his commander that there was 'Unauthorized off-world activation.'
The gate tried to activate and a distinctive thud was heard behind the iris. The technicians shouted, "That was a nuke – or worse."
It was obvious to the civilian doctor that Anubis had dialed in and she said so, telling Kinsey that he wasn't going anywhere. Kinsey visibly paled and grabbed her arm as she attempted to join her staff in the control booth. He screamed at her, "You get me out of here, you hear me?"
The technician then informed the two arguing senior people that SG1 had just sent an encoded message but not through the gate. Once again Kinsey attempted to drag her back with angry words, "I don't give a damn!"
Weir's answering snarl, "Well I do!" was heard and appreciated by all the staff nearby. She ran out if the gate-room to see what the message had been.
Within minutes she was on the phone to the White House. She had read the communiqué from SG1 and come to an immediate decision that some sort of backup was required and as soon as possible. Speaking into the speakerphone out of an in-bred courtesy to her Vice President, "Mr. President, Prometheus can't win against an entire Goa'uld fleet but it could buy SG1 enough time to complete their mission."
Immediately, Kinsey intervened. Obviously intent on saving his own skin, he attempted to take charge, "Mr. President, that is downright insane. I am relieving Doctor Weir and taking command of this ... "
The blonde woman tried to take back her command and was surprised to hear the President tell her to shut up. Quieting immediately she apologized only for the President to say, "Not you, Doctor."
The next few moments left Elizabeth astounded. President Hayes accepted Kinsey's resignation that wasn't given, and then proceeded to shoot him down in flames. Trying to hide a glimmer of a smile Elizabeth Weir was actually more intent on getting things underway. Finally she was told to restate her case. Gratefully she replied, "I believe, sir, sending Prometheus to cover SG1 is our best hope. "
Satisfied she had now done everything within her power to give SG1 support she let her head rest on her hands on the table. Once again sighing deeply, she picked up her other desk phone and dialed the memorized number, Janet Fraiser.
Much later Elizabeth and her team of various techs and SF's were standing around the control panels of the Control Room. She had hooked up an outside broadcast to Janet's telephone so knew the worried doctor could hear the news immediately it happened. The civilian doctor just hoped and prayed that the news ended up being good news, because she knew that, if anything happened to Samantha Carter the medical doctor would be more than devastated and might struggle to recover from her own medical problems.
Standing there with her hands clasped in the recognized sign of prayer, she heard an excited voice begin to shout, "Thousands of bright yellow ... I don't know ... they're coming from the surface ... I don't know what they are. They're cutting the enemy fleet to shreds! My God, it's beautiful!"
Smiling inanely and clasping hands with the soldiers around her, she spoke to Janet within seconds, "Hey! It sounds good, doesn't it?"
She wasn't surprised to hear a note of caution in Janet's voice that things were far from over just yet. Of course, all Janet really wanted to hear was that Sam was home safe. But, when she heard from the President within minutes confirming that the enemy had been defeated and the threat eliminated, she was back on the phone to Janet. This time she heard a hint of acceptance in Janet's voice that maybe all would be right with the world.
It was now a week post-mission and of course it wasn't completely all right. Jack O'Neill was encased within a stasis chamber and no one knew, as yet, of a way to get him out. But Major Carter, Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c were home, Anubis was dead, and SG1 had saved the world once again. Elizabeth felt comfortable in the knowledge she had done her little bit, and ordered the remainder of SG1 to take a few days leave, while she took some quality time to contact her partner at home in Philadelphia.
Major Samantha Carter was making her way home for the first time in a week. It had been one hell of a week, but, apart from the problem with Jack O'Neill, had also been one pretty much outstanding kind of week. Anubis was dead, that was all that really needed to be said. And now, they were another step nearer to finding the lost city of Atlantis.
Sam had semi reluctantly left the base not 30 minutes ago. She was desperate to work on the problem of releasing Colonel O'Neill from his enforced stasis and also had a yearning to help Daniel decipher more Intel about Atlantis. Yet, her desire to see and hold Janet was even more important.
Her lover was still in the throws of recovering from her near-death situation of a few months back. A staff-blast wound had ripped the heart out of Janet's lower body leaving her partially paralyzed from the lumbar region down. Only major surgery and desperate prolonged use of the Goa'uld healing device by both Sam and her father/Selmak had gotten Janet even to this stage.
This near-death experience had brought Sam and Janet even closer together, and yet, thought Sam ruefully, they had not had intimate relations of any kind since the accident. Remembering the last time she had seen Janet, Sam saw once again the look of desire that had graced Janet's expressive eyes as she watched the taller blonde woman serve dinner. Since returning from the mission Sam and Janet had shared many phone calls but neither had dared to broach that subject.
Earlier today Sam had contacted Janet to inform her of the time she would be home. The major hoped and prayed that Janet had cancelled her final therapy session of the day so that she could be home in time to spend the evening with her partner. Ruefully, the major hoped that Janet might get a physical therapy session of an altogether different kind later that evening. It was a time held tradition that the two ladies celebrated Sam's safe return from an off-world mission in the best possible way.
Entering the house Sam was pleased to hear the sounds of music coming from 'the zoo', Janet's quiet study. She wasn't as pleased to hear the gentle tap tapping of the computer keyboard too; she hoped Janet wasn't intending on spending all night writing up her case notes, or worse still writing up her present research paper.
Smiling to herself she spent a couple of very pleasant minutes just observing the beautiful woman that shared her life. Janet, thought Sam, was always beautiful, but sometimes her very presence awed Sam. Now, was one of those times. Janet's hair was closely cropped to her head, a consequence of the halo traction she had needed to wear in the early days of her trauma, making her look much younger than the longer hair she had sported at the time of her injury. Sam had only just told Janet how much she disliked the style, when the changed circumstances meant that Sam would have accepted absolutely any hairstyle, even a Mohawk, as long as Janet was there to display it. Now, despite the way in which the style had been chosen, Sam adored Janet's hair. It wasn't just the fact that Janet was still alive, although that helped in her adoration, it was also the elfin look had always bewitched Sam, and sported by her soulmate it was a hundred times more attractive.
Sighing audibly, she strolled up behind Janet, and mindful of startling her lady, whispered quietly, "Hey! I'm home." As Janet turned her upper torso to glance up at Sam, Sam bent over and kissed the lips in front of her. She then stood behind Janet and gently ran her fingers through the short hair. Massaging softly but deeply, she watched as Janet closed her program down and switched off immediately. The major was pleased it appeared the night was going to be spent in each other's company.
Janet leant back against Sam and murmured her appreciation of the head massage. Sam whispered in Janet's ear, "I love your hair like this, you know? Is Cassie out for the evening?"
Chuckling out loud, Janet wheeled her chair away from the computer and turned to look up at Sam, "Why Major Carter, that has to be one of the best come on lines you have ever used, and Cass is over at Dominic's, so..."
Seeing the same desire in Janet's eyes as at that dinner date a week before Sam's heart skipped a beat and the temperature in the room went up a few degrees immediately. Playing along, she answered, "So... I take it you've finished for the day, huh?"
Pulling Sam down onto her lap, one advantage of the damn wheelchair thought Janet deep inside, the small brunette whispered huskily, "Actually I was just beginning… " Her lips nipped at Sam's exposed neck, "Or did you mean work?"
Sharing a deep passionate kiss Sam's body actually pushed harder into Janet's lap. Janet didn't flinch; she just pulled Sam closer still to her chest. Without breaking the lip contact the small woman reached down and released her brakes, wheeling herself and Sam into the sitting room next door. Although small, Janet had always been stronger than she was usually given credit for. Now, with all her upper body strength work to compensate for her lower body weakness, she was even more capable of carrying the slim woman she adored. She just hoped Samantha knew this fact, and knew she didn't have to treat Janet with kid gloves.
Janet carefully pulled back from the continuing kiss and murmured, "Hmmm! Hon, as much as I would like to continue this right now, I also want to spend some quality time with my lover. Let's have a glass of wine and a snuggle while you tell me about what's been happening, huh?"
Startled and a little dazed from the strength of the feelings that coursed through her fiber Sam gasped when she realized they had changed rooms. On the coffee table were two glasses and a bowl of Hershey's kisses. Chuckling, the blonde woman gathered she had been royally set up, "I'll get the wine, you make yourself comfortable." As she slipped off Janet's knees, she bent over and snatched a quick kiss; nipping at Janet's lower lip, she murmured almost imperceptibly, "Remember, we're not finished yet my lady."
Smiling, Janet was grateful that Sam had left her to transfer independently from her wheelchair to the sofa. Gradually, the major was realizing that Janet needed her independence more than anything else. Just lately, the major had felt more confident leaving Janet be. Now, she only offered help when she knew the doctor was over-tired, or when Janet herself asked for the help.
Settling herself into the cushions, Janet waited for Sam's return. Once Sam had poured the wine, the major sat down with her back against the arm and pulled Janet into her arms. "God, this feels good. It's been one hell of a last few months, but this Jan, this is what makes it all worthwhile. You do know that, don't you?"
Caressing Sam's fingers, as they lay splayed across her chest, Janet whispered, "Yep! "I do know that hon. And this Sam…" she indicated her legs, "... this is not good, but I would never give up my life if it meant losing you. I am not going anywhere soon, so let's enjoy tonight and maybe finish the night off doing what we do best, huh?
Laughing loud, Sam teased, "You mean like sleeping?"
Kissing the fingertips Janet whispered, "And more." Feeling a kiss to the back of her head, she continued mock seriously, "Now tell me Major, what do you mean, you like my hair like this?"
They proceeded to have a deep, thought-provoking discussion about the merits and demerits of Janet's hairstyles over the years. Sam admitted that her favorite style on Janet was the short with a little length in it sort of cut, similar to when she had joined SG1 off-world with the sonic plant aliens.
Deep inside she wondered if it was something to do with the fact that that was when the two ladies had realized, and acted upon, their obvious attraction to one another. Tonight, however, she also admitted, maybe for the first time, that she had actually fallen in love with Janet on the doctor's very first trip off-world. The trip that had seen the introduction of their daughter Cassandra into the melting pot. The trip to Hanka. Sam remembered vividly the moment Janet had swung around to look back at Daniel sneezing and catching the doctor's eyes with her own. The depths that she had seen in those ebony eyes had pulled her in and never let her go.
For her part, Janet teased that she had resisted the advances of one Major Samantha Carter until that fateful day Urgo had intruded into Sam's mind. Laughing she realized that her hair had still been short/longish at that time, so maybe Sam was being pretty arduous about that era. Sam moaned that that couldn't be true since they had already been sleeping together at least 6 months when Urgo was around.
Running her fingers through Janet's short hair, Sam dared to whisper, "Then again you look absolutely gorgeous with long hair. You know like at Cass's 16th, then I could twist you around my little finger, literally."
Receiving a punch for her trouble Sam groaned sighed and playfully ground out, " Janet darling, you are absolutely gorgeous regardless of your hair-style. Hell, you could be as bald as a billiard ball, or have one of those Mohawk thingies, and I'd still be head over heels in love with you."
Groaning Janet griped, "Jeez Sam lay it on a bit thick, why don't you?"
Looking around the room, Janet saw that they had spent a wonderful two hours discussing hairstyles and off-world missions, and managed to polish off a full bottle of wine between them. She felt slightly light-headed at the combination of drugs and alcohol in her system, but also knew she had been sensible. She hadn't however been sensible about shifting her weight around a little, something she had to do with regularity. Feeling a little amorous at the same time, she squeezed Sam's hand and quietly asked for help, "Sam, I'm a little bushed, can you roll me over and come on top, please."
Chuckling, Sam said, "What did you say earlier, ma'am? That has to be one of the best come on lines you have ever used." Then as if only just realizing what Janet had asked her, she looked deep into Janet's eyes with a question, "Are you sure you can do this, Jan?"
"Hon, I'm absolutely positive. Now get over here. Please."
Sam gently got up from the sofa, moved Janet around carefully, then climbed on top of her love. The taller blonde woman stitched kisses down Janet's neck and across her shoulders, her long legs fitting between the inert legs of the smaller woman. Her body sealing itself against Janet, Sam whispered, "Tell me if anything hurts."
After all the shocks and emotional upheavals of the past few months, Janet, and Sam for that matter, wanted to be touched, needed to be reassured, needed to be cherished, and, as Sam drank in her lover's throat, all the reluctance and worries about making love faded. Janet drove her upper torso hard into Sam's, offering her desire in the only way she could at the moment. Her tongue demanded entry into Sam's mouth and all time stood still as the two ladies rediscovered the sexual connection they had always cherished. As they had admitted tonight, each woman loved the other with a passion beyond only sex, but still their sexual compatibility had always been a part of their all consuming love for one another.
Never taking her eyes from Janet's, Sam climbed off the sofa and knelt to one side. Smiling she began to remove her T-shirt, exposing her breasts to Janet's stare. The smaller woman gasped and gently reached out to caress them. Samantha then began to lay bare Janet's body, one piece of clothing at a time, taking indeterminate time to nip and suckle at each area of skin she exposed.
It was then that Janet understood this was a different kind of touching from the choreography created between them over the years. Sam climbed back on top of Janet and began to paint a dance of her own. Using her strong arms, the soldier in Sam held her body away from Janet's while she mapped out every crease, every inch of the smaller woman's body. Her hands were almost convulsive in their gripping of the muscles in Janet's hip and legs. Mindful that Janet had little, if no feeling in this area, she constantly glanced up to ensure Janet was still with her. Seeing only desire and lust in the ebony eyes watching her every move, Sam's lips were unpredictable in where they would caress and where they would pause. Inside Sam thought that, if she could give Janet enough sensation, then Janet might get more out of this passion than either of them believed possible.
For her part, Janet was astounded at the sensation she *was* feeling. When she closed her eyes the feelings diminished immediately. She quickly realized that she needed the added sense of sight to counteract her diminished sensation of touch. She forced herself to watch intently as Sam worked her magic on Janet's body.
Continuing with her unpredictable assault, Sam kissed areas of Janet's body she had never noticed were erogenous zones before: inside her elbows, across her hip-bones, surprisingly now down behind her normally numb lower legs, her calves, her Achilles tendon and gloriously, her instep. Sam's mouth became devouring, her teeth pulling at Janet's flesh hard. She nipped not quite to a painful level, but hard enough to cause gentle glowing marks.
It was as if Sam was touching Janet for the very first time. And even knowing their past endeavors, for both ladies the effect was the same. There was a firing of desire and need. The tension in Janet stretched so taut that her nerves seemed to sing within her. Within Sam there was a desire to make Janet feel as she did, sensitized and passionate as hell. Although Janet had barely touched Sam, the feel of Janet under her was pushing Sam into a frenzy of desire.
The tall blonde moved her mouth and kisses down over Janet's bare stomach, while her hand caressed the slender throat. Sam's fingers stilled, first over the fading tracheotomy scar and then imperceptibly over the pulse in Janet's throat. At the same time she gently kissed Janet's thighs.
Seeing the briefest of anguished glimpses in Sam's face. Janet realized that Sam had needed to feel Janet's pulse, had needed to know she was alive. Watching Sam's tongue flick quickly and then slowly over the hairs of her inner thighs, Janet felt herself twitch. Unsure if it was a reflex or a genuine reaction she nevertheless fluttered her eyes at the sensation.
Sam moved her head between Janet's thighs and her breath felt surprisingly warm on the hair between Janet's legs. Sam, seeing and feeling the hitch in Janet's upper body, smiled evilly and whispered, "I'm going to take a long time."
The warmth and pressure from Sam's mouth buffeted Janet's body in a totally new but very pleasant manner, quickly bringing her to a height hovering on orgasm. But Sam, keeping true to her word and true to her dance composition maintained a deliciously erratic course. Never allowing her lover to settle into any sensation and taking no direction from Janet's increasingly obvious responses; not even listening, as was her normal wont, to Janet's pleasure, she finally and insanely ceased all her tympanic rhythms.
Removing her fingers and her mouth suddenly, Sam drove her tongue deep inside Janet to stroke within. Then almost as suddenly, her tongue was back licking and suckling at Janet's lower torso. The passion she felt from Sam's mouth again engulfed Janet in paroxysms of pleasure she had thought she might never feel again.
Maddeningly, as if driven by some inner force, Sam retreated. Leaving Janet, again and again.
"Please," Janet finally implored. Her agonized whisper full of raw need, spasms of pain in her legs a new counterpoint to her rapture.
As if set free from some hidden shackles by that one word, Sam obeyed with fierce strokes of her fingers and tongue. Janet hovered at a dazzling edge, gripped in a shaking and delirious intensity, then, with a deep groan she surged over.
Sam still didn't take her mouth away, drinking her fill as if it was the very essence of her life force. As Janet's heartbeat slowed and her legs settled into a dull throbbing, Sam raised her head slowly and buried it deep into Janet's chest. It was then that Janetfinally felt a strange wetness on her body. Single drops of burning hot splashes. Tears.
She drew Sam back up to her. Sam's eyes were red, her entire face wet.
"Hon?" whispered Janet to her beloved, gently touching her face. The doctor had not realized the degree of catharsis involved in Sam's displayed passion, now her pain was plain to see.
Sam bowed her head, her tears continuing to fall on Janet's breasts. She continued to weep as she whispered emotionally, "I had to, Janet, I'm so glad you're alive..."
Janet pulled Sam's lips to her own and kissed her with all the love she had in her heart for her wonderful partner. Tears falling from her own eyes, Janet whispered back, "I know Hon, and I am so glad you are alive. Please, no more tears. We have too much loving to share my darling."
At those words Sam hitched another deeper sob. Suddenly Janet knew Sam's tears were not only for her. Sam knew, especially now, that Janet was going to be all right. As yet, she didn't know that Colonel O'Neill was going to be all right. Janet's tendencies towards jealousy of the relationship between Sam and her CO had long evaporated. After the present Sam had just given Janet, those tendencies were further in the destroyed. This let Janet accept Sam's tears for what they were; the deep release of emotions held within the stoic major, released by her deep devotion to Dr Janet Fraiser.
As if given a message by some higher deity, Janet instinctively knew the answer to Sam and the SGC's problem. She grasped Sam tightly and said firmly, "It *will* be all right, Sam, you'll see. Jack has the answer within him. He may be in stasis but that was his calling. The answer will come from Jack of that I am sure."
Sam lifted her head and saw the truth in her soulmate's eyes. Janet had come to love Jack O'Neill as much as Sam and if Janet thought that was the case then her lover damn well believed her. Jack O'Neill would somehow find a way of getting himself out of that casket, if a little help was needed from Sam, Sam knew that she had Janet's blessing. With that thought and another tender kiss, Sam got up and gathered Janet into her arms. Carefully carrying her to and then placing her in their bed, she spooned up to the side of her love and the two ladies drifted into a comfortable sleep.
A few hours later they were awoken by a telephone call. It was Elizabeth Weir. She was informing them that things might be changing in the very near future. She had been offered command of Atlantis; admittedly it had to be found first. Jack O'Neill would be offered command of SGC, and Sam would be offered command of her own SG team.
Putting the phone down, Sam and Janet snuggled cozily together. Things may not change much but they did get better. SG1 was to all intents and purposes safe. Anubis was dead. Sam and Janet had a new friendship with Elizabeth Weir to cultivate. And, most importantly, Sam and Janet were together and happy.
The End