Title: Hope's Gone

Author: Secret Art

Date: 16^th February 2005

Category: angst, character death, romance

Pairings: Sam/Jack

Spoilers: none,

Summary: Time ran out for the world and now it is for them

Feedback: can only make me better

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author.

Author’s note:Sequel to Hope Fades

He watched her in the darkness; the batteries in his torch having finally given up a few hours previous.

His watch beeped, signalling that it was time for him to wake her, that it was her turn to sit and stare out of the window, desperately hoping to see someone. Originally it had been for safety, and partially out of habit, one of them up and alert at all times in case anyone attacked. It had become evident early on that there was no one to fear, no one at all, but they continued to do it, changing their reasoning to needing to keep an eye out for any rescue parties.

He wanted to move to her, shake her awake, but she wasn’t asleep, wouldn’t wake up no matter what he did, so he just watched.

The last few days had been awful for her, for him, watching her weakening, desperately trying to hold on to life, to the hope that someone would come. He’d been amazed when she’d admitted that, that she still hoped someone would come, he’d thought she’d given up hope almost straight away.

He laughed quietly; she had given up hope, she just wished for someone to come for him, knowing that she wasn’t going to be there to help him. She had wanted him to survive, had said as much the day before, he’d lost an entire planet, one more person shouldn’t have affected him.

But it was her, Sam, he knew that if given the choice, to have the planet back or her, he’d have chosen her. He’d endangered her life to save the planet but knowing they’d already failed, he’d rather recreate the planet with her, filling it with their children.

He moved finally, his muscles protesting, kicking the wall as he stormed to the other end of the ship. He felt like he was suffocating, someone had put a plastic bag over his head and he couldn’t get it off, he didn’t want to.

Ever since he’d realised she was gone, his only wish had been to join her, to know again the happiness they shared for the short few days before she became too ill.

All it had taken was loosing the planet to get them to admit their feelings, if he’d known that earlier he’d have lost it a long time ago.

He shook his head, smiling slightly; she’d have killed him before letting him lose a planet just for her.

He had so many memories of her; laughing, smiling that smile, eating jello in the commissary, the look on her face when she solved a puzzle, her last haggard breath before she died.

Looking out of the window he made his decision, he only had two choices, stay and wait to run out of food and drink or leave the safety of the ship, and let the wind and sun kill him.

Walking back to Sam, Sam’s body, she wasn’t there anymore; he picked her up, carefully holding her in his arms, he wanted to be with her when he died, their bodies together forever.

Opening the door of the ship he stepped outside, instantly coughing, he hadn’t bothered tying anything around his mouth, or taking water or food, he just wanted to walk, walk until he couldn’t walk anymore and then sleep, sleep forever with Sam in his arms.

He took a step, almost tripping, managing to balance himself before he let her drop. He took another step, more confident this time, looking straight ahead.

A part of him shouted to go back, that if anyone came for them they should be by the ship, Teal’c and Daniel should be able to find their bodies.

But he didn’t want that, she wouldn’t have wanted that, to have their bodies transported to some distant planet, experiments done to try and save them. To make it seem like they gave up, resigned to their fate, waiting in the ship for someone to come.

This way it would look like they left to find survivors, maybe they’d believe they had. He tried to fight back a tear that threatened to fall, since they’d landed his plans for the future had changed to suit the circumstances.

Originally it had been white picket fence, sat cuddling Sam as their children, then grandchildren ran around. Once he’d seen the new Earth that had changed, he could imagine them in a settlement on the planet, getting by on whatever they could find, or maybe even offworld somewhere, a nice little planet where they could start their own race.

Now all he had was the body in his arms, the endless sun and sand and wind; a future that promised only one thing, death.

He fell to his knees, carefully placing her down before coughing; taking deep breaths to try and get air, any air into his sand choked lungs.

Looking back he supposed that he could have taken his own life back on the ship, they still had medical supplies, an overdose of them and he’d be gone.

But she would have hated that, for him to kill himself over her death. And somehow, this was different he thought as he lay down next to her; he wasn’t actively killing himself, just giving nature a helping hand.

He threaded his hand through hers, barely able to keep his eyes open due to the sand. "I love you Sam," he whispered, the words seeming to echo around him, hanging over them as a veil before being washed away by a sand cloud.

Six months later the sand swallows yet more words, these from two cloaked figures, huddled over the bodies of their friends.