Title: Proposal Of The Day
Author: Secret Art
E-mail: [email protected]
Date: 4th September 2004
Category: AU, angst, romance and a bit of fluff thrown in because they made me write it.
Pairings: Sam/Pete, Sam/Jack
Spoilers: Inspired by the plot and is at about the time of Affinity, but I’ve never actually seen the episode and it is Au so no spoilers other than the point about Sam and Pete.
Summary: Pete gives Sam something to think about, and Jack gives her the choice she never considered.
Archive: where ever you want, I’m not fussy
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: I have no way of explaining this fic, except that it started off in one direction, but that plot bunny was kidnapped and replaced by another and resulted in this.
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She was shocked out of her thoughts by the phone ringing.
“Hello?”
“Hey Sam, what are you doing?”
“Pete? Why are you calling me?”
“It was supposed to be your day off. I have a surprise waiting for you.”
She smiled. “A surprise?”
“Yep, but you won’t find out what it is if you stay in your lab.”
“I’ll be right up.”
She put the phone down, collecting together her things, willing to leave the technology until tomorrow, it wasn’t like it was going anywhere. And anyway, Daniel may have finished translating the intrusions by tomorrow, giving her a greater chance of figuring it out.
Reaching the elevator she froze as it opened to reveal General O’Neill, not Jack, not anymore.
Taking a deep breath she stepped inside, trying to remain calm.
“General.”
“Carter.”
She looked around the elevator, finally looking at him. He raised an eyebrow at her and she realised that she had been humming again.
“Got a date planned?” He smiled kindly at her, the question intended to be friendly rather than anything else.
“Pete says he has a surprise for me.”
“Must be important if it gets you out of the lab. What kind of surprise?”
“I have no idea.”
The elevator stopped, and she breathed a sigh of relief, it was getting harder and harder to talk to him, she felt like every step she took towards Pete was a step away from him.
Reaching the surface she spotted his car immediately and waved at him, letting him know that she had spotted him so he wouldn’t leave the car.
She climbed into the passenger seat, placing her bag behind her before belting up and turning to face the man next to her.
“So, what’s the surprise?” She asked with a smile.
His only response was a grin as he drove them out of the mountain in silence.
He pulled the car over about half a mile down the road.
“Do you trust me?”
“What sort of a question is that?”
“Do you trust me?” She looked him in the eye, seeing that he was serious.
“Yes, of course. Why?”
He smiled, pulling out a blindfold.
“You want to blindfold me?”
“So you can’t see where we are going.” He smiled reassuringly as she nodded, not completely trusting him, but knowing that if anything happened she’d be able to take him in a fight.
She turned her head, allowing him to tie the blindfold around her head, removing her sight.
She shifted uncomfortably as everything went black, her ears straining to make out any sounds.
He grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently before starting the car up again.
She found herself quite enjoying the ride, apart from her initial embarrassment at the thought of anyone seeing her blindfolded in the car, she found that she was picking up noises that she would have normally ignored. She could smell the air change as they travelled, all things that she would have ignored if she had been able to see where she was going.
Eventually the car stopped, and she heard him unbuckle his seatbelt.
“Can I take this off now?”
She reached up to remove it but he grabbed her hands, placing them back on her lap.
“Not yet. There’s something I need to do first.”
She nodded, and she thought he smiled, but had no way of knowing.
She heard the car door open, and he stepped out, closing the door behind him. He then walked to the boot, opening it, pulling out a few items and the closing it, leaving her alone.
She strained her ears, trying to pick up any sounds, any hint as to where she was and what was going on. She could smell freshly cut grass so she assumed she was at some kind of park or field. She could also hear birds, which ruled out a field, perhaps a wood?
She heard footsteps, and she froze, unsure of who it was. “Pete?”
“yeah, it’s me.” he opened the door, and she could smell his aftershave, proving that it was him, so she relaxed slightly.
He unbuckled her belt, grabbing her hands.
“I’m going to lead you somewhere. You have to promise not to look.”
“I can’t see anything. You will tell me if I’m about to trip over a branch or something?”
He laughed. “Of course.”
She allowed him to pull her up, and she leaned against the car, feeling the metal under her fingers.
He grabbed her hands again, dragging her towards their destination.
She counted twenty steps forward, two right, and then another twenty three forward.
He gently pushed on her shoulders, coaxing her to sit down.
She knelt down slowly, using her hands to find the ground, checking that she wasn’t about to sit on anything.
Once seated she felt him move behind her, slowly removing the blindfold.
She blinked, once, twice, her eyes slowly adjusting to the light.
“Oh my, Wow! Pete, this is amazing,” She gushed, looking at the picnic spread in front of her.
She smiled as she looked over the array pf food, spotting the champagne bottle in the middle.
She froze as she spotted the box carefully placed on top of the bottle. “Pete?”
He reached for the box, getting down on one knee and opening it to reveal a beautiful, sparkling engagement ring.
“Will you marry me?”
“I er…I…I don’t know what to say.”
“Try Yes.” His smile faded as he looked into her shocked, almost terrified eyes. “Sam, look, if it is all too much I’ll understand.”
She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. “No, it’s perfect. It’s just…I need time, this is a big step.” She refused to let herself think about how easy it had been to say yes the last time.
He nodded, kissing her briefly on the lips before sitting down on the other side of the picnic. “I understand. We should at least enjoy this picnic, it would be a waste to leave all this food.”
She smiled. “Are you sure you’re ok with this, me needing time?”
“I love you Samantha Carter. I also know you, and I understand that you need time to think, to analyse, to do whatever it is you do in that amazing head of yours. I trust that in the end you will make the right decision, you always do.”
She nodded, thinking to herself, not always.
“Lets eat.”
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She raced around the house, trying to find her keys. She wasn’t running late yet but would be if she couldn’t find her keys.
Pete watched her, a smile on his face. “Sam?”
“Yeah?”
“You know this whole engagement thing…” She stopped in her tracks, turning towards him. “I go back to Denver tonight and I was just wondering…”
“If you could have an answer before you go.”
“yeah.” He sounded surprised that she knew what he was going to say, so she smiled at him, grabbing her keys, kissing him briefly on the lips before heading off to work.
Getting into the elevator she felt her heart stop as she saw General O’Neill walk into it after her.
She couldn’t look at him, barely managed to say “Good morning,” the box in her pocket making her feel guilty.
Thankfully he didn’t ask her any questions, try and find out what was going on, he just stayed silent, which to be honest, worried her more.
She went straight to her lab, ignoring everyone else, her mind focused only on the ring in her pocket and the answer she had promised Pete. Thankfully she managed to find an experiment that took up all of her concentration, leaving her no room to think about anything else.
She was just finishing her report when he walked in. “Carter.”
“General.” She looked up, long enough to be respectful before going back to her report.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he collapsed into a chair with a sigh.
“Sam, what the hell is going on?”
“Excuse me?” She looked up, not sure if she was more surprised that he had used her first name or how direct he had been.
“You were terrified of me in the elevator and have been avoiding me…”
“I…”
He put up a finger to shut her up. “You had an SF deliver your reports. You only do that when you are either mad at me or avoiding me, occasionally both. And you didn’t meet us for lunch, they have new pie.”
She smiled slightly, she had been too nervous… worried to eat, and didn’t think she could have coped with all the people anyway.
“This has something to do with Pete’s surprise yesterday doesn’t it?”
She nodded, placing the box on the desk between them. “he proposed.”
“Oh.” She looked at him, looking at the box, surprised that she couldn’t read him.
“He wants an answer by tonight.”
“So?” He looked straight at her, his gaze piercing.
“It’s complicated.” She looked down at her hands.
“Because of us.”
“Yes.”
“Two years is a long time to drag it on.”
She looked up, scared slightly by what he was saying. “Do you mean?”
“Yep.”
He rested his hands on hers for a moment before going, leaving her sat there in shock, amazed that the conversation they had been putting off for two years had finally happened.
It was less than an hour before the SF appeared, brown envelope in hand.
She took it, her hands shaking, causing the SF to give her a concerned look. She smiled, titling her head to instruct him to go, not willing to risk her voice.
She looked at the envelope for almost ten minutes before opening it, the word ‘divorce’ jumping out at her straight away, causing tears to pool in her eyes.
She had to force herself to breathe as she read over the divorce papers, the tears falling silently by the time she got to his signature.
She signed the papers quickly, trying not to think about how long he must have had them in a drawer.
Looking down at the papers she could feel her heart screaming at her to rip it up, that this was all wrong.
Grabbing a post-it note she scribbled down a message, attaching it to the front of the papers before sliding them back into the envelope and re-sealing it.
Finding an SF she handed over the envelope, ordering him to take it to the General, forcing herself not to break down in the middle of the corridor.
Safely back in her lab she looked at the engagement ring, knowing that if she ever stood a chance with Pete she would have top remove everything of her previous relationship.
Searching through her drawer she eventually pulled out the chain holding the engagement and wedding rings. The wedding ring had been her mothers, she had inherited it after her mother’s death.
She looked at it, knowing that she should use it for her wedding with Pete, but the thought of anyone else putting it on her finger made her feel physically sick.
She looked at it, having no idea what to do with it, or the engagement ring, a beautiful blue jewel jack had bought for her off world. She remembered eyeing it up in the market, but how he had managed to buy it without her noticing she had never figured out.
The engagement ring she could sell, even if it would destroy her, but the wedding ring, her mother’s wedding ring, her wedding ring; she couldn’t get rid of that, no matter what.
She was still lost in thought when heavy footsteps approached her lab, and he stormed in, envelope in hand.
She barely flinched, moving only enough to so that she could close the door, giving them a measure of privacy.
Sitting back down she looked at him, her expression blank, too emotionally drained already to be concerned by his anger.
He slammed the post-it note onto the desk in front of her. “ ‘If this is what you want.’ What the hell is that supposed to mean? I’m doing this for you, so you can go off and marry him.”
She looked up, shocked, easily able to read between the lines of what he said. “You don’t want a divorce.”
He sighed, collapsing into the chair opposite her, his fingers resting lightly on her hands. “I want you to be happy, that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
She smiled, a tear falling down her cheek. “You made me happy.”
“until I went and ruined it.”
She shock her head, trying to think of how to phrase her thoughts. “You were upset over Daniel’s death, we all were. But you pulled away, wouldn’t let anyone help, wouldn’t let anyone in. And I didn’t have the energy to mourn over Daniel and try to break down those walls, it was too much.”
“At least we stayed friends.” She could see the puzzled look on his face and knew instantly his question.
“We were friends before we got together, and remained friends even then. Hell we spent more time as friends trying to fool people then as acting like a couple. So after Daniel died, we lost that intimacy because of those walls you put up, and Sam the wife couldn’t handle that, but Carter the friend and Major the officer had dealt with worse, so easily rode out the ruff patch.”
2So how come we never got back together?”
2i guess it was never the right time.”
They sat in silence as he thought over what she had said, his fingers playing with the rings on the desk.
Eventually he looked up at her. “I think we were afraid that as the relationship had fallen apart so to speak, if we tried to put it back together we would lose what we already had.”
“And now?” She held her breath, terrified of what he answer would be.
“Now it’s up to you to decide which path in life you take.”
He placed the envelope containing the divorce papers to her left, resting Pete’s engagement ring on top. He then placed the chain to her right.
She looked at them silently, the two choices she had; start a new life with Pete or try and rebuild what she had had with jack.
She looked at him, could see how nervous he was from the bits of pen now scattered over her desk.
She smiled to herself, knowing that there was only one possible choice, only one future she could live in.
“you’ll accept my decision, no matter what?”
He looked at her and she saw the flash of pain in his eyes before he hid it behind a calm exterior. “Of course.”
She picked up Pete’s ring, looking at it closely. “How much do you think I could get for this? Or would I have to give it back?”
She saw the look of hurt being replaced with confusion, and then shock before finally settling on the biggest grin she had seen in years.
He almost jumped across the table, pulling her into his arms, bouncing up and down slightly.
He grabbed her face, kissing her gently on the lips, his hand reaching out to grab the chain.
He knelt down, removing the engagement ring. “Samantha Carter, will you marry me?”
She laughed. “I’m already married to you.”
“Not according to that.” He stilted his head towards the divorce papers, which she promptly grabbed and tore to shreds.
He nodded his head in approval. “In that case..” He slipped the wedding ring off the chain, placing both onto her finger.
She could feel the tears pouring down her face, she felt like she had been given a second chance and she was not going to waste it.
She slowly moved away from him and he groaned at the loss of contact.
She tilted her head towards Pete’s engagement ring. “What am I going to do about that?”
He shrugged. “Talk to him.”
“And tell him what?” She sighed, knowing that it wouldn’t be easy.
“As much as you need to. I trust you,” he smiled, “I love you and I believe that you will do just fine.”
She smiled back, allowing him to pull her into a hug. “I love you too.”
They separated, and he nodded in understanding as she slipped the rings off, placing them into her pocket.
He walked to the door, stopping just as he reached the edge of her lab. “I’m going fishing for the weekend, thought you might want to know.”
“Have fun.”
“Actually it’s not been that much fun for a while now, but I have hope.” He crossed his fingers, causing her to laugh.
“Oh, I’m sure this weekend will involve a lot of fun.” She winked at him, turning back to her report, waiting for the footsteps to disappear down the corridor before allowing herself to grin.
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She shut down the last of her lab experiments, knowing that she had to go home eventually, she was already two hours late and had resorted to switching off her mobile after Pete’s fifth attempt to call her.
She had ignored the calls, knowing that he would either be panicking, in which case he would have phoned the base to check up on her, or he understood and was waiting patiently.
She drove home quickly, knowing that the longer she put it off the less likely she was to go through with it now that she had finally summed up enough courage.
She saw the curtains move as she pulled into the driveway, and knew that he was probably rushing to get the TV, to sit down and make it look like he hadn’t just spent the last two hours nervously waiting for her to get home.
She opened the door cautiously, hearing only the TV blaring. Taking a step forward he appeared out of a doorway, his look of concern being replaced by interest.
“So?”
She sighed. “Don’t I even get a hello?”
“All right, hello Sam, have you made up your mind yet?”
She smiled, her eyes lighting up slightly at her choice. “Yes, but can we not talk about it here, how about back at the park?”
He nodded, looking very confused, but grabbing his coat anyway.
She had decided on the park as it was public, less chance of being spied on or overheard, where as she hadn’t checked her house for bugs in over a year.
They drove in silence, and she watched the scenery pass, refusing to look at him in case he tried to talk to her, she wasn’t exactly sure how safe her car was either. At least she knew her lab was safe, she’d checked it the week before, and the cameras had been damaged by that many of her experiments that they didn’t bother to fix them any more; and she thinks that it is probably the reason why Jack chose to confront her there rather than anywhere else, the lab had always been their safe room.
The car finally stops and she climbs out, walking to the exact spot where they had the picnic, knowing that it was cruel, yet it felt like the right place.
He walked up behind her, standing next to her, looking at the view.
“Sam, you want to tell me what is going on?”
“I’m already married.”
“What?” he turned to face her, his expression a mixture of confusion and anger.
“We’ve been separate for over two years.”
“So get a divorce.”
“I don’t want a divorce.” She turned to look at him, not sure if his anger or hurt would win. “Your proposal made me think, and I went to talk to him about it, and we realised that the reason we split up no longer exists, and it was a stupid reason anyway. And I love you Pete, I really do, it’s just that I’m in love with him.”
He looked straight into her eyes, and she tried not to blink, not to let the tears flow over as he tried to work out how serious she was.
Eventually he sighed, his shoulders dropping in defeat. “I should have known it was too good to last. I guess now the question is, if I hadn’t asked you, would we still be together?”
“probably, but it would always end up the same, you’d have to ask me eventually.” She pulled the box out of her pocket, handing it back to him.
He opened it, looking down at the ring, lost in memories before finally turning back to her.
“What does his ring look like?” She pulled out the engagement ring, her engagement ring, leaving it in the palm of her hand. “it’s beautiful, and I suppose that the wedding ring was your mother’s?”
“Yes.” She placed the ring back in her pocket, not willing to hurt him further by placing them on her finger. “Now what?”
“Now I go back to Denver.”
“And that’s it?” She was confused, it felt easy, too easy, and nothing in her life was easy.
He stroked her cheek one last time. “That’s it. But we can stay friends.”
She smiled sadly, “isn’t that supposed to be my line? I want to stay friends too.”
He pulled her into a hug, saying goodbye to her physically as well as mentally.
The End