The Life We Live

Homecoming

~There’s nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.~

-Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

Katelyn, Sam, and Vala lay unconscious and seriously injured on the floor of the bridge. Colonel Emerson motioned for Major Marks to get them home. He called the med. team. Cameron rushed to Katelyn and held her tight, but when the med. team got to the bridge, they moved Cameron out of the way so they could get the three women of SG-1 to the infirmary.
“I told you to wait for us,” Jack said to Cameron. He was staring out the front window on the bridge.
“I know, but I heard the scream and I couldn’t just sit there and continue listening to one of them scream like that, Sir. I couldn’t let one of them go through all that pain,” Cameron replied. Jack nodded and smiled slowly.
“Then you really are one of us,” Jack said. Cameron looked confused.
“Sir?” he asked.
“As much as all of us would like to say we follow orders, there are always those missions where you think your judgment is better or you just can’t do what the superior asked. You did the right thing, Mitchell,” Jack finished as he patted Cameron on the back and walked away.
A few more hours passed, Katelyn, Vala, and Sam were beamed to the infirmary at the SGC. Jack, Cameron, Daniel, and Teal’c were then beamed to the briefing room.
“Did you find them?” General Landry asked urgently.
“Yes, Sir, they’re in the infirmary now. Permission to go.”
“Permission granted,” General Landry said.
Cameron nodded and walked swiftly out the door with Daniel, Teal’c, and Jack following closely behind. They all piled into the observation room. Cameron flashed back to a time not so long ago.
Cameron was about to leave for the day. He stopped at the infirmary as he did any other day. Katelyn was down helping some patients as she often did on her off time. Cameron smiled when he saw her. Ever since he met Katelyn in Antarctica, he felt something more for her. He was ecstatic about being able to work with her closely every day. The more he got to know her, the stronger the feelings got.
That day, as he looked down at Katelyn, something snapped inside of him. She was wearing her regular clothes. She looked like she did every other day, but on that day as he looked down at her everything about her became noticeable. Her smile, how her eyes sparkled when she helped a patient, how hard she worked when a patient went critical. That day was the day he fell in love with Katelyn. He didn’t dare think those words until much later, but on that day, he knew.
Dr. Lam and a few others worked on them to get them stable and patched up. They hadn’t eaten or had water for the two days they were gone. They were tortured in a way no one could even guess at. They were in bad condition. They had so many lesions all over their bodies accompanied by dark blue bruises. They had internal bleeding in some places and several concussions. They were in rough shape.
Jack looked down on Sam. He closed his eyes fighting back the flood of emotions that came when Sam was hurt or in trouble. The truth was he loved her. He was in love with Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter. He always had been, but up until recently, he couldn’t express those feelings. He didn’t work at the SGC anymore though so maybe, just maybe, Sam and he could pursue a relationship. Jack wondered if she shared his feelings as he looked down at her battered body.
Vala, annoying as she sometimes could be, had a special place in Daniel’s heart. Those nights he would stay late at the SGC working on something or another, Vala would come into his office in her pajamas. She would come in when she couldn’t sleep or when she had had a nightmare, which she often did after they visited the Ori galaxy the first time. They would sit and talk about lots of different things. Daniel enjoyed those conversations very much. True, Daniel had intellectual conversations with Katelyn and Sam, but the conversations Daniel had with Vala were so different. She talked about her past, her real past with Daniel on those nights. He was the only one on the team that really knew her. As much as Vala annoyed him a majority of the time, he had a certain fondness for her. He didn’t like when she got hurt, he didn’t like when she was lost. He cared for her very much.
Katelyn, Sam, and Vala were stabilized within hours. All their lesions were stitched up and bandaged. They were still unconscious, but not in any danger now. Cameron, Daniel, Teal’c, and Jack were allowed to go into the infirmary to visit them at that time, finally.
Cameron sat by Katelyn’s bed holding her hand. He sat there for hours. Finally, Katelyn opened her eyes. Her vision was foggy at first, but soon she focused on Cameron’s face.
“Hey,” Cameron whispered, smiling.
“Hi,” she replied, her voice raspy.
“How ya doin’?” Cameron asked.
“Alright,” Katelyn smiled. Cameron smiled again and leaned down to kiss her lightly on the forehead.
“You’ll be out of here in no time. I promise,” Cameron said. Katelyn smiled up at him.
Sam was the next one to wake up. She saw Jack sitting there looking at her.
“Sir?” she asked. Jack smiled.
“Carter.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Thought I’d come visit, didn’t know you’d be gone when I got here, though.” Jack smiled. Sam smiled a loving smile back at him.
Another hour later Vala woke up.
“Daniel!” Vala shouted as she shot straight up from bed.
“I’m here, Vala, I’m here. Lay down. You’re alright,” Daniel soothed. Vala relaxed back down into her bed.
“Are you back with us?” he asked. Vala nodded and smiled weakly at the man she knew she loved.
Within weeks, Katelyn, Sam, and Vala were up and walking around. They weren’t cleared for active duty just yet, but at least most everything was healed. Katelyn and Cameron were in Hawaii. They were on leave and decided to go someplace nice.
Daniel and Vala were out to a movie. Daniel decided to take her out on a real date, one he would actually admit to. Vala was beyond happy about that. Daniel was actually looking forward to the date the whole week it was planned.
That left Sam and Jack. Sam was in her office on her laptop tinkering with some object they got off world. Jack knocked on the door.
“Come in!” she shouted.
“Hey Carter, I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner?” Jack asked. Sam smiled.
“Sure, we could invite the others…” Jack shook his head.
“I was thinking more along the lines of a date,” he replied. Sam smiled.
“I would like that, Sir.” Jack smiled slightly.
“When we’re on our date…call me Jack will ya?” Sam nodded and smiled at him.
Jack and Sam left the base and for the first time since they met almost ten years prior had they been given the chance to express their feelings in a bit more than unspoken words.