DISCLAIMER: The story, and characters and anything and everything else concerning SG: SG1 belong to MGM, Gekko, Secret Productions etc, they are so not mine and no money is being made from this and no copyright infringement is intended.
SPOILERS: AU Meridian AU Abyss.
SONG: "Goreki" by Lamb

Ghost 2
Completeness
By Celievamp

She would have been thirty eight today. I wonder if Jack, Teal'c and Daniel remembered. Cassie reminded me of it when we last talked two nights ago. We're going to do something at the weekend when we're both home. Something to remember Sam and the good times.

As Cassie reminded me at the end of our conversation. "Remember mom, we're both very brave."

Very brave. And so she's probably sitting in her lectures in Denver not hearing a word of what's going on and I'm on PX whatever with SG5 and SG7 trying to inoculate a terrified child against meningitis. This strain has already killed five young adults in the village and another four have rashes and fevers. So far none of our people are showing symptoms but everyone's on antibiotics as a precaution.

Suddenly I hear a voice in my mind, calling me urgently, telling me to leave this place. It's Sam, I'd swear it. Something is going on, a sudden pricking in my thumbs, a sixth sense awakening. My guardian angel warning me. The Goa'uld are here and they are about to attack. They are worried about this outbreak of illness as well but they have a more direct approach to curing the disease. Burn it out at the source.

"Colonel Park!" I shout.

"What is it, Dr Fraiser?"

"We have to evacuate the area now, there isn't much time. We are about to be attacked. Don't ask me how I know, I just do," I said, keeping my voice as steady and authoritative as I could.

He stared down at me as if I had just grown a second head. "With respect, Dr Fraiser…"

"Colonel, please, just do as I say." I tried to make myself as tall as possible (not that anything short of a stepladder would have brought me close to the Colonel's six foot four) and put on what O'Neill calls my patent pocket Napoleon look. "Call it preventative medicine. We have to get out of here, now. We are going to be attacked." Something in my voice or manner or perhaps my reputation must have finally convinced him. Or perhaps my guardian angel was whispering in his ear.

"Okay, doc. SG5, start moving these people towards the Gate. Allerdyce, dial home and tell them we're bringing through refugees on Dr Fraiser's orders. She'll explain the circumstances." Cold fingers of anxiety continued to trail up and down my spine. People were moving but too slowly. We weren't going to get away in time.

Park's radio squawked. "Park. Hunter, what is it?"

"Sir, we've just seen a beam of light that could have been a ring activation from a ship in orbit. It came down somewhere near your position. I don't think we're alone any more."

"Get your men back here on the double. We're moving out." Park held my gaze. "Seems like you were right, Doc, though I'd love to know how. I…"

The staff blast came from somewhere behind me, missing me by millimetres and hitting Park in the shoulder and upper chest. He went down, dragging me to the ground with him. Within seconds, gunfire, zats flaring and the deeper concussion of staff weapons erupted all around us. Suddenly we were in the middle of a firefight. I concentrated on keeping low and putting pressure on the wound in Park's shoulder. Luckily the staff weapon had cauterised most of the ruptured blood vessels but there was still considerable damage.

"Jaffar kree!" I heard a guttural cry in the unmistakable tones of a Goa'uld. This was so not good. I laid my head on Park's chest, my hand still compressing the wound and played dead. The Goa'uld stopped inches away from me and surveyed the dead and injured on both sides from the short but vicious firefight. His Jaffar moved from body to body, stripping the dead of their weapons, dragging off the wounded for interrogation.

I continued to play dead but Park was beginning to regain consciousness. He groaned loudly, attracting the Goa'uld's attention. The tall figure turned to glare at us and realised that I was playing possum.

I was pulled roughly to my feet by the collar of my jacket and found myself dangling helplessly, his hand closing around my throat as he regarded me as if I was some kind of lab specimen. "A Tauri woman and a pretty one," he said. "I had heard that you sent your women into battle with you. I would have more regard for such beauty."

"Who are you?" I choked out.

"I am the Lord Solon and you are going to tell me everything you know, Tauri. Please me and I may yet spare your life."

He held up his other hand and the jewel of the ribbon device centre on his palm began to glow. All of my muscles went into spasm and it felt as if my brain was liquefying. I had heard Sam and Daniel describe what this felt like but they had lied. The pain was the most intense dehumanising thing I had ever experienced. I would have screamed loud enough to be heard back at the SGC had my throat muscles not been locked in spasm. I hung limply in Solon's grasp feeling my heart begin to falter. And then everything whited out.

I opened my eyes and looked into the face of an angel. My very own guardian angel, my beautiful Sam. I reached up to touch her face and she took a hold of my hand and brought it to her lips, kissing the palm. Her breath was hot and sweet against my skin. Everything blurred and I realised that I was crying. "It's really you, Sam, really you," I whispered. Then I realised something. When Sam had appeared to O'Neill whilst he was Ba'al's prisoner she had been insubstantial, a wraith. He had actually thrown one of his shoes through her. But here I was held in her arms. I could feel the familiar rhythm of her heartbeat, the warmth of her breath as she whispered my name. "I'm dead," I realised. "Did you ascend me?" Sam had offered to end Jack's pain by helping him to ascend.

"You're not dead, Janet," Sam smiled her beautiful smile, her blue eyes shining with love for me. "You're… between. Solon was killing you. I sent them all away – Solon, his Jaffar. All of them. Our people are safe. You are safe. But I need to stay with you like this for a little while, just to make sure. He would have killed you, then put you in a sarcophagus. He was going to make you into a host. I could not let that happen." She frowned, tears glistening in her eyes. "Not to you, my love."

"Was that what was supposed to happen today?" I asked. Sam did not answer. "You're going to be in trouble for this, aren't you?" Sam had directly interfered, something that an Ascended was most definitely not supposed to do.

"Probably," she grinned at me. I grinned back and then reached up and hugged her tightly, her arms around me, my head buried her in shoulder. I felt her fingers track over my skin. I raised my face to hers and kissed her. Sam deepened the kiss, as hungry for me as I was for her. Her touch was like a long cool drink of water after a month in the desert.

I stroked her face, looked deep into her eyes refreshing my memory on their beauty, their depth and the unquenchable innocence that shone from them. "Happy birthday, by the way," I said softly.

"Today?" she smiled. "I'd lost track of time." Her smile broadened. "Do I get to open my present now?"

We made love in that place between worlds, the whiteness surrounding and supporting us as we touched, kissing, licking, biting, skin against skin, sweat slick salt and sweet honey in our mouths, tongues melding tasting nectar sharing the breath of life hearts pounding lips parting whispering our love the longing the pain of the months apart. She was as I remembered her and completely new and unknown to me. I learnt her all over again, all my senses communing with hers. We were yin and yang curled around and inside each other so completely that I no longer knew nor cared where I left off and she began. And then she was lying beneath me, my head pillowed on her breast listening to the steady beat of her heart. Sam was running one hand gently through my hair, her other arm curved around my waist. We had woken in this exact position more times than I could recall. I had thought never to do it again. The simple pleasure of it filled me, completed me. "What happens now?" I whispered.

"I'm not sure. But you can't stay here for much longer. You're safe now, and they are getting worried about you." I felt a tugging sensation deep inside me, not painful but insistent. I could not ignore it. "Sam!"

She kissed me. "You have to go back. Don't worry. Everything will be fine. Remember that I love you. And remember that you're very brave." The whiteness was fading, retreating, crumpling up as if it were a sheet of paper taking Sam with it. I started to fall.

There was something in my mouth, my throat. The whine of defibrillator paddles charging up. "Wait!" someone said sharply. "We have an output. She's back."

Dr Warner. I was back in my own infirmary. I felt hands touching me, arranging my limbs in a more comfortable position. I opened my eyes. No whiteness. Colour. Noise. Faces but not the one I wanted to see more than anything. Voices but not the one I most wanted to hear. Exhausted, I closed my eyes and slept for a long time.

Someone was holding my hand. Long slender fingers trailed up and down the skin of my forearm. I knew that touch so well, the softness of her skin, the strength of her fingers, the many calluses and scars that marked her hands for the extraordinary work that they did. There was no pain just a deep lethargy. I was content to drift, to feel nothing but the quick slow movement of those fingers against my skin, the gentle pressure of her hand in mine.

Now I could hear the beeping of various monitors around me, the slight pressure of an oxygen mask over my mouth and nose. Somewhere people were talking, their voices getting louder, coming closer as they walked down the ward. I knew them: Daniel, O'Neill, Hammond.

"It's all in the report sir. We went through the Gate to back up SG7 once the report came in from SG5 that their position was under attack from an unknown number of Jaffar. But by the time we reached their position there was no sign of any Goa'uld or Jaffar. It looked like an Asgard clean up squad had been through. We found the Doc lying near Major Park. There wasn't a mark on her but she was barely breathing. Park managed to tell us that the Goa'uld, Solon, had gone for her with that ribbon device thing. Then there was a flash of white light and Solon and his cronies just vanished."

"Dr Warner says Janet is in systemic shock. She's still very weak but she should make a full recovery," Daniel said. "I've been in touch with Cass…"

The voices were now by my bed. They just stopped. In the silence the touch on my arm continued, a little slower before. I opened my eyes. It seemed to take a long time. The three men had stopped by my bed and were staring not at me but at something beyond me. Their expressions were… well, I've never seen the Colonel look quite so lost for words. With difficulty, all my muscles aching with the effort I turned my head to see what they were all staring at. Sam smiled down at me.

"Major Carter?" Hammond was the first to recover his voice.

"Sir!" she tried to stand but I tightened my grip on her hand, keeping her beside me. Sam was real. Sam was here. Sam was really here.

"Hey Carter – good save back there," O'Neill said softly. He guessed what she had done, intervening to save me from Solon. I wondered how he really felt about that – that Sam had directly acted to save me but had not done the same for him when he was Ba'al's prisoner. "You back for good?"

"I think so, sir," she said. "It's good to see you again. You look good."

"Well, you know, still going to the gym regularly and all…" His voice trailed off and he just grinned at her.

"Sam…" Emotion was thick in Daniel's voice. I think after me and Cassie, Sam's loss hit Daniel the hardest. She was the sister he never had, a mind to match his own for sheer inventiveness and brilliance. He came around the side of the bed and enveloped her in a hug. "Oh god, Sam, it's so good to see you."

Sam returned it, burying her face in his neck. "I missed you all so much," she whispered.

My eyes were blurring with tears. Sam looked down, saw me and took hold of my hand again. "Don't cry, Janet, please. I can't bear it when you cry." Her thumb stroked the tears from my skin as I turned my cheek into the palm of her hand, her clean wholesome smell making me cry all the harder.

The three men stood in embarrassed silence whilst my lover murmured words of comfort to me. At last I pulled myself together. "S..sorry," I hiccupped. My voice was strange, harsh from being half-throttled by Solon and the tears I had just shed.

"You've been through a great deal, Doctor. You both have," Hammond said warmly. "We don't get too many happy endings. Major, when you have a moment I will need to see you and Colonel O'Neill in my office. We need to work out the best way of getting you back into the SGC… that is, if you want to come back, Major."

"I think so, Sir," Sam said. "I'm still a little unfocussed on what I want to do now. I couldn't stay amongst the Ascended after what I did to save Janet from Solon. But I don't know if I can stay here either. I don't know what to do, except – " she glanced at me and smiled.

"No need to make any decisions straight away," Hammond said. "It'll take time to reactivate your ID anyway and to clear up any security concerns. But it is very good to have you back, Sam."

I shivered. Sam might not be safe. What would NID give or be willing to do to study here, an ex-Ascended?

"Here's a thought. Major Carter has been engaged on a long term deep cover covert mission with the Tokra," O'Neill said. He smiled at Sam. "I'm sure Dad would be willing to help fill in any gaps in the story."

That might work, I thought hazily. My eyes were beginning to close again no matter how hard I tried to stay awake.

"We should let Janet rest," Daniel said tactfully. I could tell he still had a million and one questions for Sam but for now all I wanted was to have her all to myself. And bless him, Daniel was friend enough to understand that. Thankfully they all took the hint and withdrew.

"Teal'c and I will bring Cassie by later. Teal'c and Davis are going to meet her at the airport, bring her home," O'Neill said. "She knows you were hurt, but not about Sam." A huge grin broke across his features. "That's going to be a real Kodak moment. And talking of the big man…"

Teal'c came barging into the room followed by Major Davis who had taken Sam's position on SG1. Teal'c stared at Sam as if he could not believe his eyes and then he lifted her clear off her feet, a smile of delight on his face. Sam giggled as Teal'c held her up as he studied her, her hands resting on his forearms. Davis looked pleased as well. He'd always had a soft spot for Sam.

She was home. She was safe. Her team would keep her safe. I closed my eyes and between one breath and the next, fell asleep.

Four days later and we are home; Sam, Cassie and the rest of SG1 fussing around me. I still tire easily – by contrast Sam doesn't seem to have reacquired the need to sleep. Warner did lots of tests and pronounced her in perfect health. There is no sign of the radiation poisoning that 'killed' her. She is as she was, or so our instruments tell us.

When I woke a few moments ago, I began to wonder if it was all a dream, a side effect of the mind ream I got from Solon. I remember her lying beside me when I fell asleep, but now I am alone. It is early morning, a little after three. I sat up, realised that the bedroom door was slightly ajar and I could faintly hear music from downstairs. Please let it be true, I whispered. Please let her be home.

I got out of bed, gingerly slipped on my robe careful of the still tender muscles in my neck and back and crept downstairs. My beloved, my Sam was stretched out on the couch, reading a book. A CD was playing softly – the music I had heard. I recognised the song as one of Cassie's favourites. The lyrics were strangely fitting:

"All this time I've loved you
And never known your face
All this time I've missed you
And searched this human race
Here is true peace
Here my heart knows calm
Safe in your soul
Bathed in your sighs
Wanna stay right here
Until the end of time
'Til the earth stops turning
Gonna love you until the seas run dry
I've found the one I've waited for"

Sam glanced up as I walked in and smiled up at me. "Hey, you're looking loads better." She shifted herself into a sitting position so that I could curl up beside her.

"Hey," I smiled, curving my hand to the back of her neck bringing her face close to mine so that I could kiss her. She was warm and soft and alive and the taste of her was strong enough to chase away the last of my nightmare. As we kissed I felt a strange fluttering deep inside, not painful, just new.

Sam broke off the kiss and stared at me. "What…" Somehow she had felt it as well. Her face went through a range of expressions – fear, delight, anxiety, wonder, guilt and then something I could only describe as adoration.

"Sam, what is it, is there something wrong with me, with us?" I was suddenly terrified again. The fluttering sensation had subsided again but I could still sense something different.

"Janet, do you trust me?" she asked.

"With all my heart, with my life," I said.

She asked me to lie down on the couch, my hands by my sides. "Just relax," she instructed softly. "I'm not sure what will happen." She carefully straddled my thighs, leaning over me, her fingers in my hair, her thumbs gently stroking along my brow ridges. She felt warm, her touch slightly tingly. Her skin was pale, almost luminous against the dark material of the curtains behind her. Her eyes were unfocussed. Slowly she brought her fingers down over my face as if she was a blind person, 'recognising' me. Her fingers slid down the column of my throat, outwards following the line of my collarbones and then down my arms. For a second or two she rested my palms on hers. Her eyes were closed now, her head cocked slightly to one side as if she was listening to something. I swallowed convulsively. The tingling sensation was growing stronger and there was definitely a faint glow around her, an aura pale silver shot with gold and pink, spiking around her head and her hands which were now moving down over my body again. Her hands mould my breasts for a moment and I feel a slight but distinct tweak at my nipples. Her mouth quirks briefly into a smile. Yes, this is still my Sam. Her smile faded as she brought her hands over my heart and I felt the warmth spread through my chest, energising me to the tips of my toes. I could almost feel my hair curling. And then she brought her hands down over my belly and I felt the bird quick fluttering again as if something caged in there was trying to break free.

"Oma Desala told me about this," Sam said softly. "It is sometimes a side effect of the interaction between an Ascended and an unascended being. She was little surprised that it hadn't happened to me when Orlan hitched a lift back through the Stargate in my body. I thought it might have been something to do with Jolinar." She shook her head to organise her thoughts, realising that she was digressing. I could not suppress a smile at the oh so familiar gesture.

"When I rescued you from Solon, you were dying; your body had gone into shock. I had to lend you some of my life energy to keep you going until SG1 could get you back through the Gate. What I didn't realise at the time was that you must have been… fertile." She blushed, she actually blushed as she said the word. "Some of my life energy fused with the egg and…"

"I'm pregnant!" my voice came out as a slightly inelegant squeak.

Sam nodded. "I think so. I'm really sorry, Janet. I didn't mean for anything like this to happen, I'll…"

"I'm pregnant with your child?" A fierce joy rose up inside me. Nothing had ever felt so right since the first time I kissed Sam.

Sam nodded, obviously apprehensive as to how I was going to take this astonishing news. I like to think that I surprised her.


"Gorecki" - Lamb

If I should die this very moment
I wouldn't fear
For I've never known completeness
Like being here
Wrapped in the warmth of you
Loving every breath of you
Still in my heart this moment
Or it might burst
Could we stay right here
Until the end of time until the earth stops turning
Wanna love you until the seas run dry
I've found the one I've waited for

All this time I've loved you
And never known your face
All this time I've missed you
And searched this human race
Here is true peace
Here my heart knows calm
Safe in your soul
Bathed in your sighs
Wanna stay right here
Until the end of time
'Til the earth stops turning
Gonna love you until the seas run dry
I've found the one I've waited for

The one I've waited for

All I've known
All I've done
All I've felt was leading to this
All I've known
All I've done
All I've felt was leading to this
Wanna stay right here
'Til the end of time 'till the earth stops turning
I'm gonna love you till the seas run dry
I've found the one I've waited for
The one I've waited for
The one I've waited for

Wanna stay right here
'Til the end of time 'till the earth stops turning
I'm gonna love you till the seas run dry
I've found the one I've waited for
The one I've waited for
The one I've waited for

The End

Sequel Ghost 3

Return to Stargate Fiction

Return to Main Page