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fic: Unexpected Blue Skies con't
Please see the first part for disclaimers
As Sam had expected, the other ship was a viper. Sam hadn't shown any emotion other than boredom throughout the rest of the conversations, and he kept his mouth shut until Corporal Thompson deposited them at the hotel Jack had requested. As he watched the jeep drive off, he muttered, "Glad he's gone."
"Yeah?" Jack grabbed his arm and hauled him into the hotel, "Shut up and don't speak."
Tosh shot him a sympathetic look while Jack booked their room. All three were silent until Tosh had swept their room for bugs, and then Jack pointed at Sam, face implacable, "Who is she?"
"What do you care?"
"Is she a Cylon?"
Tosh looked between them and moved to set up her laptop, obviously not wanting to get involved.
That was probably wise, Sam decided, hands clenching into fists, "No, she's not a Cylon," he grated out.
"Not good enough. You reacted to her, Anders, like you'd been shot."
Funny, he'd actually been shot before, and it had hurt a hell of a lot less. He rubbed a hand over his face and felt his shoulders slump. The tension was still there, but he was too tired to put up a front anymore. "Kara Thrace."
"And?"
"She's my wife," Sam dropped his hand and fought back what felt like an hysterical laugh. "We have to get her out of there, Jack. She doesn't do well in captivity."
"Very few people do." Turning away, Jack's tone changed from belligerent to brisk, "Tosh?"
"Not good. There are motion sensors all over the building, laser tripwires, and every door leading to and from requires key-card access going both ways." Tosh said, her tone just as brisk, as though she'd expected Jack's question and had been planning her answer.
Sam felt a little impressed--he hadn't noticed all of that.
"I can't leave her there, Jack. Not again." The latter was almost rote, by now. He'd failed her before. This time, there was no revolution, no Cylons to stop, no frakking temple to defend. There was only Kara, and he'd be damned if he left her in there.
Jack considered him for a moment, then nodded and flashed a grin. "I'll see what we can do. Tosh--"
"Hack the systems and find a way around their security, yes." She heaved a sigh. "I used to be a scientist, you know. Studying spatial phenomena and the rift."
"And now you're a part-time hacker," Jack smiled at her, "Thank you. I'd just try to have her transfered into our custody, but I've gotten the impression that my welcome with Senator Kinsey is going to eventually wear out."
"Jack--"
"Thank me, after we're back in Cardiff," he said.
"All right. Is there anything I can do?"
"Keep your wife from breaking our noses when we get to her."
"That, I can... probably do," Sam told him, trying to grin and failing.
-=-=-
They waited until nightfall. Tosh had figured out a way to hack their computer-controlled systems and disrupt things long enough for them to get in and out. Hopefully. Sam was pretty certain they'd be screwed if they took too long. And any human guards would add to the time they took. The plan was simple: go in, pick up Kara, get out.
Jack had considered trying to get her transfered to Torchwood's custody, but he was getting stone-walled by Kinsey in regards to him actually interrogating Kara. Actually getting the man to agree to a transfer would take too long, or worse, they'd injure Kara or torture her trying to get information from her.
Which left them few options. Jack had made an oblique comment about contacting an underground group in the area, but hadn't followed-up on it. Either he didn't think they'd help or he thought they reported to Kinsey, Sam wasn't too clear on which it was, and only cared if they were going to actually make an appearance.
They'd spent the afternoon napping, eating a decent meal, and talking about anything that kept Sam distracted from the coming event. Sam was a little surprised to discover that he still loved to talk old pyramid games--he was in the middle of the time Rally bit the center-guard from the Geminon Grabthars when Tosh interrupted, suggesting they get to the base while she set up her virus program.
Jack drove, his control of the jeep a bit like Kara's control of a raptor. Sam just hung on and hoped there wasn't anyone looking for an accident around them.
They passed through the same checkpoints as before, Jack flashing his Torchwood ID and hand waving why they were back. It was a simple matter to park near the building and enter. The next set of guards weren't so pleasant, however, and Jack had to argue with them that the Colonel had called them in, and did they want to go on report for stopping them when his first attempt at flirtation was met with cold silence.
Eventually, they were passed inside the first set of doors.
Jack tapped his phone on, "Tosh? Go."
The other thing they'd spent the afternoon doing was memorizing what they remembered of the layout plus the schematics of the building that Tosh had retrieved. Sam gave Jack a mocking salute and turned left at the next crossing while Jack continued going straight, heading for the power junction boxes they'd seen on the map. It would add to the confusion, once Tosh's virus was neutralized.
Sam ran into one guard and simply told him he was lost. The man got too close and Sam slammed him into the wall, knocking him unconscious. He swiped his key card and weapon, tied his hands with his belt and stuffed his hat in his mouth.
Three more corridors, with doors opening easily, and Sam was beginning to tense up.
Even storming the detention center, with the Cylons disrupted and running for cover, hadn't been this easy. He slowed, following his instincts and not hurrying, despite his worry for Kara.
Just before the next corner, he froze, trying to figure out what had stopped him. Crouching down, he listened, trying to decipher the sound he wasn't hearing well enough. It was almost a scraping noise. It came again and then someone seemed to suck in a breath and a body came around the corner, pouncing him.
They tumbled to the floor, the other person scratching and punching. Sam fought back, grabbing for her hands and jerking them back behind her back before he fully registered who was straddling him.
"Kara!"
She froze, eyes wide as she stared down at him. "What the frak?"
Releasing her, Sam shoved her hip, "Get on your feet, we need to get out of here before someone comes looking to see who was making noise."
"You scared the shit out of me," she snapped, doing as he'd suggested.
Sam didn't have time to grab her and tell her all of the thoughts tumbling through his head, so he settled for getting to his feet and handing her his side-arm, "Guess I don't have to get you out of your cell, then."
"Asshole." She shoved at him, getting him in front of her, "Lead the way."
Pulling the revolver Jack had given him, Sam shrugged and began retracing his steps. He didn't know the time, and he wasn't sure how much had passed, but he figured Tosh's virus was probably nearly neutralized. If this all went well, he and Kara would be out and in the jeep before Jack and then all three would be on their way out of the complex with no trouble. Of course, that was if everything went liked clockwork.
Sam didn't believe in miracles.
Which meant he was unsurprised when an alarm began to sound a moment later. "Shit." He sped up, knowing there was still one checkpoint to get through. And Jack was supposed to meet them there. Hopefully, whatever he'd done to the power relays that would hopefully cover the rest of their escape.
"HALT!" The shout came from behind them, and Sam dove around the next corner, straight into the surprised arms of two guardsman.
He had time to smash a fist into the jaw of one before the other had his gun up and out. Sam barely threw himself out of the way before the man fired. Pain exploded through Sam's abdomen, and Kara shouted something from behind him, her own weapon going off.
The guard dropped and then Kara was dragging at him, trying to keep him from falling, "Don't you collapse on me, you frakkin' asshole. I can't carry your ass out of here!"
"Not..." Sam managed, hooking his off-arm around her shoulder. He still had his gun in his left hand. "Keep moving."
"Right." Pushing at him, she propelled them forward.
They were stopped by a door, and Kara growled as she tugged at the handle.
"Key card." Sam let her go and dug out the one he'd stolen earlier, swiping it through the reader. It clicked onto green and Kara shoved the door open, covering the area beyond.
"Hurry."
"No falling over," Sam muttered as he followed her, trying to hurry. He tried to shove down the pain and the sick sense of wrongness that deepened as the sticky wetness on his side got larger. He was losing blood. He'd seen worse wounds, of course, but this was his. Frak, he'd never realized he'd be such a baby.
His world began to narrow in, and he knew it was shock. "Turn left," he croaked as they reached the second to last junction.
"Sam?"
It was Jack, and Sam registered Kara's gun-hand going up and hastily called, "Friend, Kara. That's Jack."
"Damn," Jack ignored Kara and her gun and shook his head at Sam, "Next time, I'll rescue the girl, you can get the junction boxes."
As though the words were a cue, the lights flickered and died. A torch snapped on, and Sam grabbed Kara's shoulder for support. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"Sam--" she made an irritated sound and then moved closer, sliding under his arm and wrapping her own around his waist.
Jack flashed the torch at them, then moved.
They followed, easily matching their strides, having done it a hundred times before. Though they'd usually been drunk, then. Sam considered closing his eyes and decided that would be a bad thing. "Least I'm not fainting," he mumbled at Kara.
She snorted. "Yeah? You too manly for that, honey?" Her tone was light.
"Yup."
Sam must have lost time, then, because the next thing he remembered was being outside, standing in the floodlights and Jack cursing because the jeep had disappeared.
Tires screeched nearby, and alarms were beginning to blare.
"Tosh!" Jack shouted, "I need more time!"
Sam realized he'd called her again, trying to get another hack out of her, or something else. They'd have to steal a vehicle, and Sam suddenly wondered if Jack had had a good plan for explaining Kara's presence while they were leaving the base.
"There they are!"
"Jack--"
"I know. TOSH."
Tires screeched again and a dilapidated cross between a jeep and someone's idea of a motorized shark slewed to a halt in front of them. At least, Sam thought it was a shark. He also thought he might be a little light-headed from blood loss. The panel-door on the side slid open and a woman's head stuck out. "Get in."
"We're just waiting," Jack prevaricated.
"If you want to be captured by the NID, you can stay. If you don't, get the fuck in the car. NOW."
Kara was moving, pulling Sam with her. Sam couldn't really blame her--she hated being locked up. Besides, she'd definitely already been there and done that. "We need a doctor," she growled at the woman.
"Shit--Cam, get Janet on the phone, tell her we're coming in hot. Then get us the hell out of here!" the woman replied, turning to speak to the driver.
Jack followed Kara's lead, helping her get Sam inside. He protested their help weakly, trying to say he was fine and a big boy. Kara laughed a little at him, and then he was tucked against her on the bench seat, her hand clutching the fabric of his pants.
"Sam Carter," the woman said as she yanked the door shut, "GO, Cam."
The vehicle shuddered, then took off at a speed it shouldn't have been capable of.
"Jack Harkness."
"You, I know," Carter replied tersely. She grabbed one of the ceiling straps as they took a corner on what felt like two wheels. Jack easily kept himself from falling, but Sam lurched forward, only Kara's hands keeping him from hitting the floor.
"I'm afraid these two are classified."
Carter shook her head, "Look, I don't give a crap about what or who they are. My orders were to get you out when your little rescue operation tanked."
"We had a plan." Jack objected mildly.
"And it was a great plan," called the driver, "I can tell, 'cause we had to pull your sorry asses outta there."
"Cameron," Carter said, her voice amused. She glanced at Sam and Kara, then looked back to Jack, "They came through the rift, didn't they? The one no one likes to talk about, or believes in."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"And there's no such thing as a stable wormhole. Pull the other one." Carter turned to face forward again as the jeep plowed through a fence. The frame shuddered, but it kept going.
"Kinsey won't be happy about that," Cam noted.
Carter snorted, "I don't give a crap what Kinsey wants."
Trying to keep up with the conversation--peppered as it was, with people he didn't know--Sam felt his control on reality beginning to slip a little. He swallowed, "Kara..."
"Hey. Hey." Kara's hand came up and patted his cheek as she turned into him. "No passing out on me, Sammy."
"Don't call me that," he managed, hanging onto his consciousness only barely. For Kara, he told himself. He sucked in a breath, reminded anew that she was alive and right there with him. It seemed like a frakking dream. And maybe it was. Maybe he'd wake in his rack, alone and cold because Hammerhead had stolen his blanket again. And Kara would still be dead. Sam figured he prefered his current dream to reality.
Sam lost track of time when Carter suggested Kara press a pad of cloth to his wound. The pain was intense, and he barely kept from passing out. It was just enough, breathing in Kara's scent mixed with the smell of his own blood and the leather and oil of the jeep.
He woke more when the vehicle halted. Carter got the door open and climbed out, barking orders to the group of people. With Jack and Kara's help, Sam clambered out of the jeep. Once standing, he swayed until they braced him up between them.
"Let me--" Cameron tugged Kara away before she could object and took Sam's other side. Between he and Jack, they were able to steer the nearly-unconscious man through a door and down a corridor.
Then there was the smell of disinfectant and a doctor sounding irritated at everyone and everything. Sam tried to smile at her, but he was close to passing out. The doctor got them to put him on a bed and Sam sank backwards, grateful that he was no longer moving even if the room was spinning like a top.
"Kara--"
A hand grabbed his, fingers locking tight.
Sam figured he was allowed to pass out, then.
-=-=-
Waking up was something Sam wished he hadn't done. There was a dull ache in his side, a throbbing pain which wasn't bad until he realized it wasn't going away anytime soon. Unfortunately, the pain made him want to move, as though that would relieve it. He shifted without thought and hissed out a breath which attracted Kara's attention.
"Idiot," she muttered, sounding exhausted.
Sam turned his head and cracked his eyes open to look at her. She was sprawled in a chair next to his bed, her right hand easily gripping the gun he'd given her earlier. "You keepin' me safe from the cylons?" He asked, his voice cracking a little with disuse.
"Nah. Guarding my prize until I can sell you." But there was a relieved look in her eyes which said the joke was mostly for his benefit. Kara had been worried about him.
"Am I worth that much?" Sam raised his eyebrows, casting his doubts upon the validity of her words.
"Probably not. I might have to give you away," she squinted at him, then smirked. "Don't worry, honey, I won't sell you until you're all better."
"Comforting."
She grinned at him. "I figured you'd appreciate that."
"Oh, I do," he agreed, wishing he could move and tug at her waistband. The fact that she was alive and there was still boggling his brain. Though if there was any woman who would survive certain death, he had to admit it was definitely Kara.
"So," she said abruptly, the gun flicking up to almost point at him, "Are you real, Sam?"
"You're asking that now?" he replied, his tone disbelieving. "Baby, asking when I'm saving your cute little ass would have been way smarter."
"Oh, you were not saving me," Kara rolled her eyes and lowered the gun. "I was handling that perfectly fine on my own. You mostly just got in the way, what with getting shot and all."
"I'll try not to get shot next time."
"Good plan, Sammy."
"Anyway, Kara," Sam said, wanting to poke her for calling him that, but knowing that moving would hurt, "If we hadn't gotten the power off, you would never have escaped."
"Maybe." She shrugged, "I wasn't planning on staying there the rest of my life."
"Probably a good idea," said Jack, entering the room and the conversation as though he'd been there for hours. And maybe he had been in and out, checking on Sam. He could ask Kara about it, later.
Kara stiffened and raised her pistol again. It wasn't quite pointed at Jack, but the indication that it could be was there. Before Sam could tell her to take it easy, she asked, her tone caustic, "So, what the frak is in this for you?"
"In what for me?" Jack sounded mildly uninterested.
"This--me and Sam."
It occurred to Sam that Kara was still holding his hand in hers. Maybe it was just unconscious, on her part. Or maybe it was her way of reassuring herself that the world hadn't ended again. He squeezed her fingers gently, but didn't stop her. He was a little curious about Jack's motivation, himself.
"Maybe it's what I do," Jack suggested dryly. He nodded to Sam, "Doc says you'll pull through, by the way."
Sam resisted shrugging, "Death doesn't seem so hard anymore." He tugged at Kara's hand, "What happened to you, Kara?"
"Don't you know, Sammy? I fell down a rabbit-hole and came to Earth!" Her tone and words were sarcastic.
"This is Earth, Kara. Either that, or the people I've seen were all drugged or lying. And that's one hell of an elaborate scheme for them to devise just to convince me this is the fabled planet."
Jack snorted, "Like we have either the time or the budget for that sort of shit."
"Fine. It's Earth. Whatever." Kara dismissed the conversation with a wave of her hand, but the gun stayed in her lap within easy reach.
Not that Sam blamed her. He'd be paranoid, too. He tugged at her hand again, "So, did you know everyone thinks you're dead back on Galactica?"
"Obviously, I'm not."
"Death can be a tricky thing," Jack said, tone dry.
"Besides, Sammy, I'm way too lucky to die," Kara pointed out, her tone arrogant.
He'd missed that arrogance, just like he'd missed her body and voice. "That's my girl," he murmured affectionately.
Kara snorted, but didn't object to being called his. Sam figured she was just waiting for him to get better so she could beat him at pyramid, or something, in payback. "So, Sammy, what do you do for fun on Earth?"
"Save your ass. Get shot," he quipped.
"Oh, so you don't do anything fun," she mocked.
"Just evening out our score, hot stuff."
Kara snickered, "I'd argue with you about that shit, but I'd be afraid I was taking advantage of your injured state."
"Like that's ever stopped you," Sam taunted, "You're just afraid it's an argument you'll lose."
"I'll lose?" Kara hooted, then stood up and leaned over him, practically pressing down on his chest, "I'm not the one who was stupid enough to get shot."
"Nope," he agreed cheerfully. Despite the fact that it would hurt, he wanted very badly to pull her against his chest and kiss her senseless. She was alive, after all, and that wasn't a state he was used to, anymore. Frak, but he'd missed her.
Rolling her eyes, Kara straightened and fiddled with the gun, flipping the safety on before shoving it under Sam's pillow. "Move over."
"Hey--"
"This is way bigger than my rack," she pointed out. And it was, probably, and they did both fit there. Although Sam wasn't so sure about the logistics of groping her while injured. "So move over." A yawn escaped her, emphasizing the dark circles under her eyes.
Sam sighed and gave in, wincing as he tried to shift his body from the middle to the side of the bed. Unfortunately for him, he was actually injured, and while he was obviously somewhat drugged, he wasn't that drugged. "Ow," he said pathetically before looking over at Jack, "A little help here?"
"Uh-uh. Doc Fraiser might stick me with needles." Jack was obviously not enthusiastic about that possibility.
Sam couldn't exactly blame him, though he'd missed the scary doctor, having been unconscious and all. He blinked, then said mockingly, "Wimp."
"Needles, Sam," Jack replied, amused. He shook a finger at them, "Now don't you kids do anything I wouldn't do." He dropped the teasing look to give Sam a serious one, "Try to get some rest, man." He patted Sam's shoulder and then left the room.
Kara finished taking off her boots and came around the other side of the bed to help Sam move himself. She grunted with the effort, grumbling about him being too damned big. He shot back breathless commentary on women who were incredibly demanding, and tried not to whimper at the pain in his side. Once he was moved to her satisfaction, she went back to the other side and stripped her pants off, leaving them on the chair.
Climbing on the bed jostled him further, but he ignored the pain and pulled her close, breathing in her scent.
"Hey."
"Hi," she whispered as she propped herself on an elbow and stared at him.
Sam reached up and touched her cheek. He ached to pull her down and kiss her, but this was still her show.
"Try not to fall off," Kara murmured before she leaned down and kissed him.
The movement of her mouth on his seared him down to his toes. He forgot how to think for a time. When she pulled back a little, he gathered his scattered wits, and replied, "Romantic."
"Sam."
"No, no, I know--if you were all romantic, I'd have to worry you're a Cylon." A stab of his conscience reminded him that he was, and he hadn't told her. And he couldn't. Not yet.
Her eyes narrowed, "Pushing your luck, there."
"I am?"
"Yeah. I could shove you off onto the floor. This bed would be way more comfortable with just me in it."
"Nice."
"I can be nice. But you have to earn it."
"Never seen it."
"You are such an asshole."
"Funny. I don't see you getting out of my bed," he replied smugly.
"A little suffering is supposed to be good for the soul--besides," she yawned and wriggled down to tuck herself against his side. "Never said I was nice before you married me."
"Yeah. Didn't care, though."
"Would you shut up, Sam? I'm trying to sleep."
He chuckled softly, but obeyed her request. After all, he really did want to get used to the whole being alive thing. Although, as he drifted off to sleep, he was still pretty certain he'd wake up without her. His wife couldn't be alive and he couldn't be on Earth. This was all just a dream, a really frakked-up, obnoxiously real, dream.
-=-=-
Sam wasn't sure what woke him, or which of them woke first, but they were both fighting for the gun before he had his eyes open. Of course, Kara won after she shoved an elbow at him. While he was gasping for breath and trying to make his eyes work, she pointed the weapon at the woman in the white lab coat.
The woman glared. "I'm going to check his vitals, if that's ok with you." She sounded irritated. Obviously, she'd encountered Kara before, since that sort of voice was only the cause of repeat exposure to Kara at her worst.
"You must be Doctor Fraiser," Sam said, before they could get into an argument.
"Yes. Are you going to call off your guard dog, or should I have her shot and put us all out of our misery?"
"Try it," Kara suggested, her tone silky.
"Uh, no. No shooting my wife, please." He nudged Kara with his hand. "Relax."
"You relax," she shot back before pulling away from him and climbing off the bed to stay out of the doc's way while she worked on Sam.
Doctor Fraiser wasn't gentle as she checked him over. Sam figured it was revenge for having a gun pointed at her, and did his best not to whine. "Well?" he finally prompted, once she'd finished and was making a notation on the chart hanging from the end of his bed.
"You're not dying. Probably."
Well, that was reassuring. "Doc? How bad was it?"
She looked like she wasn't going to answer for a moment, before relenting. "The bullet went through cleanly, but it nicked a lung and broke a rib. You'll be sore for a while and I'd suggest not rescuing any damsels in distress for a while. And no sex for at least a week. We don't need your rib poking more holes in your lung."
"I'll keep that in mind," Sam replied. He wasn't embarrassed. Frankly, he was glad Doc Fraiser wasn't pussy-footing around in regards to his condition and what he could do. "A week, huh?"
"I'd say three, but you're both young and healthy." She scowled, "I don't plan on re-inflating your lung if you disobey. So try to behave."
A snicker escaped Kara.
"We'll try," Sam said. Promising anything Kara-related was a bit like playing roulette with a ball of volatile explosive. Besides, she'd been dead for two months. He figured they were both owed a bit of leeway. He was noticing their various estrangements and separations were getting shorter and shorter. First ten months, then four, now two. Maybe the Gods really did want them together.
The Doc shook her head, like she didn't believe him. But she didn't press it, for now. Sam figured if she really wanted them to behave, she'd shackle him to the bed and cart Kara off. As a parting shot, she said, "Get some rest. Both of you."
Once she was gone, Sam watched Kara prowl around the room, feet and legs bare. A few times she stopped at the door, opening it and looking out into the corridor. Eventually, she stopped and looked at him, "Are we prisoners, Sam?"
Glad she'd stopped, since he was getting frakking dizzy, he shook his head. "No." But it occurred to him that they had no identities, no lives on Earth and nowhere to go.
She half-shrugged and started moving again, pacing up and down next to the bed.
He let her, watching silently as he filled his eyes with her. He felt almost afraid that she'd disappear on him and just prove to be a mirage. Something he'd thought up while dying or delirious. She'd disappear, and he'd wake up in his viper, about to die.
"Sam."
"Yeah?"
She looked at him, then rolled her eyes and came back to the bed. "Move over."
"I did already."
"Move more," she ordered.
Sam snickered and reached out to tug at her t-shirts. "Come back to bed, Kara. It's cold."
"You are so...." She sighed and clicked the safety back on the gun before shoving it under his pillow again.
"I like playing with fire," he suggested, half-guessing what she didn't say.
"You wish," she muttered before climbing back in. She let Sam tug her against his side again and relaxed with a sigh. "This is real, isn't it?" she asked sleepily.
"Gods, I certainly hope so."
"Even after getting shot?"
"You're worth a few bullets, Kara."
"Sweet." She yawned again.
"I try to be."
"Uh-huh. Good night, Sam."
He let the silence fall for a few minutes, then said suddenly, "Promise me something."
"What?"
Sam closed his fingers in the fabric of her shirts, feeling the familiar pressure of the well-worn cotton on his skin. "Promise you'll be here when I wake." He knew he sounded pathetic, but he didn't care.
"I promise." Her arm stretched across his waist. "You'd better be here, too."
"Plan to," he mumbled before letting sleep drag him down again.
-=-=-
Kara had been there when he'd woken that morning. Sam had felt a little as though the world might decide to end again, but it hadn't. She was up and restless, so when Tosh came by to visit--explaining one of Carter's people had rescued her before the NID goons had gotten to her--Kara went off to find out about a change of clothing and possibly using their shooting range.
A little while after that, Doc Fraiser came to torture him, and Jack followed her.
They talked of consequential crap, what the weather was like, what there was to eat on the base, until Sam finally couldn't stand the small talk any longer and asked the question he'd been pondering for a while. "What happens to us now?"
Looking unsurprised, Jack shook his head. "We can't send you back through the rift--you know that."
"I know. Tosh talked a lot of math at me. I understood maybe some of it...." Sam looked down, then back up. "Kara and I arriving here close was a fluke."
"Yeah." Jack crossed his arms, "You both sound American, Carter and her people could find you a place to stay. Tosh can supply ID, of course."
"American--" Sam shook his head, realizing there was a whole new world and set of politics and things to learn. "Who are they, anyway? The American Torchwood?"
"Ah, no. No, they're the remnants of a U.S. Air Force group, apparently. I haven't heard the whole story, but they're good friends of UNIT's." Jack made a face, as though not entirely pleased. "And now Torchwood owes UNIT a favor."
Sensing he wasn't going to get more than that, Sam let it drop. But now he really wanted to know more about the story--perhaps this 'Kinsey' that had been mentioned figured into it all. "What if Kara and I want to join Torchwood--or Carter's group?" He asked, "We're not exactly the settle-down type, you know." And he really didn't think getting into a new sport would be all that interesting anymore.
"You're right, she's not," Jack said with pinpoint accuracy.
Sam looked away from his knowing gaze. "You didn't answer my question."
"Aliens joining Torchwood?" Jack replied, his tone light and oddly twisted, "Stranger things have happened."
"You drank someone under the table?" Kara asked as she sauntered in, an unlit cigar between her lips. "Hey, Sammy. Deciding my future?"
"Discovering our options," he retorted, the emphasis on 'our'.
"You don't need to decide anything now," Jack said. "Doc won't let you move for about a week, anyway. And if you want, there are ways to make it easier for you to live in human society without remembering pesky things like other planets."
Kara froze and looked at him, then shook her head, "No. No drugs or taking our memories away."
The idea that he could forget all that had come before made Sam shiver, and he slipped his hand under the pillow, not realizing until his fingertips touched cold metal why. He wasn't going to shoot Jack Harkness for a suggestion he'd made, though. Not unless he was going to go through with it.
"All right. Talk to the people here, see what seems like a good fit. You can always change your mind."
But Sam wondered about that as Jack left the room. If these people wanted he and Kara to settle down like normal Earth people, they could easily drug them and destroy their memories before settling them in an unassuming house in the middle of nowhere. At least, he assumed they could. Jack had suggested it so casually, after all. He'd hate to call their bluff.
-=-=-
The week passed in an almost surreal manner. Sam hated being bedridden, but Kara seemed to think it was the best opportunity ever and spent most of her nights playing poker and winning money from UNIT or Carter's crew. Midway through the week, Tosh left to help Gwen with some sort of crisis. Jack left the day after, still arguing with the UNIT commander, a Brigadier Bambera, over the jurisdiction of Kara, Sam and their respective vipers. Jack seemed to think possession was nine-tenths of the law, which meant Sam's viper was his and Kara's was someone else's problem.
Sam and Kara, of course, were everyone's problem.
More than one person tried to convince Sam that he and Kara were technically the Colonial Ambassadors to Earth. He less and less politely told them they were barking up the wrong tree until the morning one of the more officious idiots was oozing on about how he and Kara would contribute so much if they stayed in America and worked with the NID--the NID having finagled a place in amongst the group since UNIT couldn't technically bar them from the facility. Though Mr. Woolsey was followed all over the place by two very large marines.
The man's insincerity broke Sam's patience, and he threw his bowl of green Jell-o at him, shouting at him to leave, now.
"Well," said Woolsey, pulling himself upright and trying to look dignified with green Jell-o dripping down his shirt, "If that's the way you feel, the NID withdraw their offer."
"Good frakking riddance," Sam snapped.
The marines were kind enough to remove the man from the room before he had to throw something else.
Kara wandered in a few minutes later, and snickered at him, "Sammy, what am I gonna do with you?" She leaned her hip up onto his bed and tilted her head, "You know, I thought I was the one we'd have to worry about bailing out of hack."
"He was annoying," Sam muttered.
"Uh-huh." Patting his shoulder, she huffed out a breath and suddenly sobered, "What are we going to do, Sam?"
"I like Carter and her people, but..." Sam shrugged.
"America. It's big, way big," noted Kara. "And it also has the NID."
"Cardiff is small, but there is Jack and Tosh. And I think you'd probably beat Owen up a few times before you'd let him be."
"And UNIT is the unknown."
They'd talked before, quick snatches before they fell asleep or when they woke from nightmares during the night. Sam's were the mundane kind, full of Kara being dead and the people he missed in the fleet. He didn't ask about Kara's, though he could guess at their subjects.
Sam tugged at her hand, "UNIT, then. And if they kick us out, they kick us out."
A snicker escaped Kara, "You afraid I'll get us kicked out?"
"I'm afraid we'll both have a hand in it."
"True, Sammy." Kara leaned down and kissed him with a smack. "And maybe Bambera will just get smart and send you to the north pole where you can't do any harm."
"You sayin' I'm the problem, here?" he demanded, eyes laughing.
"Well, I'd hate to think I was the only one." She leered at him and scrambled up onto the bed, straddling him easily.
"Hey--" he caught her hands, helping her balance, "We're not supposed to do this, remember?"
"Sammy," Kara said, her tone dripping with patience. "It's been a week." She pushed at his hands, dropping down against him and kissing his mouth with an intensity that took his breath away.
"Way too long," he agreed, suddenly not caring if the Doc never spoke to him again.
"Uh-huh," Kara grunted.
There was no point in talking after that. Sam spared one thought for the phone call he'd make to Captain Harkness, and then he lost himself in his wife. He had one brief moment of utter terror at how easily it was, and then he reassured himself: this was him and this was Kara. It wasn't going to stay easy. But for now, he could enjoy it.
Even if his ribs were still way too sore for the pressure of her weight against them. If she injured him, Fraiser would never let him hear the end of it.
-f-
Final notes: For the record, Kara was never supposed to survive OR be alive in this fic. The original prompt in my notebook is "Tosh/Sam, promises". As you can see, that never happened--but then, given I had to mesh two disparate canons (and trample two others) in an effort to get it done, I expect Tosh/Sam to pop up in an outtake of some sort, one day.
As Sam had expected, the other ship was a viper. Sam hadn't shown any emotion other than boredom throughout the rest of the conversations, and he kept his mouth shut until Corporal Thompson deposited them at the hotel Jack had requested. As he watched the jeep drive off, he muttered, "Glad he's gone."
"Yeah?" Jack grabbed his arm and hauled him into the hotel, "Shut up and don't speak."
Tosh shot him a sympathetic look while Jack booked their room. All three were silent until Tosh had swept their room for bugs, and then Jack pointed at Sam, face implacable, "Who is she?"
"What do you care?"
"Is she a Cylon?"
Tosh looked between them and moved to set up her laptop, obviously not wanting to get involved.
That was probably wise, Sam decided, hands clenching into fists, "No, she's not a Cylon," he grated out.
"Not good enough. You reacted to her, Anders, like you'd been shot."
Funny, he'd actually been shot before, and it had hurt a hell of a lot less. He rubbed a hand over his face and felt his shoulders slump. The tension was still there, but he was too tired to put up a front anymore. "Kara Thrace."
"And?"
"She's my wife," Sam dropped his hand and fought back what felt like an hysterical laugh. "We have to get her out of there, Jack. She doesn't do well in captivity."
"Very few people do." Turning away, Jack's tone changed from belligerent to brisk, "Tosh?"
"Not good. There are motion sensors all over the building, laser tripwires, and every door leading to and from requires key-card access going both ways." Tosh said, her tone just as brisk, as though she'd expected Jack's question and had been planning her answer.
Sam felt a little impressed--he hadn't noticed all of that.
"I can't leave her there, Jack. Not again." The latter was almost rote, by now. He'd failed her before. This time, there was no revolution, no Cylons to stop, no frakking temple to defend. There was only Kara, and he'd be damned if he left her in there.
Jack considered him for a moment, then nodded and flashed a grin. "I'll see what we can do. Tosh--"
"Hack the systems and find a way around their security, yes." She heaved a sigh. "I used to be a scientist, you know. Studying spatial phenomena and the rift."
"And now you're a part-time hacker," Jack smiled at her, "Thank you. I'd just try to have her transfered into our custody, but I've gotten the impression that my welcome with Senator Kinsey is going to eventually wear out."
"Jack--"
"Thank me, after we're back in Cardiff," he said.
"All right. Is there anything I can do?"
"Keep your wife from breaking our noses when we get to her."
"That, I can... probably do," Sam told him, trying to grin and failing.
-=-=-
They waited until nightfall. Tosh had figured out a way to hack their computer-controlled systems and disrupt things long enough for them to get in and out. Hopefully. Sam was pretty certain they'd be screwed if they took too long. And any human guards would add to the time they took. The plan was simple: go in, pick up Kara, get out.
Jack had considered trying to get her transfered to Torchwood's custody, but he was getting stone-walled by Kinsey in regards to him actually interrogating Kara. Actually getting the man to agree to a transfer would take too long, or worse, they'd injure Kara or torture her trying to get information from her.
Which left them few options. Jack had made an oblique comment about contacting an underground group in the area, but hadn't followed-up on it. Either he didn't think they'd help or he thought they reported to Kinsey, Sam wasn't too clear on which it was, and only cared if they were going to actually make an appearance.
They'd spent the afternoon napping, eating a decent meal, and talking about anything that kept Sam distracted from the coming event. Sam was a little surprised to discover that he still loved to talk old pyramid games--he was in the middle of the time Rally bit the center-guard from the Geminon Grabthars when Tosh interrupted, suggesting they get to the base while she set up her virus program.
Jack drove, his control of the jeep a bit like Kara's control of a raptor. Sam just hung on and hoped there wasn't anyone looking for an accident around them.
They passed through the same checkpoints as before, Jack flashing his Torchwood ID and hand waving why they were back. It was a simple matter to park near the building and enter. The next set of guards weren't so pleasant, however, and Jack had to argue with them that the Colonel had called them in, and did they want to go on report for stopping them when his first attempt at flirtation was met with cold silence.
Eventually, they were passed inside the first set of doors.
Jack tapped his phone on, "Tosh? Go."
The other thing they'd spent the afternoon doing was memorizing what they remembered of the layout plus the schematics of the building that Tosh had retrieved. Sam gave Jack a mocking salute and turned left at the next crossing while Jack continued going straight, heading for the power junction boxes they'd seen on the map. It would add to the confusion, once Tosh's virus was neutralized.
Sam ran into one guard and simply told him he was lost. The man got too close and Sam slammed him into the wall, knocking him unconscious. He swiped his key card and weapon, tied his hands with his belt and stuffed his hat in his mouth.
Three more corridors, with doors opening easily, and Sam was beginning to tense up.
Even storming the detention center, with the Cylons disrupted and running for cover, hadn't been this easy. He slowed, following his instincts and not hurrying, despite his worry for Kara.
Just before the next corner, he froze, trying to figure out what had stopped him. Crouching down, he listened, trying to decipher the sound he wasn't hearing well enough. It was almost a scraping noise. It came again and then someone seemed to suck in a breath and a body came around the corner, pouncing him.
They tumbled to the floor, the other person scratching and punching. Sam fought back, grabbing for her hands and jerking them back behind her back before he fully registered who was straddling him.
"Kara!"
She froze, eyes wide as she stared down at him. "What the frak?"
Releasing her, Sam shoved her hip, "Get on your feet, we need to get out of here before someone comes looking to see who was making noise."
"You scared the shit out of me," she snapped, doing as he'd suggested.
Sam didn't have time to grab her and tell her all of the thoughts tumbling through his head, so he settled for getting to his feet and handing her his side-arm, "Guess I don't have to get you out of your cell, then."
"Asshole." She shoved at him, getting him in front of her, "Lead the way."
Pulling the revolver Jack had given him, Sam shrugged and began retracing his steps. He didn't know the time, and he wasn't sure how much had passed, but he figured Tosh's virus was probably nearly neutralized. If this all went well, he and Kara would be out and in the jeep before Jack and then all three would be on their way out of the complex with no trouble. Of course, that was if everything went liked clockwork.
Sam didn't believe in miracles.
Which meant he was unsurprised when an alarm began to sound a moment later. "Shit." He sped up, knowing there was still one checkpoint to get through. And Jack was supposed to meet them there. Hopefully, whatever he'd done to the power relays that would hopefully cover the rest of their escape.
"HALT!" The shout came from behind them, and Sam dove around the next corner, straight into the surprised arms of two guardsman.
He had time to smash a fist into the jaw of one before the other had his gun up and out. Sam barely threw himself out of the way before the man fired. Pain exploded through Sam's abdomen, and Kara shouted something from behind him, her own weapon going off.
The guard dropped and then Kara was dragging at him, trying to keep him from falling, "Don't you collapse on me, you frakkin' asshole. I can't carry your ass out of here!"
"Not..." Sam managed, hooking his off-arm around her shoulder. He still had his gun in his left hand. "Keep moving."
"Right." Pushing at him, she propelled them forward.
They were stopped by a door, and Kara growled as she tugged at the handle.
"Key card." Sam let her go and dug out the one he'd stolen earlier, swiping it through the reader. It clicked onto green and Kara shoved the door open, covering the area beyond.
"Hurry."
"No falling over," Sam muttered as he followed her, trying to hurry. He tried to shove down the pain and the sick sense of wrongness that deepened as the sticky wetness on his side got larger. He was losing blood. He'd seen worse wounds, of course, but this was his. Frak, he'd never realized he'd be such a baby.
His world began to narrow in, and he knew it was shock. "Turn left," he croaked as they reached the second to last junction.
"Sam?"
It was Jack, and Sam registered Kara's gun-hand going up and hastily called, "Friend, Kara. That's Jack."
"Damn," Jack ignored Kara and her gun and shook his head at Sam, "Next time, I'll rescue the girl, you can get the junction boxes."
As though the words were a cue, the lights flickered and died. A torch snapped on, and Sam grabbed Kara's shoulder for support. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"Sam--" she made an irritated sound and then moved closer, sliding under his arm and wrapping her own around his waist.
Jack flashed the torch at them, then moved.
They followed, easily matching their strides, having done it a hundred times before. Though they'd usually been drunk, then. Sam considered closing his eyes and decided that would be a bad thing. "Least I'm not fainting," he mumbled at Kara.
She snorted. "Yeah? You too manly for that, honey?" Her tone was light.
"Yup."
Sam must have lost time, then, because the next thing he remembered was being outside, standing in the floodlights and Jack cursing because the jeep had disappeared.
Tires screeched nearby, and alarms were beginning to blare.
"Tosh!" Jack shouted, "I need more time!"
Sam realized he'd called her again, trying to get another hack out of her, or something else. They'd have to steal a vehicle, and Sam suddenly wondered if Jack had had a good plan for explaining Kara's presence while they were leaving the base.
"There they are!"
"Jack--"
"I know. TOSH."
Tires screeched again and a dilapidated cross between a jeep and someone's idea of a motorized shark slewed to a halt in front of them. At least, Sam thought it was a shark. He also thought he might be a little light-headed from blood loss. The panel-door on the side slid open and a woman's head stuck out. "Get in."
"We're just waiting," Jack prevaricated.
"If you want to be captured by the NID, you can stay. If you don't, get the fuck in the car. NOW."
Kara was moving, pulling Sam with her. Sam couldn't really blame her--she hated being locked up. Besides, she'd definitely already been there and done that. "We need a doctor," she growled at the woman.
"Shit--Cam, get Janet on the phone, tell her we're coming in hot. Then get us the hell out of here!" the woman replied, turning to speak to the driver.
Jack followed Kara's lead, helping her get Sam inside. He protested their help weakly, trying to say he was fine and a big boy. Kara laughed a little at him, and then he was tucked against her on the bench seat, her hand clutching the fabric of his pants.
"Sam Carter," the woman said as she yanked the door shut, "GO, Cam."
The vehicle shuddered, then took off at a speed it shouldn't have been capable of.
"Jack Harkness."
"You, I know," Carter replied tersely. She grabbed one of the ceiling straps as they took a corner on what felt like two wheels. Jack easily kept himself from falling, but Sam lurched forward, only Kara's hands keeping him from hitting the floor.
"I'm afraid these two are classified."
Carter shook her head, "Look, I don't give a crap about what or who they are. My orders were to get you out when your little rescue operation tanked."
"We had a plan." Jack objected mildly.
"And it was a great plan," called the driver, "I can tell, 'cause we had to pull your sorry asses outta there."
"Cameron," Carter said, her voice amused. She glanced at Sam and Kara, then looked back to Jack, "They came through the rift, didn't they? The one no one likes to talk about, or believes in."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"And there's no such thing as a stable wormhole. Pull the other one." Carter turned to face forward again as the jeep plowed through a fence. The frame shuddered, but it kept going.
"Kinsey won't be happy about that," Cam noted.
Carter snorted, "I don't give a crap what Kinsey wants."
Trying to keep up with the conversation--peppered as it was, with people he didn't know--Sam felt his control on reality beginning to slip a little. He swallowed, "Kara..."
"Hey. Hey." Kara's hand came up and patted his cheek as she turned into him. "No passing out on me, Sammy."
"Don't call me that," he managed, hanging onto his consciousness only barely. For Kara, he told himself. He sucked in a breath, reminded anew that she was alive and right there with him. It seemed like a frakking dream. And maybe it was. Maybe he'd wake in his rack, alone and cold because Hammerhead had stolen his blanket again. And Kara would still be dead. Sam figured he prefered his current dream to reality.
Sam lost track of time when Carter suggested Kara press a pad of cloth to his wound. The pain was intense, and he barely kept from passing out. It was just enough, breathing in Kara's scent mixed with the smell of his own blood and the leather and oil of the jeep.
He woke more when the vehicle halted. Carter got the door open and climbed out, barking orders to the group of people. With Jack and Kara's help, Sam clambered out of the jeep. Once standing, he swayed until they braced him up between them.
"Let me--" Cameron tugged Kara away before she could object and took Sam's other side. Between he and Jack, they were able to steer the nearly-unconscious man through a door and down a corridor.
Then there was the smell of disinfectant and a doctor sounding irritated at everyone and everything. Sam tried to smile at her, but he was close to passing out. The doctor got them to put him on a bed and Sam sank backwards, grateful that he was no longer moving even if the room was spinning like a top.
"Kara--"
A hand grabbed his, fingers locking tight.
Sam figured he was allowed to pass out, then.
-=-=-
Waking up was something Sam wished he hadn't done. There was a dull ache in his side, a throbbing pain which wasn't bad until he realized it wasn't going away anytime soon. Unfortunately, the pain made him want to move, as though that would relieve it. He shifted without thought and hissed out a breath which attracted Kara's attention.
"Idiot," she muttered, sounding exhausted.
Sam turned his head and cracked his eyes open to look at her. She was sprawled in a chair next to his bed, her right hand easily gripping the gun he'd given her earlier. "You keepin' me safe from the cylons?" He asked, his voice cracking a little with disuse.
"Nah. Guarding my prize until I can sell you." But there was a relieved look in her eyes which said the joke was mostly for his benefit. Kara had been worried about him.
"Am I worth that much?" Sam raised his eyebrows, casting his doubts upon the validity of her words.
"Probably not. I might have to give you away," she squinted at him, then smirked. "Don't worry, honey, I won't sell you until you're all better."
"Comforting."
She grinned at him. "I figured you'd appreciate that."
"Oh, I do," he agreed, wishing he could move and tug at her waistband. The fact that she was alive and there was still boggling his brain. Though if there was any woman who would survive certain death, he had to admit it was definitely Kara.
"So," she said abruptly, the gun flicking up to almost point at him, "Are you real, Sam?"
"You're asking that now?" he replied, his tone disbelieving. "Baby, asking when I'm saving your cute little ass would have been way smarter."
"Oh, you were not saving me," Kara rolled her eyes and lowered the gun. "I was handling that perfectly fine on my own. You mostly just got in the way, what with getting shot and all."
"I'll try not to get shot next time."
"Good plan, Sammy."
"Anyway, Kara," Sam said, wanting to poke her for calling him that, but knowing that moving would hurt, "If we hadn't gotten the power off, you would never have escaped."
"Maybe." She shrugged, "I wasn't planning on staying there the rest of my life."
"Probably a good idea," said Jack, entering the room and the conversation as though he'd been there for hours. And maybe he had been in and out, checking on Sam. He could ask Kara about it, later.
Kara stiffened and raised her pistol again. It wasn't quite pointed at Jack, but the indication that it could be was there. Before Sam could tell her to take it easy, she asked, her tone caustic, "So, what the frak is in this for you?"
"In what for me?" Jack sounded mildly uninterested.
"This--me and Sam."
It occurred to Sam that Kara was still holding his hand in hers. Maybe it was just unconscious, on her part. Or maybe it was her way of reassuring herself that the world hadn't ended again. He squeezed her fingers gently, but didn't stop her. He was a little curious about Jack's motivation, himself.
"Maybe it's what I do," Jack suggested dryly. He nodded to Sam, "Doc says you'll pull through, by the way."
Sam resisted shrugging, "Death doesn't seem so hard anymore." He tugged at Kara's hand, "What happened to you, Kara?"
"Don't you know, Sammy? I fell down a rabbit-hole and came to Earth!" Her tone and words were sarcastic.
"This is Earth, Kara. Either that, or the people I've seen were all drugged or lying. And that's one hell of an elaborate scheme for them to devise just to convince me this is the fabled planet."
Jack snorted, "Like we have either the time or the budget for that sort of shit."
"Fine. It's Earth. Whatever." Kara dismissed the conversation with a wave of her hand, but the gun stayed in her lap within easy reach.
Not that Sam blamed her. He'd be paranoid, too. He tugged at her hand again, "So, did you know everyone thinks you're dead back on Galactica?"
"Obviously, I'm not."
"Death can be a tricky thing," Jack said, tone dry.
"Besides, Sammy, I'm way too lucky to die," Kara pointed out, her tone arrogant.
He'd missed that arrogance, just like he'd missed her body and voice. "That's my girl," he murmured affectionately.
Kara snorted, but didn't object to being called his. Sam figured she was just waiting for him to get better so she could beat him at pyramid, or something, in payback. "So, Sammy, what do you do for fun on Earth?"
"Save your ass. Get shot," he quipped.
"Oh, so you don't do anything fun," she mocked.
"Just evening out our score, hot stuff."
Kara snickered, "I'd argue with you about that shit, but I'd be afraid I was taking advantage of your injured state."
"Like that's ever stopped you," Sam taunted, "You're just afraid it's an argument you'll lose."
"I'll lose?" Kara hooted, then stood up and leaned over him, practically pressing down on his chest, "I'm not the one who was stupid enough to get shot."
"Nope," he agreed cheerfully. Despite the fact that it would hurt, he wanted very badly to pull her against his chest and kiss her senseless. She was alive, after all, and that wasn't a state he was used to, anymore. Frak, but he'd missed her.
Rolling her eyes, Kara straightened and fiddled with the gun, flipping the safety on before shoving it under Sam's pillow. "Move over."
"Hey--"
"This is way bigger than my rack," she pointed out. And it was, probably, and they did both fit there. Although Sam wasn't so sure about the logistics of groping her while injured. "So move over." A yawn escaped her, emphasizing the dark circles under her eyes.
Sam sighed and gave in, wincing as he tried to shift his body from the middle to the side of the bed. Unfortunately for him, he was actually injured, and while he was obviously somewhat drugged, he wasn't that drugged. "Ow," he said pathetically before looking over at Jack, "A little help here?"
"Uh-uh. Doc Fraiser might stick me with needles." Jack was obviously not enthusiastic about that possibility.
Sam couldn't exactly blame him, though he'd missed the scary doctor, having been unconscious and all. He blinked, then said mockingly, "Wimp."
"Needles, Sam," Jack replied, amused. He shook a finger at them, "Now don't you kids do anything I wouldn't do." He dropped the teasing look to give Sam a serious one, "Try to get some rest, man." He patted Sam's shoulder and then left the room.
Kara finished taking off her boots and came around the other side of the bed to help Sam move himself. She grunted with the effort, grumbling about him being too damned big. He shot back breathless commentary on women who were incredibly demanding, and tried not to whimper at the pain in his side. Once he was moved to her satisfaction, she went back to the other side and stripped her pants off, leaving them on the chair.
Climbing on the bed jostled him further, but he ignored the pain and pulled her close, breathing in her scent.
"Hey."
"Hi," she whispered as she propped herself on an elbow and stared at him.
Sam reached up and touched her cheek. He ached to pull her down and kiss her, but this was still her show.
"Try not to fall off," Kara murmured before she leaned down and kissed him.
The movement of her mouth on his seared him down to his toes. He forgot how to think for a time. When she pulled back a little, he gathered his scattered wits, and replied, "Romantic."
"Sam."
"No, no, I know--if you were all romantic, I'd have to worry you're a Cylon." A stab of his conscience reminded him that he was, and he hadn't told her. And he couldn't. Not yet.
Her eyes narrowed, "Pushing your luck, there."
"I am?"
"Yeah. I could shove you off onto the floor. This bed would be way more comfortable with just me in it."
"Nice."
"I can be nice. But you have to earn it."
"Never seen it."
"You are such an asshole."
"Funny. I don't see you getting out of my bed," he replied smugly.
"A little suffering is supposed to be good for the soul--besides," she yawned and wriggled down to tuck herself against his side. "Never said I was nice before you married me."
"Yeah. Didn't care, though."
"Would you shut up, Sam? I'm trying to sleep."
He chuckled softly, but obeyed her request. After all, he really did want to get used to the whole being alive thing. Although, as he drifted off to sleep, he was still pretty certain he'd wake up without her. His wife couldn't be alive and he couldn't be on Earth. This was all just a dream, a really frakked-up, obnoxiously real, dream.
-=-=-
Sam wasn't sure what woke him, or which of them woke first, but they were both fighting for the gun before he had his eyes open. Of course, Kara won after she shoved an elbow at him. While he was gasping for breath and trying to make his eyes work, she pointed the weapon at the woman in the white lab coat.
The woman glared. "I'm going to check his vitals, if that's ok with you." She sounded irritated. Obviously, she'd encountered Kara before, since that sort of voice was only the cause of repeat exposure to Kara at her worst.
"You must be Doctor Fraiser," Sam said, before they could get into an argument.
"Yes. Are you going to call off your guard dog, or should I have her shot and put us all out of our misery?"
"Try it," Kara suggested, her tone silky.
"Uh, no. No shooting my wife, please." He nudged Kara with his hand. "Relax."
"You relax," she shot back before pulling away from him and climbing off the bed to stay out of the doc's way while she worked on Sam.
Doctor Fraiser wasn't gentle as she checked him over. Sam figured it was revenge for having a gun pointed at her, and did his best not to whine. "Well?" he finally prompted, once she'd finished and was making a notation on the chart hanging from the end of his bed.
"You're not dying. Probably."
Well, that was reassuring. "Doc? How bad was it?"
She looked like she wasn't going to answer for a moment, before relenting. "The bullet went through cleanly, but it nicked a lung and broke a rib. You'll be sore for a while and I'd suggest not rescuing any damsels in distress for a while. And no sex for at least a week. We don't need your rib poking more holes in your lung."
"I'll keep that in mind," Sam replied. He wasn't embarrassed. Frankly, he was glad Doc Fraiser wasn't pussy-footing around in regards to his condition and what he could do. "A week, huh?"
"I'd say three, but you're both young and healthy." She scowled, "I don't plan on re-inflating your lung if you disobey. So try to behave."
A snicker escaped Kara.
"We'll try," Sam said. Promising anything Kara-related was a bit like playing roulette with a ball of volatile explosive. Besides, she'd been dead for two months. He figured they were both owed a bit of leeway. He was noticing their various estrangements and separations were getting shorter and shorter. First ten months, then four, now two. Maybe the Gods really did want them together.
The Doc shook her head, like she didn't believe him. But she didn't press it, for now. Sam figured if she really wanted them to behave, she'd shackle him to the bed and cart Kara off. As a parting shot, she said, "Get some rest. Both of you."
Once she was gone, Sam watched Kara prowl around the room, feet and legs bare. A few times she stopped at the door, opening it and looking out into the corridor. Eventually, she stopped and looked at him, "Are we prisoners, Sam?"
Glad she'd stopped, since he was getting frakking dizzy, he shook his head. "No." But it occurred to him that they had no identities, no lives on Earth and nowhere to go.
She half-shrugged and started moving again, pacing up and down next to the bed.
He let her, watching silently as he filled his eyes with her. He felt almost afraid that she'd disappear on him and just prove to be a mirage. Something he'd thought up while dying or delirious. She'd disappear, and he'd wake up in his viper, about to die.
"Sam."
"Yeah?"
She looked at him, then rolled her eyes and came back to the bed. "Move over."
"I did already."
"Move more," she ordered.
Sam snickered and reached out to tug at her t-shirts. "Come back to bed, Kara. It's cold."
"You are so...." She sighed and clicked the safety back on the gun before shoving it under his pillow again.
"I like playing with fire," he suggested, half-guessing what she didn't say.
"You wish," she muttered before climbing back in. She let Sam tug her against his side again and relaxed with a sigh. "This is real, isn't it?" she asked sleepily.
"Gods, I certainly hope so."
"Even after getting shot?"
"You're worth a few bullets, Kara."
"Sweet." She yawned again.
"I try to be."
"Uh-huh. Good night, Sam."
He let the silence fall for a few minutes, then said suddenly, "Promise me something."
"What?"
Sam closed his fingers in the fabric of her shirts, feeling the familiar pressure of the well-worn cotton on his skin. "Promise you'll be here when I wake." He knew he sounded pathetic, but he didn't care.
"I promise." Her arm stretched across his waist. "You'd better be here, too."
"Plan to," he mumbled before letting sleep drag him down again.
-=-=-
Kara had been there when he'd woken that morning. Sam had felt a little as though the world might decide to end again, but it hadn't. She was up and restless, so when Tosh came by to visit--explaining one of Carter's people had rescued her before the NID goons had gotten to her--Kara went off to find out about a change of clothing and possibly using their shooting range.
A little while after that, Doc Fraiser came to torture him, and Jack followed her.
They talked of consequential crap, what the weather was like, what there was to eat on the base, until Sam finally couldn't stand the small talk any longer and asked the question he'd been pondering for a while. "What happens to us now?"
Looking unsurprised, Jack shook his head. "We can't send you back through the rift--you know that."
"I know. Tosh talked a lot of math at me. I understood maybe some of it...." Sam looked down, then back up. "Kara and I arriving here close was a fluke."
"Yeah." Jack crossed his arms, "You both sound American, Carter and her people could find you a place to stay. Tosh can supply ID, of course."
"American--" Sam shook his head, realizing there was a whole new world and set of politics and things to learn. "Who are they, anyway? The American Torchwood?"
"Ah, no. No, they're the remnants of a U.S. Air Force group, apparently. I haven't heard the whole story, but they're good friends of UNIT's." Jack made a face, as though not entirely pleased. "And now Torchwood owes UNIT a favor."
Sensing he wasn't going to get more than that, Sam let it drop. But now he really wanted to know more about the story--perhaps this 'Kinsey' that had been mentioned figured into it all. "What if Kara and I want to join Torchwood--or Carter's group?" He asked, "We're not exactly the settle-down type, you know." And he really didn't think getting into a new sport would be all that interesting anymore.
"You're right, she's not," Jack said with pinpoint accuracy.
Sam looked away from his knowing gaze. "You didn't answer my question."
"Aliens joining Torchwood?" Jack replied, his tone light and oddly twisted, "Stranger things have happened."
"You drank someone under the table?" Kara asked as she sauntered in, an unlit cigar between her lips. "Hey, Sammy. Deciding my future?"
"Discovering our options," he retorted, the emphasis on 'our'.
"You don't need to decide anything now," Jack said. "Doc won't let you move for about a week, anyway. And if you want, there are ways to make it easier for you to live in human society without remembering pesky things like other planets."
Kara froze and looked at him, then shook her head, "No. No drugs or taking our memories away."
The idea that he could forget all that had come before made Sam shiver, and he slipped his hand under the pillow, not realizing until his fingertips touched cold metal why. He wasn't going to shoot Jack Harkness for a suggestion he'd made, though. Not unless he was going to go through with it.
"All right. Talk to the people here, see what seems like a good fit. You can always change your mind."
But Sam wondered about that as Jack left the room. If these people wanted he and Kara to settle down like normal Earth people, they could easily drug them and destroy their memories before settling them in an unassuming house in the middle of nowhere. At least, he assumed they could. Jack had suggested it so casually, after all. He'd hate to call their bluff.
-=-=-
The week passed in an almost surreal manner. Sam hated being bedridden, but Kara seemed to think it was the best opportunity ever and spent most of her nights playing poker and winning money from UNIT or Carter's crew. Midway through the week, Tosh left to help Gwen with some sort of crisis. Jack left the day after, still arguing with the UNIT commander, a Brigadier Bambera, over the jurisdiction of Kara, Sam and their respective vipers. Jack seemed to think possession was nine-tenths of the law, which meant Sam's viper was his and Kara's was someone else's problem.
Sam and Kara, of course, were everyone's problem.
More than one person tried to convince Sam that he and Kara were technically the Colonial Ambassadors to Earth. He less and less politely told them they were barking up the wrong tree until the morning one of the more officious idiots was oozing on about how he and Kara would contribute so much if they stayed in America and worked with the NID--the NID having finagled a place in amongst the group since UNIT couldn't technically bar them from the facility. Though Mr. Woolsey was followed all over the place by two very large marines.
The man's insincerity broke Sam's patience, and he threw his bowl of green Jell-o at him, shouting at him to leave, now.
"Well," said Woolsey, pulling himself upright and trying to look dignified with green Jell-o dripping down his shirt, "If that's the way you feel, the NID withdraw their offer."
"Good frakking riddance," Sam snapped.
The marines were kind enough to remove the man from the room before he had to throw something else.
Kara wandered in a few minutes later, and snickered at him, "Sammy, what am I gonna do with you?" She leaned her hip up onto his bed and tilted her head, "You know, I thought I was the one we'd have to worry about bailing out of hack."
"He was annoying," Sam muttered.
"Uh-huh." Patting his shoulder, she huffed out a breath and suddenly sobered, "What are we going to do, Sam?"
"I like Carter and her people, but..." Sam shrugged.
"America. It's big, way big," noted Kara. "And it also has the NID."
"Cardiff is small, but there is Jack and Tosh. And I think you'd probably beat Owen up a few times before you'd let him be."
"And UNIT is the unknown."
They'd talked before, quick snatches before they fell asleep or when they woke from nightmares during the night. Sam's were the mundane kind, full of Kara being dead and the people he missed in the fleet. He didn't ask about Kara's, though he could guess at their subjects.
Sam tugged at her hand, "UNIT, then. And if they kick us out, they kick us out."
A snicker escaped Kara, "You afraid I'll get us kicked out?"
"I'm afraid we'll both have a hand in it."
"True, Sammy." Kara leaned down and kissed him with a smack. "And maybe Bambera will just get smart and send you to the north pole where you can't do any harm."
"You sayin' I'm the problem, here?" he demanded, eyes laughing.
"Well, I'd hate to think I was the only one." She leered at him and scrambled up onto the bed, straddling him easily.
"Hey--" he caught her hands, helping her balance, "We're not supposed to do this, remember?"
"Sammy," Kara said, her tone dripping with patience. "It's been a week." She pushed at his hands, dropping down against him and kissing his mouth with an intensity that took his breath away.
"Way too long," he agreed, suddenly not caring if the Doc never spoke to him again.
"Uh-huh," Kara grunted.
There was no point in talking after that. Sam spared one thought for the phone call he'd make to Captain Harkness, and then he lost himself in his wife. He had one brief moment of utter terror at how easily it was, and then he reassured himself: this was him and this was Kara. It wasn't going to stay easy. But for now, he could enjoy it.
Even if his ribs were still way too sore for the pressure of her weight against them. If she injured him, Fraiser would never let him hear the end of it.
-f-
Final notes: For the record, Kara was never supposed to survive OR be alive in this fic. The original prompt in my notebook is "Tosh/Sam, promises". As you can see, that never happened--but then, given I had to mesh two disparate canons (and trample two others) in an effort to get it done, I expect Tosh/Sam to pop up in an outtake of some sort, one day.
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Jack is... Think Captain Jack Sparrow, but much more intelligent, from the future, and willing to frak anything with two legs. ;)
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Everyone should love Anders. ;)
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I admit to being glad that Kara ended up in the fic and I love that they are together. Everything just works beautifully.
Fantastic fic. Thanks!
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Besides Captain Jack, I don't even know the TW people (I know, I know...) and it still works great . And Sam and Cam bonus, hee. (and Janet, which clearly puts this in some AU... *g*)
Here, you get Shirtless!Sam icon for job well done!
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SG1 snuck in because I needed an eevil government group, once Kara had shouldered her way in, and, well, it's always easier to steal existing groups.
And the rift makes a lot of things more possible with Torchwood. It's kind of like, the end of Farscape season four makes it possible to cross anything over, since John totally screwed up space/time when he messed with the wormholes.
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Sam found Earth and was all confused! And then Kara muscled in, bitching about how she'd found it first, and he'd better get his ass on finding her so she could break herself out...
Oh, Torchwood. Sigh.
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Have you seen the promos where a Raider recognizes Sam as a Cylon? Here is one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkYvXmD94e0 It's fascinating. Not actually that spoilery, since it focuses heavily on the questions we're left with at the end of Season Three, without answering them.
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Thank you, rather belatedly. =)
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Yeah, I've seen 'em. It makes me flaily and gleeful and vaguely insane that we have to wait for two more months. (omgisitAprilyet?)
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Neat how his eye glows a little red (I'm thinking that's not just a reflection).
Can't wait for the Anders/Kara reunion and some Anders/Caprica action.
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I'm really hoping the Anders and Caprica action is more than just "lust/fight/argue/fade to black". I want some dirtybadwrong sex against a wall with both of them angry and crazy.
Especially because Caprica's tall, and I can go "hah, so that's how Sam Anders and Sam Carter would fit together. heheheheh"
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Re: I'm in your backlog, readin' your fic.
In my world, Liz Shaw and Bambera now run UNIT.
Thank you =)