DISCLAIMER: Yeah, the SG-1 guys are all property of MGM, World
Gekko Corp and Double Secret productions. This is all in fun, no
infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. All other
characters, ideas, etc., herein are copyrighted to the author.
TITLE: GHOSTS
AUTHOR: Rowan Darkstar
EMAIL: rowan_d1@yahoo.com
RATING: All Ages
CATEGORIES: Angst, Sam/Jack (sort of), Sam/Daniel (sort of),
shades of OT3
ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know.

Written for the GateShip Wednesday Shorts "2010" Challenge
300 words

"Ghosts"
By
Rowan Darkstar (rowan_d1@yahoo.com)
Copyright (c) 2005

These glasses hurt his ears. He doesn't need them. The Aschen
could have fixed his eyes long ago. But there is comfort in
tradition. There is something of his past.

She looks over as the speakers prattle on, suppresses a secret
grin and rolls her eyes. The warmth flutters through his chest
like tears. He can't stop his smile. He sees her so rarely these
days. Yet the moment they breathe the same air, they are Sam and
Daniel again. He wonders if this will always be, or if their days
of friendship are numbered.

She wants him to stay.

She kisses his lips as they part; like this happens every day.
He'll see her again in a few hours. Maybe.

Jack didn't come back.

They rarely speak. Sam married Joe. Everyone who loved Jack and
Sam stood by in shock.

No one knows what else fell apart. He wonders if there's a reason
for that.

He knew Jack and Sam were the eternal flame, viscerally connected
somewhere blazing he could never touch. But for a while, they
almost made him believe he was the blue of the flame.

She kisses his lips and tosses him a smile. She watches the door
from the corner of her eye, and he sees the ghost of the haunted
woman who hid beneath concrete floors and thicker regulations.

He remembers lying in the damp warmth of P4X-298, waiting for the
SGC to bring them home. Remembers Sam eating the local fruit and
paying with a blinding headache. He remembers her lying on her
side on the cushion of Jack's Air Force jacket, Jack massaging
the outside of her thigh. He remembers her blonde head on his own
leg, and Jack's hand gripping his ankle. He remembers feeling
like he was already home.

*****

rowan_d1@yahoo.com