I was talking with ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
surrealphantast and rowan_d about how I just couldn't see Sam/Cam. I'm not...exactly...rescinding that. And yet, here is a little piece, mentioning Sam/Cam slightly, with a huge overdose of Sam/Jack. ;-) This is kinda-sorta for surrealphantast's birthday (late), but I feel really nervous about saying that, given that she's already received way better fics from people other than me. (In fact, people have written this fic better than me--and yet, I'm still posting it. Maybe if I say that in the process of writing it, Sam/Cam just about found me she'll forgive me.)
Title: Waiting on One Look
Fandom: SG-1
Pairing: Mention of Sam/Cam Sam/Jack
Category: Total Fluff. I tried for angst, but it didn't work.
Rating: Tame
surrealphantast and rowan_d about how I just couldn't see Sam/Cam. I'm not...exactly...rescinding that. And yet, here is a little piece, mentioning Sam/Cam slightly, with a huge overdose of Sam/Jack. ;-) This is kinda-sorta for surrealphantast's birthday (late), but I feel really nervous about saying that, given that she's already received way better fics from people other than me. (In fact, people have written this fic better than me--and yet, I'm still posting it. Maybe if I say that in the process of writing it, Sam/Cam just about found me she'll forgive me.)Title: Waiting on One Look
Fandom: SG-1
Pairing: Mention of Sam/Cam Sam/Jack
Category: Total Fluff. I tried for angst, but it didn't work.
Rating: Tame
*_*_*_*_*_*
He wasn't Jack, and she was okay with that. Where Jack was hard angles and light hair and too many memories, Cam was easy touches, laughing blue eyes, and comfortable chatter.
They worked well together, but with Cam it was as much her doing as it was his. They settled around each other, gently taking more and more liberties with command. He deferred to her experience, sometimes, and sometimes she returned the favor by seeing situations in a light not jaded by eight years of work.
With Jack, it had always been his experience, his command, his final say.
She was okay with taking some of the blame these days.
And maybe she realized, now that it might be too late to put it into practice, that the whole thing would have worked out just fine if they'd just relaxed a little bit, if they'd been able to share laughter the way she and Cam could, if they'd been able to put the fate of the world in a separate category from their personal lives. It hadn't been her fault alone, and she knew this because she could sense how Cam was circling the issue, pushing at it in a way Jack hadn't dared to. He'd left it all up to her, and she'd made the wrong choice, but maybe she had a different chance now.
She was gradually being won over, and damn but that feeling was nice, reminded her of the good part of being with Pete, when he'd wanted her and when he'd done his best to get her on the same page as he was.
She had almost convinced herself that her happiness was worth everything again, until Jack came into town for nothing.
Literally nothing. There were no late teams, no world-threatening crises, no fishing tournaments.
He just...dropped by. On a whim.
Cam was in her lab, carefully not touching anything, leaning back, laughing and telling a funny story from his neverending supply of funny stories, and Sam was hunched over a half-assembled piece of alien technology she thought might be a really efficient battery, smiling. She looked up when the light from the hall was blocked, Cam already starting to his feet, prepared to salute, but Sam recognized the subtle clues that told her he didn't expect it today and would prefer not to bother with ceremony even before she thought about why he was there.
She nodded, said, "Sir," and kept working.
Cam frowned, looked between them, and hesitated.
"I'll...tell you the rest later, Sam." He nodded at Jack, left through the open door.
Jack took Cam's vacated stool.
"Just thought I'd say hi, Carter. He didn't have to leave."
She said, calmly, "There's only one stool, anyway."
Jack frowned, leaned forward, hands brushing the edge of her project, and Sam knew that this was it. The deciding moment. The fork in the road. The cliche to end all cliches.
"I've always wondered about that. Why do you only have the one extra?" His voice was still light, but she knew he was aware of the subtext to this meeting.
"Why are you here today, sir?" She was still bent over the machine, carefully aligning wires as if she wasn't having the most important conversation of her life.
"You didn't answer my question, Carter."
She shrugged. "Guess they figured there's only really space for two people in the room at once."
There was dead silence for a moment. When Sam finally looked up, she saw Jack looking as if he were struggling not to laugh.
And that was it. One moment of levity, and she suddenly knew, with relief, how everything from here would go. Because Cam wasn't Jack. Because she was waiting for something and had found it. She relaxed, her eyes glinted mischievously, and Jack barked out a laugh.
"Damn, Carter. Taking a metaphor a little far, are we?"
She shook her head. "Maybe."
A speculative look, and then he was up, Carter standing in response automatically.
He looked serious again. "Just so we're clear..." He stepped toward her, caught her arm before she could move away.
She said quickly, before she forgot, "I was taking things too seriously. Before."
A slow smile. "No kidding." He leaned forward. "Carter...you do know there's no point to having the room anymore, right?"
She smiled back at him. "Would you just kiss me already?"
And he did.
He wasn't Jack, and she was okay with that. Where Jack was hard angles and light hair and too many memories, Cam was easy touches, laughing blue eyes, and comfortable chatter.
They worked well together, but with Cam it was as much her doing as it was his. They settled around each other, gently taking more and more liberties with command. He deferred to her experience, sometimes, and sometimes she returned the favor by seeing situations in a light not jaded by eight years of work.
With Jack, it had always been his experience, his command, his final say.
She was okay with taking some of the blame these days.
And maybe she realized, now that it might be too late to put it into practice, that the whole thing would have worked out just fine if they'd just relaxed a little bit, if they'd been able to share laughter the way she and Cam could, if they'd been able to put the fate of the world in a separate category from their personal lives. It hadn't been her fault alone, and she knew this because she could sense how Cam was circling the issue, pushing at it in a way Jack hadn't dared to. He'd left it all up to her, and she'd made the wrong choice, but maybe she had a different chance now.
She was gradually being won over, and damn but that feeling was nice, reminded her of the good part of being with Pete, when he'd wanted her and when he'd done his best to get her on the same page as he was.
She had almost convinced herself that her happiness was worth everything again, until Jack came into town for nothing.
Literally nothing. There were no late teams, no world-threatening crises, no fishing tournaments.
He just...dropped by. On a whim.
Cam was in her lab, carefully not touching anything, leaning back, laughing and telling a funny story from his neverending supply of funny stories, and Sam was hunched over a half-assembled piece of alien technology she thought might be a really efficient battery, smiling. She looked up when the light from the hall was blocked, Cam already starting to his feet, prepared to salute, but Sam recognized the subtle clues that told her he didn't expect it today and would prefer not to bother with ceremony even before she thought about why he was there.
She nodded, said, "Sir," and kept working.
Cam frowned, looked between them, and hesitated.
"I'll...tell you the rest later, Sam." He nodded at Jack, left through the open door.
Jack took Cam's vacated stool.
"Just thought I'd say hi, Carter. He didn't have to leave."
She said, calmly, "There's only one stool, anyway."
Jack frowned, leaned forward, hands brushing the edge of her project, and Sam knew that this was it. The deciding moment. The fork in the road. The cliche to end all cliches.
"I've always wondered about that. Why do you only have the one extra?" His voice was still light, but she knew he was aware of the subtext to this meeting.
"Why are you here today, sir?" She was still bent over the machine, carefully aligning wires as if she wasn't having the most important conversation of her life.
"You didn't answer my question, Carter."
She shrugged. "Guess they figured there's only really space for two people in the room at once."
There was dead silence for a moment. When Sam finally looked up, she saw Jack looking as if he were struggling not to laugh.
And that was it. One moment of levity, and she suddenly knew, with relief, how everything from here would go. Because Cam wasn't Jack. Because she was waiting for something and had found it. She relaxed, her eyes glinted mischievously, and Jack barked out a laugh.
"Damn, Carter. Taking a metaphor a little far, are we?"
She shook her head. "Maybe."
A speculative look, and then he was up, Carter standing in response automatically.
He looked serious again. "Just so we're clear..." He stepped toward her, caught her arm before she could move away.
She said quickly, before she forgot, "I was taking things too seriously. Before."
A slow smile. "No kidding." He leaned forward. "Carter...you do know there's no point to having the room anymore, right?"
She smiled back at him. "Would you just kiss me already?"
And he did.
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Date: 2007-02-27 04:23 am (UTC)From:Nice!
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Date: 2007-02-27 05:04 am (UTC)From:We should totally have a fic: "Five times Cam was a bridesmaid."
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Date: 2007-02-27 11:10 am (UTC)From:Oh God, nanda will kill me if I convert any S/J writers to closet Sam/Cameron writers. ;)
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Date: 2007-02-27 11:54 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-02-27 02:15 pm (UTC)From:Aw, I'm so glad you went with fluff on this. It has enough angst to make the fluff much happier. And it's a nice idea, to just let go of all that tension and stress, and to just be happy. And I like that Jack just dropped by. "On a whim." :)
Now I want to watch the 9th and 10th seasons. I was thinking I wouldn't bother, but I'm starting to be seriously intrigued by both Vala and Cam.
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Date: 2007-02-27 04:08 pm (UTC)From:Would Nanda really mind as long as she keeps getting Sam/Jack, too? I don't know. However, if one assumes that there is Sam/Cam, then the potential for really angsty Jack fics goes up by a lot. In fact, you could do some really dark things with that, if you were so inclined.
The difference between Sam/Jack and Sam/Cameron (romantic or not) is one of the reasons I like Cameron as a character. He brings out different things in the team than Jack did, and that's kind of cool.
(I really need a "new team" icon. Poor Cam. He gets left out so often.)
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Date: 2007-02-27 04:09 pm (UTC)From:And now that I've opened my big mouth, I'll probably join the cutesy-named bandwagon. *sigh*
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Date: 2007-02-27 04:15 pm (UTC)From:Cam is so...happy. And fuzzy. And Vala's just really really interesting and hilarious.
Maybe a tad inconsistent.But I love them anyway.no subject
Date: 2007-02-27 04:27 pm (UTC)From:Oh, and I meant to say, you're braver than I am - I wanted to write birthday fic for surrealphantast, but I chickened out. Plus my brain froze up.
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Date: 2007-02-28 01:10 am (UTC)From:And doesn't that just sum her up perfectly? And not just in relation to Jack, but in general, its the less-serious, more settled Sam of S9 and 10.
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Date: 2007-02-28 01:29 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-02-28 03:11 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-02-28 03:16 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-02-28 12:04 pm (UTC)From:*Rereads. Wanders off in shippy haze.*
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Date: 2007-03-09 08:27 am (UTC)From:Loved it. You always hit the right notes in your short fics
(Although poor Cam! he's always a close but no cigar kind of guy :P)
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Date: 2007-03-10 02:09 am (UTC)From:You always hit the right notes in your short fics Thank you! It's true that I am a short-fic writer and I think my shorter stories are generally better.
And yes, thank God for sg1_debrief...although I *never* get through everything there.
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Date: 2007-05-01 02:34 am (UTC)From:[And that was it. One moment of levity, and she suddenly knew, with relief, how everything from here would go. Because Cam wasn't Jack. Because she was waiting for something and had found it.]
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Date: 2007-05-02 04:20 am (UTC)From:(And I still like that line, too.)
Thanks!