holdouttrout

Of all possible endings, Sam had never imagined this one. Trapped, yes. But always with all of them or alone. Always somewhere harsh and disappointing.

Of all possible permutations, she never thought to be trapped on a world of endless beaches with Teal'c and only Teal'c for a companion.

And about a million fish.

"O'Neill would not be pleased," Teal'c had said after their first day's catch. Sam surveyed the large fish Teal'c had literally snatched out of the shadows and was now roasting over a small fire. She smiled half-heartedly at the irony and went outside the circle of their fire to examine the stars.

Maybe...

She left the thought alone and went back to take her share of fish.

Weeks later, there was a downpour, as sudden as if someone had turned a knob on a faucet. Sam lifted from her crouch, startled from her careful examination of the few berries on the underside of a low bush. She looked back toward their camp automatically. The leaning structure was still within sight. She waited until she saw Teal'c dark shape come around the structure and then, inexplicably, she laughed, raising her arm over her head and letting the rain hit her palm and run down her arm. And Teal'c held out an arm stiffly, toward her, and she crashed through fronds and branches until she caught his hand, starting up into the sky as the rain splashed against their faces.

Teal'c hand squeezed hers gently, and then she was clinging to him, perhaps crying, but mostly just feeling his presence, his arms around her as she let go.

They wore very little, needing to use every resource they had to build and survive, and the heat of their tropical planet place lent itself to cut-off BDU's and tanks. The fished and swam and hunted for fruit and small game. And at night, they told stories. And when they ran out of true ones, they made more up, laughing at the absurdity of made-up names and places. And they went to sleep in each other's arms.

There wasn't any one thing that did it. Not really. Teal'c stood on the shore, waiting, and Sam picked herself out of the water, laughing because he'd found one of their hats--long abused as a fish basket--and was wearing it at a jaunty angle. She walked up to him, her tan skin glittering with a million water droplets, and plucked the hat from his head, throwing it to the side as he caught her up and kissed her.

Under the afternoon sun, Sam wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and his hands smoothed down her back, coming back up underneath her top to the bare skin beneath, rucking up the fabric. Sam leaned farther up into his embrace, and his hands came down again to lift her into his arms.

Her head spun with the possibilities that spun out from this moment, and if they weren't the possibilities she'd seen before, they were bright, and near, and she clutched at them with hands that were already holding Teal'c close, letting him take the next step into their future, letting him take them home.