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There had been many, many times during her tenure in the SGC that Sam Carter had felt as if she’d fallen into a particularly bizarre movie of the week to which she’d not been made privy to the script. She’d seen things that she would never have believed a dozen years ago, had travelled back in time, across the galaxy, had even been made to dress up as some chieftain’s idea of a fairytale princess – the memory still made her blush.
Nothing, however, she tthought, was as bizarre as this – finding herself standing underneath the stars in Auburn, Kansas, wrapped in the arms of Cameron Mitchell – her friend, her colleague, her team-mate, who she’d never once thought of in that light – and thinking that it was the most natural thing in the world.
It had all started almost a month ago, when Cameron had come into the SGC in as bad a mood as any of them had ever seen him. It had taken Vala to wheedle out of him, in her most Vala way, that his ex-girlfriend, Amy Vanderberg, was getting married. Sundry looks of sympathy had been exchanged among the team, becoming more pronounced when Vala continued that not only was Amy getting married, she’d actually invited Cameron to the wedding.
Which, it was universally agreed, was not the done thing to do, but then apparently, Amy had taken the break-up hard (according to Vala, whose Mitchell gossip supply was not limited to Cameron – she’d become more friendly with his mother than anyone realised) and had promptly run into the arms of her college boyfriend, who had gone on to become a multi-millionaire. “It’s a rebound thing,” Vala confided to Sam, and half of the SGC. “And besides, Cameron’s parents never liked her anyway.”
Not that Sam had much interest in the whole goings-on, not really. Until, of course, Cameron had seen fit to make it his business by asking her to be his date to the wedding.
She’d refused. Several times. Twenty-eight in all, though he insisted it was twenty-seven until she reminded him of the drunken late-night phone call that her answering machine had caught, that she threatened to get Walter to play over the loudspeaker in the Gate Room. He’d agreed with her number then, before going on to make it a round thirty in the same conversation, and something about the beseeching look on his face, the pleading look in his eyes, made Sam say yes. Though she nearly said no again when she asked him why he hadn’t asked Vala again, and he’d told her that he’d considered it, but that he was afraid Daniel would break his legs.
Still though, she’d kept her word, though she’d thought better of it on more than one occasion, not least when Vala took her out dress shopping – and Vala’s idea of appropriate wedding attire and Sam’s were worlds apart. “It’s too much,” Sam had protested as Vala held out yet another décolletage showing, split up the thigh number, and Vala had just shrugged.
“You want to outshine the bride,” she said airily, and when Sam’s mouth dropped open in shock, she leaned in to confide, “I never liked her that much either.”
A suitable dress found (red flowers on white, knee length, halter necked) they’d embarked on the journey to Kansas, which is when Sam had found out that, no, they weren’t staying at a hotel. “Um, the only hotel in Auburn isn’t exactly one that you’d like to stay at,” she was told. Instead, they were staying at Cameron’s parents’ house, and his mother appeared to be under the impression that their relationship was rather different than it was.
“I’m so glad he’s found a nice girl,” she whispered to Sam as Cameron disappeared to get their bags from the car. “Amy was never right for him, and Vala…well….” She shook her head dolefully, then brightened up. “Well, let’s get you to your room.”
Which is when Sam found herself standing in a bedroom with Cameron Mitchell, one double bed between them.
“I told her I’d take the couch,” Cameron said, and from the look on his face, the blush on his cheeks, she believed him. “But Mom never listens to me. She thinks I’m trying to spare her blushes or something… I don’t know. Look, I’ll sleep on the floor…”
It was as much to his surprise as to her own that Sam heard her voice saying, “Don’t be silly….we can share.”
His eyes narrowed, as if he was searching for some hint of humour. “Seriously?”
Sam laughed, finding his chivalry rather endearing. “Cam, we’ve slept in closer conditions than this… and remember, if you creep past your side of the bed, I’m trained to kill you with my bare hands.”
Cameron tilted his head, smiling that slow smile of his that had half the nurses in the SGC panting after him. “You know, that’s kind of a turn on…”
She’d thrown a pillow at him and he’d laughed, catching it easily.
She laughed last, and better though, the next morning when she’d woken up to find that he hadn’t kept to his side of the bed, was in fact lying close behind her, his body moulded to hers in classic spoons position, his hand across her midsection. And contrary to her assertion that she’d kill him with her bare hands, she hadn’t moved, had instead played possum and waited for him to wake, taking a certain teasing pleasure in how he started, jumping away from her, trying to pretend that nothing was wrong as she pretended it was his movement that had woken her.
She’d regretted that later on during the day, when it seemed that Cameron couldn’t look her in the eyes, and the situation only seemed to get worse when he saw her in her new dress, when they were on their way to the wedding. She put it down to the fact that he didn’t want to see Amy getting married, that he was still carrying a torch for her, and the feeling didn’t lessen when they met his friend, Darrell, outside the church. Cameron had handled the introductions, rolling his eyes when Darrell said, “Remind me why we’re here?”
“Because,” Cameron replied, “We’re a couple of old school Southern gents who find it rude to refuse a lady’s invitation?”
“Remind me why she invited us?”
“Because she wanted to rub my nose in it and knew you were the only one capable of holding me back if I decided to make a scene.”
“Ah. I wondered.”
At that, Darrell – who had come without a date – seemed to remember that Sam was actually there, and had made an effort to involve her in the conversation, and for a while, Cameron had seemed almost his old self again. But during the ceremony, when Amy walked up the aisle, Sam had seen that same melancholy creep over him yet again.
She’d half expected him to get drunk during the reception, but he’d been careful with his drinking, and when Amy had come to talk to them, he’d stood up straight, introduced Sam as his date, and she’d surprised them both by linking her arm through his, looking at him as if he’d hung the moon and the stars, behaving as if they were the world’s greatest lovers. She’d sensed Cameron’s surprise, but he hadn’t said anything to give them away, and when Amy had left, he’d given her a smile. “Thank you.”
Sam had shrugged. “Hey, I had to put on a good show, right?”
“Not just for that. For coming here… keeping me on the straight and narrow.” She must have looked surprised, because he chuckled. “Hey, I can’t go making a fool of myself in front of the prettiest girl in the room now, can I?” Sam looked over his shoulder, the direction Amy had moved in, and Cameron had shaken his head. “Not Amy.”
It had taken a moment for the words to sink in. “Oh.”
He’d laid down his glass on the nearest table, taken hers from her unresisting fingers and left it down too. Pulling her with him, he said simply, “Dance with me.”
The music has been soft and soothing, and they’d stepped into a slow pattern as if they’d been dancing together for years. One song went by completely without them talking, just staring into one another’s eyes; another was half over before she spoke.
“How long?”
Cameron chuckled, cheeks reddening slightly, and it may have been the alcohol. “Sam, I’ve been half in love with you since basic. Completely since I started at the SGC. Everyone knows it…my parents, Darrell, Vala… why do you think Jackson threatened to break my legs if I took her and not you?”
“Why didn’t you ever say?”
“When? When you were engaged to Pete? Dating Jack? Running to a different galaxy to get away from all the men in this one?” He shrugged. “I just never thought you’d look at me that way.” A pause, a blink, a confused but hopeful grin. “Are you looking at me that way?”
“I don’t know.” But if the words were uncertain, she spoke them with a smile. “But I think I’d like to try.”
Cameron’s smile was like sunshine. “That’s all I needed to hear,” he said, bending to kiss her.
There had been many, many times during her tenure in the SGC that Sam Carter had felt as if she’d fallen into a particularly bizarre movie of the week to which she’d not been made privy to the script.
This was probably the strangest, but then, screwball comedies had always been her favourite sort of movie.