Author: Regency

Title: Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right

Labels: AU

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Children of the Gods, and The First Commandment among others

Pairing(s): none intended. Team friendship all around.

Word count: 2,377

Summary:  It was around the time they saved her from her doomed wedding to Jonas Hansen that Sam decided to keep them.

AN: Is built on the premise that Carter didn’t dump Jonas before the beginning of the show, and that they had a long engagement and decided to marry around early season one. The title is pretty much the first thing that came to mind and it sort of fits remarkably. Sort of anyway.

AN II: I’m all about the constructive criticism. Since it’s AU, I tried to take into account the difference that remaining in a relationship with Jonas might have made with regard to Sam’s behavior. Hopefully, she wasn’t too out of character. If she was— or any of the team—let me know and I’ll try to be more on target next time.

Disclaimer:  I don’t own the song Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right by Bob Dylan. I also don’t own any characters recognizable as being from Stargate SG-1. They are the property of their producers, writers, and studios, not me.  No copyright infringement was intended and no money was made in the writing or distribution of this story. It was good, clean fun.

~!~

                Sam hadn’t actually intended to invite them at first.  The wedding was already well into the home stretch by the time she’d gotten the news that she was being assigned to Colonel O’Neill’s team.  They were supposed to be her colleagues, her co-workers.  They weren’t supposed to be friends and she’d expected that their interest in her would stop at the close of business every day.

                She realized pretty quickly, however, that going through the Stargate wasn’t going to be business as usual and that they wouldn’t be keeping regular hours.  She found herself spending copious amounts of time in the company of an impassioned archaeologist, a caustic—if somewhat entertaining—colonel, and an alien who’d surrendered his entire life to be there.

When she thought of all Teal’c had given up and all Daniel had already lost, Sam couldn’t see herself denying them invitations to what she’d hoped to be a happy event.  Of course, she also invited her CO, because doing otherwise would have seemed like singling him out and that was the last thing she wanted to do.  The truth was that she hadn’t expected any of them to accept and them doing so had put a strain on an already tenuous situation.  By the time Sam had managed to get authorization for Teal’c to travel to the Academy Chapel for the wedding, she didn’t have cold feet, she had ice blocks for combat boots.  Sometime between the night Jonas had proposed and the day of the wedding, Sam had begun to panic at the prospect of marrying him.

~!~

                In five minutes, Samantha Carter was getting married.  In five minutes—no, four minutes and forty-three seconds, Samantha Carter was going to walk down the aisle and pledge her undying love and devotion to Jonas Hanson.

                Except for that fact that she really didn’t think she could do it.

                It had seemed like a good idea five minutes ago; you know, ten minutes before the wedding.

                Okay, that wasn’t strictly true.  It had seemed like a pretty crap idea even then.  But, she’d just managed to fasten her dress around her bruised ribs and she was in the mood to feel good about something.

                She didn’t feel so good about anything now, much less about squeezing into this dress.  She’d never actually liked it; she’d just gotten tired of searching.  It was nice enough, cream-colored with elegant, subtle beading.  She felt pretty wearing it, though it was nothing like her mother’s stories of her wedding day.  She’d grown up expecting it all to feel a certain way.  Her dreams hadn’t been like this.  Sam didn’t feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.  She felt achy and tired and trapped.  And she would have killed for a beer.

                No, she didn’t want a beer. Well, not just a beer.  She wanted her team and a beer, preferably one for each of them—and a soda for Teal’c.  She knew they were here, close by in case she needed them, as they’d been on any mission into potentially-hostile territory.

                They were in the sanctuary, seated near the front and probably making a bit of a splash.  That was what they did, what they always managed to do.  She knew her relatives and old friends from the Pentagon were gently inquiring about them—and not just because none had ever met them before.  They were her boys, her men, and she wasn’t too blind to see that they were all damned attractive in their own ways.    She imagined running interference for them all night at the reception and it was the first time she’d laughed since they’d returned from their last mission

                This last one had been hard on them and she thought that maybe that was what had prompted her to invite them at the last minute.  They’d become something like her closest friends in the last few months.  They knew her frighteningly well already and they seemed to like her just fine.  Even if they couldn’t stand Jonas—and they really couldn’t stand Jonas, which wouldn’t have been a problem.

                If she could still stand Jonas herself.

                At some point after accepting his proposal, Sam’s feelings had changed.  She’d been assigned to SG-1 in the months afterward and she had to admit that she’d been irrevocably changed by it.  She felt different now, stronger now.  She didn’t look for the same things in a lover; she didn’t expect the same old things from her friends.  She was starting to believe that the bar had seriously climbed for what constituted a good addition to her life and that fewer and fewer people were making the grade.  She almost felt bad about it.

                Then, the door to the ready room opened a crack and she remembered why she didn’t have to with a self-indulgent smile.

                “Hey, Sam,” Daniel said somewhat shyly.  “Is everything all right in here? Your cue was a couple of minutes ago.”

                Sam looked up to the clock on the wall with a sigh.  So much for her five minutes.  “I’m all right, Daniel. You can come on in.”

                The archaeologist pushed the door open a bit more, sending a skittish look over his shoulder before looking at her again a little pitifully.  She would have jumped at the irritable growl that sounded from out of sight if she hadn’t been expecting it.

                “Damn it, Daniel. Either go in or go sit down.  Some of us are in a hurry to get to the cake portion of the evening.”  She couldn’t resist a smile at her CO’s ever-growing obsession with all manner of that particular dessert.

                Daniel sighed long-sufferingly and came all the way inside, clearing the way for the colonel and Teal’c to make their entrance.  The colonel immediately limped to the nearest empty chair to rest his healing leg.  Staff weapon blasts, even grazes, were a pain and he was a pain to the world in return.  In spite of his grousing, Colonel O’Neill managed to cut a dashing figure in his Class A’s and Sam made a mental note to warn her cousins off of him.  She wasn’t afraid for them, but for the colonel. He didn’t need their brand of romantic drama in his daily life.

                Teal’c and Daniel were also handsome in their civilian clothes: Daniel in his sharp dark suit and dark blue button-down; Teal’c in grey wool with a cream turtleneck and a snappy hat to finish the look.  All in all, her men were set to break every female heart in attendance.  At least something good might come from this, she thought, finding herself sighing again.

                “All right, Carter, enough with the sighing.  What’s up?” her CO asked as he reflexively massaged his bad leg.  She knew that it itched more than it hurt, because healing skin always itched. 

                “I don’t know, sir,” she said, dropping back into the chair she’d vacated when she actually considered leaving this room.  She wasn’t considering it now; she wasn’t even planning on it.

                “Cold feet, Sam?”  Daniel took a seat on a spare pew that occupied the corner of the small preparation room and looked at her with caring concern.

                She shrugged and shook her head. It was all so strange.  She’d wanted this wedding and this man not long ago.  She’d never seen herself as one to simply lose interest in relationships. She gave her all, she tried.  This time, she’d simply stopped when something that required less effort, something more endlessly fulfilling had come along.  It hadn’t even taken much.  A few times through the ‘gate, a few warm campfires and sorrows shared had cemented the place of these people in her life.  It had also cemented the place of many out of it.  And Jonas was out; she just hadn’t gotten around to telling him so before there was a wedding to be had.

                Now, here she was while there were a dozen other places, other planets where she’d rather be.

                “I can’t do this,” she confessed to the companionable quiet of the room.

                “Do you not love your intended husband, Captain Carter,” Teal’c queried with notable curiosity.  She found herself shaking her head once more before she could think about it.  She couldn’t make the feelings she used to have come back.  She didn’t think she even wanted to. “Then, there is no logical reason for the ceremony to proceed.”  Even the alien sees it, she mused disbelievingly.

                “Gotta agree with the big guy, Carter.  If it doesn’t fit, you must…not get married?” the colonel finished uncertainly before moving on with a restless shrug.  “What do ya say we blow this joint and get some cake before any of the guests show up at the reception hall?”

                Sam inhaled with unexpected relief and nodded.  Then, she paused and gulped.  “I should probably tell them I don’t want to do this, shouldn’t I?”

                Teal’c stepped forward from his sentry position behind the door to posit, “I believe it is likely that they have already arrived at this conclusion, Captain Carter.”

                Daniel straightened up with a grimace.  “Yeah, Sam. We’ve been in here a while now.  I think they get that it’s a little more than nerves.”

                She groaned and seriously considered staying in the prep room for the rest of her life.  She couldn’t face them or Jonas. He wouldn’t understand and neither would her family. Her father was no doubt making excuses for her tardiness and her cousins likely had cattier retorts to that.  She loved them but they had never left high school, intellectually or emotionally.

                “Okay,” the colonel began, jarring her from her thoughts with a vigorous clap.  “Here’s the plan. Carter, you’re gonna go out there and be the brave, ass-kicking captain I know you can be.  Teal’c, you’re going to stand behind her and make sure that Hansen understands that deciding to leave his ass is totally acceptable and non-negotiable.  Daniel, you and me are gonna fetch the car and be waiting outside for Carter and Teal’c to come out. Then, we’re gonna beat everybody to the punch and steal the wedding cake before anyone can get there. Q.E.D.,” he finished, looking incredibly satisfied with himself.

                “You’re really excited about that cake, aren’t you, Jack,” Daniel intoned with his eyebrows sardonically raised.

                “You bet your ass, Danny boy, otherwise I wouldn’t have stuffed myself in this god forsaken strait jacket to be here—other than to support our good Captain, of course,” he rushed to cover.

                Sam managed to effect a wounded expression only by the skin of her teeth.  She was really beginning to enjoy getting under her CO’s skin, especially with Daniel there to help things along.  She wobbled her bottom lip just a bit and widened her eyes, nearly losing it as the colonel shifted with visible discomfort.  “And here I thought you loved me for my brain, sir, and it was just the cake all along.”

                The moment stretched long and she was wondering whether she was about to be reprimanded for insubordination when a rebellious smirk tilted the colonel’s mouth.  “I see you’re learning the art of a sharp-edged wit, Captain.  I like it.”

                Sam found herself grinning in response to his smirk and, inwardly, sighing with relief.  He was still someone she was getting a feel for, but, she liked the idea that within whatever rapport they were building there was room to push.  “I’m learning from the best, sir.”

                “Yeah, sure, ya betcha.” He took to his feet, albeit a little unsteadily, and urged them to do the same.  “Teal’c, you take point.  I’ll take six. Danny, you and Carter are flank.” He clapped one more time. “Let’s do it.”

                And, they did.

                Though, god, did it hurt in a dozen ways. Sam had walked away embarrassed, ashamed, guilty; but, above all, relieved.

                Her father had barely looked at her before he marched out of the Academy Chapel and she knew that what little progress they’d made toward reconciliation had been flushed down the drain.  He had warned her that Jonas wasn’t the one from the start, and, yet, had stood by her when she finally confirmed her choice.  She knew she’d made a fool out of the both of them and she regretted the damage her reticence had done.  Her father couldn’t understand the life she’d found instead, or the family, or the friends.  No one could, but that didn’t mean she was prepared to give any of that up.

                Jonas had wanted her to surrender her place on SG-1 and take a lab post instead so that they could concentrate on starting a family.  She’d always been aware that her fiancé had traditional ideas about marriage, but she’d mistakenly believed that he’d make an exception for her. Especially, because he knew what she did, because he was a part of the same world. SG-9 versus SG-1; it was a less than friendly rivalry that she hadn’t expected to go on for so long.  She was 2IC of the flagship expedition team and he’d wanted her to let that go when he’d had no intentions of doing the same.

                She couldn’t have when he’d asked her before and she wouldn’t now that he had no right to ask her again.  This was home, and one she didn’t intend to run from.

                Nestled protectively between warm Daniel and solid Teal’c in the careworn leather booth seat of a cozy pub in the Springs, Sam liked the view much better from her proverbial front door.  Daniel was luxuriating in a European coffee brew and hugging it like the archaeological find of the century.  Teal’c was happily partaking in the many variations on a theme otherwise known as chicken wings—lemon pepper, barbecue, buffalo, teriyaki…He didn’t look like he’d be stopping any time soon. And the colonel, well the colonel was content to lay waste to what might have been Samantha Hansen’s wedding cake, but was now just a multi-layered buffet for a man with an insatiable sweet tooth.  He didn’t seem to be in much of a mood to share either.

                Sam didn’t mind that so much, though.  She had her diet coke and she had her family.  Life was already sweet enough.