Author: MegTDJ
Category: Fluff
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Sam/Teal'c
Spoilers: Up to season 8's Affinity.
Summary: An innocent Earth custom gives Teal'c an opportunity he never thought he'd get.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1, its universe and its characters are not mine. The story itself is, however, so please don't archive without my permission.
Author's notes: Hooray!! My first Sam/Teal'c fic!! I love these two, I just haven't had any plot bunnies for them until this one jumped out and bit me this morning. Sam and Teal'c have to be the most under-ficced pairing on SG-1, poor things. I hope my fellow Sam/Teal'c shippers find this story and enjoy it. :)
Many thanks to Kerri and Kate for exhausting themselves trying to help me come up with a title. In case anyone doesn't know what it means, it's Latin for "seize the day." I thought it fit rather nicely. ;)
Carpe Diem
He had been fantasizing about it for months, but never had he believed that he would receive such a perfect opportunity.
Teal'c had been harbouring feelings for his teammate for years, but he had kept it to himself. He knew that "fraternization" between members of the same team was frowned upon in Tau'ri society, but that was not his only reason for doing so. He simply did not wish to put Samantha in a position of having to reject him if she did not feel the same.
He had been quite content to be her friend and confidant, watching from afar as her love affairs came and went. As time went on and his feelings only became stronger, however, he could not help but let his detached air slip away to show how he truly felt in certain situations. He had almost crumbled when he had seen her in tears over Daniel Jackson, and then over Colonel O'Neill, and then again over Doctor Fraiser. Seeing her in pain was the hardest thing he had ever had to witness, as he felt completely powerless to help her.
It had been around the time that Daniel Jackson had returned to them that he had begun to suspect that Samantha returned his feelings, at least to some degree. They had shared their grief over his death and then their relief at finding him alive and well, and even though Teal'c had assumed that things would return to the way they had been before Daniel Jackson's departure, he had been wrong. Samantha did not distance herself from Teal'c again, even though her dear friend was now back. In fact, once Daniel Jackson was with them again, it became all the more clear that their relationships were very different now. Samantha acted more playful and even what the Tau'ri referred to as "flirty" around Teal'c, something that she had never done before.
Teal'c was just beginning to think that perhaps Samantha was coming to think of him as more than just a friend when Pete Shanahan entered her life.
Over the next few months, Teal'c had allowed his relationship with Ishta to blossom while at the same time wishing that the prospect of having a more meaningful relationship with Samantha wasn't such an impossibility. He tried to tell himself that it was all for the best, but every day thoughts of taking her into his arms and kissing her senseless would come unbidden to his mind.
Then she announced her engagement to Pete Shanahan, and it seemed that all was lost.
Until an accidental collision in an SGC hallway gave him the chance for which he had been waiting for so long.
He had just been exiting Daniel Jackson's office when it happened. Samantha had chosen that moment to attempt to enter the room, and because her arms were full of books and papers, her reactions were not quite as swift as they would otherwise have been. The two of them collided rather forcefully, and Samantha dropped everything she carried as she cried out in pain.
"Colonel Carter!" Teal'c exclaimed in surprise. "I apologize... I did not see you approaching."
Samantha squatted down on the ground and attempted to retrieve her books, though she seemed to be favouring one arm. "That's okay, Teal'c," she said. "Not your fault. These things happen." She winced as she moved her right arm, and looked down at it in concern.
"Are you injured?" Teal'c asked.
"Just a little," she said. "I cut my arm on the corner of one of these books, that's all."
Teal'c took her gently by her elbows and guided her to her feet. He could see that the wound was not serious, but it brought to mind something that he had heard the Tau'ri say on many occasions when someone received a slight injury.
It was perfect. He felt he had to seize the opportunity.
"Allow me to kiss it better, Colonel Carter," he said. Before she was able to react, he cupped her face in his hands and leaned down to gently kiss her mouth.
Her initial surprise and confusion gave way to pleasure as he slowly licked along her lips, slipping inside the moment she opened them in a slight gasp.
The kiss was all that he had dreamed about and more. She gave no sign that she wished him to stop, snaking her arms around his back as he explored her mouth. If he believed in the Tau'ri's heaven, he knew that this was how it would be.
By the time they parted, he had committed every part of her beautiful mouth to his memory and left her sufficiently breathless. He moved his hands to her shoulders so that he would be ready to hold her up if she started to fall. "Did I succeed?" he asked.
Samantha took a deep breath and licked her lips. "Well," she said, "that was one amazing kiss, Teal'c, but... usually 'kiss it better' means you kiss the actual wound."
Teal'c could not prevent a sly smile from gracing his lips. "My apologies," he said. He took her injured arm and raised it to his lips, maintaining eye contact with her as he kissed it gently.
Samantha grinned. "You knew that, didn't you?"
Teal'c cocked his head to one side and gave her a slight bow. "Indeed. Good afternoon, Colonel Carter." He folded his hands behind his back and walked away with his head held high. He knew that even if that would be the only kiss they would share, he would cherish the memory of it for the rest of his life.
Still, some part of him felt that perhaps all was not yet lost. His hope now lay in the fact that she had not pushed him away.