Transferral by Sesa Woruban

Author's Notes: Ah, another incredibly short fic courtesy of Sesa Woruban Productions. Having a bad day and haven't written fic for a *long* time. Have attempted to kill two birds with one zat. Feedback would be loved, thought about and replied to. By the way, I'm not too enamoured with the name so if you can think of something better, that'd be great!

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He didn't know long they'd been there, him watching her as she knelt looking at the dead body of Captain Samantha Carter. Torn between a typical flippant comment and a need to say something important, nothing came out at all. Not for the first and probably not the last time, he found himself speechless in her presence.

How did she always manage to do this to him? Was it *because* he... he... shit, because he loved her or *why* he did? As usual, he realized that they'd found themselves in a situation where words just weren't any good. Instead, he just did what felt right, expressing the feelings he could never say in action instead.

He held his hand out and waited.

Eventually, she glanced up at it and he could see her eyes were a little bright as she returned her gaze to study herself lying dead on the floor. He couldn't imagine what she was thinking and with nothing else to do, he almost pulled away. Perhaps sensing his preparation, she simply took his hand and slowly stood up, maybe needing the mental support more than the physical. As she rose, her eyes moved from the face of her counterpart to their hands, up his arm and to his face. He wouldn't realize it until he sighed as she let go, but he'd been holding his breath since he'd moved.

"Thanks."

Thanks? For what? He'd done nothing, said nothing. He was interrupted by her voice, a new strength in it.

"Teal'c."

"Yeah."

He followed behind her as she walked down the corridor towards the throne room. She didn't look back once. He couldn't say the same himself and in a pathetic - even by his standards - attempt at deluding himself, he turned around to watch her six... and the form on the floor.

He scanned the face, not looking for life but trying to find something... anything... in her death, something he could use to divorce this being from the real Carter. His mind flip-flopped through a dizzying mix of emotions. It was mourning the terrifying loss of one his closest friends and even lover in another life, while attempting to rejoice that the real one was walking behind him as capable, alive and - hell - as beautiful as ever.

~FINIS~