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Having meals with her team in the cafeteria was something Camila always cherished, despite not having to eat herself. It was a ritual, one of the most important social gatherings and Camila was glad that she was included. Especially now, with Yasmine just having come back from her journey across all the different alternate universes. Camila still felt bad for not having been able to figure out how to get Yasmine home earlier. But at least the right Yasmine, the Yasmine who belonged in this universe, was here now, just having sat down and looking contemplative. She didn't start to eat when everyone else did, clearly being deep in thought.
After a few moments, Ava, who was sitting next to Yasmine, frowned a little and then bumped Yasmine with her shoulder, grinning at her and tilting her head towards the untouched food in front of Yasmine.
"Got used to better food in the other universes?" Ava asked, a little cheekily but then tilted her head in thought, pulling the edges of her mouth down in contemplation. "I can totally understand that, especially from what you said about that last universe you were in. Having a food fabricator that makes every food you can think of sounds amazing."
"Of course you'd think that," Mary said, amusement in her tone. "We'd never get you out of the cafeteria if we had that here."
Glaring at Mary, Ava still laughed with the others good-naturedly and shrugged.
"Just for the first two weeks until I run out of ideas." Ava grinned again, then turned to Yasmine with a questioning look. Yasmine chuckled a little and picked up her fork.
"I did very much enjoy the food fabricators, yes," Yasmine said, nodding. Ava raised her eyebrows towards Mary in an 'I told you so' fashion. Mary rolled her eyes but grinned good naturedly. Yasmine continued, her voice very soft now. "But I was thinking about how in all those other universes, all of you were right there, by my side. The other Yasmines' sides, I mean. They all found the right people in their lives and it was all of you. No matter if we were a team, a family or a spaceship crew, it was always you. This group. You're my family. No matter where I am."
There was so much awe and love in Yasmine's voice now that everyone around the table had gone completely silent, all of them looking at Yasmine with soft smiles, nodding. Ava put her arm around Yasmine and squeezed a little, smiling at her.
"Yes, we are." Ava looked around the table at everyone, love and awe in her eyes as well. Camila felt happiness swell inside of her at being included. It was still wondrous to her, that Yasmine and the others had accepted her so wholeheartedly into their family, despite what she had done before.
"And we are very happy you're back with us," Shannon said, also smiling at Yasmine, who blushed a little, her eyes shining with happiness.
"Yeah, and none of us would even be here if it wasn't for you," Mary said, making Yasmine scrunch up her brow a little in confusion. Mary shrugged, tilting her head. "If you hadn't figured out the Stargate and come with us on that first mission to Abydos, we would never have met each other. Well, Shannon, Beatrice and I had met already, but who knows if we'd still be stationed together."
Realization dawned on Yasmine's face and she blushed more profusely, looking down at her food.
"Oh. Right, yes. I guess you could say that," Yasmine agreed, still awe but also now a little pride in her voice.
Ava laughed and hugged Yasmine a little from the side. Lilith, who was sitting at Yasmine's other side, put her hand on Yasmine's arm and smiled at her.
"We are all grateful that you helped us find each other," Lilith said, looking at everyone around the table, lingering on Camila with such a soft smile that it made her feel even warmer, smiling back at Lilith happily.
When she looked around, everyone else was also smiling with so much affection that she felt like it didn't matter that she hadn't been there from the beginning, when Yasmine brought everyone else together. Because she had seen Yasmine's memories and the memories of the others, Camila did remember everything about that mission to Abydos as if she had been there herself. It was peculiar, in a way, to know everything about a situation she had not partaken in, but that was what it meant to be a replicator, to absorb knowledge from different sources.
Though, of course, Camila was not reading anyone's mind anymore now. But she still learned from media, from the internet. Smiling to herself as she thought back at those early days, when she learned about what it meant to be human, Camila realized that Yasmine had also been the one to bring her into the team. But then she immediately thought about what had happened afterwards and her face fell. Being reminded of what she had done to Yasmine and Beatrice in her anger, that she had nearly broken them was never easy.
And the last few days had been especially hard, because of that third universe. The Yasmine from that universe where she was a pet calling Camila Mistress and bowing down to her had felt like being punched in the gut. A gut Camila didn't even have, but she still imagined that would be the feeling for a human. She was more than grateful to Lilith and the others for understanding what she needed and staying by her side.
Tuning back into the conversation, Camila chuckled inwardly when Ava tilted her head looking like she was thinking about something very hard.
"Wait, that's true, you all are together because Yasmine. Even Camila is here because Yasmine was the one to say she should come with you. I'm the only one who's not here because of you," Ava said with a little pout.
Camila felt a jolt of pain course through her when Ava mentioned what she had just thought about, how Camila had hurt Yasmine after she had been nothing but kind to her. But that was in the past, right? From Yasmine's and Lilith's faces, which Camila could see very well, sitting opposite of Lilith next to Mary and Shannon, they were also thinking about the past, giving Camila reassuring smiles.
It made the pain Camila felt lessen significantly, instead making the warmth return, especially as she watched as Beatrice put her arm around Ava from her other side, raising her eyebrows and smirking a little.
"But you are here because you decided to be here. You decided to trust us. To trust me," Beatrice said, the last sentence quiet but firm. Ava's face lit up and she nodded, putting her head on Beatrice's shoulder. Gently caressing Ava's back, Beatrice's smile widened. "And that means a lot."
Ava took a deep breath and looked at Beatrice with nothing but love and awe in her eyes.
"It does. Thank you," Ava said, a little breathlessly, kissing Beatrice on the cheek, who looked very happy and a little dazed. Mary cleared her throat, making Beatrice sit up straighter and look a little aghast, while Ava glared at Mary, who just laughed and rolled her eyes.
"Get a room, will you?" Mary said, jokingly. Camila noticed Shannon's eyes shining mischievously right before she smirked at Ava and Beatrice and then leaned towards Mary and kissed her cheek as well, making Mary flounder a little, looking flustered.
Ava laughed loudly and pointed at Mary in triumph.
"Ha! You get a room!"
"We have a very nice room, thank you very much," Mary shot back, not even missing a beat. Yasmine burst out laughing and a moment later, everyone joined in. Camila felt like this was exactly what she had always wanted, what she had hoped for when she had asked Yasmine to take her with them. Looking at Yasmine with a grateful smile, Camila saw that same happiness reflected in Yasmine's eyes, the same contentment to have found her home.
They all continued eating, talking and laughing. When they got up and the others put their trays away, Yasmine asked Lilith to take her tray as well and kept sitting, deliberately holding up Camila, clearly wanting to talk to her alone. The others all got the hint and left the cafeteria together, while Yasmine and Camila kept sitting. For a second, Camila dreaded that Yasmine would be angry with her for some reason but she immediately stopped that train of thought in its tracks. Yasmine had not been angry with her for years and Camila had done nothing to warrant that.
The soft look Yasmine gave her and the way she held out her hand over the table for Camila to take, which she did, calmed Camila's fears. Yasmine leaned closer over the table, her eyes now shining with love and conviction.
"You were there, you know?" Yasmine started, speaking softly, quietly, but also firmly. "In all the universes, you were right there. You were part of the family. My family. I know you know that. And I know, meeting the Yasmine who was a pet was hard on you and me, but it was also intriguing, at least to me. To see a world in which we are lovers, in every sense. In which we love each other and Lilith so deeply."
For a moment, Camila could only stare at Yasmine, at how her eyes were shining with that love. The memory of that third Yasmine was burnt into Camila's mind, the deference with which Yasmine had looked at her, the way she had bowed her head. It had all cut into Camila deeply. But now that Yasmine was speaking about love, Camila also remembered the other parts of it, the parts in which that Yasmine had talked about loving Camila and Lilith, about choosing that life, being happier than she ever had been. As hard as it was for Camila to fathom a world in which Yasmine called her Mistress, it was not wrong that the love that Yasmine had had for the Camila in that world had been quite intriguing.
Furrowing her brows, Camila squeezed Yasmine's hand a little and bowed her head.
"Yes, I understand that." Camila still looked down onto their entwined hands and smiled a little wistfully. "It was hard to see it, yes, to hear her call me Mistress. But you are right. That Yasmine and Camila, they loved each other. They had what we could have had if I didn't…"
Camila trailed off, feeling the urge to cry, as she had many times when she thought about what she had done. She could never forget it or even make the memory fade. Sometimes, Camila wished her brain was working like a human's, making space for newer, happier memories and letting the painful ones fade away. But that would never be the case for her. She would always remember in vivid detail how Yasmine had knelt in front of her, how terrified she had been.
Yasmine squeezing her hand took Camila out of her spiralling thoughts and she dared to look up, only to see Yasmine's face still soft and full of love and affection.
"You can't change what happened, but you know I have forgiven you. Fully. As I said, you are part of my family, in every universe. And I love you, here and now, just the way you are, despite everything you've done to me because of everything you have done since to deserve my love." The smile on Yasmine's face got impossibly softer and she now held out her other hand for Camila to take as well, squeezing both of her hands once she did. "As much as I would love to change what happened, we both learned from it and grew. Together. That is all I could ever wish for. And I am incredibly grateful to have you in my life. Truly."
Camila now couldn't stop herself from letting out a sob from deep inside her, her programming always keen on emulating human emotions, the happiness and relief welling up in her overwhelming. She got up and rounded the table, pulling Yasmine into a tight hug.
"Thank you," Camila whispered and for a long moment, they simply stayed like that, hugging each other tightly and revelling in having found their way back to each other, as hard as it had been.
Yes, Camila was a part of Yasmine's family in every universe. But it worked both ways. In this universe, Yasmine and the others were Camila's family, they had accepted her despite everything she had done and Camila would always cherish that and do everything she could to live up to that gift