Rating: PG
A/N: This is kind of weird - please read the background or you'll be completely lost. Well, maybe not completely lost, but it'll help.
******Background: Set after our Jack O'Neill gets displaced in an Alternate Reality by accident - I'm going on the basis that there's more than one way to jump realities, be it by another alternate reality mirror or by some fluke of the Stargate. Anyway, the hows not important (hey, nice way to avoid a plot complication). He is returned home, thanks to Dr Sam Carter, but his introduction has an impact on Sam in particular and after he leaves she goes on a little trip....******
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The road was appalling - not designed for nice, shiny new city cars like Sam's. She winced each time she heard the ptwang of grit flicking out from under her tires and hitting her paint job, her teeth clattered together as the car went over, through and around holes and pits in the road.
Road was an overstatement, she decided. Track would have been more appropriate.
Her directions had told her there was a place she could park her car and as she rounded a bend at the inconceivably low speed she was forced to drive at, she spotted the patch of scrub he'd mentioned. Checking her mirror in case anyone was behind her, she indicated unnecessarily and pulled off the track. With a sigh at the smoothness of the grass now beneath her tires, Sam pulled to a halt.
This was a really dumb idea.
Almost as if it was agreeing with her, her cell phone started its chant from the back seat where she had tossed it. She glanced over her shoulder resentfully, and ignored it as she had done the last seven times it had rung that day. She'd made the mistake yesterday of actually picking it up and had argued feverishly on the phone for a good hour in the parking lot of some café.
Grabbing her bag from the passenger seat, she opened her car door and stepped onto the grass with a definite squelch.
'' Thank God for combat boots,'' she muttered, shaking her head and standing up. She'd been warned to dress appropriately - with unnerving accuracy he'd told her what to wear exactly, picking out items from her wardrobe that he hadn't technically seen. At least not in this reality. Pale blue jeans were a must, he'd said, a slight smile about his face. The ones with the embroidered cherry on her back pocket.
She'd asked him why it mattered what pair of jeans she wore and he'd blushed.
Then she'd got it. It was funny really - she'd been going to throw those jeans away because they were too snug and she was feeling a tad too old for them. Now she was seeing them from a completely different light.
He'd also requested a white T-shirt, so long as she wore a white bra underneath. At this point, she'd hit him on the arm and he'd changed his suggestion to her pale blue T-shirt, with the little navy zip-up sweater, the one with the hood.
It was into the pockets of this sweater that Sam shoved her chilly hands. The weather was slowly warming up, but it was still early in the morning so the air was just the wrong side of fresh. Trudging carefully back to the track, Sam took in her new surroundings. Trees, lots of trees. She breathed in deeply, feeling the good air clear her lungs. She'd been stuck inside that mountain for too long - months of ending the war with the Goa'uld and occasionally being zapped off to help the Asgard with more 'stupid ideas'.
But it was done now.
Done and gone. The systems lords had fallen. The replicators were on the run.
Sam stopped in the middle of the track and let herself grin. Seeing that nobody was around, she didn't think it too bizarre to do a little joyful dance. It wasn't as if she'd been able to celebrate completely - getting the wrong reality Colonel John O'Neill back home last week, and then following his orders and driving out to Minnesota, hadn't exactly been the perfect circumstances for going out and getting completely drunk with the rest of her co-workers.
She kept on walking.
The cabin was the only one along this stretch of the lake, at least it had been in his reality. He'd been extending it recently, added another bedroom, a second bathroom. When she'd asked why, he'd simply smiled and shook his head. Just someone he wanted to come fishing with him, that was all. Didn't want her to worry about... things.
'' Ah,'' she'd said knowingly. '' *Her*.''
'' Yeah,'' he'd said. '' Her.''
Sam wrapped her arms about her torso, smiling dreamily. To be honest, doing this kind of thing wasn't really like her. Going out to the middle of nowhere to meet a man she didn't technically know, who didn't actually know her - it smacked of madness, frankly. But Sam had been overwhelmed the previous week. Colonel Jack O'Neill had knocked her sideways in every way that counted in a very short span of time, even if he couldn't be her Colonel O'Neill. In addition to that, he'd tried to make her understand that the way he was acting wasn't how he acted normally around her, as in, the other her. He'd explained that the honesty he was treating her too was nothing like how he really was - that he felt that just because he was in an alternate reality with an alternate reality Sam Carter, he could tell her things, everything, that he couldn't tell the other Sam.
But he wanted too, that was what struck Sam. He wanted to tell her things. A man like that...
Sam and her ex-husband had been divorced for three months, nearly to the day. Before that, they'd been separated for two years, bitterly so. The love that propelled the first three years of their marriage had faltered, then died completely in the fourth year as Jonas began to resent her importance in the Stargate program. The fact that she was on the flagship team, one of the two civilian doctors, had bugged him. Her close-knit relationship with Lieutenant Colonel Charles Kawalski, Dr Daniel Jackson and the Jaffa, Teal'c, had been the cause of many an argument in the Hanson household. Then when her father had been made a Tok'ra... that had been the final straw for Jonas. He'd moved out, silently raging. Counselling hadn't worked - if anything, it had made things worse, battering Sam's self-confidence as Jonas was allowed to vent his frustration at her lack of 'wifely' skills while all she could come up with was that he was controlling.
Things had begun to seem hopeless. Three months after the divorce, the Goa'uld no longer a threat, Sam had been faced with the prospect of no happy ever afters in her personal life. She was to have her own SG team, her own SG department - all the researching possibilities offered from other worlds. Her career was set for life. If anything, it showed up her complete lack of a personal life still further.
Then he had come through, confused, dazed, frustrated. She'd liked him immediately, liked the way he looked, liked the way he wasn't quite the perfect soldier, loved his sense of humour. Kawalski knew and respected him, which further raised his stock in Sam's eyes. Daniel knew him too - this was Jack O'Neill, he'd informed Sam proudly.
'' *The* Jack O'Neill?' Sam had responded, answering the Colonel's smile with one of her own.
'' You don't know me?'' He'd blinked in surprise - as if the concept was beyond him.
Sam had shook her head slowly. '' Only the stories Kawalski tells when he's drunk.''
'' Hey! I'll have you on cooking detail for the next month!''
The Jack O'Neill had looked around at them, then lifted a finger accusingly. '' You're SG-1, aren't you?''
They'd nodded. Okay, three of them had nodded, Teal'c had simply half-bowed.
'' Weird. Where I come from, I'm the CO of SG-1.'' He smiled at Kawalski evilly.
'' Don't go getting any ideas.'' Charlie clapped Sam on the back affectionately. '' Sam'll get you home, won't you?''
A little embarrassed at her CO's never ending belief in her abilities, Sam looked at the floor.
'' Am I alive in this reality?''
'' Uh, yeah.'' Kawalski laughed. '' This time of year, you'll be in Minnesota.''
'' Oh. In that case, Carter'd better hop on it or I'll be facing,'' he scrunched up his face suddenly, '' entrophic... cascade... failure.''
She'd raised her eyebrows at that and started her explanation before Kawalski had asked for one. '' Cellular entrophic cascade failure, sir. The increased entropy generated by both of them existing in the same reality can cause a kind of... temporal distortion.''
Kawalski looked at her like she'd grown another head. Then he appealed to O'Neill. '' Do you understand what she says?''
But the Colonel was already looking at her, the expression on his face softer. '' You don't know me in this reality, then. Not at all?''
She blushed a little at his attention. '' No, Colonel, I don't.''
'' I'm Jack, then. Can I call you Sam?''
The cabin was coming into view as Sam walked down the track. The trees were thinning out and between them she could catch glimpses of the lake he'd told her so much about. The fishless lake that he fished in at every chance he could get.
There was a figure on the edge of the water, too slim to be an adult. Charlie O'Neill, she guessed. The young boy who had accidentally shot and killed his mother with his father's sidearm eight years before. In the other reality, Charlie had shot himself, sending his parents into months of grief that resulted in the Colonel going on a suicide mission to destroy Ra. The ghastly look on his face had been enough to tell Sam that this tragedy had never left him.
As she approached, the boy turned around, revealing slightly too long hair, drooping over his forehead, and long arms and legs encased in baggy denim shorts and a ratty old T-shirt with a sports team scrawled across the front. Probably a hockey team, Sam thought, though she had little knowledge of the sport herself. He looked gangly and unsure of himself, broad shoulders but not enough bulk to yet carry it off. She imagined he still had some growing to do as well, though he was nearly her height.
Spotting her, he called out in a slightly panicked voice, '' Dad!''
This was it, Sam realised. She was standing on someone else's land, trying to meet a stranger, and this was the moment it fell apart.
On the up side, he was a stranger. If he told her to get lost, she could leave and never see him again.
On the down side, she thought it might just kill her. She was half in love with this man already.
A man stepped around the cabin, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Sam let out a tight, controlled breath as the sight of him sent shudders through her insides. He'd been attractive in his uniform - the other Jack O'Neill. This Jack O'Neill... well... yum.
'' Car break down?'' He was wiping his hands with a rag, then he dropped it onto an outside table, stepping forwards with his hands hooked into his back pockets.
It was on the tip of tongue to nod; it would make the most sense, after all. But she couldn't bring herself to lie. She shook her head.
This seemed to amuse him. '' Out for a walk? You'll find the main road is that way.'' He pointed back the direction she came.
Sam shook her head again. She turned her head to look at her bag and began to fumbled for the catch.
'' Charlie, go inside,'' he said sharply.
She glanced up at the tone in his voice. '' Oh, no, I'm just... getting my card out.'' She slid one of the white cards from a special pocket, handed it out to him as behind him his son ran into the house as ordered. '' I work on the Stargate project.''
Jack O'Neill frowned. '' I'm retired,'' he said defensively.
'' I'm not in the Air Force,'' she said, laughing slightly. '' I'm a civilian scientist.''
He walked forwards, unaware that his son was now standing at the window inside, his nose pressed to the glass, watching her with unashamed curiosity. Taking her card from her outstretched fingers, he read it swiftly. '' Dr Carter, what are you doing here?''
Sam decided her best bet would be honesty. As honest as she could get, at least. '' I just... wanted to meet you.''
He blinked. '' You wanted to meet me?''
'' Yeah. I know it sounds crazy... actually, it is slightly crazy, but I do have an explanation for it. Only it's classified.'' She made a face - never had those words sounded more crass than they did now. '' If you want to check up on me, you can call Kawalski.''
Jack looked down at the card again. '' You're Sam?''
This time it was her turn to be surprised. '' Charlie's spoken about me?''
'' Said you were his number one geek.'' This time she was rewarded by a half smile.
Sam grinned, then laughed. '' Sounds like Charlie, all right.'' She shook her head, trying to be weary of him, but failing miserably. '' Though he hasn't called me 'geek' in months.'' They'd been too busy being at war for the usually quite relaxed atmosphere of SG-1 to interfere with work.
'' I guess that last time I spoke to him was about a year ago. He got awful quiet. He's... all right?''
Realising what he might be thinking, Sam hurried to reassure him, her hand going out naturally and touching the back of his wrist. '' Oh, yeah, he's fine.'' Her eyes flicked to the skin-to-skin contact, at the warmth she felt under her fingertips, and she drew her hand back. '' And Daniel, too,'' she added helpfully.
'' Daniel?''
Sam paused. '' Uh-oh.''
'' Daniel? Daniel *Jackson?*''
Well, that was several stages of stupid, she thought, closing her eyes. The other Jack had known about Daniel - they were best friends, had been best friends before what Jack had cheerfully called the 'jellyfish event' occurred. This Jack, the real Jack - at least for her - had left Daniel Jackson on Abydos. This Jack had refused to un-retire, refused the chance to join the Stargate programme. He didn't know that the Stargate was working.
'' Doc, I think you just did something stupid.''
'' Oh yeah.''
He chuckled, the warmth of it filtering through her senses until she was able to open her eyes. '' The Stargate was unburied then.''
Hey, they were miles away from civilisation. The man knew a considerable amount anyway...
Oh yeah, there was a good reason for Sam not to have joined the Air Force.
'' Yeah.''
'' Daniel came back.''
'' Yeah.''
'' Nice of him to call.''
'' I imagine he was ordered not to,'' Sam sighed deeply. '' Heck. Six years of complete secrecy and I blew it in one fell swoop. My dad would be so impressed.''
He looked a little confused, understandably.
'' My dad's an Air Force general. Or he was. Now he lives off-world.''
'' On Abydos?''
'' No... *Dammit!*''
He laughed at her again. Laughed so hard he had to bend at the waist. '' Shit, Doc, I'm surprised you lasted six years.''
'' It's not fair. There are extenuating circumstances.'' Namely that she'd been talking to a much more informed Jack O'Neill only four days previously. '' You, at least, know more than the average person. Even if you didn't know that for the past six years we've been on the edge of total take-over by the Goa'uld system lords.''
As she'd suspected, that shut him up completely.
'' It's all right,'' she assured him, folding her hands around her chest. '' We defeated the system lords. Now. Earth is free from parasite oppression. You know, your son is going to fall through that window any moment now and land in the water barrel.''
Jack turned and looked at his son. He grinned. '' You wanna meet him?'' He didn't wait for Sam to respond, instead gestured for his son to come outside.
But Charlie O'Neill shook his head tightly and stepped back from the window, disappearing out of sight.
Wincing slightly, Jack turned back to her. '' He's quite shy, particularly around... women. It's that age, you know.''
Sam nodded understandingly. '' Doesn't take after his father, then,'' she said.
His eyebrows shot up. '' I guess. Kawalski been telling you stories?''
She shook her head. '' No. I met another you four days ago, that's all.'' Hell, why not go for the rest of it? She'd dug her grave already. '' Has it got any fish in it?'' she said, nodding towards the lake.
'' No. What?''
She was enjoying herself so much so she turned and walked towards the water. '' Alternate reality you. Trust me, it's not the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me in the last six years. But it came close. In his reality, he was still in the Air Force, on SG-1, which is the flagship team. Working side by side with me, Daniel and Teal'c.''
'' Okay, this is getting weird...''
'' You've seen weird before, Colonel.''
'' Yeah, and I was working on forgetting all about it!'' he exclaimed, rubbing a hand on top of his head and ambling towards her again.
'' Well.... tough.''
'' This other O'Neill... he made you want to meet me?''
'' Kinda. Well, actually, he kind of... sent me here. Even told me what to wear.'' She looked down at herself critically, noticed she had mud splash on the back of her jeans. '' Gave me directions, told me where to park my car. Oh, and I have a letter for you.'' She went to open her bag, noticed he fidgeted nervously when she did so, so she thought she'd leap this particular obstacle effectively. She tugged the bag off her shoulder and handed it entirely to him. '' Here, you take it out. I don't carry a gun, only use one off-world if Kawalski makes me. I prefer zats, anyway, because at least they stun first, kill second and completely obliterate last.''
Rather than take her word for it, he took the bag and looked through it, pulling out her purse, the receipts she kept in a messy bundle at the bottom, the gum packet, car keys. Eventually, he pulled out the letter - which had, typically, found its way to the bottom, and as he did so, something gold, glinting fell out onto the ground.
They both looked at it.
'' Most people wear them,'' he said casually.
She swallowed. '' Not when they're divorced.''
Jack bent down and picked it up, fingered it lightly before handing it back to her.
Sam looked at it in the palm of her hand for a moment. She remembered Jonas's smile as he slid the ring down her wedding finger, she remembered the photographer crouching down out of the corner of her eye. She remembered the tears in her father's eyes, and the fact that Mark hadn't come. '' I don't know why I keep it,'' she told him.
'' For the good times.''
That rang true, certainly. She looked up at him through his eyelashes. '' Do you still have yours?''
'' My wife died.''
'' I know.''
His smile was small, bitter. '' He tell you that?''
Sam paused. '' No. His son shot himself that day. Charlie died in that Jack's reality. He and Sara never recovered - they got a divorce a few months after he joined the SGC.''
They stood there, then. Jack O'Neill listened to the quiet, holding the letter in his hand and looking down at it while he considered that particular variation on his life. '' That's why he joined the programme, then,'' he said eventually, turning the letter over in his hands. '' Because he had no one.''
'' I guess.''
Half turning, Sam looked once more at the wedding ring in her hand. There had been good times, no doubt about it, but in the end all that was left was the feeling of bitterness, residual anger and failure. There was no reason for her to keep it anymore. No reason at all.
So she threw it in the lake.
After the ripples had died down, he asked her a question: '' Have you had breakfast?''
She dragged her eyes from the lake and instead looked at the letter she had refused to peek into over the two-and-a-half day journey. '' You're not going to open it?''
'' You've not read it? It's not sealed.''
'' Yeah, I know, but it's not addressed to me.'' She hopped from one foot to the other. '' He damn well wrote it in my lab, too. Right in front of me.''
She got the full benefit of the Jack O'Neill grin then. White teeth, tanned face, crinkled eyes. '' What a bastard.''
'' I figured he knew me really, really well.''
'' Really, really well?''
The implication was clear. '' Oh no! They worked together. He was her CO. She was in the Air Force. A Major, actually.'' Sam started blushing. '' At least, if that's what you meant, which you might not have. If it wasn't what you meant...''
He waggled the letter at her warningly, his face set in a way that was similar to the expression Kawalski wore when she tried to explain things to him. '' You're babbling, Doctor.''
'' I know. Can I read it? You can't just wave it in my face like that....'' She reached out to grab the letter, but he snatched it back with his deceptively quick reflexes.
Agonisingly slowly, a small, satisfied smile quirking his mouth, he pulled the flap from the envelope and slid the folded sheet of paper out. She watched fervently as he unfolded the paper and his eyes started skimming the words. He didn't look up at her until he'd finished, then, when he did, it was a long, searching look that took her in from the bottom of her shoes to the top of her head.
Then he smiled.
Sam's imagination went into overdrive, and she blushed. '' What did it say, then? Did it explain... everything?''
'' Some things.'' He shoved the letter back into the envelope, folded it, and put it in a back pocket. '' He left out others for me to find out.''
Well. That could mean anything. '' Can I read it yet?''
'' Ah, ah, ah, Doctor! We'll have plenty of time for that later. Come on. Charlie and I were about to have breakfast.''
He started towards the house and Sam hovered uncertainly behind. This had gone well. In fact, it had gone better than she could have possibly imagined. For one thing, he hadn't told her to get lost. Nor had he phoned the police.
'' You will let me read it though? Won't you?'' she called, wandering after him slowly.
He chuckled and glanced over his shoulder at her. '' Maybe. So - where's your mole?''
She was speechless.
The chuckle turned into a laugh and he stepped through into the cabin. '' Somehow, I knew that would shut you up.''
And, still speechless, Sam followed him inside.