Falling Through Grace
by Bren Ren
Category: Romance/Alternate Universe
Summary: The SGC receives very unexpected visitors from a parallel dimension
Disclaimer: Not mine. I'm just playing with them again. I promise to return them in their fully upright positions.
Chapter One
Saving Grace
The temple was quiet and empty. Thick dust had settled on the relics of a long dead civilization. The air, however, still held the choking stench of battle, of death, of smoke, of charred flesh. From one corner, the walls began to hum, then shimmer. A woman materialized into the thick air, holding the hand of a small child.
The woman looked around cautiously, not taking a step until she was certain they were alone. She turned back to the wall, touching three engraved symbols. The humming was silenced. The only sounds in the room were the heavy breathing of the woman and child.
"There was a battle here." Though very young, the little girl spoke with the confident voice of an adult. "But it ended long ago."
"You're right," the woman agreed. Looking around once again at the signs of fierce fighting, she shivered. Clutching the girl's hand a little tighter, she started walking towards an opening to the outside world. "Let's get going. We need to get to the Stargate and dial outta here."
"Home?"
"It will be soon. I hope."
It was a long trek thru a barren wasteland. There were no further signs beyond the temple that there had ever been any civilization. After what felt like days of hiking through sandy dunes, she spotted the Stargate at the top of a low rising hill. Both females' paces increased sharply. When they finally reached the Gate, the woman dropped to the ground beside the DHD.
"Would you like me to dial?" the girl asked.
"No, I will. Just give me a minute." The girl scowled a bit, anxious to leave the desolation behind them. Eager to return to Earth, even though it wasn't going to be quite the same Earth she had left. Feeling tears, she swallowed hard. Crying would certainly not help anything. She looked at her guardian and made a silent vow to never add to the woman's burdens. They had both just lost their entire world, and life as they knew it would never, never be the same.
The woman rose to her feet slowly, leaning heavily on the dialer. She began to enter the address very methodically, and after what felt like hours, the gate whooshed to life. She turned to the girl. "You have the GDO, right?" The girl showed her left arm to her guardian, then pointed it at the open gate. She touched a few buttons, then nodded.
"It appears to have been successful."
"What do you mean, 'appears'?"
"We have received the return signal indicating that the iris is open. However, without a MALP, the only way we'll know for certain is to step through and come out alive on the other side without going SPLAT!!" The girl smiled brightly for her.
"You never cease to amaze me, you know that?"
"That's only because I'm way too smart for my own damn good." That earned a full laugh from the woman, and the girl smiled in pride. "Shall we see what's on the other side?"
The woman nodded. "They're probably getting a bit anxious. Let's go." Hand in hand they stepped over the threshold and into their future.
In the control room, the Commander of the SGC paced impatiently. It had been almost five minutes since the gate activated and they received SG-1's GDO-signal. Since the whole of SG-1 was in the room with him, he was more than curious, and on the verge of being seriously annoyed.
"All right, I think we've waited long enough. Close the -" Before he could finish the command, two figures stepped through. A sharp gasp echoed loudly through the control room as each recognized the intruders.
"Oh my God!" Samantha Carter was the first to speak, and the first to take action, nearly sprinting out of the booth and down to Gateroom. She ran up the ramp, only barely registering General O'Neill's order to the SF's to stand down, nor his curt dismissal. When she reached them, she pulled the woman into a close embrace, one that was as fiercely returned. "Janet. Welcome home." Sam pulled back and looked at her friend.
"All right, hate to break up the party here, ladies, but... Just who the hell are you? Because the Janet Fraiser we all know and love is dead." Even Jack O'Neill winced at his own harsh tone.
Samantha withdrew from the embrace and looked down to the child. "And who is she?"
"I am Dr Janet Fraiser. But you're absolutely right that I'm not the same Janet Fraiser that you know."
"So we're talking, what? Another one of those Alternate Universe things?" He turned back to Carter. "We did destroy that mirror, right?"
"Yes, Sir, but there's no way of knowing how many others there are out there. They could outnumber Stargates, for all we know."
"You'd think we'd have stumbled onto more of them if that were the case," said Daniel. He was still standing at the bottom of the ramp. Staring openly at their lost-friend. When she turned to look at him, he suddenly felt as though the floor disappeared beneath him, and he was falling, falling fast.
"Daniel?" Janet walked down the ramp, the girl still holding her hand tightly. "Daniel, it's..." She swallowed hard. "It's wonderful to see you again." She reached out with her free arm, snaked her hand behind his neck and pulled him close. "Thank God you're alive." She pulled him as close as humanly possible, planting a hard kiss on his startled lips. It only took about a half a second before he was responding in kind, much to the surprise of his teammates.
Jack turned to his second in command. "I didn't know they had a... a .. thing.. You?"
Sam shook her head. "No clue. I know her death hit Daniel especially hard, but... I didn't think.. this."
The two parted breathless. Janet took an unsteady step back. The girl at her side tugged her arm. Janet looked down at her, then to Sam.
"So who's your little friend?"
"You don't know her?" Sam shook her head. "This is Grace. She's... she's your daughter, Sam. Or, rather, my Sam's daughter." She turned back to Jack. "Sam's and Jack's."
Sam and Jack exchanged surprised glances, then Sam knelt down in front of the girl. "Hi, Grace." The girl remained close to Janet, but she gave Sam a small smile. "How old are you?"
"I'll be five in December." Grace looked sternly at the woman who looked just like her mother. "You're not really my mother. Do you have a daughter like me?"
Sam shook her head slowly. "No. I'm sorry."
"Well that's good then, because I won't have to worry about entrophic cascade failure. I can stay here, can't I?"
Sam looked up to Jack, who was frowning until he caught her glance. He then looked back down at "their" daughter, a look of longing fleeting through his eyes. "Yeah, sure. Of course." He looked back over to Janet.
Sam followed his gaze. "Sir, there is probably no risk to Janet, either, since... since our Janet isn't alive."
"Right. So I guess you're both stayin'." He looked back down to Grace and Sam. His family, but only in another life. He released a heavy sigh. "Daniel, you wanna go scrounge up some quarters for them? We'll get you settled in, then you can tell us what you're doing here. Uh, Daniel? Yoo-hoo! Spacemonkey!! Daniel??"
The archaeologist was still standing wide-eyed and open-mouthed, staring at Janet. When Jack waved a hand in front of his, he finally snapped out of his trance. "What? Oh, quarters. Right. Umm, why don't you two come with me."
"No!" The sudden shout came from Grace, who had thrown her arms around Sam's neck. "I wanna stay with you. Please. I know you're not really my mom, but you are. You look just like her, and you sound just like her, and...please don't make me leave you. Not yet. Please!"
Sam stood, lifting the child with her. She looked to Jack for direction.
"Go ahead. And see to it that they get over to the Infirmary for the works." Sam nodded, and the four of them left the Gateroom, leaving Jack and Teal'c alone.
"So. You haven't said a word, big guy. What's up?"
"I have a bad feeling about this." Jack's frown deepened. "Many changes are beginning, and though they seem good now, I fear they will not remain that way."
"Only time will tell, I'm afraid. Ya know, I think I'm beginning to really hate these alternate universe thingy's."