Broken Wings Chapter 1: Prologue: Of breaking one's wings, a stargate: sg-1 fanfic

Title:Broken Wings

Summary: It's been nearly 11 years since the Tau'ri defeated the Goa'uld - 19 years after SG-1 set their first step through the Gate. Life is calm and cozy, but fate's already waiting to drop the other shoe and throw our favorite team in a new kind of adventure.

Season: future

Spoiler: Spoiler up to Season 8

Pairing: S/J, Sam/Pete, Teal'c/Ishta, other pairings

Type: Angst, AU, Adventure/ Action, Romance, Drama

Warning: Language; Major Character Death; Mention of suicide; oh yeah, techno babble... I thought you might want to know

Archive: SJD, yes; Heliopolis, my site, anyone else, please lemme know.

Author's Note: I started writing it waaaayyyy before 'Threads' aired. Ya know, when we were still praying to TPTB. And I've never been to Jackson. Heck, I've never been to the US at all. Sorry if I got the town or the countryside wrong. And I'm no physicist. Everything I know is just from some reading for interest, so... sorry again if I got it wrong. Anyhow, hope you'll like it. If so, tell me. If not, tell me as well. No feedback and no contact make me go nuts. So, if ya wanna save me...

Many, many special thanks to my wonderful betas Kelley2 and Lori. This story is so much better because of you two.

Disclaimer: Not mine, just toying with them. I promise to be good and hand 'em back, hopefully undamaged. They'll be home before the curfew. No one ever gave money to me. Song's not mine, too. And I used it without permission. No copyright infringement intended. These other guys own everything, I own nothing. Ahh, except this story's original characters. They're all mine.

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Baby don't understand
Why we can't just hold on
To each other's hands

This time might be the last
I fear unless I make it all too clear
I need you so

Take these broken wings
And learn to fly again
And learn to live so free
And when we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up
And let us in
Take these broken wings

Baby I think tonight
We can take what was wrong
To make it right

Baby it's all I know
That you're half of the flesh
And blood makes me whole
Need you so

Take these broken wings
And learn to fly again
And learn to live so free
And when we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up
And let us in
Take these broken wings
You got to learn to fly
And learn to live so free
And when we hear the voices sing

Let us in
Let us in

Baby it's all I know
That you're half of the flesh
And blood makes me whole
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah so

Mr. Mister - 'Broken Wings'

--- --- Prologue: Of Breaking One's Wings --- ---

His gaze wandered over the even surface of the frozen lake. Carefully, he checked whether the ice would be thick enough to support his weight. Taking first one, then two steps away from the shore, he found himself fully standing on the layer of frozen water. While taking deep breaths, he scanned the vicinity of the lake. This was one of the bigger ones in the area. His pond was perfect for fishing, especially with the lack of fish therein, but unfortunately a bit too small for hockey, unlike this lake. This one was big enough.

Nearly slipping on the ice, he made his way over to the shore, where his skates and stick were waiting for him. How long had it been since he had done this the last time? That had been before. Before he had moved to Minnesota five years ago. Before his world had crushed around him. Before.

He had persuaded the guys to spend their team night out at the rink. Even though he had, by then, already been a general and no more an official part of SG-1, the team had tried to involve him whatever they did. But he usually still felt the gap. Suddenly, it seemed, they had laughed at jokes that he didn't understand, even if they tried very hard not to let him feel it. Like the day they had gone skating.

Daniel had been astoundingly good at it, while Teal'c had chosen to watch them. His feet had never left the solid rock he had been standing on. The Jaffa's behavior that night had provided ammunition for so many days. A grin twisted his lips as his thoughts drifted to the face of panic that had shot through the stoic warrior at the idea of ice skating. His eyebrows had reached a record height, the usually calm eyes dancing in fear.

Another picture popped into his head and the incipient smile died immediately. Carter: her cheeks red from cold and excitement, her blue eyes sparkling in anticipation. Somehow his chest seemed too small for his lungs to breathe, his heart hammering against the restraints of his ribcage. Her face changed and became a vision of the last time he had seen her, making it even harder for him to breathe. As usual, the silent plea in her eyes, begging him to stay, turned his mood into something dark and dangerous.

He could still remember this feeling from the days before Abydos. Though he hardly remembered the days themselves, he could still recall darkness. Everything had drifted by in a blur, like the first year in Minnesota had. Occasionally, he still slipped into the old pattern but, by now, he knew how to deal with it.

The look on her face when he left was something to think of through cold, lonely nights with a bottle of good whiskey to keep him company… but not for bright winter mornings with open ice. He pushed the thought away. Quick fingers fastened his skates and soon he took the first steps onto the ice. The soft drifting on the ice and the cold wind helped to scare away those moody thoughts that waited threateningly at the dark corner of his mind. Skating over the smooth surface, he moved with an ease that surprised even him.

His hockey stick in hands, he circled the length and width of the lake. The freeing feeling reminded him of why he loved hockey so much. Skating had always reminded him of flying, its speed the closest thing he figured he could come to his wish of becoming a pilot back in the days of his youth, when he had spent each vacation at his grandfather's cabin.

"Jack!"

Jeremy was standing at the shore, waving in Jack's direction. The brand new skates were hanging loosely over his shoulder, anticipation written over his face. The boy's father had died a few years ago and his mother would have died along with him if she could. She had tried. Last year, Jeremy had found her, the thin skin of her wrists cut open. She had survived and was now living in a place where skilled people took care of her.

So, somehow, Jack had adopted the kid. Maybe it was the other way around but, to be honest, Jack didn't care. The kid was great, a genius. His knowledge some years senior to his age, yet he possessed the undeniable talent to get himself into trouble wherever he went. Jeremy was probably the only reason why he hadn't gone nuts before now.

Grinding his blades against the surface, small pieces of ice arced skywards as Jack skidded to a perfect hockey stop. A strange cracking noise emerged from the ice below him and Jack felt his heart skipping a beat. He knew the sound of breaking ice. He opened his mouth to shout a warning to Jeremy but, before he was able to do anything, the ice gave way beneath him, his weight pulling him down into the dark waters.

Shock and cold made the blood rush through his veins. Fighting down the first impulse to head towards the surface, he tried to stay calm. He needed to find the hole which he had broken through just seconds ago. He couldn't have gone far; there was no current in the lake to push him away from it. Focusing his eyes on the ice blanket above him, he could see nothing else. Tiny bubbles caught in the ice reflected what little light shone through. Rising to the layer of ice, he felt his way around but the hole was gone.

His lungs were starting to burn, consciousness slowly fading into darkness. And suddenly, he understood. This was it. The End. This time there would be no sarcophagus, no Asgard, no Carter to save him. Carter. Her smiling face popped up in front of his eyes. The smile spread warm rays through him as if the sunlight had suddenly melted the ice and the lake's temperature had risen some sixty degrees. And, then, there was nothing. Just warmth and light.

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