Lady of the Gate

begun: 19-03-06 | completed: 17-04-10 | revised: 03-07-13

SUMMARY: An unknown catalyst on P5X-878 irrevocably alters the life of one General Jack O'Neill. And the fallout will touch everyone else till nothing is the same any more...

WARNINGS: Angst, AU (deviates after Endgame), Drama, Romance

FEATURED PAIRINGS: Sam/Pete, Sara/Michael

SEASON: Season Eight

SPOILERS: Anything up to 819 Moebius Part 2 is fair game, especially 106 Cold Lazarus, 215 The Fifth Race, 318 Shades of Grey, 405 Divide and Conquer, 410 Beneath the Surface, 415 Chain Reaction, 606 Abyss, 713 Grace, 715 Chimera, 721 The Lost City, 722 The Lost City Part 2, 801 New Order, 806 Affinity and especially every episode from Gemini to Moebius Part 2, with a bit nicked from 901 Avalon

DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime, Sci/Fi Channel, MGM Television, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Film Corp. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author.

THANKS: A big thank you to Karen Joy who worked hard as my Beta on this chapter.

xxx

Theme Song:

again

— キロロ [Best Friend (CD single), track 2]

xxx

"I know, General, it's all fun and games before someone breaks a nail."

—Jack, "Urgo"

ONE: The Woman in the Infirmary

SGC

September 30th, 2004

2130 hrs

Dr. Brightman scowled at the chart in front of her and flicked through several sheets of paper. She rubbed her forehead in an attempt to ward off the oncoming headache caused by the latest problem brought through the gate for her. She had already placed a call with Lieutenant General Hammond in Washington and said General was now en route to the SGC in Colorado to take command of the facility until the current problem could be rectified.

The problem for Brightman was that she wasn't sure that she could solve the situation and restore the status quo. If she couldn't then things at the SGC were going to be in great upheaval. The root of the problem was one Brigadier General Jonathan O'Neill, who was currently lying asleep in a gurney across from Brightman's office. The gurney was shielded from the view of everyone by a thin plastic curtain, but it was enough to keep anyone from seeing the latest set of circumstances to befall the current CO of Stargate Command.

Sighing heavily Dr. Brightman left her small office and slipped behind the curtain to look at the sleeping General. SG-5 had returned two weeks ago from a survey of some ruins on P5X-878 with the belief that the ruins held technology left behind by the Ancients, builders of the stargates. Less than twenty-four hours ago, the General had accompanied SG-5 back to P5X-878 in order to provide his 'expert' knowledge of Ancient technology to help with a better understanding of the ruins.

That SG-5 had returned early wasn't a huge surprise given how things never went smoothly when the General was off world. When Brightman and her staff had arrived at the gate room in order to receive possible casualties they were surprised to see SG-5 hurry through the gate carrying what she figured was the body of the General. What they deposited on the waiting gurney was instead a beautiful young woman wearing the General's BDUs.

Brightman looked over the sleeping form of the young woman — the General, she corrected herself. The blood tests had confirmed that other than being of the wrong gender and a lot younger, the woman that SG-5 had brought back with them was General O'Neill. In order to deal with this strange situation Brightman had had SG-5 confined to base and sequestered by themselves in order to prevent rumours getting out of hand. She figured that General Hammond would know how to deal with them once he arrived in an hour's time.

The SGC chief medical officer had also sworn her staff to silence and had the curtain put up round the gurney in order to keep potential busybodies from gawking. Brightman rubbed her forehead again, wondering how her predecessor had managed to keep up with the chaos that the General seemed to generate. With nothing more to be done till further test results came back and General Hammond arrived, the Doctor went in search of coffee.

xxx

General George Hammond stalked down the corridors of the SGC in search of the infirmary. Dr. Brightman's phone call had dragged him away from an important meeting and he had been somewhat put out that she wouldn't — or couldn't — give him any details of the supposed emergency that his successor to the post of SGC's commanding officer was now embroiled in. He was certain that she wouldn't have him out here now unless there was a real problem.

He rounded the corner and entered the infirmary. "Doctor Brightman," he barked.

Dr. Brightman came out from her office with a clipboard in hand. Hammond briefly wondered if she really needed the sheets of paper, or if it was something she did to make herself look important or busy. The Doctor nodded in acknowledgement of Hammond's arrival and began ordering her staff to leave the infirmary. Once they were alone she beckoned Hammond over to the gurney with the curtain around it.

"Doctor Brightman, can you please tell me what it is that O'Neill has done that made you call me and have me travel all this way at this time of night?"

She scowled at Hammond, annoyed that he was questioning her judgement of the situation. "This is a serious problem, General, one that needs your input as to where we go from here."

"And the problem is?"

Brightman gave Hammond a quick run down of SG-5's original expedition to P5X-878 and the subsequent follow up with the General in tow.

"So, what did Jack do? Natives shoot at him? The Goa'uld shoot at him? Some new enemy shoot at him?"

"Take a look for yourself, General," hissed Brightman as she led him behind the plastic curtain.

"It's a sleeping member of SGC personnel, Doctor, what does that have to do with General O'Neill?" asked Hammond pointedly.

Stabbing a pointed figure at the sleeping woman she ground out a reply. "That is General Jack O'Neill!"

Hammond stopped in his tracks and briefly considered that the chief medical officer had lost her mind. He turned his gaze back to the sleeping person once more. The young woman was actually quite beautiful, having a pleasing face with a refined nose and a shock of chestnut brown hair that spilled about her face and down to her shoulders. She was still dressed in BDUs where the tag 'O'Neill' could be clearly read. Taking several steps closer he placed his hands on the raised bar that bounded the sides of the gurney and peered closer.

"You're sure that this is Jack?" He couldn't quite believe that he was asking that question.

Brightman nodded her head and glanced at the notes she carried on her clipboard. "We've sent away for several more tests, the results of which we'll get back tomorrow morning, but at this stage a simple DNA test suggests that she is the General — only female."

"What has been the base reaction to this?" Hammond queried.

Again Brightman outlined quickly what she had done with her own staff and SG-5, recommending that Hammond go and talk to them now and deal with that situation first before returning to the infirmary.

"And SG-1? Do they know?"

"No, Sir," replied Brightman. "They are currently off-world and not due to return for three more days."

Hammond sighed and looked at the sleeping woman. "All right, here's what we will do. Get her into a secure ISO room away from prying eyes and I'll talk to SG-5. No one gets to see her."

xxx

SG-5 as a team looked up as Hammond swept into the secure room. They all stood and snapped to attention with brisk salutes to their senior officer.

"At ease men," Hammond declared as he took a seat with them. "Now, this isn't going to be the official debriefing. We'll do that tomorrow at 0900, barring any further interruptions. But I do need to hear from y'all now, so that I can make decisions on how to handle this situation and get the ball rolling. Would you like to tell me what happened out there?"

Major Hallam, CO of SG-5 nodded and took the lead in answering Hammond's questions.

"Where to, Sir?" asked Hallan as SG-5 and O'Neill came to halt on the small mound of dirt before the stargate on P5X-878.

"Not up to me, Hallan," replied O'Neill as he fished a yo-yo from one of the pockets of his BDUs. "This is SG-5's gig. Go where you want to go, poke whatever you want to poke. I'll stand around and look dashing till you think there is something I might be able to help you with. And I stress might, Hallan. Despite sticking my head twice into those Ancient head-sucky things I still don't have a good grasp on the ins and outs of their society or technology. Wouldn't it have been better if Carter or Daniel had had that blasted Ancient gene instead of me? On second thoughts probably not, as they'd be twice as annoying as they already are when they are on a tear."

"That was quite a speech there, Sir," remarked Hallan with a grin.

"Oyo! Insubordination, even when I'm a General! Does nobody around here do what I tell them?"

Hallan and the rest of SG-5 chuckled as O'Neill petulantly kicked a rock off the approach to the stargate and dug his hands into his pockets, rendering him looking like a five-year-old. It was all an act and SG-5 knew that. O'Neill gave a bark of a laugh and gestured to Hallan to get the expedition underway. Nodding Hallan turned and sent Captain Layton on ahead as point, putting Lieutenant Marks at their six. Hallan, O'Neill and the two other members of SG-5, two scientists named Granger and James, spread themselves out in the centre of the line as the group made their way from the stargate to the ruins some five clicks away.

Once at the ruins the team decided to skip pausing for a snack and instead went straight into their investigations. Hallan and Layton took off to secure the perimeter while Marks kept an eye of Granger and James. O'Neill found himself a comfortable flat surface near one of the ruin walls and lay back, idly playing with his yo-yo to pass the time. While he was welcome on the mission he figured that annoying them as he had once done with Carter and Daniel would not go down so well and was content to leave them to their own devices until he was needed. It may have not been the most stimulating walk off-world, but it was still a damn sight better than doing paperwork.

"What happened?" prompted Hammond.

"Well, Sir, the General managed to fall asleep there before Layton and I came back from our watch. After about three hours we broke for lunch and woke General O'Neill up to join us." Hallan shrugged his shoulders. "Things seemed fine and calm. Granger and James had managed to get quite a bit of work done, but none of it had any relevance to what happened to the General."

Here Hallan turned to look at the pair of scientists in question. They nodded with his assessment of the situation. Nothing they had looked at that morning appeared to having anything to do with what took place next.

"So, how did Jack end up like he is?" Hammond did not like this. The longer this situation dragged on, the more certain it became that no one could solve the problem, and the more likely it was that Jack would have to adapt to what had happened to him or go mad in the process. This was something that Hammond did not want happening to one of the best men he had ever had the privilege to command.

"That's just it, Sir," said Layton picking up where Hallan had left off. "We're not really sure."

Lunch was over. Granger and James were busy comparing notes from the morning's investigations and O'Neill was doing his best to act as if he had no idea what either of them was saying. "Gentlemen!" he shouted.

SG-5 came to a grinding halt in their process of packing up from lunch. O'Neill surveyed the situation. "Small words please."

"Granger and I are more certain than ever that this was an Ancient's outpost, but we've yet to find any indication that any of their technology has survived. I believe that there are further chambers underground that may yield better results, but I've been unable to locate an entrance."

O'Neill held up a hand to forestall any further talking. "The entrance probably isn't here. It's most likely a short distance from the ruins."

SG-5 just stared at their CO. O'Neill tugged at the collar of his shirt and coughed. "Well, anyway, it's not likely you're going to find any doohickeys for me to kill myself with today. So I'm just gonna make my way back to the gate and go home. If you find anything just send word and I'll come running."

"Game on this evening is there, Sir?" inquired Hallan with a barely disguised smile over the General's hockey fixation.

"I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of said game," grinned O'Neill as he stood up from where he had been eating his lunch.

Hallan stepped up to give his CO a handshake. "It's been a blast having you out here, Sir..."

O'Neill was suddenly engulfed in a beam of white light that was sprinkled with notes of yellow light. When the beam snapped off seconds later a young woman with dark hair was in his place, dressed in the General's BDUs. Before Hallan could react the woman had slumped to the ground in a boneless heap, clearly unconscious.

"After that we hightailed it back to the gate, Sir," concluded Layton.

A silence descended on the room as Hammond absorbed the information just provided to him. After a moment he moved and stood. SG-5 copied him. He looked Hallan square in the eye and delivered his verdict. "Here's what is going to happen. SG-5, you are not to breathe a word of what has happened on P5X-878 till I give you the authority, am I clear?"

There was a series of nods and "Yes, Sir!"

"I want you all to get a good night's sleep and be in the briefing room at 0900. You'll be giving me your formal debrief then, minus what has happened to the General. After that I'm sending you back to P5X-878 with another SG team to see if you can work out how to reverse what has happened. Dismissed."

P7X-135

October 1st, 2004

0035 hrs

Lt. Colonel Carter stared at the ring on her finger, rotating her wrist back and forth to watch the diamond sparkle in the light of the campfire at her back. Normally she wore it on her dog tags, but had wanted to see it on her hand again. She looked up into the darkness to see the form of her teammate and friend Teal'c making his way along the camp perimeter as part of his watch. The other member of her team and another very good friend, Daniel Jackson, lay asleep in his tent. He'd get the last watch of the evening.

Casting her gaze back to the ring Carter felt a flush of giddy, happy thoughts at what it represented. She'd taken to heart what her mind had been trying to tell her through her hallucinations onboard the Prometheus almost a year ago and had gone out to get herself a 'life', succeeding beyond her initial imaginings. She now had a fiancé in the form of a cop from Denver, Pete Shanahan, and a wedding to look forward to in six months time.

Thoughts of love caused her mind to flitter back to the feelings she had harboured for her CO when he'd still been a Colonel and herself a Major. Since the Prometheus she'd managed to gain a handle on those emotions and lock them away, slowly suffocating them by not indulging them as she had been wont to in previous years. It had helped that there had been no alternative realities, confession of feelings, or mind stamping taking place in the last four years. By now she had almost managed to convince herself that she'd never really been in love with O'Neill, that her feelings had been some twisted form of hero worship based in part on his reports from the original Abydos mission she had not been a part of.

Thinking about the General prompted Carter to ponder Daniel's comments during their dinner here on P7X-135. He'd remarked that he hadn't talked with Jack outside of the SGC in quite some time and wondered if their friend had been ignoring him. But turning to her own memories, Carter now found that she too hadn't spent any time with their CO outside of the SGC, so if he'd been ignoring Daniel he had been ignoring her also. This was something that Carter didn't feel was in the General's modus operandi, even if he did go out of his way to avoid her 'technobabble' and Daniel's 'waffling'. She'd have to ask Teal'c tomorrow if he was experiencing that same loss of companionship as her and Daniel when it came to the General.

Standing and stretching her legs another thought struck Carter. She couldn't place the last time SG-1 had sat down to a meal in the commissary with their CO. Searching her memories she found she couldn't place the General as having any significant interactions with the three of them, outside mission briefings, since the Asgaard had thawed him out.

Teal'c loomed out of the dark like a silent panther, causing Carter to reach for her P90.

"Did I disturb you, ColonelCarter?"

"No, Teal'c, you didn't. I'm just stretching before I retire."

Teal'c inclined his head in acknowledgement. "May I ask what had you so deep in thought?"

"Just thinking about the General," replied Carter, before blushing when she realised how that sounded. Pushing on in a hurried and high tone she added, "I was thinking about Daniel's comment that he hadn't talked to the General outside of the SGC for some time and I found that I was in the same boat. The last time I had any sort of one-on-one conversation with him was when I told him about my engagement. I was going to ask you tomorrow if you'd had the same experience with the General."

"Indeed. But that is through no fault of O'Neill's."

"It isn't?"

Teal'c shook his head and took a step further into the firelight. "As a whole SG-1 has not made any effort to include O'Neill in any non-SGC based outings since his promotion. This is despite his attempts to remain in touch, as it were, with his former team."

"Are you saying that it's not been the General who has been avoiding us, but that it is us who have been avoiding him?"

"That is what I said. No invitations were extended to O'Neill on our outings to places to eat. Nor have we dropped by his office, as DanielJackson would say, to ask him to join us in the commissary for food."

Carter stared back at the Jaf'fa in shock. Had SG-1 really been ignoring their CO?

"No, I'm sure that we asked him to..." Carter trailed off as Teal'c slowly shook his head.

She found she had to sit down again as a cold fist of horror clawed at her gut. They'd been shutting the General out since his promotion and not once had he called them on it, instead just carrying on with his work — the one thing in the world he had left to him.

The former First Prime of Apophis sat down next to his team leader. "Many of the staff at the SGC have commented that SG-1 has given O'Neill the 'cold shoulder'."

"They have?" was all Carter could squeak out, her voice half an octave higher than usual.

"Not directly to me, Colonel Carter, but I have overheard many conversations on the topic. The fact that, prior to our departure to P7X-135, O'Neill hadn't spent anytime off base in three weeks and SG-1 had had five separate social occasions during that time has not gone unnoticed."

"They must think we're heartless monsters, Teal'c."

"They do not," rumbled Teal'c deep voice. "They consider Daniel a follower, not a leader."

"Meaning?"

"That they believe he leaves the invitations to you and that if O'Neill fails to turn up it is the result of him being unable or unwilling to come, not the lack of an invitation."

"And you?" questioned Carter, not liking where this conversation was going.

"My attempts to include O'Neill in out social outings have been noted by the SGC personnel."

"Your attempts?" Carter cast her mind back and realised that Teal'c had indeed attempted to raise the notion of including the General in many of SG-1's get-togethers, only for her to shoot them down with a variety of reasons. None of which seemed particularly convincing to her now.

Teal'c nodded as he saw Carter recall his attempts. He felt somewhat ashamed that he had not pressed his friend's suit further.

"Me?"

"It has been assumed by many that your relationship with PeteShanahan and your subsequent engagement have absorbed most of your social thoughts in recent months. The base believes that once you have settled into your new routine that invitations to O'Neill will once again be extended."

"I'm not going to wait for things to settle, Teal'c," stated Carter. "Once we get back home we're taking the General out for a meal."

Teal'c noted the determined set of the woman's jaw for a moment or two before raising an important point. "And if PeteShanahan is waiting for you when we return and wishes to do otherwise?"

The Jaf'fa could see that he had stumped the Lt. Colonel with his query.

SGC

0514 hrs

Hammond looked across the desk in O'Neill's office at Dr. Brightman. "What do you believe is the best course of action for the patient?" Hammond was finding it increasingly difficult to find a way of referring to Jack O'Neill as Jack O'Neill given the General's current situation. The decision that had been handed down to him wasn't helping either.

"She's going to need time to adjust to what has happened and we're going to have to decide quickly what we do with her. She's moved from her coma into a regular REM sleeping pattern. It's only a matter of time before she wakes up and starts demanding answers, Sir."

Nodding in acknowledgement at Brightman's assessment Hammond pushed a thin folder across the desk and into the reach of the younger woman. As the Doctor read Hammond summarised the information contained therein.

"The President and the Joint Chiefs have already agreed on a set course of action concerning the General. After I briefed them over the phone early this morning about the situation and the potential that it may well be a permanent thing, they have decided in their wisdom to create an identity for the young woman in your infirmary. She is now Jacqueline O'Neill, 'Jackie' for short, a twenty-four year old Air Force recruit and General O'Neill's niece. If she is considered stable enough to return to work she will be assigned to an SG team."

"An SG team, Sir?"

Hammond nodded, this time in confirmation. "Given O'Neill's abilities, background of training and field experience, the Air Force is not keen to lose him. Now that he is once more young and fit the Air Force is pushing to have her back out in the field where her skills can be of use."

"So, back as CO of SG-1 then?" Brightman wondered what the hell was going on here.

"No," the temporary CO of the SGC told the startled medical officer. "It has been noted that since O'Neill's promotion to Brigadier General a couple of months ago that an 'us and them' situation has arisen with regard to SG-1."

Brightman stared at Hammond. "'Us and them'?"

"The staff have noticed that O'Neill has been seemingly excluded from SG-1 down time get-togethers that he would have been a part of only months earlier. So much so, that he hasn't spent any time off base for recreation in the last three weeks."

"I wouldn't have thought it possible that such a formerly close knit team would exclude the General in such a way."

"Neither would I," agreed Hammond. "But it appears to be an unconscious decision and not a deliberate slight. O'Neill no longer works alongside them in the large number of hours that he once did which may have some bearing on why things have changed. I imagine Lieutenant Colonel Carter's recent engagement has proven an added distraction for her and her team. Either way, the Joint Chiefs have decided that placing O'Neill back with SG-1 would only result in new problems and not fix the one we have now. Since SG-5 are well aware of what has happened, and they've agreed to stay quiet on the matter, it has been fixed upon that O'Neill will, if cleared for duty, be a part of SG-5."

"In what capacity? Would Major Hallan accept that, Sir?" Brightman was beginning to worry that a group of faceless men in Washington had decided to essentially decide the General's life for her.

"Hallan will be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and O'Neill will serve as his second in command with the rank of Captain."

"Captain? But surely—"

"We are talking about a twenty-four year old woman, a Ms Jacqueline O'Neill. She is the niece of the General, not the General himself."

"That's it? We just pretend the General went missing off world, and 'Oh by the way, here's his niece!' Even with supposed recent difficulties, SG-1 will go looking for him, Sir, you and I both know that."

"I'm well aware of that, Doctor Brightman, and don't think I like you talking back to a senior officer in that tone!" He knew she was exasperated, but he was the General in charge. "Captain O'Neill will take Layton's place on SG-5 and he in turn will be assigned to another SG team. I've been asked to cover here as CO at the SGC till a replacement can be found and briefed."

"That solves the immediate problem of what to do with her work-wise, Sir, but it doesn't help O'Neill adjust to what has happened, nor does it deal with SG-1's potential reaction to the situation, or for that matter the rest of the bases'."

"This is a 'need to know' Doctor. The whole of the SGC doesn't need to know what has happened. That is why she'll be with SG-5. They already know."

"And SG-1?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now I want suggestions on how to deal with O'Neill when she wakes up and learns about her change in situation and status."

"I'd recommend that someone familiar to the General—"

"Captain," interrupted Hammond. "Get used to referring to her by her new rank, Doctor."

Scowling at the word that essentially deleted her now former CO from existence, Brightman ploughed on. "Captain O'Neill needs somebody she can trust to help her deal with this, preferably female so that the 'facts of life' can be explained to her from a woman's perspective. If the Joint Chiefs expect her to return to work here as a fully functioning member of personnel and have the base none the wiser, something I'd like noted I disagree with, she'll need time to come to terms with what has happened. It should be away from here, as dealing with people she knows from the SGC won't help to start with. I would have nominated Colonel Carter to be the one, but you've already stated you want SG-1 out of the loop on this one for now."

"Any other people we could rely on instead?"

Brightman flicked through the papers in front of her before pausing. Hammond inclined his head as permission to speak her mind. "I was going to suggest O'Neill's ex-wife, Sara."

Hammond stared at her as if she'd lost her mind. "Sara O'Neill?"

"Daniels now, Sir."

At Hammond's blank look the Doctor pushed on. "She remarried several years ago. She's Sara Daniels now, Sir."

"And you recommend her because?"

"She knows O'Neill well, she's a woman, and she is not part of SG-1."

"She's not part of the SGC at all. We'd have to tell her the truth if we wanted her to accept that Jackie O'Neill is her former husband."

"True, we'd have to tell her. But we'd have to contact her and tell her something anyway when O'Neill fails to turn up to meet her at their son's grave in three weeks time."

Hammond sat back and thought about the suggestion, his fingers woven together and brow furrowed. Brightman simply ignored the man and continued to read over the Joint Chiefs plan of attack for what they had dubbed the 'O'Neill Problem'.

Finally, Hammond said, "I'll inform the Joint Chiefs of your suggestion. If they give the go-ahead I'll have her here and briefed by 1400 today. Be prepared to answer her questions as to how we're sure that the woman in the infirmary is her ex-husband."

Brightman nodded. O'Neill had just been shafted by the USAF he had served for many years, simply because he'd always been something of a loose cannon. For some of the higher ups, this change of gender and age was an accident simply too good to pass up. With it they could remove O'Neill completely from the SGC. Obviously Hammond had fought to keep O'Neill at Cheyenne Mountain, hence the deceptions with 'Captain Jacqueline O'Neill'. The fact that SG-1 had been excluded from knowing what had happened to their ex-CO told Brightman that some of her superiors didn't want the flagship team of the SGC spending their time searching for potential solutions to O'Neill's gender change. She didn't like the subterfuge, but she had her orders. For now she wasn't looking forward to O'Neill's reaction when she learnt what her fate was. Hell, she wasn't looking forward to her reaction when she learned she was now a woman.

Dismissed, Brightman left the office that still bore the plate 'Brigadier General J. O'Neill' where Hammond was already reaching for the red phone.

xxx

O'Neill smacked his lips a few times, trying to get rid of the horrible taste of cardboard that had seemingly taken up residence in his mouth. There was a feminine groan somewhere close by and O'Neill figured somebody must be with him, wherever he was. He tried to open his eyes, but they were stubbornly refusing to co-operate. Not a particular surprise given his reputation as being incredibly stubborn. There was the sound of a curtain being drawn back and O'Neill figured that he must be in the infirmary — again.

"Back with us, O'Neill. How do you feel?"

At Brightman's voice O'Neill turned his head, but managed only a slight shift. His body felt so weak and tired, like he'd run an intense training course several times over.

"Tired. Weak."

Woah! Was that his voice? Jack tried to move again and again failed.

"That's to be expected given the trauma that your body has just undergone. Do you recall what happened?" There followed the sounds of paper and pen, Jack figuring that Dr. Brightman was shuffling through her notes about his latest brush with injury.

"Not much. We'd had lunch and then Hallan was reaching to shake my hand. There was... light, I guess. And then waking here with the taste of cardboard in my mouth."

Brightman huffed at O'Neill's summary of events. "You were in a coma for almost twelve hours as a result of whatever happened to you."

"And just what did happen to me?" barked Jack as he forced his eyes to open, lids still feeling very heavy. His gaze focused on the Doctor standing by his bed in the infirmary.

"Well," started Brightman. "The coma is probably a side effect of the rather large upheaval you body has just been through."

"What upheaval? And what happened to my voice?" Jack was beginning to get a little annoyed at his predicament.

Brightman jacked the top of the bed up so that it was now in a sitting position. From there Jack was able to look down and understand just how different things were.

"This isn't the result of concussion is it...?"

Brightman shook her head sadly. "We don't know what caused it. Or why, but for all intents and purposes, O'Neill, you are now female."

Gingerly, and with much effort, O'Neill raised one of her hands to her head and touched the much-changed planes of her face. "I'm a woman?"

"Yes, not only that, but you are now about half your original age. I've estimated you to be around twenty-four years of age."

"I feel so weak."

Resting a sympathetic hand on O'Neill's other unmoving hand, Dr. Brightman looked the young woman in the eye. "That will change as your body recovers from the shock of the alterations. As near as I can tell you are perfectly healthy and can essentially leave the infirmary when you are able to move under your own power. However—."

"However," cut in O'Neill, "This situation is just so bizarre that even if I did up and walk out of here, no one would be able to deal with it. Heck, I doubt any of them would listen to a word I say anymore given I no longer look like myself."

"I must say you are taking this extremely well."

Jack grinned slightly and pointed to herself. "You were betting I'd be ranting and raving? Demanding that you do something about this immediately?"

Brightman nodded and Jack sighed, letting her moving hand flop back onto the bed. "For one, I just don't have the energy to do that. Two, I don't think it will accomplish anything, and three..."

"Three?"

"Three. Despite the cliché, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Dr. Brightman ducked her head and frowned. "Shall I drop it for you?"

Jack waved a hand. "Go ahead. Inform me of just how bad this is going to get."

Sitting down in the chair beside the bed the Doctor put her clipboard down on the bed and rubbed her forehead tiredly. "General Hammond is on base, filling in for you in your 'absence'," Brightman began, using her hand to make the air quotes as she finished the sentence.

"Good for George. I take it he knows what has happened?"

Nodding Brightman ploughed on, "As do SG-5, who were with you when this happened, as do the President and Joint Chiefs whom General Hammond called in order to find out how this situation is to be dealt with."

Jack sighed again. "I bet they were laughing their arses off. General Jack O'Neill gets turned into a woman. Go on, there must be more bad news beyond my humiliation in the upper circles of the government."

"I believe that elements within the government and the Air Force saw this as an opportunity to remove you from the SGC, as who would believe that you are General O'Neill? Reading between the lines, I'd say that Hammond fought this, with the help of President Hayes. They've managed to keep you in the Air Force and the SGC should you choose to stay here and be cleared for duty."

"Okay. But that totally clichéd shoe hasn't dropped yet."

"To keep you on staff they've had to make concessions. One of which is your identity."

Jack closed her eyes in an effort to keep her emotions in check. "So, what's my new moniker? Barbarella?" Her tone more than slightly sarcastic.

Snorting at O'Neill's sense of humour Brightman shook her head. "No, I'm afraid that you've woken up to new life as one Captain Jacqueline O'Neill."

"Jacqueline? That was the best they could come up with?"

"Hammond suggested 'Jackie' as a compromise nickname. I think they wanted something familiar to you so that you'd respond to it rather than call you Anne and have you give people blank stares because you've not realised that they are addressing you."

"That makes sense," conceded O'Neill as she flexed the fingers of both her hands, feeling some strength start to come back to them. "But Captain? I'm gonna have to take orders from some of the idiots who were once below me?"

"Well you are now officially only twenty-four. It'd be kind of hard to explain how you reached Brigadier General in such a short time."

"And the same surname, how do explain that one away?"

"Simple really," replied Brightman. "You're your own niece, named after your Air Force General uncle."

"But I was an only child. Daniel knows that and anybody can find that out by checking the records."

"All taken care of so I am told."

"And that is it? Jack O'Neill no longer exists?"

"He's been transferred to the Pentagon immediately. After that, who knows? If nobody goes looking for him he'll probably just disappear into the paperwork. Hammond will fill in till the replacement arrives."

Jacqueline O'Neill opened her eyes and turned her head to look at the seated medical officer. "This isn't going to work you know. As soon as SG-1 gets back, they're gonna want to know what happened. And once they meet me I'm sure they'll put two and two together."

"Yes, well that's why other stipulations were made."

"Joy." It was a pity she hadn't been conscious when all these decisions about her future were being taken, as it would have given her the opportunity to vent some of her feelings about the predicament she found herself in to those making these choices. It rankled that she had no say at all, feeling that at the very least they owed her enough to wait till she had woken up.

"SG-1 are not going to be among those informed about what happened to you. They'll be told the same thing as everybody else not in the know, that you were transferred. And they won't be meeting you right away either, nor will the rest of the base."

"They won't?" the patient asked in surprise.

"Jackie," the Doctor began, noting the flinch the nickname caused. "You are going to need time to settle into your new body and learn to deal with being female. To that end you're going to be placed with someone who can help you through the transition."

"You're making this all sound rather permanent."

"That's because I'm afraid it might be." She held up a hand to forestall any comments from the increasingly angry young woman in the bed. "SG-1 isn't being told about this because those higher up who don't like you don't want the SGC flagship team tied up for possibly months or even years looking for a cure that may not even exist. We both know that they would spend that time searching for it if people let them. SG-5 will be able to return to P5X-878, while you are off adjusting, for a couple of weeks. But if they don't find anything then there are standing orders to lock P5X-878 out of the system in case what happened to you happens to more people."

"You sound about as happy about this plan as I do Doc." For this, at least one person fighting in her corner for her, O'Neill was grateful.

The older woman nodded. "I may have only know you for a few months O'Neill, and then not even very well since our paths don't cross that often, but I'm absolutely pissed off at how casually they are just wiping your old life from existence."

"Just chalk it up as another mark on the tally of crap that life throws at me." There was a pause and another sigh. "So what is this adjusting period then? Who's being forced to play baby-sitter? It can't be anyone from SG-1 as you've said they are out of the loop."

"The matter hasn't been decided yet, but I did recommend to General Hammond that your ex-wife might be the best choice."

"Sara? Why her?"

"She knows you, Jackie. Plus, she's a woman so she can show you the ropes so to speak."

"But she knows nothing about the SGC! I can't see her believing that I'm her ex-husband."

"That is what Hammond said too," acknowledged Brightman. "But he's on the phone seeing if he can get clearance for her to know enough about the Stargate programme so that she will accept that you are who we say you are."

"And you really think she'll agree to help?"

Brightman nodded. "I do. You may be divorced and Sara remarried, but I doubt that the pair of you can truly say that you hate each other and wouldn't help the other if asked."

Jackie could only nod slightly at the truth of that statement.

P7X-135

0726 hrs

Samantha Carter woke in her sleeping bag to the sounds of Daniel Jackson outside her tent busy making what was probably his third cup of coffee since he had taken over for the third and final watch, which led into the morning. Resigning herself to the need to be up and moving, Carter pulled herself together and dressed.

Emerging from her tent, she exchanged morning greetings with SG-1's errant history geek and slipped off into the bushes to take care of her basic human needs before returning to the campsite. Daniel pressed a mug of hot coffee into her hands, which she gratefully accepted. A little way out from the camp she could just make out the form of Teal'c as he make a check of the perimeter before returning to join them for breakfast.

Daniel held up two MRE packets. "What's it to be today, Sam? Packet A, which tastes not unlike chicken, or packet B, which again tastes not unlike chicken."

Returning the man's grin Sam replied, "I'll take packet B today, thank you, Doctor Jackson."

Watching him as he set about preparing breakfast, Sam couldn't help but think back to the conversation she'd had with Teal'c the night before. "Daniel?"

"Hmmm," was the reply.

"Have you talked with Teal'c this morning?"

"Of course. I'm hardly going to ignore him, Sam. General O'Neill I'm not."

Sam bit back a wince at this reply, but at least it told her that Teal'c had yet to share with Daniel what he had told her prior to her watch the evening before.

When the former First Prime returned to the campsite and breakfast was served, Carter casually reminded Teal'c of their conversation and helped him to explain to Daniel their collective thoughts concerning the General.

"I must admit I never thought that it was us that were doing the freezing out. Jack always seemed like such an insular, self-contained type of guy. You know, like that now he was General he didn't really need us anymore." Daniel rubbed the bridge of his nose, temporarily dislodging his glasses in the process. "How do you think Jack is really dealing with this? I know I'd be pretty miffed about the whole situation."

"But, Daniel, you have to admit that you probably would have made noises about being ignored long before now."

"Indeed," contributed Teal'c. "O'Neill has not treated us any differently now when compared to his past behaviour. This makes it difficult to ascertain exactly how he feels about this 'cold shoulder'.'"

"Jack's not a machine, Sam. He has to be hurting somewhere on the inside, and given he has no family and, possibly more importantly, no friends outside of the SGC, he has no one to turn to about this. If we hadn't been the root of the problem then he probably would have come to us for advice."

"So how do we deal with this, Daniel, especially since we are the problem?" Sam threw another pebble out of the camping area in frustration, unaware just how much she was acting like her CO at that point.

"I guess we just have to go with your initial idea, Sam. Start by inviting him back to our get-togethers outside of the mountain. Talk to him when he's not in his office. We don't have to rush things and swamp his schedule 24/7, but spending time with him, no matter how trivial the way in which that time is spent, is the best start."

"Agreed," supplied Teal'c. "It is the anniversary of CharlieO'Neill's death in three weeks time, DanielJackson. Would that not be a good time to demonstrate to O'Neill that he is still our friend?"

"Perhaps," agreed Daniel, casting a glance at Sam. "But it's not exactly a time of year that Jack is going to be particularly receptive to an offered olive branch. We need to be there for him at that time, but I'd like us to have won back his friendship by then rather than use that event as our starting point."

Sam let out a huff of air. "So we've got less than three weeks to remedy a situation that has dragged on for at least five or more months?"

"That about sums it up, Sam. It's going to be no easy feat, given how prickly Jack can be emotionally even at the best of times. But I consider myself his friend and I for one am not going to rest till I know I'm secure once more in that regard."

Teal'c and Carter agreed, a moment which marked the end of both the conversation for now and of breakfast. Minutes later SG-1 was busy breaking camp.

SGC

1135 hrs

Hammond slipped through the plastic curtain surrounding O'Neill's bed and seated himself in the uncomfortable plastic chair by the bed, hands holding onto a file that resembled War and Peace in size. He locked eyes with the young woman sitting upright in the bed and then looked away in shame. This wasn't going to be an easy conversation, although Brightman had informed him while Jackie had been napping that she had already filled O'Neill in on most of the details.

"Hello, Sir."

George was almost relieved to have Jackie make the opening move in this conversation, which for Hammond was a sign that maybe this transition wasn't going to be as hard for the Air Force officer as he had feared it would be. Combined with Brightman's assessment of her earlier conversation with the transformed O'Neill, Hammond was positive that things could be salvaged.

"O'Neill. How are you feeling?"

"Peachy." The tone of voice was pure O'Neill, despite the higher pitch.

Hammond nodded and wiped his sweaty palms against the fabric of his trousers. "Brightman tells me that she has already informed you of much of what is going on."

"Yes, Sir."

"Well son... ah..."

A small smirk had crept onto O'Neill's face. "Quit while you're ahead, Sir."

"Yes well," began Hammond, trying to regroup from his gaffe. "What I want to know is are you still willing to come back to the SGC once you've adjusted to the situation and have been cleared for duty?"

"Do you mean, am I willing to come back and pretend to be my own niece, Sir?"

Hammond nodded, not trusting his voice.

"Can you tell me what would happen to me if I decided not to, after all I was looking forward to retiring after a year of being 'the Man'."

"Unless you are declared unfit for duty O'Neill then you actually have no choice. Given your background and skills, those who do like you want to keep you as involved with the SGC as possible. If this hadn't happened," George Hammond waved at Jackie's body, "Then after your year as CO of the SGC you would have been promoted to Head of Homeworld Security."

"But I was going to retire, go fishing."

"The Joint Chiefs wouldn't have let you go. You're just too valuable."

Jacqueline folded her arms and glared at Hammond. "Nice to know I'm wanted."

There was an awkward silence in the empty infirmary.

"So, the plan? Might as well fill me in 'cause it seems my wishes don't count for squat."

Hammond could only flinch at the venom directed his way. He and the President had called in a few markers to help keep Jackie at the SGC despite some heavy resistance from those O'Neill had managed to piss off during his career. He had hoped to make her feel wanted by pointing out that the SGC needed her, but that had obviously backfired.

"You're on a minimum of three months downtime, primarily to adjust to what has happened. Approval came through a short while ago, to let your ex-wife Sara know enough about things to enable her to help you. Should you feel ready, we'll have you back on an SG team by early January at the earliest."

"Any particular team?" asked O'Neill curiously.

"SG-5, purely because they already know what happened."

"That's Major Hallan's team. Are you sure he's going to play ball?"

Hammond gave a strained smile. "He's loosing Layton because of this. You'll be going in as Hallan's second in command."

"Tactics and backup then Sir?"

"Ah, no."

O'Neill looked rather pointedly at her superior officer. "No, Sir?"

Wincing at the latest revelation now being dumped on one of his favourite officers, Hammond carried on as best he could. "You're being assigned as a military scientist. The plan is to move James onto another SG team before Christmas."

"A scientist? Sir, you know I don't know one end of a spectro-whatsit from the other! How the hell am I supposed to be a team scientist?"

"Jackie," snapped Hammond waving the thick file in his hands in front of the USAF Captain and ignoring the flinch the nickname provoked. "This is your file, your whole, uneditedfile. When this all went down the President had it delivered to me. And I must say it makes for some damn enlightening reading." He had been surprised by the hitherto unknown contents of the file.

Jacqueline looked away from her CO, fixing her eyes on a smudge on the far wall of the infirmary. "Oh I don't know, Sir. Not really sure if you can trust what is written in there."

"Degrees in Chemistry and Mathematics, not to mention a PhD in Quantum Mechanics. Why the hell did you not mention this to anyone?"

"Why the hell are you getting angry?" There was a pause before Jacqueline added, "Sir."

"Surely that sort of knowledge would have benefited the SGC!"

"It did."

"It did?"

Jacqueline nodded looking back at Hammond and tapping her temple. "I used what's up here quite often to get us out of a sticky situation, just made damn sure no one realised what was going on when I did."

"Why?"

"Orders, Sir. You can't expect me to talk about things that I was expressly forbidden to talk about. I went into the Air Force as a Captain, never did any of the basic training or rank climbing. I'm in the USAF purely because a previous President thought this would be a good place to stick me while things blew over."

Hammond opened the file and began scanning to see the details he'd missed in his skim read prior to this conversation. "You needed things to blow over?"

"You know me, Sir, always making 'friends' where ever I go. Things were just getting too hot in the late Eighties. President had me slotted into the USAF. No one noticed. Once I'd hooked up with Sara there didn't seem to be any point in going back. Still did the occasional op when asked. And then the Stargate happened and as you've said, I'm wanted here."

"And if you hadn't married Sara and had Charlie?"

Jacqueline shrugged her shoulders. "I wouldn't be here."

Jacqueline's CO looked at her. "For crying out loud!" complained Jacqueline as she gave in to the stare the Lieutenant General was giving her. "Fine. I'd be somewhere else pretending to be someone else. But I have a sneaking suspicion that I would have been assigned to the SGC at some point after it was reactivated in Ninety-seven. Probably in a civilian position like Danny-boy's."

"So you'd have no problem being a military scientist for SG-5?"

"Walk in the park, Sir, walk in the park," sighed Jacqueline knowing she had little way out of her current predicament.

P7X-135

1310 hrs

Carter had called an end to the lunch break and was in the process of packing up the cooking gear as Teal'c stood and grabbed his ever-present staff weapon. Moments later he was gone from SG-1's lunch spot to survey the area. Since breaking for breakfast the three-man team had made good time and had arrived at the ruins that the UAV had sighted prior to the mission in time for lunch. Daniel had fairly inhaled his lunch and was already wandering around the ruins, mumbling to himself as he observed the architecture and took notes.

The fog of depression that Daniel and Teal'c had carried with them upon arriving on P7X-135 had lifted now that the team had decided what to do about their friendship with the General. Both were happy, Teal'c cracking genuine smiles that she had only just realised had been missing for the last few months. She hadn't understood till now just how much the Jaf'fa had valued his relationship with his fellow Tau'ri warrior. And she kicked herself for that, given how he had thrown his lot in with the SGC purely because of O'Neill.

Daniel was pretty much bouncing with excitement once more, the much-subdued archaeologist of the previous months a thing of the past.

Carter was annoyed with herself at how she had failed to see how distressed her friends and teammates had been over SG-1's estrangement from the General. In her attempt to forge a life outside of the SGC and deal with her feelings for General O'Neill, she'd precipitated the dissolution of the ties that had held three of the most important people in her life together. Why had she let things fall apart?

It was true that her relationship with Pete had swallowed up a lot of her time and thoughts beyond what she devoted to her work. Despite her engagement to the man, she'd found herself having to devote more and more time to keeping things with him on an even keel. But it had been wrong of her to, in the process of building her ties with Pete, let those with her friends go.

Perhaps she had gone too far to one extreme, sacrificing important parts of her life, in order to placate Pete. Carter shuddered at that thought. She didn't like the image of herself bending to Pete's needs and forgetting her own as it reminded her too much of her failed engagement with Jonas Hansen. Sam was determined that her relationship with Pete was not going to be a repeat of her first engagement. To prove that to her and restore the bonds of friendship that SG-1 had forged years ago, Pete was just going to have to accept that she was going to spend a significant amount of social time with three men.

It was going to be tricky convincing Pete of this, she knew. Teal'c, despite not having uttered a single word, for or against, about her fiancé Pete, did not seem to approve of the man. Carter had by now almost convinced herself that this was because Pete wasn't a warrior, even though he was part of the police force. There was the added factor that Daniel didn't seem to like Pete either, having confided to her on one particularly drunk occasion that the fluff down the back of a sofa had more wit and intelligence than Pete Shanahan. It had taken Samantha Carter two weeks to forgive the archaeologist.

Surprisingly, despite the limited time spent together since SG-1 had begun accidentally ignoring the General, O'Neill had simply remarked "as long as he makes you happy, I'm happy". General Jack O'Neill it seemed had no problem with her relationship with Pete. An attitude she had simply taken to mean that, despite words to contrary some four years earlier, he no longer cared for her 'more than he was supposed to'.

No, the other problem with convincing Pete that he had to let her spend time with her SG-1 mates was General O'Neill. More to the point, Pete's dislike for the man sometimes bordered on obsession. She couldn't fathom what could have happened between the pair, given their limited exposure to each other, that had engendered such a dislike on Pete's part. Perhaps she could talk to Pete about it when she explained the threesome's plan to spend more with the General.

Lunch taken care of, Carter moved to check the perimeter.

SGC

1422 hrs

Jacqueline walked three steps behind Dr. Brightman as they made their way to one of the many briefing rooms hidden in the warren of corridors that made up the SGC complex below NORAD. She was going to be facing her ex-wife Sara for the first time in a year, and this time Sara was going to be faced with a changed ex-partner. Jacqueline didn't know how this scenario was going to play. Hammond would have briefed the woman by now with what she would need to know in order to understand what had happened, and no more. As far as Jacqueline could tell Sara hadn't run screaming from the complex. That was a good sign.

As the pair of women drew close to the door to the briefing room, Jacqueline found her level of agitation growing. Brightman knocked on the door and Hammond could be heard giving permission to enter. The door opened and she concentrated on the white smock that Brightman wore over her clothes as they entered the room and sat down. Forcing herself to look up, Jacqueline took into the sad smile of her CO and then the deeply concentrating face of her ex-wife.

For her part, Sara sat dumbfounded as the young woman in some horribly mismatched clothing sat down opposite herself and eventually looked up. General Hammond had calmly and patiently explained why he had asked for her to come to the mountain. Then he had dropped the news of what her ex-husband did under said mountain, which explained the bizarre situation that had taken place some seven years earlier with what she had been told was a hallucination of Charlie.

All of that however was blown clean out of the water by the bombshell dropped about what had recently happened to Jack. So here she was, sitting across a table from what George Hammond was claiming to be her former husband. As she stared hard at the young woman's face she began to see the man in some of the features, the warm expressive brown eyes, and in the nervous fidgeting. She let the young woman know that she wasn't the enemy by smiling gently at her.

"Doctor Brightman, O'Neill."

The two nodded at the General's greeting. "Well," Hammond began, "I've filled in Sara here with what she needs to know. Doctor Brightman, if you'd please, fill us in on O'Neill's status." Hammond cast a glance Jacqueline's way and got a subtle nod back indicating that the woman was okay with how things were going so far.

"Jackie—"

That drew a hiss from the named woman. The three others at the table all looked her way. "Don't like the nickname," she explained. "Just call me Jac. Jay. Aye. Cee."

Brightman nodded in acceptance and made a note in her ever-present clipboard of notes.

"Jac is perfectly healthy and in better condition than she has been in the last twenty-five plus years. No diseases or strange things in her blood work beyond the presence of some naquadah from—" Brightman stopped and looked at Hammond who sighed and nodded. "From the Goa'uld that Hathor attempted to implant five years ago. She also retains the Ancient gene which will relieve the Asgaard."

Jac shook her head in an attempt to stop laughing.

"The naquadah may, like Colonel Carter, cause complications should Jac ever wish to carry a child."

"Woah, hey hey hey! Carry a child? As in become pregnant?" This was not something that Jac has considered since learning of her gender swap, but was clearly something Dr. Brightman had thought of.

Hammond looked like he'd swallowed a lemon and Sara was trying to look at anything other than Jac as a huge grin split her face. Payback could be a bitch. "Yes Jac, while you unconscious we performed all the standard tests for a female officer after returning through the stargate. Other than the naquadah in your blood, all the tests came back fine."

"Pregnant?" exclaimed the new woman while staring at her hands.

"Moving on please," pleaded Hammond from his seat.

"Jac is still somewhat weak, a result of the massive trauma her body has undergone due to the gender and age changes. But that is quickly remedying itself and she should be back to her peak by the end of the week. In summary, as far as things go physically Jac is one hundred percent fine."

"And mentally?" prompted Hammond.

"I'm not mental," sulked Jac.

The three 'adults' at the table all rolled their eyes at the childish behaviour on display.

"It's not like we really have a base line to work from here for this situation. People who undergo 'gender reassignment' have sessions of counselling and hormone treatment long before the surgery takes place, so they've had time to make the necessary adjustments in their life. Jac has had none of those, going from male one day to completely female the next.

"Jac has been given three months leave to begin this adjustment. I'm not expecting you, Jac, to come back to the SGC after three months and act like you were born a woman, that's just not possible. You have got fifty-four years worth of male hormones and experiences, not to mention societal pressure, which will not make this a smooth transition. I expect that after those initial three months, which will be something akin to a crash course in how to be a woman, you'll still have to make further adjustments as time goes by."

"So it'll be like doing three months of boxing practise and then going to the gym three times a week to keep up my skills and develop new ones?"

"That's a good enough analogy, Jac, yes. I'll be here at the SGC should you or Sara need to call for help, advice, or just someone to listen to you," offered Brightman.

"Your thoughts, Sara?" asked a tentative Jac.

"Well, I can't say this is what I was expecting when General Hammond called me in this afternoon. I had thought that it was more likely that you were dead or somehow put out of action. I talked this through before you and Doctor Brightman came in, and I'm willing to have a go at helping you adjust Jac.

This won't be easy for either of us. You'll be sleeping in the spare room in a house that I share with my husband Michael. That alone would be enough of a problem right there and I'll admit I'm worried that such an arrangement won't be good for your mental health."

Jac sighed. "Sara, I had to accept that you were no longer a part of my life almost ten years ago. I may not be particularly good at processing my own thoughts and emotions when it comes to personal things, but I have accepted that you have moved on with your life and I am happy for you in that respect.

"I'm more concerned that my presence will make you uncomfortable and that you'd feel unable to act around Michael like you normally do just because I'm in the same house. I don't want that. I want you to carry on as you would if you had any other female guest to stay. However, if you keep me awake at night because of your lovemaking then expect me to complain the following morning 'cause I'm a light sleeper!"

The cheeky grin that followed the end of that statement broke the ice and the four of them were able to share a good laugh and release the tension that had been building all day.

"So we're ready to proceed then?" Hammond received three nods.

Xxx

ADDITIONAL THANKS: To some minor beta readers of this chapter; Christy Newman, Major Claire, Emily Linton, JollyGoald, Karen Mills, and Renee.