This Cannot Be Happening

A/N: Aw. My first novella. And it's AU, too!

Won 2nd place in the SJFA Awards 2003 for Outstanding AU, Best Ship and Best Drama in the SG-1 Awards 2003.

Rating: PG-13

Season: 4

As always, feedback is much appreciated.

Chapter One (Point of View)

"Unauthorised offworld activation!"

Sam looked up from her microscope in surprise, glanced at Daniel who was lounging against her bench, coffee mug between his hands, mouth open as the klaxons interrupted his next word. "Who's off-world?"

"Um, I'm really not the person to ask... wait, SG-16 are, aren't they?" He checked his watch. "And they should be returning nearly on time, if that is them."

She tapped her fingers against the bench. "Guess we could wander on down anyway...."

"SG-1 to control! SG-1 to control!"

"Guess we ought to," Daniel said, smirking slightly and pushing off the bench.

They hurried to the elevators, wondering what the Stargate had in store for them. SG-1 was supposed to be on downtime this week - the Colonel had actually left for his cabin the day before, and Teal'c had gone to visit his family, while the two scientists had remained behind to catch up on some pending projects. The Colonel had muttered something that sounded rather like 'damn crazy scientists' to Sam's acute hearing, but she'd refused to rise to the bait. Just what was she supposed to do at home anyway?

General Hammond was standing at the enforced glass, looking down into the gate room. He was frowning.

"General?" Daniel asked, coming to stand next to the man and following his eyeline. He stiffened. "Oh!"

"What?" Sam looked down into the gate room and unconsciously mirrored Daniel's reaction: "Oh!"

Standing at the top of the ramp, arms wrapped around the shoulders of a child with the armed defence team aiming at her, was Samantha Carter.

Here we go again....

Daniel crossed his arms. "Okay, long hair. I'm thinking she's not in the Air Force."

Sam resisted the urge to thump her friend. "General?" she queried, really not sure what to do. "I thought the mirror had been destroyed."

"It has." He moved off, trusting Daniel and Sam to follow him as they hurried down the stairs.

The SFs were all still in place when they entered the gate room. "Stand down!" General Hammond marched right up to the foot of the ramp. "Identify yourself."

The woman - Sam was having difficulty figuring out what to call her - stared with wide eyes at the General. Her eyes flicked to Sam, to Daniel, and then back to General Hammond. "Major Samantha Carter, Sir. And you're General Hammond. Dr Daniel Jackson." There was a slight, almost triumphant smile. "And Major Samantha Carter."

The child, a boy, made a small sound, his eyes fixed on Sam. "Are they gonna shoot us?" he whispered, hands going up to clutch at the ones crossed over his chest.

"Shush." The woman - oh, for God's sake - the other Samantha Carter, rubbed his chest with her hands absently. "Ah, General, sir, could you possibly ask the SFs to stand down? They are a little unnerving."

For the first time, Sam's eyes drifted from the face of her duplicate, and the face of the child, to really look at her. The longer hair, as Daniel had pointed out so swiftly, was there but it was blonder, streakier, the kind of colour Sam's went when she took a long holiday somewhere sunny (not that that had happened recently). The other Sam had hers in a long ponytail and it was probably the length Sam's had been when she was a teenager. Her skin was slightly darker, more tanned. But those differences weren't surprising - clearly this woman had been somewhere hot recently. It was her clothes that were the real surprise.

They were alien clothes. A strange blue-grey tunic thing, glinting like metal in the lights of the gate room. A studded belt pulled the tunic in at the waist and the hem, which came to about mid-thigh was studded with similar turquoise-like stones. Under the tunic, she was wearing a pair of trousers in the same colour, and black, slightly pointy boots. Nothing in Sam's closet, suffice to say, looked anything like what this woman was wearing. The overall effect was nice, Sam supposed, but she'd never wear it out in public. Not that Sam really went out into public all that much anymore.

"Is that a weapon, Major Carter?"

The woman touched the object that was strapped to her waist, her face flickering imperceptibly. "Of course, sir."

Sam's fingers itched to get her hands on it, see what it did, take it apart and put it back together again. That wasn't unusual. When she was forced to take medical leave, Sam tended to take apart her kitchen appliances. Thank God the Colonel didn't know about that; it would lead to no end of embarrassment.

"Then I'd appreciate it if you put it on the ramp and kicked it towards us."

The woman smiled. "Yes, of course sir." She unclipped the weapon, dropped it casually onto the ramp and toed it away with her boot. "I have no other weapons, General. Nor does my son."

"Your son?" Sam exclaimed. She immediately regretted it, and cast the General an apologetic look for her behaviour. But inside her mind was racing. How could she have a son? And with whom? Sam was no judge of children's ages, but basing the boy's height on that of her nephew's, she imagined he was about five or six. Brown hair, straight and smooth like her nephew's, she couldn't really see his eye colour from where she was standing but his face had the youthful innocence that she associated with young children.

"You don't have... Oh, good. That'll make entrophic cascade failure something he'll miss out on." The woman looked about the room curiously, wide blue eyes taking in everything (Sam wondered if that startled rabbit expression was something she did as well). "I must say. It looks like the gate room I left behind. But it clearly isn't. I mean, I realised something was wrong when we stepped out of that cave and saw the planet was now deserted of all life...."

General Hammond seemed to come to a decision. "Ah, perhaps this would be better conducted in the briefing room. Major, if you and your son would step this way." Hammond stepped back, and gestured to the doors. He raised his eyebrows at the two SFs nearest him and they nodded slightly, understanding that they would be escorting the other Major Carter and her son to the briefing room.

"How did they get here?" Daniel demanded in a low voice. "Without the mirror?"

"I guess we'll just have to ask her."

Sam and Daniel followed General Hammond, both of their curiosities piqued. Sam, personally, couldn't believe she was faced with yet another version of herself to compare herself to. It was bad enough the last time, with Dr Carter being married to her CO....

The duplicate Major Carter took Sam's seat automatically, pulling the child onto her lap sideways. The boy rested his head on his mother's shoulder and closed his eyes.

Sam sat opposite her, with Daniel next to her right. The SFs stood to attention inside the doorway, guns at the ready.

"Tell us exactly what happened, Major Carter," Hammond asked patiently.

"Well, my son and I were exploring the caves of Vema Desola."

Beside her, Daniel scrawled down the name quickly, with a question mark beside it. It was not a name he recognised.

"They were nothing new - the usual cave paintings displaying the history of the area, how the humans had been brought there through the Stargate, the Goa'uld and so on. As I said, nothing new. The caves themselves were pretty much off limits, except to certain, shall we say, high ranking archaelogists on the High Council."

"Then how did you get in?" Daniel interrupted.

Major Carter cast a casual glance at him. "By wheedling, Dr Jackson. Besides, the High Councillor himself is a friend.... and Matthew is a particular favourite of his." She shrugged. "I thought they were nothing special but Matthew enjoyed himself - he loves tramping through caves." She smiled slightly, and glanced down at the boy napping on her. "But something happened, I can only imagine one of us touched something we shouldn't have, because when we left the caves, it appeared that the city had disappeared. Completely. There was nothing but forest between us and the Stargate."

"An alternate reality cave?" Hammond looked at his Major Carter for confirmation.

"Anything's possible when it comes to the Ancients, sir," Sam said, her brow furrowed. Something wasn't right here - what on earth was she, the other she, doing 'tramping' around in caves with her son? She wouldn't have thought children would be allowed off world, even to relatively safe planets. And Matthew - hmm, she liked that name - seemed far too young in the first place. She, personally, would never consider taking a child of hers through the Stargate, not forgetting the fact that a boy that age couldn't possibly have the security clearance. Children didn't know how to keep such big secrets. What if he said something at school, for goodness sake?

' Exactly. So I did the only thing I could think of - I dialled home."

"Ah, yes, Major. How exactly did you get SG-1s code?"

Sam caught up quickly. "Considering the differences in your... reality, it's seems that you having the current SG-1 code is highly unlikely."

"But apparently possible. I guess I'm just really, really lucky," the woman said, shaking her head with apparent relief.

Again, that just didn't sit right with Sam. Had she emerged from the cave and logically come to the conclusion that she was in a different reality, Sam wouldn't have risked the life of her child and herself by dialling home, knowing the possibility that they could be splatted, so to speak, on the Stargate iris.

And, looking at the General and Daniel, they were thinking exactly the same thing.

"Look, General, Major, Doctor," the other Major Carter continued slightly irritably, putting a hand to her temple, " you have to understand. No matter how calm I may appear now, I was actually panicking. The first thing I thought of when I reached the Stargate was to get home. It was, in fact, all I could think of. Thinking about it now.... how close we could have been..." The woman's hand began to shake and she put it down, wrapping it around her child. She lowered her head and kissed the top of his head.

Okay. Maybe Sam could understand that. Maybe. After all - the thought of being stranded in a reality that wasn't hers was definitely not something that could be passed over. And she'd heard stories from women in the SGC that maternal instincts were not to be underestimated - which she supposed she had a little experience of, with Cassy.

Daniel smiled sympathetically at the other Major Carter. "I can understand that. Let's just be thankfully the codes were compatible, shall we?"

"Yes. Quite. We have had some experience with entrophic cascade failure, Major..s. How long before we can expect Major Carter to experience the symptoms?"

"Approximately forty-eight hours, sir."

"In that case, we'll get a team together and head back to the planet you've just come from."

"And therein lies the problem," Major Carter murmured, lifting her mouth from her son's head, her eyes weary.

"What?"

"I don't know the symbols for Vema Desola."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Colonel O'Neill looked amused. Serious, but amused. He walked along the corridor by Sam's side, smiling slightly. "Daniel said you've lost out on the hair again, Major."

Sam narrowed her eyes at him. "If we don't find this planet, Colonel, she will die."

He cleared his throat and they paused at the locker room. He was still in his civvies, as Sam had met him under orders of General Hammond to bring him up to speed. "How's it going?"

Sam pushed open the door with her back and politely went to sit on the bench with her back to her CO. When they were all together in the locker room, eyes could wander. When it was just the two of them, professionalism was everything. "Well, she has the code for the planet she gated from initially as a guest of the Principal, whatever that means - she seems to know a lot of government officials on these planets - but it's not a planet we've ever been to. As she was told this planet - Vema Desola - was a neighbouring one to the planet she was initially on - this P3X 224...."

He knew where she was going. "We're looking at all the neighbouring planets."

"Yeah, of which there are about twenty."

"Are we dialling them up one by one?"

"And sending the UAV through."

"How many have we done?"

"Two."

As usual, he came straight to the crux of the matter. "It's taking too long."

"Worse still, it's entirely likely that we'll come across at least fifteen highly coniferous planets just like Vema Desola."

"Which means we'll have to send a scout team through to confirm. Which will only take longer."

"Yeah," she sighed miserably. "Decent?"

"As I'll ever be."

She turned around, strangely relieved to see her CO in his uniform. There was something about him when he was in jeans and a sweater, that leather jacket.... It unnerved her, that was what it was. 'Caring' about each other more than they were supposed to was easier to deal with when it was masked with uniforms and regulations and 'yes sir's and titles. Sometimes she was afraid she lingered on base purely because when she changed into her civvies she suddenly felt... naked. Vulnerable. Like if he approached her off base things would all fall apart.

Which was, of course, completely ridiculous. There was nothing between them anymore. And if there was, it was damn well going to stay beneath the surface.

"What's the kid like?"

Sam smiled slightly, somehow not surprised. "Sleepy. He's napping under the careful guidance of Janet in the infirmary. The other... me seemed to be comfortable leaving him with her. Something about Janet delivering him."

The Colonel's eyebrows shot up. "A proper SGC baby. Who's the father?"

Sam shrugged. "No idea. No wedding ring. No name change."

"Five or six years old. Guess I'm out of the running." He made a face and turned to leave the room swiftly. Sam was extremely glad, because she'd been slightly shocked when he'd so effortlessly brought up exactly what had been worrying her, and she just knew it showed on her face. She flushed and followed him, her head lowered, wishing her damn hair was longer.

Major Carter was in the control room, at the computer, watching the current UAV footage and shaking her head. She seemed to be aware of their approach, and she turned around, looking at Sam and Colonel O'Neill. Sam couldn't help studying her mirror's face, looking for signs of recognition as she looked the Colonel. When nothing happened, Sam felt her shoulders slump. Their realities had to be totally different. Six years before, Sam had been working full time on the Stargate project. No time for boyfriends or fiancés. The odd date, nothing concrete. Perhaps that was it. A fling? A one night stand? Could Matthew have been an accident?

Really, she oughtn't to be considering this. It was none of her business.

"I was thinking. To stave off the entrophic cascade failure," Daniel announced, making everyone jump as he walked towards the group by the computers, "perhaps we could send Major Carter, or Sam, I suppose, to a planet really, really far away. Didn't you say distance would affect this.... thing?"

"We need all the time we can get," Major Carter said, looking up at Sam. "But... I would quite like to stay with my son."

"Of course," General Hammond said hurriedly. He glanced towards Sam. "Major...? What's your take on this?"

Sam resisted the urge to let her mouth drop open. Oh God, this feeling was rather similar to rejection. Which was just stupid. "Ah, well, I suppose that would work. I mean, it would work. Theoretically."

"I mean no disrespect when I say this but I can do anything you can. And we can check in with you... obviously it would be useful to have your input if... when we find Vema Desola. It's just that.... this is taking such a long time."

Sam had that sinking feeling. She was definitely being sent away. She sighed. "We'll have to find a planet far away, friendly...."

Major Carter jumped up eagerly and ran to the star chart. After flicking her eyes over it, she selected a planet, as yet unlabelled. "This one. We've visited this one. P4X 874. It's a tropical planet. No naquadah. No indigenous population. Long sandy beaches."

"In your reality," Sam pointed out impatiently. "Wouldn't it be easier to find one we've already visited here?"

"How much extra time are we talking about?" the Colonel asked.

"It's impossible to predict that without any actual previous experience...."

"A few hours, maybe as much as a day," Major Carter interrupted at once. "So, we could send a UAV through. The MALP. We wouldn't be sending you without backup, would we?"

"Sam?" Daniel asked, unfailingly concerned. "How do you feel about this?"

She felt pretty pissed off, actually. This woman was usurping her for all intensive purposes. But she wasn't going to say that. It wasn't professional and God knew how she strove to be professional these days. "If it'll help, of course I'll go."

The Colonel looked from one Major to the other, then his CO. "General?"

"Dial up P4X 874," the General decided.

"Tropical weather, hey, Carter? Maybe you'll come back with a tan."

Sam rolled her eyes, thankful the Colonel couldn't see her face. She glared at the back of her mirror's head, knowing only too well she was being irrational. This woman was a mother - if she died in this reality, Matthew would be stranded here with no way to get back home. Maybe there was a husband in the other reality. A boyfriend. Whatever. It was imperative she help in whatever way she could.

"We'll be sending SG-2 with you, Major."

Oh goodie. Feretti and his jokes. "Yes, sir."

"SG-2 to the briefing room! SG-2 to the briefing room!"

*

*

Chapter Two (There But for the Grace of God)

*

*

Sam dropped down on the beach and sighed. Her pack came off behind her and she leaned back, pulling her hat over her eyes, the sun heating up her body rapidly. Maybe the Colonel was right. A nice tan would definitely improve her mood.

Dammit, Sam, stop it.

What was going on with her?

SG-2 were pretty pleased, anyway. They were spread out along the beach, taking advantage of the holiday atmosphere. The UAV had shown that the medium-sized island the Stargate was situated on was unpopulated, just like Major Carter had said, and while there was a sort of rocky set of hills and caves towards one end of the island which could house unpleasant surprises, it was at the far southeast of the island, the opposite end to the Stargate. And the axis of the planet was such that there would be more hours of sun anyway so it wasn't as if they'd have to spend the night here.

Sam pulled off her shirt, bundled it up and tucked it under her head. It was going to be a long day.

Lunch was the usual delight. The boys of SG-2 tried to entertain Sam in the only way SG-2 could - with poor, politically incorrect jokes. She decided, by the end of the meal, that it was quite sweet really. And it would have been really funny had she been not entirely sober.

"Any ideas on who the dad is?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, Feretti."

"Ah, come on. Who were you dating six years ago?"

"No one," she muttered, looking into her cup of water.

"No one at all?"

"I was working on the Stargate project. I didn't have time."

He nudged her with his elbow. "Thanks, by the way."

"Huh?"

"For the Stargate project."

She frowned. "It was Daniel who figured out.."

"You did the impossible - figured out a dialing procedure."

Which was so full of holes he'd probably pass out if she explained them all too him. "Well, I'm not sure..."

"You don't take compliments well, do you?"

She smiled. "No," she admitted, and decided it would be best to change the conversation. "I hope they find the planet soon. I don't want to be here through the night, even though the MALP showed no signs of life."

"Would it make you feel better if we investigated those caves?"

"It would give us something to do."

So that was how they ended up at the other end of the island, scrambling up rocky inclines. Feretti had left behind two men by the Stargate, in case they were contacted, leaving Sam, Feretti and Captain Fellows to occupy their time with some investigation.

The larger, lower caves were fairly shallow and completely empty. No markings on the walls, no signs of life, human or otherwise. It was nice and cool inside the caves and they took a break in one, sipping from their water bottles and looking out at the view.

"It's actually a pretty nice spot."

"Retirement village?"

Sam smiled. It was a running joke in the SGC - how the SG teams with clearance could retire off-world to an appropriately beautiful, untouched world. It didn't appeal to Sam particularly, but she knew the Colonel would probably like something like that. Just think of Edora.

Or not.

He hadn't even asked her to go fishing this time.

God, where had that come from?

She slid the cap back on her bottle. "I'll check out the next cave."

"Okay."

She climbed up directly outside the cave, using her hands to tug her up, pushing against shrubs and then edging along a fairly narrow stone pathway. The drop down wasn't steep - she would survive a fall - but she wasn't keen on making a fool of herself in front of SG-2. After all, she was the famous Major Carter of SG-1. She had a certain reputation to maintain. It was Daniel who broke ankles, arms, fingers, and toes in embarrassing fashions. She got concussions or alien entities. Yeah, that was her specialty. Alien entities and tragic alien loves.

Wiping her hands on her shorts, she reached the lip of the next cave and had to bend down slightly. This one was deeper, she could see almost immediately just by the fact that it was far darker. The mouth of the cave sloped down into that darkness.

She got out her radio. "Feretti?"

"Major?"

"I'm at the mouth of the cave directly above you. It's deeper than the others. I'm gonna check it out."

"Okay, Major. Keep radio contact."

"Sure."

She kept her head lowered and her flashlight in her hand, sweeping the area in front of her, looking for anything - the reflection of a nocturnal animal's eyes, metal, anything that was out of place in these seemingly natural environment.

The incline grew steeper quite quickly and she found she was having to steady herself against the wall, turning slightly sideways to take the descent better. It was going to be a heavy climb back up. She wondered, as her eyes swept the dark stone, what they were doing back at the SGC. Wondered if the other Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill were getting on. If Matthew had woken up. What color his eyes were, what he was like, what he was good at.

Imagine, her with a son. She must have been twenty-five or six when he'd been born, which seemed a tad young to her. She'd put off marriage and children for her career, and she didn't regret that. She still had time, after all. And, frankly, bringing a child into a world which could be overcome with parasites at any given moment wasn't quite the best situation she had in mind. When the war was over - in that dim, distant future - maybe she could...

She stopped suddenly and looked down. Was it just her, or was the incline rather... step like in appearance?

She flicked her flashlight up and down rapidly. Sure enough, the ground appeared to be arranged in slabs not unlike a staircase.

Time to call in Feretti, she decided. This could constitute as evidence of alien activity. She pulled out her radio. " Feretti." She paused, listening to static. Then she tried again, aiming the flashlight back up where she had descended, still looking at the stone steps. " SG-2? Major Feretti, Captain Fellows?"

Probably the depth and the thickness of rock was blocking out the radio signal. She sighed; she would have to go back.

Something cold and familiar pressed itself to the nape of her neck. Bizarrely, for an instant, Sam thought of Jonas Hanson - why, she had no idea.

"Don't move."

English. American, to be precise. Who the hell was down here with her? "I won't."

"Where is he?"

He? He who? She wanted to turn around, but the gun in the back of her neck stayed where it was. " Who?"

"Don't pull that shit with me, Samantha. Where is he?"

Samantha? Now why did she... "How do you know my name?"

"Shit." She heard the click of a radio. "I've got her."

"Sir, we'll have to get back to the SGF. We're already..."

"I know that, Captain," the man hissed into his radio. Sam felt goosebumps rise on her skin. She knew that voice, she knew that voice.... Samantha. Only one person said her name that way.

She was grabbed roughly by the backpack and her flashlight went crashing down onto the ground, dying out. He didn't care, didn't seem to need it, instead pulling her down, ignoring the way she was tripping all over the place. He didn't say anything. " Um, sir?" she tried, tentatively.

"Sir?" His voice was mocking.

"Colonel O'Neill."

"Shut the hell up."

She had that sinking feeling again. She was sure it was him. Absolutely positive. She knew him as intimately as a person could without being a lover - she knew his shape, his smell, his voice probably better than she knew her own. But she also knew he would never talk to her like that. And the SGF? That could only be the Stargate Facility.

"You're from an alternate reality."

Suddenly, things were slip sliding into place and the resentment Sam had felt earlier gleefully made sense.

The light came so suddenly Sam cried out, closing her eyes while trying to open them and see what was going on.

"Get her out of here." She was let go, pushed, in fact, and she stumbled into another person.

Her hand was lifted up, moved. "Look, Colonel, I'm not who you think I am. Ah!" The shock was a surprise, but by then the light had dimmed and she was beginning to see again. Blinking furiously, wiping away at tears that had run down her cheeks, she looked around her. She could recognize those walls anywhere. The color. The lighting. Those faces.

"Okay, before you say anything," she began quickly, holding up her hands, "I'm really not the person you think I am. I mean, I am, but I'm not." Where was all her so-called intelligence when she needed it? " The woman you're looking for isn't me. She's back at the SGC, searching for some planet.... some planet that clearly doesn't exist. I mean she must have..." But why? Why, for God's sake?

"General, I suggest we put her in the brig."

Sam looked over her shoulder and nearly gasped. What the hell was going on here? Since when did.... of course. It wasn't him. Christ, this was confusing. " Colonel O'Neill, I'm not who you think I am," she said again, pleadingly.

"General? She's done this before."

"I have? I mean, she has?" What was going on here?

"Major, you know the drill," General Hammond sighed.

Two SFs approached Sam. Her backpack was released, her hands were cuffed behind her. Whatever protests she uttered were met with blank looks from all those around her. The looks Colonel O'Neill was giving her sent chills down her spine like no Goa'uld had ever managed. Did he hate this Sam Carter? Was that possible?

For the umpteenth time in her career at the SGC, Sam Carter was escorted to the brig, where she was locked up and left alone to stew.

Dropping down onto the bunk, she consigned Major Carter to hell. And hoped someone would figure out what was going on. Feretti better raise hell when he got back to the SGC and reported her missing.

Feretti... SG2.... " Wait! Hey, come back! Come on, I can prove who I am! Go back to that planet where you found me! Hello!" she shouted. " SG2 is there. Major Feretti, Captain Fellows, Lieutenant Hathin and Captain Berks are there. They'll tell you what happened. Come on! Please. Someone?"

She looked up towards the camera appealingly. "Give me a chance to prove who I am. Don't I deserve that?"

The camera didn't respond. Not that she'd expected it too.

She rested her head against the bars, a headache beginning to thump in her temples. "I could do with some aspirin, guys."

No one came.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Since her watch, along with her GDO, belt, shoelaces and cap had been removed upon her incarceration, Sam had to use her internal clock to tell the time by. In the end, when someone finally came, she decided it had been about three hours. Three hours of sitting there and wondering what the hell her other self had got her into.

Someone came. Someone, in the form of the furious, dangerously on edge, Colonel O'Neill.

Nervously, she sat up as he approached the bars. A set of SFs stood inside the door, guns at the ready, though what they thought she could do with loose shoes and trousers she didn't know. Level three advanced combat was nothing against three fully grown men, even though she'd damn well put up a good fight if she thought it would get her somewhere.

No, in this case, talking seemed the best option. Daniel would be so proud.

He rested his hands on the bars and looked at her. The muscle in his jaw ticked, ticked, ticked as he calmed himself down enough to talk. She didn't think she'd ever seen him this angry before. There were vague memories, perhaps, of that time when the computer entity had lived through her, but those images were dim and tinged with the horror of that situation. She didn't particularly like to dwell on that time.

He had killed her then, of course. And, this time, he looked like he could kill her now. Reach inside and snap her neck. What had she done to him?

The hairs rose up on the back of her neck, goosebumps broke out all over her skin. It was a similar feeling to the one she felt when faced with a Goa'uld. She never expected to feel it in front of her CO.

"Look," she said, "I'm not the Samantha Carter from this reality. I'm from the reality we just left. Your Samantha Carter is back in the SGC."

"Really?"

He didn't sound like he believed her at all.

"Yes. Really. She came through her gate at about 0900 hours this morning with her son, Matthew. She claimed to have been in some caves, investigating..."

Colonel O'Neill laughed harshly, then stopped suddenly. "Do you really think you can use the same spiel? That we'll fall for it again? Not this time. You're not leaving this place until you tell me where my son is."

"Holy Hannah!" She shot upright. " He's your son?"

The hands clenched the bars, white knuckled.

"But.. I didn't know you six years ago. How old is Matthew exactly? He's six or thereabouts right? I didn't know you then. I met you just over five years ago on the second mission to Abydos. I mean, six years ago you were still married to Sara, weren't you?" She was babbling. She was babbling in front of a man she didn't know. " I mean, my Colonel O'Neill was... I suppose it's entirely possible we met earlier. If Apophis came through earlier or maybe I had gone on the first mission...."

"Stop it."

The words were uttered so coldly that Sam couldn't help but cease her panic babble.

"Stop it. Stop it now."

She swallowed. "What happened?"

"You took him. You know that."

Kidnapped him? Why would she take her own son through the Stargate? Why would she arrange this elaborate plot? " How long ago?"

"Two years."

Sam's eyes fluttered closed. Oh God. "Why? Why did she take him away?"

"Because she didn't... because you didn't want me to have him."

This was like drawing blood from a stone. "Why?"

"Only you can tell me that."

Sam couldn't conceive any reason for her alternate self to take the Colonel's son away from him. Particularly after what had happened with his first son, Charlie. She knew only too well that children were his soft spot. You only had to see how he acted around Cassy, around her friends, the General's granddaughters, and how they responded to him to know that he was instinctively paternal. Taking his son away from him - for two years - was verging on torture. How could she have done that to him?

But then things might be different here. Her feelings for him might be different. They did say the line between love and hate was a thin one and yet... yet she still couldn't imagine hating him. Hating him enough to take his son away. Why? Why would she have done it? There had to be more to this than he was telling her.

She looked at his hands, white knuckles pressing against skin. A wedding ring glinted on his left hand. " Are you married? To her?"

He just stared at her, dark eyes filled with fury and pain - a mixture that made a lump stick in her throat. She hated to see him so upset, hated the feelings of guilt that were unconsciously rising up in her. It wasn't her fault and yet somehow it was.

"Sir, look, there must be physical, medical, differences between the two of us that can prove who I am. I've been a host to the Tokra, I broke my arm when I was eight, I have various scars.... I've never had a child, Colonel. I don't know if she had a natural birth or a caesarian but these things leave behind marks. If you could get Dr Fraiser to examine me. Or maybe you don't have a Dr Fraiser." She stopped talking, having run out of things to say. He hadn't taken his eyes off her, it was like he was trying to see into her mind. It was disturbing. " In my reality, Colonel O'Neill is my CO. We don't.... have a relationship like you and the other Major Carter. It would be against regulations. Not that we want... well, I suppose...." She laughed shakily, her feelings bordering on hysterical, and ran her hands through her hair. " I mean, this is just stupid. This is the third alternate reality where we are... were... At least both of us are alive in this one, which is a change. I was beginning to think..."

The door opened and Daniel walked in, looking first to Colonel O'Neill, then to Sam.

She took a step towards the bars, looking at Daniel pleadingly. "Daniel? Are you... I'm trying to prove that I'm not who you think I am."

Daniel gave her a very cold look, then turned in concern to his friend. "Jack, maybe you could step outside for a moment?"

The Colonel released his grip on the bars, stepped back, but still kept his eyes on her. "Watch her, Daniel. Don't trust a thing that comes out of her mouth."

"Oh God, Colonel......" But he left the room swiftly. She rubbed her hands over her face, feeling miserable for him. " Daniel, I'm really, really not who you all think I am."

He approached the bars, his face still neutral. "You have to understand - and I'm not saying you're not her at this point - that eight months ago we caught a Major Carter, brought her back and released her because her arguments were so convincing. It later turned out that we had been wrong."

Ah.... shit. " Right. Okay. But on that planet, my backup team is still there. SG-2? Major Feretti, Captain Fellows, Captain Berks and Lieutenant Hathin. Four very good men. If you haven't found them, they'll have gone back through the Stargate to Earth and will be raising hell. Someone will figure out it was a setup, that she sent me here so you'd pick me up...."

Daniel's expression was still cooler than she was used to, but at least he looked interested. "What did she look like?"

"Long blonde hair, longer than mine. Fairer than mine. She was tanned, too. Dressed funny. Matthew... Daniel, are they married?"

"Yes."

For some reason that made her feel better. "And how old is he, Daniel? Colonel O'Neill and I only met five years ago."

"He's five."

Sam's eyebrows rose. "So they met before we did?"

"They met shortly after the first mission to Abydos."

"And they let us work in the SGC together?"

"SGF," he corrected, watching her carefully. "You're CO of SG-2, he's CO of SG-1, though we do a lot of combined missions."

Just imagining a situation where she would not be bound by regulations was enough to boggle Sam's mind. How had this particular fork happened? " Daniel, what happened here? Why has she run off with Matthew?"

"No one knows. Just that, just over two years ago during the graveyard shift, Major Samantha Carter smuggled her son into the facility. She zatted the three men in the control room, ran a dialing program of her own design that activated the Stargate and allowed her and her son to go through but promptly wiped the memory of the computer as soon as the wormhole shut down." Daniel winced, reached up and pulled his glasses off before pressing his fingers to his eyes. " Jesus, Sam, you nearly killed him."

"I didn't do anything. I would never do that to him. Not... not unless I had a very, very good reason."

Daniel laughed shakily. "What reason would that be then?"

"I don't know. Look, are you going to go back to that planet? Through the mirror? You can gate to Earth, catch her there. I mean, General Hammond won't let her out of the mountain...."

"That's going to be a problem."

"What? Why?"

"For the past year, General Hammond has gone against direct orders in letting Jack continue searching for his wife and son. This morning, he was found out. Some idiot blabbed. He's being forced into retirement. Effective immediately. We're getting a new general in and I very much doubt there'll be any more missions through the mirror."

Panic had Sam running to the bars. "No! Daniel, I can't be left here. This isn't my reality. Daniel, we've got to get back through the mirror!"

He was shaking his head. "Believe me, if we could we would. Everyone's jobs are on the line here, Sam. The whole of the SGF was in on it. Hammond's retirement is saving them all from serious repercussions - God knows what they're going to do with Jack. We can't risk it Sam."'

"Daniel, I don't think you understand..."

"I've been there too, Sam! I know exactly how you're feeling, probably better than anyone else. Jesus, Sam, I'm really sorry but there's just no way. The mirror is already on its way to Area 51 to be destroyed."

"Daniel. God, Daniel, I can't.... I can't be here. I'm not her..." she gasped desperately, clinging to the bars. A future was spreading out in front of her, bleak and horrifying.

"But that's the thing, Sam. You are her. You are exactly like her. I don't know what we're going to do. Janet's going to give you a physical to confirm who you are. The SFs are going to escort you to the infirmary. I suggest you don't... try anything." He sighed and turned away, knocked on the glass of the door, leaving Sam to her thoughts.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The briefing was uncomfortable. No, not uncomfortable. Incredibly painful. It was held in the General's office as he packed, with Janet, Daniel, Colonel O'Neill and Sam all standing in a semicircle around the desk. Sam almost wished for a chair so she could sit down; she was feeling incredibly weary. This was all too much, too great, to take in at once.

"This Major Carter has the protein marker left from Jolinar, the naquadah in her blood, but it appears that Jolinar entered her through the mouth, not the back of the neck as Jolinar was forced to in this reality. There are other minor differences - Major Carter's left arm has not been broken in the last three years, nor does she have the scar from the Ninian spear that penetrated her left thigh." Dr Fraiser looked down at her clipboard, then back at her commander. " Sir, she really isn't our Major Carter."

Sam felt a brief flash of triumph, quickly dashed when she realised it simply wasn't important anymore.

"So my wife and son are on another Earth somewhere."

General Hammond closed his eyes briefly. "Son, I can't tell you how sorry I am."

" General, you did the best you could, and it was far more than we should have asked of you in the first place," Daniel murmured, glancing at Colonel O'Neill briefly to judge his reaction. But the Colonel's face was carefully shuttered.

The General didn't seem to know what to say - for once lost for words. He turned to Sam. "Major, I'm truly sorry for what happened to you. You seemed to have been placed in an impossible situation, and I can't help but feel guilty."

"It's not your fault, sir," Sam managed. She sucked in a breath, hoping it would quake the nerves in her stomach. " Does anyone else know that I was brought through the mirror?"

"The whole of the SGF, I imagine. Rumour does get around quickly. But as far as everyone else outside is aware, you are the other Major Carter."

"Oh, great. That'll make for a smooth adjustment." Finally, Sam gave in - she went to sit on one of the chairs that had been pushed against a wall. She lowered her face to her cupped hands and wished she could cry. " What am I supposed to do?"

"The situation will be explained. I shall make an announcement before I officially leave. Then... it's really up to General Thomas."

"Thomas?" Sam couldn't but help pick up the name. As a General's daughter herself, as an air force brat in general, she tended to know a few more of the top brass than your average soldier. " I've heard of him. I think my father.... oh, God, my father." Mark. Her niece and nephew. Oh God. Cassie. Janet. Daniel. Teal'c. Jack. " How can this have happened to me?" she whispered, pressing her hands against her face as her grief punched her in the gut. " No. No." She shook her head and stood up. " No. I will not let this happen to me. I will not be stuck here. There has to be another way."

"Major Carter, there is no longer anything I can do. That anyone can do. I'm sorry."

The finality of that last 'sorry' had tears filling Sam's eyes. Swiftly, she turned and looked at the bare walls, sucking her cheeks in and biting down hard. Carters didn't cry. Carters certainly didn't cry in front of their superior officers.

"Sir, perhaps it would be best if Major Carter came home with me," Janet said softly.

"Certainly. I think it would do everyone good to get out of the base for the rest of the day. General Thomas will be arriving tomorrow. Dismissed. Colonel, if I could have a word?"

Sam felt a warm hand on her back and she let Janet lead her unnecessarily out of the office and down the hallway.

"I can't imagine how this is for you, Sam, but things will start to look up soon, I'm sure. Your father is still here, in a way. Your brother and his children. I know Cassie will be pleased to see you. She's mercifully been kept out of all of this...."

"But they're not mine, are they?"

Janet inclined her head. "And you're not ours. Which, at the moment, is a good thing, believe me."

"That's not very comforting, Janet."

Dr Fraiser sighed and coaxed Sam into the elevator. "No. I don't suppose it is."

*

Chapter Three (Chain Reaction)

*

"For the time being," General Thomas repeated, his eyebrows raised.

Sam stared at him. She was remembering what her father had said about General Thomas. He was an ass. And that was the polite version.

"Sir, with respect, in my reality...."

He didn't even have the decency to look up at her when he responded: "Major, I don't care if you and Colonel O'Neill were step brother and sister in your reality. You are in this reality now and in the interest of security you will have to take Colonel O'Neill's wife's place. That means moving back into their marital home. You can start divorce proceedings at once, if that is your wish. Dismissed."

Sam snapped her mouth shut and she quickly saluted - remembering with clarity the informal relationship she'd had with General Hammond that meant she didn't have to follow exact procedure - and left the room, just refraining from slamming the door.

She marched back to her lab where she did slam the door behind her. Then she dropped down onto her stool and buried her face in her hands. She was too angry to cry.

A tentative knock came ten minutes later. It could only be one person. "Come in, Daniel."

"How did you know it was me?"

She managed to smile, pulled her hands away from her face. "For me?" she asked, nodding to the coffee in his hand.

"Of course." He leaned against the bench, cradling the mug between his hands. It was achingly familiar to the position her had been in when talking to her, only moments before the klaxons had rang and that woman had stepped into her reality. " What did the General have to say?"

"You know how the Colonel was in a really filthy mood this morning?" He'd told her to fuck off. He'd never sworn at her before.

"More so than usual? Then, yes."

"I imagine the General," she said the word venomously, "had just informed him that I'm expected to move back into their house. For the sake of security."

Daniel closed his eyes and scrunched up his face. "Oh, God, poor Jack. And you, of course."

She rolled her eyes. With Daniel, in this reality, Jack always came first. "Yes. Poor us. I hope he... they... we have a spare bedroom."

"Two."

"Really? Oh God, Daniel, it's going to be so awkward. I thought I just could live on the base..."

"... forever? And never see the daylight?"

She decided to ignore him. "No. Until I could, I don't know, rent some place else."

"With what? You have a joint bank account with Jack. You have a house together. Cars together. Retirement plans together." He didn't, thankfully, add that they also had a child together.

"Way to be comforting, Daniel." She sipped her coffee thoughtfully. So she was moving in with a man who couldn't speak to her without seeing his betraying wife, the kidnapper of his son. It would make for really interesting living. " Will you help me? Move in, I mean."

He seemed to think this was funny. "What? Help you move all the stuff you've accumulated over the last five days?"

She glared at him. She didn't particularly want to tell him that she liked having him in between her and Colonel O'Neill. She could take care of herself. Just not when it came to the Colonel. Even back in her own reality, Daniel had always been there to suffuse the tension. To sleep between them at night, snoring softly in his sleeping bag, unaware that sometimes the two people on either side of him were lying awake.

"Of course I will. I could stay the night, too."

"Don't you have to ask the Colonel first?"

"He already asked me." Daniel smirked. "Ordered me, actually. I don't think he wants to be left alone with you either."

" Oh that just... great." She looked down at her - as in, the other her - plans for a mobile dialing device, something she had been working on herself in her spare time, what little there was of it. " General Thomas said.... he said we could file for divorce."

Daniel frowned. "It's an option, though it's not like you're actually married."

"Exactly. I'm not his wife. How can we file for divorce?"

He shrugged slightly. "Sam, I don't know. It's something you and he are going to have talk about."

Sam sighed. There was nothing worse than trying to talk to the Colonel when he didn't want to. Avoidance was something he knew a great deal about. " SG-1 have got a mission scheduled, haven't they?"

"Yup. First proper one in months. The MALP recordings were fascinating - the remains of what looks like Classical Greek architecture, including some wonderfully preserved statuary that could possibly prove a little theory of mine."

Despite herself, she couldn't help but be carried away by his enthusiasm. "What's that then?"

He looked a little sheepish. "That some of the oldest Greek sculptors were aliens."

Sam tipped back her head and laughed properly for the first time in nearly a week.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Sam picked the spare room that was furthest away from the Colonel. It was childish, she knew, but she couldn't bare the thought of knowing their room was next door to hers. Besides, the room she had picked had a nicer view. It was decorated prettily, all in shades of cream and white with a quilt she recognized as her grandmother's on the bed. The furniture was antique and she thought she recognized the dresser from the Colonel's bedroom (which she had been in, perhaps, twice in her life).

She was almost insatiably curious to know what their bedroom looked like. Hers and the Colonels. Where the other she and the other Colonel O'Neill had made love, possibly conceived their child.... Holy Hannah. She and Colonel O'Neill had a child together.

Only when she was very, very drunk did she consider having a child, children, with Colonel O'Neill. When she was very, very drunk, regulations became rather less important, Goa'uld invasion seemed significantly more unlikely, and her only really pressing concern was easing over five years of sexual tension. It wasn't unusual for women to go for a long time without sex, but, seriously, she was reaching born-again virgin status here. And losing it to Colonel O'Neill (who, bizarrely, always remained Colonel O'Neill in her drunken thoughts) was far more appealing. Then they'd usually get engaged, married, start a family, while still working together on SG-1 and saving the planet every other week.

Naturally, she had to drink some serious alcohol to reach that stage and for the past year she had been noticeably teetotal. It had been safer that way. Her drunken thoughts always tended to spur on heated dreams for months afterwards, which left her feeling embarrassed and faintly dirty when she was faced with him at work.

Right now, he was in the kitchen downstairs, talking to Daniel with the radio on in the background. Some classical station. They had left her alone to unpack her meagre belongings and she was in no hurry to join them. Instead, she thought she'd potter around the top of the house as quietly as possible, checking out the rooms (not theirs, though), of which there seemed to be a lot of. She knew the Colonel was surprisingly good with money, and she supposed with a joint income they could manage to afford such a large house, but, really, four bedrooms and two offices upstairs? Not to mention the two en-suite bathrooms and the larger, family bathroom.

She opened the door at the end of the hallway and saw that rough wooden steps led further up. She checked behind her once, just in case the Colonel came upstairs and thought she was prying (which, technically, she was), and then softly walked up the steps.

Unsurprisingly, it led to the unused, by potentially usable, loft - a large expanse of dusty wooden floorboards and wooden raftings. She found herself smiling slightly when she saw the balcony. Of course - where else was the Colonel going to put his telescope?

She wandered over, bare feet no doubt picking up the dust that layered the floor, and slid open the doors, stepping out and leaning against the railings. It was a beautiful house with beautiful homily rooms. She could so easily imagine a family living there - which, she supposed, was part of the problem.

It wasn't fair on her heart to put her in this type of situation. Nobody should be put in this situation, forced to watch the destruction another person had wrought on what should have been a perfect life.

There were pictures all over the house of Matthew and his father. There were none of her, and she knew enough of the Colonel to know that he would have hidden those away, if he hadn't destroyed them already. At least now she'd found out - Matthew had brown eyes. Just like his father. And from what Daniel had told her, Matthew's resemblance to his dead older brother was striking. Yes, Charlie had died in this reality too. Shot himself with his father's gun. Sent his father into a decline that he'd only begun to emerge out of when he'd met the then Captain Samantha Carter. And just when his life was looking up, a new wife, a son, a career with prospects and honor, it was all taken away from him. Again.

The view no longer filled Sam with admiration. She stepped back from the railings and went back downstairs.

The evening progressed. The Colonel drank steadily, the bottle of Jack Daniel's growing lighter until it was nearly empty. He could certainly take his alcohol, Sam thought, as she watched him clear up the plates from the meal with Daniel helping. If she hadn't seen him drink his way down the bottle, she would never have guessed.

She took herself off to bed at ten, thanking the Colonel formally for dinner and giving Daniel a quick hug. He held her close for a second extra, only to whisper in her ear, " Lock your door."

Color suffused her entire body and she scurried off. She did as Daniel had suggested, wondering at what Daniel had been afraid of exactly as she flung her clothes off and pulled on her jammies.

Nothing happened that night. The door handle didn't wiggle, no one paused outside her door. She heard Daniel call 'night, Sam' through the door at some late hour but the Colonel didn't say or do a thing.

She decided she was clearly disturbed if she found that fact disappointing.

In the morning, there was mail for her. Mrs. O'Neill. She was thankful that neither the Colonel or Daniel had woken as early as she had because they would have seen the goofy smile that spread over her face.

"Dammit, Carter, get a grip," she told herself firmly.

She put the mail on the breakfast bar, deciding against opening it for the moment. She piled the Colonel's mail separately and hoped he would suggest she open her own. Then she looked through the cupboards. She really wasn't much of a cook, mainly because she'd never really tried, never really had to. She ate on base when she could, got takeaway the few nights she was at home. She'd learnt her lesson not to keep much food in the house since fairly early on at the SGC, when they'd been delayed off-world and she'd returned to find there were things breeding in her cupboards.

Children's cereal seemed to be the only option that she could manage without having to actually cook anything and she pulled out the Froot Loops, remembering all the times he had eaten them at the table with her and Daniel.

A noise behind her had her spinning around in horror, only to find the Colonel was standing there, also in his nightwear. They looked at one and another in embarrassment. Sam had thought, it being only half past five and all (she had gone to bed very early), that no one would be up and it would be okay to wander around in her jammies for breakfast.

Stupidly, she offered him the cereal. "Froot Loops?"

He nodded, eyeing her with deep seated suspicion. "I'll get the bowls and spoons," he said eventually.

She supposed that meant she'd have to get the milk. Easy enough, she decided, her eyes latching on the refrigerator. She took the milk out, smiling slightly at the nearly empty shelves, and took it back to the breakfast bar where he had set out her bowl and spoon. They sat opposite each other, feet carefully tucked in under their stools so as to avoid any bodily contact with each other.

They ate in silence, neither looking at each other. The clock on the wall was the loudest thing in the kitchen, ticking away steadily.

Surprisingly, it was the Colonel who broke that silence. "Sam has a pair of jammies like that."

She looked down. They were just blue and white checked flannel, an exact copy of a pair she had at home. Janet had bought them for her on their necessity shopping trip. " I suppose we have the same taste."

He nodded slowly, considering her collar. "Did she look well?"

Did that mean he was still concerned about her? "Um... yes. She was tanned. Looked like she'd been somewhere hot."

"She'd been planet hopping for most of the two years she'd been away."

"How do you know?"

"Because we were always one or two planets behind her. Matt... did Matt look okay?"

She nodded quickly, knowing this would be most important to him. "Yeah. He looked like he was taking Stargate travel with ease."

That made him smile a little, at least, even if it was tinged with bitterness. "I suppose it's only fitting that our son would be the first Tauri child to go through the gate."

Our son.

Sam got this funny feeling low in her stomach and unconsciously a hand went to hover over it. She cleared her throat. " How did you meet?"

He stirred the pieces left in his bowl absently. "Some function a mate of mine conned me into going. She was wearing a very small red dress." He smiled retrospectively. " Knocked me sideways. I never saw it coming. I was in love with her by the end of the evening."

Sam swallowed hard. She'd never heard her Colonel talk anything like this. And, consequently, she didn't know what to say.

"Jacob's coming."

She shook her head at the change of conversation. "Sorry?"

"Your father. I just got a call on my cell. He's been out of touch for the past six months and he's coming to see you."

"Oh."

Shortly after that, he put his bowl and spoon in the dishwasher and left her without saying a word.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Some things you never grew out of. Needing parental comfort was one of them, even if, technically, the parent wasn't yours.

Jacob Carter drew out of their embrace and smiled at her fondly. "You look terrible."

"Thanks, Dad." She decided it wouldn't be best to tease him about his Tokra clothing. Him not really being her father and all.

He smiled slightly and put his arm about her shoulder. "Let's go to the commissary. We need to talk. General," he said frostily, nodding towards General Thomas.

"General," Thomas replied, equally frostily. That coldness was transferred to Sam, his disapproval radiating from his person. General Thomas had made clear, upon Jacob's arrival, that personal visits were to be restricted. The unspoken reasoning behind this was that it was a waste of money.

If she ever got home, Sam was going to grab hold of General Hammond and kiss him.

Not if, when, Sam told herself as she walked out of the gate room and towards the elevator.

"Just how difficult has he made things for you?" Jacob asked softly as Sam led them to a relatively secluded table in the middle of the commissary, bypassing the drinks due to the need to talk.

She said the first thing that popped into her head. " He's made me move in with Colonel O'Neill."

Jacob winced. "Ah."

"Security reasons. Suggested I could start divorce proceedings for a marriage I never committed myself too."

"Oh, Sam..."

"I suppose Colonel O'Neill's taking it remarkably well. Considering. Sometimes he even speaks to me civilly." She looked down at the table, refused to see the pity in her father's eyes. Her father's eyes.

"He believes Sam took Matt away from him out of spite."

For the first time, Sam heard a hint of doubt in someone's voice. She looked up sharply. "Spite? Why? Were they having... problems?"

"Not as far as I was aware. I thought they had a rock solid marriage." Jacob was still talking softly, his eyes moving from her face and around the room, as if watching out for eavesdroppers. " Sam, I know you're not her, but can you think of any reason, any reason at all why she would take off like that?"

"Offhand, no. I'm not her. I've not experienced all the things she has. The only thing I can come up with was if...." She trailed off uncomfortably.

"Sam?"

"Was if Matthew was under threat. Here. On Earth. There is no other reason I can see behind her risking taking him planet hopping."

Jacob Carter smiled, showing his teeth and the corners of his eyes crinkling. "You know, that's the conclusion I came too." He patted her hand. " Carter's don't run away. They don't quit."

How many times had she heard that before? When she'd been thrown by that horse at age six? When she'd taken up the damn flute and had resolutely played it all the way through high school. And she remembered those words when she was working her ass off getting the Colonel off Edora. " She ran away this time."

"Yes - and she must have had a damn good reason for doing so."

Sam felt inordinately warm suddenly - finally, finally someone believed in her. Her father. His faith in her knew no bounds. God that was good to know. " But what? What could possibly have happened?"

"I've been trying to read up on the mission reports in the months before Sam disappeared but since I've only been able to come back three times since she left that's proven difficult. She must have been planning it for some time - the program was complicated, and you know the schedules for off-world travel and shifts change all the time."

She was nodding, agreeing with him, her mind running over options. A program like that... she could only have worked on it after hours, couldn't have saved it on the computer here, and didn't have the information available at home. Not to mention the fact that the rota for off-world travel didn't come out months in advance.

"Right. I'll need to get my hands on their reports. SG-2," she reminded herself, shaking her head.

"You weren't on SG-2?"

"SG-1."

"With O'Neill?"

She nodded absently, her mind still toying with the logistics on subtly reading up on her other self.

"You had no relationship with him, then?"

That brought her back. "No," she said sharply. "Regulations don't permit...." Damn, she was blushing.

Jacob smiled slightly. "You know, there has been one other alternate reality incident here and I happened to be present at the time. You and O'Neill came through, though he was actually a General. You were pregnant, engaged to be married after their World War Three ended. You argued over the briefing table and then I walked in on them making up in your lab. This was about two years after you got married and it was the first time I allowed myself to think that your marriage was right for you."

"World War Three?" she managed weakly, the image of herself and Colonel O'Neill 'making up' burned into her eyelids. She'd watched him kiss other hers before, of course.

"Apparently the Stargate technology was something worth fighting for. Evacuations of military personnel had taken place to the Alpha site, you and O'Neill included. The discovery of the mirror was an accident."

"So Major Carter was there for this."

Jacob nodded. "Yes."

"Was the mirror destroyed?"

"As far as I'm aware."

"So was ours." She tapped her fingers on the desk. "I wonder how many mirrors are out there."

*

Chapter Four (Proving Ground)

*

Sitting up in bed, at three in the morning with the lamp beside her burning away, Sam yawned once again, rubbed her burning eyes and continued reading. Every time the words blurred in front of her eyes, she blinked several times, wiggled to get rid of the ache in her back, and started again. Any moment now, she would reach the point of no return and fall asleep in this position - and that would give her hell in the morning.

Sam blinked, letting her eyes close to rest them a moment, and when she opened her eyes again, three hours had passed and she needed the toilet.

Creepy.

She pushed the reports down her legs, rolled the duvet back and headed for the door. Had she chosen the spare room next door to his room, Sam would have had an en-suite bathroom and wouldn't have to worry about bumping into him in the middle of the night. But that hadn't happened yet, probably because he was avoiding her too. They'd already managed it so their morning routines didn't clash. He got up half an hour later than she did, giving her time to wash, dress, eat breakfast and shoot down to the base before he'd even started his shower. It was all in the timing.

This time. This one damn time, Sam wasn't so lucky. She pulled open the door and nearly screamed.

"Holy Hannah," she gasped, her fingers reaching for a weapon that wasn't there.

Colonel O'Neill froze in the doorway, dark eyes black in the dim light of the hallway. " Why aren't you asleep? Your lights been on all night."

Instinctively, she half closed the door, blocking the sight of her bed. She didn't want him finding out about the reports, her investigation into his wife's disappearance. God knew how he would react. " I just fell asleep with it on, that's all," she lied easily.

"You were reading. I could hear pages turning."

Huh. "Then you must have been awake all night too. What's the big deal?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Nothing. Except that you've done it three nights in a row. Ever since your dad came home."

"He's not actually my dad," she said through her teeth, "and if you must know, he pointed out that there are differences in mine and her pasts and that I ought to associate myself with them. I hadn't really thought about it before, since SG-2 have been grounded while I acclimatize." Well that sounded pretty realistic.

He put a hand on the door jamb, leaned into it. He took up nearly all of the doorway, she realized and was wearing.... very sexy black shorts. And a T-shirt, of course. But those shorts.... oh boy....

Seriously, looking at him was like getting punched in the gut, he was that attractive.

Oh boy indeed.

Mind. Gutter. Out.

"Don't you think working on this at six in the morning is a little excessive?" He was still suspicious.

"Actually, I fell asleep at three, and when else am I supposed to do it?"

"I don't know... maybe at work?" the Colonel said sarcastically.

Hah. With the way General Thomas had her working? He'd got to be kidding! "Look, Colonel, I appreciate your concern......"

"I'm not concerned," he interrupted rudely. "You're keeping me awake."

Yeah, right, you bastard. "My pages turning too loud for you?"

"No. Your light is shining directly under my door. I can't sleep unless it's totally dark."

Now that was a big fat lie. Her Colonel O'Neill could sleep anywhere. All he had to do was lie down and close his eyes. Though she'd only really seen him sleep off-world, and he didn't really sleep. He kind of dozed, always with half an ear listening.

"Fine. I'll make sure I turn off the lights. Now, can I go to the bathroom, please?"

"Whatever." He turned around and walked back to his room. He didn't slam the door, though she could see by the way his shoulders were tensed that he was just aching to do so.

Making as much noise in the bathroom as possible (turning the taps on extra hard and flushing the toilet twice), Sam wondered if he acted like that whenever he was angry. Would make for an interesting marriage, she thought, knowing only too well her response to such childishness would be, well, equally childish. She did slam the bathroom door, then her own bedroom door, before she piled all the reports together and shoved them in her briefcase. Or, rather, Daniel's spare briefcase.

Then she lay in bed, wide awake, until her alarm went off.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

SG-2's sixth mission was a mud bath. They completed their objectives, no problem, but as they trudged back to the Stargate, Sam glanced back at her bedraggled team and nearly laughed.

Captain Hennersey was covered in mud from head to toe, literally. The only white bit about her were the whites of her eyes, blinking furiously at the globs of mud that were dropping down from her hair. She had lost her hat early on in the mud slide and was taking things remarkably calmly.

Lieutenant Thake, on the other hand, had his jaw clenched, his hat pulled down over his eyebrows, and was muttering to himself about local customs of alien planets that insisted strangers be 'cleansed' upon leaving. He was moving stiffly with the cold, his shoulders hunched to prevent any mud from sliding down under his waterproofs.

The only person who had avoided the 'cleansing' was Dr Hadley, the linguist. He had been walking behind the team, chatting to one of the locals and had realized too late what they had in store for them. He'd called out moments before the mud slide started and his three other team mates were drenched in reddish-brown mud. He had only just finished apologizing profusely.

Just as Sam reached the dialing device, it started to rain.

Again.

"Kill me," Thake muttered.

Everyone else grinned.

"This must be doing wonders for my skin," Hennersey said, trying not to open her mouth too much.

"Ooh, just what I wanted. Baby soft skin," Thake said sarcastically.

Hennersey's dimples peeped through, barely, the mud. "Your wife will be thrilled."

This raised a tiny smile. "I could probably convince her to take a bath with me."

"Too much information, Ben," Dr Hadley complained, dialing the coordinates for home.

Sam engaged the GDO, smiling to herself. She rather liked her team. And they were coping well with her replacing their old leader. She hadn't had a cross word from them, when she knew everyone considered the previous Major Carter to be a betrayer.

"Let's go home guys. Warm water, soap, change of clothes. We'll all feel much better."

"Thank God."

"Amen to that."

"Gotta love base showers."

General Thomas's mouth did not twitch when they arrived back. He did raise his eyebrows, however, and managed to look even more disapproving than usual. " Briefing in an hour. Showers and infirmary. Dismissed."

They nodded, saluted, and made their squishy way out towards the shower room, with officers throwing themselves out of their way good-naturedly.

"I'm so glad SG-1 weren't around to witness that," Hennersey sighed. "This is usually their milieu."

Sam smiled. She was glad too. But, obviously, for an entirely different reason.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Sam was still discovering bits of mud later that evening, as she worked in her lab. She checked the clock one last time before she decided enough was enough and she would have to get something to eat. Just because SG-1 were a couple of hours late didn't mean anything. And there were plenty of people on hand to deal with them if something had, so she could go right down to the commissary, grab something to eat...

Why weren't her feet moving?

Almost as if they were reading her mind, the klaxons started clanging.

*"Unauthorised offworld activation!"*

Now her feet started moving.

If General Thomas was surprised to see her, he didn't say anything. Thank God. It was well within his rights to have her removed from the control room.

"Receiving SG-1's IDC, sir."

"Medics to the gate room!"

"Open the iris."

Eyes trained on that circle of energy, Sam didn't realize her breath was being held. God, was this what it was like for her? The other her? Waiting for her husband to return?

Colonel O'Neill stepped through the gate, walking straight, not a limp or a bloody limb in sight. Behind him came Daniel, Captain Boyd and Major Green.

" You're late, SG-1!" General Thomas shouted through the microphone.

The Colonel shrugged and raised his hands to the side.

"Report to the infirmary. Briefing at 2100."

The three military personnel saluted, though Colonel O'Neill's couldn't really be called a salute. Daniel raised a hand halfheartedly and was already walking towards the doors, chatting away to Captain Boyd as Green went ahead with his CO.

General Thomas finally looked at her. "Was there something that you wanted, Major Carter?"

"No, sir. Sorry, sir." She hurried away, wincing.

Sam studiously avoided the infirmary, and the corridor where Colonel O'Neill's office was located. In fact, she decided to finally head to the commissary and eat a substantial meal, so that by the time she got out, SG-1 would be halfway through their briefing and she could drive home.

It was a good plan, right up until she walked back into her laboratory to get her things and found both Daniel and the Colonel in there already.

"Er, hi. That was a quick briefing," she managed. "I was just about to head on home."

Daniel looked at Colonel O'Neill and it was suddenly very clear that Daniel was nervous and the colonel was pissed off. " Sam, we were wondering if we could have a word with you."

Uh oh.

"Sure. Go ahead," she said casually.

"Major Green goes on paternity leave as of tomorrow and the General said Green was also considering a transfer. Wants to be with his family more."

Oh shit.

" Yes?"

"And General Thomas thought.... thought...."

She closed her eyes. "Please be kidding."

Colonel O'Neill snorted. "Apparently, he has a replacement for you lined up already. You're back on SG-1, Major."

No. She couldn't do this. She couldn't see him every day, couldn't go home with him, couldn't come to work with him. This just wasn't fair. " What? Does he have it in for us or something?"

"I'm sure that's not it. It's just that, well, you're not married anymore and Sam's the leading Stargate expert in the SGF. SG-1 is the flagship team after all, and if you weren't, hadn't been, er, married, then she would have been on SG-1 in the first.... place," Daniel said weakly, giving both of them pitying looks.

"Right," she sighed, frankly not having the energy to argue any more, "in that case, I think I'll go home. Hard day and all."

"Yeah, we heard about the mud slide."

Sam managed a smile. "Thought you might have."

" There were footprints from the Stargate to the showers," Daniel said, tentatively smiling at Colonel O'Neill.

To be fair, the Colonel was at least trying not to look so stern. She recognized the signs of when he was making an effort to be polite. He'd never had to make an effort to be polite to her before, thought. At least not after the first few weeks of knowing each other.

Perhaps that was it. Perhaps she had to prove herself to him once again. It hadn't occurred to her before. Putting aside the fact that he had been married to her counterpart, Colonel O'Neill didn't give his trust easily. It had to be earned. She'd earned it with her Colonel O'Neill over five years ago. She would have to start anew with this one.

"Who's replacing me?"

"Some new guy. Jack? Do you know anything?"

Colonel O'Neill shook his head. "I'm out of the loop on this one. Deliberately, I imagine. I can only think that the new guy will be 2IC of the base before long."

"What?" Daniel and Sam exclaimed.

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" He lowered his voice considerably and unconsciously Sam and Daniel moved forward, aware of the security cameras on them. " I've seen it happen before. A new CO moves in, he wants to have a 2IC he can trust. He can't get rid of me outright, so instead he replaces SG-2's leader."

"He can't just replace you," Sam pointed out.

"No, but he could force me into retirement. Again."

Holy Hannah. That hadn't occurred to her before. General Hammond, after all, had been forced into retirement, ensuring that everyone else wouldn't take the blame. But knowing Colonel O'Neill's reputation, his lack of respect for authority figures like General Thomas and his general attitude... he could so easily be given choice between retirement or dishonorable discharge for so many things. How many times had General Hammond covered up the illegal actions of SG-1? General Thomas sure as hell wasn't going to be so forgiving.

"Well, you'll just have to be careful," Sam said eventually, giving her CO a stern look. " Think before you speak and act. We can't lose you to some minion of General Thomas's."

The smile on his face became less bitter at the disgust in her voice. " You sound like the voice of experience."

"General Hammond was forced into retirement once before and his replacement, General Bauer, had me making a naquadah bomb and sending it through the Stargate. We nearly blew up a chunk of the planet." She mock shuddered. " And he split up SG-1. Then there was the time when you.... Never mind."

"Have there been a lot of differences in your lives?" Daniel wanted to know.

Sam nodded and ran her fingers through her hair. This was one particular thing that was driving her up the wall. She had hoped there would be more professional similarities, but it wasn't the case. Her research was slow going. " Virtually everything."

"If your memory's as good as... Sam's... maybe you should make a list of all the planets you've been too. Particularly those that could offer us technological advantages."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "I've already done that. It was one of the first things General Thomas ordered me to do. You haven't seen it?"

He shook his name wearily.

She wondered how long this had been going on. She felt bad for not noticing that he was being slowly and surely shoved out of the loop. " I've got a copy." She moved to her laptop swiftly and opened up the file, shaking her head as she did it. Her printer spewed out the paper swiftly and she handed it to Colonel O'Neill. " In the future...." she began, but trailed off.

He folded up the piece of paper and tucked it into a pocket. "Anything you give to him, give to me. I am your CO now, after all."

Great.

*

Chapter Five (The Enemy Within)

*

"Yes, sir."

Colonel O'Neill nodded and went off with Daniel, leaving Sam and Captain Boyd behind. They smiled awkwardly at each other. Boyd was a friend of the Colonel's - had been assigned to the SGF under the Colonel's recommendation - and he was a nice guy. Sam clearly recalled how they had lost Henry Boyd back in her reality - the wormhole and the screen with his terrified face on it. Every time she looked at the captain, she recalled that screen.

It was difficult to maintain a conversation with a man who was right now being pulled apart like spaghetti in her own reality.

"So, in your reality, you and Colonel O'Neill...."

Why did every single person ask her this question? Was it so unbelievable that they weren't married/engaged/together?

"No," she began impatiently, "we weren't married, we're not together, he's my CO, I'm his 2IC. Frat regs."

Boyd looked a little sheepish. "Sorry. Bet you get that a lot."

Mentally, she sighed. That was the third time she had taken it out on someone just for asking a simple question. " You could say that."

Both of them looked to where the Colonel and Daniel had gone. Daniel had insisted upon seeing a specific room in a specific ruin and the Colonel had seen no reason to drag Boyd and Sam along. They had been walking all day, after all.

Slowly, Sam and Boyd set up camp. Frankly, she was a little tired. Her sleeping patterns had been completely blown over the past couple of weeks, what with settling in to SG-1 (again), working on her own private project and trying to get along with the Colonel, both at work and at home. Unsurprisingly, work was easier. It was all a matter of 'yes sir' and 'no sir'. At home, she felt awkward calling him 'sir' and 'colonel', and even more awkward calling him 'Jack'. In the end, she avoided naming him, and so did he. He went up to look through his telescope in the evenings, coming down to cook dinner, and then disappearing off to his bedroom once more. She imagined he had a TV up there.

So, all in all, things were just peachy.

Apart from the fact that she was going nowhere with discovering Samantha Carter's reasons behind disappearing with her son. And the mirror was probably already destroyed.

All she could think about on the getting home front was that she could contact the Asgard. Since there now appeared to be two alternate reality mirrors, it made sense that there could be more. However, Earth's relationship with the Asgard wasn't quite as close in this reality as it was in hers, no doubt due to Colonel O'Neill's obsession with finding his wife and son over the past two years. Still, in order to get a message to the Asgard, she would have to ask permission of General Thomas, who would ask what was in the message and then deny her the opportunity.

Sam sighed as she rolled out her sleeping bag.

"Problem?"

"You know. The usual. Wrong reality. No way home."

Boyd grinned. "If it makes you feel any better, we're real glad we have a Major Carter home. There have been a few close shaves without you, you know."

That was flattering, but rather unlikely. There seemed to be a lot of close shaves when she was around. She decided not to comment.

They unpacked their MREs and started cooking, occasionally conversing. She decided she liked him. He had a good sense of humor, a wide smile, and, what was more, appeared to like her for herself.

Daniel and the Colonel returned. Daniel was grumpy because the Colonel had pulled him away from his rocks early.

"Daniel, the sun has just set. You couldn't see anything!"

Daniel rolled his eyes and shook his torch in the air. "What do you call this, then?"

Sam grinned; this was so akin to the arguments they had at home it was almost impossible not to feel at home.

"God," Colonel O'Neill muttered, dropping down next to Sam, obviously forgetting she wasn't his favorite person. He looked at her and motioned a strangling gesture with his hands. " There are times when I could..." He shook his hands violently.

"Hey! I'm right here!" Daniel protested.

She giggled into her 'macaroni and cheese' and quickly stuffed a glob into her mouth.

"Are they like that where you come from?" Boyd wanted to know, sharing her amusement.

She smiled and nodded. "Yup. I can't tell you the number of arguments they've had. Teal'c and I would just sit there while they fought over everything from morals to what color the sky was." And on one particularly memorable occasion, what the MREs actually tasted like that had resulted in a food fight. Thankfully, General Hammond hadn't commented as 'chicken' pieces had dropped out from behind Daniel's ear.

"Teal'c?" Boyd asked.

"Apparently, the other SG-1 has a Jaffa in place of you." The Colonel said this with great relish.

"A Jaffa!"

"He was, well, probably is, the First Prime to Apophis. We kinda recruited him. Or maybe he decided we were a worthwhile cause to save his people from slavery."

"How did that come about then?"

"Well, in 1997, the Stargate reactivated and a female officer was kidnapped from the base. Colonel O'Neill was brought in, and Kowalski, Feretti, and me, to go back to Abydos to speak to Daniel Jackson. After all, we thought that the Stargate went only one way, and since Daniel had buried the Stargate on Abydos.... Well, anyway...." She trailed off, looking at their bemused faces. " You know, maybe I should be reading reports from the beginning rather than the end. I take it none of this happened in this reality?"

"No. I never buried the Stargate on Abydos. It was thought to be unnecessary because we had killed Ra. The SGF was formed, initially as a sort of archaeological facility - I mean, some of the things on Abydos was of great cultural significant to Earth. Then, Jack brought Sam through - she'd been working on the dialing computer and it was a sort of favor for her since she didn't get to go on the first mission - and she and I worked out that the cartouches were actually planets.... and that was that."

"Wow. Um, if you don't mind me asking, what about Sha're?"

Daniel's face paled slightly, and he just managed to shake his head. Sam got the message.

"And...." Boy, this wasn't uncomfortable. " The boy? The Harcesis child?"

"He's.... around," Daniel managed.

"I'm sorry, Daniel." She reached across and touched him on the leg. " My Daniel's gone through exactly the same things you have."

Daniel covered her hand briefly, then straightened his shoulders. "So, Teal'c. How did he come about?"

"He didn't like the way his people were being treated. Colonel O'Neill promised him he would help him save them and Teal'c swore loyalty to Earth... well, technically, more to Colonel O'Neill, I suppose. Without Teal'c, I suppose you don't know Bra'tac or any of the other rebel Jaffa."

"Chulak," Colonel O'Neill said softly.

"Yeah. Teal'c's homeworld."

"The Jaffa homeworld."

Sam looked at him sharply. "Any attack on the homeworld would be a really bad idea, Colonel."

He considered for a moment, chewing and looking at her. "This Thor's Hammer thing sounds interesting, though."

She did notice he hadn't agreed with her previous warning, but, impressed that he seemed to have digested her rather detailed list of planets, she decided to let it pass. "Yeah."

The Colonel sighed. "We oughta look into that." He rolled his neck on his shoulders, wincing slightly and reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "Boyd, take first watch, I'll take second, Daniel third, Sa... Carter last."

Obediently, Sam crawled into her sleeping bag, rather looking forward to almost a full nights sleep. Offworld, at least, she had no excuse for staying awake well into the small hours. She could just lie down and close her eyes....

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Sam. Sam," Daniel whispered. She could hear the grin in his voice. "Saaam. Wakey, wakey."

Resisting the urge to groan, Sam rolled onto her back and covered her eyes with her hand. SG-1's second offworld mission in five days - General Thomas didn't believe in downtime. "Morning, Daniel."

"Don't think I've ever seen you sleep so hard."

She smiled blandly and sat up, blinking in the dull darkness. Around them, trees hissed and wavered, creating a background noise as repetitive as the sea. At least during her watch she'd steadily be able to see more through those trees than less. "Thanks for the wake up call."

He grinned and clambered over to his own sleeping bag, not bothering to get inside it, just lying on top.

This was the third time the Colonel had given her the easy watch. The watch where you were guaranteed to get a full night of unbroken sleep. Back at home, it was usually the watch he gave Daniel - Daniel wasn't military and the Colonel was also strangely protective of him, even if Daniel had lost that edge of naiveté he'd had in the beginning. Sam wondered, this time, if he was giving her the watch because he felt she needed all the sleep she could get or that he didn't trust her military skills.

She quietly made coffee, sitting close to the fire and resting her chin on her raised knees. Really, she ought to be looking around, 'keeping watch', and it was that thought that had her standing up and walking a little way from camp, hoping the slightly brisk air would wake her up. She bounced on the spot for a moment or two, then, deciding her coffee would be ready, she walked back to camp, smiling down at Boyd whose face was shmushed into his arm.

"Is that coffee?"

Sam jumped, then glanced unwillingly to the Colonel who had an arm thrown over his eyes. "Yes, sir."

"I'll do your washing for a month if you bring me some."

"Since I only have one pair of jeans, a T-shirt and a jumper, that wouldn't be much of a hardship, sir," Sam said coolly, despite the fact that she was reeling at the colonel's jokey tone. She crouched down and poured him a tin full, then brought it over to where he was sleeping.

Slowly, he sat up and took the tin, their fingertips brushing accidentally. Sam wondered if he felt the same little thrills running up his arm as she did. "You can wear her stuff, you know."

Sam made a face and turned her back on him, walking back to the fire, wiping her fingers on her shirt. "I just don't feel... comfortable," she told her own tin of coffee.

"Yeah. I know."

It was probably the first time he had admitted to the discomfort she must be feeling. Talk about major breakthrough.

"If you like, we could go shopping."

She glanced back at him in surprise. "You don't have to do it."

He smiled wryly. "Yes, I do. We have a joint bank account. Unless you know how she signs her credit slips, you won't be able to use any credit cards."

Oh. Well, yeah.

"Guess we'll have to practice that." Sam wondered whether the other Sam had gone by her married name or her maiden name on her credit cards. It was obviously easier at work to just go by Carter - be a little confusing to have a Major O'Neill and a Colonel O'Neill running around the base. Samantha O'Neill. It sounded really good.

Since he was apparently in the mood to talk sensibly, Sam walked back over to him and sat down. " Um, I was wanting to ask you a few things that I'm not sure anyone else would know."

Colonel O'Neill took a big sip of his coffee. "Shoot."

"I've started reading the reports from the very beginning." She smiled slightly. "And things have started to clear up for me. Rather than Apophis coming through in 1997 and everything escalating from there, the Stargate in this reality has actually been active since the first mission to Abydos. I, she, went through in November 1995 and then she and Daniel accidentally discovered that the Stargate could be used to go to other planets. Right so far?"

He was staring off into the distance, presumably keeping watch for her. " Spot on."

"Now, this is where things start getting odd. The Stargate activates while we're all there - which, coincidentally, is the same thing that happened in 1997 when we were there - and Sha're is kidnapped by a bunch of Jaffa."

"Yes." His eyes were still fixed in the same place.

"Sir? I was wondering... after that, Major Carter's report and your report take on alarmingly similar detail."

"What are you suggesting, Major?"

Well, that was the point. She didn't know what she was suggesting. It was just that reading the two reports side by side, it was almost as if they had been written together. Which was possible, of course. For all she knew, they wrote all their joint mission reports together. It had just been slightly suspicious. In fact, now that she was thinking about it, with him in front of her, he was looking decidedly shifty. Not in the sense that his expression was shifty, but in the sense that his eyes had gone carefully cold. He was trained to give nothing away, but that didn't mean she couldn't read him when he was preparing to lie.

"Sir?"

Colonel O'Neill sighed. "You being you, you're not going to let this go, are you?"

Well, that was apparently a character trait they shared in both realities. "No, sir."

"Right." He looked around at the other two members of SG-1 who were still sleeping deeply. He started to get up and gestured at her to follow.

Wondering what he was about to tell her, and slightly surprised that she'd caught on to something that could well turn out to be important, Sam followed the Colonel over to a collection of boulders. They weren't very far away from the others that they would be neglecting their duties, but at least this way they could have a semi private conversation.

"Daniel knows about this, but Boyd's only been on the team for three years."

Sam nodded, her eyes flicking over the Colonel's intent face.

"Sha're wasn't the only one kidnapped. Sam was too."

"Oh God!"

He winced, as if recalling in more detail than he'd like, what had been a dire past event he'd rather forget. " In an entirely unprofessional effort to rescue her, I kinda got caught by Apophis's henchmen and rather than kill me, like they'd done everyone else they'd come into contact with, I was dragged through the wormhole to Apophis's palace."

None of which was in the report. As far as the authorities were concerned, Colonel O'Neill and Captain Carter had helplessly watched as Sha're was taken through the wormhole, having memorized the coordinates used on the DHD. The rest of the team followed in an effort to get Sha're back.

"I was knocked unconscious pretty much as soon as we exited the Stargate and when I woke up I was in some kind of cell. Sam wasn't with me. I later found out that she'd been put in a room with Sha're and lots of other potential hosts... hostesses for Amounet."

"Oh, great."

"Yeah. Turned out, they were pretty interested in me as well. Not only was Amounet's host dying, but so was Apophis's. In fact, his symbiote was pretty sickly too." He swallowed hard. " Apparently, they'd been infected by something, some kind of bio-weapon that the scientists at the SGF are pretty keen to get their hands on."

Sam had run out of suitable horrified expressions. "They were going to use you as a host?"

"Nope. They *did* use me as a host for Apophis. Then, when the symbiote read my... decided preference for Sam, Amounet's symbiote was, rather against it's will, apparently, implanted in her, in front of me." Jack winced ever so slightly, a muscle ticking in his jaw.

"You were both... oh my God. I mean, that explains why... I can sort of, feel the naquadah in you. I mean, God, I'd thought it was..." Now she wasn't making any sense at all. " What the hell happened? I mean, you don't have the symbiotes now."

"No. They'd thought by getting rid of the hosts bodies the symbiotes would have a better chance at healing. But the host jumping process took a lot of them. Apophis... died inside of me without taking me with it because we were only partially joined. It was a bloody mess. I only vaguely remember what happened next. I can still see Sam lying on that alter thing, shouting out Goa'uld commands to some Jaffa and the next thing I knew, Sha're had been brought in, kicking and screaming for all her worth."

Sam was shaking her head. "What? Why?"

"The symbiote was being rejected by your body. They tried to make it slither out of you but it was too weak. It died. We were both pretty much out of it. I passed out again, you were totally dead to the world. The guards hot footed it out of there. The next thing I knew, Daniel and the others were coming to our rescue."

God. How... revolting. A Tokra, okay, she could deal with that, though deep down inside she was pretty much icked about the whole concept. But a Goa'uld, worse, Apophis's wife. Ugh. " Can you... can you see the memories of Apophis?"

"Nope. All I've got left in me is a protein marker."

Still shaking her head, Sam suddenly realized something. "But... Sha're?"

"Klorel's goddess. Klorel was Apophis's son... he wanted to carry out his father's plans," Jack explained.

With dawning horror, she recalled the relationship between Amounet and Klorel's hosts. " Klorel? Skaara?"

He frowned. "No. Skaara's still on Abydos. Klorel's host was some other guy. There were a lot of slaves in the palace. Do you mean, Skaara became Klorel?"

"Yeah!" She was immeasurably relieved. Seriously. Goa'uld breeding was revolting enough without knowing the parents were brother and sister. Ugh. " So, why the big cover up? Why did you lie in your reports?"

He sighed and reached up to massage the back of his neck. "For lots of reasons. Firstly, Hammond had concerns about me and Sam being on any kind of team together. We went through on a sort of favor. You'd worked on the dialing computer and all, and it was a kind of treat to get you to see what it was like on the other side. We'd thought it was safe anyway. When you were kidnapped... we weren't exactly on our guard, if you see what I mean." He looked at her. Hard. Sam felt herself begin to blush. " We were sort of involved in the kind of thing Hammond had been concerned about in the first place. We were distracted, which was the only reason why Sha're was kidnapped and so were you."

Sam cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Is that it?"

"No. The other reason was the fact that Apophis immediately saw the relationship between myself and Sam. She would not have been chosen as a host if I'd been anyone else."

For the first time, regulations were starting to make sense to Sam. Seeing them in action with replicas of herself and Colonel O'Neill was a really nice way to drum the message home.

"Thirdly, after we awoke, it became clear that the SGF was going to branch out as a military facility, as a defense organization. And we both wanted to be in on it. If there was any chance that because of our relationship we'd be separated, we wanted to minimize it as much as possible. We knew we wouldn't be put on the same team or anything, so as far as we were aware we weren't going to jeopardize anyone else after that just because we got all romantic on another planet...."

There went that blush again. Man, she really oughta practice looking pale and interesting. " How did you convince the others?"

"We only had to convince Daniel, Feretti and Kowalski. The others had been killed. Daniel had seen the dialing code and had convinced Feretti and Kowalski to go after us, both of whom, naturally, hadn't needed much convincing, the idiots," he added affectionately. " It wasn't real hard convincing them to keep quiet about it, for which I feel partially ashamed, proud and irritated. Daniel didn't really give a damn about lying in a military report, while Kowalski had been my best man at the wedding and Feretti fancies you himself, so they were okay with it."

Ferretti... wah? Focus, Sam, focus. "Jesus. No one's ever picked up on it, then?"

"Well, the doc did, of course. Some unidentifiable metal was found in our blood - naquadah - but since it wasn't doing us any harm it was just noted down all neat and precise in a clipboard. It was assumed to be a side effect - exposure to the food or drink or something."

"No brain scans? You would have been able to see the remains of the symbiote."

He shook his head. "Nope. And anyway, that doc was replaced shortly after by our dear Doc Fraiser who initially just wanted to take our blood and do lots and lots of tests on it. That meant needles."

"Yeah. She was probably trying to find out whether you had bad reactions to certain drugs. I know from the experience that the symbiote deteriorates pretty quickly," Sam said, frowning, working it all through in her mind. Knowing what she knew now, with hindsight it seemed damn risky lying in reports. There could have so easily been a slip up - scans could have revealed the symbiote and the SGF would have freaked en masse. " So when Jolinar took me as host here, the protein marker and the symbiote would have shown up, effectively covering up everything else. The naquadah would have been only an anomaly you and I had, Janet wouldn't have realized it came from being blended." It still didn't sit right with her, though. Probably because when she thought of naquadah, she automatically associated with Goa'uld hosts, which the people in this reality wouldn't. " What about the hyper sensitivity to Goa'uld, then?"

"That took a while for us to realize, actually."

"I suppose it would have done, without Teal'c to corroborate," she mused. " Damn, sir, but that was a risky idea. You could have been caught out."

"We nearly were. Kowalski got Goa'ulded a few weeks later, started shouting things during one of his blackouts. Then he threw himself into an incoming wormhole. We figured, if the worst came to the worst, we'd explain that we were unconscious the whole time and experienced exactly the same blackouts as Kowalski had done. We simply hadn't known what had happened."

She kind of wished she'd never asked now, anyway, Sam thought, now that she was in on the secret. " You know, Hammond would probably have understood."

"We didn't know Hammond back then."

She deflated a little. "No, I suppose you didn't. God, what a mess."

Jack sighed, and because of their closeness (when had that happened anyway?), ruffled the hair that formed part of her sort-of fringe. She shivered a little and hoped he didn't notice. Wrapping her arms about herself, she bit her lip. " And all that happened on the first mission? And I thought it was bad getting Jolinar."

"Oh yeah, by that stage, Sam was a pro. Though, we thought it was another Goa'uld." A shadow passed over his face. " It was no less scary then either."

"No. I remember..." She stopped, uncomfortable talking about the other Colonel O'Neill. Somehow it seemed a little like betrayal, a feeling akin to the one she felt when she thought about wearing the other Samantha Carter's clothes.

But he pressed her, "Remember what?"

"The look on your, no, his face. They sent you in to interview me. You hated it. You told me afterwards that... that... you'd had difficulty trying to separate me from the parasite inside of me. In fact, it hadn't been just difficult, it had been nearly impossible." It had probably been one of the most emotional conversations she'd ever had with Colonel O'Neill. The first hint that maybe the feelings she had for him, that had been growing since, well, probably the beginning, might be returned. Of course, soon after that, he'd broken her heart with yet another alien chick. And not even one Sam could find it in her to hate.

"Daniel and Teal'c did it for me. I mean, I stood in the background, but again the symbiote seemed to know that I would be a weakness. She used Sam's voice to appeal to me and I had to get out of the room. I couldn't cope knowing that you were lost to me like that. I had to go home to Matt and explain to him why you weren't there."

On impulse, she reached out and touched his arm. He moved slightly, and she started to take her hand away, worried that she'd overstepped some unspoken line, but it turned out all he wanted to do was clutch her hand with his. She risked a glance at his face, but he was staring at their clasped hands.

"We need to get you a wedding ring," he said, his voice slightly hoarse.

She swallowed. OhGodohGodohGod. A wedding ring. "Um... okay."

"General Thomas said we could start divorce proceedings, if that's what we want."

"But *we're* not married."

He smiled slightly, tightened his fingers on her hand. "That's what I said."

"Besides, I'll be going home, and she and Matt will be coming back. You'll need to sort... that sort of thing out in person." And, once she'd found out the other Samantha Carter was innocent, 'that sort of thing' would be far easier to sort out.

"You're still hoping to get home."

"I know I will. Nothing's ever stopped me from getting what I want before." Okay, with probably one real exception. " I figure, if the Ancients made two sets of mirrors, there's very little reason why they couldn't have made at least another set."

He frowned slightly, as if the concept irritated him. "There is that."

She decided to say no more on the subject for the moment. She was sure moments like this with the Colonel shouldn't be overdone - it would be best to spread things out as much as possible.

He released her hand eventually. "Sun's come up," he told her unnecessarily. "We'd best start making breakfast."

*

Chapter Six (100 Days)

*

The other Samantha had disappeared shortly after the Colonel's three month vacation on Edora. Staring down at the report she'd written upon collecting Colonel O'Neill from Edora, Sam read the subtext. While Laira was mentioned fleetingly as the woman who had 'provided accommodation for Colonel O'Neill', it was clear from the tone she had used that something rather more significant had been going on.

"Do you know what his relationship with Laira was, Daniel?"

Daniel, her current victim for information, nearly dropped his cup of coffee. "Er... Sam, I'm not sure..."

"Because he had one in my reality. In the sense that he slept with her." It had taken her months to be able to voice that particular phrase. It was one of the things that no one mentioned, obviously not in front of the Colonel, but Sam had also noticed that Daniel, General Hammond and Janet avoided that time as much as possible too. Even the particle accelerator that she had just whipped up so effortlessly for rescuing her ungrateful CO was mentioned in reverent tones.

He put the cup down carefully. "I'm genuinely not sure, Sam, but, yes, I think they did have some sort of sexual relationship. I know things were strained between Sam and Jack after that. He spent the night at my house for a few nights running, spent a lot of the time on the phone to her. He never actually told me what had happened, but you know Jack, he tends to say things in other ways. Then there was the whole... Tollen mess."

The bastard. Oops, where had that come from? She knew only too well that the 'Tollen mess' had just been him following orders. And lying to her. And tell her that.... Oh boy. Issues anyone? " Oh yeah. Us too."

"And then she disappeared. Initially, we put her disappearance down to those few months of strain on the marriage but Jacob came home and hotly denied any such possibility. He was furious, actually, with everyone, including Jack. He accused him of having no faith in her. Sam wouldn't run out on Earth just because she was having some marital difficulties. It wasn't like their marriage was a bed of roses all the time - it couldn't be after all the things you were going through. Jolinar put them through the wringer, of course, and consequentially Jack really wasn't keen on the Tokra, particularly Martouf, while you were more open to ideas."

"That's pretty similar in our reality, too. Jack," now she was doing it, and it was only going to get worse, " I mean, Colonel O'Neill just hates all Goa'uld."

"It was more than that here. The way Jolinar forced herself into Sam confirmed Jack's belief that no Goa'uld was to be trusted ever. He can just about cope with your dad, but Martouf and all the others just wind him up the wrong way."

Sam found herself smiling. "Poor Martouf. Uh, I take it, Martouf and Jolinar..."

"Love of a lifetime?" he said wryly. "Yeah. I wouldn't, ah, mention Martouf to Jack, Sam. I'm not kidding when I say if Martouf came through that Stargate now Jack would kick his ass back through in the incoming wormhole. Martouf and Jack had... words a few months ago and Jack refuses to have him back here."

"Really? What were they arguing about?"

"You, of course. For a while, Jack thought that you'd gone to the Tokra and he was really suspicious of Martouf who was on an extended mission for about a year, starting virtually the day you-she disappeared."

"Oh boy."

"Yeah." He shook his head. " So, how's the reading going?"

"Slowly. I'm also trying to read up SG-1s missions since I'm now on SG-1, while reading up SG-2s. Then there are the joint missions with SG-5 and the archaeologist branch of the SGF..." She blew out a breath. There really wasn't a reasonable way to describe just how frustrating her research was. " There's just so much of it. Four mission reports from each member of each team, four different viewpoints, umpteen missions. Daniel, I'm going to be doing this stuff until I'm fifty."

"Some of the missions must match yours."

"Some do, but mostly SG-1s, and only to a degree. There are slight but often important differences." She looked up just in time to see Colonel O'Neill approaching their table with a tray.

He sat down next to her and glanced over her reading material. "Still slogging away?"

"Slogging is the right word. Daniel's read like a book."

"Hey! I'm told my style of writing is very refreshing."

Both Sam and Colonel O'Neill snorted.

"At least I don't write like I'm trying to beat the record for shortest report ever: Arrived on planet. Planet hostile. Escaped due to ingenious debating skills of Dr Jackson. The end."

Sam giggled. That did sound surprisingly like Colonel O'Neill's reports. "That's great, Daniel."

The Colonel smirked. "Well, that's all changing now, Danny-boy. We have another genius on the team now."

"All hail the theoretical astrophysicist," Daniel said in mock awe. "Talking of people who deserve fake reverence, what did General Thomas say to you this morning after the briefing?"

Sam had almost forgotten the abrupt way that General Thomas has pulled the Colonel aside.

"Something about margins and bullet point summaries. I forget."

Sam and Daniel glanced at each other.

"Jack, don't be flippant. What did he really say?"

The Colonel sighed and poised his fork over some pasta. "Don't worry, I was very respectful, Dad. 'Yes sir'ed and 'no sir'ed like there was no tomorrow. We're going on a joint mission with SG-2 and their new leader next Monday. He was warning me in advance."

"Are we breaking him in? I thought SG-2 went on their first mission last week."

"Yes, they did. Mission objectives were achieved efficiently. The only reason I imagine we'll be playing with SG-2 next week is so that Colonel Kiss-Ass can observe us."

"Or you," Sam added, suddenly feeling queasy.

"Or me." He waved some pasta in the air, then popped it into his mouth. "So we'll have to be extra careful, boys and girls. Make ourselves look useful." They stared at him. He waggled some more pasta at them. " Okay, I'll try to make myself look useful. But you've got to keep up the pretense as well."

"How you can make a joke out of this?" Daniel demanded, which was pretty much what Sam wanted to know.

"Oh, I can make a joke out of anything. Trust me, now is the time to make the most out of your sense of humor. It's only going to go downhill from here."

Sam lowered her head to the table. "I miss General Hammond. I'd even settle for General Bauer at this point. Even he knew when he was wrong."

"Three quarters of my time, I'm finding that I hate the military," Daniel added, leaning forward, his arms crossed on the table. "Jack, if you don't mind me asking..."

"I'm sure I will, Daniel, but carry on."

"Why are you taking this so calmly?"

"Calm? Who said anything about being calm?"

Sam turned her head to the side and checked him out. "Did you go to the gym this morning?"

"Yup."

"Beat the crap out of the bag?"

"Yup."

She smirked, rested her head again. "Ah."

"You people are nuts."

"Is that your Jell-O? Are you gonna eat it?"

Daniel pushed it towards him. "Be my guest. Sam, I'll have that translation for you by about four. I'll bring it over."

"Thanks, Daniel." She smiled into her arms and then lifted her head, pulling her latest report towards herself. She was on Boyd's version of events.

"Um, Edora?"

She glanced at him. "Yeah."

He looked suddenly nervous. "You, um, ever been there?"

Seeing an opportunity that couldn't be missed, Sam smiled. Dangerously. "Yes, actually. Colonel O'Neill, however, was rather more... intimately acquainted with Edora than I was."

He had the grace to look ashamed. "Yeah. I mean, I know what you mean. I didn't think I was going home, Sam."

"Yeah, I guessed as much. Did she put you through hell?"

"Oh yeah. There was a point there when I thought she was going to shoot me."

"Serves you right."

"I didn't sleep with her."

Sam's eyebrows shot upwards. "Laira?"

"Yeah. I didn't sleep with her."

"Really?" Sam sat up properly, genuinely interested. She'd never actually asked Colonel O'Neill if he'd slept with Laira - it was just pretty obvious. And Daniel had let it slip once, a few weeks after. She hadn't been surprised but the last vestige of hope had died inside her. And then she'd gone into the ladies' and thrown up. Just like she'd done when they returned from Edora with him. " Then why...."

"Because it was obvious that if I was there for a significant period of time, I probably would have. Laira wanted to have a family with me and I could imagine myself settling... no, that's sound cruel. I mean something nicer than 'settling'. Getting used to her, maybe. When Sam came through the wormhole, though I was overjoyed to see her, I was trying to be careful of Laira's feelings. She'd just lost her husband, after all."

"Sam didn't see it that way, though." Wow. That was weird. Referring to herself in the third person.

"No. She didn't. She waited until we got home before she threw me out. Daniel got the brunt of my bad temper for a few days."

Sam sat quietly for a moment. "When did you find out about your mission to catch NID?"

Jack snorted. "About two days after Sam had let me move into the spare bedroom." He dropped his fork and rubbed his hands over his face. " God. If I thought that was bad, just a few weeks after that..." He snapped his fingers. " She disappears, taking my son with her."

Sam opened her mouth to defend herself - sort of - but Colonel O'Neill cut her off, raising his hand. "Don't. You've acquainted yourself with all of Sam's missions now. You can finish SG-1s and I don't want to hear any more about it, okay?"

"Sir..."

"That's an order."

She pressed herself lips together and let him storm off. He'd left his Jell-O behind too.

Way to go, Sam. Just piss off the only man on the planet who'd be able to help you. Piss him off only days after you'd finally broken through the hatred for your counterpart. Way to go.

She dropped her head back on the table and lay there pretending it didn't hurt.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

There was a message from some woman Sam didn't recognize on the answer machine and at first she didn't realize what it said. She played it back again. " Hey... Jack. It's me. Sara. Um. Call me."

Sara? The infamous ex-wife? Okay, that wasn't fair. The woman had been perfectly nice, if a little dazed on the only occasion Sam had met her. Oh yeah, and there had been that one really, really awkward situation when SG-1 had stayed over at the Colonel's after a particularly grueling week-long mission and Sam had answered the door at eight on Saturday morning wearing just a T-shirt only to find a very embarrassed ex-wife standing there, a shocked expression on her face. It could only have been a couple of months after they'd divorced and Sara had excused herself and ran the hell away, leaving Sam with no choice by to panic, run up to the Colonel's bedroom and wake him up with the non-too-pleasing information that his ex-wife might have just got the wrong impression.

She'd almost forgotten about that, actually. Which was a surprise because she'd got to see the Colonel in nothing but navy blue boxers running out of the room like a blur. Perhaps it was the fact that after the front door had slammed (she did hope he found something to wear) she'd been too tired to move and had fallen face down on his bed and slept until eleven. When she'd woken up properly she'd discovered she was no longer the only person in the bed. This time it had been her who'd done the running. Naturally, they never spoke of it again.

Nervously, Sam flicked over to the next message. Daniel. Daniel confirming that the previous message was from himself. Ooh, Janet (and Cassy yammering in the background) reminding Sam that they were going out on Friday with Cassy. Daniel calling to point out the time of his first message and that it was urgent that Sam or Jack call him back.

Sam giggled. "Classic Daniel," she murmured to herself.

"What is?"

She nearly shrieked. "God! What are you? A ghost?"

Colonel O'Neill dropped his jacket over the back of the sofa. "It's the training. What's classic Daniel?"

"Just his method of dealing with answer machines. Um, you'll probably want to deal with the first one yourself. I'm gonna go upstairs and have a shower." She ducked past him and ran up the stairs just in time to hear the beginning of the message again.

She spent rather a long time in the shower, giving the Colonel time to do... whatever that needed doing. She washed her hair twice, conditioned twice, then used the peach shower gel that Cassy had sweetly given her (despite Sam's misgivings about smelling like a fruit offworld). Still not willing to go out and face him, she combed her hair, brushed her teeth and considered exfoliating just for the hell of it before remembering that Daniel had urgently wanted to speak to them.

She dressed in her only pair of jeans, and the pale blue sweater and wandered downstairs quietly. She could hear noise in the kitchen and so jogged down the last few steps, relieved that she wouldn't have to interrupt a personal conversation between him and his wife. Wait, ex-wife. That issue wasn't up for debate in this reality. " Did you call Daniel?"

"No." He came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. " I thought you'd want to do that on speakerphone."

"Okay." She went to the phone, pressed number one on the speed dial.

"Hello?"

"Daniel."

"Sam! Is Jack there?"

"I'm here."

"Jack! Great. Right. You'll never going to believe this, but I can't tell you over the phone. Can you get over here? We can have takeaway or something."

Sam looked at the clock on the mantelpiece and then back at Jack.

He shrugged. "Fine by me."

"Okay, Daniel, we'll be right over."

"Great. Um, any particular preference?"

"I'm up for Thai," Jack announced.

"Sounds good. Daniel, Thai?"

"Okay. See you in fifteen minutes."

"Rush hour, Daniel!"

"Okay, half an hour."

Jack rolled his eyes and hung up. "Do you want to drive, or shall I?"

"What car are we going in?"

"The truck."

"You drive. I've never driven it before."

He opened his mouth to say something, then changed his mind.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Daniel looked ecstatic to see them and kicked away a couple of cardboard boxes filled with what looked like ceramic ducks, of all things, before letting them inside. "Sorry. Mess."

"No more than usual, Daniel," Jack said, skirting around a stuffed animal, eyes round with surprise.

Sam jumped said animal at the last moment. "Christ, Daniel, what's that?"

"It's a cat."

"I can see that," she said sarcastically.

"The Egyptians believed...."

"Daniel!"

"Why don't we order first?"

Sam rolled her eyes and couldn't help but exchange an amused, exasperated glance with the Colonel.

Daniel's sitting area was, as usual, covered in open dusty books, dictionaries of various languages (some far more obscure than others) and sheets of paper, lined, blank, scrunched up and protected. Sam recognized one of the notebooks that was lying prominently in the middle of the table.

"Hey, Daniel, isn't that the translation you were supposed to give me yesterday but didn't?"

Daniel had the phone to his ear. "No, no, that one's at work. Sorry, haven't got around to it yet. I'll give it to you tomorrow. The usual?" He glanced at Sam, remembered, then glanced at Jack, who nodded. He turned to murmur into the phone.

Sam picked it up, leafing through the sheets of translated material. She remembered enough Latin to be able to translate the odd chemical name, but beyond that and some schoolgirl French she was decidedly lacking in the linguistic area. Daniel's translations, even though they were now in English, were always sort of like riddles or metaphorical. She rolled her eyes as she grabbed the odd phrase amongst the scored through and underlined or crossed out selection on offer to her.

Upon the fifteenth circle of the eighth cycle... In boats of diamond and colors unnatural.... Brothers and sisters alike as the two burning suns.... Eyes to another world....

Jack dropped down onto a sofa and propped his feat up on Daniel's no doubt antique coffee table. He sighed dramatically. "I could do with a beer, Daniel."

"Get it yourself," Sam murmured absently, still flicking through the pages. She came back to the first page. Eyes to another world. Okay, she was no linguist but that sounded awfully like...

"Figured it out yet?"

Sam raised her eyes, her heart pounding. "Eyes to another world? Brothers and sisters alike as the two burning suns? Um... Daniel..."

"Sounds like your usual gibberish to me."

No. Jack, don't you see? It's talking about alternate realities."

If it hadn't been so serious, the way he sat bolt upright and threw himself to standing would have been comical. " What?" He towered over Sam.

"Eyes to another world. Mirrors were like eyes. Brothers and sisters alike? Twins. On the next few pages," Daniel took the notepad from Sam and flicked forward a couple of pages, " Great shivers and shakes overcame my brother and his wife - which really translated as mate - and then they were no more. Entrophic cascade failure, anyone?" He slapped the notepad closed triumphantly.

Sam was speechless.

"Where did you get this, Daniel?"

"SG-8 visited, um, P34 5Y2, the trading planet a couple of months ago, remember? And Captain Spanin had the sense to barter for books at, well, the book stall. She brought back thirty-three books, all fascinating in their own right. There were a couple in Goa'uld, actually, which are helping in expanding my vocabulary no end. Jack, you must remember me telling you about this?"

Colonel O'Neill just stared at him.

"So the book this came from might not necessarily be from P34 5Y2?" Sam said, trying to get Daniel to the point.

"True, but it's likely it'll be a neighboring planet. That whole solar system has two suns, remember. Like on the first page? It's got to be there. And the language... I'd recognize the language."

Sam's knees started to wobble, so she dropped down onto the edge of the sofa and rested her head in her hands. " Holy Hannah."

"I mean, you understand why I got you over here. This is... miraculous."

"Yeah. Miraculous," Jack said in low, aggrieved tones.

"Hey, guys, you don't sound too thrilled. Sam, you could go home. Jack, we can get Sam and Matt back."

"Yeah, Daniel, sure we can. Only the odd problem with that scenario, isn't there? General Thomas. Colonel Kiss-Ass. The fact that there ar