A/Ramble: Mistakes are purely mine. A futurefic/kidfic to elaborate on a scene in '1969'. Cassie knew they were coming, and wasn't the only one watching. Some original Characters are from 'Sacrifices' (an earlier fic), but prior reading isn't required. That said, there are a few *cough!* original characters, but they don't play a big part. Please: Enjoy!
~ Legacy ~
"Wait a minute; you're actually saying that you need someone dumber than you are?" Daniel asked, voicing the very question that had run through Jack's mind. Jack shifted his gaze between Daniel and Thor.
"You may have come to the right place," Jack replied dryly, ignoring the look Daniel was giving him. As amusing as it was.
"Thor, with all due respect to your situation: we need SG-1 here," General Hammond added, causing Jack to turn an ear to his CO. Before he could make a protest, Sam spoke up.
"I could go, Sir."
Jack couldn't help himself.
"I don't know Carter; you may not be dumb enough." He teased, giving her almost a back-handed compliment. Probably one of the only ways he could give her a compliment, especially in a crowded room. He enjoyed her equally sarcastic response.
"I think I can handle it, Sir." Behind them, Hammond gave her permission to join Thor.
"We must leave immediately," Thor advised them, lifting his small hand. He had a glowing device in his palm and Jack's attention was firmly on it, until an event horizon formed in the Stargate. No dialing or vortex... it just formed. Very cool.
He shared a look with Sam, "Have fun..." Sam lifted her eyebrows briefly and followed Thor up the ramp.
"Ya, Sure, you betcha..." She sang quietly on her way through the Gate.
~ SJ ~
"Cass?" Sam called to the young woman in her kitchen. Her almost adopted daughter was home from college for a week between terms and although Sam enjoyed the company, wasn't so sure about the state of her kitchen. Then again, it was expected that it would be in some form of disarray. Sam was packing for her trip to Jack's cabin with Teal'c and Daniel (though they would arrive a few days later) and her imminent transfer to Area Fifty One. But for the rest of the week, she belonged to Cassandra Frasier.
"Mm?" Cassie hummed, sucking chocolate frosting off her thumb. She was baking a cake for Jack, knowing how much he loved them and always glad to spoil him. Sam had the sneaking suspicion that Cassie would demand her company when she delivered said cake to Jack; for the first time in what felt like forever, Sam was fine with Cassie's subtle matchmaking endeavours.
"You got a minute?" Sam dropped a book onto the counter, strategically placed to avoid the drops of icing that dotted the wooden surface.
"Sure," Cassie chirped, grabbing a dishrag to wipe her hands. She leaned on the counter while Sam sat down on stool opposite.
"I've been waiting until I thought you were old enough to understand what I'm going to be asking of you..."
Cassie narrowed her eyes and turned her head curiously, still rubbing her hands on the cloth. Sam took a deep breath;
"In 1999, my team was sent back in time through the Gate to 1969 because of a solar flare..."
~ SJ ~
'Everything. All our most current technology. All our knowledge.'
Sam couldn't even comprehend how much 'everything' entailed. It was like being given the entire Ancient database all over again. There was so much they would learn from the Asgard. As she regarded the small, fragile alien before her, Sam realised how attached she was to him. Thor was an ally of Earth, Jack's little buddy, their friend.
And it hurt to know he was dying.
"Please do not be sad. The end of my people has been a long time coming. We have made too many irreversible mistakes in our development. Hopefully, you can learn something from it. My only regret is that our physical weakness has left us incapable of helping you further."
It was moving to hear so much emotion from him. He was genuinely saddened. Sam gave in to the need to hug him. She knew how careful she needed to be when she embraced him. It made her want to cry the tears she'd been valiantly holding at bay when she felt Thor's small, spongy hand touch her back. She would miss him.
~ SJ ~
Year 2049
Stargate Command
Matilda stared up at the large photographs that lined the walls around her. Her eyes were fixed on the very serious face of her grandfather. There were many photo's of significant members of the SGC on the wall; George Hammond, Jack O'Neill, Sam Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, even Catherine Langford. There were others, though their pictures and short biographies were smaller than those of the originally designated SG-1, the Commander of the SGC and the original owner of the Stargate. People like Cameron Mitchell, Vala Mal Doran, Janet Frasier, Jonas Quinn and Hank Landry deserved their places on this wall of fame, but Matilda kept her eyes on - in her opinion - the two most important members.
Thought the man and woman in the pictures before her looked different to the grandparents she remembered, she knew them by their eyes.
Even though she'd heard the stories of her grandparents on her father's side, she still took the time to try and read the biographies of Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill and Brigadier General Samantha Carter O'Neill.
"Matty!" Her father's searching voice distracted her and she began her retreat to the door, sparing one last look at the wall. The ten year old girl held the straps of her backpack as she ran out into the circular halls of level fourteen of the SGC.
She ran straight into her father, who caught her before she fell.
"I thought I lost you, Squirt. Come on." Luke O'Neill smiled with overwhelming affection at his daughter as he scooped her up into his arms. Although he was not Jack and Sam's biological child, he always felt the bonds he shared with his parents more than made up for the lack of blood ties.
Matilda was his third and last child. At forty five years old, he and his wife agreed - like his own parents had - that three would suffice. They'd been blessed with two boys, Bradley and John, to carry on the family name, but it was his daughter who had been the most interesting addition to their family. Her blonde hair and bright blue-green eyes had an uncanny resemblance to her grandmother, though they did not share genetics. At first it was strange, learning to raise a child with dyslexia, but where Matilda O'Neill had difficulty reading, she made up for in mental mathematics and her ability to problem solve. She was very quick with numbers and Luke was sure she would become an engineer.
"Auntie Cass is here. It's time for us to go down to the Briefing Room." He lowered her to the ground and nudged her along with a hand on her shoulder. "We'll see her afterwards. She's getting ready in the Gateroom."
The Stargate's existence had recently been made known and while mass panic had not ensued, a lot of questions were asked about how the events that had taken place over the past fifty or so years had not been noticed by the population. For the most part, the civilian world was angry that they had been lied to. The military had smoothed a lot of that over why selectively releasing enough information to satisfy the world's curiosity.
The Gate was infrequently used, but the base remained operational to maintain trade agreements and the occasional exploration of once neglected planets. Level fourteen, the uppermost level of the SGC, had been converted into one large display, showing the few privileged people who were permitted to visit an insight to the SGC's early days.
For today's very special event, the base had all but been shut down.
Matilda skipped forwards to push the button of the elevator that would take them deep beneath the mountain to the briefing room above the Gate room. Luke followed her and they descended the base together.
As expected, her mother and brothers were waiting in the briefing room. The long red and black table had been pushed back against the wall and covered in a long sheet of linen. The table had seen better days and many repairs, but was as majestic as it had been when it first arrived to the base.
She scanned the room, taking in the other members of her extended family. Daniel Jackson - 'Junior', as Luke called him - was at the window with his wife, and Luke's younger sister, Janet. Their parents got a real laugh out of the strange coincidence of names. Mostly because Jack was very sure the late Doctor Jackson once had a thing for Janet's namesake, Doctor Janet Frasier. They were standing with their son and daughter. Keeping with the tradition that Vala had made when she named her son, her grandson was also named Daniel. Their daughter, who was the spitting image of her mother (and consequently the spitting image of Sam Carter) was Hayley Jackson.
Janet was the only biological child of Sam and Jack, and she shared her middle name with her niece. She looked very much like her mother; blonde hair and crystal blue eyes.
Janet was assured once she was older, that had she been born a boy, she would have been named Hank because of a promise her father had made to the former SGC Commander. That honour went to the only son of Amy, Janet's older sister. Luke and Amy had been adopted together and Janet arrived by the work of a miracle three years later.
Hank was the oldest of the grandchildren at nearly twenty.
"We're all here?" Luke asked the large group. He'd taken up the role of head of the family when Jack had died three years ago at the ripe age of ninety four. Sam followed only earlier this year when she lost her battle with Cancer. It was an unspoken, though mutual agreement that she'd died of a broken heart. It was clichéd and sad, but Sam had never been the same after her husband died. So, when she'd passed away at eighty one, the family had already made their peace with her death, knowing she was probably happier where she was now.
"Cassandra's already waiting outside the Gate room; it shouldn't be long now," Amy informed him, taking up her place at the window.
There were many others with them; Rya'c with his wife and children, Cam Mitchell's daughter and her husband, Cassandra's children were scattered throughout the crowd too. They all knew one another fairly well. SG-1 was a family in its own right and they'd maintained contact over the years.
Suddenly, the lights went out, invoking a chorus of hushed voiced and a mass migration to the observation window.
"It is almost time?" Matilda pulled her father's shirt.
"Sure is, Matty. They've got cameras going to record this and everything." Luke lifted his daughter up so she could see over everybody's heads.
"This is cool. No one else gets to be here." She leant forwards to see the Gate below.
"Of course we do. We're SG-1's legacy. You ready to see what grandma and grandpa looked like before they got old?"
"I saw the pictures..."
"This will be a whole lot better. I promise."
~ SJ ~
"Are you ready, Doctor Gellar?" Frank Mitchell, the current Commander of the base, though no relation to Cameron Mitchell, asked Cassandra. She took a deep breath and nodded. The Gate activated on the other side of the blast door. Her earlier fears gave way to nervous excitement. She was very glad to be able to see her family again.
"You'll need this," Frank added, holding out a gold device. Cassie nodded and slid it on her hand.
After years of studying the knowledge instilled by the Asgard, Earth had been able to develop advanced technologies of their own. One of the developments being the small device that controlled the Stargate. Cassie gave Frank one last smile and he slid his card through the reader beside the door. She could hear Jack calling for 'Auntie Em'.
It opened and Cassie glided into the darkened Gate room. Sam had prepared her many years ago for the events of today, but she could only smile widely when she took in the sight of SG-1; they looked so young and thanks to their trip back in time to 1969, were quite comically dressed.
"Hello Jack," she beamed. "Teal'c, Daniel... I hardly recognised you with hair." While Teal'c had grown quite a lot of hair after a few years on Earth, Daniel actually lost much of his hair to old age.
"Do we know you?" Jack asked, trying to be polite. He was such a dear. And a handsome dear too. Cassie turned her attention to Sam; she was so beautiful without her uniform.
"Sam will recognise me," she beckoned the woman who'd served as her mother for much of her life, "Come closer."
Sam was clearly intrigued and compliantly stepped forwards. Cassie saw the light in her eyes when Sam managed to recognise her.
"Cassandra!" She opened her arms and Cassie felt a flood of warmth fill her chest when she hugged Sam. She'd missed her so much.
"Cassie's thirteen years old," Jack pointed out, obviously not understanding.
"Not anymore, Jack. I've been expecting you my whole life, in fact. You entered the Stargate a few seconds too soon, so the flare threw you far into the future. I've come to send you back where you belong." It was strange to explain it to Jack and seeing his understanding expression.
"How did you know we would come here?" Daniel interjected.
"When I was old enough, Sam explained what happened, and that I'd be the one to send you home," She answered softly.
"Like a self-fulfilling prophecy," Sam grinned with sudden clarity. She was so bright-eyed back then.
"As much as I would love to spend more time with you," she really, truly did, "the timing must be precise. You have to go."
In truth, she would have loved to introduce them to their future families, but knew that it was not possible.
"Already? But there is so much..." Sam implored and it hurt Cassie to disagree.
"You of all people know I can't." Sam had explained it a long time ago. Cassie lifted her hand and touched the device on her hand. The event horizon formed without dialling or a vortex behind SG-1. Cassie wasn't ready to say goodbye, so she said the next best thing.
"I will tell you this: your journey's just beginning." She offered them a warm smile as they walked up the ramp and disappeared into the shimmering surface. The Gate shut down and the room was thrown into darkness for a few seconds before the power came back on.
~ SJ ~
Upstairs, the large group stood in fixated silence, even after SG-1 had left. The light came on and Luke pulled himself out of his trance to look at his daughter.
"Worth it?"
Matilda gazed at him with her sea blue-green eyes, which always reminded him of his mother.
"Yeah. That was worth it."
~ SJ ~
I sincerely hoped you enjoyed this. I liked writing it. It's been bouncing around my mind and I can knock it off the ideas page. Reviews very welcome. Peace.
