Title: Changing
Times
E-Mail: arty117@hotmail.com
Summary: How
will the team cope with the changes (Follows Loss and Gain)
Spoilers: Well
you would have to read Loss and Gain, and both are set around mid season four
(There are way too many episodes to name without them actually becoming a fic
in themselves)
Author's notes: Please r/r, only my second fic so
if you can think of improvements then tell me.
Changing
Times
Chapter
1
Several months have
passed since P4X945, no one could have predicted what happened. The time seemed to have dragged on, life
around the SGC would never be the same, that became obvious when he said those
wordsYou have left your return too late, she can never go back. The words stuck in Jacks head and he is
never going to forgive himself. He
shouldn't have gone back, he should have found them before anything could be
done to them. He couldn't bring himself
to even talk to her.
The soft padded bed was
little comfort to Jack as his mind went through the events of the last few
months. He simply gazed into the
ceiling of his bedroom and didn't move. How could he? His best officer,
his best friend has a snake in her head and he was responsible.
Nothing could change that view.
No one could change that view.
He lived everyday thinking he was to blame, that he
should have done something.
But nothing could be done.
The air was cold and had a harsh snap to it. Winter was settling bringing with it a
bitter cold. It was going to be cold
this year, he knew it.
The phone jumped into life on the wooden bedside
table, the ring tone echoing into every part of his skull. It was her. Why was she trying to talk to him, why would she want to? Not after what he it did. The ring kept on and on, burrowing more and
more into his skull, not helping his already aching head. He couldn't remember a lot about last night,
or the nights previous to that to be honest.
The answering machine finally whirred into
action. Jacks voice was happy and
bright, nothing like his mood now. The
soft tone sounded and the voice that spoke was male. He knew that voice, the voice pleading with him to pick up. He knew that person. He couldn't think straight, the amount of
alcohol he drunk last night he is surprised to be alive.
"Jack please pick up or I'm coming down there"
Daniel
He fumbled around under the cotton sheets
disentangling his limbs from a restless sleep. He stretched out for the phone and knocked the receiver from its
cradle. He yanked on the wire and
sloppily placed the thing by his ear.
"What?" He
said with a hoarse voice
"Jack you need to come to base, everyone's worried"
his friend said with compassion.
"I can take care of myself," he said sternly
"No you can't. You drank so much last night you knocked down my door and threatened
that if I didn't take you home you would put me in hospital"
Jack winced at those words. He knew he had been drunk but not that drunk.
"Sorry, okay I'll come down as soon as I can"
"Or as soon as your hangovers gone"
Jack smiled, the first time in a long time.
"Look, I need to pick up a few things from my
apartment and I need to sort out with my landlord how much the door will
cost. Why don't I pick up, about 2pm?"
"Yeah, sweet"
"I'll see you later then"
"See ya space monkey"
Daniel hesitated a bit before hanging up. Jack was still in the hollow shell who lay
in the mess he called a bed, but if they didn't act quickly then they would
loose him.
**********
Daniel
drove down to his apartment watching the world go by through his
windscreen. They were all in a hurry to
get to the shops before the latest fad was sold out. He marched up to the second story and rattled his keys as he dug
them out of his pocket, and as he promptly put them back. A large wooden panel covered the entrance to
his apartment. It was easier to lift
then he thought. Throwing it aside he
started to rummage through the mounds of papers and books that covered every
possible surface.
Picking up one of the heavy books he blew a thick
layer of dust of the cover. This made
him sneeze several times. Carefully
opening the cover he fingered the pages lightly totally engrossed in the
content. So engrossed even he didn't
hear the soft footsteps entering the room. The latest occupant of the room just stood there watching this man, so
totally involved in what he was doing. Leaning against the doorframe the person's jacket rustled making Daniel
turn around.
"Let me guess who did this?" the person said, her soft
voice was good to hear after so long away.
"Hi Sam, long time no see"
Sam just smiled that smile. Almost leaping off the doorframe she went over to her friend and
held him in a tight hug. The two
friends just stood like that, content in knowing that after so much they can
still trust each other.
Pulling back Sam ran her hand over Daniels cropped brown
hair; she planted a soft kiss on his forehead.
"Why did it take you so long to get back?" Daniel
asked
"They wanted to make sure I was physically recovered,
we were recovered"
"It's been hard, on all of us. The base isn't the same without you"
"I know I've been away but I couldn't help that"
Glancing around the room Daniel took a quick glance at
the chrome clock gracing his wall. The
time read half twelve. "Hey, how long
have you been back?"
"About two hours. I came through just after you left"
"Fancy something to eat?"
"I could do with a decent meal. D'you think O'Malley's is going to let us
in?"
"I hope so," he said exchanging mischievous grins
"Can I make a stop first I want to get a few things
sorted out at my place"
"Sure, then after we eat, we are going to pick up Jack
and get back to the SGC"
Sam closed her eyes with the realization that Jack is
not the best person to tell bad news. He over-reacts to everything and she couldn't see how he would be
dealing with this. She had to ask,
"Jack was the one who took your door down"
"Yes" Daniel replied solemnly
She took in the warm air in Daniels apartment. "Okay, lets eat. Then we go to him"
**********
The drive down to Sam's apartment was slow and not
helped by the poor flow of traffic around town. The only noise made in the car came from the thumping base
crawling out of the small speakers. The
old car was rickety and not really road worthy, but Daniel was proud of it and
wouldn't give it up for a flash new model. At least in the jeep there was padding on the seats. The covers on these looked how old they were
and any padding in the cushion had disappeared years before.
The car crawled along the road at a steady pace and
the world seemed to just look at the rusty and battered old thing with disgust. The trees were now bare and the branches
spread like fingers over the houses ready to grasp anything that will come near
it.
A long right turn made the road open up in front of
them, but the car still chugged along as if it had all the time in the
world. Glancing over her watch Sam
could see it had taken nearly forty-five minutes to get to her house. It usually only takes half an hour even in
bad traffic.
Climbing out of the car, she rattled the keys as she
dug them from her soft leather jacket. Forcing them into the hole she pushed open the door to a mound of
letters and bills. She scooped them up
and planted them on the wooden table along with her keys. She looked around and took in what was
before her. Organized chaos would be a
good way to describe it.
Thick books on all kinds of physics theories,
paperwork was strewn over every possible surface and a coffee mug stood proud
on a stack of papers, its contents now forming there own civilization.
She smiled.
This is what she called home.
It has been nearly six months since she was last
here. She always somehow managed to get
the place somewhere near tidy when the rest of the team was coming round but it
didn't matter. Daniel knows what her
lab can be like at times and this really wouldn't be a change for him.
'So this place is where you live' Jolinar thought
'Yeah, and damn proud of it too' Sam replied
'I do not understand how
you can proud of this place'
'Well this is my
home. It has my individual touch too
it'
'I still do not
understand'
'Don't worry. You'll learn to love it"
"Sam?" Daniel asked
very confused
"Oh, did I say that out
loud?"
"Yeah"
"Sorry"
"Why, it's funny
watching", he said smiling well. He
walked over, his boots clumping against the varnished floorboards. His jeans rustled as he leaned over to pick
up something on the floor. An envelope
had been missed. This was a pale green
and looked like a child had written this letter. Sam smiled as she saw the handwriting.
"It's from my niece"
"Running a finger along
the inside edge, she tore open the letter and tugged out the letter. She read it as Daniel went rummaging through
all the books and papers that were lying around. There was one book though that caught his eye. Hidden away under the masses of equations
and formulas was something Daniel had recommended to his team, not thinking
they would take him seriously.
He picked up the glossy
blue book and opened it at the marked page. She was actually quite a way into it. The small writing filled the page with ideas and theories most of the
team knew were right.
"Just some light
reading"
"Erich von Daniken's
'Chariot of the Gods', I didn't think you would read this"
"Well let's just say he
wasn't very far from the truth"
"Come on, we need to
get these papers sorted out and into your car. They needed to be back at Cheyenne two months ago"
They got down to work
and the filing was done very quickly with two head working together. The back seat of the car was loaded up and
then rattled into gear as it took of. Realizing they could grab a snack on the way, they made their way over
to Jacks house.
**********
Jack sloppily threw on something
decent to wear and started on his cupboards to try and find something to kill
his headache. The asparin bottle
tumbled out onto Jacks head making him swear violently. He yanked off the lid and threw two pills
down his throat. Swallowing a large mouthful of water he threw himself onto the
soft padding of the sofa.
He lay there for a
while and then he let his eyes slip, he fell to a peaceful sleep, caught up in
what was going to happen.
The next thing Jack
realized he was being woken by the repeated banging on his front door. He groggily got up and slumped over to the
door. Opening it he was ready to yell
at Daniel for being so damn loud, but the face that greeted him made him fall
right back down to reality.
"Hey Colonel" Sam said
quietly
He couldn't say
anything. He just stood there, gawking
at her. This was it. He either told her now or he would never be
able to forgive himself. Putting a hand
on his head to flatten hid spiky silver hair; he brought up what strength he
could.
"Sam, I'm sorry"
"For what? This, no you
couldn't have done anything to stop this. I should have been more careful on the initial search, I shouldn't have
been so damn bitchy with you guys. I
should be the one apologizing not you"
"No, I'm your CO for
gods sake, I shouldn't have split us up"
"Look this argument
could go on forever but personally I'm cold guys," Daniel added
"Yeah right, come in"
Gesturing with his arms
he waved in his friends and they made their way to the large sofa. Jack appeared a few minutes later with three
steaming mugs of coffee. Placing the mugs
down he fell into the chair opposite the two.
Nothing was said.
The phone broke the
silence, clattering into life on the table. Taking his time, Jack got up and headed to the phone. Picking up the slender black receiver, he
held it limply at his ear. "Hello"
"Colonel O'Neill do you
know where your second is because I sure as hell don't"
Looking over, to her
now with a look of innocence plastered across. She knew who it was on the first tone. He just smiled and turned towards the tall black door, and continued
speaking with Hammond. "She's fine
General"
"Well tell her that she
is still military, and she is actually AWOL"
"You can pass the
message on when we get up there sir"
"I will"
He hung up abruptly. When he did this he was not in a good
mood. Then again he had to hand it to
Sam for not following an order, maybe she's started to ease up a little with
that thing in her head.
Realizing he was well
over due back at the base, he decided to get the kids together and get
back. "Come on campers, lets get back
to base"
"Yeah, Hammond wanted
me to drag you back up" Daniel said "and we got a visitor on the way" looking
at Sam for the last part of the sentence
"Hey Hammond isn't in a
good mood with you so I would watch what you do"
"Yes sir" she said
They shared
smiles. They were still making jokes
about what is happening, even though this is very serious. The bond between SG-1 was unbreakable and
grows stronger with every day that passes. Even in the worst situations they always managed to pull through and
kill another System Lord (The tally for this keeps rising with every mission
they go on).
The procession moved
out the door and filed into Jacks smart new jeep. The air was still bitterly cold but the mood was much
warmer. The gray-clouded skies loomed
overhead, ready to shed its load at a moments notice. The time seemed to fly by on the way up the mountain, swerving
around the rough corners and bounding along the straights.
Producing more
identification then was truly necessary for this place. They flashed it at the patrolling guards,
who promptly waved them along. The
tunnel seemed to extend for an eternity, even now after being here for so
long. The poor lights gave off a dull
luminous glow not enough to light the tunnel properly but just enough so you
can see where you're going. Parking up
in the designated area, sorting out these spaces caused more trouble then
Apophis in Jacks view, the tumbled out and got over to the elevator, encased in
the mountain.
Striding along the
corridors down to the debriefing room, a loud voice boomed out, making everyone
in the corridor turn. "O'Neill"
"Hey Teal'c, how's it
hanging?"
The man just gave the
look. He quickly walked over to the
team. This was the first time in a
while they had stood together, and it felt good. This was why Jack loved the team so much. They were all so unique in character, yet
they all got along as if they were all exactly the same. They walked as a team, proud.
The tall metal door
leading to the debriefing room was closed.
That was odd because it
would only be closed if… there was a meeting.
The thought struck home in all four of them and they
were all not sure what to do.
"Well kids we best let them know were here"
"Is that wise sir?"
Good old Carter, always the one to argue.
"No but it's funny"
Straightening his jacket, he rapped his knuckles on
the door three times and twisted the handle slowly. Pushing open the door he walked in tall and soon slumped at the
sight before him. For the first time in
a long time Jack was speechless.
He had just barged in on a meeting between his very angry
looking CO and several members of the Joint Chiefs with a few guys from the
Pentagon, Jack guessed. And to add to
all that his favorite senator was there too.
"Colonel O'Neill, better late then never" Kinsey said
dryly
Jack had very little respect for the man who nearly
shut them down but in front of people he knew not to argue with he had to let
this one go, maybe. Clearing his
throat, he tried to dig himself out of the hole.
"I'm sorry sir, but we got caught in traffic" That
wouldn't wash. The roads were clear and
they had made their way here in record time. The hole gets deeper.
"Well you better sit down, this is very important for
all of you" He said giving the rest of the team a look to match the weather
"Major Carter, I believe you know Lieutenant Colonel Tim Harris" he said
gesturing across the table.
The look said it all. She really did not like this guy, sitting smugly cushioned by his rank
and his superiors. "Hello Sam, good to
see you"
**********