A/N: Wish I could follow the pattern and bring everyone some Christmas cheer but knowing my muse, I'd write a Christmas story in the summer... :) This is set shortly after The Seer.
The sounds of the klaxon echoed loudly throughout the gate room, the words 'unscheduled off world activation' following closely behind. The footsteps of a dozen soldiers pounded on the floor mere seconds later, Chuck's surprised cry of "It's the SGC!" causing them to relax their hold on the their weapons ever so slightly.
The flashing light and loud siren still bounded off the walls when the young man came falling out of the event horizon, his body rolling along the floor and landing at a heap in the middle of the room.
Peeling his arms and legs away from his body, the young man looked up to see the dozen soldiers immediately encircling him, their guns poised and the sound of their safety catches being released hitting him with full force.
His eyes widened slightly, the room dropping silent as he took in his surroundings. "Whoa, easy guys, it's just me..."
The silence was broken by the rush of feet bounding down the steps and the young man watched as the sea of soldiers parted to allow another figure to come forward. He stared up at the blonde woman as she came to a stop at his feet, the few other figures that accompanied her merely hung back behind her.
She looked him up and down as he still lay sprawled on the floor. "Who are you? And how did you get Stargate Command's IDC?"
His mouth opened and closed for a few moments. "Holy Hannah," The young man whispered, unable to comprehend the sight before him.
He watched as the woman before him blinked, her eyes narrowing slightly, lips parting just a touch. "I'm Colonel Carter, the commander of this city. And you are...?"
"I...I... This can't be happening..." He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. "I mean, I've heard the stories many times but..." He shook his head from side to side, "I never once thought I'd actually see something like this with my own eyes..."
"The lady asked you a question and now you're going to answer it." The sound of John Sheppard's curt voice diverted the man's gaze and he watched as the other man made himself known. Colonel Carter simply squared her shoulders and he couldn't help but notice as all military personnel immediately followed suit.
"What year is it?!"
All eyes stared at the young man. He immediately looked up to check if his mop of brown hair was in a mess, patted it down and then looked back at the group staring down at him.
"I mean, this has to be time travel right? 'Cos, from what I've read about alternate realities, you'd all just look slightly different as opposed to... well..." He waved a hand in the air, "You know..." A series of blank expressions were followed by catching of each other's eyes. "You don't? No, why would you...?"
A loud cough diverted his attention and he peered over Colonel Carter's shoulder to see a man with dread locks, his arms folded across his chest, big biceps bulging out. "Let me guess, Ronon by any chance?"
"Who are you?!" John asked again.
"You know, John, you look different without the beard," he wiggled his fingers up towards the older man's face. "Hmmm... younger maybe..."
"Answer the question."
The strong commanding voice of Colonel Carter drew his attention back to her and suddenly all the bravado he'd built up in the past few seconds came crashing to the ground. Still lying on the floor at their feet, he risked a glance around the room. It certainly looked different to when he'd been here last.
"S-Simon..." He stuttered, glancing at her face ever so briefly, before adding, "Ma'am." Glancing down at his body, he continued, "I have an identification device, here I can show you-"
The sound of twelve clicking guns echoed throughout the room as the young man got to his feet. Hands raised in surrender he paused, slowly working his way to stand up straight.
"-it's on my right shoulder," He continued, motioning with his body, "You can use one of the ICS's to check..."
The soldiers before him simply had their eyes pinned to his, guns still raised. The others simply stared at him in either confusion or disbelief. All except Colonel Carter. The look on her face appeared all too familiar to him, and he could see that she was trying to figure him out and yet all the while trying to remain in charge of the situation.
"You don't have them yet do you?" He asked, looking right at her. "Well, I never was that great at history..." He gave her a sheepish smile and shrugged a little.
"ICS?"
"Identity Chip Scanner," Simon turned to face John, "It scans the little chip on my shoulder that reveals..." He suddenly paused. "Way too much! If this is the past, then, I really shouldn't be telling you guys all this, I mean, you of all people should know!" He gestured at Carter, his arms suddenly losing their 'surrender' stance as he gesticulated on the spot. "What year is it?!"
"What year do you think it is?!" John bit back.
"Should I really be telling you that if I'm from the future? I mean, wouldn't that just change things?" He turned to look at Carter again. "You always say to never disrupt the timeline, right?"
He watched as her eyes narrowed again, her jaw set somewhat in defiance. "Do I know you?"
-0-
Sam stood in front of the glass window, gazing into the interrogation room from the outside. Inside sat the young man who had emerged through the gate, his longs legs curled under the table. His brown eyes faced John who sat on the chair opposite, while Ronon leaned against the door behind him, blocking his exit should he try to escape.
"Look!" Simon cried. He had began to slump in the chair but the moment John asked him another question his back was soon ramrod straight. "For the umpteenth time, I told you, I don't know how I got here! One minute I was saying goodbye to my father at the bottom of the ramp at the SGC, next I was hurtling through the other side of the 'gate landing at your feet!"
He sighed and ran a hand through his short hair. Sam watched as his arm dropped back to the table, leaving his hair sticking up in all directions.
"Maybe it was a solar flare, or something, I don't know..."
John leaned forwards on the table. "What do you know about solar flares?"
Simon shrugged. "Not a lot. Just that that's the only way we've managed to travel through time before – by dialling the gate and going through at the exact moment there is a solar flare... how this is even possible across two different galaxies, I don't know, I'm not the genius in the family, for that you'd have to ask-"
John's eyebrows rose and he simply stared at the younger man who had stopped mid sentence. "Ask who?"
But before he could answer a beeping noise went off in the room. All three men stared at the watch on Simon's wrist.
"What's that?" John asked.
"A watch," Simon shrugged just as the alarm stopped. "My Dad gave it to me before I set off, said he was setting it to remind me when to return home..."
"What's it say?" Ronon asked.
Simon spun round to glance at the big man, before shifting back to flip the lid off the watch face. Sam couldn't help but notice that it was standard military issue.
"Three hours to go..." He replied quietly. Somewhat distracted, he tilted his head, before slowly turning to stare through the two way mirror.
Sam felt as though his dark brown eyes were pinned directly on her. Unbidden, a shudder ran through her, a tiny gasp emitted from her lips. The shifting in stance of the person beside her drew her eyes away, and Sam found herself fleetingly catching Teyla's gaze before she had a chance to compose herself.
The scraping of chairs jolted her back to the interrogation room, and she watched as both John and Ronon turned to leave, locking the door behind them.
Before they even had a chance to speak, Sam tapped her earpiece. "Rodney? I need you to run some tests on the planet's sun... check for any indications of a solar flare."
"Solar Flare?!" Rodney hit back. "What about analysing the 'gate?"
"Get Zelenka on it. I need you to concentrate on a period of around three hours from now." She tapped her earpiece again, not waiting for a response before she clicked out.
John eyed her warily. "You believe what he's saying in there?"
Sam pursed her lips. "I believe we need to investigate all avenues and right now this is all we have to go on." Eyes still fixed on hers, Sam knew John wasn't convinced. If it weren't for Teyla butting in, she was sure he would have said as such.
"What about the security of the midway station?"
"Lorne's already on it," John responded.
In all honesty, Sam had forgotten about that. The arrival of a stranger with haunting eyes and a familiar charisma had all but thrown her off kilter. If it weren't for Rodney forcing Chuck off of the control systems, she might have even forgotten to order the analysis of a gate malfunction.
"What's next?" John asked, staring Sam right in the eyes.
"My turn...." Ignoring all their glances, she took a deep breath before stepping towards the closed door and walking in.
-0-
The brown eyes fixed on hers the moment she stepped through the door. She couldn't help but let hers roam his face, studying his jaw line and chin, taking in his cheekbones and eyebrows before settling on his ruffled hair. A faint blush crept over her cheeks as she realised he knew what she was doing.
She smiled in apology before picking up the other chair and placing it nearer to his. Ignoring his gaze, she fiddled with her hands on the table, pulling them back when she suddenly realised that he was doing the same thing.
"So... what's your real name?" Her voice came out soft and warm, a stark contrast to the cold harsh room.
A slow smile appeared on his lips and he risked a glance up to meet her eyes. "What makes you think that it's not?"
"Because your father would hate it."
His eyes widened momentarily at her candidness, staring at her smile with his mouth slightly ajar. A few seconds passed and he promptly shut it again.
Sam shrugged at the question in his eyes. "You have his eyes...." Her words could have been a whisper, a sigh, so soft that that either way it didn't really matter.
The smirk reappeared on his lips again. "Yeah...."
"So?"
His eyebrows rose, before he shook his head and looked away. "You know I can't tell you..." His voice held a hint of a smile. As though he'd known she'd ask despite knowing all of the reasons that she shouldn't.
A knowing smirk flitted across her own face before she glanced away and cleared her throat. "So... what was your reason for visiting Atlantis?"
Simon ran a hand through his hair, unable to hide his own wave of embarrassment. He shrugged, somewhat non-committal. "Personal visit..."
Sam studied him a moment, suddenly wondering how old he was. Twenty five? Thirty even? God, was she engaged at his age? She snorted softly, mainly at herself. "So what's her name...?"
Simon simply laughed and shook his head. "So that's how Dad found out... Strangely this is all starting to make sense..."
"You didn't know this was going to happen?"
Simon glanced back at Sam's face. "No..." he shook his head. "I mean, I thought it was odd when Dad met me at the bottom of the ramp and gave me his old watch but..."
"But what?" Sam asked.
Simon shrugged. "I was going to see a girl... I just thought he was doing the whole 'father-son' thing..."
Sam couldn't help but laugh as his hands rose and he acted out the speech marks with his fingers. She covered her mouth with her hand upon seeing a hint of a glare and shook her head absently. "Sorry... this is just a little weird..."
Simon simply shrugged silently and waited until Sam had calmed herself.
"He told me to give you a message..."
Sam's eyes suddenly found his once again.
"Said to tell you that you were given that vision for a reason," Simon watched as her eyes grew wider. "Not the big one," he waved his hand in the reminiscent act of his father earlier, "the other one..." He saw a lump bob up and down in her throat. "Said you'd know what it meant..."
Tearing her eyes from his, Sam stared down at her hands for a while. She hadn't told anyone about the second vision. The one Davos had specifically given to her. Part of her still wondered if it had actually happened, or if somehow she'd strangely imagined it.
"You didn't imagine it."
She looked up at the young man, his voice startling her out of her own reverie. "And you're a testament to that?" She whispered.
Simon pursed his lips, studying her face for a few moments before he answered, "I guess that depends on what the vision entailed..."
Sam merely looked away. "You remind me of Charlie... Of what he might have..." She trailed off, deciding to study her hands instead.
She felt him pause a long time before he finally responded. "I guess I wouldn't be here if he hadn't made peace with that a long time ago..."
Sam looked up and into Simon's eyes. Her own glistened with unshed tears and she took a deep breath before she smiled at him openly. "I guess not..." She turned away again and tried to clear her throat. "Did your father say anything else?"
Simon shook his head. "No... Just that I should make sure I made it home on time..."
Sam nodded, her eyes suddenly bright and shining at him. "We're working on that right now..." Simon simply swallowed in spite of himself, before looking away.
A moment of silence descended upon them and for a while they both sat there, neither looking at the other, neither wanting to move.
"Colonel?"
Sam's ear piece crackled, causing her to almost jump out of her skin. "Go ahead, Radek."
"I think we have something."
With one quick glance his way, she patted his hand briefly before she rose from her seat and exited the room without saying another word.
-0-
The event horizon shimmered, its dark and yet bright light casting shadows around the gate room. Sam stood at the bottom of the steps, Atlantis's primary team behind her as Chuck lead the countdown on the wormhole's space-time window.
Simon stood in front of her, his back towards the gate and shifted nervously as a few marines loosely closed in on either side. "Thank you," He said, suddenly grateful to be going back home. He met her eyes before giving her a small smile.
Sam merely nodded, her throat too tight to speak.
Spinning on his heels, Simon turned and began making his way up to the Stargate.
"Wait!" He spun around and noticed that even Sam was startled at her sudden cry. "How will I know...?"
A slow smile appeared on his face as he slowly raised his right hand up to his temple. There on his palm sat a small band aid. Seeing the recognition on her face, he saluted her briefly, before turning and walking into the Stargate.
The wormhole disappeared within seconds and with it, Sam exhaled a long breath.
"Are you going to be okay?" John asked, stepping up behind her.
Davos had asked her the same thing when he'd peeled his hand way from hers. A familiar warmth settled within her chest with the recurrence of the memory. "Yeah..." Sam replied. She turned round to face him with a smile on her face. "You know what? I think I will be..."