2063

Doctor Janet Green pulled up outside her mother's house on the outskirts of Colorado Springs. There was a USAF car outside already and she frowned, wondering what they were doing here. Her mother hadn't had any direct ties with them since the death of Doctor Jackson sixteen yeas ago and it had been distant and tenuous even before that. She shut and locked the rented car, pondering what could be going on as she walked up the path. The whole thing was mysterious, her mom had asked her months ago for a favour from her, but hadn't said specifically when until a couple of days ago and she still hadn't revealed exactly what they would be doing. Janet knew her mother well enough to know it was something fairly serious and it had been hard to keep her curiosity in check. At the front door she knocked politely and the door opened to let her in. She could see her mom sitting on the couch, chatting politely to a young looking USAF Officer.

"Janet!" Her mom was delighted to see her oldest daughter as always and started to stand from the couch. Janet was a worrier and hurried over to sit down next to the elderly woman and hug her to save her standing.

"Hi Mom"

"Janet, this is Captain Walker, she's going to be escorting us this evening."

They shook hands briefly and said hello before Janet focused her attention on her mother again. "Escorting us where?"

Her mother smiled gently. "We have something very important to do tonight and I'd like you to come with us."

"Are you finally going to tell me what?"

"I need to help so old friends out, that's all."

"You always did like to make things mysterious. I can hardly say no can I." She said with mock resignation in her voice and a gentle smile on her face.

Her mother wrapped her thin hands around hers. "That's settled then, come on, there's quite a drive."

Cassie leant on her daughters shoulder to stand up and they, and Captain Walker, made their way out to the sleek black car waiting at the kerb for them. Their escort held open the car door for them and the two women climbed into the back, settling into the seats as the car pulled smoothly and almost silently away.

"Where are we going?" Janet repeated.

"Cheyenne Mountain."

"Cheyenne Mountain? They're letting us in there?"

Her mom nodded. Janet was a little stunned. The Stargate program had been public knowledge for the best part of this century, but if anything the publicity had increased security at the complex. You had to be the best of the best with a spotless record to even consider applying for one of the sought after positions on the multi-national (and multi-planetary and multi-galaxy) program and there was no way to get in without working for them. It was probably the most secure place on the planet. Janet knew of her mothers past, of her childhood on another planet and her close ties with the infamous SG1, but that had all been long ago and the whole thing had hardly been mentioned in years. Janet looked across at her mother, who had a quiet, contented looking smile playing across her face.

"Wow, this is something big."

"We're just helping some old friends out."

"Which old friends?" Janet would never say it, but her mom didn't have many friends left.

"The oldest friends I have, Sam, Daniel, Jack and Teal'c." Her mom replied steadily.

Janet paused, pondering briefly whether her mom had lost it before stating quietly. "Mom. They're all dead."

"Yes they are, but they need our help none the less."

"How?"

Her mom looked directly at her as if summing something up. "You remember staying at Sam's house when you were little? Or when Jack would take you guys out to the park and you'd wear each other out playing baseball and you'd all collapse on the grass afterwards? Or when Daniel or Teal'c would visit and you'd fair hang off the poor men. What did you always ask for?"

Janet smiled fondly at the many happy memories her mother had just invoked. "Stories. They told the best stories. They had such fantastic imaginations." She loved those stories; she'd even told many of them to her own children when they'd been young.

"They did have fantastic imaginations, but not the way you mean. Every story they told you was true. Well, more or less true, Jack did like to exaggerate."

"Every story?"

"Every one. You remember the one where they went back in time to 1969 and had to hunt down the Stargate without getting discovered?"

"Of course, that was Michael's favourite forever. It was mine when I was younger. I loved the story of Martouf, Lantash and Rosha, Jolinar the most though."

"I know you did, you harassed Sam to hear it so many times. Anyway, right now, we're on our way to make sure they get home. They will step into the gate too early and overshoot their own time. We have to make sure they get back. The necessary solar flares are already confirmed. I just have to do it. The whole of level 28 will be cleared for the occasion and everything in the gateroom will be covered to avoid contaminating the time line."

Janet leant back against the seat, "So a Sam, Jack, Daniel and Teal'c from 1999, who were trapped in 1969 is going to step through the Stargate tonight here in 2063 and you're going to send them back to 1999?"

Her mom nodded.

"I always thought their stories were too complicated to be real."

Her mom chuckled and squeezed her hand. "Thank you for coming with me tonight."

"Of course I came and thank you for asking me. Can I see them?"

Her mom shook her head. "No sweetie, sorry. Only I can, Sam explained it to me, it has to be me."

Janet sighed a little. "That'd be so cool though, seeing them then, when they were young. I always found it hard to remember they were all highly decorated war heroes. They were always just, them: Jack, the grumpy old man with the duff knee and the Simpson's obsession; Sam who I played chess against when she was in another galaxy and who'd make us rockets and let them off in the backyard; Daniel one who taught us ancient weird games and showed us cool things and Teal'c who'd pick you up and swing you round and you could swear you really were flying and then hug you so tight that the world could never be a scary place ever again. Hard to remember they'd saved the world so many times when you were watching them burn things on a barbecue." Janet looked at her mother and saw the glint of tears in her eyes. She squeezed her mother's hand gently.

"I just miss them, that's all dear."

Janet put her hand over her mom's hand and gently stroked it, running her fingers over the veins and bones that stood out more and more each passing year. Janet knew she wasn't just talking about those four friends and Janet was reminded of how much her mom had lost over the years, first one family, then another and just last year her husband of so many years. She thoroughly appreciated how hard her mom had worked for her own family when she got old enough, done everything in her power to give her children the secure and steady childhood she hadn't had.

"Are you tempted to warn them or something?"

Her mom shrugged. "Yes and no. There are terrible things in their future, but also amazing fantastic things and telling them anything would jeopardise all the good that has happened. I'd not risk losing all we have now just to spare a few people some pain, it isn't worth it." She had obviously expended some thought on this.

"Not even something simple? Like a note, "Don't go to P3X-666. Didn't they do that once, to stop the boring aliens, the, Aschen?"

"Yes they did, but no I couldn't. That was to prevent the extermination of the entire human race. One life isn't worth the risk."

Janet looked down at the floor of the car. Thinking of the one life they were both talking about, the woman she'd been named after, but had never met. The woman who, despite them not having any biological link, everyone said she looked like. Hearing the story of Doctor Fraiser was how she had learned that people could die. She'd seen the news of course, but never comprehended the loss of life in the headlines. She'd cried when her hamster died, but people were different, she hadn't known people could die.

She'd been seven years old and poking around on her moms dresser while her mom changed the diaper of one of her younger brothers. She had found a picture there and asked about it. The picture showed Sam, who she knew, though she was younger in this picture, a dark haired smaller woman and a girl of about twelve, all sitting on a picnic blanket together, arms round each other. They were holding tight to each other and laughing at something off camera. Once Kyle had been put down for his nap her mom had taken her onto her lap, still holding the picture, and told her all about her Grandma Fraiser. Afterwards she'd told her all about the other Grandparents she'd never meet, who'd lived on a different world. The next time Janet had seen Grandma and Grandpa Ward she had remembered to hug them extra tight. That weekend the picture was put up on the wall with the other family pictures. Janet remembered that'd she'd liked seeing it, even though it had a dead person in it. She'd asked her Dad if he'd known any of her 'other Grandparents,' but he'd shaken his head sadly and said he wished he'd had the chance, Janet agreed with him. Janet had always had more questions about her 'other Grandparents', but she couldn't bear to see her mom sadden when she spoke about them.

The sleek military vehicle pulled up outside the checkpoint and Captain Walker jumped out to open their door for them, offering a helpful elbow to Cassie. Janet took a moment to wonder when the USAF had started recruiting 15 year olds, but shook her head, they weren't getting younger, rather she was getting older, she struggled to remember that she was no longer in her twenties. There were umpteen checkpoints to get into the complex, hands, retina and I.D were scanned. Cassie took it all in her ever graceful stride and Janet, not for the first time, wished she had picked that up in her childhood instead of her father's energetic impatience. Once cleared by security they were 'beamed' down with an Asgard transporter to Level 28, if the signs on the defunct elevator doors were to be believed. Asgard technology wasn't common place, Janet mostly knew it from the stories, but she knew the military used it in all sorts of places and it could work at different ranges and powers. Obviously it was better than elevators.

"It's eerie." Her mom commented as they followed Captain Walker through the silent corridor. "They've locked everything down and cleared this level for while we're here. Whenever I was here when I was young it was a hive of activity. To see it so quiet is strange."

Their footsteps echoed through the empty corridor, the view was of plain walls and shut doors. Janet wondered if the USAF had always been so boring in their approach to building and decorating. She imagined it would have been hard to work here, trapped so far below ground in featureless rooms, but when she looked across at her mother the older woman was smiling, clearly this place had happy memories for her. They stopped outside a large blast door and the Captain handed a device to her mom who attached it to her wrist.

"You'll need this," she said simply. Clearly so much planning had gone into this already that little explanation of any kind was needed. Janet felt like an observer. The Captain checked her watched and swiped her security card to open the door.

"If you could stand back Ma'am, to stay out of sight," she said to Janet before turning to her mother. "And, it's all yours Ma'am." With a gesture to the large room the other side of the door.

Janet stepped back against the far wall of the corridor as indicated, Captain Walker next to her looking stiffly nervous at the situation. There was a noise that Janet recognised as the sound of the Stargate opening. She'd heard it on News programs and documentaries over the years, but this was the first time she had heard it for real. There were thuds, voices and the sound of feet on a metal ramp and with a quick smile back at both of them her mom stepped into the room to help out her friends. There were more voices and Janet could hear her mom explaining the situation to SG1. Janet closed her eyes, she recognised those voices and it was a delight to hear them without any of the tremors of old age. She found herself counting back as she listened, 1999, the Stargate program had been running only two years.

Whatever help her mom had to offer to her oldest friends it didn't take long at all. The Stargate reactivated and the booted feet retreated. Janet opened her eyes, wishing it had been longer. Her mom appeared at the doorway, reaching out with a hand to the cold doorframe. Both Janet and Captain Walker stepped forward, but it was Janet who offered her arm to her mom to lean on. She looked at her mothers face. There was a strange look of both happiness and sadness.

"Well, they're safely home and I think it's time we went too."