The Meeting, a stargate: sg-1 fanfic

TITLE: The Meeting

AUTHOR: Vid Z.

PAIRING: Jack/Sam

WARNINGS: Fluff, Romance, Drama, Angst

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the TV show Stargate SG-1 are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fic. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: dedicated to dyslecksec who requested this sequel. I hope it's what you hoped for.

SUMMARY: sequel to "Foresight".

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Sam was very uneasy about this meeting.

The last time she'd had any sort of contact with him was 7 years ago.

She knew she could've extended an olive branch, but she was pissed at him and he was angry at her, probably even hating her for what she'd done all that time ago.

And she hated him for having had such a huge part in destroying her life, especially for such selfish reasons.

Just a few days ago she'd received a letter, in which he'd explained that he had trouble finding her and in the end just had the military locate her and deliver the letter to her, stating that he wanted to bury the axe and regain what they'd lost. After a long deliberation she'd called him back and arranged for a meeting.

Needless to say, she'd been on edge and irritable ever since and everyone around her felt it. She was planning on thoroughly making up to every single one of them.

She'd been waiting in the bar for about 15 minutes when he finally arrived.

She stood up and waved him over.

When he stopped by her, they just stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, not feeling comfortable with any sort of an informal greeting, not even a handshake, much less physical contact. Distance, emotional and physical, and differences in opinion having taken heavy toll.

Finally he broke the stalemate.

"Hi, Sam."

"Hello, Mark." she said cautiously.

"Thank you for agreeing to this meeting."

"You're my brother."

"Yeah." he sighed and they took advantage of the truce to sit. A waiter suddenly appeared and they ordered their drinks, but not anything to eat. Her nerves were so active she didn't think she'd be able to eat anything, much less keep it down.

"So, how have you been?" started Mark and from there the conversation started slowly, haltingly, flowing.

It went well for about half an hour before Mark hesitated and started slowly. "Sam, I have a favor to ask you. I have a friend that's just transferred to Denver..."

'Oh god' Sam thought 'This can't be happening, I can't believe he's actually doing this again. And I really thought he wanted us to get back what we'd lost. While in reality he's again trying to run my life and look how it turned out the last time!' She hadn't told him yet of the changes in her private life over the last few years, she hadn't found the nerve and the way to break it to him and now she was seriously regretting having not just blurted it out.

"Mark..." Sam tried to interrupt, but he was too far into his spiel to let her get a word in.

"He's a great guy, divorced his wife 2 years ago and is trying to start again. If you could just meet him for coffee and show him around town, I'd be grateful."

'Yeah, he definitely divorced her, that bastard. Why he did that though, is a completely other matter. Probably because she couldn't take his controlling, possessive and overbearing attitude any longer. Why the hell didn't I kick his ass to the curb and report him when I found out he stalked me and ran background checks on me? Even more, I asked the General and Jack to let him in on the secret. What a damned idiot I was!'

"Mark..." Sam growled this time, fed up with her brother. This time she wouldn't take it laying down, like she did last time.

"Anyway, I asked him to meet us here, I knew you wouldn't say no, and here he is..." he finished, very satisfied with himself, while Sam was thinking of ways to kill him without leaving proof or body. It was such an obvious set up and a few days after she and Jack met in the briefing room she had a few hours to herself and really thought through the whole affair with Shanahan and she'd finally figured out that Shanahan was Mark's successful attempt at trying to control her life and get her away from the military.

With the clarity of hindsight and distance from the situation, both giving her objectivity, she could also tell that, while they'd been still engaged, her fiancee had started making increasingly larger hints that she should quit her job and get away from the military.

In his opinion women weren't supposed to serve in the military, cause they believed it was the man that was supposed to work and earn money, while the woman was supposed to stay at home, be constantly pregnant and give birth to babies, while chained to the kitchen sink. Sam didn't have anything against the women that wanted that for themselves, but personally she'd hate that kind of life and would most definitely not want it for herself. And it was plainly obvious that that was exactly what her chauvinistic and controlling brother and fiancee had wanted for her.

Mark may have been her blood, but because of his words and actions, both in the past, in the future, that had been prevented, and now in the present, he was less a family to her than the graveshift guard at NORAD's main entrance.

Just then she caught sight of the familiar figure and the stupid grin on that person's face. 'What the hell was the matter with me that I actually thought that that grin was adorable? What kind of drugs was I on?'

Detective Peter Shanahan approached their table, his dopey grin still firmly placed on his face. The grin that transmitted a serious lack of brain power of the owner. Sam cringed at the dopey smile that strenghtened when he spotted her.

She was contemplating the best escape route (this time she was willing to admit that she was escaping, not tactically retreating nor advancing in the opposite direction) while Mark and it were greeting each other enthusiastically.

Then, to Sam's horror, they turned towards her before she'd managed to make her exit.

Mark clapped his buddy on the shoulder and beamed at Sam. "This is the friend I was talking about. Sam, meet..."

The rest was cut off by the arrival of a young boy and a man, that drew lustful glances of every woman in the room. He was tall, quite obviously muscular, not the gym type, but the type that comes from a life of constant trials and hard physical demands. The shirt, stretched tightly across his packed muscles, clearly displayed that fact. It was Sam's favorite shirt and, whenever it was possible, she had him wear it. His dark hair with silver at the temples just made him that much more alluring. In his hands he securely held a 2 month old baby and it was plainly obvious that the man loved his children very much. There was a collective sigh of regret around the room when the admirers realized that the man was very much taken and definitely not a divorced father. One point of evidence was the gold ring on his finger.

To Mark's and his friend's astonishment the small brown-haired boy with dark eyes, a spitting image of his father, bounded over to them, yelling enthusiastically "Mommy!"

Sam bent down and caught the flying child in her arms, hugging him tightly and kissing him affectionately on his cheek. "Now, weren't you guys supposed to have been shopping?"

"We're already done and thought we'd come and see how's it going." came the answer from the man as he kissed Sam on her lips, not possessively or to make a statement, but the kiss of strong, enduring love, affection, trust and commitment. The kind of love that endures anything, transcends realities and death, and lasts for eternity, never waning, never failing and never hurting or disappointing. Mark and Shanahan just stood there, jaws gaping as Sam deepened the kiss, elliciting a groan from the man, but both being very careful of the baby between them.

As she reached up to stroke his cheek the two men for the first time noticed the rings on her left hand.

Their offspring just looked on with a long-suffering expression on his young face.

Sam and Jack had never withheld affection for each other in front of their son, believing that it would stunt his emotional growth, leaving him with having problems expressing his emotions later on in life.

Robert was used to them kissing, holding hands and hugging each other all the time, and was just exasperated when they did it. On the inside he loved his parents and was glad that they still loved each other. Some of his friends' parents were already divorced and his friends all envied him his parents that were still very much in love and thus still together.

"Sam?" the interrogation was clear in Mark's voice and it broke through the haze of passion that had filled Sam's mind. She made a mental note to have her way with her husband as soon as they were back home and turned back towards her brother.

She cleared her throat, trying to calm her heart and hide her body's reactions to Jack's nearness and the kiss.

"Would you care to introduce us?" came the sarcastic and angry 'request' from Mark.

Sam's eyes hardened as she took in the two men, standing opposite of her family. "Mark, Detective..." a little flutter of satisfaction bloomed in her heart at the disappointed look on Shanahan's face. "... I would like to introduce you to my family. This is my husband, Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, our son, Robert or Bobby, and our daughter, Catherine. Guys, these are Mark and his friend, Detective Shanahan."

Inwardly she smiled in satisfaction when saying Jack's rank, both because she caught the intense disapproval in Mark's eyes and because Jack had definitely earned it, just as she had earned her promotion. She loved the fact that she could rub in the fact that she did what Mark definitely didn't want her to do: marry a military man, and a lifer at that.

Jack's face didn't show any more warmth than Sam's and he nodded at the two men, using his daughter as an excuse not to shake their hands. He still remembered both men's active and fully intentional roles in ruining Sam's and his life the last time, starting a family with him.

Jack had never been the jealous type, he was fully aware of the fact that other men looked at his wife and liked what they saw, it had never bothered him before, but now he had the strong urge to puff out his chest and grin smugly at Shanahan's pathetic imitation of a whipped puppy.

Sam then noticed Mark glaring at her and her family, but he quickly covered it up.

His plan had been foiled and he wanted to retreat before he revealed just how much he still hated Sam, now even more for having done what she had. For following their father's footsteps, joining the Air Force and doing what he'd never wanted her to do, marrying another member of the military and starting a family with him. His blood was starting to boil and he knew he needed to get out of there soon.

Then he quite obviously checked his watch and clapped his hands once. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but I have to meet someone in a few minutes. It was nice seeing you again, Sam," the insincerity of the statement was obvious to all "stay in touch. Coming, Pete?"

"Bye." smiled Sam tightly as she watched them leave. The rest of the O'Neills said nothing, just waved.

Sam sighed, he'd tried it again, but thankfully this time she'd been forewarned and avoided making the biggest, stupidest mistake of her life, starting a relationship with Detective Peter Shanahan. Mark was still the same, still hadn't changed, still hating her for who and what she was. Family is a precious thing, but Sam had decided not to consider Mark her family anymore after she'd gotten her memories of the future and had fully understood what had happened and what Mark's plans, motivations and intentions had been. For her, the only family she had left was Jacob and, more importantly, the one she'd created with Jack.

Of course, she couldn't forget her brothers, Daniel and Teal'c. Especially Daniel was like her brother, a younger, whiny and spoiled brother who always had to get it his way, while Teal'c was the silent brother, always protecting and being there when needed.

And that was all she needed.

She turned to the people she loved more than anything and smiled. Immediately she had one strong arm around her shoulders and a smaller hand clutching at her's as they walked out of the bar.

With a light heart she mused about just how much the world had changed in the last 7 years, thanks to her and Jack.

As they'd agreed with Hammond, Jack had taken an administrative role at the SGC and thus could no longer decline promotions as he continuously had in the other future. Sam's promotion to Major had also been much faster than previously. Mainly because she had memories of the advancements in weapons and defence technology, space ship design, fighter design, engine design,... and had thus made some stunning advances in those fields. She had even managed to subtly give Siler the idea of the vest-inserts that he had invented in the original future and had subtly given him directions and hints so they were invented earlier, this way giving him the full credits that he rightfully deserved. Then she collaborated with him on an advanced version of those inserts, lighter and giving a better protection. Many lives had been saved by these inserts, among them Janet's, who was now happily married to bird-Colonel Charlie Kawalsky and had two children with him.

But because she had taken time off for her maternity leave twice and that for several months, in order to be with each child for longer than normal, she would be getting her next promotion on schedule instead of ahead of it, at the same time Jack would be getting his second star. It didn't bother her that her career had taken slight hits because of the two pregnancies and a transfer off the teams, she had the man she loved, and who loved her, for her husband, she had 2 great kids and a satisfying career as the head of the R&D at the SGC. Though, admittedly she'd been quite bored these last few years with every possible advance already having been made, all enemies having been defeated and peace ruling the galaxy. Thank god for her family who always kept her on her toes, otherwise she would've been really bored because not even going through the Gate was exciting anymore. After you've done it for n-th thousandth time it becomes routine.

Other people's lives were also different than previously. The first thing Jack had done to change the timeline had been to prevent Kawalsky being snaked. What he could not have predicted was that the never-serious and commitment-shy man would fall in love with the base CMO and want to settle down with her. Now, 2 kids and 6 years of marriage for Charlie and Janet later, Jack had to admit that Charlie wasn't trying to pull a trick on him and really had wanted to settle down. With their knowledge Jack and Sam had also managed to save Sha're, got her de-snaked and returned to Daniel. They had also prevented Hanka's population being destroyed by Nirrti, thus Cassie still had her family. Teal'c's family was safe and whole still.

All in all, Sam believed that this was definitely the better future for everyone and she was damn glad to have it, instead of it's substitute.

As they walked out into the sunlight she grinned and quickly gave Jack a peck on his lips.

Yep, this was definitely the better future.

THE END