Disclaimer: I own no characters from Stargate SG-1 or Stargate: Atlantis, and have no affiliations with its creators. Sage Griswold and the aspects of her world were invented by me.

CHAPTER ONE: SETTLING IN

The meeting room was stuffy. It always was. Sage smirked unpleasantly to herself. Some things didn't change, even across alternate universes. She leaned against the wall where the window was set, looking out at the activity in the other parts of the underground base. And behind her, the people she had gotten to know over the last few years were discussing her fate with their alternate versions. She hunched her shoulders a bit more and wrapped her arms more securely around herself as she heard AV Daniel's voice. This was a monumentally bad idea – how had she let herself be talked into this?

"I don't quite understand why you're here," he said in that familiar way, slow and deliberate. He'd have his head turned a little, so he could squint out of the corner of his eye.

The Jack from her world spoke up. "The universe turned homicidal on her."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" shot back AV Jack.

"She didn't die when she was supposed to. Apparently it works differently for magic users – the ramifications are actually – " her Carter began, but was interrupted by the double.

"That's another thing – how can you be so casual about it? MAGIC! You're actually, seriously talking about magic?"

Her carter made a helpless gesture. "I've tried to study it, quantify it, but eventually it's just easier to take her at face value." They both turned to look at Sage as if she were a knotty math problem that wouldn't unravel for them.

"Miss?" asked General Hammond's deep, lilting voice. "Perhaps you'd like to explain some of this yourself."

Great. Now everyone was looking at her. Why should I? This wasn't my idea. "I was supposed to drown last month. I didn't. Now, strange things are happening; circumstances are being manipulated to increase the chance that I'll drown after all. They think that it'll stop if I come here." She hoped the acid resentment she poured into the word 'they' as she glanced toward the companions from her world was strong enough. She suspected it wasn't, since the air hadn't begun to sizzle.

"Sage," her Sam began unhappily.

"Wait, wait, wait!" interjected Daniel. "There are so many problems with this. Even I can see – I mean, what about this world's – ah, this world's Sage? What happens if we come into contact with her? It's reasonable to assume – and hey, where am I? The other me, I mean."

Sage flinched. Her Jack cringed too, and hissed between his teeth. Her Carter jumped in quickly to fill the gap. "We made sure you don't have to worry about another Sage; that's why we chose this particular reality to bring her to. She," Sam shrugged. "She just doesn't seem to be around in this universe – even our Sage couldn't find her."

"With her magic?" asked Carter. Oh, my. There were going to be problems there. If she stayed, that is. Which wasn't at all to be taken for granted. They didn't seem to want her here anymore than she wanted to be. The argument went on without her. She was more than glad to let it wage, back and forth across the table while she wallowed a bit in self pity.

I shouldn't be doing this. If I really don't want to stay, I should push. I should try to take back some control. Of course what I really want to do is kill someone, but I just can't find the energy.

She jumped when a hand fell on her shoulder. Jack said quietly, "Looks like things are getting settled. Carter's already laying out plans to interrogate you. Just so you know."

Forcing a wobbly smile, she said, "Haven't I been through that before?"

"You know Carter."

"Not this Carter," she practically spat; in a quieter voice, "Not this Daniel – not this world."

So help me if he goes all kind and sympathetic he's gonna have to deal with a complete meltdown.

"You'll get over it."

Giving a laugh that ended in a hiccough she slapped his arm with the back of her hand. The moment didn't last. They turned back to the room to find that her team was getting ready to go back through the stargate – without her. She felt twice as small and lost as she had before. Across the room, she heard Carter ask Sam, "Is it just me, or did she shrink?"

Sam glanced in her direction before hurriedly turning away. "It's one of her talents. She can change minor details of her appearance depending on her emotional state." That was only partially true of course, but even Sam didn't know the complete extent of her 'talent.' And, of course, none of this was their fault. It was Sage's own fault for allowing herself to get sucked into such close friendships.

The glow from the stargate winked out, and Sage still stood there, staring through the glass of the control room window. She could feel the flow of activity in the room, eddying around her, leaving her in an isolated bubble, a vacuum of otherness. She didn't belong here, she – "Ah, Miss Griswold?"

She barely managed a civil, "Yes?" It was Daniel. Of course it was Daniel. "Yes?" she repeated a little desperately.

"I just thought – well, you'll need a room, until you get clearance to go off-base; I thought I'd help you arrange all that. Teal'c lives on base, too."

Sage blinked. "He does? Oh. At home – well, never mind." She could see from the glint in his eye that she'd tweaked his interest, but thankfully he left it alone. Instead, he motioned for her to follow him to the hallway where the quarters were. She sighed when she saw the room. Of course, she knew what they were like; Jack – her Jack – lived on base, and despite its bleak concreteness, it was a common gathering place for the team. It was… home. Maybe she could do something similar with this space.

Daniel excused himself and left, leaving the door open as she plunked her small wooden trunk down on the bed. Thanks to her mastery of what she called borrowing space, it contained all her worldly goods. More commonly, it was called the carpet bag or Mary Poppins spell. Opening the trunk, she lifted out a mask of thin, beaten gold, slit of mouth and eye. On either edge at a level with the eye holes two narrow red ribbons were attached, and she used these to hang the mask over her bed. Standing back, she watched it intently. The serene blankness of its expression gradually transformed into a frown.

"Oh my gosh!"

Spinning around, Sage saw Carter standing open mouthed in the door, staring at the mask. "Come in, why don't you?" Sage asked coldly. Then she cringed at her own tone. Other Sam had just been trying to help, and Sage hadn't made a hard decision any easier. "Sit down," she motioned in a manner she hoped would be taken as inviting. In a resigned tone, she added, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask me."

Carter smiled. She had the same endearing, apologetically determined expression. I have to stop comparing them; otherwise I'll never settle in. "I do, actually,"

While continuing to unpack her box, Sage said quickly, "Just let me warn you ahead of time, I know practically nothing about science or math or any of the really technical things you'll want to know about; I'm what's called an intuitive type. I don't have to know; I just do."

After a brief moment of disappointment, Sam brightened. "Well, that at least brings up a convenient starting point – types. There are types of – of magic users? Is there a closer term I should use? Do you refer to yourselves as witches or what?"

"There are dozens of types of magic users. And yes, some of them are witches. I am not a witch – I don't have the self-confidence. Among other disqualifications. You surprise me, though. Don't you want to know about the mask?"

Carter shifted. "I was … going to work back around to that. After all I've seen and done, I'm not prepared to totally discount the idea of magic – if we take magic to mean a way of doing seemingly impossible things without fully understanding the methods by which these things were accomplished – but I'm not ready to totally embrace the idea, either."

Oh, she's going to love this. "About the mask… It belonged to someone I used to know. A very bad person for the most part, but I believe there was some genuine feelings for me there, somewhere – deep down. When that person died, a small trace of that maternal protectiveness stayed on in the mask. I use it as a sort of magical weathervane. I can't actually tell the future with it, like I said; it's more like a weathervane."

Carter picked up on something quite different than Sage was expecting, and sent the conversation in a direction she was unprepared for. "Maternal? It belonged to your mother?"

"Nnnno," sage narrowed her eyes at Carter. "She… raised me. She was not my mother."

Carter visibly shook herself and took on a brisker tone. "So, since you don't feel qualified to discuss the dynamics, how about the practicalities? What can you do with your – magic?"

Sage pulled some clothes out and began smoothing them out on the bed. "That's a difficult question to answer. I can do a few formulaic spells, like what allows me to fit everything I own in this little box when by rights it should be twice as big and multiplied by three to hold everything, but for the most part I specialize in on-the-fly, spur of the moment spells; if I see an opportunity, I can tinker together a spell for whatever happens to be needed at the moment – "

"That's where the 'intuitive' part comes in?"

"Give the lady a cigar… or a kewpie doll, if your taste runs that way."

Sam laughed. "I'm sorry; it's just the way you said that,"

To her surprise, Sage found herself smiling back. As it faded, she found herself impulsively saying, "I hope we can be friends – " and then stopped. What the hell do I think I'm doing! I can't have friends –doesn't this whole situation demonstrate that?

Sam seemed to realize something was wrong. Getting up from her chair, she touched Sage on the arm. She flinched. "I'm sure we can, Sage, but why don't I let you get some rest? My questions can wait until you've – "

" 'Settled in'?"

"Yeah," Sam hastily went to the door, and then stopped. "Oh, I almost forgot; General Hammond wants to have a proper debriefing with you tomorrow. We'll be discussing what was decided this afternoon, as well as some further details," smiling awkwardly, she pulled the door almost shut and was gone.

Further details. What was decided this afternoon? Sage had to admit to herself that, really, the entire last month was somewhat of a long, unhappy blur.

Sage could just see the boots of the personnel assigned to watch her in case she somehow turned out to be an enemy agent and tried to do something enemy agent-like and blow up the base or steal the stargate. Cursing explosively, she kicked the door shut with a bang.