A/N: This story contains spoliers for Stargate: Continuum. Sam runs into the alternate timeline Jack. This chapter is from Sam's perspective and will be followed by the same story from Jack's perspective.
It does contain the S/J ship in a way...
I hope that you enjoy it. And feedback is, as always, much appreciated.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the following story.
Sam Carter didn't know what she was doing. Her life had been a blur for the past few months, since she, Mitchell and Daniel had arrived in this alternate timeline. She wandered around the local strip mall aimlessly, not interested in buying any of the frivolous items that she saw in store windows.
She could not help but mourn for the life that she had had. True enough, losing her command had been a blow, but at least she had been someone in her timeline. Here she was the non-descript astronaut look alike who couldn't even leave her house without some form of Clark Kent-like disguise. But more than the frustration that she felt at being able to do nothing, she missed her friends. She missed movie nights with her team, she missed laying under the stars on other planets. And she missed Jack.
Tears came to her eyes as the image of him as he lay dying floated into her head. She pushed the memory away. She hadn't allowed herself to give much thought to it; she couldn't, or she knew that it would consume her.
She checked her face in the next storefront. Some tears had managed to escape her eyes. She brushed them away furiously and turned away from the store. The sight that met her caused her stomach to drop.
Jack O'Neill was standing twenty feet away, looking into the window of the next store.
Sam immediately began to move forward but then stopped. She knew that she wasn't supposed to talk to him, but beyond that, he had another life here. This was not her Jack, and nothing would change that. His wife and he were probably still together. But she still wanted to move forward. She wanted to talk to him, to be around him again.
He turned and saw her. She could see him hesitate before he moved towards her. I guess I have no choice now, Sam thought to herself, unsure of whether she was happy about that or not.
"Hi," he said as he stopped just two feet in front of her.
"Hi," Sam replied, making as little eye contact as possible.
Jack ran a hand through his hair, a gesture reminiscent of the Jack O'Neill that she had known. Sam looked away as tears threatened her once more.
The two stood there awkwardly for minutes as eager shoppers walked past them in either direction.
"What are you doing here?" Sam asked at length.
"I could ask you the same thing," Jack responded.
"I live a few blocks away. And I needed something to pass the time," she said, motioning towards the shop fronts behind her.
"I'm at the base for a few days. I was looking for something for my kid." Jack looked around at the crowd and then turned back to Sam. "Look, can we go somewhere and talk?"
"I'm not supposed to talk to you," Sam said, though she knew perfectly well what Jack would say to that.
"What they don't know…" Jack turned and led the way to a coffee house at the corner. They ordered and then found a secluded table and sat.
Both sat silently sipping their coffee.
"What did you want to talk about?" Sam asked.
"How are you?" Jack asked.
Sam blinked. This did not sound like the Jack O'Neill she had spoken to on the sub. "Fine. Holding up, I guess."
"Right."
"Why do you ask? It seemed like you didn't care about what we were telling you."
"I had some time to think. This can't be easy for you, being here."
"And being able to do nothing. Yeah, it's been tough. I'm not the type of person to sit around the house."
"I know," Jack mumbled.
"But I can't really do anything about it, so…"
The awkward silence descended on the table once again.
"Your son," Sam finally said. "He must be about eighteen now."
Jack shook his head. "He's nine."
"Oh," Sam replied. By her calculations, Charlie would be in his late teens.
"Nobody told you, did they?"
"Nobody told me what?"
Jack hesitated as he ran his hands through his hair again. "You- the other you- and I were…"
Sam had a feeling that she knew what Jack was about to say, but it did not make it any easier for her to hear.
"We were… married."
"Married?"
Jack nodded.
"So your son is…"
"Her son too. He was five when she died."
"I'm so sorry." Sam wasn't sure what she was apologizing for: sympathy at his wife's death or guilt for putting him through the pain of having to see her. "This must be hard for you. I'll go," she said, standing up.
"No, stay," Jack said, surprising Sam.
Sam sat back down.
Jack took his wallet out and opened it onto a picture. He put it down on the table so that Sam could see. It was her- the other her- holding her newborn son. "We met at a party that NASA threw about eleven years ago. She'd just joined. We started dating and got married the next year. And then we had him," Jack said, pointing at the baby in the picture.
"What's his name?" Sam asked, not taking her eyes off of the picture. She looked so happy…
"Jacob," Jack answered. "After-"
"Dad," Sam whispered. She wanted to ask about her father, but she wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer. After all, if he was alive, she couldn't very well go and see him.
"Yeah."
"Who takes care of him when you're away?"
"Sam's brother, Mark."
Sam smiled at the thought. She and her brother had been getting along in this timeline.
Jack took his wallet back and looked at the picture. "She didn't want to go." At Sam's questioning look, he elaborated. "On the mission. She didn't want to leave Jake."
"But you told her to go."
Jack scrutinized Sam for a moment. "Yeah. She would still be here-"
"You can't blame yourself," Sam said automatically. "Whatever she said, it was her dream. She let you talk her into it."
"Nothing was supposed to go wrong. She was always the one who knew what to do. At NASA, with Jake…"
"I'm sure you're a good father."
Jack raised his eyebrow at her.
"In my timeline, you had a son too. He loved you."
"The one who died?"
Sam nodded, immediately regretting bringing up Charlie. "His death was an accident."
"I can't imagine what he must have gone through."
Over the past two years, he had opened up to her and told her more about Charlie. She had some idea. "It's not something you ever really get over. He's been through a lot, the you in my timeline."
"Doesn't sound like it was much of a life," Jack mumbled.
Sam nodded. She had heard stories of what Jack was like when he had first been recruited to the Stargate program. "He had a heard time dealing with it. But it was a long time ago, and he's come to terms with it."
Jack nodded.
"In my timeline, you were my commanding officer for eight years. We got together after we were out of the same chain of command. But we were happy."
"Can't you see that I can't think about that?" Jack asked loudly. As heads turned towards them, Jack leaned in and continued more quietly. "I loved my wife, and I miss her. But I have my kid to think of too. And I can't think about that other timeline and about how you're alive and you and he are together. I'm not about to give up my son so that the three of you can get back to your old lives."
"I understand that, believe me." Sam looked into the familiar brown eyes that were not her Jack's. "I get that it's not fair of us to ask. But you have to understand something too. It took us a long time to defeat the Goa'uld, and that was with access to a Stargate. Here, in this timeline, the Goa'uld are coming, and we have nothing with which to defend ourselves. So I can't sit back and do nothing."
"What choice do you have?"
"Right now, I can make sure that I don't forget where I came from and what we've done. And I will make sure that my husband didn't die in vain." A stab of pain went through her heart as an image of Jack as he lay dying entered her mind.
"I can't help you. You know that, right?"
Sam nodded. "I understand. And I'm sure that, deep down, you understand where I'm coming from."
Jack shrugged. "I don't even know if I believe in this whole alternate timeline thing."
"You do. Because you know that I'm not her."
With that, Sam stood. "It was nice seeing you again. Take care." She glanced down at the wallet that was still sitting on the table. "And take care of him."
She turned and walked out of the coffee shop, more determined than ever to ensure that the Goa'uld did not attack this Earth. She would just have to figure out how.
