Chapter 1
The klaxons sounded warning of an incoming wormhole. General Hammond walked into the control room wearing his dress blues and spoke in a slow southern drawl, "Who is it airman?"
Master Sergeant Walter Harriman reported, "I have SG-1's radio signal."
"Are they off world?" he asked not recalling them going off world previously that day.
"No sir," he replied. "Should I lower the iris, sir?"
He hesitated for a moment. The radio signal was secured and had little chance of it being from a hostile entity but he could not risk the base. He watched as armed guards swarmed the Gate's perimeter. Satisfied he ordered, "Lower the iris."
The iris opened and the glimmering event horizon shined onto the room. Major Samantha Carter and Colonel Jack O'Neill made their way to the control room next.
Jack asked, "Who is knocking?"
"SG-1's signal," Hammond informed. He watched on as a small figure emerged through the wormhole. It was a child with brown hair and brown eyes about six years old. She stood in blue jeans and a red t-shirt clutching a teddy bear tight. She looked on rather scared and nervous. The wormhole then dropped behind her.
Jack led Sam with General Hammond right behind them down the stairs to the gate room as Daniel and Teal'c entered from the lower level. They had all spotted the child and were not sure what to make of the situation. Pinned to the girl's shirt was a hand written note. A guard had checked the child for any signs of explosives or weapons and found none. He then retrieved the note and handed it to General Hammond as he reported, "Child is clear sir."
Hammond took the note and read over it. He glanced up at Sam and then down the child.
Jack asked, "What's it say?"
"This is Major Carter's handwriting," he informed. "It says this child her daughter, Olivia. She says the girl has the gene the Asgard need to survive and that she is from the future."
The little girl spotted Sam and let out a sigh of relief, "Mommy!" she ran to her and grabbed her tight in fear.
Jack stood shocked for a moment as his mind processed what was said.
She asked Hammond, "Can I see the note?"
"There's not much here," he replied handing her the note.
Sam read it over, "This is my handwriting." She looked down at the girl, "It says I'm her mother."
Olivia cried, "Mommy I'm scared."
She knelt down the little girl and assured her, "You are safe here. Your name is Olivia?"
She nodded unsure why her mother didn't seem to know her. She clutched the teddy bear tighter. Sam then tried to relieve her fear.
"It's okay," she soothed. "You are safe here. That's a nice bear. What's his name?"
"George," she told her still baffled for her mom knew the bear's name.
Sam gave her a warm smile, "How about you and George come with me to the infirmary?"
"Okay," she nodded. She grabbed Sam's hand and nearly hid behind her as all the guards standing near seemed scary to the child.
Jack asked, "You want someone to come with you, Carter?"
"I can handle it," she told him. As she led the girl away Jack felt her small fingers reach up for his hand. He then began to suspect that if this child was Sam's daughter then perhaps he was the father.
Short Time Later
Chief Medical Officer, Major Janet Frasier sat at the end of the table and reported her findings. She started, "I have managed to map some of her DNA. From what I can tell she does share Sam's mitochondrial genes. Those are genes passed onto a child from the mother. That's a match. From that along with the handwritten note and knowing very few people could bend a wormhole to send someone through time; I would have to say Olivia is Sam's daughter. I estimate her to be around five, maybe six years old and she is in good health."
Jack asked, "Any idea who her father is?"
"It could be anyone," she told him. "There are paternity tests I can run but absent the girl naming her father I have no idea where to start."
Daniel asked, "Doesn't Jack have the gene the Asgard was researching?"
"He does," she nodded. "I suppose I could run a test, I just need a DNA sample from you, sir."
Hammond asked baffled, "You think Colonel O'Neill could be this girl's father?"
"I have no idea," she confessed. "We don't know how far into the future the girl is from." She looked to Sam. "Can the Gate give us anything?"
"I, in the future lowered the safeguards and sent it through the sun to send Livy through time." she told them. "But I have no idea how far into the future that is."
Hammond asked, "Livy?"
"She said I call her 'Livy'," she told him. "Which makes sense for if I had a daughter named Olivia then I would call her by a nickname." She then added, "She's very bright. She was reading magazines in the infirmary way above the primary grade levels."
Daniel asked, "What will be doing with her long term? We can't send her back. We don't where to even send her too."
Sam spoke up, "If I am sending my six year old daughter through the Gate and into the past with a note pinned to her shirt, I don't think there is anything for her to go back home to. I wouldn't do that unless I had no choice. I would just send a sample of her DNA and keep her in the future."
Jack asked, "What do we do with her?"
"She's my daughter," she slowly nodded as she realized her life was about to change. "I guess I should take care of her."
"What about going off world?" Jack asked.
Janet volunteered, "She can stay with me and Cassie when Sam is off world."
"I would appreciate that," she gave a sigh of relief.
Hammond stated, "I will have a birth certificate generated for her along with needed documents. Olivia Carter will be listed as Major Carter's daughter."
Jack had a suspicion he was her father but couldn't admit to the feeling. He asked, "But what about her father?"
Sam admitted, "I might not even have met him yet. I have no idea who he could be."
Daniel figured, "Until we figure out who he is I think Olivia should stay with Sam and we can all help out. He might not even know about the Gate and well, how do you explain to a man that he has a kid that hasn't been born yet?"
Teal'c agreed, "You do not! SamanthaCarter sent the child to live with herself in the past. She would have done so for a reason."
"I'll take care of her and if we find her father we will address that issue when we come to it," Sam agreed.
Jack rolled his eyes for he just could not shake the feeling the girl was his but he had no proof and no right to demand a paternity test on a feeling alone.
Short Time Later
Sam walked into the recreation room where Olivia had been placed under the supervision of a base MP. She found the young female MP sitting at the table with the child and both were coloring with crayons on paper. She just stood and watched how easily the child interacted with the young brown haired woman.
The MP suggested, "Let's draw a bright sun."
The girl looked at the crayons, "I need dark red."
"The sun is yellow," the MP told her.
"No it's not," she shook her head.
Sam gulped for a dark red sun was a bad sign for the world as a whole. She came to the table and took a seat by the child. As she looked over the drawings she asked, "You drew all these, Livy?" Her eyes landed on a drawing of two stick figures standing at a grave. She picked the drawing up fearing knowing the name on the headstone.
"How was your meeting, Mommy?" she asked. The child sounded well-articulated for her age.
"It was good," she told her. "Tell me about this picture here." She pointed to the ominous drawing.
She pointed to the stick figures, "That's you, that's me going to visit Daddy."
"Your father is dead," she quickly figured.
"He lives in heaven," she insisted. "We go there to talk to him."
"I see," was all she could say. "Do you know Daddy's name?" she asked.
"Daddy," she insisted.
"What do other people call your Daddy?" she asked her.
She blinked and shrugged, "I don't know."
The MP asked, "Can I be excused now, Ma'am? I have duties to attend to."
"Of course," she nodded. "Thank you for sitting with her."
She gave a warm smile, "It was my pleasure. She's a great kid." She stood up and then quickly left the area.
Sam looked back at the drawing and found the one she had been looking at was turned over. She asked her, "Why did you do that?"
"You always cry when we visit Daddy." she told her. "I don't want you to cry anymore."
She gulped, "I see." She then announced, "You will be coming to live with me. Is that okay?"
The girl looked baffled, "I guess." What did she mean coming to live with her? She always lived with her from the girl's point of view.
Sam gave her a hug, "You will love it. I have a room that we can paint anyway color you want. We can get you a bed, some nice clothes. You can go to school…"
The girl asked, "School? But you said I couldn't go to school."
"Why would I say that?" she asked baffled.
"Because they all closed," she told her.
She gasped, "All the schools closed." Sam knew only in a major disaster would every school close. She then asked, "Are they being used as shelters?"
She nodded, "You said a few are."
"Okay," she gathered herself for whatever future event occurred it would have a global impact. "Let's go and get you some more clothes to wear."