Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, don't make money off 'em. Doctor Who is owned by RTD and the BBC. SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis are owned by MGM.

Notes: A short ditty in two parts. The Tenth Doctor meets two important people at Cheyenne Mountain. One provides him a precious link to Gallifrey, and the other reminds him that home is where the heart is. This is really a triple crossover, but FF would only let me list two.

Timelines for Chapter 1: Doctor Who (Tenth Doctor, after Donna Noble, but before The Waters of Mars), SG-1 (sometime 4th season),

Chapter 2: Doctor Who (same) SGA (Season 4 after "The Seed".)

The Doctor has used the alias "James MacCrimmon" before. Jamie MacCrimmon was a Scotsman from the 1742 Uprising, who was a companion of one of the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton). By the way, David Tennant was born in Bathgate, West Lothian, near Edinburgh.

Rating K+

Stargate Command, Cheyenne Mountain

"Doctor James MacCrimmon? I was told I could find you here."

The Tenth Doctor looked up from his computer screen with an annoyed look. Since he was seated, the speaker towered over him. Blond hair and intelligent blue eyes framed by a pair of glasses. He immediately recognized the man.

Hm. He's not as timid as the photographs make him out to be. That's a good thing.

He smirked and got to his feet. "Doctor Daniel Jackson, isn't it? It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Please, sit down. I've heard some...ah...rather 'interesting' things about you."

"Thanks." Daniel slipped into the seat across from him and added, "And whatever you've heard is probably exaggerated and more."

He raised an eyebrow at the self-depreciating modesty. Of course, not many people would believe that Daniel Jackson had returned from the dead...three times? Or was it four now? Then again, it was more believable than an alien regenerating nine different times. At least Jackson had retained his original appearance. Nine regenerations later, the Doctor still wasn't ginger, much to his everlasting chagrin.

This man has actually seen and talked to the "Ancients". I wonder if he'd be willing to chat about them. Are they related to the Time Lords or is it just some sort of cosmic accident? The Doctor rejected that thought. Accidents don't happen. Well...sometimes, but not all the time.

Suddenly, he was aware of Daniel's appraising look. Not hostile, just curious. "Is there a problem?"

"Scotland, West Lothian, near Edinburgh."

"Oh, you can tell by my accent." The Doctor thought about the assumed identities he'd taken over the years, including John Smith and James MacCrimmon. There were several English nationals working at Cheyenne Mountain, but he was the only "Scotsman" at the moment. It was safer to assume that persona. Fewer questions that way.

Daniel's grin widened a fraction. "It's pretty distinctive. The Chief Medical Officer of the Atlantis Expedition is from Glasgow."

The Doctor nodded; he was familiar with the histories of every member of the Atlantis team. Those people got into more trouble than Daniel and Colonel Jack O'Neill combined, and that was saying something. He shook his head ruefully and thought, These Humans are always mucking about and getting into all sorts of trouble. It doesn't matter which galaxy they end up in.

Aloud, he said, "Yes, Doctor Carson Beckett. I wish I'd met him before he left for the expedition. Maybe I will, someday. I'd love to chat with him about all matters of things-"

Daniel grinned at his enthusiasm. "I'm sure Carson would enjoy that. There aren't many Scots at Atlantis at the moment."

"True." He casually turned off the computer and gave Daniel his full attention. "So. What I can do for you, Doctor Jackson?"

Daniel tapped his computer tablet and slid it across the table to him. "SG-13 found this writing sample off-world, but I can't make heads or tails out of it. It looks like it could be related to Ancient, but there aren't enough examples to be sure. Your credentials say you're more of an expert in astrophysics, which puts you more in Colonel Carter's department-"

"Yes. Very intelligent woman," the Doctor murmured. "Grasps advanced concepts faster than almost anyone I've seen-"

"She told me you might be able to help."

"Really?" The Doctor's tone was not quite sarcastic as he pushed his spectacles further up his nose. "I thought you were the extraordinary linguist who could translate dead languages without too much effort."

Daniel sighed and rolled his eyes. "This is different. I'm not sure this is an Earth language or Ancient, or Go'auld-"

"Mmm. The Go'auld, nasty creatures," the Doctor agreed as his eyes passed over the symbols inscribed on the tablet. He managed to get through the first line before the shock hit him. What...this isn't possible! He resisted the urge to take off his spectacles and rub his eyes. Again, he stared at the text and tried to downplay his surprise.

Unfortunately for him, Daniel read his body language perfectly. "You know what it is?"

Yes! His mind screamed. This isn't possible! It looks like a derivative of Old High Gallifreyan?! It took him an effort to keep his tone steady, but the eagerness spilled into his voice. "Where did you find this? You said off-world?"

"SG-13 was on MJM-395 a few days ago, doing a planetary survey. No people, but there were signs of an old civilization, very advanced." Daniel gave him a strange look. "Doctor MacCrimmon?"

"You're correct in that it isn't Go'auld. It looks like it could be related to the language of these...Ancients, possibly an earlier dialect?"

Daniel nodded, completely professional now. "It could be. I noticed these symbols, here and here, that I've seen in Ancient texts before. They're used as diacritical marks—like the Spanish tilde or the French circumflex."

"But they're also here and here, at the very end of a sentence. Rather like...I don't know. An ending particle of some sort?"

"Adverbial? Time or place?"

"Perhaps. It could also be a post-preposition. 'Skies-in' as opposed to 'in the skies'. A roundabout way to do things, but it's possible. Then again, if these people did things in a roundabout way, it'd show in their speech, wouldn't it. If they had a completely different notion of time, it would make their writing quite-" he paused, "-timey-wimey."

Daniel grinned at his enthusiasm. "You sure you haven't seen this before?"

The Doctor snorted and deliberately answered,"Not this."

It was the truth. Sort of. He'd gone through all the classes at the Academy, when he was still the young Sigma Theta. Old High Gallifreyan was rather like a derivative of Ancient Greek, times twenty. It had been used for formal ceremonies; after all, the Time Lords were-had been- steeped in all sorts of ritualized rubbish. He knew it well enough, but he was a bit out of practice.

But once one learned the language, one never forgot it. The ache under the Doctor's heart at the reminder of his destroyed homeworld never went away, not completely. Seeing this precious link to the Time Lords made it even harder to forget the memories, no matter how he tried.

Nevertheless, he didn't show that pain to Doctor Jackson. He couldn't. Jackson would never understand.

"I did a frequency analysis of those specific particles to see if there was any pattern-" Daniel brought up a second window on the tablet, "and it looks their frequency rates are pretty much distributed like most Ancient texts I've looked at. Now these two I've never seen before, but they're pretty much in almost every line of text."

The Doctor murmured, "Indeed." The word brought a snort of laughter from Daniel and he glanced at him. "What?"

"You sounded just like-never mind. Anyway, if we compare this to the second sample SG-13 brought back..."

Together, they built up some sort of rough reference to the language. A lot of it was hypothetical, and based on Daniel's knowledge of Ancient and the Doctor's of Old High Gallifreyan. Before long, they were both chattering away at high speed, gesturing to make their points, and debating solutions. The Doctor was impressed at Daniel's linguistic repertoire.

That could come in handy if he ever became a Companion. Hm. Better keep that in mind. The Doctor doubted that would ever come to pass; Jackson was needed here, to make sure that these Humans didn't get into too much trouble. After all, the Ancients had the penchant for leaving...unexpected presents behind.

"This would be quite a project, cataloging and translating this. I know that exolinguistics isn't your first specialty. Besides, I know Colonel Carter needs your help in the astrophysics department."

"It would be my honor, Doctor Jackson. As for the colonel, I'll talk with her."

"You sure? I don't want to overload you with this. You look sorta tired right now."

The Doctor chuckled without humor. Daniel was more perceptive than he thought. "Not physically tired, really. Besides, I think this is a very important piece of know what's out there-" He made a wave in the general direction of the cosmos, "-in the universe."

Daniel grinned. "Okay, I'll talk with Sam too. Thanks, Doctor MacCrimmon. I think we're gonna be a great team." He got up, waved and left the Doctor's office.

The Doctor watched him go and whispered, "Thank you, Daniel."