Disclaimer: They ain't mine. I just like to play.
Chapter 1: More different than expected
"Are you sure about this?"
Lt. Col. John Sheppard shifted his gaze to the woman standing next to him. Dr. Elizabeth Weir looked determined. He probably could talk her out of it, but he didn't want to. She had explained her reasoning, and he had to admit she had a point. So here they were, about to stick their hands in that glassy oval hole in the wall (a quantum mirror according to McKay) with not much clue what they'd find on the other side.
"I'm trying to think of all the things we'll gain, rather than what could go wrong at the moment."
For a second her expression slipped, revealing the anxiousness she was feeling, though only John noticed.
"Right. Well, on three?" He smiled.
"One."
"Two." Elizabeth joined him, speaking in almost perfect unison.
"Three." At that moment, their hands entered the mirror's glassy surface, sending a wave of light across their bodies. They removed their hands and looked into the mirror. Ford, Teyla, McKay, and Zelenka were gathered inside it, looking through the hole at them. Then, the window disappeared, leaving them alone in another reality.
Well, not quite alone.
They were no longer in Atlantis. They were on Earth, the ancient outpost to be exact. They had appeared out of an oval hole in the wall. Before, they had thought it was just an architectural design. But now they knew better.
For Elizabeth, it was like jumping back in time. She had spent every waking moment here during the last months before they left for Atlantis. She could see all the members of the expedition. Rodney and Carson stood by the chair, Zelenka and Grodin were by the drone they had been examining, and various other scientists were scattered around the room. But something was missing. She wasn't there, or at least this reality's version of her. Also missing, excluding the man standing next to her, was John Sheppard.
Although he spent only a few days here, Col. Sheppard had equally vivid memories of the outpost. His life had changed here. It had veered of in a totally new direction with no steering wheel. First, there was that drone that took a bit of tricky flying to avoid. Then, he found out that this place he was flying to was actually built by aliens. After that, to make things even crazier, he sat in that chair and it turned out he had some alien gene that made him activate lots of alien technology. It was a whole lot of alien for one man to deal with. By the time he regained control of his life, he was in a whole other galaxy. But, though he had unsure at the time, he liked the way fate was leading him. Everything he had experienced before was a walk in the park compared to the things he got to do in Atlantis.
Jerking both John and Elizabeth back from their thoughts, Gen. Jack O'Neill walked out of the elevator. His eyes, following the lead of the entire room, rested on the newcomers.
"What the – but you were just-," he said, tapering off and looking utterly confused.
John realized the General must be talking about him. He remembered McKay using Col. Carter's explanation of quantum mirrors. "Like forks in the road," he thought. He had been the pilot flying Gen. O'Neill's helicopter. Except this time, Beckett hadn't sent a drone at him and he never got security clearance. It was amazing how something like this made perfect sense now.
Dr. Weir was first to break the silence. "I know this might sound crazy to you, but we found a quantum mirror in Atlantis and we came out of that hole over there." She pointed over at the now quite innocent looking wall. This seemed to only deepen the confused expressions around her.
"Well, as much as I'd like to continue this conversation now, you two don't have clearance to be here. I'm going to recommend you be taken back to Cheyenne Mountain for questioning," Jack said. I should have known that mirror thing was gonna come back to bite me. I'm sure Carter'll have a wonderful technical explanation to brighten up my day.
Elizabeth sighed. She should have expected something like this. But it was too late now. "That's fine, I understand." Cooperation was the only way they would ever get to explain what was going on.
An officer walked over to them. "Could you come with me please?" Sheppard recognized him as Bates, the commander of the second Atlantis team, who he didn't much like at the moment because of his distrust of Teyla. He was about to say something, But Elizabeth grabbed his arm. "No," she mouthed at him. Now it was his turn to sigh. Why had he come on the mission again? Oh, right, to make sure Dr. Weir didn't get hurt. Well, that was something he would make sure he accomplished, if nothing else. And with that, they entered the elevator and headed toward the surface, on their way to the SGC and a cheery interrogation room.