Title: Just See What Happens
Author: CJ aka WritinginCT
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Pairing: Jack O'Neill/Sara O'Neill, Daniel Jackson/Sara O'Neill
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Note: Tag to S9x13 "Ripple Effect", Written for the LJ jack_sara community prompt #150: Daniel and Sara start dating.
Categories: Friendship, Romance, Family
Disclaimer: I don't own the recognizable characters I'm just inspired by them.
Summary: Jack and Daniel find out that one of the alternate reality Daniels made a very different choice in his reality. Will his story prompt one or both of them to do something about it in this reality?
Status: Complete 8/1/09 Words: 7725
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Daniel's keen eye tried to take in all the differences of the alternate SG-1's coming through the gate, especially the differences in the other versions of himself. One in particular caught his attention in the commissary when Daniel caught the flash of a wedding band on his alternate's hand as the man ate. Daniel took his own tray and approached the table.
"Mind if I join you?" Daniel asked lightly.
The other Daniel quickly wiped his mouth on his napkin and gestured towards the chair in front of him. "No, not at all."
Daniel took a bite of lunch and his other self asked, "Am I to assume you're the one of us from this reality?"
Daniel chuckled and replied, "Yeah. It has certainly gone beyond crazy around here, but hopefully all the Sam's will be able to find a way to get you all home soon."
The other man sighed and said, "Let's hope. So... shall we swap the basics everyone seems to be so curious about?"
Daniel grinned, "Sure, it's not every day you get to see how your life might have been. I can see one big difference between us right off the bat. You're married?"
The other Daniel held up his hand and looked at his wedding band. Daniel recognized the look on the other man's face as he thought about the wife that had given him that ring- it was wonder, tinged with a little disbelief, sort of like he almost didn't believe it was real. "Yeah. Just over two years ago. You never remarried after... Sha're?'
"No. No, I didn't. So, is your wife anyone I know?"
"I'm pretty sure you've probably met Sara; I've only found one of us so far that hadn't."
A memory of Sara Gardner's wide smile surrounded by her errant curls flashed in Daniel's mind. He hadn't seen her since freeing her from Osiris, but it gave him a warm feeling to think that somewhere the two of them had worked out.
"I know Sara. I'm glad for you, the both of you. Any kids yet?" Daniel knew that Sara had wanted a houseful.
"Two actually. Almost three."
"Really? That's great. When's Sara due?"
The other Daniel laughed and reached into his jacket pocket. "Actually, she's not pregnant. We adopted a brother and sister about a year ago and we've got another foster son that we just started the final adoption proceedings for." He handed Daniel a photo that he had pulled out of his pocket.
Just when Daniel thought nothing about the current situation at the SGC could get any weirder, he looked at the picture and was shocked speechless.
The picture was snapped inside a museum with the entire family gathered in front of an enormous skeleton of a brontosaurus. The other Daniel pointed to the photo and introduced his family proudly, "This is Ramon, he's the oldest and he just turned twelve. That's his sister, Consuela, she's eight. And this little guy is Grigory, he's three. And of course you know Sara and I."
Daniel swallowed hard and found his voice and said, "That's not Sara Gardner."
The other Daniel laughed and said, "I've been getting that a lot."
"I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that you're married to Sara O'Neill."
The other Daniel took a big sip of his coffee and quipped with a little grin, "Actually, it's Sara Jackson now."
Daniel stared at the picture of the happy family. He just couldn't fathom marrying Sara O'Neill. Then again, he had only met the woman once or twice in the past decade and had no idea if they were at all compatible, but still, marrying the ex-wife of one of his best friends? He just couldn't imagine it. He especially couldn't imagine it knowing that Jack still had some pretty hefty feelings buried down deep for Sara. Daniel knew that the breakup of their marriage had nothing to do with them not loving each other and everything to do with Charlie's death.
Daniel looked up from the photo and met the eyes of his counterpart, eyes that were twinkling with humor. "I'm sure that there is an interesting story behind all this. Care to share?"
---------------
Seventeen hundred miles away, Jack O'Neill was standing in front of his office window, staring out and lost in thought.
The SGC had forwarded detailed survey information about each and every alternate reality team that had arrived unexpectedly. Out of curiosity, Jack had leafed through them with amused interest. He had noted some differences in ranks and career histories. And while those were interesting, it was the personal details that intrigued him the most. He had smiled seeing a wife and kids listed for the alternate Kawalsky, and he had snorted seeing a few different last names hyphenated after some of the Carters', most of which he recognized. But the one that made him sit straight up and blink in disbelief was the survey of one of the Daniels, for listed carefully in Daniel's familiar penmanship on the "spouse" blank was: Sara Jackson (O'Neill). Also listed were their three children that they had adopted. Jack would have thought this was a practical joke that his Daniel was playing on him, a great gotcha if ever there was one, but someone had thoughtfully included a scanned copy of a photo the the other Daniel had brought with him from his own reality and Jack could see it wasn't a joke.
He stared at that picture for a good long while. Jack could see that that Sara's smile was wide and genuine. Her hair was a little longer, and she was a little more tan then he ever remembered his Sara getting, but the biggest difference Jack could see was that this Sara was happy, truly happy. And as he shifted his gaze to fall on the Daniel standing next to her, he realized that so was that Daniel. The brittle loneliness that their Daniel wore like a second skin was missing in the other Daniel. And Jack realized why: that Daniel had a home and family that loved him. Jack knew what kind of home Sara made, and he knew it was something that Daniel had never had. Jack looked at the three children in turn. The brother and sister, according to the survey, had been adopted from a war-torn area of Central America; they were unwanted and forgotten children that now had a chance at a real future with parents that obviously loved them. The other boy was the orphaned son of one the SGC archaeologists who, soon after losing his father in an offworld attack, also lost his mother in a horrific car accident leaving him with no one; he had been with Daniel and Sara ever since and the adoption was soon to be finalized.
The Daniel that Jack knew was the man that had no family, and Sara the mother that had no children. And as he stared at the evidence that they had both overcome that, and overcome that together, to build a family and a home of their own a lump settled in Jack's throat and he had to close the file. He walked over to the window and let his mind wander.
He hadn't seen Sara since leaving Colorado. He had stopped by in person to let her know. And it had been that visit even more than selling his house or filling out the change of address at the post office that made him feel like he was ending a significant chapter in his life. They had had a warm and friendly visit, without heat or anger or hurt. Time had finally allowed them to get past that. And when he left, the hug they shared was full of caring and affection and it had brought back memories of happier times for both of them. Jack felt no shame for the tear that made its way down his cheek or the lump in his throat as he looked at her standing on the porch of the house that had been their home one last time before he put the truck in reverse and backed out of the driveway.
Now here he was, facing the evidence of a Sara that had moved on, a Sara that was happy in a life that didn't include him. Jack knew intellectually that this wasn't his Sara, and it wasn't his Daniel, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. Knowing both of them well, he could see how they might be compatible. And he wondered for just a moment if he should mention that to Daniel, suggest he look her up. But a wholly unexpected wave of fierce jealousy washed over him at that thought and Jack wondered exactly what that meant, and chose to ignore it in favor of once again shuttering off his emotions.
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Fresh coffees in front of them, the other Daniel started to tell his story.
"Do you remember an undergrad student named Artie Cohen?"
Daniel thought for a moment and responded, "Yeah, I think so. He took a couple of basic Egyptology courses. Always had a camera around his neck."
"That's the guy. Anyway, about six years ago in my reality he published a book of his Egyptian site and artifact photography that was being really well received. I had heard about it and found a bookstore in Denver that was stocking it...
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Five years ago - Alternate reality
"Thanks," Daniel said to the girl at the computer terminal after she told him where to find Artie's book in the behemoth store. He headed in the right direction, browsing a little as he went. He found the correct area to find Artie's book prominently displayed among the other over-sized coffee table books. The image of the Sphinx shimmering in the dessert heat on the cover was breathtaking. Daniel picked up a copy of the book and started leafing through it. He was so absorbed in the stunning photographs that he didn't notice the woman that had come to stand next to him as she perused the books.
He looked sideways at her when she said, "Wow. Look at that. Can you imagine seeing those in person?"
She was looking at the picture of the Great Pyramids Daniel had flipped to. With a little grin Daniel replied, "Actually I have."
He turned to face her and was completely surprised that he recognized her. It was Sara O'Neill.
She didn't appear to recognize him though, and asked, "You've been to Egypt?"
He didn't answer her question but posed one of his own, "Sara O'Neill?"
The confusion quickly spread over her face. "Yes. I'm sorry, have we met?"
Daniel chuckled. "Once, a few years ago, at the hospital. Things were a little... chaotic, so I'm not surprised you don't remember me."
She made the connection to what he was inferring and replied, "You work with Jack."
"Yeah. I'm Daniel, Daniel Jackson."
"Don't take this the wrong way, Daniel, but you don't strike me as military."
"I'm not. I'm a civilian consultant."
She gave him a knowing look and said with a teasing tone, "Are you able to tell me what your specialty is or is that classified?"
"Not classified. My areas of expertise are archeology, anthropology, and philology."
She raised an eyebrow and asked, "And you work with Jack?"
Daniel ticked his head to the side and replied, "That's the classified part."
"Ah. So, you never answered my question, you've been to Egypt? That's not classified is it?"
Daniel chuckled. "No, it's not classified. And yeah, I've been there many times actually. I saw these," he held the book so she could see the picture better, "for the first time when I was four."
As she leaned closer to look, her gentle perfume tickled Daniel's nose, and he realized that his body was suddenly very aware that she was a woman standing next to him. Daniel realized that he hadn't felt this instantly attracted to a woman since Ke'ra, and he remembered how badly that had turned out. He tried to ignore it, this was Jack's wife he was standing next to, not just some random woman. But the attraction was there and it had dug in its heels to stay.
They chatted for a while when Sara asked impulsively, "Can I buy you a cup of coffee?"
Their conversation over coffee in the bookstore's cafe' somehow turned into lunch at a nearby restaurant.
"So tell me about your classes." Daniel prompted after the waitress took their order. Sara had shared with him at the bookstore that she taught sixth grade in the local grammar school.
Sara smiled and replied, "I teach social studies and history."
And with that, their conversation really took off. They compared notes on major historical theories and even playfully argued a point or two. Daniel couldn't remember a time when he was so completely at ease with a woman before, excluding Sha're. But by the time their long, lingering lunch was over, he felt like he had known her a very long time, and he had also somehow been talked into making a guest appearance at a couple of her classes.
Daniel walked Sara to her car, both of them obviously dawdling and reluctant to let the pleasant afternoon end.
"So I guess I'll talk to you this week sometime to set up your visit," Sara said lightly placing her hand on his forearm and giving a little squeeze.
"Sounds like a plan," he replied with a gentle smile even as he pointedly ignored the part of his brain that felt that their afternoon should have ended with a kiss.
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Present
Daniel listened intently as his twin told the story. He could see that the memories he was relating were happy and something that brought him joy.
"You know that dream you have every once and a while? The one about our tent in Egypt?"
Daniel swallowed a bit nervously, that was an intensely private dream and not one he wished to discuss with anyone, not even an alternate version of himself. But he nodded.
"Well I guess that Sara had affected me subconsciously more than I thought, because when I had that dream that night, instead of Sha're, it was Sara lying there when I rolled over."
Daniel could replay every moment of that dream in his own mind. He woke in bed in the tent that he had lived in with his parents in Egypt as a child. He could feel a warm body pressed up against his back and there was a slender arm tucked under his. His actions were always the same as he carefully rolled over to find that the woman behind him was a mussed and sleepy Sha're. They would make love slowly as sun started peeking through the door of the tent and it was in fact a perfect replay of the last time he and Sha're had made love before her abduction. The dream had started soon after Daniel returned to Earth and the SGC and it normally left Daniel sad and withdrawn in the days after he would dream it.
Daniel didn't say anything, but he could feel his forehead bunching up into a frown.
The other Daniel ticked his head to the side and said, "Yeah. It completely weirded me out too. I mean this was Jack's wife."
"Yeah. Speaking of Jack, how is your Jack with all this? Are you two still speaking?"
"He's been very supportive, surprisingly. I think my being honest about things from the start helped a lot. I actually made a point of going by his house to talk to him the very next day."
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Five years ago - Alternate reality
"Daniel," Jack said with a little surprise when he opened the door.
"Jack. Got a minute?" Daniel asked a little hesitantly.
"Sure, come on in," Jack replied as he gestured Daniel inside.
Once they were sitting in the living room Daniel dove right in. "I've been trying to figure out how say this all morning so here goes. I ran into your ex-wife Sara yesterday in Denver at a bookstore."
Jack gave Daniel his patented confused look and replied, "Okay. Somehow that doesn't surprise me knowing how addicted to books the both of you are, so not to disappoint you, but that's not really news worthy. So how is she?"
"She's fine. Actually we sorta had coffee and then lunch. And I'm going to go make a couple presentations to her classes."
Jack could see the uneasiness practically rolling off of Daniel. "Okayyy... Daniel, she's history teacher and you're an archaeologist. You two probably have a lot of common interests. That's cool. You'll have fun with the kids. Sara tries to keep stuff interesting for them."
Daniel opened his mouth to say something then closed it again. Jack's expression grew thoughtful as he regarded Daniel's obvious discomfort. And he put two and two together and into the words Daniel couldn't find. "But I'm gathering from your body language that it wasn't just two like-minded people having lunch was it?"
Daniel hesitantly met Jack's eyes and answered honestly, "I don't know. I don't... think so."
"And you're worried about how I'm gonna feel about it."
"Yeah, there's that."
"You know how much I love the whole talking about feelings things, right? So let me ask you, do you want it to be more than just two people having lunch?"
"She's smart and funny and we share a lot of common interests, and yeah, risking a punch in the teeth, I'm physically attracted to her. If she were any other woman I wouldn't even hesitate to think about exploring a relationship with her. But she's not any other woman, Jack, she's your ex-wife. And I know the history there. Your marriage didn't fall apart because you didn't love each other anymore or because someone was unfaithful. So I'm going to go and do those presentations I promised her but that's as far as things are gonna go. I came here today because I wanted this out in open between you and I, no secrets."
"So let me get this straight. You're willingly giving up on any chance of a relationship with a beautiful, smart, normal woman just because I happened to be married to her at one time?"
"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."
"Daniel, she and I have been divorced going on five years now. She's moved on, I've moved on. Yeah, there's a part of me that will always care about her. But it's more of a protective part and not a jealous part. I just want her to be happy. That's all I ever wanted for her."
"So you'd really be fine with this?" Daniel asked a bit skeptically.
"Look, I knew that eventually she was going to meet someone. And all I can do about it is hope that whoever this guy is, that he's a good man, and someone that will really care about her and treat her like she deserves to be treated. I know I don't give you credit out loud for a lot of things, but you are a good man, Daniel. I would have hoped by now in our friendship that that could have gone without saying."
Daniel searched Jack's eyes for moment, trying to decide if if were truth that he saw in them or merely a facade of truth that Jack wanted him to see. Deciding to take it as truth, Daniel nodded and said quietly, "Thanks, Jack."
Jack's expression grew serious for a moment and he said quietly, "Have you thought about the fact that she's older than you?"
One side of Daniel's mouth quirked up and he replied without hesitation, "Yeah, she actually brought that up at lunch. It just doesn't matter to me. It never has."
Jack toasted Daniel with his coffee mug and took a big sip. After he swallowed he grinned evilly and said, "Of course you do realize that if you hurt her that I will kill you myself?"
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Present
"There's the Jack we all know," Daniel said, chuckling.
"Yeah. I still don't know if he was serious or not."
"So you and Sara started seeing each other?"
The other Daniel nodded. "One thing just sort of lead to another."
He went on to tell about how he went and gave the presentations to her class. It had been fun, Jack was right about the type of teacher Sara was. She offered to cook him dinner as a thank-you which turned into a culinary disaster when the chicken came out of the oven black on the outside and raw in the middle. They had a good laugh about it though and ordered a pizza. Their evening ended with a long and lingering kiss at her front door before Daniel left. Kitchen fiasco aside, the evening had been perfect.
"We just... clicked I guess is the word. Sara understands what "classified" means and doesn't press when I can't talk about something. She also understands that sometimes I'll have to be gone for days, even weeks, at a time, sometimes at the drop of a hat. She's really good at dealing with that. I guess being married to Jack during his black ops days left its mark on her."
"Jack always said she was the perfect military wife."
"That she is. So anyway, we dated and spent time together when scheduling would allow. We took things slowly. I think both of us were a little afraid of it all blowing up in our faces. Looking back on it now though, I'm glad we did. It gave us the chance to really get to know each other."
He glanced down at the table lost in memories for a moment then looked back up at Daniel and asked, "You know all those interesting lectures and little exhibits you used to sneak off to alone without telling anyone here that you were going?"
Still do, Daniel wanted to say, but didn't. His was a lonely life outside of the SGC, and not something he enjoyed dwelling on or talking about. He replied simply, "Yeah."
"Well, Sara enjoys them as much as I do." He didn't have to expand on that further, Daniel could tell that the other man obviously had many happy memories of time spent with Sara early on in their relationship. Daniel found an odd sense of jealousy at that thought. It wasn't specifically about Sara, but rather that the other man had been able to do something that Daniel hadn't been able to- find someone to share his interests and his life with.
"So, um, that was five years ago. You said you'd been married two. It sorta sounds like you both had a pretty great thing so why the long wait?"
The other man's brow furrowed and he said a little sadly, "We did. Have a great thing I mean. We had been seeing each other for about a year when I went and bought a ring and made dinner reservations at our favorite restaurant for the day after we were supposed to be back from our next mission. Which just happened to be P2S-4C3."
"Oh, god. Kelowna," was all Daniel could think to say.
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Four years ago- Alternate reality
Jack took a deep breath before raising his hand and knocking gently on the door to the house he used to call home.
Sara opened the door and was teasing before she opened it, "Daniel, why are you knock...ing?" She stumbled on her words when she saw Jack standing there.
Jack asked quietly, "Can I come in?"
Sara took one look at Jack's face and his deadly serious expression and asked, "Jack?"
Jack swallowed hard and said gently, "Sara, there's been an accident."
The implication of his words and the fact that he himself was telling her hit her and she shook her head in disbelief and pleaded. "No. No, Jack. Not Daniel. Please, not Daniel."
Jack stepped through the door and pulled her into his arms and squeezed her tight. "I'm sorry, Sara. He's gone. There was nothing we could do."
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Present
"Apparently I asked Jack to tell Sara himself when I had that little pre-ascension conversation with him. I really don't remember. Most of that day is fuzzy."
"What did he tell her?" Daniel asked with the revulsion evident on his face and in his tone.
"A version of the truth. Basically that I had been killed trying to stop an explosion that would have killed a lot of people. But he didn't go into the gory details of my lingering in the infirmary or that I ascended."
"So all that time she thought you were dead."
The other Daniel sighed and said regretfully, "Yeah."
"That time gap makes sense now. She must have been a more than a little freaked out when you came back."
"We both were." The other man paused in his storytelling and quietly ate a few bites of pie. Daniel could see that now, even years later, that the events surrounding the other man's return from Vis Uban still haunted him. He gave him the time he needed to collect his thoughts.
After another long minute and swig of coffee, he continued, starting with a question. "You know how you can catch something out of the corner of your eye and not quite be able to tell what it was? Or how you'll see a bit of a reflection of something but not be able to make out all the details no matter how hard you try?"
"Yeah," Daniel answered simply.
"Those months on Vis Uban... I kept getting flashes of a woman, not Sha're, and I had the sense that whoever she was, that she was very important to me, but I just couldn't focus in on her. The harder I tried the more it slipped away from me. And then when SG-1 found me there and I saw Sam I was positive that I had found her. I believed it completely, even though there was something... well, just not quite right." He paused and sipped his coffee before continuing, "And then later on when I asked Sam if there was ever anything between us, she told me no and I was really confused."
"Wow. I never thought about the physical similarity between the two. I can see how that would have been confusing. Especially back then when everything was sorta fuzzy."
"It really was. I had pretty much convinced myself that the feelings that I thought I had for Sam were simply unrequited and had been something I hid away. After getting back to the SGC things were pretty crazy with the mission and destroying Anubis' weapon so I just tucked those feelings away and figured I would sort it all out later."
"Apparently you did," Daniel said lightly, gesturing towards his wedding band.
"It took a while, and it took a trip to Jack's house of all things."
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Two and a half years ago- Alternate reality
"Nice house." Daniel said as they walked in the front door.
"Thanks." Jack said lightly before asking, "Remembering anything?"
"Bits and pieces... flashes really."
Jack reached over and gave his shoulder a squeeze of support and said gently, "It'll come. Just give it some time. Maybe being out of the mountain for a couple of days will help."
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Daniel couldn't sleep. Jack had been acting oddly since they arrived at his house. He was walking on eggshells, as if he were waiting for Daniel to remember something, something important.
He poured himself a brandy, hoping it would help him sleep, and he smiled remembering that he had given Jack that particular bottle. He went into the living room with it and perused the bookshelf. None of the books caught his eye, but his attention was drawn to a few photo albums on a lower shelf. He randomly pulled one out and settled down on the couch with it.
He was glad he was sitting because the first page he opened to was a picture of Sara and her father. He had found her, his mystery woman. Daniel stared at the photo for a moment and had an intense memory of making love to her. He remembered seeing her lying next to him in bed as he traced her lip with his finger and told her he loved her. He recalled burnt dinners and walking beside her in museums. The memories that were hitting him fast and furious were the strongest of any, save those of Sha're, that had come back to him. But although he knew that they were real and not imagined, he couldn't process that he had apparently had a relationship with Jack's ex-wife.
He put the photo album on the coffee table with shaking hands and quickly downed his brandy. The empty brandy snifter joined the album on the table and Daniel scrubbed his face with his hands.
Jack's voice came quietly from the shadow of the hallway, "Did you finally remember?"
Daniel nodded.
Jack came and sat next to Daniel with a little grin on his face. "I figured coming here might trigger it."
"You knew?"
It was Jack's turn to nod. "Yeah. From the beginning actually."
"And you're... okay with it?"
"Yeah."
Daniel stared down at his hands for a moment before asking, "She thinks I'm dead, doesn't she?"
"I had to tell her something."
"Is she okay? Have you talked to her recently? Does she know I'm back?"
"She's fine. I talked to her about a month ago. And, no, she doesn't know you're back. I figured that once you remembered that you might want to surprise her yourself."
"I have no idea what to say to her, Jack. How am I supposed to explain this to her?"
"I've got that all worked out, don't worry. Oh, and here, I thought you might want this," Jack said as he pulled a shoebox out from beside the couch where he had stowed it and handed it to Daniel.
Daniel took it and opened it to find a stack of photos of him and Sara along with a small black jeweler's box. It was that box that Daniel reached for first and he sat there with a dumbfounded expression on his face as he took in the engagement ring it held.
Jack teased, "That was my reaction to it, too. I knew you two were serious but I just hadn't realized that it was quite that serious." He paused seeing the sad little smile that curled up the corners of Daniel's mouth. "From what Sara told me, I guess you had dinner reservations for what was supposed to be the day we were scheduled to be back from Kelowna. I'm betting you were planning on proposing."
The smile on Daniel's face grew a little brighter and he said still staring at the ring, "At our favorite Greek restaurant. She loves their lamb."
Jack reached over and clapped Daniel on the back before standing up. "I'll take you over there in the morning."
Jack turned and started heading back to bed when Daniel called after him, "Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks. For everything."
"Welcome. Get some sleep, tomorrow's gonna be a big day."
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Jack took a deep breath before raising his hand and knocking gently on the door, trying not to flash back to doing it a year ago.
Sara opened the door to see him standing there with a go bag in hand and she said, "Jack? What are you doing here?"
"I recently found something of yours that I thought you might want back."
She shook her head in confusion and looked at him like he was crazy until he moved aside so she could see down to the driveway where Daniel was standing by the truck. It took a heartbeat for the recognition and then the shock to register on her face and Jack said quietly, "Yes, it's really him, Sara. There's a long story behind it, and he'll tell you what he can. But in a nutshell, he didn't die in the explosion like we thought he did. When we found him living with the locals that took him in he had no memory of who he was. It's all starting to come back to him now that he's home, slow but sure."
Sara didn't take her eyes off Daniel and asked in a hoarse, tear-filled voice, "It's really him?"
"It's really him."
She sniffed hard and asked, "Does he remember me?"
"Yeah, he does. That all hit him last night. That's why we're here."
With a little jerk of his head, Jack signaled Daniel to come up. He had only made it halfway when Sara was in his arms squeezing him for all she was worth as happy sobs shook her whole body.
Jack dropped the go bag on the porch and gave Daniel a little wink as he headed back to his truck to go home and leave them alone.
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Present
The other Daniel chuckled, "She didn't let me out of her sight the rest of the week."
"I'll bet." Daniel tried not to be jealous of the other man's homecoming, his own had been lonely.
"In fact, once she discovered I was effectively homeless, she insisted that I move in with her. So I did, and I proposed that very first night I "officially" lived there. Four months later we were married." He chuckled and asked Daniel, "Care to guess where we went on our honeymoon?"
Without hesitation Daniel answered, "Egypt."
"Right in one. It was a great trip. I'll never forget the look on her face the first time she saw the Great Pyramids." He chuckled again at another memory and added, "Although thinking about it, it was the same look on her face the next summer when went to Central America and she saw one of the pyramids down there."
Daniel couldn't help but chuckle himself. "You think we take too much for granted?"
"I used to. Then we adopted the kids."
"Yeah. So tell me about that," Daniel prompted.
"We were in Guatemala when Ramon tried to pick my pocket."
He went on to tell Daniel of how Ramon and Consuela had lost their father in the civil war and then became orphaned when their mother died of some sort of tropical fever. Ten-year old Ramon had taken it upon himself to provide for his six-year old sister. Missionaries gave what help they could to the pair and Ramon did odd jobs when he could for money to feed Consuela. And when there were no odd jobs, he stole from strangers, which is how he met Daniel and Sara.
"Sara fell in love with Consuela almost instantly and vice versa. Ramon was a little leery of us, but he accepted our help. We got them fed and cleaned up and they spent the next few days with us. And then it seemed like the next thing I knew, I was making calls to the embassy and people in our government that claimed to owe us favors. It seemed like a good time to collect on some of that. And when it was all said and done, the kids were on that plane home with us."
"That's great. Who knows what would have happened to them otherwise."
"Yeah. It took them some time to adjust but they're doing really well. I give my wife all the credit for that, she's got the patience of a saint."
"And what about the little guy? Grigory, you said?"
"His father was one of the Russian archaeologists at the mountain; he was killed offworld about five months ago. Grigory and his mother were in a terrible car accident a couple of weeks later. He survived thanks to his car seat, but his mother didn't. He doesn't have any family back in Russia to go to, and I was able talk the Russian government into letting Sara and I keep him instead of sending him back to an orphanage. Everything should be finalized by the end of the month."
"Instant family."
"It's a little crazy at times. But you know, and I never thought I'd say this, I wouldn't have it any other way. We love them as if they were our own flesh and blood. And god help us, but a social worker friend of Sara's mentioned another little girl that just lost her parents and has no one else. Although Sara only mentioned it once, I'm envisioning our little clan growing by one more in the near future."
Daniel grinned and teased, "You're going to need a bigger house."
"Tell me about it. But then again, how's that saying go? Love grows best in little houses. I never really understood that until Sara and the kids."
"How did Jack take you and Sara adopting?"
"I can sum that up in two words: Uncle Jack."
"He didn't dump a dog on you, too, did he? I thought Janet was going to kill him when he gave one to Cassie."
"No, not with my allergies, he knew better. But he loves the kids and spoils them rotten in other ways, with attention mostly."
An airman interrupted their conversation to let Daniel know that he was needed in the briefing room.
Daniel stood to go and held out his hand to his twin. "Thanks for sharing your story. And if I don't get a chance to speak with you again... I'm glad for you, about all of it. You're very lucky. And I wish you and your family all the best in the future."
"You know, it's never too late. Never. You don't have to be alone you know. I know it's hard to let someone in, but you can, you just have to take that chance."
"That obvious?"
"Only to yourself. Trust me, try it and see what happens. You might be surprised."
Daniel nodded and left the other man there as he headed for briefing room.
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Daniel dialed Jack's number hesitantly. It was the first opportunity he had had to call Jack in Washington since they sent all other SG-1's back to their respective realities. Or at least that was what he was telling himself. In reality, he had spent the last week replaying that other Daniel's story over and over in his mind. He knew that Jack had received surveys on all the alternate SG-1's and he also knew that a detail like someone being married to his ex-wife wasn't likely to be a detail that Jack overlooked. Daniel just didn't know how to have the inevitable conversation with Jack about it all.
"Daniel." Jack loved caller-id.
"Jack."
"Things a little calmer now that all the other you's have gone home?"
"Yeah, much. So, um, did you get a chance to look through those team surveys?"
"Oh, yes. I can't wait to see Carter. I have got enough ammunition to torment her for years."
Daniel couldn't help but chuckle at the juvenile glee in Jack's voice. Then he asked, "Did you read about any of the other Daniels?"
"Yeah. I seem to remember a couple of those. So are you calling to talk to me about the other you with the five doctorates instead of just your three or the other you that married my ex-wife?"
Daniel closed his eyes and grimaced before answering, "The latter."
"Daniel, they're not us."
"I know. It's just the whole thing, their whole story... it just made me think about things. Things I'm missing in my life."
Jack could hear the longing and loneliness in Daniel's voice. And he asked, "What did tell you?"
Daniel relayed the other Daniel and Sara's story. Jack found certain bits particularly funny, such as the fact that it seemed that Sara in any reality was a horrible cook. And then there was the bit about Sara being a history teacher- in this reality she taught science and not history. History was Sara's sister's field; she was also a teacher.
When Daniel was through relaying the tale, Jack's response was soft and succinct, "Good for them."
"Yeah. Good for them."
"You'll find someone, Daniel."
"Maybe. So what about you? Is Washington improving your social life?"
"Funny you should ask. I'll have an answer for you in about six weeks."
"Huh?"
"I, ah, called Sara yesterday."
---------------------------------------------
Yesterday
"Hello?" Sara answered after the third ring.
"Hey. It's me."
"Jack. This is a surprise. Something wrong?" The skepticism in her voice let him know that she didn't believe he would just call out of the blue without a good reason.
"No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to call and say hi."
His tone brought her up short. It was the same tone filled with loneliness and homesickness that she used to hear when they were married and he would call from halfway around the globe. Knowing how those conversations normally went, she took the cordless phone into the kitchen and as she filled the tea kettle she said, "Hi."
Jack rambled for a while about Washington and hockey and things he wanted to do up at the cabin. Sara had nudged and asked little questions here and there, keeping the conversation going. She knew eventually he would get to the real reason he was calling, but he needed to ramble first.
Taking her cup of tea she settled into the corner of the couch as their conversation moved on to her school year finishing up and what she had planned for the summer.
"Actually I didn't plan anything big this year. My sister and I want to get together for a few days at a spa but other than that I figured I would just play it by ear."
"When was the last time you visited Washington?"
"Not since college. Why?"
"Well... you know I have this big lonely house here, and,. um, you know even though I've been here for a year I still haven't done the whole tourist thing. So I was thinking that if you wanted to come out for a visit, you could stay here and we could go see all the sights together. We used to like doing that sorta thing, remember?"
"I remember, and yes, we did. But let me get this straight. You're inviting me to come out and spend some time with you? As what? Friends? More than friends? Is this you wanting to try getting back together? I need to know what the intention is, Jack."
"I... I don't know...."
"Jack...."
"Let me finish. Please. You know I'm not good at this. There have been some things going on at work that I can't talk about, but they made me realize that I still have some pretty deep feelings for you locked away. I miss you and I'd really like it if you would come out for a visit so we could just... spend some time together. As far as what goes, I say come out as a friend and if it feels right to both of us, then maybe it grows into more than friends. I don't know. I just know I want to try."
His heartfelt honestly made up her mind for her. "Okay. School's out in a month. I'll book a flight."
"Really?"
"Yeah. But one condition, Jack. You have to talk to me."
"Deal."
"And Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"For the record, what you just said was a perfect example of talking to me. Just so you know."
"Duly noted."
---------------------------------------------
Present
Daniel smiled and his tone was light as he responded to Jack's news, "That's great, Jack."
"Yeah. We'll see what happens."
"That's all any of us can do, right?"
"Yep."
"Well, hey look, I'm gonna run. Team's going out for dinner. I just wanted to be sure things were okay between us."
"As okay as they've ever been. Go on... eat, drink, and be merry."
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Epilogue- 6 weeks later
Daniel got home and dropped his bag and keys and hit the play button on his answering machine. He was frowning at the dismal contents of his refrigerator as he listened to several telemarketing calls. He was rummaging in a cupboard looking for something quick to eat when a woman's voice came on the answering machine.
"Um, hi, Daniel. You probably don't remember me, I think we've only met once or maybe twice, but it's Sara O'Neill. Jack actually asked me to call and leave you my sister's phone number. I feel a little weird doing this but he seems to think it's a great idea. I guess she's about your age according to Jack, and, ah, she's a high school history and cultural studies teacher at a private school in Denver. Jack thinks you two might hit it off, but I have to warn you that her idea of a good time is going to a museum and looking at broken bits of pottery. Anyway her number is 303-555-1647. I've already left her a similar message so she'll be expecting your call. Well, we're off to the space exhibit at the Smithsonian again. Take care.
Daniel stood there blinking at his answering machine. He was officially going to murder Jack. Weren't they a little old to be playing matchmaker? But he did write down the phone number.
The next message began to play and it was Jack. His message was shorter and much more to the point, "Just see what happens, Daniel. It's all we can do."
Daniel stood there mulling that for moment and with a quick glance at the clock to be sure it wasn't too late, he picked up the phone and dialed the number he had just written down. When it was picked up on the other end he said a little nervously, "Um, hi. I'm Daniel, Daniel Jackson. I'm a friend of Jack O'Neill. Sara gave me your number..."
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the end.