Title: A Rude Awakening

Summary: What if Fifth had pretended to be Jack in New Order and Carter had accepted it? S/J!

Rating: T for safety.

Season: 8.

Spoilers: All seasons, particularly New Order 1 and 2.

Pairings: Sam/Jack.

A/N: The first chapter is written so people who haven't watched New Order 1 and 2 can hopefully follow along. Also, this is unbeta'd as my beta is currently working on another one of my stories...

I hope you like it!


Chapter 1: The Beginning: Part One.

Sam shrank from Fifth, a ball on the cold metal floor. "Stop it," she begged, her voice barely above a whisper. "Please."

"Why should I?" came the childish reply. He looked at her, malicious pleasure on his face as he waited for her answer.

"You can't change what happened," she replied tearfully. "Is this making you feel better?"

A look of uncertainty flashed across the young Replicators face. He hesitated; she was quick to push on.

"I never intended to abandon you." She looked into his eyes, "You can see that-"

"But you did," he hissed, anger and revenge winning over his momentary confusion. "You gained my trust, then you used me and left me behind."

"It wasn't my decision," she pleaded, backing away from him.

"You could have come back for me." His voice was cold, detached.

"There was no time!"

"Time!" He glared at her. "Thanks to what you did, I had plenty of time to think about what a fool I was!"

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry for what we did to you."

"Yes," he answered, "You are now."

"Part of being human is having compassion," she began, "learning to forgive."

"Yes," Fifth said sarcastically, "I'm not there yet. I need more time." He gave her a twisted smiled and stretched his hand out, ready to plunge it back into her head. Sam flinched and closed her eyes; sobs filled with pain and fear escaped her.

He hesitated again, obviously confused. As she continued to weep, he slowly cradled her head in his hand and began stroking her hair. She lost consciousness a few minute later.

Å

She awoke to the sound of whistling birds. Opening her eyes, she found herself in a small bedroom. Her brow creased as she looked around. The room was rather masculine, but there were a few a feminine touches- such as the baby blue robe at the end of the bed. She realized she was dressed in a very thin negligee and promptly reached for the robe. Pulling it on, she made her way to a door on the right. Opening it, she saw it was a bathroom. A pile of clothing that she recognized as hers sat on the corner of the sink. She dressed slowly, still not sure what was going on. Was this another ploy of Fifth's? Why he would do this though made no sense. Looking in the small mirror, she received a second shock- her normally short hair was just past her shoulders.

Swallowing hard, she made her way out of the bedroom and down the short hall; it led two separate directions- one to a well-lived in living room, the second into a kitchen. She chose the kitchen. Looking around, she spotted a scrap of paper on the table. Hastily scrawled was a short message.

Sam, omelet's in the oven. I'm outside- don't forget a jacket.

She checked the oven and saw the omelet. With a sigh, she looked around and spotted a rack on which hung a coat she could have sworn was hers. She tugged it on and stepped outside. It was cold. Very cold. Pulling the coat closer to her, she followed the narrow path down a slight slope… and to a dock.

She slowed down at the sight of it. A man stood at the end of the dock, gingerly lowering his foot down, testing the thin layer of ice that covered the pond. After a moment's hesitation, he broke the ice and then drew his foot up.

"Good mornin', Samantha," he called without turning around. "You sleep okay? You seemed a bit restless."

"Sir?" The surprise in her voice was obvious.

"I thought I'd try ice fishing- from the dock, of course." He faced her, a warm smile on his face. "The ice isn't solid enough though. Ya eat?"

"No," she answered automatically, not believing what she was seeing. "I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat though." He made his way to her. "You're eating for two."

Startled, she looked down and gasped. "I'm… I'm pregnant?" she said slowly, her hand automatically cradling her stomach.

"Yeah," he said, a look of concern on his face. "Three months… you okay, Sam?"

"Sir?" She hadn't been so bewildered in a long time. "This-this isn't right. Where am I?"

Jack cocked his head, obviously trying to figure out what to say. "Okay…" he said, shoving his hands in his pockets, "it's all right, Sam, it's just another nightmare. You're in Minnesota- at our cabin."

"Why?"

He sucked in a breath. "'Cause we're married. Married people tend to live with each other."

"This isn't right," she whispered. "Sir, this isn't… real… is it?"

He cupped her face and kissed her. A moment later, he pulled away and looked into her eyes. "That real enough for you?"

"Sir, you don't understand," she said desperately, "this isn't happening. The last thing I remember, I was on board a Replicator ship. This is just another way of screwing with my mind-"

"Carter!" Jack snapped, "Listen to me!" After making sure she was paying attention to him, he continued. "Eight months ago, you were kidnapped by Fifth"- A look of pain crossed his face- "And tortured. After Thor defrosted me and removed the damn Ancient knowledge- he built a cool weapon with that info- me and the boys went on a little search for you. We found you and took you home. What happened really shook you, so you resigned from S.G.C. a month later. And we got married." Jack's eyes softened. "That was the best day of my life, Sam. Here." He handed her his wallet, "Look."

Opening it, she found a picture of them together. It looked eerily similar to the one her alternate self had had six years ago except for that in this photograph, Daniel and Teal'c lurked in the background- and Teal'c had hair.

"Oh." For some reason, she was strangely loath to part from the photograph. Ignoring his quizzical look, she pulled the photo out and slipped it into her jean pocket, handing him his wallet as she did so.

"Fifth is dead, Sam." He wrapped his arms around her. "So… do we need to go call the new doc, or do we go inside and eat?"

"Eat," she chose, ignoring the few twinges of uncertainty. "I am a bit hungry."

He gave her a trademark O'Neill smirk. "'Course you are… this will be the first edible meal you will have had this week." He held out his hand and she slowly grasped it. It felt real… and normal.

Right then, she chose to believe with all her heart that this was real. They walked into the house, hand-in-hand.


Short beginning chapter but… anyways, PLEASE let me know what you think!