"Knock, knock."
Daniel looked up from his monitor, surprised by the sudden interruption, a little irritated, too. He'd finally gotten some real headway.
"Sorry," Sam smiled nervously at his glare.
"Yeah?"
"I'm Sam," she introduced herself awkwardly. She didn't remember Daniel having a gruff side.
"I know that," he said impatiently.
"I came to see what you were doing." She faltered. This was not the Daniel she had become friends with. She remembered the sweet, shy, fumbling chess partner she'd been passing the time with. The boy she'd grown up with. The man in front of her was frowning, stern, walled off. "I thought I could help."
"I've got it." He turned his attention back to his notes, bracing himself for the punchline, the sarcasm, the geek joke. He'd been down this road before. Pretty women didn't talk to him because they were interested in him or what he had to say. They were interested in the guy they thought they could make him into. Some figment of their imagination. And then when it turned out he was nothing more than just him….
"Sorry," Sam turned to leave. "I didn't mean to interrupt. Just wanted to help."
"Wait," Daniel stopped her. This was Sam, not Sarah. Sam, who he'd spent his childhood with. Sam who had never had any motive other than to be his friend since they were six. "I'm sorry. I just broke up with my… well, she really broke… really she left me," he admitted. "Nothing to do with this, obviously. And certainly nothing to take out on you. It just feels like it's happening right now." He sat back in his chair and sighed. "It's my fault she left, anyway, I guess."
"I can still leave," she offered, understanding his mood.
"No, it'd be nice to have some company," Daniel assured her. "I could use a friend right now."
"Need a distraction?" She smiled walking across the office to him.
"Please."
She pulled up a stood and sat next to him. "It looks like you've made some good progress."
"I have, actually," he forced himself to perk up. "It's a similar language to our Hindi. It's fascinating, really. According to my research, to people who inhabited planet, uh," he looked at the cover page of his field journal. "PX3-899 were taken from Earth thousands of years ago. So it's really just a matter of finding the right root of…" he stopped. "Not fascinating to normal people."
"It is, honestly. I'm just amazed you've figure so much out in just a few hours," she admitted. "It's impressive."
"Not really," he assured her. "I've been working on this theory for years, that extra-terrestrial beings came to Earth thousands of years ago and…" Daniel cut himself off. "Apparently I'm right, which is nice to know."
"So, you're developing a theory and using the proof at the same time."
Daniel took a minute to unravel what she'd just said. "Yes, I guess. Weird, huh?"
"It makes me wonder if you developed the theory because you know it's true."
"It makes you wonder what?" he couldn't unravel that one.
"Earlier today I was reading a book."
"Okay…"
"I didn't have it here."
He stared at her blankly.
"Okay," Sam started at the beginning. "Right now it is 1999."
"Right."
"But for us, it's 1992."
"Right."
"I, while physically in 1999 was able to read a book I owned in 1992. All I had to do was concentrate." Sam looked at him expectantly. "You see?"
"What's your specialty, again?"
"Theoretical astrophysics."
"I'm a linguist. I can translate what you just said into over a dozen languages. I will not understand what you mean in any of them."
Sam sighed and tried to think of another way to say it. "If I can interact with the past, maybe my past self could-"
"That's it!" Daniel interrupted her, grabbing a seemingly random book and flipping to an even more random page.
"What?" Sam asked, dumbfounded. "What did I say?"
"It's not past life- it's past self. It's not…" he excitedly rambled comparing his reference book to his scribbles and both to the monitor. "I was wrong- the other me- the past me in the future…" he trailed off distracted by his own ramblings.
Sam watched him, eyebrows raised as he practically danced in front of her, grabbing books and print outs and journals haphazardly in his arms.
"I figured it out," he grinned at her, rushing into the hall. "You coming?" he asked, poking his head back in the door.
"Where are we going?" she asked, jogging to keep up with his pace.
"To see the General."
"How do we get there?" An airman had escorted her to Daniel's office. She had no idea how to navigate the featureless halls.
Unfazed, Daniel hopped on the elevator and stopped the first airman he saw when the doors opened on another floor. "Hi. I'm Daniel Jackson," he introduced himself. "This is…"
"I know who you are Dr. Jackson, ma'am," the airman interrupted deferring to the higher ranked Major as well.
"Oh, good, um," Cut off mid-introduction it took him a moment to regain his momentum. "We need to get to Gen. Hammond, but we don't really know where we're going," he admitted with a reflexive, embarrassed grin.
"I heard something weird was going on," the airman said patiently. SG-1 running around the base in various phases of sanity wasn't all that uncommon. "Maybe we should go talk to Dr. Fraiser, first."
"Excuse me?" Daniel asked.
"She's just down the hall. She'll be able to help." The airman tried to usher them out of the elevator.
"No, no, no. We need Gen. Hammond," Daniel insisted stepping out of the airman's grip.
"What is all the noise?" an irritated voice said from around the corner. "I have patients who need…" Dr. Fraiser cut herself off when she saw who was causing the commotion.
"I found them wandering the halls, ma'am," the airman explained.
"I'll take it from here," she dismissed him.
"Hi," Daniel flashed a familiar smile at her. His I-know-it-doesn't-seem-like-I-know-what-I'm-doing-but-I-swear-I-do-please-listen smile.
Sam stood next to him with a familiar smile of her own. The tight lipped I-have-no-idea-why-I-listen-to-him-but-here-we-are smile.
"Let me give you both a quick once over and then we'll talk," she sighed. SG-1 was going to be the death of her. From the outside looking in she was sure their antics were entertaining, but day-in and day-out it was a drain.
"You don't understand. I figured it out and we only have…" Daniel glanced at Sam who checked her watch.
"Twenty-two."
"Twenty-two minutes before I forget everything and have to start all over."
"Okay," Dr. Fraiser acquiesced. "But full checkups after."
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
"So the me that went to the planet was completely wrong. He made the assumption that just because the religion on that planet evolved from the same place as our planet's Hindu religion that they'd have the same morals and goals. Because he operated off his own assumptions he assumed this meant reincarnation and the goal was traditional, in our minds, enlightenment but it's not. It's incredibly sloppy, really. I'm embarrassed he made such a rooky mistake."
"Doctor, we are running out of time," Hammond prompted him. "Cut to the chase."
"It's a pilgrimage site for the dying," Daniel said. "Something there, the spring, fountain, flowers, something gives the pilgrim the ability to re-examine their life. To relive it, in a way, and prepare themselves for the afterlife." He gestured to the incomprehensible notes on Hammond's desk. "A way to accept your mistakes and make peace with your faults so you die with an honest soul."
No one spoke. Hammond, Jacob and Sam looked at eachother, then collectively turned back to Daniel.
"If we hadn't been in a blind panic over what was happening, if we had gone there expecting it, Sam, Jack, and I could have relaxed and enjoyed the ride."
"You're confident about this, Doctor?"
"Yes," Daniel nodded. "I know I'm young and I don't look like I should be qualified to make these…"
Hammond put up his hand, stopping Daniel. "You don't have to convince me, son. I know you well enough to know you're usually right. Jacob," he turned to Sam's dad. "I assume you'd like to inform the Tok'ra of the good news."
"I should." Jacob looked a Sam. "Still bothered by it?"
"The alien still there?" she asked.
"Selmac knows when to stay out of it."
"Future you doesn't mind, Sam," Daniel reminded her. "Otherwise they wouldn't have called him as soon as something weird started happening."
Hesitantly, she stepped up and gave him a hug. "I'm sorry," she whispered in his ear.
"I love you, Sammy," Jacob responded.
"I love you, too, Dad."
"Daniel, you're a hell of a kid," Jacob shook his hand, still keeping one arm around his daughter's shoulders.
"I'm not going to get to ask you my questions, am I?" Daniel asked suspiciously.
"You won't want to after you see the Stargate in action," Jacob told him. "Sammy, come see your old man off."
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hammond couldn't help but smile to himself. The second the wormhole closed Maj. Carter and Dr. Jackson had rushed the gate.
"Did you see that?" Sam asked. "You could actually see the fluctuations in the event horizon."
"Can you make it move again?" Daniel called to the control room.
"Not right now," the man at the controls said through the speaker.
"Where did they find it?" Sam asked no-one in particular.
"Giza," Daniel answered. "Back in the 20s."
She looked at him, having not expected an answer.
"I just got here," he admitted tapping his temple.
She nodded. "What about the symbols?"
"Don't know yet."
"Keep me posted."
They stayed in the Gateroom investigating until the migraines hit. Even then, they jumped right back into action as soon as they were able. Daniel had more to more information as each moment passed and he kept Sam up to date.
"Oh, hey, I just met Jack," he perked up straining to look at Sam around the gate. "He's in a bit of a mood. Kind of a jerk, really."
He went back to sketching the symbols on the gate and she kept examining the stone.
"I'm going through the wormhole!" Daniel shouted to get Sam's attention.
"What's it like?" she asked, excited.
"It happened so fast," he was bewildered for a moment, sitting on the floor, eyes closed, concentrating. "It just sort of happens. Oh, my god. Sam, I was right!" He opened his eyes. "Everyone tried to stop me and I was right the entire time!"
"The wormhole, tell me more about the wormhole."
"It only lasts a couple seconds. It's completely disorienting, but it happens so fast I can't really explain it."
"I can't wait to experience it myself." Sam looked wistfully at the gate.
"I can't believe I was right."
They settled on the platform, side by side, and Daniel described what he was seeing in the past.
"What?" Sam asked when he suddenly went quiet.
"Where's Jack?" Daniel scrambled to his feet.
"Why? What's wrong?" Sam followed Daniel into the hall.
"Have you seen Colonel O'Neill?" Daniel asked a passing airman. He asked again and again, everyone they passed. Now with familiarity of the base he made a bee-line for the rec room. It was empty.
"Shit." Daniel kicked the wall. "Where would he go?"
"How would I know?" Sam asked, taken aback by the sudden change in temper.
"Sam, this is important, I have to find him." He held her by both shoulders, not giving her the option to look anywhere but at him.
"Daniel, what's wrong?"
"We have to find him."
An idea came to him and he took off again, back to where they had come from.
