"Come check this out!"

McKay had walked unconcernedly through the Control Room filled with Replicators and out the doors onto the balcony. Sam had lagged behind. For whatever reason, the Asurans were choosing to ignore them, which was fine. However, she didn't want to provoke them or disturb them in any way, in cast that status quo changed. Being waved at by McKay from the balcony wasn't exactly the low-profile she was hoping they'd be keeping.

Still, not one Replicator did so much as glance in her direction as she carefully wound her way through the aisles of consoles. Which was odd. She couldn't help the shiver that went down her spine as she passed amongst them. Too many bad memories.

The first thing she noticed when she joined McKay on the balcony was the smell. Instead of the usual clean scent of the ocean there was an acrid smell in the air, like over-heated electronics, or a malfunctioning vacuum cleaner. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness again, she could make out shapes in the distance. But they weren't the shapes she was accustomed to seeing. They were wrong, somehow. The entire view, even at night, was wrong.

"Good eye," McKay said, obviously reading her thoughts again. She didn't mind this time, actually. She wasn't sure how to voice the emotions that were unexpectedly rising to the surface. Whole sections of the city were missing. The grace and beauty of the Ancients' design had been turned somehow into charred and broken ruins, it's intricate pattern and almost crystalline perfection shattered. She had seen it like this before, of course. In Davos' vision. But to stand here now and overlook the destruction first hand—she couldn't help it. Tears came to her eyes.

"Yeah," said McKay, quietly somber. "I know how you feel. Believe me."

"How?" she managed finally through a throat almost too tight to make a sound.

"Aerial bombardment. Half the hive ships were firing on each other, settling old scores, I guess. But the other half took aim at Atlantis. It was chaos. The destruction…well…you can see."

"What happened to my people?" she struggled to ask the question. It didn't matter if this was another reality or whatever the hell he was calling it. They were still her people. Her responsibility.

"Not your people, I'm afraid…Caldwell's. And they did manage to evacuate some of them through the gate to Midway and back to the SGC. A lot of the science teams, actually. Dr. Burgh, for example, and his people. Most of mine. Well…they used to be mine. They were Zelenka's by then, of course."

"Sheppard? Teyla? Ronan?" She had to ask, although she was sure she knew the answer before McKay even spoke.

"Sheppard, actually, made it out of the city." There was a mixture of pride and envy in his voice. "When Caldwell decided it was too risky keeping a wormhole open to Midway, they shut it down so they could dial the Pegasus Alpha Site and evacuate people there instead. Except, of course, the Wraith dialed in before they could get a lock. That's when Sheppard began loading up the puddle jumpers with as many people as they could carry. Most of them actually made it too. The Wraith only picked off two or three before they could cloak."

She had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach thinking of over-populated puddle-jumpers trying to gain altitude and cloak at the same time. John, of course, would put as many people in them as they could possibly hold. Two or three meant twenty or thirty people. She didn't even want to think about who they might have been.

"Ronan, of course, wasn't the least bit interested in running from the fight. He stayed. It took three Wraith to bring him down, though. Right outside the infirmary, actually." She thought she heard a slight catch in his voice.

"Teyla?" She could only imagine the pregnant Athosian, torn between defending Atlantis and fleeing to safety. Sheppard, though, she was certain, would have made sure she was on one of the puddle jumpers. But by the reaction on McKay's face, she knew something hadn't gone right there either.

"Yeah…things didn't turn out so well for her, I'm afraid," he said, uncomfortably.

"Tell me."

He winced. "Are you sure you want to know?"

No, she wasn't. But she had to know anyway.

"Isn't that why I'm here? To find out why I needed to be here in the first place?" she replied, testily.

McKay nodded. "You're right, of course. It's just…well…here's the thing: she became a Wraith worshipper."

"What?" She refused to believe this. Not Teyla. Never Teyla. But McKay was nodding, his face sorrowful again.

"Sheppard tried to wait until she was on board—his was the last jumper out—but it was either leave her behind or risk losing everyone else. It about killed him, but he did it."

"But how'd she become a worshipper? Why?" She still couldn't process this information. Of all the things that could have befallen the Athosian, she never would have guessed this.

"Quite simple, really. It was because of the…you know….." He gestured in the general direction of Sam's abdomen. "The baby." He got the word out finally. "They took her away to feed on her, but she bargained with the queen to spare her life and the baby's by becoming a worshipper. She's one of them now. Or at least she was," he added quietly.

"McKay…," she threatened.

"Fine…she was killed. When the Wraith attacked Midway. We think she might have actually helped them. Not willingly…," he added hastily. "That whole telepathy-with-the-Wraith thing works both ways. They probably blackmailed her into it with the baby. But still. It happened."

Sam leaned heavily on the railing. It would have been easy to dismiss this McKay's story as just that…a story…if the evidence wasn't right before her eyes. The ruins of the city. The control of the gate by the Replicators. And the dread certainty that, given the circumstances, everyone she knew would do exactly what McKay said they did, meeting their fates while trying to protect or resist. There was a truth to this scenario she couldn't deny.

"Did Sheppard and the other puddle jumpers escape?" she asked finally. Surely in this possibility there had to be some good news.

"Eventually. They sort of limped along until they found a planet with a gate. They had Zelenka with them and somehow…don't ask me how…he managed to hack into the DHD and upload the macro so they could access the gate network." He shook his head. "Bad timing, though. An few hours earlier and they'd have been okay. By the time they got there, though, the Wraith had taken it over and were staging for their attack on Earth. Sheppard and the others never had a chance."

She closed her eyes. In her mind she could see the whole thing. Sheppard and the others, coming through the gate at Midway, it would have been like shooting fish in a barrel. McKay was right. They never would have had a chance.

Her eyes flew open. Did McKay just say what she thought he said?

"Did you say an attack on Earth?" she whirled on him. If possible he looked even more mournful.

"I did say that, didn't I."

She took a deep, steadying breath.

"Tell me."

"Do you want the good news first or the bad news?" She must have looked as close to losing her patience as she felt because McKay hurried on. "Right. Okay…the good news is, the Wraith never made it out of the SGC. Someone in the Control Room managed to get the iris back up and the wormhole disengaged before a third wave of them could invade. There were only twenty…thirty, tops…on the base. And even though they put up one hell of a fight, in the end, we prevailed." The smile on McKay's face was clearly forced. Obviously there was more.

"And what's the bad news?" she asked. The other shoe had to drop sometime. She suspected it was now.

"Ummm…well…there were a lot of casualties at the SGC. A lot of people died before they got the situation under control. Including…," he swallowed hard and grimaced. "Uh…you, Sam."

"Me."

McKay nodded. "Sorry."

She shook her head. Not that she didn't believe in her own destructibility. But to fall at the hands of the Wraith not here in Atlantis but on Earth…there was a certain irony to it, she had to admit.

"Actually," he stammered. "You weren't killed by the Wraith…." His voice trailed off for a moment. "It was an accident. You came around a corner…some eager-beaver marine…. It was friendly fire, Sam. You were killed by friendly fire."

A chill went through her that time. She could almost imagine it. The maze-like corridors of the SGC. Intersections everywhere. How many times had she pulled up her own weapon, a hairs-breadth away from firing on one of her own team? Or been the one in the site, spared only by Jack's even quicker reflex? Some young jar-head…jumpy, with a hair-trigger…firing at shapes and shadows. She could see it happening.

Oh god…Jack.

McKay cleared his throat, nervously, but she barely noticed. For the first time since this whole bizarre evening had started, she began to feel something akin to panic. If, in this scenario, she was dead…then that meant….

But wait. No. This wasn't real. It was…what did McKay call it…a possibility. A what-if scenario. Played out through some kind of weird vision or…still more probable…a hand in her head somewhere. She was still alive. Atlantis was as it was. And Jack was not alone, grieving over her in some dark night of his soul.

No matter how real all of this might feel.

She pulled herself together, stuffing the momentary panic back into it's box.

"Look…McKay…or whoever you are. This is a very interesting story you've put together here. But that's all it is. A story. You said so yourself. It's a possibility. That's all. And one that didn't happen. Because I'm here. I made the choice and I came to Atlantis. So none of this really means anything."

"Uh-uh…" McKay raised his finger. "I did say it was a possibility. I didn't say it never happened. And you're getting too hung up on the multiverse theory here, Sam. This has nothing whatsoever to do with quantum physics. It's about granting your wish. You wished you'd never come to Atlantis…and now you haven't. It really can't get much simpler than that."

She shook her head. It was starting to ache.

"But I'm here, Rodney. And if I had really been killed at the SGC, then I couldn't be standing here now."

The faintly superior smile was back.

"Who says you are?" he replied, knowingly. Then, looking over her shoulder, he shouted: "Hey…you in there! Out here!" He waved his arms over his head to get their attention. Not a single Replicator looked his way. After a moment he dropped his arms back to his side and looked smugly at Sam. "Now you try."

She wasn't sure exactly what he was trying to prove, and she didn't know if she felt more silly or trepidatious doing it, but she called out to the control room anyway. "Excuse me! Hello…excuse me?" And as with McKay, there was not even an eye twitch in response.

Which didn't prove anything, really.

"Fine. So they can't see me. It only means you can make us invisible to them," Sam conceded, grudgingly. "Even I can do that with Merlin's phase-shifting device." McKay, however, was shaking his head again.

"No. It means you aren't here. That's why they can't see you. You don't exist. Not here on Atlantis. Not back on Earth. At least, not any more." All conceit vanished and he gave her a most un-McKay-like stare. "This is the reality your wish created, Sam. It is what it is because you chose to stay on earth. It's done."

For just a moment she couldn't breathe. Steel bands of renewed panic tightened around her chest and her legs trembled under her own weight until she sank back against the railing. She wanted to keep denying everything he was saying—to find a hundred and one rational, scientific reasons why what he'd told her was completely and utterly impossible. She was alive. She was on Atlantis. None of this was real. None of this was true.

But she couldn't. And even as she found her breath again and heard her own heart pounding in her ears, she knew with horrible certainty that he was speaking the truth. Nothing was as it had been. All of it was gone. Entirely undone. She had turned down Atlantis and the consequences of that choice lay at her feet.

The city in ruins.

Her life in ruins.

And Jack….

"Where is he?" She wheeled on McKay. "I need to know what's happened to him. I need to see him. And don't…." she didn't bother to control her anger now. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. "Don't tell me you don't know who I mean. You know exactly what I'm thinking. I want to see him. I want to see him now."

McKay was gazing at her with something akin to pity in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sam. No. I…can't."

She barely resisted the urge to physically shake him. How dare he. How dare he do this to her…to them…and then deny her this. White hot fury surged through her.

"Can't…or won't?" she snapped. It was with some satisfaction that she saw him flinch.

"Well…won't…I guess. I mean…I shouldn't," he stammered. "Technically, it's against the rules. This is supposed to be enough."

Rules? There were rules? She shook her head.

"No…I'm not buying it, McKay. You've shown me everything else. You've got to show me this. I need to know what's happened to Jack."

"You're not going to like it," he replied, cautiously. "I can promise you that." He sighed deeply. "Fine. Fine. As you wish. But don't say I didn't warn you." And indicating that she should follow, he headed back toward the Control Room and down the stairs to where the gate stood silent.

She followed him through the midst of the Replicators, unseen and unheard. The day was when she might have given anything for just such an ability. Now, though, she wished that even one of them could actually see her. Better that than to walk among them in this state of non-existence.

As they neared the gate it became more difficult to deny the knot that was becoming like a lead weight in her stomach. She needed to see Jack, of that she had no doubt. But what she would find when she got there—simply put, it terrified her. She knew if she gave her imagination even the slightest free-rein, it would take her places she did not want to go. Yet she had to know. For her own sake. And for his.

McKay stretched out his arm and entered something on a device attached to his wrist. Within seconds the gate sprung to life, the wormhole instantly appearing. She'd seen such devices before and for a moment her curiosity was vaguely piqued, but it was swiftly overtaken by the now unavoidable fear that was so close to overwhelming her. For just a few brief moments her feet would not obey and she stood there staring at the shimmering event horizon.

"Coming?" There was a slight petulance in McKay's tone.

With all her heart she wanted to say no. What she was about to discover on the other side of the Stargate frightened her beyond words.

She walked forward anyway, pausing only momentarily on the cusp of the wormhole to gather whatever shreds of her courage she could find. And then, taking a deep breath, she stepped on through.