Chapter 10

Sam pulled into Jack's driveway and shifted into park. They had said very little on the way to his place. Jack had been trying to rest his head and fight through the fog his headache to figure out what he needed to say.

"Here you are, Colonel."

Jack opened his eyes and straightened up in his seat. He had nearly fallen asleep. After a long yawn and stretching his arms, he glanced over at her. "You leaving already, Carter? Thought we might have a little chat."

"Ok, Colonel." Carter turned off the ignition and shut off the lights. "What would you like to chat about, Sir?"

Jack looked at her. "Let's go for a walk, Carter." With that Jack opened his door and hopped out of the car.

Carter followed him as he headed around to the back of the house. Jack led her up to his small observatory on the roof in almost total darkness. They sat down next to each other on the deck, leaning back against the railing. It was a cold and clear October night and Carter pulled her black leather jacket tighter around her. Jack had only a black t-shirt. He'd left his coat in the car.

"Aren't you cold, Sir?"

He smiled and inhaled deeply. The fresh scent of the nearby pine trees was strong on the cold breeze that blew across the deck. "I've developed a new tolerance for the cold, Carter, since our little adventure in Antarctica."

She smiled. "I think that made me more susceptible to the cold."

Several minutes of silence passed. Jack sat there staring up at the clear sky, and Sam glanced at him every few seconds as she rubbed her hands together to keep them warm.

"What's going on, Sir?"

"We've got some issues here, Sam."

She was glad it was dark. She didn't want him to see her soft smile when he said her name.

"Explain to me, please, why we can't know about the future," he said and looked up at the stars.

"Well, Sir…"

"Jack. Right now, it needs to be Jack," he said, not taking his eyes off the sky. "Sorry, go on."

She was silent for a moment, looking at him wondering what was wrong, but his face was calm and relaxed. "Well, let's say someone from the future told you someone you knew was going to die tomorrow. If you saved that's person's life it could profoundly change the future. That person, for example, might go on to have children who were not supposed to exist. If you have knowledge of the future, you have the power to change it and you can't do that."

Jack looked at her finally. "Why?"

"You don't have the right, Sir."

"Jack."

She smiled. "Jack."

He leaned closer to her. "Do you see me, Sam?"

He was looking directly in her eyes. She wanted to look away but couldn't. "Yes," she whispered.

"If you're right, and we aren't allowed to change the future then this moment is over. It's done. I can't change it. What am I supposed to do next?"

"Whatever you want, Jack," she said, her voice husky.

"That's it. We do what we want to do, not what the future says we've done. I won't have some historian a thousand years from now telling me what I should have done." He looked back up to the sky. "It's like the alternate reality thing. This reality, this moment in time is it. It's all we have. If I'd known," he dropped his head and stared down at his hands, "if I'd known Charlie was going to die, I would've stopped it. No one has the right to tell me I couldn't."

"What are you getting at, Jack?"

Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out the glass disk.

Her eyes went wide. "Sir, General Hammond ordered you. How did you get that?"

Jack looked at her with raised eyebrows. "How did I get it? Sheesh, Carter. I was running ops when you were in boot camp. Give me some credit. I may not be smarter than you, but I'm a hell of a lot sneakier."

"I trusted you, Jack."

"Not to mess with the future?"

"Yes!"

"Why'd you invite Frasier to dinner?"

She frowned. "Why shouldn't I?"

"I saw the picture of her and Daniel. What are you trying to change?"

She looked away. "Well, who says me inviting them to dinner isn't how they got together?"

"Exactly. You made a choice. Who's to say we aren't supposed to look at these pictures and then go our way?" Jack asked, staring her directly in the eye. "Think about it, Sam. You're here right now because of these pictures. Haven't we already changed the future?"

"You've really been thinking about this. Haven't you?"

"Yeah, well, I bounced some random thoughts off Daniel all afternoon, and he helped me fine tune it."

She could see he was torn. He was smiling but there was something sad in his eyes. "What did you see, Jack?"

He handed her the glass. "I can't tell you, Sam. You have to look if you want to know."

Sam looked down at the glass and then back at Jack. She bit her lip and ran her fingers around the edge of the glass, trying to focus on the cool smooth edge rather than Jack. "Is this complicated, Jack?"

He nodded. "You betcha."

"I should probably go then," she said, more to herself than to Jack.

Jack looked at her. "Probably," he agreed, but neither of them moved. Jack looked back up at the sky but moved a few inches closer to Carter, till their shoulders touched. "She spoke to me, Sam."

"Who, Jack?"

"That woman," he explained. "Jolinar."

"When?"

"While we were there in their infirmary." He shrugged his shoulders. "That telepathy thing K'sal says she has. I heard her voice in my head. It was damn uncomfortable. It wasn't just her voice… there were pictures."

Sam cocked her head to the side and stared at Jack thoughtfully.

"If you had a daughter would you name her Jolinar?"

The question caught her by surprise and made her flinch. "Why would you ask me that?"

Jack merely looked her in the eye.

Carter frowned. "You can't be serious. She… Do you believe her?"

Jack smiled. "Well, you know me, Carter, always the skeptic. Hell, I'm not even sure I believe in the Stargate much less her."

Sam chuckled. "Give it a few more years, Jack, it'll sink in."

"Yeah, you know me. Sometimes it takes me a while to figure things out," he said with a slight grin. "I just wanted you to know, Sam, before we went back tomorrow."

Sam blushed and rested her head on his shoulder. "Jolinar," she whispered. "I guess we'll find out tomorrow, Jack."

Jack felt her shaking and slipped an arm around her shoulders. He turned to her and pressed his face against the top of her head. "I thought you said you should go."

She smiled to herself. "So I did, Jack. Did you want me to leave?"

Jack tightened his arm around her. "No, Sam."