A/N: So, this took a little longer then expected. I've been having some writing blocks that I blame on school and other projects... It's been hard to sit down and continue on this chapter, mainly because I know what I'm setting in motion here. I won't spoil anything, all I can admit here is that we're going for a little field trip into the angst cavern for a while. But, then again, there's the possibility of someone seeing a little light at the end of the cavern...

I enjoyed writing this chapter. A big part of that is because I got to put Jack and O'Neill together. I'm not sure my rendition of them is the most accurate, but I had fun writing it. I rarely write Jack O'Neill so... emotional. I usually keep him cool and sarcastic, here ... well, he gets to act out a bit more.

As always, you reviewers are just too kind to me! I feel like you're spoiling me rotten with your kind words. Not that I'm complaining and wanting you to toughen up! No, I just meant that it is highly appreciated what you do for me. :). Thank you all!

pain in the mikta - There, there... it'll get better soon. I think. ...want a cookie?

Lutherian - Yes, Sam! (I'm not happy about it, just stating the facts :P)

Devilish Me - I like writing cliffhanger endings. If you hadn't noticed, I mean. :P. Why didn't Sam comment on Jack's words? Well, she will. There's a brief passing mention of things here, but I'm thinking of developing it later on. Maybe. Oops, I might have said a bit too much there. Ah, well, it's on the house.

ALIMOO1971 - Sorry you had to wait a bit longer, I do hope however that it was worth the wait.

Kaytee33 - Thanks for reviewing! Will Jack save Carter? ...I hope so.

SLITH - Well, he does something. I'm being vague, I know. :P. Thanks for the kind words! :).

set - Thank you! :D.

Alright, all thanks shouldn't go solely to the wonderful reviewers. I also want to thank all of you who read this and are being patient with me. I'm still developing this story, there's a few speed bumps down the road but so far so good. Thank you! :).

Chapter 10: Cliffhanger

Last time:

Jack glanced over his shoulder just in time to see the cliff collapsing at the edge, sending even more large pieces of it falling.

And it was taking Pienes with it. The Tok'ra spy fell backwards, the device falling from his grasp. But the cliff wasn't taking just Pienes with it.

It was taking Carter too. Her wide, blue eyes met Jack's and for a split second his heart stopped beating. He immediately dove from his position to get to her, not caring about the battle around them. He had to catch her, before it would be too late.

Both Pienes and Sam fell over the edge, Pienes terrified shouts echoing over the powerful gunfire and plasma blasts.

Sam was vaguely aware that something was holding on to her arm as she slammed into the rough wall of the cliff. Her lungs heaved with pain and her P-90 jabbed her hard in the lower abdomen.

Fainter and fainter, she could hear Pienes' shouts echoing through the air. Looking down, she could see the Tok'ra falling, his toga flowing around his body that seemed to become smaller and smaller. Then suddenly his descent halted as he smashed into the hard cliffs below. Sam's eyes were transfixed on his body, lying perfectly motionless so far below her.

"Carter!"

Sam's head snapped up and her eyes met brown, worried ones. Two eyes that were pleading with her to get up, pleading with her not to give up. Not to let go.

"S-sir!" she managed.

"Hurry! Pull her up!" someone shouted above the edge, out of her line of sight.

"Climb, Carter," Jack ordered. "I can't pull you up alone, I need you to climb."

Sam tried bracing her feet against the stone wall but found that her shaking limbs kept slipping and she couldn't get a good hold for her feet. Each time she slipped, she heard Jack stifling a breath.

She knew he was carrying her entire weight in his arms and for each second that ticked by, it must be getting heavier and heavier. Still his grip only seemed to tighten around her arm, his knuckles white from the effort.

Something further away on the wall of the cliff moved and caught Sam's eye. She turned and saw the Tok'ra device, tipping from side to side, on a small edge further up. The device contained all the information Pienes had died for to give them.

It could help stop the coming war. It couldn't be lost.

"Sir!" Sam breathed and turned back to Jack. As the device was higher up, he could reach it without problem. But he had to reach for it soon, before it would fall and join Pienes on the hard rocks, something which would definitely break it. However, for as long as he held on to her he wouldn't be able to reach it. "The Tok'ra device!"

"What about… it, Carter?" came Jack's strained response through gritted teeth. A blast hit the ground next to him, sending gravel falling down on Sam. She shook the dirt from her hair and repressed a cough, slowly she turned her gaze up to Jack again.

"Save it, sir!" she called out over the sounds of battle thundering away in the background. "The information in it could stop the war. It could be vital to Earth's victory, sir!"

"I'm sure it is," came his response, but he made no move to save the device. In fact, he had still to even glance at the object.

"Sir!" she didn't need to say anything else, he understood her silent request. You have to let me go.

Jack shook his head at her unspoken words and his usually impassive eyes clouded with a pained expression.

Another blast hit the ground above and sent debris down on the device. It shifted back and forth as if it lay on a scale, carefully balancing the pros and cons of falling.

"Carter!" Jack shouted when he saw her gaze wander to the device again. "Please, climb."

The pleading tone to his voice caught her attention and she turned back. Their eyes locked and wordlessly Jack tried to convey the fact that he wasn't about to let her fall. He wasn't about to let her die; not now, not ever.

Carter nodded once. Her feet scrambled to get a hold and finally she began her ascent. She managed to get her arms above the edge and felt Jack's arm go around her waist to help pull her the final way. Finally laying face down in the grass, Sam breathed hard.

Jack's arm remained around her waist, "You okay?"

She nodded and glanced back down over the edge. The device had already fallen. It was gone.

"Sir, the device… It could have been an important part-"

"There are more important things, Carter," came the short response.

Her eyes met his again and something went unspoken between them. Something in his dark, brown eyes brought back the words he'd uttered a few days ago.

'There's no other woman, Carter...' Other woman. Looking into his eyes now, Samantha wondered if maybe, just maybe, his words had been directed at her as a person and not just a casual response to her question. Or maybe that was just her own foolish hopes.

"Carter!" O'Neill shouted from somewhere behind Jack, effectively pulling her from her thoughts. "You okay?"

She mentally cursed herself for letting her thoughts wander on the battle field, here she had to be alert. She glanced up at Jack and saw a similar look of discomfort on his face. Distantly she became aware that his arm was no longer around her waist, "I'm fine, sir!"

"Good!" his voice sounded relieved. "Jack, well done! Now, come on! We've held them long enough!"

"We have to move! This place isn't safe, it's too exposed!" Jack shouted back and jumped back into military mode, soon followed by Carter.

"We have to get to the Stargate!" Daniel shouted to them. As his attention shifted from the battle, a throbbing pain suddenly exploded in his leg. He fell backwards in agony, holding his burned ankle close to his body.

"Daniel Jackson!" Teal'c shouted in concern and hurried over to Daniel's position.

"I'm okay, I'm okay…" Daniel's voice was frail and thick with pain as Teal'c helped him sit.

"Do you think you can walk?" O'Neill shouted as SG-3 and 4 provided cover fire. Daniel nodded faintly.

"Carter?" O'Neill turned to her. "Help Daniel. Let's move, people! We've got a ride to catch!"

Reaching the wide field below the high cliff they made sure not to look at the mangled body of the Tok'ra lying on the sharp rocks. Jack took point and ordered Reynolds and his team to dial Earth.

At the back of the line, Daniel was progressing as fast as he could with one injured leg. His arm was slung over Sam's shoulder and her arm was supporting him around the waist. As fast as she could carry both of their weights, Sam tried urging Daniel on.

"It's not much farther!" she whispered encouragingly. "You're doing good, Daniel. Just keep going."

Further ahead, O'Neill and Teal'c were covering for them, letting their weapons do all the talking.

"Hurry up, Carter!" O'Neill shouted and looked up at the large Goa'uld ship above them in the sky. "…T, has it moved closer to the Gate?"

Teal'c's silence was all the evidence the General needed, it had indeed moved. Hopefully it wasn't their escape that had drawn the ship's attention.

Unfortunately, luck wasn't on their side today.

A ring transporter activated and as the rings disappeared, another round of Jaffa warriors stood close by. O'Neill and Teal'c spun around and turned their weapons on them to quickly take them down.

Suddenly, everything seemed to happen at once; the Stargate activated. Jack ordered SG-teams 3 and 4 to return home. Daniel stepped into a hole and fell, dragging Sam down with him. The ring transporter activated a second time.

O'Neill swirled around at the sound, ready to face more foes. But he didn't. Instead he was met with nothing. There was no one behind him and he felt his face fall at the realization. Daniel and Carter were gone.

His heart sank all the way to his knees. He'd failed her again. He'd failed both of them.

"Where's Carter and Daniel?" Jack called to him as he noticed the dwindling number of Jaffa. Teal'c took down the last two and scanned the distance for more with his sharp eyes, none were forthcoming.

O'Neill slowly turned back to Jack and shook his head, "Gone."

"What?!"

"They're gone…" O'Neill stared at Jack. Jack was O'Neill's replica, only a few months younger then himself. There shouldn't be any differences, yet O'Neill could spot one glaringly obvious one. Jack had done nothing wrong. Jack had saved Carter. O'Neill had lost her. Twice.

"It is true, Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c stepped over to the team leader. "They were beamed out by the ring transporter of the ship."

"No sweat then," Jack said unconvincingly. "All we have to do is-"

Jack never got a chance to finish his sentence as a hyperspace window opened, followed by the large ship zooming off into it. The window closed and the sky was left unhampered, crystal clear and barely a cloud was in sight. The imitation of a perfect day was evident, but not fooling Jack, O'Neill or Teal'c down on the planet's surface.

"Of, for crying out loud!" O'Neill shouted, ready to throw his P-90 on the ground and surrender entirely to the cruel wit of fate. He just couldn't take much more of this. "What now?"

"Now…" Jack began slowly, still watching the sky with a distant, somewhat pained expression. "We go home."

"We can't leave without Carter and Daniel!" O'Neill argued forcefully. "We never leave anybody behind!"

"Well, tell me then what we can do!" Jack growled back. "As I see it, we don't have any other choices right now!"

"We could follow them!" O'Neill's eyes flared with anger.

"Oh, yeah! Brilliant idea! It just has one down side. Can you guess what it is?" Jack met O'Neill's gaze daringly. "We don't have a ship!"

"Perhaps it is wisest," Teal'c said before O'Neill could respond. "if we all collected ourselves separately. Or words that should not have been spoken could end up uttered, never to be revoked."

Jack glared at O'Neill, hoping that his elder self would come to his senses and calm down before either did, as Teal'c had pointed out, something that they would both regret. O'Neill was glaring at the ground, his frown intense as was his gaze.

The General sighed at last, his shoulders slumping low as he did.

Jack tried to keep the frown off his impassive face as General O'Neill turned his gaze back up at him. Jack knew that look, after all, it was his own.

The sadness reflected in the brown eyes showed another level of devastation Jack himself hadn't felt since Charlie's death. It was clear that O'Neill was heartbroken over something, to the point of practically having given up entirely.

Jack wasn't entirely sure why his elder self was reacting so strongly to Carter and Daniel's disappearance. They'd encountered worse in the past, they could get them back. Jack was confident of that fact.

Sure, he wasn't gonna lie, he was scared. But the complete look of despair on O'Neill's face was way beyond anything Jack would have expected from himself.

"Come on," Jack said at last, watching O'Neill carefully. "Let's go home."

O'Neill nodded in defeat and followed Teal'c up the stone stairs to the Stargate. As Jack stood alone on the planet, he couldn't help but be reminded of the feeling that he was, yet again, missing out on some important part of the puzzle.

April 2, 10:05. 2003.

The wormhole disengaged behind Jack as he followed the others down the ramp. He noticed that SG-teams 3 and 4 had already left the room, probably for their post-mission check up with Frasier. Jack's back took that moment to remind him of the stiff pain but he'd have to postpone any trips to the infirmary. There were more important things to deal with here.

On the left side below the ramp stood Hammond and Freya listening to Teal'c explaining the current situation. Next to the tall Jaffa stood a silently brooding O'Neill, soon joined by the other Jack.

"So you're saying they were both taken by Camulus?" Hammond asked, his eyes wide in concern. Hammond hadn't expected the mission to be a failure. They'd set out to retrieve SG-1, but in doing so seemed to have dug themselves deeper into a hole.

"What of Pienes?" Freya asked, her green eyes watching Teal'c without blinking.

Teal'c inclined his head in silence, "I am afraid he is deceased. He fell to his death."

Freya closed her eyes tightly and when she opened them again, it was Anise who spoke, "This is tragic news to us. Pienes was a respected intellectual amongst the Tok'ra. General Hammond, may Freya and I contact our people to let them know what has happened to Pienes?"

"Sure," Hammond nodded sympathetically.

Anise bowed her head once before quickly slipping out of the room. Jack watched her go before turning back to Hammond.

"Sir, when Pienes fell he took with him some kind of Tok'ra USB-device."

"I'm assuming this device contained information about Ba'al?" Hammond asked.

"Perhaps," Teal'c acquiesced. "It could indeed have proven valuable to us in our attempts to stop this upcoming war."

"What's the point?" O'Neill asked in a low voice, his eyes staring off into another world.

"Excuse me, General?" Hammond asked with a frown turning slowly to the devastated General. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that information alone won't save you," O'Neill finally turned his gaze to look at Hammond. "I was there, I saw it. Heck, I took part of it. You don't need information, you need a hell of a lot of good luck."

"General?" Hammond asked. His confused, blue eyes glanced back at Jack who shrugged indiscernibly.

General O'Neill didn't offer any response, instead he turned his back on them and walked out of the Gateroom. Hammond, Teal'c and Jack watched him go until he was out of sight.

Slowly, George turned to Jack, "What was that about, son?"

"I don't know, sir…" Jack admitted. "I know he's supposed to be me and all, but… I just don't know."

"Perhaps you do not know because you have yet to experience what General O'Neill has experienced."

Jack's head snapped in Teal'c's direction. With a questioning frown he waited for Teal'c to delve deeper into his words, but the Jaffa remained silent.

"Teal'c?" Jack asked at last. "Do you know something I don't? About me?"

"I do not believe that is for me to say," came the response. "If you wish to find out what is troubling him, perhaps you should ask yourself."

"Don't you mean 'him'?"

Teal'c was silent again and Jack knew that was all he was going to get out of the Jaffa at the moment. Whatever it was Teal'c knew, he wasn't going to offer it willingly. Jack was pretty sure no one could pry the information from Teal'c, no matter how hard they tried. Even though Jack could accept it, he also wished he did understand what his friend meant. At the moment he felt as clueless as the next guy about his elder self's reaction.

12:30.

After the debriefing about PXQ-232, Jack found himself wandering the hallways aimlessly. His lower back was screaming in pain but Jack didn't feel it necessary to have it checked up just yet. Before he went to Frasier, he wanted to make sure there was nothing else he could do for Daniel and Carter at the moment.

He rounded a corner and almost bumped into Freya, who was walking with her head down.

"Woah," Jack called out and jumped out of the way before their bodies could collide.

"Colonel O'Neill," Freya breathed, in equal shock. She blinked once and then Anise continued with unsurprising calm, "Forgive us, we were not minding our steps."

"It's… okay," Jack said slowly, watching the Tok'ra woman's expression closely. Their was something off with her, something seemed… not right. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine," Anise ensured him with an impassive face. "Though both Freya and I are grieving Pienes. He was one of the best scientists we have had the fortune to work with."

Jack nodded slowly, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you," Anise tilted her head slightly and Jack could see sympathy in her eyes. "I am sorry for what happened to Major Carter and Dr. Jackson as well. Neither Freya nor I thought it was a trap. We should have known better."

Jack pushed both hands into his pockets and shrugged, "Not your fault, you couldn't have known."

A flash of confusion flashed in her green eyes briefly, "You do not blame us?"

"No. …Why should I?" Jack frowned back.

"I conversed with General O'Neill while you, Major Carter and Teal'c were captured, he seemed to do so. He denied it, but there was no truth in his denial."

Jack kept frowning, it was possible the Tok'ra had misunderstood his elder self. Though Jack had a feeling O'Neill hadn't exactly done anything to try and correct her assumptions.

"I should continue on my way," Anise said. "Thank you for the talk and your sympathies."

"Yeah… sure…"

With a final short nod of the head, Anise continued down the hallway. Jack watched her slim form turn a corner while his mind raced.

If the roles were reversed and he was the one left behind on the base, he would have blamed himself. O'Neill was probably not blaming Anise, despite past occurrences, but merely taking out the anger he felt at himself on her.

Jack continued down the hallway and soon found himself outside Carter's lab. As was his habit, Jack was just about to enter when he realized that she wouldn't be in there. He stopped abruptly and moved to head off in another direction when he noticed a small light shining from inside the room.

The Colonel treaded closer and peeked in through the open doorway, sitting by Carter's desk was a lone figure.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

O'Neill's head whipped up and he dropped the object he'd been fiddling with for the past ten minutes.

"I guess I could ask you the same question…" came the short response.

Jack flinched almost unnoticeably before taking a hesitant step into the room. The soft light shining from the small lamp on the table did little to lighten the dark corners of the room, instead it cast an eerie glow across the General's morose face.

"Look, I know neither of us are any good at this," Jack hesitated. "but if you want to talk…"

"Talk…" O'Neill shook his head. "Talk is cheap, you know that."

"Maybe, still doesn't mean you don't need it from time to time…"

O'Neill straightened in his chair and when his eyes turned back to Jack, something flashed in them.

"You know everything, don't you?" O'Neill asked. "You just keep on doing the right things."

Jack was caught off guard. When he'd entered he hadn't expected that his own elder self would turn on him, "…I, eh… I'm not sure what I've done wrong, but you're not exactly acting like yourself."

"You mean, I'm not acting like you?"

"…Something like that."

O'Neill snorted indifferently, "It's too late for that now. Hindsight and all that shit…"

Jack tried another approach, "You know, we haven't lost them. We're not going to either. We've gotten them back in the past, we'll do it this time too."

"Oh, please… You don't even know where they are, they could be on the other side of our galaxy by now."

"Technically they already were…" Jack tried joking. His elder self didn't respond well to his attempt.

O'Neill stood from his chair swiftly, both his palms pressed flat on the tabletop, "Stop joking, it's not funny."

"…I thought it was a funny comment."

"This is just a big joke to you, isn't it?" O'Neill asked. "All of it, I mean."

Jack tried to interpret the glare in O'Neill's eyes. He saw anger, frustration, fear, sadness… guilt. The most prominent expression in those brown eyes looking back at him was guilt.

Jack immediately tried calming the General, even though he didn't expect a positive outcome from his tries, "You couldn't have prevented it from happening, you know."

"Yes, I could have," O'Neill argued stubbornly tilting his chin back a bit.

"No, you couldn't…" Jack shook his head slowly.

"I failed. You didn't."

Jack frowned, "What?"

O'Neill growled in frustration and ruffled his hair, "You just don't get it. How can I explain anything to you if you won't understand it anyway. And it's not that you can't, it's a matter of not wanting you to understand and you not wanting it either."

"What don't I want to understand?" Jack's voice was suddenly softer.

O'Neill knew that voice, they both used it when they wanted to understand, or at least would try their best to do so. Somehow, this only fueled O'Neill's anger. Jack couldn't understand and he was a fool for thinking he could. O'Neill knew all the facts of his own failure both back on PXQ-232 and back in August… He'd made some terrible and wrong choices and when he'd had his chance, he'd completely blown it.

Now, with that guilt hanging heavily on his guarded shoulders, he was faced with an unspoiled version of himself. Jack was innocent and unblemished in this aspect, he still hadn't done anything wrong about this.

In fact, Jack had done everything right and even now he wanted to understand. O'Neill knew right then and there that Jack was the better man of the two, there was no doubting it.

"Just leave me alone…" O'Neill grumbled.

"Come on, just when we were getting to the good stuff too."

O'Neill was almost shaking with barely controlled rage by now. In a slow, dangerous motion he shook his head back and forth, "I mean it, Jack… Leave me alone."

"Something is obviously bothering you," Jack said, ignoring the blatant threat in O'Neill's statement. "You can't hide anything from me because… well, because you're me. You know that."

"Yes, I do know!" O'Neill growled in frustration. "And that's the problem! You shouldn't have to understand! I don't want you to!"

"Why not? I can help."

O'Neill shook his head firmly, "No, if you understand it's all too late! If you understand then that means you've failed too, and I can't let that happen!"

"Look…," the dark look in Jack's eyes was evidence enough that he too was wearing his patience thin. "You haven't failed anything. Carter and Daniel were taken, just deal with it. Take some time and get a grip. We could need your help to bring them back home."

"Of course I've failed!" O'Neill guaranteed and slammed a fist onto the table. For a few seconds the room was silent as the dull sound of fist on metal echoed through the room.

O'Neill's hand shook as he dragged it across his face wearily, no longer wanting to meet his younger self's eyes.

"I failed back then, during the war. I made the wrong mistake and I failed her! Don't you understand? I ki-" O'Neill stopped abruptly and sucked in a deep breath. He shut his eyes tight at the realization of what he'd just come close to confessing. He wasn't ready for that, not just yet.

The room was silent and still once more while O'Neill waited for the inevitable question.

Jack watched the General version of himself with wide eyes and blinked a couple of times before mustering up the strength to clear his throat. Slowly he wet his lips with the tip of his tongue, he needed all the time he could get to clear his head.

"Who do you mean," Jack swallowed. "...when you say 'her'?"

TBC...