"As it stands, the base is on lockdown until further notice," General Hank Landry told the large group of rapt SG team leaders who were assembled around the briefing room table. "The Joint Chiefs have been notified of the situation, and are standing by for any developments. All SG teams have been rerouted to the Alpha Site per SOP. We are currently locked out of all local systems, with the exception of the Stargate, thanks to a remote unit within the Pentagon. However, there's still the matter of PXY-6249, which is where the now missing power source was found."
At that, Landry glanced towards the three remaining members of SG-1 who were lurking in the back of the room.
"Will we be sending a team back to 6249, sir?" Cameron asked gruffly.
"That is the plan, Colonel," Landry answered with a nod. "Colonel Reynolds, I'd like your team to accompany SG-1. Colonel Patterson, we're going to need your help in continuing to secure the base - "
"Um, I'm sorry to interrupt, General," Daniel cut in, "and forgive me, but is it really wise to establish a wormhole with the replicator duplicate loose on the base?"
"We need to find out more about that power source, Doctor," Landry responded firmly. "Colonel Carter mentioned that there were areas in the dome where the Stargate is housed that contain alien text, possibly Ancient. Now, I may be wrong, but I believe that that's your expertise. If we have any hope of countering what the replicator has already set into motion, we're going to need a better understanding of what we're dealing with. Is that clear?"
Daniel nodded, noting Landry's tenseness. He'd been pretty ticked off since he landed. "Yes, sir."
Landry fixed all three of them with a hard stare, as if assessing their various states of mind. "Now that that's settled, we have the matter of base security. Colonel Patterson, I know we recently spoke of a fail safe mechanism…"
"Is it me, or did Landry seem extraordinarily pissed in that briefing?" Cameron asked as the three of them kitted up alongside SG-3. As Walter began the dialing sequence, Reynolds glanced at Cameron furtively before checking his own pack. Despite Reynolds' attempts to look away in time, Cameron caught it. "What?"
"Well…" Reynolds paused, not sure how to address the issue at hand. "According to General Landry, the JCs and the IOA are all pretty pissed at us right now. They don't understand why General O'Neill let this other version of Colonel Carter on the base, they don't understand why the power source wasn't properly secured. They're placing a lot of blame on General O'Neill, and General Landry's receiving the brunt of their anger."
At that, Daniel frowned, rolling his eyes and trying his best not to go with his knee-jerk response.
"That assessment is foolish," Teal'c responded simply.
"Exactly," Daniel agreed. "We've let how many people from alternate universe onto our base over the past nine years? And they want to choose now to question it?"
"They're saying this all could've been prevented," Reynold said with a shrug as he glanced around the Gateroom. "I don't agree with the two-faced bureaucrats who've never even stepped foot on this base. But that's the skinny of it. The IOA has gotten heavily involved. Half of them think we're hiding the power source so we can use it to our liking."
"What?" Cameron demanded. "Are you serious?"
"That's ridiculous!" Daniel cried.
Reynolds nodded grimly. "I agree. But all of that considered, General Landry's under the fire and probably will be until long after this is settled… if it's ever settled."
"They think this is the end, don't they?" Daniel asked quietly. "They think that this is one misstep too many."
"To be honest, I don't know what exactly goes through their minds, Dr. Jackson," Reynolds admitted. "But I'd imagine you're on the right track. This could all end very badly."
Silence prevailed as Walter announced that the seventh chevron was locked. The men found their gaze on General Landry, whose dark presence loomed behind Walter in the control room. He didn't say a word.
Teal'c shared a glance with Daniel and Cameron before fixing his attention on the event horizon. "Then let us ensure that it does not."
"… Needless to say, it was a rough night," Daniel recounted to Sam over the phone as she cleaned up the kitchen from that morning's cooking escapades. Somehow it didn't compare to the wet pancake mix and flour that she had spent nearly 15 minutes washing out of Grace's hair. "And then Teal'c called me this morning, wanting to know if I'd like to go to the museum with him."
Sam frowned. "But Teal'c hates the museum."
"Yeah," Daniel drawled. "That's exactly my point."
"What'd you say?"
"I said that that'd be a great idea, and that I'd meet him at 1."
"Oh boy," Sam whispered with a sigh, still finding this entire predicament too bizarre to comprehend. "Well, how are the kids?"
"Matt and Addie actually went over and picked up Layna and the girls," Daniel answered with a sigh of his own. "Which was really good. They're gonna go have some ice cream in the park. I'm sure they'll meet up with Charlie later."
Glancing behind her through the window above the sink, Sam disagreed with that assessment. Jack had been tip-toeing around the subject all morning, but it was made abundantly clear that he didn't have a clue how to touch the issue with this Alternate Universe Charlie. He'd been sending the young man furtive glances, enough to make the teen think that he was in trouble. And now they were playing field hockey – bad knees and all – in the backyard for the first time, as far as Charlie was concerned, in two years.
"Maybe," Sam said, hoping Daniel wouldn't pick up on the tone of her voice.
"What does that mean?"
After all the years she'd known him, that had been idiotic at worst, wishful thinking at best.
Sam decided to play along with the usual game of 20 Questions. "Hmmm?" If she was truly honest with herself, she didn't mind these moments with Daniel one bit.
"You said 'maybe' in that odd way that you do when you know something someone else doesn't."
"Why Dr. Jackson, I don't know what you're talking about!"
Daniel sighed, though there was a hint of amusement hidden in there somewhere. "Sam… I don't have time for this."
"Is it almost 1 already?" Sam cracked again.
This time, the sigh gave way to a very irritated groan. Having mercy on him, Sam decided to throw him a bone. "OK, OK. To be honest, Jack and Charlie have been at each other's throats lately. Today they're having some much needed and long overdue father-son time, just the two of them." Sam smiled contentedly as she watched Jack give Charlie a hard time over his off-the-wall "techniques". "I'm just really, really… happy that they're together again, after being separated for so long."
"Wow, Sam," Daniel chuckled. "I know the two of them have had some issues in the past. But by the way you talk about it, you'd think they hadn't seen each other in years!"
"It's certainly felt like that. For both of them, I think."
Something in Sam's heart abruptly stung at the thought. She'd spent less than 24 hours with these kids, and she couldn't fathom what it would be like to live without them once things were returned to normal. She still couldn't imagine what Jack had gone through for so many years, but she was beginning to get an idea.
"Well, I'm happy if you're happy," Daniel said softly, obviously noting the seriousness of the situation.
Sam sniffed unexpectedly and smiled. "Thanks, Daniel. And tomorrow, if you'd like me to tag-team with you for Teal'c, just let me know."
"Will do," Daniel said emphatically. "Talk to you later."
"See ya later, Daniel."
Sam hung up the phone and stared at it for a long time, relishing in the conversation about the relatively mundane with Daniel. It'd been so long since they'd been able to talk to each other so idly. Too many chaotic circumstances and sticky situations had left them on edge over the past two years. If she could trace back to when exactly she'd started feeling the two of them drift apart, she would've had to say when he descended. He'd been busy, she'd been busy. He'd changed while he was gone, and so had she. And somehow, in the midst of nearly losing Jack, Earth and the whole galaxy, they just hadn't been able to connect like they had before. She knew it was a mutual issue that they would eventually need to remedy once she and Jack got back home. Now more than ever…
This new life was tempting in every way. Though she tried to find the trap, the hidden truth to the fantasy, she could find nothing. And she'd be damned if she wasted away what little time she had left in this existence waiting for the other shoe to drop. Judging by Jack's behavior, as he had now teamed up with Grace and Andrew opposite Charlie and Jake, he'd obviously been thinking the same thing.
Watching from the window, Sam allowed her mind to drift to what was awaiting her at "her" lab on Monday morning – a new toy Daniel and his team had found on PZY-9261. She thought of Grace's first soccer practice that Tuesday, and of Andrew's T-ball practices the Thursday after that. And she thought of the people on PZY-9261, whom she'd be meeting personally alongside Teal'c and the rest of SG-3 and SG-7 on Friday. Assuming, of course, she and Jack hadn't made it back home yet.
Was it possible to have it all?
No, she decided. Not in reality. At least, not in hers. The time to have all of THIS had long since passed.
Sam smiled, despite that melancholy truth. But this reality would do. It would do just fine for now. Until she and Jack could get back home.
A firm knock on the front door jolted Sam out of her thoughts. Glancing back outside, Sam headed to the door. When the person knocked again, Sam frowned. They weren't expecting anyone, were they? Maybe they were the neighborhood kids, looking to get in on all the shouting and screaming in the backyard.
Not used to answering the door to strange youngsters, and remembering how welcoming her own mom had been to her friends and how popular that had made her as a result, Sam firmly fixed her smile, determined to get this right.
"Why, hello - " Sam stopped short, realizing much too late that her eyes were fixed on the blue-jean thighs of a grown man. Slowly, she tilted her head up until she came face to face with the non-child on her porch. "Cameron!" This was a surprise.
"Sam!" Cameron parroted.
Sam smirked at his attempt at humor, and placed a hand on her hip. "What brings you here on this fine Saturday afternoon?"
"General O'Neill actually invited me over on Friday as a sort of impromptu welcome to the SGC. He said he wanted me to meet his family." Cameron smiled admiringly. "He also said, in not so many words, they they're the most important people in his life. So, here I am."
"Oh!" Sam smiled tightly, glad to see another familiar face (even if he didn't seem to be THEIR Cameron). "Well, that's… random."
"I agree," Cameron returned with a chuckle. "But I rather liked finding out what you've done with yourself over the past ten years." Suddenly his gaze fixated on a spot above Sam's eyebrow.
"What?" Sam slapped a hand to her forehead, scrubbed slightly and took a look at the contents on her fingers. Pancake mix. Cute. Glaring at Cameron from below her eyelashes, Sam stepped out of the way and made a sweeping gesture inside the house. "Come on in, Cameron."
Cameron obeyed, and gave the front room a generous and curious once over. "So you turned out to be Superwoman, after all!" He turned back to her then and clapped her on the shoulder, reminding her of times she didn't really remember. They'd graduated the same year here, rather than two years apart like in her reality. Strange difference, but not wholly unexpected in the slightest, given the nature of this universe.
"If I'm Superwoman, so is every other working mom in this galaxy," Sam replied.
"Tomato, tomato," Cameron scoffed. "Your house is immaculate, you've had three kids and you don't look a day or a pound over 30, your kids are evidently God's gift to mankind if General O'Neill has anything to say about it, and you're still happily married. Oh, and you've got a mightily successful career in the Air Force, to boot. You tell me that's not Superwoman's curriculum vitae and I'll eat my hat."
Sam stared at him for a moment, amused at the unashamed bluntness with which this Cameron treated her. If Daniel was her caring and compassionate brother, and if Teal'c was her quiet and protective brother, Cameron had definitely always been like a direct and straight-to-the-point cousin. Finally, she deadpanned, "You're not wearing a hat, Cameron."
Sighing, Cameron placed a hand to his eyes. "Ugh, it's the principal of the thing, Carter. Must you be so literal?"
"Yes, she must." Jack's voice came casually from the kitchen as he headed towards the living room. "But you'll get used to it after a while. Again." Cameron subconsciously straightened a hair's breadth away from attention in Jack's presence, and Sam swallowed a smirk. Yes, Cameron was crass and obnoxious to a point. But when it came to the Big Cheese, he was a consummate professional.
"General, sir. Good to see you, sir." Cameron nearly barked, causing Sam to both jump and chuckle at the same time.
"Cut out the sirs today, Mitchell, and I promise this will go a lot smoother," Jack suggested with a grin of his own. "How are ya?"
"Good, sir," Cameron said with a grimace, "and you?"
"Fantastic." Jack drew a blank then, glancing at Carter and back at Cameron. "Do you know why you're here today?"
"To meet the O'Neill crew," Cameron answered, just barely biting back the "sir."
Jack nodded. "OK, then. They're all in the backyard – every last one of them – and they're probably gonna drill you, and then try to get you to play a game of hockey. You know how to play?"
"Absolutely, sir! Love the sport!" Cameron exclaimed, avoiding Sam's gaze. They both knew he'd never been particularly interested, always equating the players to angry football rejects.
"Then go get 'em, Tiger!" Jack ordered with a nod towards the back door. "Oh, and make sure you pick the cute one with pigtails and the runt with a missing front tooth to be on your team. They're MVPs."
"Sure thing!" Cameron barely faltered as he headed out to the backyard.
Sam smiled and prepared to follow him, wondering what horrors he'd face after being thrust upon those children, with hockey sticks no less. But something was nagging at the back of her mind. Something about fantasies and parallel realities. Sam didn't give it much thought. "Why didn't you tell me you invited him to come over today?" she sing-songed quietly as they slowly made their way to the kitchen.
"I didn't. I thought you did," Jack returned in kind. "And what's with the split personalities? One minute he's boisterous, the next he's respectful to a fault."
"Yes," Sam pondered this. "It reminds me of a few other officers I know. Actually, one, to be specific."
"Impossible!" Jack mock-exclaimed. "Such officers don't exist!"
"Uh huh." Sam rolled her eyes. "Sure."
"Listen," Jack stopped then, and grabbed Sam by the shoulder, reminding her of the source of that nagging feeling all over again, "if he's occupying the kids – which will probably be until one of us relieves him – this will give us a chance to get some things in order. Now - "
"Wait," Sam held up a hand, "first thing's first. We have a problem."
Jack frowned, immediately concerned. "What?"
"Teal'c. Daniel called a short while ago. He said Ishta and Teal'c had a huge fight once they got home that led into the morning. Ishta has since disappeared, and Teal'c invited Daniel to the museum."
Jack's eyes grew wide. "The museum? Uh oh."
"Exactly."
"So what'd you and Daniel decide?"
"He'll be with him today, unless and until Ishta shows up again. Otherwise, I'll tag-team him tomorrow morning. Maybe the kids can come here and spend the night or something."
"Sure, sure." Jack nodded. "Whatever works for the big guy." Sighing, he rubbed a hand through his hair. "Well, this has become quite a mess, hasn't it?"
"Yeah." Sam nodded, until she remembered that she'd interrupted him. "So, I'm sorry, what were you going to say?"
Jack opened his mouth, as if to speak, and then promptly closed it. Chuckling, he shook his head. "I don't remember!"
"Uh oh. First Cameron's invitation, and now this?" Sam smirked. "Old age finally creeping up on ya?"
Jack narrowed his eyes with a hint of mirth. "Would you prefer I said I was distracted by you?"
"Sure, I can buy that," Sam replied with a smirk. "It was the eyes, right? Had a bit of a sultry look as I reminded you of your age, didn't they?"
It was Jack's turn to smirk now, as he took Sam by the shoulders and spun her around to face the mirror on the wall. "Actually, I think it was the smudged pancake mix all over your forehead. Pretty sexy."
A/N: OK, I told myself I wasn't going to do any of these, but I thought I'd thank those of you who posted the very kind comments. I really appreciate them.
