Sam's eyes darted from the computer screens to the laptop and naquadah generator.

"Hey, Sam how…" Mitchell asked, causing her to turn.

"Wait!"

Her warning was too late, and he hit the force shield.

"Ow!"

She winced. "Oh! Sorry."

She quickly input the command to turn off the force shield.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Force shield. Didn't you see my sign?" She asked, seriously.

"No!" He cried as he entered the room. He reached for the paper from the edge of the table. "Yes!" He held it in front of her. "You mean, this sign?"

She chuckled softly. "That was supposed to be out…"

"Yeah, I got that. Is there any particular reason why you turned this place into Fort Knox?"

"I'm attempting to rewrite the safety protocols on Merlin's device so we can take even larger areas out of phase." She said, looking back at the computer screens. "I set up a two way force shield to restrict the range of the device and to ensure that nobody entered the field accidentally."

She chuckled as she remembered how he'd hit the field.

"Yep. Very effective."

She sobered. "Any news on Daniel?"

"No, the latest sighting by the Jaffa turned out to be a false alarm. But Teal'c just got back, so we are going to grab some lunch and go over the report." He said, grabbing her arm as he tried to pull her away from her work.

She stayed put as she raised an index finger in his direction. "Okay, just let me run one more test!"

"No."

"It'll only take a minute, I promise. You can watch from up there." She said, pointing to the observation room.

He looked at it and then at her. "I'm going to be timing you."

"Mm-hmm." She said, somewhat absently as she waved him away and returned to her work. As he left, she activated the force shield again.

Cam tapped his watch from where he stood in the observation room. She smiled and waved before she took herself out of phase. She smiled proudly before she heard a strange sound, causing her to look at each of the components of the device. She quickly adjusted the leads on Merlin's device before she noticed an unusual glow coming from near the naquadah reactor. She pulled her hands back somewhat worriedly as she was pulled into the growing light.

Then, everything went black.

-

Consciousness came suddenly as she felt the coldness of the cement on her cheek. She groaned as she heard the klaxons wailing in warning of a disaster – and it was probably in warning of this disaster.

She saw the scorch marks before she finally looked up at the observation room to find it empty. The sound of voices outside the door caused Sam to quickly turn off the force shield as Dr. Lee and a guard entered.

The scientist looked around the lab in surprise. "Major, uh, are you okay? We-we heard an explosion."

"Yeah, I'm fine…" She said, nodding before her brow furrowed. "Did you just call me "Major"?"

Evan Lorne hurried into the lab. "Sam, thank God you're okay. Where's Dr. Bennett?"

"Major Lorne, what are you doing here?" She asked, confused.

"Whaddya mean?" He asked, confused.

She laughed nervously. "You're supposed to be on Atlantis."

"Sam, what are you talking about?" He asked, shaking his head.

"You're on assignment in the Pegasus Galaxy." She explained.

Bill Lee looked from Sam to the equipment, looking clearly confused as she looked from Lorne to Lee, hoping that this was all a joke.

"Uh, are you sure you're okay? Because I work here. Remember?…As leader of SG-1." Lorne finally stated.

Her eyebrows raised in shock.

-

"So, why are you here?" Major Lorne asked, sitting across the table from her.

"I didn't do it on purpose, believe me." She said, seriously. She was getting a migraine.

"What about that machine you brought with you?"

"It demolecularizes matter and transports it to another dimension." She explained.

"Well, there you go."

"No, no, this is different!" She protested. "Look, according to M theory, there are a fixed number of alternate dimensions existing in parallel with our known universe. The multiverse theory, on the other hand, posits the existence of an infinite number of alternate universes, each evolving concurrently with our own."

"Well, is there a universe out there somewhere where you're giving me a straight answer?"

She sighed, getting more and more frustrated. "Look, there must be some reason why I was brought here, of all places. I need to know what was happening in that lab."

"I'm not authorized to give you that information."

She groaned. "Okay, maybe I could talk to Daniel. Is he here?"

"Dr. Jackson was captured by the forces of the Ori several weeks ago."

"Okay, what about Col. Mitchell? Cameron Mitchell?"

"The 302 pilot? Went down over Antarctica?"

"That's right." She said, somewhat hopefully. "Is he here?"

"I have no idea where he is. The last I heard, he quit the military."

"Teal'c!? Vala?"

"Teal'c went back to the Jaffa several years ago, and if you're talking about Vala Mal Doran, I hate to break it to you, but she is currently occupying a cell at Area 51. Care to take a stab at anyone else?"

She leaned back in her chair, thinking desperately. If Lorne was on SG-1, then Jack wasn't on the base, and they'd never let her see a two-star General. Finally, she leaned forward. "At least let me see the surveillance footage from the lab. There may be a clue."

He didn't react, though he looked over at the camera which was pointed at her. She looked at him before she looked up at the camera. "Look, I know you want your Carter back as much as I want to go home, but we stand a much better chance of figuring this out if we work together."

-

It was only a few minutes before Dr. Lee returned with a small video cart. "We've been instructed to show you the footage you requested," he said in explanation.

She tensed as he began the tape of the surveillance footage.

"We're getting a power spike!" A scientist, presumably this Dr. Bennett, announced.

"Capacitors are overloading. Shut it down." The alternate Carter announced as she began typing on a laptop as there was a blinding flash of light.

Sam winced as she watched the video tape.

"Override's not responding!" Bennett cried.

"Bennett, get out of here!" The alternate Carter cried as sparks flew.

Another flash caused the screen to go fuzzy as the cameras went offline.

"That's all we got." Lee explained. "Sensors indicate there was a massive explosion in the room. But when we opened the door, instead of finding charred remains, we found you."

"What were the capacitors for?" Sam asked, curiously.

The gray-haired scientist looked at Major Lorne, who nodded.

"Major Carter was developing a process by which we could extract energy from parallel universes."

"And you knew about this?" Sam asked, looking at Lorne.

"Uh, knowing and understanding, two totally different things."

"Ordinarily, this type of energy retrieval is extremely dangerous, leading to the creation of exotic particles in one or both universes." Lee continued.

Sam swallowed, remembering the reports she'd read on McKay's experiments. "I know, we've tried it."

"Oh." He said somewhat surprised. "Well our Major Carter found a way around that. She designed the machine so the bridge would only open for a microsecond. The idea was to steal small amounts of energy from thousands of different universes, thereby minimizing the fallout in any single one."

"Anyway, it doesn't entirely explain how you got here."

"That's true. The device was never designed to bring ordinary matter through the bridge."

"Well, I was conducting an experiment of my own. At the precise moment that your Carter tapped into my reality, the entire contents of my lab were out of phase, and they were being protected by a force shield."

"Oh my God! Well it-there's no telling what effect that would have on the inter-universal bridge."

"Well, presumably, it pulled me through and caused the capacitors on this side to overload."

She saw the look on Lee's face fall, soberly.

"Well, if it brought you here, is it possible that it sent our Carter to your universe?" Lorne asked, curiously.

Sam looked at the other scientist before she looked back at Lorne. "I'm sorry, it doesn't work that way."

-

She'd been left alone again, and she reached for her dog tags, upon which her new engagement ring had been strung. She sighed softly as she fingered it. "I'm getting back," she whispered. "I am going to get back."

She stuffed the tags back in her BDUs as she clasped her hands together nervously. The door opened, causing Sam to look up in surprise as Lorne entered, revealing George Hammond behind him. She stood in attention, somewhat surprised. "General Hammond!"

"Colonel."

"You're in command here?" She asked, surprised. Where was Jack?

"That's right."

"I'm sorry, sir. It's just a little strange." She admitted, sheepishly. "The General Hammond I know is retired from active service."

"Well, then he's a lucky man. Please…" He said, gesturing for her to sit.

She did so, as the men joined her at the interrogation table.

"I know this must be difficult for you, Colonel. It's difficult for us as well. In fact, the timing couldn't be worse."

"What do you mean?" She asked, curiously.

"Three weeks ago, the Ori attempted an attack on Earth."

"You survived an Ori attack?!" She asked, surprised.

"One ship. We fought them off with the Ancient chair. The ZPM was nearly depleted in the process."

"That's why our Major Carter was running that experiment. She was trying to bolster our power reserves with captured energy from other universes."

"And of course, you only have the one ZPM, cause you've never received new ones from Atlantis." She said, piecing the situation together in her mind.

Hammond exchanged a curious look with Lorne.

"Atlantis. You've mentioned them before. What is that?"

"It's a city of the Ancients in the Pegasus Galaxy. In my reality, we have an international contingent there."

"I don't know about your reality, Colonel, but in this world, there isn't much in the way of international cooperation. Three years ago, the Goa'uld system lord Anubis launched an attack on Earth. We had no choice but to reveal the existence of the Stargate program to the world."

"People panicked. There was rioting in the streets. The President had to declare martial law."

"The diplomatic fallout was even worse. You can imagine how the world's governments reacted when they realized the kind of technology being employed by the United States military."

"Mm-hmm. We barely got the chair out of Antarctica before the Russians moved in."

"Now it's at Area 51. But it isn't going to do us much good unless we can find a way to power it. And that's where you come in."

She grimaced. "You want me to complete your Carter's research."

"Major Lorne tells me you've been conducting similar research in your own universe."

"Well, yes sir. But, with all due respect, we're facing a very real threat in my universe. I need to start thinking about how to get back there."

"Let's say we agreed to help you get back, and gave you full access to the resources of this base. How long would it take?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I don't even have a working theory yet."

"Well, are we talking weeks? Or maybe even months?"

She nodded with a small sigh. "Yeah, it's possible. That's why I need to get started right away."

Hammond shook his head. "I'm sorry, Colonel, but the fact is, we don't have that kind of time. Our intelligence indicates that having consolidated their position in this part of the galaxy, the Ori are assembling a fleet for a full scale attack on Earth. We expect them within five days."

She tensed before she inhaled. "Take me to the lab."

Hammond turned to Lorne and nodded.

She walked down the familiar corridors of the SGC with a small sigh. Part of her almost wanted to see Jack walking past. But the other part of her knew it would be that much harder to see Jack if she knew that he didn't know her. She had officially become one of the infinite alternate versions of Carters who was involved with Jack O'Neill. And with the many similarities she'd seen between this world and her own, she and Jack had probably never been in a relationship.

Finally, she reached the lab. "Where are your Carter's notes?" She asked almost instantly.

"Here." Lee said, retrieving a laptop. "I assume you could hack in faster than we could."

She smiled appreciatively. "Probably not, but we'll take a stab at it."

-

Sam sighed as she rubbed her eyes and looked back at the computer screen again. When she'd been excited to return back to work, she hadn't wanted to jump into something of this magnitude with both feet.

"Hey. How's it coming?" Lorne asked, walking into the lab.

She looked up in surprise. "Oh, okay, I guess." She sighed. "I was just about to run my first simulation."

"Hmph. You know, it's kinda weird seeing you in here." He admitted.

"It's a little weird being in here." She agreed.

"Yeah."

"It's the same, but it's different, you know?"

She looked at him for a moment before she crossed her arms in front of her. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure."

She stood and retrieved the personal effects she'd found earlier.

"I found these pictures, and, uh, in them, she was wearing a wedding ring."

"Yeah, that must have been before the divorce."

"So…" She asked, pointing at the picture and then at the man in front of her.

"Oh, no-no-no-no. God, no. No, it was this dot com millionaire smartass named McKay."

"Not…Rodney McKay?" She asked, her eyes wide. Never in a million years had she expected that answer.

"Yeah. You have one too, huh? Is he a jerk in your universe?"

"Uh...Some people think so." She said, managing an uncomfortable smile.

"Sam always said there was a side of him that no one else saw."

She swallowed bile. Give her the sardonic and occasionally irreverent Jack O'Neill any day. "Uh...can I ask you another question?"

He nodded. "Sure."

She bit her lip for a moment. "Where's, uh, Colonel O'Neill?"

"Colonel who?"

"The guy who went on the first Abydos mission with Daniel Jackson?"

"His name wasn't O'Neill. It was Kawalski. He was killed about three years ago in a firefight with Anubis. Managed to save Doc Fraiser's life."

Sam tensed. "Janet Fraiser...is here?"

"Not anymore. She married some big shot documentary film producer and lives in California."

"What about Cassie?"

"Cassie..."

"Janet's adopted daughter?"

"Um...she doesn't have any kids." Lorne said, shaking his head. "I mean, there was a kid at the beginning of the Program that Sam wanted to adopt, but McKay didn't like kids, so she got shipped off somewhere else."

Sam swallowed. "So...there was no Jack O'Neill in the program?"

"Not to my knowledge." He said, shaking his head.

Her brow furrowed. What twisted reality had she found herself in?

-

"We owe you a debt of gratitude, Colonel." The President announced, happily.

"I'm glad I could help, sir." Sam grinned.

"I suppose now, you'll want to start working on a way to get back to your own universe." He said, seriously.

"I already have, actually," She said, nodding. "Although I'm not having much luck."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out. In the meantime, there are a few people I'd like you to meet."

They walked into the Gate Room, and she was shocked to see the entire room filled with reporters. Flashes of various cameras blinded her as the hundreds of questions being thrown in her direction filled her head like static noise.

She looked at Landry somewhat worriedly before he leaned over to her with a satisfied grin. "Smile, you're a hero."

She managed a weak smile as she looked back at the mob. What had she gotten herself into?

-

Sam sat down in front of the computer terminal with a small sigh. With only a brief pause of hesitation, she began to type "Jack O'Neill" into the search engine. It took a few minutes of scanning through the results before she stopped as her blood ran coldly in her veins.

She clicked on the eleven year old article, and instantly, the headline came into view: "USAF Colonel Commits Suicide After Son Dies in Accidental Shooting". Underneath the headline, beside the article, was a picture of a younger Jack in his dress blues.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, of the United States Air Force, was found dead in his home on Tuesday morning by his wife, Sara. The Colonel's eight-year-old son, Charlie, had accidentally shot himself with O'Neill's .9 mm handgun three weeks earlier..."

Sam tensed as she felt hot tears sting her eyes as her vision blurred so that she could not read the rest of the article. No wonder no one on the base had heard of him.

"I remember reading about that," George Hammond said, walking into her lab. "It was a media circus for the Air Force."

Sam wiped at her eyes as she turned back to him. "I...know him..." She said, pointing to the screen. "In my world, he joined the Stargate Program instead of committing suicide."

She looked down at her hands. "Our General Hammond became very good friends with him over the years."

The General sighed softly, recognizing how hard it was for her to be in their universe.

"If you'll excuse me, General," she sighed softly. "I need to get back to work on getting back to my universe."

He nodded as she slipped past him.

-

Sam sighed as she sat in the back of the limousine, on her way to the Presidential celebratory soiree in honor of their recent success. She squirmed uncomfortably in the dress that the President's aides had given her. She felt like she had become a puppet; some doll who was being told what to wear, what to say, what to do and how to do it.

"What would you do, Jack?" She asked herself. "What would you do if someone was attaching puppet strings to you?"

She sighed. Kinsey had done that, and Jack had nearly gone to prison for it because of his animosity toward the Senator.

She turned on the television.

"I can't tell you how fortunate I am to have men and women like Major Carter on my team." Landry said, obviously pleased with himself. "And I'm confident that with their help and your continued support, we will prevail through the difficult times that lie ahead."

The scene changed to Julia Donovan's commentary on the clip. "That was the scene yesterday at Stargate Command as President Landry introduced the world to the Air Force Major responsible for the brilliant plan that saved the planet…"

Her cell phone rang, and she looked at it for a moment. Bill Lee, her caller ID read. She quickly turned off the television and opened the phone. "Bill, tell me you have good news!"

"The preliminary simulations were a bust. There's just no way we can replicate the conditions that originally brought you here. Not unless we can control the environment on both sides of the bridge."

Sam sighed. At this rate, she'd never get home. Not with all of the parties and functions the President was dragging her to. She needed to be working on the problem with Bill, not just feeding him her ideas through a telephone. "All right, I'll be back tomorrow. We can go over it then. Bye."

The limousine came to a stop as she put the phone into her purse, and she inhaled, trying to prepare herself for the crowd of reporters and paparazzi who were each ready at a moment's notice to snap a thousand pictures of her on her way into the White House.

The limousine door opened, and the driver and a guard helped to push her way through the throng. It wasn't hard to ignore the questions being flung in her direction – they were practically unintelligible with the number of reporters speaking out of turn to begin with.

Sam got into the Banquet Room of the White House, feeling more than a little out of place at the reception. Only a few moments later, one of the senators and his wife approached her. "Major, it's an honor. On behalf of the people of the great state of Idaho, thank you."

She managed an embarrassed smile. "Oh, well…you're very kind, sir."

"Keep up the good work, dear." His wife grinned.

"Thank you." She said as the senator and his wife left. She sighed softly as she looked around at the rest of the party.

"Enjoying the party?" The President asked, walking over to her.

"Uh…I'm not sure that's exactly the right word, sir." She managed with a small grimace.

"Have some champagne. Relax."

"I guess I'm just not used to all the attention."

"They do things differently where you come from?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, no, it's not just that." She said, shaking her head. She'd been to a function somewhat like this with Jack when they'd both been awarded the Air Medal. "I feel like an impostor, sir. I mean, these people think that I'm "Major" Samantha Carter."

"That won't be a problem anymore." Landry said with a chuckle. "We're promoting you!"

"Yeah. That's not the point, sir." She said, somewhat troubled by his flippant treatment of her situation.

"People here have been through a lot lately. They need something to believe in. Your timing is impeccable."

She sighed as a commotion caused her to turn.

"No security without freedom! No security without freedom!" A protestor shouted.

"Sir, let's get you out of here." Charlie said, leading Landry and Carter to the center of the room as secret service agents pushed the guests to the wall as more agents wrestled with the protestor.

"We will NOT be silenced by acts of tyranny. Our voices will be heard! No security without freedom! No security…!" The protestor's cry was interrupted as the agents used a Goa'uld pain stick on him. He screamed in agony, and Sam winced as memories of Goa'uld torture washed over her. She watched him slump into the agents' arms as they dragged him away.

She had to get out of here.

-

Several weeks later:

Sam rubbed her neck as she continued to work on getting herself home without annihilating herself in the process.

"You look terrible." McKay said, walking into her lab.

She glared at him as she looked up.

"Don't look at me that way."

"Why shouldn't I, McKay?"

"Because I'm your ticket home."

She closed her eyes. "Really? Can't you ever admit that you're not the end-all-be-all?"

"But I am." He said, seriously.

She rolled her eyes. "I don't have time for this."

"I found the solution." He said, leaning into look at her. "You can go home as soon as you gather up your stuff."

She looked up in surprise. "Really?"

"Yep."

"What was it?"

"Well, it was genius actually," he began. "All I did was..."

She put her hand up. "You know...I don't want to know. I just want to go home."

He stopped his explanation and looked at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "Then, uh, get your stuff."

"Are you okay?" She asked, noticing the look on his face.

"Fine." He said, studying her for a moment. "Just...when you leave, I'll have to admit that she's gone."

Sam inhaled softly. "I'm sorry."

"It's life." He sighed. "Let's get you home, okay?"

She nodded with a grateful smile.

-

She appeared back in her lab to find Dr. Lee scanning the room with a sonic scanner.

"Dr. Lee!" She greeted with a grin.

He spun around, dropping the device in his surprise. He gasped and cried out in pain as he tried to tear off the headphones as they squealed in his ears.

She grimaced as she mouthed the word "ow".

Finally, he looked up at her, relieved. "You're back!"

She grinned. "Hi!"

-

She walked into her apartment, looking around for Jack. It was Saturday afternoon after all.

"Jack," she asked, hoping that she wasn't alone in her apartment.

There was no answer, and she sighed. He had probably canceled his travel plans until she could be found. She reached into her pocket, and retrieved her cell phone. She quickly dialed the number 1 speed dial.

"O'Neill."

"Jack, it's me."

"Sam? When did you get back?"

"Just a few hours ago. I was stuck in a debriefing with Landry, so I couldn't call you..."

"You're okay? You're fine?"

"Yes, Jack, I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"I was sucked into an alternate reality where General Landry was President, we were under Martial Law, and..." She hesitated. "Uh, Mitchell was still paralyzed..."

"Well, that's different." He said, seriously.

She tensed. "Yeah..."

"What else?"

"Hm?"

"I can hear when you're uncomfortable." He said, insightfully. "What else was weird?"

"The other Carter? Rodney McKay was her ex-husband."

"You're kidding."

"Uh-uh."

"So...this alternate reality...are we at number 19 where you and I are a couple."

She inhaled. "Uh...no."

"Oh?"

"That reality's Jack O'Neill didn't ever make it to the Stargate Program."

"Because he shot himself." Jack finished, soberly.

"I read the article." She admitted. "I was trying to find someone who could help me get back home."

"I'm sorry you had to do that," he sighed.

She was silent for a moment.

"Sam?"

"I need you to tell me about those days, Jack." She finally managed. "More than a few snippets."

His silence was deafening for a few moments before he finally sighed again. "I know."

"As long as you know," she said, biting her lip.

"Then you don't want to talk about it right now?"

"Look, I'm tired, and you probably want a little more time, so...let's play it by ear, okay?."

"You're sure..."

"Yes, Jack."

"Love you."

"Love you too. And...I'm really glad you're, uh," she coughed emotionally. "I'm really glad that you made it onto that first mission."

"Me too, Sam." He admitted.

"I'm tired, and I've got a big day ahead of me tomorrow."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Landry wants us to go on a recon mission tomorrow."

"Ah."

"Who knows...it might lead us to Daniel..."

"Well, good luck on the mission."

"Thanks."

"And sweet dreams."

"Backatcha, Jack."

"Glad to have you back."

"Glad to be back."