It had never been more clear to Jacob why he hadn't wanted his daughter to join the military. Even with eight of his own men behind him – men who were supposed to respect him, men whom he'd firmly trained to think he was a no-frills hard-ass general – he had known there would come a point where the soldier side of him would lose out to the father.

That moment had come twenty minutes ago, when the last fit had left her too exhausted to even hold up her head. Tenderly, he stroked the blond hair in his lap, willing her some of his strength. "I wish I could take the pain away," he murmured softly.

"I know."

"I can't.... Sammie, I can't watch you die."

She forced a weak smile. "Won't come to that."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Five years," she breathed. "Haven't died yet."

"On the contrary, Major Carter," Teal'c's calm baritone sounded from a few feet away. "By the medical definition, I believe you have died many times these past years."

Jacob couldn't help it; he tensed, drawing his alternate-reality daughter a little closer to him.

"Thanks, Teal'c. That was helpful," she muttered.

The strange man just nodded slightly. Jacob had been taking in his mannerisms for the last hour or so – his, and the way the archaeologist and Colonel O'Neill bickered like brothers, and the concerned looks they all kept shooting at his daughter... and he had to ask. "What is it that you do, Sammie? With an archaeologist, an alien, and... him? That you're cheating death all the time? That you can take this all in stride?"

She grinned at him – it was listless, but still far more mischievous than a mere smile. "Dad," she said softly, "we're SG-1."

This was one of those moments, he was certain, where Jeanie would have warned him that a change in the wind would freeze his face just the way it was forever, and she'd be stuck with an ugly husband. He'd been shocked by his daughter's military uniform, her scientific mind.... With coaxing, he'd been willing to believe (somewhat half-heartedly) that she was good at both. But SG-1? The flagship team? "But...."

"Think outside the box, Dad. It's good for you."

Yes, that was definitely his Sam – her mother's child. A smile spread across his face. "I'm proud of you."

"All right, we're set here," the other scientist – Dan? Danny? – announced, and Jacob slid carefully out from under his daughter, allowing the Jaffa to assume her care.

That was hard to watch.

His men backed off (as did he, with a heavier heart than he'd expected), but not so far that he couldn't hear Colonel O'Neill announce, "I hate to tell you this, Daniel, but that looks a helluva lot like it did the first time we tried it."

"Well, if at first you don't succeed, Jack," the other man shot back. "It's set up exactly like the one in our reality. That should program a bridge between the two."

As one, the four reached out gingerly and pressed their hands against the wall.

And as every time before, nothing happened.

"Well, that's not right," Daniel said.

"Perhaps this device is malfunctioning," the Jaffa suggested.

Sam groaned, and Jacob was just close enough to barely make out her words. "I hope not. 'Cause I won't live long enough to fix it."