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~Peglea II, day 136~
"The roof's leaking!" Vala cries as several drops strike her face and shoulders.
Luckily there are only three or four places where the water is coming in. They rush to place jars under the drips.
"I guess we know what we'll be doing tomorrow," Jack says, smirking as Vala squeals at the cold water running down her neck. He grabs her around the waist and they tumble onto the bed, laughing.
~x~
When the Puddle Jumper appears above the clearing the following morning, they are both on the cabin roof making repairs.
~X~
Vala, who is facing toward the Stargate, sees it first, and shrieks with excitement, dropping her hammer and pointing. "Jack! Look!"
He turns, and for a moment they simply stare in disbelief, watching as the Jumper descends. "Come on!" Jack grabs her hand and scrambles toward the ladder.
By the time the ship settles to the grass, they have hit the ground, and are running toward it. When the door opens, Jack and Vala are there waiting, holding tight to one another with excitement.
Daniel is the first out, and his feet barely touch the earth when Vala flings herself into his arms. She is crying joyfully, and Daniel clasps her tightly against him. And over her shoulder his eyes are on Jack, his best friend, who is standing there—alive and whole and healthy, with a huge grin on his face...
Still holding Vala close, Daniel reaches out toward Jack, who steps forward quickly and envelops both of them in his arms. Then Teal'c is there, with one large hand grasping Jack's shoulder warmly, and behind him is Mitchell, pounding on his back. He sees John Sheppard standing nearby.
"What the hell took you guys so long?!" Jack demands.
The rescuers exchange glances. "It is a long story, O'Neill," Teal'c replies. "We will tell you all about it in time."
"Damn right you will!" Jack exclaims as he releases Daniel and turns to shake Mitchell's hand, and then clasp forearms with Teal'c's in a brotherly embrace. "Is Carter with you?" he asks, as the two warriors separate.
"Indeed," Teal'c replies, and indicates the jumper, where Sam is standing, one hand grasping the edge of the door, and the other clasped to her mouth.
Jack grins widely, and starts toward her, but after only a few steps he can see there are tears on her face, and a moment later she turns away, retreating back into the shelter of the ship.
Surprised, Jack pauses, and glances first toward Teal'c, and then Daniel. "What was that about?" he asks.
Daniel turns to Jack, with one arm still around Vala. "It was very hard for her, Jack. Go and see her."
Jack frowns and looks at Vala. For a moment their eyes lock, and then she smiles. "Go," she mouths to him, waving her hands in a shooing motion.
Jack walks toward the jumper, pausing to shake Sheppard's hand on the way. "Thank you, Colonel."
"My pleasure, sir," John replies. "It was a trip, believe me."
Sam is sitting in the pilot's seat, struggling to control her emotions, when she hears his step on the entrance ramp. She quickly wipes the tears from her face with her palms, and draws a deep breath.
Her intense reaction has taken her completely by surprise. She did not expect this total breakdown...
The ship comes in above the clearing, and she sees Jack and Vala on the roof of the cabin, and the relief that floods her senses is overwhelming. Only then does she realize that she has feared that it was all in vain—that their efforts will have failed. That he will be dead despite their attempt to circumvent fate—whether because they miscalculate and arrive too late after all, or, perhaps because destiny will have stepped in to make his death a reality...
But when the ship's door opens he is standing there, tall, grinning and sunburned—and alive!—and it is the most beautiful sight she has ever seen. He looks healthy and strong, and more fit than she has seen him since those early years with SG1. He's wearing trousers that look like they're made of tanned leather, and a sleeveless vest that leaves his arms bare and fits the planes of his chest closely. His hair is long, tied back at his nape, and the lower half of his face is hidden by thick whiskers.
She's overwhelmed by the sight of him, and watches, eyes glued to his figure as he embraces Daniel and then Teal'c. She's frozen there in the door, all of her emotions crashing down upon her at once, and the only thing she can do is stare at him and weep.
Then he looks up and sees her, and suddenly it is too much, and she turns back into the dimness of the ship...
Now she knows he is standing there behind her, and she takes one last deep breath and prepares to face him.
At first Jack thinks that she's not going to look at him, and he hesitates, uncertain what to say or do. Her face is turned away, and she is sitting very still and stiff.
He takes a step forward and slips into the co-pilot's seat. "Carter," he says softly. At last she looks at him, and he starts to smile, but her face is so full of distress that his expression changes to concern, and he reaches out and takes her hand. "Sam? What's wrong?"
It is a moment before she can speak. "We lost you," she manages at last.
"Not a chance," he says. "Not with you working to save us."
Tears well in her eyes and spill down her cheeks. "I'm so glad to see you," she whispers.
"Yeah, me too," he answers.
And then she reaches over and puts her arms around him and buries her face in his shoulder. She's still crying, and all Jack can think to do is just hold her. It's awkward, though, with the space between the two seats, until, to his surprise, she moves again and climbs into his lap, burying her face against his chest. His grip on her tightens, and he turns his head into the crook of her neck and shoulder.
"It's okay, Sam," he says softly. "You found us. Thank you."
She struggles to regain control of herself, and after a while is able to release him and move back to her seat. He feels the absence of her body's warmth, and keeps hold of her hand.
"Look at you." She smoothes her free hand over his beard, also taking in the length of his pony tail. "I've never seen you with a beard before, and so much hair."
"Too much trouble to shave," he says. "Besides, this way the Pegleans don't think I'm so odd looking."
She smiles. "Yeah, I'll bet you fit right in. A bit tall maybe..."
"There is that," he admits, grinning. "But they don't seem to mind."
"No. I don't suppose they do." She touches his cheek above the beard. "Are you all right?"
"Yes. What about you?"
"I'm fine—now that we've found you. How long have you been here?"
"About two and a half planetary years. Nearly two earth years?"
"Okay," she says. "We got it just about right." She smiles. "You look great."
"So do you. But I don't understand..."
"It's a long story. We'll explain."
"That's kind of what Teal'c said. How long did it take you to find us?"
"A little over two weeks."
His brows go up. "That's all? So why didn't you come sooner... er, I mean sooner for us?"
"Well, that's a little complicated. Part of it has to do with getting the conversions from Earth-time correct..." She pauses. "And then we made a mistake..."
"Sam! Jack!" Daniel's voice reaches them from the rear of the ship. "Are you guys okay in there?"
"We're fine, Daniel," Jack replies. "We'll be out in just a minute." He turns to Sam. "Are you okay now? Ready to go outside?"
She nods, rising. "Yes. Let's go."
They emerge into the sunshine, and Sam is instantly enveloped in a hug by Vala—which leads to more hugging and backslapping and general merriment. Daniel is especially excited and keeps touching both Vala and Jack, seemingly to make sure they are real.
Eventually they become calmer, and settle down in front of the cabin, on an outdoor bench and on the ground, to talk.
"So fill us in," Jack demands. "How'd you find us?"
"This is our second try," Daniel says.
"You didn't find us the first time?" Vala asks.
"Oh, we found you," Cam says. "At least—we found Vala."
"Cam..." Sam begins.
"You found me?" Vala says. "Where was Jack?"
"Yeah," Jack adds. "Where was I?"
Sam glares at Mitchell who spreads his hands in confusion, asking, "Well, weren't you going to tell him?"
"Tell me what?" Jack insists.
There is a short silence, broken at last by Teal'c. "You had died, O'Neill."
Jack's eyebrows rise. "Oh," he says.
"He died?" Vala exclaims, horrified. "How? And when did this happen? I mean..."
"You mean... when will it happen," Daniel corrects. "Er..." He glances around at Sam and Teal'c. "We came... that is, the first time we came was almost ten years from now."
Jack frowns. "Ten years later... than now?"
"Yeah," says Daniel. "We thought we'd found a message... a clue that you'd left for us to find..."
"We haven't left a message," Vala interrupts. "We talked about it..."
"You never did. We know that now, but we didn't know it then..."
"We misinterpreted something," Sam adds. "We thought it was from you."
"Well, it was," Mitchell puts in. "It couldn't have been from anybody else, after all! It just wasn't meant the way we thought it was meant..."
Daniel and Sam both start to break in.
"Ackk!" Jack's exclamation silences them all. "Okay. I haven't got a clue what you're talking about!"
Sam and Daniel and Cam exchange glances.
"O'Neill." Teal'c breaks the ensuing puzzled silence. "I shall explain."
Jack turns to his warrior friend with relief. "Please do. Everybody else, zip it!"
Teal'c bows his head briefly. "We discovered that there was children's literature on Peglea with characters which greatly resembled those from The Simpsons television show."
"Really!" Jack exclaims.
"Indeed. In our time, there were books, puppets and other forms of entertainment which were obviously based upon your favorite cartoon show. It seemed clear that you must have been the one who introduced said cartoons, and we thought that you must have left them as a clue for us to find you. We searched in the library for an indication of when these characters first appeared. As DanielJackson has observed, the Pegleans keep extensive and detailed records of everything in their culture and history."
Jack is nodding. "That they do."
Teal'c continues. "We determined that the early examples of the Simpsons were published approximately ten years from now, so we used the time device to travel to that year. There we found ValaMalDoran." He bows in her direction. "She was well. However, she informed us that you had died five years previously, as a result of injuries sustained when lightning struck the main library, which you were assisting the Pegleans to construct. You had survived the accident, although your injuries were grave. Over a period of time, however, your condition deteriorated, until you passed away."
Jack and Vala are listening with rapt attention. Vala covers her mouth as the story proceeds, and she reaches out, closing her hand on Jack's wrist. He turns his hand and grasps hers.
Teal'c goes on then to give a succinct yet complete recital of the situation as they found it on their first trip into the past with the time device, as well as an explanation of how Jack had come to leave behind drawings of the Simpsons' characters.
When Teal'c is done there is a long silence. Sam's eyes are lowered and her lower lip is caught between her teeth. Daniel and Cam both look subdued. Sheppard stands quietly to one side. Jack and Vala's hands are still clasped tightly.
Cam finally speaks up. "It was Vala's idea that we make another time-jump. She gave us the date of the accident, so we could arrive before it happens."
"The accident will occur one year and forty-one days after the arrival of the Pegleans on the planet," Teal'c says.
"That's about a year from now," Jack observes quietly.
Vala turns to look at him. "We have to warn them!" She turns back to Teal'c. "Are there many casualties?"
"Indeed. A dozen or more."
"Then we have to let them know it's going to happen." Vala glances around at the others. "What? Why are you looking like that? They're our friends! You can't think..."
The rescue team are exchanging dismayed looks.
It's Daniel who speaks. "Vala, the accident happened in the original timeline. I saw the mural in the library on our first trip to Peglea, though I didn't ask for details at the time. That was before you guys got trapped in the past."
"You're saying it was meant to happen?" she demands. "Then why did you bother coming back to save Jack? Maybe that was meant to happen, too!"
"But you guys are an anomaly in the timeline..."
"We've been here since before the people arrived. We've probably already changed their history in ways none of us can even imagine! No, Daniel! We're not leaving here without warning them!" She turns to Jack again. "Tell them, Jack! We can't just let this happen!"
"I agree with her on this," Jack says. "As much as we've messed with the timeline by now, one more thing won't make much difference."
"Sir, whether you're here or not wouldn't have any influence on the weather," Sam points out.
"That's true," he agrees. "But it might influence who is actually working on the building that day. I don't know, Carter! I just know we have friends here. We owe that much to them."
"But then we'll have to explain about the time travel..."
"They already know that. They also know we've been waiting to be rescued."
"They'll be happy for us," Vala says. She looks at Jack. "We should go into town and say good-bye."
Sam is watching Jack's face, and she sees the look of sadness that comes to his eyes. Then he blinks and the look is gone.
"Yes," he agrees. "You guys aren't in a hurry to leave are you? This may take a little while."
In fact, their good-byes take the rest of the day, and well into the evening. As word spreads that Jack and Vala are going home, a large portion of the town's population turns out to wish them well. Jack pulls Baylen and several of the town officials aside and explains to them about the accident and when and how it will take place.
Late that night, Vala and Jack stand looking around inside the cabin that has been their home for nearly two years.
"Is there anything you want to take back with us?" Jack asks softly.
"Everything!" she answers. "I want to keep it all."
~x~
Daniel hears voices as he nears the cabin door, and pauses. He can see their shadows in the lamplight that spills out of the doorway.
"We can't take everything," Jack is saying. "Won't fit in the Jumper."
"I know," Vala answers. "I just hate to leave it behind."
"We should take the journal. It'll make it easier to debrief."
"Yes."
"And you can take any of the smaller things you want," he said gently.
There is a short silence.
"What did you do about the cabin?" she asks.
"I told Baylen that he can have it."
"Good. He'll know what to do with it," she says. "And he'll appreciate it because you built it." There is another short pause. Vala's shadow moves over out of Daniel's sight, and he hears sounds of things being moved around. Vala speaks again. "I was so proud of you—and so amazed that you can make all of this for us. That you could build a life for us here." Her voice is tight and thick.
"We," he corrects. "We built a life."
"I only did what you told me to do." There is yet another moment of quiet. She sniffles. "Am I crazy to be sorry to leave here?"
"Well, if you are, then so am I," he says, and Daniel can hear the regret in his tone. Jack clears his throat. "We should go."
She steps back toward Jack. "I know, darling."
The shadows move together in an embrace, and Daniel turns away, and heads back toward the ship.
A little while later they all board the Jumper and prepare to return to their own time.
~X~X~X~X~X~X~