CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Janet was quick to fill the void left by Daniel's absence.

She chatted with Sam only a little, however, and she still seemed somewhat put off by her friend's presence. Mostly, her visit was professional. She checked the few monitors still hooked up to Sam, collected a few more samples, and quietly excused herself, saying truthfully that she had to attend a briefing.

And what a briefing it was.

Daniel told Sam's tale as best he could, sparing no detail and leaving General Hammond, Doctor Fraiser, Colonel O'Neill, and the still present Teal'c in a stunned silence for several moments.

Hammond broke the stony quiet first.

"And you believe her?"

Daniel nodded vigorously. "Yes. Yes, I do."

Janet agreed quietly. "I can't refute it."

The General seemed to consider this information for a moment and then shrugged. "Then I suppose we have to accept it. Is there any reason to continue to confine her to the infirmary, Doctor?"

Fraiser shook her head. "None that I can tell, sir. She appears to be in perfect health."

Hammond nodded and was about to give the order to release this new Major Carter when a stony voice cut into the conversation.

"But how do we really know? How can we be sure?"

Everyone stared at the speaker for a long moment, but finally Daniel answered.

"I suppose when you get right down to it, we can't absolutely prove anything, Jack."

Jack's eyes found Daniel's then, and held them for an infinity. Suddenly, the room seemed to narrow for both men, and they might have been completely alone for all either of them noticed anyone else. It was a very long moment before Jack spoke again.

"Then I guess we don't really know, do we? This Shifu tale might be some cock and bull story to make us accept her. We've seen things like this before. We could all be having some sort of hallucination or dream or be hooked up to some sort of simulation machine… or something…"

Jack waved one hand in the air in frustration as he spoke. Hammond, Teal'c, and Janet wisely kept silent, as they considered that Jack might have a point, but Daniel nearly growled back at his friend. Daniel was angry, and he wasn't about to back down.

"Come on, Jack! Why can't you just accept this? Does this feel like any of those other times? I won't argue that this is hard to swallow, but think about it! Shifu is perfectly capable of this! Remember the dust storm in the desert?"

"A tornado and a resurrection are two entirely different things, Daniel."

Daniel sighed in frustration. "I know that, Jack. But what else is there to do? The way I see it, we have Sam back, and I'm not going to reject her. I really don't care how this happened. I'm just glad that it did. I would think you would understand that."

Daniel's last words were quieter than his others, but no one in the room missed them. Janet raised her eyebrows in response to Daniel's insinuation, but no one else seemed to respond at all.

Jack did not answer. He merely bowed his head and studied the wood grain of the table in front of him as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. The truth was that he didn't entirely trust himself to speak, and the things that were percolating through his brain were things that he really couldn't say in present company. So he stayed quiet, both to control the raging emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him and to prevent an all out argument with Daniel in front of his commanding officer.

That type of behavior was discouraged in Colonels, and while Jack was hardly the model officer in many ways, he knew when to shut up.

After a long moment, when it became clear that no one else was going to say anything, Hammond cleared his throat and spoke slowly.

"I've already contacted Jacob about this, and he will be returning to the SGC tomorrow. In the meantime, I propose we allow our guest out of isolation, since she's shown no signs of communicable illness and seems to be no threat to us. I want her confined to base, however, and I want a guard with her at all times."

Fraiser nodded and began to stand to carry out the General's orders, but Daniel spoke again.

"Is that really necessary, sir?"

Hammond nodded definitively. "Yes, Doctor Jackson, it is."

"I'll stay with her, sir," protested Daniel. "You don't have to put a guard on her."

Hammond smirked slightly. "Son, you can keep her company as much as you'd like, but I'm still posting a guard to her. We still don't know exactly what's going on here, and while I'm inclined to believe her story, Colonel O'Neill has a point. We need to be careful here. We have no idea what might be going on."

Daniel nodded in reluctant acceptance. "Alright, fine."

Hammond looked around the room then at his personnel.

"Any more questions?"

Four heads shook negatives, and Hammond nodded.

"Alright then, see to it, Doctor Fraiser. We'll meet again at fourteen hundred tomorrow. Until then, you are all on stand down."

Chairs pushed back from the table, and Jack O'Neill was gone before anyone else could move. Janet Fraiser left next, hurrying off to the isolation room. Daniel followed her out of the room shortly, and Hammond sighed as he gathered his papers for another long night in his office. It was only then that he noticed the only Jaffa in his employ was still sitting in his chair, which was nearly at the opposite end of the table.

Teal'c had attended the briefing for many reasons, but he had very obviously chosen a seat a few away from the others, and he had been silent the entire time. To be honest, Hammond had nearly forgotten the Jaffa was present, despite his importance in the current affairs of SG-1.

As the General stood, he addressed Teal'c, who showed no indication of moving.

"Teal'c, are you ok?"

The Jaffa's bald head turned to Hammond and nodded once.

"I am merely contemplating these events, General Hammond."

Hammond chuckled. "I can see why they might require some thought, that's for sure. What do you think about all this?"

Teal'c pursed his lips for a moment before speaking, as if collecting his thoughts.

"I believe that the being known as Shifu is completely capable of allowing Major Carter to return to us. I also see no reason to doubt her intentions at this point. It is prudent to continue to observe her closely, but I perceive no threat here. It is possible that O'Neill is correct, and that we are all involved in some sort of alternate reality or hallucination, but Daniel Jackson is right is pointing out that there has been no indication of that."

"So you're in favor of accepting this woman as Samantha Carter?"

Teal'c paused for another second, then nodded and answered simply. "Yes."

Hammond smiled. "Good enough for me, Teal'c. Good enough for me."

Teal'c stood suddenly as the General spoke and bluntly excused himself.

"Thank you, General Hammond. I am pleased that you value my opinion. But if you will excuse me, there are things I must attend to."

Hammond nodded in slight confusion at Teal'c's abruptness, and waved a hasty farewell at the Jaffa's retreating back.

In seconds, the General was alone in the briefing room.

He glanced down at the stargate and chuckled to himself. He had to laugh to keep himself from losing his mind completely. He hadn't signed up for this, and if the truth were told, he had no idea how to handle this situation.

Personally, he had seen enough truly bizarre things since joining the SGC that he was inclined to believe that Samantha Carter was back from the dead, and he agreed with Doctor Jackson in that he frankly didn't care how it happened, but he had no idea where to go from here.

Having Major Carter back was one thing.

Repairing the damage her death had done was quite another, and he knew it.