The first few months, this project had consumed her every waking moment, so desperate to escape this reality, find another possibility for herself, one without the pain and the hurt. As time moved on it became a security blanket, something she could turn to in the dead of night when the thoughts and feelings closed in on her, when it was raw and painful or just when she needed something to do, something familiar.

Everyone needs a project. That was Sam's philosophy. There was a quiet understanding between her and the work, she didn't need to explain what she was doing or why, didn't need to explain how she felt. She didn't have to worry about the technology hurting her. Not like that. And driving for completion, that new discovery, it kept her ticking, gave her something to live for when everything else seemed so bleak.

Yes. Everyone needs a project.

But now it wasn't tinkering, it wasn't just avoidance, she was back to striving for a result. The psychologist had made her realise just how bad she was, how useless, how idiotic. She couldn't talk about things, she couldn't be helped. And as autumn was rapidly becoming winter once more, she didn't think she could cope with the pain. And if she couldn't be helped, then there was only one solution.

Most people could only wish for this, they could only sit and mope and wish they could change the past, dream that it had never happened. But Sam could change that. If she put her mind to it. And that's what she had been doing for almost a year.

At first she was convinced that it couldn't work. It went against everything she had ever learnt. Solar flares couldn't be predicted and the extent of the time travel would be another incalculable. But someone had worked out how to do it, that note they had received, the one stained with blood, had proven that.

Her first job had been to wok out the variables, what was changing every time. The position of the solar flare was one, an obvious one. The other was the gate address. It had taken some time to work out the calculations, but it seemed that the elements in the solar flare combined with the trajectory of the wormhole's path determined how far forward or back it would take you. Although the flares couldn't be predicted as such, the build up of unstable elements causing a flare could be and Sam had created a program that could simulate the build up and potentially hypothesise the time of a solar flare event.

"Major Carter."

At the deep rumbling voice, Sam looked up from the computer. Standing in front of her workbench was Teal'c, wearing his ever grave expression. With a genuine smile, Sam greeted him warmly.

"Major Carter, I am concerned," he told her, coming around the workbench to stand beside her, towering above her.

Her heart pounded, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter what happened now because she could change everything, make it better. It didn't matter that the psychologist couldn't help her, she wouldn't NEED help. It wouldn't matter that the base psychologists weren't rape specialists, she wouldn't need Janet to take her to a specialist counsellor because she wouldn't have been through it.

"I know what it is you are trying to do," the Jaffa continued quietly, leaving Sam dumbfounded. "And I do not believe it will work."

"Teal'c," she told him with a smile, "I've been working on this for months. I've played out ever scenario, done simulations. It is going to work."

The huge man lowered himself onto a seat. "Major Carter, do you remember K'Tau?"

"Yeah, the Asgard protected planet. P3R-524," Sam recited in confusion. "Why?"

"We inadvertently introduced an alien element to their sun, causing severe damage to the planet," Teal'c continued.

Sam shook her head. "No, Teal'c. This is different. We'd be passing through a flare, not the centre of the sun itself. The risks are minimal. Besides, once I had travelled back, the event wouldn't have taken place. It wouldn't have any effect on the current timeline," she explained, becoming rather exasperated.

"Yet if you wish to return to the present, you would have to place the planet in great danger once more." The Jaffa's voice wore on, ever calm and controlled. "I am unable to believe that you would willingly put the Tau'ri in so much danger, Major Carter."

Sam slammed her hand on the workbench as she jumped to her feet, sending a glass beaker to the ground where it shattered. "It doesn't matter Teal'c! Can't you see, I don't care! I just don't care anymore, about any of it!"

"You are mistaken, Major Carter," Teal'c told her as she stalked the room like a caged animal. "You care too much, which is why you feel the desire to change what has happened."

"Teal'c, just stop it," Sam growled at him, stopping momentarily. "You don't understand."

"I understand more than you think," Teal'c replied in his calm, almost secretive manner. "I understand that you are hurt, that you feel you are somehow to blame. I understand that you want to escape the pain. Not many people have the chance to realise that desire, Major Carter."

The two of them paused in silence and shared a look.

"As First Prime of Apophis I witnessed many things," he told her, his voice tinged with sadness. More than Sam had ever heard in his voice. "I saw much torture, witnessed much pain." He turned his head away from her to look upwards. Sam knew he was trying to mask his own pain.

"I have seen many women… many men… break under such anguish," he continued as Sam fought back tears. "And never have I seen so much courage."

"Teal'c, stop," she told him, wrapping her arms around herself. "I… I'm a wreck. A bit of… sex… I mean, that's all it is, right?... and I become this wreck. I'm not courageous." She raised her eyes to meet his. "I'm not." An awkward moment of silence passed between them. "Teal'c… I'm not."

"You have not come this far without strength of character," he told her as the walls she had so carefully constructed began to crack.

She shook her head dejectedly, tears now streaming down her cheeks. "I only came this far because I knew I could turn it all back, change it. I only got this far because I knew that someday I'd be able to make the pain stop." She paused and raised her eyes upwards, blinking away the salty tears that reddened her eyes. "I'm not only a coward, but I'm a selfish coward. Willing to sacrifice God knows how many lives just so that I can…" She grimaced, turned away.

"Feeling pain is nothing to be ashamed of," he said gently, taking her arm. "Nor is asking for help."

As she buckled and began to sob in earnest, Teal'c wrapped his arms around the young Major, holding her in his strong, warm embrace.