I have to say I really, really love how Amanda Tapping looked during season four…well, I really, really love season 4. Anyway, with that out of the way… I just want to thank you for reading this fic.

Happy New Year!

Enjoy,

M.

Chapter 28 –A year closer

"What about his birthday?" They all looked at Daniel searching for an explanation, "Aidan's birthday… that year?"

"I was just in time… thankfully" Jack sighed "it was after that stint where you did that Jedi stuff" Daniel frowned in confusion.

"Aidan's birthday is in August," Sam provided with a smile.

"Oh! 2000, August…that places the 'Jedi stuff' in… Kheb?" Jack nodded once confirming his suspicions and making him blush when he remembered how he confused 'Desala' powers with his own, he cleared his throat and frowned, "before or after I went out of phase?"

"We were planning his party by the middle of it"

"That's why you didn't stay on base to continue your research that night!" Sam nodded, "Now it all makes sense, I thought I wasn't as important to you, since Jack deserved your undivided attention for 3 months in a row but I disappeared and it wasn't even a couple of days yet and you… left"

"I'm sorry you felt left out," she grimaced, "If I knew you were around…"

"You would have gone anyways, because you had stuff to do and things to prepare," he conceded not even disturbed by the quick way he dismissed feeling left out, now that he knew the real reason.

"Actually, no." she grimaced, shaking her head "If I knew you were around, I wouldn't have left. If I knew you were around, it wouldn't be safe for me to leave, because I wouldn't know for sure if you were following me or not… and that would be a high risk." Daniel made an 'o' with his mouth understanding that, if he followed one of them when he was out of phase, he would have come to know about Aidan a long time ago. "Anyway, his birthday was just a couple days before we arrived from getting you back and leaving Nick with the giants."

"And then, to continue with the 2000's saga…."

"Thor came to Earth to seek for help and you got stuck again for another week when the tech's weren't able to move the gate quickly enough and had that issue they needed you to fix, but as you were stuck on the other side it took longer that it would have lasted with you here"

"Yeah, exactly that, I think" Jack agreed, "you know, we had to postpone that vacation again… and here I was thinking of fishing and all"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but we were here trying to bring you back to Earth, but coming back to Earth meant just got out of a week at 'paradise planet'…" Daniel trailed and to everyone's surprise a mischievous smile took hold of Teal'c's face before he said

"Indeed"

"And then you went to the Asgard's homeworld while we stood behind to get rid of the pesky bugs on that Russian sub"

"Wait, you know something, don't you, Teal'c?" Janet interrupted analyzing the stoic Jaffa face for a while.

"I know of many things," he conceded

"About them…" she pointed out and he just nodded, "Okay, I guess I'm not getting anything out of you… are you going to tell us what happened that week?"

Sam and Jack exchanged a glance, Teal'c raised an eyebrow and then, they all answered at once,

"No"

2000

P3X-234

Sam came out of the door with a quick roll, and a grunt and during her millisecond upside down, she saw the most beautiful sunset she had ever seen, and she had seen plenty. She heard Jack growling and then she also turned around to continue to shoot at the bugs who were still following them through, she left out a sigh when the wormhole finally disengaged and left herself fall on the sandy floor.

"Well, that was close," Jack smirked coming to his feet and patting his behind to get rid of the sand, he got when he rolled over, Sam looked at him with an amused smile from her position, laying almost sprawled in the white sand. He winked at her before helping her up. "If I was a funny sight, you might take a look at yourself, glow worm," he smirked and walked a couple steps. With widened eyes, she checked her own bum and yes, the white sand clung to her and the last rays of the sunset made her assets glow brightly. She blushed fiercely and started to pat herself to get rid of the sand.

"Indeed," Teal'c provided and they both turned their eyes towards the Jaffa, not knowing if he just agreed with the proximity of their ends or with Sam looking like a glow worm.

"How come you don't get the sandy version of yourself? I know I have this white thing in places you wouldn't want to know and I only rolled over it," Jack complained and Sam snorted, a few minutes later, when he decided he wouldn't ever know to which of his comments the Jaffa was referring.

"I was aware of the terrain we were expecting"

"You have been here before?" Sam asked, frowning, and Teal'c nodded, and soon they were surrounded by a small group of people. Four girls not older than 16th came to them, they were smiling brightly and beckoning them to get closer.

"I have," Teal'c confirmed and with a confident step moved forward to meet the group. Sam frowned and looked at Jack, then at Teal'c, whom surprisingly, was already half way to the group, his guns down. Making her mind with a shrug, she followed the Jaffa.

"Wait, this wasn't a planet we visited," Jack added, before noting he was the only one left close to the gate and that one of the girls of the group already had started to tug him to move. "Alright, alright," he said to the girl and started to walk. After a good hour, they caught sight of a mountain, but the group continued to move towards that direction, and didn't stop until they got to a large boulder. Once in front of them, the girls giggled and the Earthlings shared a confused gaze.

"Indeed, this was not part of SG-1 mission list," Teal'c acknowledged finally.

"But you have been here before?" Sam asked, as they observed, surprised as the girls disappeared behind the rock.

"I have… I came here with my wife. As you will say, we came here for our honeymoon. It's believed among the Jaffa that getting entrance to this place can grant your join of an insurmountable joy and love as no other for the duration of your stance."

"Honeymoon?" The both asked, somewhat horrified and somewhat intrigued.

"Indeed. If we fail to enter now, then we will be showed to the cabins outside this complex. If we enter now, then we will be informed if we will remain here or should move our presence to the other side" Sam's eyes widened at his comment.

"But… how will they..." More giggles came to their ears and Jack saw how a hand grabbed Sam's before pushing her forward towards the boulder and making her go through or disappear behind it.

"Hey!" Jack screamed when she disappeared from his sight. Teal'c moved his hand to the part where Sam had disappeared into but he found nothing but solid rock, with a smile he walked around the boulder, two girls appeared out of nowhere to walk with him, "T? Where are you going?" he screamed to his Jaffa friend. Teal'c stopped and turned around with a knowing glint on his eyes he simply answered.

"I cannot enter, but you must"

"What? Teal'c? Come baa" he was still trying to understand why the Jaffa wouldn't help get Sam when he saw Teal'c disappear into thin air, and at the same time, a hand pulled him with enough force to make him fall on his knees on the other side of the boulder, "ack, what the hell?" he said looking around, had he just crossed a huge boulder? He wondered

"Johnathan O'Neill" a sultry voice said, Jack turned around trying to find the voice but he couldn't find a thing. "Come this way," the voice added and then he felt another hand taking his and pushing him towards another rock.

"What. The. Actual. Hell?" he questioned when the hand stopped him by patting him softly in the chest. He turned around and found himself in a bed-chamber, a gigantic bed, taking most of the space, and the whole thing was apparently carved in pure rock. He observed around and found two carved openings covered with some sort of curtain, he walked to the first and found a magnificent bathroom, the bathtub was also carved in the rock filled with water from a stream. He shuddered thinking of how cold that water must be, when he saw the small current of water, but surprisingly, when he touched the water, he noticed it was at a perfect temperature, not too hot to burn, not too cool to be annoying. Looking around, he also found their version of the latrines. Finally, beside a long full body mirror, there was a wardrobe of sorts. He opened it to find, some sort of soaps and what he supposed were towels due to the fluffiness of the material, some sort of pants and tunics on a side, hang just next to some more female looking tunics. He thought he heard a splash in the water, but when he turned around everything was back to normal.

With a shrug, he walked then out of the bathroom and towards the second carved door and he couldn't contain the wow even if he tried to. He went out to what it seemed like a porch, also rock carved, it had some steps that traveled down to where he could see some more of the white sand which covered the planet outside, it all ended up in the bluest lake he had ever seen. He looked up because he was quite sure he was looking at the reflection of a moon and surprisingly, he was…

"Apparently we are under a mountain," the voice made him jump, "or maybe an old volcano judging by the opening"

"Carter," he turned around to find her looking at him amusedly, she wasn't wearing her bdu's anymore, and instead her hair was wet and she was covered by a tight fitting tunic that on the right light, left nothing to the imagination. He coughed when he noticed that little fact. She smiled at him.

"You can quit the 'Carter', Jack. We are both inside because they know we are a couple"

"They 'know' know?" she nodded, "How?"

"Some sort of memories reading tech," she shrugged, "But I couldn't feel any Naquadah and I don't think Teal'c would bring us here if he knew this was Goa'uld related"

"I guess he wouldn't, would he?" he said, approaching her and holding her by her waist. She shook her head. "So, where are we?"

"P3X-234" she smiled mischievously, "SG-6 was sent over, they didn't enter. They stated it was an empty planet, but a paradisiacal looking one."

"But there are people here, we saw them" Jack frowned, looking at her, "Did you shower or something?"

"Yes, I'm fresh out of the rocky tub… perfect water"

"Huh, I didn't see you there. I thought I heard a splash, but there was nothing there"

"Huh, just like SG-6 didn't see anyone here…"

"We are only seen by newcomers who will be granted entrance, and by those who were once before," one of the girls they saw early appeared in the room, "you were granted access forth your connection was noted when you crossed the Door of the Universe. Worry not, your friend is safe and under perfect care, as he is a previous visitor. He knows of our ways and we cannot treat him differently than you will be treated."

"But we need to go home," Sam answered softly, the girl frowned a little.

"Your home is disconnected from the Door of the Universe, you are free to leave… However, you will not be going to the place you came from. If you let us, we will treat you well until your door is once more part of the universe. Meanwhile, please enjoy of what we can offer you and fortify the bond between yourselves," Jack opened his mouth to speak, but he was stopped by the girl, "Worry not, what happens here will be for your knowledge and your knowledge alone."

"Whatever you mean?" Sam asked cautiously.

"Once you entered you became invisible for anyone else in this complex. Food will be provided here," she pointed to a new opening in the room which wasn't there before, "For your privacy, this will be the last time we will enter the rooms. Once your door is part of the Universe, then someone will wait for you at the canteen" she signaled the new opening. "Cleaning product and garments will be available at the cleaning room, please use them as you seem fit"

With that, the girl disappeared again. They exchanged a glance, "what the hell?" Jack repeated his words again, Sam frowned for a second or two then she started to touch everything she could find. "What?"

"I think we are out of phase, but in the same phase which the room is. My guess is that the whole complex is a network of different phases which hold diff…" she was interrupted with a kiss, Jack mouth softly caressed hers and a few moments later when he was sure she wouldn't be able to talk tech, he stopped.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you just confirmed the girl babbling about no one being able to see us, didn't you?" She nodded once, biting her lip. Letting a little yelp out when seconds later, Jack's backpack collided with the floor and Jack himself collided with her body.

Present

O'Neill Residence

"Oh come on, what could have happened in P3X-234. SG-6 report clearly stated there was nothing there!"

"Yeah, there was not a thing" Sam and Jack said sharing an accomplice smile, the knowing glint in Teal'c eyes went unnoticed this time. Daniel sighed before raising his hands pleadingly to the skies.

"Uronda, then." He grunted, "When they started to gate, Sam was there because she fell asleep on some experiment she was doing, I was there, because I feel asleep over some translations that I was doing… but you, you left earlier that night and then you were back on base two hours earlier, as you said or you were saying when I entered the command center, and you told him… I never left. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that's exactly the reason why you were there earlier, isn't it?"

"She was supposed to be back home 9 hours before," Jack complained, "I picked Aidan, prepared a nice romantic dinner for the 3 of us, and we both fell asleep on the couch waiting for her, then 7 hours later, she still wasn't home. Which meant she was back on base, either asleep over her experiment or still doing it without noticing the time lapse"

"And then we went to Uronda… what happened when you got back here from the other side? When we discovered they were reenacting World War II with far more technology than we had back then"

"What do you mean, Daniel?"

"We ran… but you came later and walking too calmly and you had that look"

"Well, I had to decide if I wanted to help Hitler's spawn or not"

"And you ..."

"As we did not reported, Alar came after us running and begging for his life. He told us he could help us with all his knowledge and we…"

"Walked away" Daniel offered and they both nodded, "okay, then we had those extremely quiet missions"

"Yeah, sure because running from a hoard of human eating horses of the size of a dragon sounds exactly like quiet" Jack snorted

"Or that one in which we had to fight in a tournament to free you from being turned into a sex slave" Sam pointed and Daniel blushed.

"That was interesting, actually," Daniel frowned, "because it was the first time, you weren't put in the slave hall with me, Sam"

"I didn't offend anyone that time around," she huffed, "oh! And then it was the one when you both ended up at the slave row"

"Don't make me remember that one" Jack whined, "you know I like women, I love women, but that planet…."

"You tried to tell them I was under your command," Sam shrugged, "and they didn't like that… but still, it counts a quiet mission too, funny and interesting … but quiet"

"You bought us in exchange of our backpacks… our empty backpacks," Jack pouted

"And our sleeping bags," she added

"I bought you for a gun" he mocked and she glared at him, "yeah, I thought that would do it"

"Yes, it totally leveled the field," she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, and then after the holidays Anise came"

"Anise," Jack shuddered.

"The armband's…"

"I almost died that day," Jack stated grimly and Sam clenched her jaw. "I mean we had plenty of risky missions, of almost deaths and all, but seeing her trapped, that wasn't part of my plans… knowing she would die and there was nothing I could do to change it… and because something we did… we disregarded rules and I almost lost her, but… you know what? I'm not saying anything else about that mission…it was already analyzed to its max"

"At least it wasn't 2000 anymore" Sam added with a sigh

"Okay, then…. Shanau'c was sent to the base and we took her to the Tok'ra."

"I have to admit those first moments with you two were kind of awkward," Teal'c raised his eyebrow, "don't give me that look T, there was something going on and it was quite obvious… what I mean is… it's weird to see you exchanging lovey dovey eyes with a girl"

"Indeed" the group agreed and started to laugh when as an answer, Teal'c only raised his eyebrow.

"I will like to avoid this mission," he commented, and they all nodded once in agreement, they all had lost someone, and that was the first time they saw Teal'c so deeply affected by the death of someone else.

"And then it was the Za'tarc incident" Jack scrunched his nose in disgust.

"Xanax" Daniel corrected and Jack smirked at him. "You actually said it right?"

"Yeah, it's not something I can ever forget. I mean, they made us remember that awful incident and they were dumb enough not to test themselves"

"Also Anise made a pass at you," Daniel smiled mischievously.

"Ack, don't do that!" Sam laughed, "See, she laughs at me… yes, she knew about Anise or Freya advances…. The human side.,.."

"I found them quite disturbing, but I know he stopped her from going any further, still, you had to see his face when he told me about it"

2001

O'Neill Residence

"I have to confess you something" Jack mumbled once they were both settled in bed.

"What?" she asked, moving to rest her head on her hand, to be able to look at her husband, who was sporting a very disgruntled expression.

"When we were told we were Xanax"

"Za'tarc's" she corrected and he raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, go on"

"The lady Tok'ra came to my room, and she… she made a pass at me, she kissed me and told me in her home planet they were no taboo's on human interactions. She practically threw herself at me! She even told me the snake would have to agree!" Sam snorted, "Hey! I'm serious here! You have no idea how many levels of awkwardness I felt" she raised an eyebrow as answer, "of course, you did, when you got snaked… anyway… she wanted to … and then she wanted to burn my brain to crisps!"

"At least now I know why she asked my forgiveness after the test!"

"She did?"

"Yes"

Present

O'Neill Residence

"Come to think, you almost died because you were withholding feelings" Janet remembered.

"It was awful, first when we got tested, we recounted the facts as they happened, we didn't add any feelings to the mix… and Anise didn't ask either. I guess she was afraid we would have said something, but there were too many people looking… we couldn't just describe how we felt in that moment without disclosing sentiments that shouldn't exist between CO and Second. When I realized that it was a 'za'tarc' my mind locked, I was thinking of Jack and Aidan… and what I would do with myself. And by then, we still didn't get to the conclusion that I could kill myself if I didn't get to my target"

"When I talked with the President, he told me it was really sad both of you were za'tarcs, he holds you both in high esteem. Does he know?"

"I guess," Jack shrugged.

"When Jack came to my room, I was sure it was a mistake. I told him I should be retested and he dropped the bomb, he was a za'tarc too."

"And we both were unconscious at the same time" Jack added, "worse part was that we couldn't comfort each other, nor talk about what we would do with Aidan… or how would we deal with the situation. I mean, we have all of that planned but .."

"It's not the same, once you are on the brink of having to use your plans, plans which will affect the future of your son, you want to go through them until you are sure it's the right thing to do, maybe be able to say a proper goodbye"

"Exactly, and we couldn't go over them because we were stuck in different rooms, which sucks… and then you came out with that dumb idea of drugging us until the end of the time, you didn't give us time to say goodbye to each other by the way."

"It was even a worse good bye than trying to say goodbye with a force shield wall in between. We could only exchange a glance and a quick, silent conversation"

"And then I drugged you and you told me you lied, if the way you told us didn't work… would you have confessed your feelings?"

"If there was no other choice, we would… future vs life… I'll take life any day"

"But why you didn't do it before accepting the procedure?" Daniel asked

"We are so used to cover our feelings, that we never realized what we didn't tell, until I was drugged, and I could feel everything I felt that moment… It was then when I noticed we were lying, as we always did"

"Lying about our relationship and feelings is like a second nature to us, we don't even realize we do it anymore"

"So, what did you say to him… when you asked to be left alone?"

"I explained to him as much as I could that our relationship was the thing that marked us as za'tarc's since there were feelings that we wouldn't disclose which still would be read by the machine."

"Thankfully, our confession of caring for each other was enough…it was tough."

"It was … heartbreaking for me to watch you confess your feelings for each other in such simple words but with so much at stake"

"When I got word of your confession, I first was worried… I thought I would have to split SG-1 due to your involvement. But then Janet told me you agreed to keep it in the room, and I found myself happy and sad at the same time. You decided to put your careers and the team in front of your personal lives and …"

"Now, you know it isn't true. That we always had our personal lives entangled without you knowing or noticing it"

"Yes"

"Are you disappointed?"

"I don't know. I mean, yes, there are things you did which seemed way more heroic when I didn't know about your relationship. But now, there are other things that seem more heroic when I think of the sacrifices you've made to be together Although, you could both or one, simply resign and avoid all this secret mess"

"I couldn't ask him to retire"

"I couldn't ask her to leave the Air force, not with all the effort she had put into her career so far"

"It wouldn't be fair," Sam added, "and at the end of the day, one of us would be bitter with the other because it was forced to do something which wasn't in our plans."

"Taking all in consideration, hiding is the best option for us… and here we are again going nonstop about that situation"

"Nonstop?"

"Well, Janet told Daniel about the confession"

"And I kind of stalked Jack until he screamed at me to leave him alone"

"I tried to talk with Sam, but she wouldn't bulge either"

"You did complicated our days, we had to wait until late to pick Aidan or to move to the house, because we couldn't risk you finding about either Aidan or our relationship like that"

"We tend to complicate your days, don't we?"

"Yes... but then you have good ideas too, Danny-boy"

"Like?"

"Well, when we got stuck in the time loop thing, you asked if we didn't attempt to do something that we couldn't do before"

"I… well, you didn't have to worry about consequences…" Sam snorted, "What?"

"He learned to do pottery"

"And you faked not remembering" He pointed out, "pottery sounded nice"

"No, she didn't. Teal'c and you were the only ones who remembered the time loops"

"Really?" He asked with an eyebrow raised to his wife and Sam blushed, finding herself unable to keep pretending she didn't, "then when did you learn to play the violin?"

"You have memories of the time loops?" Sam nodded once not looking up. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"She didn't tell a soul, I had my suspicions…we never repeated conversations, which was odd since everything else was exactly the same"

"What's your excuse, Sam?" The group turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry, but for once I had a perfectly valid excuse not to be the one using her brain to save us."

"But you did think of things to save us every time loop… or couple of time loops at least"

"Yes, but when the second time loop arrived and I couldn't figure out how to stop it, I felt immensely frustrated. I know it would be expected for me to save our asses and I didn't want to deal with the extra pressure, so I didn't say a thing and continued investigating ways out of it"

"That's why you could come up with different ideas on different time loops… that's what the report says"

"Well, yes… you'll see. The first time loop I had one idea, then when it failed… for the second time loop I couldn't use that one anymore, and so on and so forth, but after loop 69 or 70, I realized that the only way out was by translating the damn altar… and it wouldn't be believable if somehow I started to remember out of the blue"

"So you do know what they did on the time loops?"

"Yes" she affirmed with a nod, "however,"

"We also know what she did"

"When did you realized she was remembering the time loops?"

"It was when I took a loop out, I couldn't hear you anymore talking about the altar. And went to find her, she was playing the violin… and I've never heard her playing it before…"

2001

Time loop 86

"Forget it, I'm taking this last hours out!" Jack said pushing his bench away from the desk and throwing the paper in the air. Teal'c raised an eyebrow, so far, he had learned about golf, and how to juggle paper balls… but he too was growing tired of living the same day every 10 hours and learning the language was so far their only option, so he stood behind.

Jack smiled when he saw Teal'c wasn't following, deciding to head straight to Sam's lab. Almost 7 hours had passed since this loop started, so he figured out… he could expend the last 3 with her. If only he could convince her to go home for the day. He was approaching slowly to her lab, when the empty corridors started to share some soft music with his ears, frowning a little, he followed the sound straight to her lab, where he found her playing a violin.

She felt someone watching her, and she closed her eyes knowing it was Jack. If it was someone else, she could have fooled them, saying she always played, but Jack? He knew her. So she sighed… and stopped.

"Don't stop" he told her. She continued playing, it was a relatively easy piece, she just started to learn it every two loops since loop 50 and was making some progress. "I didn't know you played," he told her when she finished. "It was beautiful,"

He came closer to her, as she deposited the instrument back in its box, and stored it in one of her many storage lockers, he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Jack," she whispered, closing her eyes and enjoying the sensation of her husband's strong arms surrounding her.

"Don't worry, no one will remember anything if they see us now," he whispered to her ear before planting a soft kiss on her neck. She turned around in his embrace, her arms quickly finding his neck, and she kissed him. They took it to her VIP room and, two hours later, they were still stealing kisses from each other and talking softly while tangled in the raspy sheets of her uncomfortable bed when the sirens went off signaling the arrival of the end of the loop. She watched her clock, something he found weird and then…

"Anyway, I'm sorry… but that just happens to be the way I feel about it… what do you think?" Daniel said and he groaned, throwing his fruit loops away, then he remembered how he just enjoyed the last hours of the previous time loop, he smiled and stared at Sam…. And she had something in her that made him wonder…

"What?" she asked and he started his explanation about the time loop, but somehow, the smile wouldn't leave his face, nor hers for that matter… once they managed to convince the General, Teal'c accompanied Daniel to his lab, as Jack excuses himself and walked towards Sam's lab. He found her engrossed in complicated looking calculations, to not disturb her, he looked around, and walked to the locker, he knew should contain the instrument, and opened it… to find a violin case there. She frowned at him.

"Did I play with you in the room?" she asked and he nodded.

"Mark, he sent that to me. A couple of years ago. It's been sitting there forever now"

"I never knew you played"

"I don't" she answered without thinking, "I mean.."

"You are remembering, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what are you talking about," she tried.

"Sam"

"Jack"

"I won't tell anyone, just tell me why?" He asked, locking eyes with her. After a few moments, she gave up with a sigh.

"Am I too selfish, if I say that I don't want to be responsible for saving the world this time around?" She asked biting her lower lip, with a smile frown. He analyzed her answer, then he negated with his head. He understood, they were always expecting her to find a solution for their issues out of nowhere.

"I get it, we are always expecting you to save our sixes. I mean, if you know how, I won't be bothered but… if you don't…. I will try to learn all that bullshit of text and Teal'c and I will manage this time." He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, "Just… let me know when you are taking a loop out? Maybe I can take it out too, and we can go to the movies with Aidan. Maybe we can pick him and bring him with us…what do you say?"

"I love you," She smiled brightly at him before kissing him. He took a step back when lack of air was becoming an issue.

"Well, I gotta go… apparently we are counting on my genius ways to save Earth this time around. Sadly, I can't fix it with my looks, " he screamed over his shoulder and he smiled when he heard her laughter filling the corridor this time around.