Oh dear... lol. :D I've just realised what you meant, DementedLeaf... Ahem. I think it's the perils of writing Jackson Junior at the same time. Sorry if I came across in the review reply as though I thought you were mad... or madder than usual when you asked when they'd got married. Um. They're not married... it was a major brain-o. Heh.
0o0o0o0o0o0
Daniel sat on his bed in his quarters, his back against the wall at the head of the bed as he held his girlfriend and his son in his arms, as said girlfriend cried herself to sleep. He manoeuvered her carefully so that she was in a reclining position on his bed, still sleeping as he carried their drowsy son to a makeshift cot. As he did so, Sam woke up and, looking increasingly sad, she watched him as he lay the baby down, soothing the infant when he cried.
Daniel, somehow knowing that Sam was awake, murmured, "It's going to be ok. We're going to work out a way to..."
She sniffed, now holding his pillow to her stomach. "No, Daniel. No it won't. Before it would have been ok... well... more ok than this at least. If we go back..."
He turned and went to lay down next to her. "Sam... there's something that's been bugging me about that idea."
She nodded and grimaced. "Well, baby came before I could elaborate." She paused. "If we just go back, we'll be doomed to repeat history... however, if someone were to be excluded from the field, they could steer events in another direction."
He frowned in thought. "But..."
She nodded again. "Got that covered too. A couple of months ago, in the then unlikely event that I would reach a viable solution, I wrote a program that separates the Asgard core from the hyperdrive controls far quicker than I can do it manually. If I put that onto a crystal, it would only take me a few seconds to shut down the core and make the jump into hyperspace, thus negating the..." she closed her eyes as her voice began to wobble. "... negating the need to activate this damn field. It will mean that this entire year would never have happened. I don't think I can do it... but I have to. It's the only way."
Noticing something in her eyes, a grim acceptance and determination, he said, touching her cheek, "Let me do it."
She shook her head as she rested it against his chest, his fingers slowly running through her hair. "No... no, Daniel. It makes sense for it to be me..." She sniffed. "Can we talk about this later? I don't want to talk about it now."
He nodded as he kissed her hair, a worried thoughtful expression on his face. As she began to drift off again against his chest, his eyes moved from her to their baby, and he wondered if there was another way.
0o0o0o0o0o0
"Who says it's got to be you?"
A weary Sam, now seated in the briefing room, a blanket over her tired form, said, resting her head back against the chair, "Cam. No. It's the only logical path."
Cam sighed as he rested his elbows on the table, a defensive fury in his eyes. "What kind of logic dictates that someone who's just given birth..."
"Why has it got to be you?"
"Because... because I'm technically your CO. As the superior officer, next to the General of course, it is my responsibility to not allow any of you to risk your lives unnecessarily. I am the highest ranking officer with the appropriate level of fitness..."
Landry remarked with a huff, not completely happy of being reminded of his age and declining level of fitness, "Nice."
Cam glanced at him and continued, "... and it is my duty to do this. After all, you're the one who turned this damn thing on in the first place, which means that if you go back, there's a major paradox going on."
Sam looked thoughtful, and Teal'c said, startling everyone with his sudden input, "We have resided for a whole year aboard this ship..." before he could continue, Vala bounced in her seat, putting her hand up as she said,
"It should be me." She looked sad. "I'll admit that I was rather annoying to begin with and perhaps I could return with my wonderful character development and charm Cameron." She winked at Cam who eventually smiled briefly before shaking his head and objecting.
"Nuh-uh, Vala. I've got to do it."
Teal'c cleared his throat, the sound startling everyone in his vicinity due to a well-known supposition that the sound alone could wake the dead. The Jaffa said, raising an eyebrow for a moment to silence Daniel who was about to speak. "As I was about to say..." he looked at a sheepish Vala briefly. "... we have resided for a whole year aboard this ship. A year for each of you is a long time, but for me, it is not long at all. It is almost inconsequential. Therefore, I wish to volunteer for this task." He smiled slightly at Sam. "And your son will accompany me. That is the only logical choice."
Sam and Daniel exchanged a glance and the latter said before Sam could object, "No, Teal'c. I'll do it."
Teal'c shook his head and then asked a now tearful Sam. "If this should fail..."
Sam, in vain, sniffed back more tears as she said, her voice wavering with emotion as a perturbed Daniel and a confused Cam held her hands, "Then you'll be stuck here forever with the rest of us."
Teal'c nodded in grim determination. "Then it is settled."
0o0o0o0o0o0
Prior to the implementation of the plan, Sam, in a wheelchair, wheeled to Teal'c's quarters, nodding in greeting as Landry, Cam and then Vala left the Jaffa's quarters. Teal'c nodded with a small smile on seeing her and said as he pushed her chair,
"Let us walk, ColonelCarter."
Teal'c pushed Sam's wheelchair in silence through the ship, taking the longer than necessary route to the ship's Mess. When they had reached his intended destination, he positioned her wheelchair next to a table as he sat down, and she said, looking thoughtful as she held his hands,
"Teal'c. I can't let you do this. You've lost just as much time as we have."
He smiled slightly again. "But for me, the time is inconsequential." His smile faded. "It will give you time to give Cameron a brother or a sister."
She looked down, closing her eyes as she thought of her age and he touched her cheek tenderly. She eventually met his gaze again and said in a choked whisper, "Thank you Teal'c but..."
"There is no requirement for a grammatical conjunction. The matter is settled."
As he continued to caress her cheek, she leaned into his touch and said softly, "But we won't know him. It breaks my heart to think that I won't know my own son. He won't be my son any more."
"He will always be your son, ColonelCarter. That will not change... and I am sure that you and DanielJackson will take care of him no matter what."
He slowly moved his hand as he asked, "Do you still wish for me to request your past selves to change your son's name?"
She nodded and smiled sadly. "Cam doesn't like it. Apparently he wants to be much older... or dead before someone names another life after him. Daniel and I were already thinking of naming him after my Dad."
He smiled. "That would indeed be an honourable name for your son. Any Jaffa would be honoured to have such a formidable forefather as JacobCarter."
She sniffed and smiled again. "Thanks, Teal'c."
He squeezed her hands, his smile gone and his eyes intense. "And I am honoured that you would entrust me with the welfare of your son. I assure you that I will put his wellbeing above my own."
She shook her head. "Teal'c..."
"Do not object... Samantha. Your son is a sign of hope. He has shown us all that despite the darkest, most dangerous venture, there is always hope and a solution." He smiled briefly. "It is something that I have come to forget during our struggle with the Ori."
0o0o0o0o0o0
In the engine room of the Odyssey, as Teal'c held a calm Cameron in his arms, Sam, trying her best to be brave, gave Teal'c a crystal containing a program that could quite possibly save the ship from the Ori blast. He gently touched her cheek and then hugged her tight as she began to cry. With Teal'c's arm around her, and her own around him, she looked down at her son and touched his cheek as he squirmed. She whispered, kissing his forehead,
"Whatever happens... we'll always be with you. I love you."
A sad Daniel gently guided her back to her wheelchair as Landry, Cam and Vala said their own farewells, the Archaeologist kneeling next to his girlfriend as he held her hand tightly. When at last they had finished, they all looked at him as he stood up, little to no emotion on his face as he walked towards Teal'c. Teal'c hugged him strongly as the Archaeologist's emotional walls began to crack, raw emotion engulfing his face as he began to tremble.
As a worried Vala did her best to comfort him, he looked down at his son and, now openly crying, whispered as he touched the boy's face, "I love you. I'm so sorry." Sam, in tears too, got up to hug him as he rested his head against hers, shaking uncontrollably.
Near a window, Cam and Vala stood opposite each other, gazing at each other sadly. The Colonel kissed her gently. "I just want you to know... even if you're not gonna remember when all this is done, I wasn't with you because we were stuck on this damn tub. I was with you because..." his lip trembled as he struggled to tell her the words that he had longed to tell her for months.
She returned his kiss, hurt and hope battling for priority in her eyes. "You don't have to say it, Cameron. I know. I've always known. And I want you to know..."
He pulled her tight against him as she began to cry, his chin against her hair as he looked overwhelmingly sad. "I know, baby... I know. I don't know what's going to happen in the new timeline, but I want you to know too that if I had a choice, I wouldn't forget one moment... well, I would forget all the craziness and boredom... but I would never choose to forget you... not one second." He held her tighter, tears in his own eyes as she trembled in his arms.
0o0o0o0o0o0
On receiving a nod from ColonelCarter, Teal'c, in the engine room, holding the crystal and the baby, squeezed an Asgard device that he held. Almost instantaneously, a field formed around him, shielding him and the baby from the effects of what was to come. Moments later, as DanielJackson wrapped his arms around her, his chin resting on her shoulder, Sam pushed the smooth creamy coloured control device across the Asgard console, the console lighting up.
From where Teal'c stood, as ColonelMitchell and ValaMalDoran held hands, and ColonelCarter and DanielJackson kissed, he watched as everything paused for a moment and then slowly began to rewind all around him. Sadness in his eyes for brief moments, he watched the entire year in reverse and hoped that the plan would succeed.
Eventually, everything stopped and he saw a much different looking ColonelCarter bent over the Asgard console, the Colonel wearing black BDUs, with ValaMalDoran near her. He steadied himself as a blast rocked their surroundings, the infant thankfully not crying as ColonelCarter and ValaMalDoran were thrown to the floor by the impact, and as he heard GeneralLandry call over the radio, he quickly made his way to ColonelCarter as she struggled to get up.
She was about to activate the time dilation field when he grabbed her hand. She looked up in surprise, highly confused at his intense expression and the baby that he held in his other arm, and she asked as ValaMalDoran remained speechless for once,
"Teal'c, what are you doing?"
He regarded her grimly and then said, giving her the crystal, "Here is a program to separate the Asgard core from the hyper drive controls. Do not ask questions. Use it."
She, seeing something in his eyes, chiefly that he was not delusional, nodded and took the crystal from him as he soothed the now crying baby. ValaMalDoran asked, looking utterly flummoxed,
"Muscles... where did the baby come from?"
As ColonelCarter stared at the contents of the crystal on her screen in amazement before quickly shaking herself and getting down to work, Teal'c replied, "I will answer all questions later. For now, ValaMalDoran, remain quiet."
