Tuesday, May 11
Reality L583

Jack had just finished presiding over a charming disciplinary hearing – oh the joys of being base second in command – and was looking in on Lt. Craig to see how she was recovering from her injury when he got a call to head to Carter's lab.

Craig hushed him and told him to get gone when he tried to make apologies. He nodded at her and rushed out of the infirmary towards the lab. When he arrived, he yanked the door open, hoping devoutly that it would be Daniel. Instead the sight that met his eyes made him fall back a step. Not one, not two but three Carters. Three. They were gathered around the schematic, all of them staring intently and silently.

Not only that, there was another Jack in the room. The other one looked at him, glanced at the Carters and said, "Be afraid. Be very afraid."

Jack nodded. "I'm terrified," he said. Gazing at the three women, he stepped inside the room and shut the door behind him. "Okay, ladies?" They all looked up and he felt a little intimidated by the three pairs of brilliant blue eyes. "Um . . . I'm going to get lost real fast without a scorecard. We need to come up with some kind of naming thing." He scanned the three women. "You're my Carter, right?"

She blinked. "I'm the Carter who belongs here, at any rate," she said.

"O . . . kay . . ." He took in a breath. "Does one of you belong to the universe where Daniel has Sha're and kids?"

One of the other Sams raised her hand, a slight smile on her face. "Okay, so we'll call you kid-Sam," he said.

"Kid-Sam?" she repeated, looking a little bemused. "Kid-Sam?"

Dismissing her possible objection from his mind, he turned to the remaining Samantha Carter. "You're the Carter from the fucked up universe," he said.

"If you call me 'fucked-up Sam,' I'll start throwing things."

"Wasn't planning on it," he said. "I thought I'd call you Samantha."

"That's what I call myself," she replied.

He nodded. "That's why." He looked at the three of them, each in turn. "So we've got Carter, Samantha and kid-Sam."

"Could I be called something other than kid-Sam?" kid-Sam asked.

"No," Jack said.

"It works," the other Jack replied.

She raised her eyebrows. "Sir?!" He shrugged, looking insufferable. Jack wondered vaguely if he ever looked like that, then decided it didn't matter. Kid-Sam shook her head. "Does that make you kid-Jack, then?" she asked.

"No," the other Jack replied, and Jack opened his mouth to refute this. The other man beat him to it, though. "I'm the colonel."

"No," Jack growled. "I'm the colonel."

"No, you're Jack. I'm the colonel."

"Look, I live here, I get to make up the names."

"Says who?"

"Says me!"

"Who put you in charge?"

"I did!"

"Good grief!" Carter said. "Sirs, if you could take your . . . discussion . . . outside, we have work to do."

Kid-Sam shrugged. "It could be worse, there could be three of them." Samantha's eyes flew wide and she let out a strange sniffly sound. Kid-Sam looked stricken. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean . . . I'm sorry."

Both the other Carters put an arm around Samantha, and Jack met the colonel's eyes. He opened the door and gestured the man out. "There's an empty lab just next door that might be a little less disturbing."

"Sounds good."

They headed out into the hall, but had proceeded no more that five feet when a voice from behind them made them both turn. "Jack!?" Jack stood to the side as the colonel gazed in wide-eyed astonishment at the Daniel in the wheelchair. Teal'c, who'd been pushing the chair, looked on with curiosity. "Are you my Jack?" Daniel asked hesitantly.

"Are you the Daniel who has two irrepressible munchkins named Jonny and Kate?"

Daniel launched himself out of the wheelchair and into the other Jack's arms. The colonel caught him and stumbled backwards, trying his level best to steady a man who was none too steady on his feet. They hugged tightly, and Jack was glad to see that Daniel's comments that he didn't think his Jack liked him much were unfounded.

"You okay, Danny?" the colonel asked after several minutes, drawing back but keeping his hands on Daniel's shoulders to give him extra support. "Why were you in a wheelchair?"

"I'm fine, Jack," Daniel said in a dismissive tone. "Are the kids all right?"

"They're good," the other Jack said. "Well, that is to say, they're in good health. Jonny's never good."

Tears began to pour down Daniel's face. "They're okay, though?" he asked. "Kate hasn't had any more respiratory problems? Jonny doesn't have an ear infection or anything?"

"No, they're fine," the colonel said, cradling his Daniel close and patting his back. "The respiratory thing cleared up almost six weeks ago. Jonny's had two ear infections since you . . . but they both went away like normal. He's fine."

Jack walked over to stand by Teal'c, who was looking quietly pleased. He wished he could see his Daniel back together with Sha're and the father of children. Daniel would be such a good father. His kids might be a little frightening, but he'd be a good father.

"And how is Sha're?"

"Impatient," Jack said with a bark of laughter. "It was all we could do to convince her to stay home. She wanted to see for herself that we wouldn't be sending the Daniel we've been taking care of into a rotten situation."

"This isn't a rotten situation, Jack. These people are great."

"Great, huh?" the colonel said. "That's . . . great."

"So much is the same here," Daniel said. "Except . . . their Sha're . . . she's –"

"Dead? That seems to be a common –"

"No," Daniel replied, and the colonel looked down at him in surprise.

"Then . . . where is she?"

"Amunet took her for a host," Daniel said, and Jack controlled his own reaction. That sweet, spirited young woman who had helped to lead the Abydonian rebellion and who had made Daniel so deliriously happy that he had forsaken dentists and flush toilets . . . all her will sublimated to a snake. It was a crime. He wasn't altogether sure how his Daniel would react to knowing about this Daniel and his life.

"God!" the colonel exclaimed, looking appalled. "And Skaara?"

"Klorel," Jack said.

They were silent for a moment, then Teal'c said, "I believe we should leave the public corridor."

Jack nodded. "Right. This way, guys." He led them into the lab where they'd spent so much time meeting with Maybourne. "So, what's up? Why the Carter extravaganza?"

"Actually, it was Samantha's idea. She's got this notion that three Carters bouncing ideas off each other can figure out a way to get to the reality where your Daniel is more quickly than one."

"She's probably right," Jack said. "But it's a little unsettling. I mean, it would be worse if there were three Daniels in there with them, but still . . ."

The colonel nodded with feeling, and Daniel looked at both of them with a certain amount of irritation. "What's wrong with that idea?"

Jack shuddered and the colonel did the same. "Well, for one thing, three Carters and three Daniels would raise the IQ level in that room way beyond the ability of normal mortals to tolerate."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Ah, this again. The 'I'm stupid' thing."

The colonel shook his head and Jack thought he saw a sparkle in his eyes before he seized Daniel in another crushing hug. Jack raised his eyebrows, then looked at Teal'c and gestured towards the doorway with his head. The Jaffa nodded and they both started towards the door, but the colonel spoke before they got there.

"Hey, where are you going? I need to know what's been going on with my archeologist, and I need to thank you for taking care of him."

"And I need to sit down," Daniel said. "Damn, but this is taking awhile." Teal'c strode immediately back over to the wheelchair and braced it so the archeologist could sit down.

"What is it?" the colonel asked, then he turned to Jack. "What's wrong with him?"

"He was pretty banged up when he got here," Jack said. "Broken ribs, broken arm, broken foot, bruised kidneys that led to temporary acute renal failure, um . . ."

"That is all apart from sundry contusions and abrasions," Teal'c said. "However, it is taking some time for DanielJackson to recover due to the number and severity of his injuries."

"The foot is largely healed," Daniel said. "But I can't stay upright for long because it's still weak and their doctor doesn't want me to risk falling with the cracked ribs."

"Not to mention the cast on your arm," the colonel said, squatting in front of the chair and looking into his archeologist's eyes. "Sha're will fuss, you know."

Daniel chuckled. "I know. I've been wondering how well I'll withstand an enthusiastic hug from my son, though. I'd swear that his uncle's been teaching him body-slamming techniques." The colonel laughed

Jack bit his lip and turned away. Watching this reunion was both great and very distressing. He wanted his Daniel back, if nothing else, so the man could feed his own damned fish.

"We will retrieve DanielJackson, O'Neill," Teal'c said quietly.

"I know," Jack said.

"So, how is the guy who got left behind in my place?"

"Indecently optimistic," the colonel said. "Which reminds me," he said, turning to Jack and leaning against one of the lab counters. "There's something I need to run by you. Something that we didn't think to mention to Samantha and Maybourne."

"What's that?" Jack asked, hooking a chair out and sitting down across its back.

"How do folks in this universe view homosexuality?" he asked.

Jack raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Fairly negatively," he said. "Why?"

The colonel shook his head. "Then we may not be able to leave him here," he muttered.

"I beg your pardon?" Jack asked.

"Well, the Daniel . . . it might not be the best thing if . . . I mean . . ."

"Are you saying he's gay?" Daniel asked.

"Well, according to him he's bi, but his current l . . . um . . . his significant other is . . . well, he's male."

Jack shrugged again. "I don't see how that will be a difficulty," he said.

"But you just said that your universe is very negative about gays," the colonel replied.

"No, I said fairly negative, and that's sort of a generalization. He'll only be here, probably only seen by a few people, and it's not like we're going to make an announcement about it."

The colonel crossed his arms. "But what if you were stuck with him?"

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"What if no one ever figures out a way to get your Daniel back or send this Daniel back where he belongs? Is that going to be a problem?"

Jack pursed his lips and said, "Yeah, that would be a problem. Stupid question."

The colonel shook his head. "Poorly phrased, but you know what I mean, right?"

"Yeah, and no. We'd be fine. We'd just have to prepare him for possible problems he'd encounter. What, is homosexuality considered hunky dory in your reality?"

"No," the colonel said, "but that makes me a little leery of sending him somewhere without knowing how people are going to treat him. And it's a little more complicated. See, his . . . significant other is a member of the SGC."

"Who is it?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah, we could just set things up so he never runs into that person unless strictly necessary, right?"

The colonel grimaced. "It's not really that easy. See . . . it's . . ."

That Jack and his Daniel exchanged a speaking look. "No!" Daniel exclaimed. "You're kidding? Not . . . no!"

Jack blinked. Who did he think it was? Who was it? He glanced at the colonel, who shrugged. "Yup. Freaked me out a little at first, I mean . . . but –"

"You weren't mean to him were you?" Daniel demanded.

"No!" It was odd, hearing that defensive tone from the outside. Jack had a feeling that he'd be very self-conscious the next time he had one of these kinds of discussions with his own Daniel.

"Because I know you can be a little . . ."

"No, I wasn't mean to him, but I do want to note, for the record, that the idea never even crossed my mind, okay!" Jack shook his head. Who were they talking about? He glanced at Teal'c, and saw the surmise enter his eyes. He scowled. Was he just dense? Who was it?

"Sure, Jack," Daniel said, sounding amused. "Besides, if anything like that ever happened, Sha're would kill us both."

Looking dubious, the colonel said, "I'm not so sure of that."

"What do you mean?"

"You know that Abydonian culture is more tolerant of extra-marital sex than ours is."

"Yes, and I know that Sha're quickly became very American in that regard."

"Well, she's said a few things that imply that she'd be more okay with it if it was . . . well, let's just say 'all in the family' so to speak."

"What? You think she'd –"

"I don't know, but it's been . . . it sounds . . ."

Jack shook his head. "Wait, you're not saying . . . are you saying that . . ."

"In that reality, Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson are lovers," Teal'c said, "or so I surmise."

"Euew!" Jack said.

"My sentiments exactly," the colonel said. "Or at least that was how I felt at the start."

Jack blinked. "You're not saying that you . . ."

"Of course not!" the colonel exclaimed. "Euew!"

"Besides, even if they weren't in a monogamous relationship, I can't imagine anyone would cope with his lover having sex with an alternate reality version of himself," Daniel observed, and several wildly bizarre images danced through Jack's head. Images he neither wanted nor needed, thank you very much.

"Right," the colonel said. "So, I thought I'd better check out your reactions first before we decided to do this swap."

Jack nodded. "I can see that. It's a little freaky, I will admit, but I don't think it will be a problem." He shivered slightly. "I think I'm over the worst of it."

"But what about the rest of the folks here? Your Carter?"

"She's the last person who'd have a problem with it," Jack said.

"Teal'c?" the colonel asked, turning to the Jaffa.

"Homosexuality is not uncommon among my people," he said. "It is not encouraged, but neither is it frowned upon the way it is here."

"What about Hammond?"

"What about Hammond?" Hammond asked from the doorway. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, gentlemen, but the three ladies next door hardly seemed to need me." He glanced back and forth between the two Jacks. "I'm guessing this one's my O'Neill," he said, pointing at Jack.

"You would be right, sir," Jack said. "The colonel, here, is concerned that we're going to have a problem with the Daniel that was left with them."

"And why would that be?"

"Um . . ." Jack discovered that he didn't quite know how to broach the subject with Hammond.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Evidently that Daniel is homosexual and is having a relationship with his own Jack O'Neill. My Jack is a little worried that will be a problem. Jack here seems to think it will be okay, but my Jack wants to know more about how other people will react."

Hammond rocked backwards for a moment at the onslaught of information, then shook his head. "I don't see why there would be a problem, honestly. It's meant to be a temporary situation, after all, and even if, God forbid, it became a permanent one, I don't think problems would arise."

"Hmm . . ." The colonel looked unhappy. "I'm still not entirely happy with the idea."

"Jack, these are good folks," Daniel said. "They've been very good to me, even if they wouldn't let me go offworld."

"Why would you go offworld in your condition?"

"There were some people in trapped in a Goa'uld elevator, but we didn't know what it was initially, and they wouldn't let me go out there to make the translations in person. I had to use cameras and monitors and give instructions to live tripods, all from here, in their Daniel's office."

The colonel turned to Jack. "He asked you to let him go offworld?"

"He was quite insistent about it," Jack said. "You're surprised?"

The other Jack's shoulders slumped, and he sighed. "No, I guess not," he said. "Daniel, you make me crazy!"

The archeologist bit his lip and glanced up at his Jack with wide eyes. His pupils were huge, his expression alarmed and very vulnerable. "I – I – just wanted to help."

The colonel looked startled by the reaction, but Jack wasn't letting it go by. He grabbed the colonel. "You and me need to have a little chat outside."

"O'Neill?" Hammond said and Jack paused. "Not in the open, okay?"

"Right, sir," he said, and dragged the colonel outside and to the next lab down the hall. Slamming the door shut behind him he said, "Oh, that's just great. Yell at him, make him feel like the useless twerp he thinks you already think he is." He paused briefly to think the sentence through again and then nodded.

"What?" the colonel exclaimed. "I don't think he's useless. Where in the world would you get an idea like that?"

Jack glared at him. "Oddly enough, from him." He shook his head. "Look, he's been through hell, and he doesn't need you coming down on him like that. He can't handle it."

"I saw that," the colonel said, looking disturbed. "He usually just yells right back at me."

"You yell at him often enough for there to be a usual response?" Jack asked.

"Are you going to tell me that you don't yell at your Daniel?" the colonel demanded.

"It's not the same!" Jack replied. "There was a distinct sense of hostility coming from you just now. A distinct sense of anger rather than exasperation."

"You don't know us," the colonel growled. "Maybe your Daniel is less –"

"Yeah, right!" Jack said. "There are two chief things that separate your Daniel from my Daniel. My Daniel's wife is still stuck out there with Apophis, and my Daniel knows I like him."

"My Daniel knows that," the colonel protested.

"Yeah, I can tell," Jack said sarcastically. "That must be why he told me you don't. Why I had to reassure him that he was mistaken, and I damned well better have been right to do that."

"That's ridiculous," the colonel said. "I need to go back to stay with him." He started to open the door to the hallway.

"Easy there, turbo," Jack replied. "You need to hear this."

"What makes you think you know so much?" the colonel said, shutting the door again and turning to glare.

"I know what he said and what he did while he was here. You made noises about wanting to know that stuff earlier, and I can pretty well guarantee that he won't tell you this himself."

The colonel walked over and sat down in a chair, so Jack did the same. "Fine, tell me what it is you seem to think you know."

"Well, first off, you've been making noises about not wanting to send the gay Daniel here. To be completely frank, if it wasn't for Sha're and the kids, I might be unwilling to send him home with you."

"Based on what?"

Jack sighed and leaned towards the colonel, his arms on the countertop. "When he came to, he thought I was you, and he seemed astonished to find me sitting there. He tried to convince me that, since he knew I didn't like him, I could just run along and he'd be fine. This was, mind you, when he was still hallucinating because of all the poisons that weren't leaving his system while his kidneys were shut down."

"So he was confused. He didn't really understand who he was talking about or to. You –"

"No, he knew who he was talking about." Jack cast his mind back to what this Daniel had actually said. "he told me 'you're always growling at me, and you never hang out at my office anymore.' That's a direct quote."

"I'm . . . I'm busy."

"Oh, that's a hell of an excuse," Jack said disgustedly.

"Right. Tell me you aren't busy."

"I'm never so busy that I can't find time for my friends," Jack said.

"I'd be willing to bet that you don't even have a personal life," the colonel replied. "Apart from fishing, which you do alone."

Jack raised a hand and began ticking the names off on his fingers. "Teal'c. Carter. Daniel. I make time for them. Carter, when I can actually get her to leave the mountain, has an active social life, but Daniel doesn't talk to much of anybody, and neither does Teal'c."

"I make time for Teal'c," the colonel said defensively. "But Daniel has Sha're. He doesn't need me."

Jack shook his head. "He seems to disagree."

"He seemed to be pretty glad to see someone he doesn't think likes him," the colonel pointed out.

"Well, maybe that's because I persuaded him that your reasons for behaving like a jackass made a certain amount of sense and that he might need to give you a little leeway. But if you pull many more cracks like that one, you're going to undo all the work I did, and he'll be worse off than before." He shrugged. "Besides, just because he doesn't think you like him doesn't mean that he's stopped liking you, unfathomable as that seems."

"So what are these reasons you gave him?" the colonel asked sarcastically.

"Jonny, Kate and Sha're," Jack said.

The other man looked as if he'd punched him in the gut. "What do you mean?"

"Look, colonel, I know you. Who better? And every time he risks himself in some damn fool stunt, you get mad at him not just because you know how much you'll miss him, but because he's got what you've lost and you can't stand to see another man risk that, especially not one you care so much about."

The colonel glared at him for a long moment, then rose and turned away. "Damn you!" he growled. "Damn you!"

"I'm sorry, but I don't have tons of time to get this through to you, and that man has just spent a month being shouted at and beaten up on by a man who looks and sounds like you. A very angry man, from the sounds of things. You yell at him now and you're going to give him flashbacks."

The colonel turned slowly. "PTSD?"

"Yup," Jack said. "Add into that the fact that he wasn't altogether sure that you even liked him anymore when all this started, and you've got something of a mess. For all he knows you were on the verge of stepping over that particular line." The colonel's face went red with anger, then white with alarm. "You yell at him now, and he may not be able to handle it. He might start being actively afraid of you."

"But I – I'd never –"

"I'm not saying that it's true," Jack said. "I have no reason to think it's true, but you and I both know we have issues with anger. Daniel knows you have issues with anger."

"And Sha're will kill me if I frighten him."

"Dead." Jack sighed. "I told him that I think of my Daniel as an exasperating younger brother that I've been given charge of, one who won't listen and keeps getting into trouble. I don't know if that's how you think of yours, but if you do, you need to find a different way of showing that to him than by yelling at him when he gets himself mangled or captured or whatever."

"You're –"

Before the other Jack could tell him what he was, the door opened and Carter came in. "Sir, we've reached the end of what we can do together for now. We each want to do some testing in our own realities, and then we want to get together tomorrow."

"Here?" Jack asked.

"Well, we can't initiate contact very effectively yet, so yes, here."

"That sounds reasonable," Jack said. "What do you think, colonel?"

"Sounds like we need to decide some things right now, then," the colonel said. "I need to talk to my Carter alone, if you would."

"Kid-Sam," Jack said.

The colonel gave him a very dry look and Carter's eyes widened. She said, "I'll get her," and vanished precipitately.

"Decisions, huh?" Jack asked.

"Like whether you're going to give us our Daniel back and whether we're going to give you the Daniel we've been taking care of."

"Is that in question still?" Jack asked.

"You seem to have your own doubts," the colonel replied, looking sour. Jack noted, however, that he also seemed thoughtful, which was a good sign.

"I wouldn't keep that man away from his babies for anything," Jack said. "If it wasn't for them . . . I might feel differently. But it really comes down to whether or not the man wants to go back, and I don't see him objecting."

The colonel pursed his lips. "Right."

Kid-Sam walked in and Jack said, "I'll take this as my cue to leave." He walked out and went back to the lab with the mirror where he found Samantha alone.

"Hi," she said, looking uneasy.

"Hello." Aware of her almost fearful reaction to him, he walked over to a chair that was a good fifteen feet away from her and ten feet from the door and, flipping it around, he sat down. "How's your Jack?"

She shrugged. "He's still pretty out of it," she said. "They've gotten him to react to some stimuli, but not much. Mostly he just sits in a corner of his hospital room and rocks."

"I'm sorry. That's got to suck."

She blinked at him. "You're sorry?" she repeated. "That's new."

"How so?"

"Most of your counterparts have been pretty abusive about him. I mean, I can't say that they're completely wrong, but not one of them has ever offered sympathy before."

Jack grimaced. "Well, I wasn't inclined to at first, to be blunt. But then I got to thinking about what that sarc addiction did to our Daniel. Sweetest, most selfless man I've ever known, and he turned into a selfish, mean-spirited, pleasure-seeking asshole. I'm not saying your Jack didn't do things wrong, but I've had a lot more time than my counterparts have had to think about that whole drug thing. It isn't an excuse, but it makes it a lot more comprehensible."

She nodded slowly. "Well, the doctors aren't sure he'll recover completely, but I can tell you one thing. He was ready to sacrifice just about anything to keep your Daniel safe, and . . . in the end . . . he killed Hammond as a direct result of what he did to Daniel."

"Just about anything?" Jack asked, and she started twisting her hands together.

"Yes, well, he couldn't do things that Daniel himself would despise . . ." She shook her head. "He couldn't become the man that Hammond wanted him to be to save Daniel. It would have been self-defeating."

Jack opened his mouth and then closed it again. Taking a deep breath, he said, "So, are you referring to some specific event or are you speaking more generally?"

"Specific event," she said. "Hammond wanted him to shoot at a bunch of people we were forcing to mine naquadah and who were striking over poor working conditions. It's a long story. Suffice it to say, if he'd agreed, your Daniel would have been upset, disturbed, disgusted, any number of adjectives I can think of. Knowing your Daniel, and I d . . . do, he would rather have gotten beaten up a little, which is what happened, than to have Jack attack innocents with full military force."

"You spent a lot of time with him?"

She nodded. "It became very clear that they were interacting more like our Jack and Daniel had, with one major exception. Your Daniel was able, for the most part, to defuse Jack's temper and redirect it somehow. I don't really understand why or how, but Hammond was pleased – at least until it also became obvious that he was having the same 'softening influence' on Jack that our Daniel'd had on him." She shook her head. "Things with him started diverging on the second day he was there. Jack acted differently towards him, and he acted differently than the others had towards Jack. It was kind of creepy at first, he seemed so much like our own Daniel. 'Jack's just looking out for me . . . he has my best interests at heart . . .'" She shuddered. "I didn't know what to make of it at first, but . . ." She shrugged. "I spent a lot of time with him because Jack started acting like he was our Daniel. We'd all have dinner. When he was sick, someone had to sit with him. And Hammond started giving him perks, like movies and music, and I was part of that somehow. And right at the end . . . after they moved him, Hammond had me eating dinner with him every night. I think it was so that he'd have something easy and obvious to take away if Daniel misbehaved."

Jack listened to her speaking with a mix of curiosity and utter dismay. How had his Daniel learned so well to cope with an abuser? Jack had never behaved that way towards him, so who had, and when?

The door opened to admit Hammond, two Carters, the other Jack, and Teal'c pushing Daniel's chair. There was little enough space in the room to begin with. The crowd was a little much. "So, what do you want to do, Samantha?" kid-Sam asked. "Do you want to take us all through your reality, or just take us home straight from here?"

"Straight, I'd say," Samantha said.

"Someone's going to have to go through first and send for a wheelchair. I don't think we want to take this one with us."

"Sure," kid-Sam said. "Will do."

Samantha turned the mirror on and set it to the correct reality. "You're good to go," she said. Kid-Sam gave her a squeeze on the shoulder, and then went through. It was creepy to say the least, but Jack held in his reaction. A few minutes later they saw another Daniel approaching the mirror with kid-Sam beside him. Jack watched as he hugged her and then hugged . . . Sha're . . .

Then he touched the mirror and came through. Jack saw tears standing in his eyes as he approached the colonel and daddy-Daniel. He squatted. "You're a very lucky man," he said. "I wish I could have met your children, but Sha're, very wisely I think, said it was a bad idea."

Daddy-Daniel nodded and reached out to shake hands. "Well, the folks here are good people, and I guess all three of the Sams are going to be working on a way to get you home sooner."

"Four," the new Daniel said, smiling slyly. "Mine will be working on her own, but I guarantee you, she will be working hard on the same problem."

Jack clenched his teeth. They had two Daniels in this room. Two. And neither of them was his. It wasn't fair.

Daddy-Daniel chuckled. "Right," he said. "Four. She must be one resourceful lady to manage all this without a mirror."

The new Daniel grinned. "She is that," he said. "But I'm impressed with Samantha. After everything that's happened, she's still doing her best to get us all home." Both Daniels turned towards Samantha who was flushing.

"Well, it's time for us to be heading home, Dannyboy," the other Jack said.

Jack strode forward. "Not before I say goodbye," he said. The colonel faded back slightly and Jack smiled at Daniel. "You be good to your kids, Daniel," he said. "And to Sha're."

"Always," he said, smiling. "And you hold on. Have confidence in the Carter extravaganza. They'll get everything straightened out. You'll see."

Jack nodded and gave him a hug. He stepped back and let Carter, Teal'c and Hammond have their go. Rothman had already said his farewells, so he'd been told, and Jack was just as glad to have missed them.

Once everyone had said goodbye, daddy-Daniel and the colonel went through the mirror to join kid-Sam. There was a manic reunion on the other side of the mirror, and pleased as he was for them, Jack had to turn away. He found himself looking into the other Daniel's eyes where he, too, had looked away.

The mirror turned off and Samantha said, "Well, I'd better be going home as well."

Daniel turned back towards her. "Are you all right, Samantha?"

She smiled. "I will be. The more of you I can get home, the happier I'll be. I . . ." She grimaced. "That came out badly. I just . . ."

"No, we understand," Carter said.

"Yes," Daniel said. "His Sha're has been needing him, and the kids. God, I wish I could have met them."

"I don't suppose you have photos?" Carter asked. It was a question Jack had wanted to ask, but he doubted he'd ever have gotten around to it.

"I do," Daniel said. "I probably shouldn't. Janet will likely take them away the first chance she gets, but I wanted to . . . I don't know, I just didn't want to give them up." Samantha looked curious, so Daniel pulled a wallet out of his pocket and opened it up. "You're going to have to leave soon, aren't you?" he asked. She nodded and he handed her the wallet. Her eyes lit as she looked down then she handed it back and said, "I had best be going. We'll return tomorrow around ten, right, Sam?"

"It is, Samantha," Carter said. "See you then."

She activated the mirror again and reset it, then touched it and was gone. Jack shook his head. "That woman has too much on her shoulders," he muttered.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

"Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot we can do about that," Hammond said. He walked over to Daniel. "Welcome to our reality, son. I hope you don't mind, but I've had housekeeping clean up the room the other Daniel's been using for your use."

"That sounds fine," Daniel said. "Um . . ." He looked around, his eyes landing on Jack and then skittering away. He turned back to Hammond and met his eyes, looking decidedly uncomfortable. "Did anyone think to mention that I'm –"

"Yes," Jack interjected, and Daniel turned to him. "And all I can say is that I think you've got bad taste."

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "You don't know my Jack," he said mildly, a grin teasing the corner of his lips. "But for the record, my Sam thinks the same as you do."

A sudden giggle escaped Carter, and Jack glared at her. She cleared her throat, suppressing all signs of mirth. "We're glad to have you, Daniel," she said. "But could you all get out of my lab so I can get back to work?"

Daniel smiled at her. "Thank you," he said simply, then he turned to Hammond. "So, where is this room?"

"This way," Hammond said. Jack and Teal'c took up the rear as they headed through the halls. "We've told everyone that you are here and that you're not the Daniel they know. Nothing more detailed than that."

"Is there a problem with people knowing my preferences?"

"Possibly," Hammond said. "There are people who would have a problem with it, and it's possible that those problems would carry over to our Daniel when he returned."

Daniel gazed at him for a moment, then nodded. "Gotcha. So, what have you got for me to do? I warn you, I'll go stir crazy if I don't get to do at least some work."

"We'll find you things to do, but we don't want to take advantage of you."

Daniel shrugged his shoulders. "Take advantage. Otherwise I'll go stark raving nuts, and you don't want that."

"Did you do the sarc thing?" Jack asked. Daniel nodded. "Okay, then, been there, done that, don't want the t-shirt."

Hammond nodded, and said, "Here's the room. It's just one of the VIP rooms, so it's nothing unusual, but if you find you need anything just ask Colonel O'Neill. I'm assigning him and Teal'c to looking after you."

"Thank you, sir," Daniel said.

"I'll come by this evening to see how you are," Hammond said and then left.

Daniel looked around and said, "There isn't an iota of difference between this room and the same one back home."

"Indeed?" Teal'c said.

"Not that I can see," Daniel said. He stood up. "How long have you been missing your Daniel?" he asked.

"Just over five weeks," Jack said, sighing. "How long have you been away from home?"

"Not quite three months," he said, his grin faltering. "I miss them all more than I can say, and it was both a blessing and a curse to be so close to a living Sha're."

"In what way a curse?" Teal'c asked.

"Mine is dead, and she was a living, breathing, overprotective reminder of everything I lost when Apophis attacked Abydos, and that was all my fault. If I just hadn't unburied the stargate –"

"Apophis would have come later and destroyed your people from orbit," Teal'c said implacably. "And you as well."

Daniel looked up at him with a startled look on his face. "I guess, but I still feel responsible."

"How was it a blessing?" Jack asked curiously. He couldn't think of a plus to be had in that circumstance.

"She is very like my Sha're, so having her tell me that she's not only not disgusted by my relationship with Jack, but is pleased that I'm not alone was . . . it was like absolution."

Jack nodded slowly. "Well, I don't know if anybody at the other end knows this to tell you, but the Sha're here isn't dead either."

"She's not?" Daniel exclaimed, sitting up straight. "Where is she? Is she here?"

"She is not," Teal'c said phlegmatically. "She is Amunet's host."

Daniel's face froze, then he sat back looking stunned. "Amunet's host?" he repeated. "How does your Daniel live with that?"

"Not well," Jack said. "Not well at all."

Daniel shook his head. "I can't imagine that. Having her dead is bad enough, having her inhabited by the enemy would be a nightmare."

"If you will excuse me, I have duties to attend to," Teal'c said. Daniel nodded wordlessly and Teal'c bowed himself out.

"Did I say something wrong?" Daniel asked.

"How did your Sha're die?" Jack asked. "If it's not too painful for you to talk about."

Daniel grimaced. "It was in the attack on Abydos. Jack, Sam and I were looking at the gate addresses in the other temple when it came . . ."

Jack nodded. "That's when Apophis attacked Abydos here, too," he said.

Daniel took a deep breath. "Well, when Apophis attacked, she fought back, and one of the Jaffa shot her with a staff weapon. There was no way to save her, she was dead when we got to the Abydos gateroom, and Skaara was taken."

"But, let me guess," Jack said, "Feretti saw the coordinates."

Daniel nodded. "Here, too, huh?"

"Here, too, except that Apophis took Sha're as well as Skaara. And Teal'c, as first prime of Apophis, selected the candidates for Amunet's host, so he's the one who put Sha're in that position in the first place."

Daniel glanced toward the door. "So that's why he left so suddenly." He grimaced. "Oops."

Jack shrugged. "It's his problem, not yours. I didn't tell you that to make you feel guilty, just so you'd understand the reaction."

This information had about the impact it would have had on his own Daniel, Jack noted sourly. He still looked just as remorseful as he had before. "I didn't mean to upset him. Maybe if I . . . no, saying something probably wouldn't help, would it?"

"I doubt it," Jack said. "So, have you eaten recently?"

Daniel laughed. "Sha're informed me that I would probably get starved over here, so she absolutely insisted on feeding me. She's probably feeding him right now. She kept telling me I was too thin."

"Sounds like her," Jack said. "I wish . . ." He shook his head. "And if wishes were horses, we'd have rings on our fingers and bells on our toes . . . um . . ."

Daniel looked at him dubiously for a moment, then said, "Right."

"Yeah," Jack said. "So . . . um . . . dessert?" The archeologist's eyebrows went up. "There's always room for Jello."

Daniel nodded. "I think I could handle Jello."

Reality G298

"I won't leave, I promise," Jack said through the surgical mask he wore and Daniel gave him a quick nod. Even the crazy Jack would never have let anyone else hurt him, particularly not while he was under anesthesia, so he felt safe with that promise. He felt guilty for not trusting this Janet, but he knew Jack.

Dr. Fraiser had just seemed so relieved that he'd agreed to the surgery that she'd have agreed to whatever conditions he made. She leaned over him. "All right, we're going to get started now. You okay?"

"Yeah," Daniel said, and she nodded to the anesthetist.

When he next came to himself, he felt very woozy and out of it, but Jack was there. He was sitting by the bed, reading something blurry. There were beeps and other medical sounds going on around him, which was both reassuring and alarming. He hated having to be hooked up to machines.

There was a sudden escalation in the beeping that started an escalation in activity around him. He felt a needle prick in his arm and then drifted away.