Grace
by Aria
Chapter Thirty - Six
Rating: Same as the show.
Disclaimer: I don't own them; if I did then I would be a hell of a lot richer. No one's paying me to write this, so I'm not making any profit from writing it. I'm just killing time.
Spoilers: In the line of duty, Divide and Conquer, Beneath the Surface, Point of No Return, Tangent, Serpent's Venom, Grace, The Other Guys, Heroes.
Synopsis: Grace arrives through the Stargate, and it's not just Sam that can see her. Set a couple of months after Heroes, and Lost City.
Just in case you still haven't noticed - even chapters tell one reality, odds another.
-*-*-
Jack O'Neill held his daughter in his arms tightly, a hand across her mouth, willing her not to make a sound.
Beyond the open door to his office moved Anubis' operative, a man who, if Jack was to believe the tape in Gate room, was able to move items, kill colleagues, via thought.
Jack's eyes struggled not to water, as he lifted his ankles further off the floor and prayed that his opponent couldn't hear the slight creaks in the mahogany.
Eventually the sense of tension passed, and Jack felt his calves relax.
He begged the Gods for silence when his radio crackled into action. "Ba'al's just come through the Gate."
Sam's voice.
Part of his heart rejoiced. Another portion was terrified of the enemy overhearing her radio transmission.
Jack pushed his ear plugs deeper, and ensured they were plugged in. The last thing he wanted to miss was a second of his beloved's voice, even if they were stranded by the evil creatures of the night.
Moments passed, leading to seconds, and eventually minutes and hours.
Jack imagined meeting Samantha in an access hatch.
Samantha imagined Jack appearing in the middle of her lab and wrapping her in a long embrace.
"I love you." They whispered to one another, between passionate kisses.
-*-*-
"I'll meet you in the Gate room." They'd make their way to the address Ba'al had programmed, they'd do so together.
Samantha's voice came over the speaker of Jack's microphone and he begged the Gods for it to be true.
The Cold Warriors approached, Jack shot one, then another, but the count down on the self destruct continued.
When Jack heard 'five' he told Daniel and Teal'C to head through the gate.
Janet and Grace followed on three.
Jack said 'I love you' to the air around him as he walked through on one.
His Gate journey was turbulent. The Gate transmitted the Cheyennne Mountain self destruct energy through the wormhole.
-*-*-
Jack was ejected from the wormhole with a significant amount of force. Immediately afterwards the gate shut down.
He rose to his feet quickly, ignoring the tightness in his chest, the groans from his knees and palms. Jack faced the gate for a brief moment and took a gulp. Teal'C, Daniel and Janet emerged him from different directions, the latter holding Grace in her arms. He looked between the three of them, unharmed.
He glanced into the distance. A towering ship could be seen beyond a forest and a well worn pathway skirted through the middle of a field heading straight in front of the gate. The gate itself was unguarded, presumably thanks to the Avenger virus.
Felger finally did something right.
"Janet, Grace, get into the woods for cover. Daniel, you and T go that way, I'll go this way - a brief perimeter check, and then back to the girls." Jack's military training kicked in.
Daniel and Jack held a glance.
I'm sorry.
Me too.
Saying the statements aloud was meaningless.
-*-*-