Chapter 35

Neither Sam nor Jack was aware that the temporary SG-1 team had gone missing. They were far too busy caring for Katie and the liquidating Sean and Ashley's estate. Sam sat on the floor in jeans and a red t-shirt next to Katie as she watched the child sleep in her small bed. She gently pushed the hair back from the child's face and spoke softly to her.

"I promise you that I will not let you grow up without a mom," she told the girl. Sam recalled how her mother died in a horrible car accident when she was a teenager. She didn't want Katie growing up without ever knowing what it was like to have a mother. She leaned closer and kissed the girl on the forehead, tucked in the blankets around her small body and then quietly left the room. She found Jack standing just outside wearing jeans and a blue flannel shirt.

"Hey," she smiled warily at him.

"Hey," he smiled back. His hand fell on her hips and pulled her closer in an embrace. "I heard your promise in there."

"You did?" she asked holding him close.

"I'm thinking once we are married that you become her adopted mother," he suggested.

She smiled, "Why not let me adopt her now?"

He admitted, "Well, then her name would change to Carter…Katie Carter?"

Sam shook her head, "I see you're point." She decided to tease him a bit, "But if I keep my name and adopt her after we're married then it still changes to Carter."

Jack lifted an eyebrow not amused.

She grinned, "Kidding."

"I like Sam O'Neill," he admitted. Then his mind wondered off to his deceased son who shared the same name. "Samantha O'Neill," he corrected.

She tried to take his mind off of Sean and replied, "I don't know…I kind of like Katie Carter to be honest." She then added, "Or you could change your identity again and become Jack Carter."

"Very funny," he miffed. "You're last name should be changed to MacGyver."

"If I had stayed in nineteen eighty-three it would have," she admitted.

He kissed her gently on the lips, "I love you," he assured.

"I love you too." She held him tight as she wondered just what her future would hold now that she had a two year old to take care of. Her world had changed so fast. In six months she went from her brother trying to fix her up with a cop to becoming the mother of a two year old orphan and engaged to Jack O'Neill. And yet, she couldn't imagine her life any other way. She wanted Katie and Jack. She wanted to also keep her career but she wasn't sure if she could. But for now she was content with what she had despite the tremendous loss of Sean and Ashley. She liked Sean and wished she had gotten to know him better. Her biggest regret was not having to chance to know Sean as well as he knew her.

Jack mentioned, "You know, I had forgotten how little sleep you get with a two year old."

"They do tire you out," she admitted.

"Come on," Jack pulled her hand to follow.

"What?" she wondered as he pulled her towards the bedroom.

"The only time we get to be alone is when she is sleeping," he reminded.

Sam asked, "What? Now?"

He nodded, "It's now or we never when you got a two year old."

"It's only seven o'clock," she rebutted.

"And she could wake up at any time." he agreed and led her into the bedroom.

Sam complained, "It's not even dark out yet."

"She will be up half the night anyways," he stated as he closed the door.

Meanwhile - Alternate Reality

The alternate reality that Janet found herself in started to fill with other SG teams from other realities. It was soon turning into a mess as copies of SG-1 from all realities converged on one single point.

Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter sat in her lab with Stringfellow Hawke going over the data from the laptop he brought with him. They both figured that the old Ancient site his team had visited was the trigger for the alternate reality convergence. She was impressed by how much physics Colonel Hawke knew and he seemed to be able to follow much of what she said in scientific terms.

Hawke knew she would eventually figure the puzzle out and fix the situation. He had no doubt this Sam Carter was just as smart as the Sam Carter in his reality. What he couldn't figure out was why she wasn't wearing a ring.

Hawke asked, "So, are you engaged in this reality?"

She shook her head, "I was but I broke it off."

"You dumped Jack?" he asked concerned.

She looked up from her work confused, "What? No, my ex was named Pete. He was a cop. Jack? You mean General O'Neill?"

He rolled his eyes, "No, Dalton." he sarcastically replied.

Sam squinted, "I'm engaged to him in your reality?"

"No," he replied. "That was sarcasm. You are engaged to Jack O'Neill in my reality."

"I am?" she asked surprised. "How is that possible with regulations?"

"Why do you think I'm commander of SG-1?" he asked "When Jack got promoted he promoted me to command SG-1 to act as a buffer between you two. It's only temporary but for now it will keep the Brass at bay."

Sam clarified, "He passed over my promotion to command SG-1 so he could have an affair with me?"

"It's not an affair when he puts a ring on your finger, Sam." he huffed.

"Colonel Hawke," she snorted. "I don't know you and we are not on first name bases."

He asked, "When did you become such a hard-ass?"

She held up her hand, "I'm impressed by how much of this you comprehend for a military…Um…What were you?" Sam suddenly realized she knew nothing about him.

"I'm a chopper pilot," he smirked and purposely withheld his degrees in physics from the conversation.

"A chopper pilot?' she rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm impressed by how much you have picked up but that doesn't give you the right to ask about my personal love life." She then tried to go back to work but a nagging question burned in the back of her mind. She looked at him, "His name isn't Jack O'Neill?"

Hawke shook his head, "Nope."

She spoke more to herself than him, "I don't need to know it. It's really none of my business anyways." She then started to mutter, "I only spent eight years going to other planets with the man and I assumed I knew him." She hit the table top with her hand, "Just when you think you know somebody you find out Jack O'Neill isn't even his real name. What the hell?"

"Now that's the Sam that I know," he cheered.

"I don't need to know it," she reminded herself as the question burned deeper.

Janet walked into Sam's office looking for the pair. She asked, "How is it going?"

"We're working on it," assured Sam.

Janet sighed, "Apparently in every other reality I'm dead."

Sam asked, "What?"

"I just spent time in a room full of Sam Carters and everyone said the same thing. I died six months ago on PX 666," she informed. She looked at Hawke, "Maybe you are right about your family curse after all."

Hawke asked, "If I'm right about the family curse then why you still alive in our reality?"

She shrugged, "I have no idea."

Sam assured, "Each reality can be different. What happens in one reality doesn't have to happen in another. There can be deviations. However, the closer the realities are on the spectrum the more alike they are. And that's what is throwing me because according to the readings on the laptop compared to our gate readings, your reality is the closet on the spectrum to mine. So, my reality should be a carbon copy of yours but it's obviously not."

Janet assumed, "Probably due to traveling into the past twice."

Sam asked, "Why would we do that? You know how dangerous that can be? You could change the timeline."

Janet informed, "The first trip back to nineteen eighty-two was an accident. Or at least we thought it was. The second trip back to nineteen eighty-three was on purpose to get the assassin after he killed String and General O'Neill."

"Why did you have to go back so far?" wondered Sam.

Janet informed, "The time travel experiment that CIA was working on is based on solar cycles."

"Lovely," huffed Sam. "The CIA is screwing around with time travel experiments." She then looked at Janet, "I'm glad you're okay in your reality. It's comforting to know that you still exist even if it's not here."

"How is Casey holding up with my alternate gone?" she wondered.

Sam reported, "She's strong. She'll be okay."

"Casey is a teenager," rebutted Hawke. "She lost her entire planet and her only mother on this planet. How can she be okay? I took her fishing and she refused to eat the fish because it was too pretty."

"Right now she is in a foster home but she is benefactor of our Janet's estate. She will be okay, Colonel Hawke. You don't have to worry about her." assured Sam.

Hawke miffed, "Maybe we should get her and take back home with us."

Janet reminded, "But Dear, we already have a Cassandra in our reality. Bringing her back with us would make two Cassandras in our reality."

He shrugged, "So, tell everyone they are twins. I don't like the idea of her being in a foster home."

Sam closed her eyes for a moment for Hawke's reasoning was beyond her comprehension. She stated, "There also numerous other realities with the same Casey in the same situation. Are you going to bring them all back to your reality too?"

"I was thinking just the one," he admitted as he pictured multiple teenagers running around his cabin and arguing over the computer.

Janet informed, "I would love to take her home with us, String but we simply can't." She then walked over to him and gave him a hug, "But thinking you for thinking about her."

He squeezed her tight, "You're welcome."

Sam asked, "Are you two…" she tailed off for perhaps it was none of her business.

Janet smiled and nodded, "We are together."

"I'm happy for you," Sam smiled relived to know the sole surviving Janet had someone in her life.

"What about you and General O'Neill?" asked Janet. "Aren't you together in this reality too?"

Sam shook her head, "No, we're not."

Janet asked, "Why not?"

"Because we're not," she replied with no real way of answering the question.

Janet looked at her old friend and grinned, "You're dying to find out his real name, aren't you?"

She held up her hand, "It's none of my business."

"Like hell it isn't," miffed Janet.

Jack's Office SGC - Alternate Reality

Daniel went to see Jack in his office after he had finished helping Jonas decipher Ancient code. Much to Daniel's surprise the office door was closed and Jack was sitting in the office with Dalton as they chatted away. Jack was laughing so hard tears were rolling his face as Dalton told him everything that happened to him. Daniel went to open the door and found it was locked. Jack had locked him out. How could that be? He pounded on the door.

"Jack," he hollered to get his attention.

The door then swung open and Jack stood and looked at Daniel, "What Daniel?"

"I have the report on the Ancient text that Jonas and I have been working on," he told him and looked past to see Dalton just grinning from ear-to-ear. "Jack, what's going on?"

Jack shrugged, "Just catching up with an old friend."

"And old friend who calls you 'Mac.'" huffed Daniel not amused.

"You're point is, Daniel?" asked Jack.

Daniel huffed, "Why does he call you that?"

"It's a childhood nickname," he informed. "He's always called me that even when we were little kids."

"No, Jack." huffed Daniel. "That man is not the same man you knew as a little kid. He's is from another reality. He's not the same guy."

"He's the same man to me, Daniel." Jack replied.

"Fine," he huffed and shoved the report into Jack's stomach. "Here's the report. You can read it when you're done chatting it up with your friend…Jack!" He walked away steaming mad.

He didn't know why he was so mad at his friend. He also wasn't sure he felt such jealously towards the stranger who came through the gate earlier that day. All he knew was Jack was keeping him in the dark and now locking him out of the office. He felt like he was being locked out of Jack's life and the revelation that Jack O'Neill was not even his real name was staggering for him. As Daniel made his way back towards his office he was still steaming about Jack locking him out. He spotted Janet and Hawke walking in the hall towards him. It was obvious that he was upset.

Janet asked, "Daniel, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he huffed and came to a halt. He asked, "Who the hell is Jack Dalton?"

Hawke replied, "A real pain in the…"

Janet elbowed him gently, "That's enough. Jack Dalton is General O'Neill's childhood friend."

Daniel huffed, "He locked the door."

"Excuse me?" asked Janet.

"Jack locked the door to his office," stated Daniel. "He's never done that."

Janet remained, "Jack Dalton knows General O'Neill's real name. He has to lock that door, Daniel. Dalton doesn't have the ability to call him by his new name. He's kind of dense like that."

"Oh, so Jack can't trust me with his real name?" huffed Daniel even more upset.

"You know it in our reality," she assured.

"This isn't you reality, Janet. It's mine!" he rebutted. "Do you have any idea how this whole thing looks? Some chubby little guy from Jack's mysterious past comes through the gate and suddenly we find out Jack O'Neill is not his real name. That Jack in in some sort of witness protection program and he can't even tell us what his name is after eight years of risking our lives."

Hawke soothed him, "Calm down, Daniel."

"Don't tell me to calm down," he huffed feeling betrayed.

"He's trying to protect you, Daniel." insisted Janet. "Murdoc is no ordinary assassin. He will kill everyone around him and you would be the top of that list in this reality."

"So, Jack is afraid that if he tells me his real name that somehow I am going to die," Daniel summed up the explanation.

Hawke injected, "Not somehow…We know how. Murdoc uses explosives to blow things up."

Daniel rolled his eyes, "Great!" and then walked by them still fuming.

Janet suggested, "Maybe we should have a word with the General."

"Jack doesn't know me here," Hawke reminded. "I'm a crippled old man in a nursing home here."

"Then I will talk to him," stated Janet.