AN: So awkward...

Through the Mirror of my Mind

A few weeks had passed and the main concern was still the Ori. Grace was happy to be home and back in her preferred school. Jake was happy anywhere. Jack's old office became Jake's bedroom, the small bonus room that had previously been used for storage and had the door to the observation deck became Jack's office. Jack was spending his weekends home building a bedroom for Cassie in the basement. They didn't expect her home a lot but they wanted her to know she had her own space.

Sam felt… frustrated. Not with Jack or the kids, but with the lack of progress dealing with the Ori. With the Goa'uld, you killed them and usually they stayed dead. Sometimes not, but… mostly. She thought some very uncharitable vulgar words about the priors.

Later that day, she and Dr. Lee worked together on the ultrasonic inhibitors in the hopes of finding a way to distract the Priors so they could be killed. When she tells Lee that Landry wants to see progress in a couple days he asks her if she wants a cold fusion theory also. Sam jokes that sure if he's got some ideas. It was a good thing Marge was used to spending the night with the kids. She puts in a pair of ear buds so she can focus on work. Her Zune was swiped from Jack's desk drawer so it's loaded with a rather eclectic selection of music. Lots of opera, some country, mostly Alabama, and an oddly specific selection of somewhat modern stuff. But it made her feel close to him with him in Washington most of the time and she didn't think he'd mind.

The next day she walks in on Bill blasting heavy metal with prototype noise canceling ear buds in. He makes a few lame jokes then admits he's over tired having not gone home last night. He nervously rolls his sleeves.

She finds herself staring at the ceiling for no apparent reason. Bill asks her about it but she hasn't any idea why she was and admits she might just be tired too. Jack had dropped by the base to talk to Hank yesterday and stayed the night. He hadn't been very interested in sleep late last night when they finally had some time alone together.

Bill goes to get them coffee as Sam stays in the lab. Absently. Sam fiddles with her pen, staring at her work in frustration.

"You're so close."

"I know." Sam agrees absently until she registers she shouldn't be hearing anyone in her lab. She turns around and sees a kid behind her by Bill's chair. 'Oh fer' cryin' out loud'. She thinks. Not this crap again.

"Hello, Sam. It's good to see you again. I've missed you." The small blond kid tells her.

"Who are you?" She asks him. The bigger question is how did you get here?

"I had no choice but to take this form. It's me, Orlin."

Sam stares at him utterly shocked.

Sam wasn't exactly fond of having to admit things hadn't been entirely innocent with Orlin to Carolyn and Hank. Not that it was their business, but all she'd done was make out with the guy. She had been trying to draw the guy out and had probably played him a little but it had been necessary at the time. Jack had understood. Jack probably would have understood if things had gone further in retrospect. He'd been awfully patient about the Pete thing. She needed to quit beating herself up about that.

And it doesn't really help that Hank, while a good leader, doesn't understand a damn thing she's saying half the time. Trying to describe and explain the weapon she was working on had her smiling in both amusement and frustration. Uncle George understood about half of what she said and had Jack to translate for him all those years. Jack had understood about eighty percent of what she said and trusted her with the rest. He'd been her biggest advocate from the beginning even if he did warn people not to ask questions they didn't actually want the answers to from her.

Sam talked to Carolyn about what Orlin told her about his reasons for showing up as a kid. Apparently the more flexible mind of a child was the only way to retain Ancient knowledge for as long as possible. She told Hank that because Orlin took a huge risk to even come to them, that they should at least hear him out. Hank agreed to it… rather vaguely, but he agreed.

Orlin tells them the Ori are using their followers to sap energy from them. Everyone is horrified by the idea, especially Daniel. Hank asks Orlin why the Alterans don't just stop the Ori and Orlin admits that his people may no longer be able to do so.

Fisher and three other members of the SGC had brought back a plague with them from an Ori held world. Orlin admitted to Sam that he couldn't simply heal them but he could make a cure… but it would be a little harder than building a Stargate off E-Bay.

Later in the afternoon Orlin isn't making any progress. He's not able to work with what's available yet so Sam offers him a toaster then when he says only if she wants toast, jokes a waffle iron might help more. Orlin asks her to just keep him company. She smiles and agrees. She'd genuinely liked Orlin even if she hadn't been interested in him the way he'd hoped she would be.

Orlin and Sam talk about the base food not being that great. Honestly, it had been better under Hammond and then Jack but there had been budget cuts and it was back to standard military issue mystery loaf again.

She asked him about him being stuck here, worried that he'd need a place to go eventually and he admitted the others were probably going to just leave him here this time. He asks her about it being weird, him being so young but Sam dissembles, it is a little but… this isn't the first time with that specific situation, not that she's going to tell him about Jon any time soon.

And then of all things... he makes a pass at her when he confesses that he has feelings for her. Sam chuckles uncomfortably. Normally she'd would give him the 'look you're a nice guy but not really my type' conversation with him and really how was that going to look anyway… he offers to date her in a few years. She'd look like a dirty old woman dating a kid younger than Jon who she still thought of as a kid and he was eighteen for cryin' out loud. Orlin couldn't be more than thirteen if that. Peachy… Jack's verbal habits were now her inner monologue she thinks.

Then Orlin goes back to complaining about the food like he hadn't just said that... and Sam becomes concerned. He admits he's just used to thinking rather than speaking and wasn't sure if he'd said that out loud then reminds her he still has feelings for her and asks if he said that yet.

Sam assures him they really don't need to discuss that topic again. Ever, she thinks. Not happening, kid, even if I wasn't married with two kids and a foster daughter.

In her briefing with Hank and Cam they go over the fact that Orlin was going to need a DNA sample from the prior who infected everyone in the first place. She's pretty sure the device she and Bill have been working on will help them capture the man.

Cam and Daniel discuss the possibility that they might be able to turn the prior if he learns the truth but Hank makes it clear how unlikely he believes that will pan out.

When Sam goes back to the lab Orlin is using after delivering the sound wave disruptor to Cam, she finds him in a state of exhaustion and more concerning, he's apparently losing track of his memory. She orders him to Dr. Lam's capable hands. Carolyn tells her the boy's brain is dying from overuse, that it's just not able handle as much information as he's trying to retain and process. They watch the sleeping boy and Sam's heart breaks for him. He risked everything to help them… and it seemed it would cost him everything as well. His reasons were foolish at that. She got the impression from his confession that the only reason he'd done so was in some hope of a romantic relationship. Impossible enough had he been an adult considering she'd never cared about him the same way he cared about her.

The next morning she found Orlin in his lab again. He asked her if she was all right… and she wasn't. Her heart was breaking for him as she told him that his brain is degenerating which would lead to cognitive impairment. He admitted he'd expected to lose memories from when he was ascended but he realizes that it was more than that now. Because in trying to retain the Alteran knowledge, his brain was failing.

She realized he knew and had done it anyway. She accuses him of doing this on purpose when he could just write it down and salvage what's left. Just because she doesn't return his feelings doesn't mean she doesn't care what happens to him. She begs him to stop and he tells her it's too complex for her to understand. She's too upset about him doing this to himself to take offence.

She checks on him a bit later. He admits he's writing it down in case he can't finish. Quietly she asks what she can do for him and sadly he tells her it's best if she leaves him alone. All she can do is squeeze his shoulder reassuringly and leave.

Two days later Orlin knocks over a sample tray and Johnson chews both Orlin and Sam out because Orlin is now a danger to others. Sam argues with Johnson but Orlin agrees he's a safety hazard to others now and leaves the lab. The hazmat crew cleans up the mess on the floor and Sam watches Orlin leave with worry.

She finds Hank in a corridor and gives him an update that is… useless she realizes. They couldn't make any progress without the blood sample from a prior and Cam and Daniel weren't back yet.

Hank, having gotten an update from Col. Johnson, goes to find Orlin and ask a final favor from the boy.

Days later… after Gerak had sacrificed himself, Jack drives Sam to the care facility where Orlin has been admitted to.

"You don't have to do this, Carter." He tells her gently. He knew on some level Sam had genuinely cared about the guy. They had talked, that first night, about what to do with him originally. They were already talking about getting a bigger house soon anyway. Jack figured what was one more kid at this point. Grace would have given Orlin something to fixate on besides Sam.

Sam shook her head though. "He's in this condition because he cared about me, Jack. It's important."

"I know." He agreed and squeezed her hand. He got it. The thing he loved the most about Sam was how kind of a heart she had. If the kid got better he'd talk to her about fostering him rather than him being in a medical facility. It didn't seem fair to keep the kid in a hospital if there was nothing more wrong with him than a bit of mental impairment.

Sam went in and spent time with Orlin who had no memory of her at all. Sam was both deeply saddened and deeply relieved.

Meanwhile Jack talked to the kid's doctors to make sure he had everything he needed for now and to find out his long term prognosis. He could probably get him into Grace's school which catered to special needs kids as well. Currently the care facility believed he'd had a catastrophic brain injury.

He'd talk to Marge too. She wasn't as young as she used to be. Orlin wasn't prone to outbursts but he was extremely absent minded. He might remember Sam the next time she visited… he might not. Only time would tell.