Daniel kept glancing up from his translation work to watch the two couples. It was the first time that two Sams and Jacks had been present at the SGC at the same time. Sure, they had hosted alternate Sams and a young O'Neill clone, but never both, together, at the same time. It was surreal.
"Any progress?" Jack interrupted his thoughts.
"I do believe the translation is accurate, good job," he nodded to Sam. "I also think it's quite literal."
"As in they have to give us a message?" O'Neill gestured to Jack and Sam.
"Not just any message," Daniel shuffled his papers looking for the correct set of notes. "Grace was, once again," he smiled, "spot on with her understanding of Ancient tech. The 'remote control,' for lack of a better word, proved incredibly useful. It actually had directions on how to use this thing."
"You mean an invention that actually works?" Jack scoffed.
"More or less," Daniel shrugged. "You activated it without changing the settings from the previous user."
"That thing was last used eons ago," Sam said in disbelief.
"It's powered by a mini-ZPM, it'll still be running a thousand years from now."
"This is all fascinating," O'Neill interrupted, "but how to we get back?"
Daniel grinned. "You," he pointed to Sam and Jack, "have to deliver a message about your greatest regret," he then gestured to Carter and O'Neill, "to them."
"Well that's easy," Jack had many regrets, but there was one that stood out.
"I know what you are thinking," Daniel cautioned, "but it has to be something they," he pointed to Carter and O'Neill again, "don't already know and have a chance to change."
"Won't these changes disrupt the timeline?" Carter hedged.
"Not according to this," Daniel pointed to a specific inscription. "No clue how it works, but only you," he gestured to all of them, "will remember any of this happened."
"Well that's convenient," O'Neill grumbled.
"How do we know this will actually work?" Carter asked.
"We don't," Sam answered, "but previous experience has proven that we have no choice except to try."
———POV———
Jack glanced around his younger self. They were once again face-to-face, only this time Jack had home court advantage.
"So lay it on me," O'Neill was tense, "what do we get so wrong that a several-thousand year-old device is forcing us to fix it?"
"I wish I knew," Jack scrubbed his hands over his face. "I mean sure, I wish I'd done some things differently, but everything led me to here. My wife, Gracie, another one on the way," his voice trailed off.
"When did you know?" O'Neill asked quietly.
"Know what?" Jack hedged, but he already knew what.
"That risking it all was worth it."
Jack didn't say anything for several beats as he weighed his options. Finally, he settled for the truth. "When I almost had to watch her marry someone else."
O'Neill sucked in a sharp breath before Jack continued. "I let my belief that I wasn't what she needed force us both into miserable situations. I decided for her, instead of trusting Sam to make her own decision. I lost faith in her twice; I'll never do it again. Don't you lose faith in her a second time."
O'Neill considered arguing, but he knew the truth. He had lost faith in Carter while he was trapped on Edora. He'd lost faith and it had hurt her.
"You do realize she literally rewrote the law of physics to get you back," Jack said emphatically, watching him closely.
"I know she found a way to bring me home," O'Neill gave a half shrug. "I realize she was upset that I lost faith in her ability."
"You're an idiot," Jack scoffed. "Sam invented math that has never before existed on Earth. Her genius devised a practically impossible method of getting to you," he gave a dark, self-depreciating laugh. "She wasn't upset because you second-guessed her abilities. She's was falling in love with you and you broke her heart!"
O'Neill opened his mouth then closed it. He tried again, but simply stopped as the bombshell Jack dropped exploded within him. He thought back to Edora and when his team had finally reached him. He hadn't been very gracious, hadn't even stopped to ask how they'd done the impossible—how Carter had achieved the impossible. He cringed as he remembered how he'd brushed her off, turned away to speak to Laira; and let's face it, he'd only been using Laira for comfort. In truth, he had been so ashamed of his actions, of losing faith in his team, that he hadn't wanted to face them. But if he accepted what Jack told him, then he'd already done more than lose faith in Carter. He'd betrayed her.
———POV———
Carter sat next to Sam and waited. There were a million questions pouring through her mind, but some things were better left unknown. She hoped.
"There are so many regrets," Sam finally spoke, "but not too many involving Jack. Everything I did in the field either saved him or me or both of us."
"I understand," Carter said to fill the silence.
"I don't think you do," Sam shook her head. "I did things that caused him pain—unimaginable pain." Carter watched as tears leaked out of the corners of Sam's eyes. "I did them to save him and he survived. Without that suffering, he wouldn't be here, Grace wouldn't be here, and this one," she touched her stomach, "wouldn't be on the way."
"Does he hold it against you?" Carter asked quietly.
"I thought so, at one time," Sam reached out and gripped Carter's hand. "But I now accept that he never once blamed me. He would walk through hell, has walked through worse than hell, for me—for us. You have to have the strength to let him."
"So what regret am I supposed to fix?" Carter changed the subject, the topic causing too many emotions to bubble to the surface.
Sam eyed her, but didn't comment on the obvious tactical change. "Honestly, I don't know for sure." she shrugged. "I wish I would have been more insistent regarding our relationship. I almost married someone else; hurt a relatively innocent man because I refused to put my heart on the line."
"Who?" Carter couldn't imagine falling in love with someone else, almost marrying someone else.
"It's not important," Sam waved her off. "The point is, it never should have gotten that far. I should have confronted my feelings instead of burying them."
Carter started to demand more information, but the door opened as Jack and O'Neill walked in. She snapped her mouth shut, not wanting her commanding officer to hear the conversation.
"Time to go," O'Neill told Carter without looking directly at her.
Sam looked between O'Neill and Jack with a grim smile. She knew what conversation they'd likely had.
"This has been surreal," Carter told them with a small smile. "All of this, Grace, you," she shook her head slightly.
"We understand," Jack told her. He nodded to his younger self before leading them both to the gate room.
The artifact sat on a table next to the gate. Several wires connected the two as Daniel played with it.
"Great, you're here," he said, noticing their arrival. "From what I can tell, the Poenitet was originally designed to work with the Stargate. The transports you have been experiencing are a type of emergency backup plan. Siler helped me attach it to the Gate. We use the remote," he held up a contraption in his hand and wiggled it, "to input the time coordinates and use the Stargate to dial the correct planet."
"So we can just go home?" O'Neill asked. "Won't we get a busy signal if we dial our own gate."
"Probably not," Carter answered. "Much like a solar flare, the matter stream can double back on itself when crossing time."
"So no busy signal," O'Neill said dryly.
"No, sir," she bit back a small smile.
"Dial it up, Danny," Jack called out. "You," he pointed at Carter, "remember what I said in that cave." She smiled brightly at him and nodded.
"And you," Jack turned to his younger self, catching the look on O'Neill's face as he watched Carter grinning at Jack. "Don't make me regret my regrets. I'd regret..that," he finished with a chuckle.
"You two be safe," Sam hugged her younger self, "trust yourself," she whispered in Carter's ear.
Daniel finished entering the dialing coordinates and the wormhole whooshed to life.
"It's been..." O'Neill paused, unsure what adjective to use.
"Enlightening," Carter supplied.
"Yes," O'Neill nodded. "It's definitely been that."
With one last wave, they turned around and walked into the event horizon.