Reflections
Chapter 3
For notes see Chapter 1
Other notes: thanks for all your feedback and encouragement.
I'm really really sorry for taking so long to get this fic up, but I've been too busy.
Thanks Farzana for beta-ing, I really appreciate it.
Song-ography: the song included in this fic is "I will Survive" by Gloria Stainer (I think) and I apologize if the lyrics are wrong, but please it's the best I could do.
Jack sat down at the briefing table with a sigh; he wasn't supposed to be in today but Hammond had called him in for an emergency. His Captain, Tebias, looked up at him from her notes and gave him a concerned smile. His other team members, Major Makepeace, and Daniel Jackson, were already seated and waiting from the meeting to commence. General Hammond walked in and called for everyone's attention.
He didn't say very much but showed sg-1 a video made on level 32, the storage facility that they kept on base. The mirror had never been used, but they'd brought it home for study. The technicians had never gotten to testing the object, the Goa'uld were attacking and the project was pushed back. Now they were finding out what it did.
According to the tape, the mirror was a doorway to other dimensions, realities, universes, whatever you call them. The most astonishing thing was who was on the tape. He, himself was on the tape. The other people who had come through the mirror were interrogated on tape as well, but Jack wanted to meet himself in person. He wanted to learn everything, immediately.
Sg-1 and Gen. Hammond went down to level 32 where the travellers were being held. Jack walked up to the cell that held the other version of himself and said hello.
"Hiya," said Colonel O'Neill.
"Sir, remember what happened with Dr. Carter, the two of you can't stay in the same reality or you'll experience cascade tremors too," came a familiar voice from behind him.
Jack's heart began to race at everything that came out of that woman's mouth. He turned slowly to look into the eyes of the prisoner in the cell directly behind him.
"Sam," her name came out as a whisper.
"Sir?" she asked cautiously, not sure who she was addressing.
"Look at you," Jack's eyes travelled up and down the familiar body. "Release her at once," he ordered harshly.
"Oh yeah sure, let the cute one out," O'Neill muttered.
"Umm, excuse me, what about the rest of us?" called Daniel. Major Makepeace, and Dr. Jackson walked down to look at Daniel and Teal'c, but Jack's captain remained at his side, scrutinizing her CO.
"Samantha, what... I mean, how?" Jack was baffled.
"Yeah, nice to see you too." O'Neill said to his twin's back.
"Sir, obviously, this reality's version of myself is not like ours." Carter said.
"No shit Major," O'Neill responded.
"Watch your mouth," Jack snarled over his shoulder. "What is going on?"
"Colonel, let me explain." Carter turned to Jack, not her own Jack. She then launched into a long explanation that her own SG-1 had received from Dr. Carter.
"So in your reality, Sam is a major in the military and is on SG-1?" Dr. Jackson asked, his eyebrows drawn together.
"Yes, and if we don't get going, then Daniel, Colonel O'Neill and I are all going to experience cascade tremors." Carter said sternly.
"This is so weird." Jack said; Makepeace nodded in agreement. "You're so different from the Sam I know."
"Samantha didn't even join the SGC in our reality." Captain Tebias said snidely.
"Yeah, and in our reality, Carter beat you to the punch, she got the position your were second in line for." O'Neill retorted.
"Sir that's not necessary." Carter said quietly. At that point Lieutenant Graham Simmons walked into the room and nearly tripped over his feet at the sight of Major Carter.
"Graham, you need to be careful." Major Carter said as she helped him to his feet.
"Yeah, what if you were carrying something breakable or expensive." Jack chided teasingly.
"Say, what does your Carter do?" O'Neill asked, turning the subject away from the embarrassed Lieutenant.
"Jack do you really want to do this?" Daniel asked O'Neill. Jack turned to Sam, "Do you want to know?"
"You seem to know, and if she isn't in the SGC, I guess I would kinda like to know what would have happened if I hadn't joined the SGC." She said thoughtfully.
"But, don't you have to be getting back now? What about the cascade tremor things you guys are so worried about?" Captain Tebias tried unsuccessfully to get rid of the visitors.
"Actually, Dr. Carter didn't experience a cascade tremor until after 48 hours in our reality." Daniel pointed out. "Besides, I'm kinda curious myself."
Jack beamed. He took the two SG-1s down the hall to their rec room. He entered the room and right away headed toward the television set and the back of the room. They all seated themselves on a pair of worn couches situated in front of the TV. Jack grabbed the remote and went to turn on the set.
"The timing's almost perfect. We should catch her almost exactly as she comes on." Jack said proudly. O'Neill and Major Carter exchanged confused glances.
"She's on TV?" Daniel asked.
Jack surfed the channels for a brief moment when he settled on a familiar talk show.
"Alright, now for my next guest, lets give a big welcome to first timer Samantha Carter!" Rosie O'Donnell cried out as the audience broke out in whistles and whoops and the camera swung around to catch the entrance of a brunette walking onto the set. "Hi Rosie," Sam said as the two embraced.
"Hair?" O'Neill quipped to Carter. She merely twitched her eyebrow.
"Hi Samantha, or is it Sam?" Rosie asked as they made themselves comfortable.
"Sam."
"You look so amazing! I enjoy your new look!" Rosie said indicating her hair.
"Yeah, me too. I figured it would come in differently, but not this differently, but I still love it. You know I've always wanted to change my look, and it sort of happened on its own."
"That's right. You were blond before." Rosie asked; Sam nodded.
"Yeah, when I had to go through chemo therapy, my hair fell out, as it tends to when exposed to radiation. Once the treatments where finished my hair started to grow back in. You can imagine my astonishment when we realized I now had brown curly hair." Sam explained.
"It suits you."
"Thank you."
"So how are you?" Rosie asked.
"Well, the Doctors say I'm fine. The leukaemia is gone, and hopefully, for good. I feel great!"
Carter looked at Jack, "Leukaemia?" Jack nodded solemnly. "Yeah, it was tough, but we made it through." The group turned their attention back to the talk show.
"I heard you just got married." Rosie prompted.
"Yeah, that's right. We've been married for about six months now, but Jack and I have been together for years." Carter and O'Neill looked at each other at this news. "Our marriage is kinda weird. I live here in New York, but Jack lives down in Colorado Springs."
"Your husband's in the military isn't he?" Rosie asked.
"Yes, my father was too. I've spent practically my entire life around uniforms and suits and Captains and Colonels. I even joined the military when I was a teenager, you know, I went though boot camp and training and services and stuff and the military paid for my education. After my service was done, because you only have to do four year, at least that's how it was when I was there, I left and moved onto other things. And you would think that a lifetime of uniforms would give you a little immunity, but it didn't." She laughed.
"How did you two meet?"
"That's a long and twisted story. Um, my father, like I said, was in the military, and I'm acquainted with many of his colleagues. One in particular, a very good friend of my father's, was around quite often when I was a kid, and he was like another member of my family. Not long after my father retired, we, my brother, father, and I, went to see him down in Colorado where he's working in some silo. We were having a little reunion, and my father's friend, Gen. Hammond, brought one of his colleagues along.
"Jack?"
"Yes."
"Was it love at first sight?" Rosie asked her, leaning forward.
"No, but pretty close. Um, I thought he was a bit of a jerk when I first met him. He was snide and sarcastic and kinda chauvinistic. But either he stopped being like that, or I stopped noticing it."
"How come you didn't get married earlier?"
"Umm, well he asked a coupla times but I liked the way the relationship was so... Then I was diagnosed with cancer and I had to take a break from business and I couldn't do it while I was sick. And then I got the offer from Broadway, and decided to move up here, we chose to commit before moving.
"You know, I almost turned down the part because that would mean seeing Jack even less than before, but 'A Streetcar Named Desire' is my favourite play, and I couldn't turn it down. It's one of those corny dream come true stories, not that I could top Vivian Leigh's performance. We got married before I moved up here."
"You didn't have a big wedding like a lot of the big stars. Like, as soon as I get my hands on Tom Cruise, we are having the biggest wedding possible."
Samantha laughed as Rosie's little joke, and when her laughter subsided she continued: "Well, I try to keep my private life to myself. I can talk about it no problem, but a wedding is something that is special and I find that making it a big deal kinda tones down the importance and stuff."
"So what did you do?"
"Well, with my family and his, we hi-tailed it to city hall and signed the papers. It would have been kinda nice to have a small ceremony, but Jack isn't very religious. The town hall was enough; it was all we needed.
"It must be tough living so far apart. I'm not letting Tommy out of my sight as soon as we get married." The audience whooped.
"It is tough, but I fly down there as often as I can. In fact I was there yesterday. I got back to my apartment here in N.Y.C. and turned Patsy Cline way up high." Sam gave a stage sniff, and wiped an imaginary tear away.
"Sam will you sing for us?"
"Only if you'll sing with me. That's the only reasons why I came today, to sing with you."
"Oh, that's so sweet!" Rosie said, putting a hand on Sam's arm. "What do you want to sing?"
"What do you know?"
"You lead, I'll follow." Rosie said.
"Play something John, something we know." Sam said turning to the pianist. Grinning, John began to play a familiar tune. Sam smiled widely, "At first I was afraid, I was petrified. I didn't know if I could stand without you by my side. Da na da na da na da na..." Sam faltered slightly as the right words failed to come to her, but continued on"... da na when you did me wrong, but now I'm stronger and I hold my head up high. Oh now go, walk out the door. Turn around now, 'cause you're not welcome anymore."
Rosie joined in with the talented brunette, "I spent most of my life feeling sorry for myself, but now I'm stronger and I know how to get along. Oh no, not I. I will survive." They dissolved into laughter and the audience burst into applause.
"Those are some lungs there Carter," Colonel O'Neill commented to the blond on his left. Carter looked up at Jack as he watched his wife. He looked so happy; he admired her, and loved her, that was plain enough on his face.
"Tell us about your new album," Rosie prompted, "'Life after Life.'"
"Well, it's made up of mostly duets. There are fourteen tracks and two of them are solos. We were working on it after I was diagnosed and started the chemo, and it took a while, but everyone was very understanding. I worked with Robbie Williams, who is so cute; whoever lands him is a lucky girl. I also worked with Ricky Martin, and Shaggy, Rob Thomas, Celin Dion before she retired. I played with the Barenaked Ladies, I just adore them, I was laughing the entire time; they made me forget that I was sick. And they totally understand what I was going through because Kevin, the pianist suffered from leukaemia too. They were my favourite band before, but now they're also my best friends."
"You were also working on a movie with Harrison Ford?"
"Yep, I started the project after my last treatment of radiation, so it was kinda slow at the beginning which is why the film took so long to make-"
"What do your Doctors say about you working during the chemo?" Rosie interrupted.
"Lets just say they weren't thrilled. But I took it easy, many people continue to work, or go to school while receiving the treatments."
"Apparently, in this film, you and Harrison Ford get pretty close. What does Jack think about that?"
"Um, well that's a very good question. It's kinda weird because I remember when I first met Jack I kept thinking that the two were so similar. Jack's sort of a cross between Harrison and David Duchovny, well the character Mulder from the X-Files, really. But I don't really know what he actually thinks of my relationships with the other actors that I work with. Harrison, Mel, and also with Hugh Jackman who plays Stanley in the production of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' that I'm in. Everyone knows him as Wolverine. I'm sure Jack's OK with it all, but you never know. We're together so rarely that I don't think he has time to get jealous. I've dated lots of stars and Jack doesn't seem to make much of a big deal of it."
"What about babies? You guys thinking about having children?" Rosie asked rocking her arms as if cradling a baby.
"The question did come up. But at this point in time, both our careers come first."
"Well, it's wonderful to have children, I love balancing work and family. I get to carry the kids around the studio, my son adores the camera men, and they have a great daycare here."
"Well, Rosie, Jack has a son already for one thing, Charlie." Major Carter felt Jack tense up next to her. "He's in a wheelchair, and that can be a bit of a handful, but he's fourteen, smart, witty, cute; girls are going to love him, and he is starting to take care of himself. Charlie is a great kid, and right now we're all kinda living it up.
"There's also my nieces and nephews. My sister has some great kids, my brother too, but I don't see him very often." Now it was the major's turn to stiffen up. "My sister has three kids, and they're great. But three hours later, I'm glad I can give them back to her."
Daniel turned to Carter, "You have a sister?" Carter shook her head slowly, not moving her glistening eyes from the television.
"You and you sister worked together a little bit didn't you?"
"Yeah, we did a little modelling together. You know, the photographers and publicists love identical twins."
"Do you two have some sort of psychic connection? Can you read each other's minds?"
Sam paused as she was reaching for her water as Rosie spoke. Her eyes rolled to the left she seemed to be deep in thought. "Oh by the way," Sam said turning again to Rosie, "Mel, says hi." Laugher filled the room.
"We have some pictures of you two." On the screen flashed two women identical to Sam.
"Whoa!" All yes turned to Carter. The picture was of Sam and her sister, they lay on the ground looking at the camera with a sexy look on each of their faces, their long blond hair strewn out in a fan around them. Jack couldn't help but whistle.
Another image flashed to the screen, and Sam's laugh could be heard through the speakers. There was Sam, her hair short and the same brown that is was today, cut just like Carter's, and her sister, and her mother. The three women looked identical save Sam's new hair. They were walking down the red carpet at the Oscars.
"Your a very busy woman, flying back and forth from Colorado and your play and you've started a movie playing Marilyn Monroe, and now you're going to Israel to work with the peace keepers isn't that right?" Sam nodded.
"In two days I'm flying with a couple of others over to Israel and Palestine to help deal with the conflict there. The bunch of us are going to work with the peace keepers from the UN. I'll get to put my military training to use, or maybe not. I just hope this trip will do a little good."
"Okay, well, we have to go to a commercial, we'll be right back with Sam Carter." Rosie announced as she launched her funny koosh balls into the crowd.
There's more a-commin'
