Chapter Six (100 Days)

The other Samantha had disappeared shortly after the Colonel's three month vacation on Edora. Staring down at the report she'd written upon collecting Colonel O'Neill from Edora, Sam read the subtext. While Laira was mentioned fleetingly as the woman who had 'provided accommodation for Colonel O'Neill', it was clear from the tone she had used that something rather more significant had been going on.

'' Do you know what his relationship with Laira was, Daniel?''

Daniel, her current victim for information, nearly dropped his cup of coffee. '' Er... Sam, I'm not sure...''

'' Because he had one in my reality. In the sense that he slept with her.'' It had taken her months to be able to voice that particular phrase. It was one of the things that no one mentioned, obviously not in front of the Colonel, but Sam had also noticed that Daniel, General Hammond and Janet avoided that time as much as possible too. Even the particle accelerator that she had just whipped up so effortlessly for rescuing her ungrateful CO was mentioned in reverent tones.

He put the cup down carefully. '' I'm genuinely not sure, Sam, but, yes, I think they did have some sort of sexual relationship. I know things were strained between Sam and Jack after that. He spent the night at my house for a few nights running, spent a lot of the time on the phone to her. He never actually told me what had happened, but you know Jack, he tends to say things in other ways. Then there was the whole... Tollen mess.''

The bastard. Oops, where had that come from? She knew only too well that the 'Tollen mess' had just been him following orders. And lying to her. And tell her that.... Oh boy. Issues anyone? '' Oh yeah. Us too.''

'' And then she disappeared. Initially, we put her disappearance down to those few months of strain on the marriage but Jacob came home and hotly denied any such possibility. He was furious, actually, with everyone, including Jack. He accused him of having no faith in her. Sam wouldn't run out on Earth just because she was having some marital difficulties. It wasn't like their marriage was a bed of roses all the time - it couldn't be after all the things you were going through. Jolinar put them through the wringer, of course, and consequentially Jack really wasn't keen on the Tokra, particularly Martouf, while you were more open to ideas.''

'' That's pretty similar in our reality, too. Jack,'' now she was doing it, and it was only going to get worse, '' I mean, Colonel O'Neill just hates all Goa'uld.''

'' It was more than that here. The way Jolinar forced herself into Sam confirmed Jack's belief that no Goa'uld was to be trusted ever. He can just about cope with your dad, but Martouf and all the others just wind him up the wrong way.''

Sam found herself smiling. '' Poor Martouf. Uh, I take it, Martouf and Jolinar...''

'' Love of a lifetime?'' he said wryly. '' Yeah. I wouldn't, ah, mention Martouf to Jack, Sam. I'm not kidding when I say if Martouf came through that Stargate now Jack would kick his ass back through in the incoming wormhole. Martouf and Jack had... words a few months ago and Jack refuses to have him back here.''

'' Really? What were they arguing about?''

'' You, of course. For a while, Jack thought that you'd gone to the Tokra and he was really suspicious of Martouf who was on an extended mission for about a year, starting virtually the day you-she disappeared.''

'' Oh boy.''

'' Yeah.'' He shook his head. '' So, how's the reading going?''

'' Slowly. I'm also trying to read up SG-1s missions since I'm now on SG-1, while reading up SG-2s. Then there are the joint missions with SG-5 and the archaeologist branch of the SGF...'' She blew out a breath. There really wasn't a reasonable way to describe just how frustrating her research was. '' There's just so much of it. Four mission reports from each member of each team, four different viewpoints, umpteen missions. Daniel, I'm going to be doing this stuff until I'm fifty.''

'' Some of the missions must match yours.''

'' Some do, but mostly SG-1s, and only to a degree. There are slight but often important differences.'' She looked up just in time to see Colonel O'Neill approaching their table with a tray.

He sat down next to her and glanced over her reading material. '' Still slogging away?''

'' Slogging is the right word. Daniel's read like a book.''

'' Hey! I'm told my style of writing is very refreshing.''

Both Sam and Colonel O'Neill snorted.

'' At least I don't write like I'm trying to beat the record for shortest report ever: Arrived on planet. Planet hostile. Escaped due to ingenious debating skills of Dr Jackson. The end.''

Sam giggled. That did sound surprisingly like Colonel O'Neill's reports. '' That's great, Daniel.''

The Colonel smirked. '' Well, that's all changing now, Danny-boy. We have another genius on the team now.''

'' All hail the theoretical astrophysicist,'' Daniel said in mock awe. '' Talking of people who deserve fake reverence, what did General Thomas say to you this morning after the briefing?''

Sam had almost forgotten the abrupt way that General Thomas has pulled the Colonel aside.

'' Something about margins and bullet point summaries. I forget.''

Sam and Daniel glanced at each other.

'' Jack, don't be flippant. What did he really say?''

The Colonel sighed and poised his fork over some pasta. '' Don't worry, I was very respectful, Dad. 'Yes sir'ed and 'no sir'ed like there was no tomorrow. We're going on a joint mission with SG-2 and their new leader next Monday. He was warning me in advance.''

'' Are we breaking him in? I thought SG-2 went on their first mission last week.''

'' Yes, they did. Mission objectives were achieved efficiently. The only reason I imagine we'll be playing with SG-2 next week is so that Colonel Kiss-Ass can observe us.''

'' Or you,'' Sam added, suddenly feeling queasy.

'' Or me.'' He waved some pasta in the air, then popped it into his mouth. '' So we'll have to be extra careful, boys and girls. Make ourselves look useful.'' They stared at him. He waggled some more pasta at them. '' Okay, I'll try to make myself look useful. But you've got to keep up the pretence as well.''

'' How you can make a joke out of this?'' Daniel demanded, which was pretty much what Sam wanted to know.

'' Oh, I can make a joke out of anything. Trust me, now is the time to make the most out of your sense of humour. It's only going to go downhill from here.''

Sam lowered her head to the table. '' I miss General Hammond. I'd even settle for General Vidrine at this point. Even he knew when he was wrong.''

'' Three quarters of my time, I'm finding that I hate the military,'' Daniel added, leaning forward, his arms crossed on the table. '' Jack, if you don't mind me asking...''

'' I'm sure I will, Daniel, but carry on.''

'' Why are you taking this so calmly?''

'' Calm? Who said anything about being calm?''

Sam turned her head to the side and checked him out. '' Did you go to the gym this morning?''

'' Yup.''

'' Beat the crap out of the bag?''

'' Yup.''

She smirked, rested her head again. '' Ah.''

'' You people are nuts.''

'' Is that your jello? Are you gonna eat it?''

Daniel pushed it towards him. '' Be my guest. Sam, I'll have that translation for you by about four. I'll bring it over.''

'' Thanks, Daniel.'' She smiled into her arms and then lifted her head, pulling her latest report towards herself. She was on Boyd's version of events.

'' Um, Edora?''

She glanced at him. '' Yeah.''

He looked suddenly nervous. '' You, um, ever been there?''

Seeing an opportunity that couldn't be missed, Sam smiled. Dangerously. '' Yes, actually. Colonel O'Neill, however, was rather more... intimately acquainted with Edora than I was.''

He had the grace to look ashamed. '' Yeah. I mean, I know what you mean. I didn't think I was going home, Sam.''

'' Yeah, I guessed as much. Did she put you through hell?''

'' Oh yeah. There was a point there when I thought she was going to shoot me.''

'' Serves you right.''

'' I didn't sleep with her.''

Sam's eyebrows shot upwards. '' Laira?''

'' Yeah. I didn't sleep with her.''

'' Really?'' Sam sat up properly, genuinely interested. She'd never actually asked Colonel O'Neill if he'd slept with Laira - it was just pretty obvious. And Daniel had let it slip once, a few weeks after. She hadn't been surprised but the last vestige of hope had died inside her. And then she'd gone into the ladies' and thrown up. Just like she'd done when they returned from Edora with him. '' Then why....''

'' Because it was obvious that if I was there for a significant period of time, I probably would have. Laira wanted to have a family with me and I could imagine myself settling... no, that's sound cruel. I mean something nicer than 'settling'. Getting used to her, maybe. When Sam came through the wormhole, though I was overjoyed to see her, I was trying to be careful of Laira's feelings. She'd just lost her husband, after all.''

'' Sam didn't see it that way, though.'' Wow. That was weird. Referring to herself in the third person.

'' No. She didn't. She waited until we got home before she threw me out. Daniel got the brunt of my bad temper for a few days.''

Sam sat quietly for a moment. '' When did you find out about your mission to catch NID?''

Jack snorted. '' About two days after Sam had let me move into the spare bedroom.'' He dropped his fork and rubbed his hands over his face. '' God. If I thought that was bad, just a few weeks after that...'' He snapped his fingers. '' She disappears, taking my son with her.''

Sam opened her mouth to defend herself - sort of - but Colonel O'Neill cut her off, raising his hand. '' Don't. You've acquainted yourself with all of Sam's missions now. You can finish SG-1s and I don't want to hear any more about it, okay?''

'' Sir...''

'' That's an order.''

She pressed herself lips together and let him storm off. He'd left his jello behind too.

Way to go, Sam. Just piss off the only man on the planet who'd be able to help you. Piss him off only days after you'd finally broken through the hatred for your counterpart. Way to go.

She dropped her head back on the table and lay there pretending it didn't hurt.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

There was a message from some woman Sam didn't recognise on the answer machine and at first she didn't realise what it said. She played it back again. '' Hey... Jack. It's me. Sara. Um. Call me.''

Sara? The infamous ex-wife? Okay, that wasn't fair. The woman had been perfectly nice, if a little dazed on the only occasion Sam had met her. Oh yeah, and there had been that one really, really awkward situation when SG-1 had stayed over at the Colonel's after a particularly gruelling week-long mission and Sam had answered the door at eight on Saturday morning wearing just a T-shirt only to find a very embarrassed ex-wife standing there, a shocked expression on her face. It could only have been a couple of months after they'd divorced and Sara had excused herself and ran the hell away, leaving Sam with no choice by to panic, run up to the Colonel's bedroom and wake him up with the non-too-pleasing information that his ex-wife might have just got the wrong impression.

She'd almost forgotten about that, actually. Which was a surprise because she'd got to see the Colonel in nothing but navy blue boxers running out of the room like a blur. Perhaps it was the fact that after the front door had slammed (she did hope he found something to wear) she'd been too tired to move and had fallen face down on his bed and slept until eleven. When she'd woken up properly she'd discovered she was no longer the only person in the bed. This time it had been her who'd done the running. Naturally, they never spoke of it again.

Nervously, Sam flicked over to the next message. Daniel. Daniel confirming that the previous message was from himself. Ooh, Janet (and Cassy yammering in the background) reminding Sam that they were going out on Friday with Cassy. Daniel calling to point out the time of his first message and that it was urgent that Sam or Jack call him back.

Sam giggled. '' Classic Daniel,'' she murmured to herself.

'' What is?''

She nearly shrieked. '' God! What are you? A ghost?''

Colonel O'Neill dropped his jacket over the back of the sofa. '' It's the training. What's classic Daniel?''

'' Just his method of dealing with answer machines. Um, you'll probably want to deal with the first one yourself. I'm gonna go upstairs and have a shower.'' She ducked past him and ran up the stairs just in time to hear the beginning of the message again.

She spent rather a long time in the shower, giving the Colonel time to do... whatever that needed doing. She washed her hair twice, conditioned twice, then used the peach shower gel that Cassy had sweetly given her (despite Sam's misgivings about smelling like a fruit offworld). Still not willing to go out and face him, she combed her hair, brushed her teeth and considered exfoliating just for the hell of it before remembering that Daniel had urgently wanted to speak to them.

She dressed in her only pair of jeans, and the pale blue sweater and wandered downstairs quietly. She could hear noise in the kitchen and so jogged down the last few steps, relieved that she wouldn't have to interrupt a personal conversation between him and his wife. Wait, ex-wife. That issue wasn't up for debate in this reality. '' Did you call Daniel?''

'' No.'' He came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. '' I thought you'd want to do that on speakerphone.''

'' Okay.'' She went to the phone, pressed number one on the speed dial.

'' Hello?''

'' Daniel.''

'' Sam! Is Jack there?''

'' I'm here.''

'' Jack! Great. Right. You'll never going to believe this, but I can't tell you over the phone. Can you get over here? We can have takeaway or something.''

Sam looked at the clock on the mantelpiece and then back at Jack.

He shrugged. '' Fine by me.''

'' Okay, Daniel, we'll be right over.''

'' Great. Um, any particular preference?''

'' I'm up for Thai,'' Jack announced.

'' Sounds good. Daniel, Thai?''

'' Okay. See you in fifteen minutes.''

'' Rush hour, Daniel!''

'' Okay, half an hour.''

Jack rolled his eyes and hung up. '' Do you want to drive, or shall I?''

'' What car are we going in?''

'' The truck.''

'' You drive. I've never driven it before.''

He opened his mouth to say something, then changed his mind.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Daniel looked ecstatic to see them and kicked away a couple of cardboard boxes filled with what looked like ceramic ducks, of all things, before letting them inside. '' Sorry. Mess.''

'' No more than usual, Daniel,'' Jack said, skirting around a stuffed animal, eyes round with surprise.

Sam jumped said animal at the last moment. '' Christ, Daniel, what's that?''

'' It's a cat.''

'' I can see that,'' she said sarcastically.

'' The Egyptians believed....''

'' Daniel!''

'' Why don't we order first?''

Sam rolled her eyes and couldn't help but exchange an amused, exasperated glance with the Colonel.

Daniel's sitting area was, as usual, covered in open dusty books, dictionaries of various languages (some far more obscure than others) and sheets of paper, lined, blank, scrunched up and protected. Sam recognised one of the notebooks that was lying prominently in the middle of the table.

'' Hey, Daniel, isn't that the translation you were supposed to give me yesterday but didn't?''

Daniel had the phone to his ear. '' No, no, that one's at work. Sorry, haven't got around to it yet. I'll give it to you tomorrow. The usual?'' He glanced at Sam, remembered, then glanced at Jack, who nodded. He turned to murmur into the phone.

Sam picked it up, leafing through the sheets of translated material. She remembered enough Latin to be able to translate the odd chemical name, but beyond that and some schoolgirl French she was decidedly lacking in the linguistic area. Daniel's translations, even though they were now in English, were always sort of like riddles or metaphorical. She rolled her eyes as she grabbed the odd phrase amongst the scored through and underlined or crossed out selection on offer to her.

Upon the fifteenth circle of the eighth cycle... In boats of diamond and colours unnatural.... Brothers and sisters alike as the two burning suns.... Eyes to another world....

Jack dropped down onto a sofa and propped his feat up on Daniel's no doubt antique coffee table. He sighed dramatically. '' I could do with a beer, Daniel.''

'' Get it yourself,'' Sam murmured absently, still flicking through the pages. She came back to the first page. Eyes to another world. Okay, she was no linguist but that sounded awfully like...

'' Figured it out yet?''

Sam raised her eyes, her heart pounding. '' Eyes to another world? Brothers and sisters alike as the two burning suns? Um... Daniel...''

'' Sounds like your usual gibberish to me.''

'' No. Jack, don't you see? It's talking about alternate realities.''

If it hadn't been so serious, the way he sat bolt upright and threw himself to standing would have been comical. '' What?'' He towered over Sam.

'' Eyes to another world. Mirrors were like eyes. Brothers and sisters alike? Twins. On the next few pages,'' Daniel took the notepad from Sam and flicked forward a couple of pages, '' Great shivers and shakes overcame my brother and his wife - which really translated as mate - and then they were no more. Entrophic cascade failure, anyone?'' He slapped the notepad closed triumphantly.

Sam was speechless.

'' Where did you get this, Daniel?''

'' SG-8 visited, um, P34 5Y2, the trading planet a couple of months ago, remember? And Captain Spanin had the sense to barter for books at, well, the book stall. She brought back thirty-three books, all fascinating in their own right. There were a couple in Goa'uld, actually, which are helping in expanding my vocabulary no end. Jack, you must remember me telling you about this?''

Colonel O'Neill just stared at him.

'' So the book this came from might not necessarily be from P34 5Y2?'' Sam said, trying to get Daniel to the point.

'' True, but it's likely it'll be a neighbouring planet. That whole solar system has two suns, remember. Like on the first page? It's got to be there. And the language... I'd recognise the language.''

Sam's knees started to wobble, so she dropped down onto the edge of the sofa and rested her head in her hands. '' Holy Hannah.''

'' I mean, you understand why I got you over here. This is... miraculous.''

'' Yeah. Miraculous,'' Jack said in low, aggrieved tones.

'' Hey, guys, you don't sound too thrilled. Sam, you could go home. Jack, we can get Sam and Matt back.''

'' Yeah, Daniel, sure we can. Only the odd problem with that scenario, isn't there? General Thomas. Colonel Kiss-Ass. The fact that there are millions, if not billions of alternate realities out there,'' Jack ended, his voice rising to a spectacular shout.

Sam blinked and decided she'd had enough of yelling. She pushed at his weak knee and he fell back, yelping. '' First things first, how do we get to check out the planets in that solar system. We'll need a map.''

Daniel stopped narrowing his eyes at Jack and focussed on the slightly more positive Sam. '' I figure we could just get a mission to one of the planets in that solar system, we could gate to the surrounding ones.''

'' What about if we suggested we return to P34 5Y2? General Thomas might be amenable to you going back to get more books, information.''

'' No. It won't work. There's no technological reason for us to return,'' Jack said repressively.

'' Come on, Jack, think of something then. Why are you being so difficult about this?''

'' Daniel,'' Jack said softly, very dangerously, '' I did this for two years, remember? It was my one goal. Chasing around the universe searching for two needles in a galactic haystack. I destroyed General Hammond's career and probably mine as well. God knows what this would do to your careers. I can't do this anymore.'' He stood up abruptly. '' I could do with a beer right now.''

Silently, Sam and Daniel watched him walk into the kitchen, heard the refrigerator open and the clinking of glass.

Sam looked at Daniel's crushed expression, something she'd seen before on the occasions her Jack and this Jack had shot him down. '' Give him a couple of days, Daniel,'' she suggested softly. '' We'll need to start planning anyway before we can actually do something.''

He nodded and started tidying the translations away, sighing deeply. '' Sometimes I forget, you know, that the way he presents himself has nothing to do with the way he feels. I suppose I ought to learn my lesson.''

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

People dealt with grief in different ways. It amused Sam, very vaguely, to acknowledge for the first time that her father and Colonel O'Neill dealt in the same way. After her mother had died, her father would come home from particularly hard days at work, take a look at her mother's picture on the mantle and drink. Not heavily. Not every night, either, come to think of it. Not at the weekends, or when she had friends over. Nor, when she was older, when she'd go out. He was always dead sober when she returned in the small hours of the morning to find him waiting up for her to lecture her on curfews and the dangers for young women out in the night.

Colonel O'Neill was the same. When the grief hit him badly, he drank to dull the pain. Tonight, while Daniel and Sam had made conversation over the sound of the news and then the late night movie they'd found on cable, the Colonel had steadily drank, first beer, then the wine they'd had with dinner, then some of Daniel's whisky. Her own common sense dulled by the thrill of what Daniel had found, Sam forgot he was the one who was driving and that they couldn't get home with him in the state he was.

'' Taxi?'' Daniel whispered as they dumped cartons into the bin. '' You could stay over but I only have the one room. Um, he could share with me.''

Even Sam could see Daniel wasn't keen on that idea. Daniel's room wasn't exactly spacious, his bed no more than queen sized, and both men weren't exactly small.

'' It's all right. He'll fall asleep quick. I'll stay with him.''

Daniel nodded and went into the spare room to get things ready, while Sam went to stand in front of the Colonel who was sitting in the single chair, head resting on his hand which was propped up on his knee. An empty crystal whisky glass was precariously dangling at the ends of his fingers between his legs.

She lowered herself, touched his face very lightly so his eyes raised hers. She saw nothing in the brown eyes that alarmed her, no anger, no awe-shattering grief. '' Bed,'' she said simply.

He didn't argue. In fact, he stood up by himself and carefully put the glass down on the coffee table.

Shadowing him closely, she smiled at Daniel who made a quick exit from the spare room, and watched - rather maternally, she felt - as the Colonel crawled across the bed and lay face down on the left hand side. Moments later, he started snoring softly.

She giggled, couldn't help herself. Feeling really wifely now, she undid the laces on his boots and eased each one off his foot, then peeled the socks off. She left the collection of foot items on the floor by the crate of leather books and then kicked off her own shoes.

A shadow paused in the doorway. '' I've got you a spare toothbrush. It's in the bathroom,'' Daniel whispered. '' Here's something to sleep in.'' He held up something, a T-shirt, and threw it at her.

'' Thanks,'' Sam responded, equally softly. She smiled at her friend and thumbed in the direction of her colonel. '' Dead to the world.''

'' Do you know...'' Daniel paused tactfully, then gestured her for her to leave the room with him. She did so, half closed the door behind her. '' Sam, does he do that a lot? At home?''

'' Um... I don't think so.'' Perhaps she ought to check the levels of the liqueur bottles.

Daniel was still looking concerned. '' Well, night, Sam.''

'' Night, Daniel. Thanks.'' She hoped he knew what she was talking about.

'' We'll see, won't we?''

Sam carried out her nightly ablutions as best she could, changed into the T-shirt, grinning when she saw the cartoon pyramids on the front and the words 'My friend went to Egypt and all I got was this lousy T-shirt'. In fact her grin turned into a snicker than she found vaguely embarrassing as she was all alone in the bathroom. She turned off the light and padded out into the hallway, thanking her good night sight for enabling her to avoid the crates and boxes that were lined haphazardly against walls.

The spare room was warm, the Colonel's soft snores comforting. Trying not to disturb him, Sam climbed onto the bed, slid under the covers and clung to her side of the bed.