Three hours ago, I spoke to Maybourne.

"She's not stupid. She'll work it out. I'll resign, and you'll have to get Tobias reassigned."

"No." he told me. "This operation is too valuable to give up now. You say Hammond only suspects?"

"Yes, but Carter's bound to work it out."

"Then we'll have to deal with her. It shouldn't be a problem. I understood the two of you are already quite ...close."

I felt my anger flare. What the hell had Tobias told him!

"We're not that close." I said harshly.

"Too bad." he said calmly. "Then she'll have to be dealt with a in a different way."

"I'm not..."

"You won't have to. Tobias has already volunteered."

"When the hell did this happen!" I yelled, my anger flushing through my body. "When did we stop drawing the line? How did we stop being defenders of the world, and become murderers!"

"You took the first step." he said, stepping back from my fury.

"No." I said. I could see it clearly now. "You did. Carter was supposed to have joined SG1, but her application was blocked. You did that, didn't you? You knew Tobias would work for you."

"She was already working for me. And it wasn't very hard, turning you. You were already unsure of the way to go. You only needed a push, in one direction or the other."

"And Carter would have pushed me the other way."

"Not any more, she won't." Maybourne told me. "I asked Hammond to send Carter and Tobias through the gate to collect the mirror, before you could get your hands on it, I said. He thinks Tobias is innocent. And while on the other side, I've no doubt Carter will have an accident..."

I didn't wait to hear the rest of the sentence.

********************************

Just over an hour ago, I reached the SGC. I managed to get into the control room, where Hammond stood, staring at the gate. He was about to call security and get me thrown out.

"Did you send Carter and Tobias alone?" I asked him, desperately.

"Yes, it's only a collection."

"You have to send me through too...."

"Colonel, you are under arrest."

"Please!" I shouted. "Clare was in on this, even before I was. She know's Carter's investigating this. She'll kill Carter!"

"I'll send a team..."

"No! If Clare sees strangers, she'll know something's up! Please Sir, let me go! I'm begging you, on my knees if you want, let me go through."

"Surely even Tobias wouldn't..."

"Yes she will! She knows I love Sam Carter. She's going to kill her. Do anything you like to me after, just please, Sir, for God's sake, let me bring Carter back!"

He nodded. I ran down, and through the gate, a gun in my hand.

********************************

An hour ago, I found my way to Sam and Clare. Sam was kneeling on the floor, clutching her stomach. Blood was oozing out of her, but she was alive. Tobias stood a few feet in front of her, gun pointed steadily at Sam's head.

"Jack!" Clare called, when she saw me, although she didn't move her gun away from Sam. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to finish the job." I told her.

"No need. I can manage." she said, and smiled triumphantly. There was no time. I threw myself over Sam's body, protecting her from Clare's bullet. It hit me, instead. Clare walked forward, slowly. I saw her, above me, pointing her gun at me.

"Bye Jack." she whispered. And I heard the gun fire.

But it wasn't her gun. It was mine. My gun that Sam had grabbed from my hand as I fell, as she rolled out from under me. And it was Sam that knelt beside me, the gun still smoking in her hand.

"You need help." she said, not even looking at me.

"So do you." I told her. The blood still oozed out of her. "You'll never manage to get to the gate."

"Even if I do, who'll be on the other side?" she asked, her eyes dark with hurt and betrayal.
I didn't say anything. I had nothing left to say.

"I'll try the mirror." she said. "Maybe there'll be someone on the other side of that I can trust."

"Sam..." I reached out for her.

"I'll come back." she said, but she didn't take my hand.

"It wasn't a lie. Nothing I said to you was a lie."

She took my hand then.

"I will bring help." she promised. Then she left through the mirror, leaving me dying here.

*************************************************************************
**************************************************************************

I kind of had a shock when a bleeding, messed up Sam Carter fell onto the ramp in front of me. Especially as Sam was standing right next to me. But of course, Sam guessed it was another alternative her, from yet another universe, and within minutes Janet was there, stopping the bleeding. Still, it gave me a shock, for just a second, to see Sam so badly hurt, and I had to turn, and check my Sam was okay.

She, the other, bleeding, Sam, kept saying , "I have to go back. I left him there."

"Left who?" Daniel asked gently.

"Another Colonel O'Neill, I should imagine." Janet said.

"We must fetch him. He must be badly hurt." Teal'c said.

"What makes you think that?" I asked.

"Would you have left Major Carter alone in such a state, if you were not badly injured?" he replied, leaving me glancing at Sam, who was studiously checking her double's heartbeat.

A few moments later, the five of us, SG1 and Janet, went through the gate, and through the mirror, leaving the other Sam, unconscious now, in the infirmary.

And there I was. Lying on the ground. Badly injured. A body I recognized as Clare Tobias lay nearby. Janet rushed to her patient. He opened his eyes, barely, and noticed Daniel, standing worriedly in front of him.

"Daniel?" he murmured.

"Yes." Daniel told him, glancing back and forth between us. "But not from your universe, we're from a different one. Am I in your universe?"

The other Jack smiled bleakly.

"You were. You're dead now."

"Oh." Daniel said, surprised, but oddly, not shaken, and stepped back a little.

"You did this?" I asked, gesturing at Clare Tobias's body, kneeling beside my dying double.

"She was going to kill Sam." he gasped.

"Ah. I understand." I've have done pretty much the same.

"Where is she?"

"Back at our base." my Sam told him. She knelt down beside him, her eyes concerned and her voice gentle. "She's badly hurt, but she'll survive."

"Good." he said, closing his eyes in pain. "I'm not going to survive though, am I?".

Janet shook her head.

"Did you want to tell her something?" Sam whispered. We stepped back a little, giving them privacy, but I hovered nearby. "I can tell her anything you need to tell her."

Her voice cracked, and I saw she was close to tears. His hand reached for her, and she held it.

"Tell her...tell her, she saved me. Tell her that I hadn't been myself since I met her."

Sam nodded. He reached up, stroked her cheek for a second, wiping away a tear for a second.

Then he died.

****************************

Sam knelt beside him for a while. Then I pulled her up. She hurriedly wiped her face.

"You ok?" I asked her.

"Fine." she said, as we walked back to the mirror. Teal'c picked up the body of the other Jack without a word. That was my idea. I thought that probably, the only person who'd meant anything to him was back in out infirmary, and she should get a chance to say goodbye.

*****************************

As we got through, Daniel said,

"Should we take the mirror back? I know Maybourne's been after one to study for ages."

I glanced at Sam, who shook her head.

"Nah. Screw Maybourne." I said.

***********************

THE END