Chapter Two:
Me, You and Yourself
The four of them were sitting in the briefing room, waiting for General Hammond. Jack had asked for permission to take SG-1 to Finnley's reality in order to save her team.
"D'you really think we should do this, Jack ?" Daniel asked.
"Yep." Jack returned shortly.
"We will only have 48 hours for this mission." Teal'c remarked.
"I know, Teal'c. But what the hell's the problem ? We go there, we bring 'em here, we search for a reality they can all exist in and we all live happy forever."
"Sir, the problem is: Will we find a reality where all of them can go ? I mean, all of us have to be dead in that reality. Maybe we should rather think about a way to defeat the Goa´uld in Finnley's world." Sam mentioned.
"Teal'c, you know these guys best, don't you have any idea ?" she added.
"I do not know the circumstances. Nor do I know how powerful this Apophis is. But there could be a slight chance to save that world if we defeat the leader. It could be possible that the Goa´uld give up if we only destroy Apophis himself."
"Kill the king and you get 'em all... Interesting..." Jack murmured. Right in that moment, Hammond entered the briefing room.
"As you were, people." he said, taking a seat.
"Alright, just to get that straight... Do you know what you're expecting from me, Jack ?" he asked.
"Let me see... I want permission to go to another... alternate reality - which has been assumed by the snakies and which is now controlled by them - to save Finn's... Finnley Carter's unit. Yes Sir, I think know really well what I'm expecting from you." Jack answered. Hammond looked at him and he could see it in his eyes that he was serious.
"Alright, you get the permission. But if anything goes wrong, you'll take the responsibility, Colonel O'Neill." he finally decided.
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They were standing around the quantum mirror: SG-1, Hammond and Finnley. Armed and equipped with medication and groceries.
"Um... Finnley ?" Jack suddenly asked.
"Huh ?" she replied.
"Question: How do we recognize your reality ?" he went on.
"Oh, don't worry about that, Jack. I left myself a message behind. A writing on the wall."
"Alright, I'm gonna activate the mirror now. Are you ready ?" Daniel informed the others.
They responded to his question with a nod and Daniel activated the dialling device. They had a look at several realities but Finnley shook her head.
"Nope. No... Um... No..." she repeated whenever she saw the different versions of the parallel universes in the mirror. But suddenly something caught her attention.
"Hey ! Wait ! There it is... the writing. You only live twice... that's what I wrote on the wall. This should be the universe I'm actually comin' from."
"Great. We have a winner, "Jack mentioned, "ready ? Three... two... one..."
Just a few seconds later, they found themselves being in Finnley's reality. The small, dark room she had hidden in. Nothing had changed since she had left.
"OK, they haven't found the mirror yet." Finnley remarked.
"Good for us, right ?" Daniel inquired. Finnley answered with a slight smile.
"Alright, guys. Carter and me, we'll go with Finnley. Daniel and Teal'c, you should guard that mirror. Donut turn it off if it's not necessary. We wanna find our way home again. Understood ?" Jack gave his orders.
"I understand, Colonel O'Neill." Teal'c confirmed.
"OK, so here we go. Show us the way, Finnley !"
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Finnley and Sam were standing on the right behind the door, waiting for a sign from Jack. He had a careful look at the corridor, but could not see any guards there so he gave the sign. They sneaked through the labyrinth of corridors, now following Finnley who led them to the elevator.
"Get in there, c'mon !" she whispered.
"Um... Where are we goin' ?" Sam wanted to know.
"Yes, where are we... they... whoever ?" Jack added.
"We have a kind of... security level , two floors below. A more or less nice place to hide from the Goa´uld." the girl replied.
Jack nodded. After they had entered the elevator, Finnley dialled a special code, the doors closed and they moved downstairs. There was nothing but silence for a while. She watched Sam and Jack and could see, how uncomfortable the situation was for them.
"You two act so strange." she suddenly remarked grinning. They stared at her in surprise and at first they really did not seem to know what her point was.
"What ? Oh, please, c'mon, you know what I'm talkin' about. I know you guys, remember ?" she said jokingly.
"I'm sorry, what was your point again ?" Sam questioned.
"I bet you've seen more than one alternate reality."
"Um... this is meant to be the third one. Daniel experienced one in 1997 and two years later, the alternate versions of Carter and Kawalsky visited us and we saved their world." Jack replied, still not knowing what this strange conversation was all about.
"And... what were the differences between your reality and all the others ?" Finn went on asking.
"Um... well... All of these worlds had been assumed by the Goa´uld. Daniel wasn't part of the SGC, in this reality, you're existing as Carter's sister and I think Carter and I used to be married or... engaged... or stuff like that." Jack told her, now suspecting what the meaning of this whole thing was.
"Yeah... well... any more questions ?" Finnley grinned.
"Um... Finnley... it's not what you're thinkin', OK ? I mean... some things are different in our reality." Sam tried to explain.
"Yep, I know, but it's very close."
"Carter is in the Air Force in our world."
"So is my sister. Doesn't matter. D'you really believe that they'd court-martial you ? For cryin' out loud, you saved the world a thousand times, your Mr. President owes you something... " Finnley replied as the elevator suddenly stopped and the doors opened.
"Hey, we're arrived." Jack distracted from the topic.
"Looks like the Goa´uld really haven't found out about this level." Sam mentioned.
"Apparently not." Finnley added and stepped out of the elevator.
Again, they went through an endless corridor until Finnley stopped in front of a heavy gate made of steel. She pulled out a key to unlock and finally open it. They slowly entered a kind of hall, filled with beds, a dim light and cold.
"Don't move !" a familiar voice ordered them.
"Hey, don't shoot ! it's just me ! Finnley !" she maintained. Samantha looked at her sister disbelievingly.
"Finnley ? Is that really you ?" she asked and Finnley nodded. She walked over to them, straight into their arms.
"You two OK ?" she wanted to know.
"Yeah, we're alright... But Daniel... it doesn't look good to be honest with you. He needs a doctor and medication. And if it is only to ease his pain." Samantha reported.
"Well... I don't have a doctor, but I can help out with medication... and..." Finnley said and right in that moment, Samantha and O'Neill saw Jack and Sam standing behind Finnley. Silence.
"What the hell..." a stunned O'Neill murmured quietly.
"Um... they're from an alternate reality. I... I went through that quantum mirror to get help from anywhere and I found them." the girl explained.
Jack and O'Neill were staring at each other, as well as Sam and Samantha. While the two Sams seemed to be totally amazed by meeting one another, Jack and O'Neill looked kind of shocked.
"Oh for cryin' out loud..." they said, both at the same time, with the same voice. Finnley watched the scene for a while, then she interrupted the silence.
"Um... well... Major Sam Carter, Colonel Jack O'Neill - Colonel Jack and Major Sam O'Neill. You probably know each other... or not... whatever." she introduced them to each other.
"Well... sort of... I think..." Samantha returned.
"Dammit, your hair is so... grey... !" O'Neill said, still staring at Jack.
"Got a problem with my hair ? OK, it's grey... Maybe that means... uhm... than I work much harder than you do, that I'm wiser and smarter than you are. Of course, there must be a reason why my reality is not taken over by the big bad Apophis !" Jack started arguing. Right when O'Neill wanted to answer, they heard Finnley shouting at them.
"Hey ! Oh, bloody hell ! D'ya really think this is the right time to solve your damn ego problems and discuss hair colours !?" Jack and O'Neill knew that she was totally right. They looked at each other again, ashamed, and apologised.
"As I can see, your Daniel is wounded. Maybe we should... have a look at that... Major Carter." Sam remarked, looking at Samantha, who answered with a nod.
O'Neill and Jack watched the two Sams walking over to Daniel, who was lying in one of the six beds.
"Any more injured ?" Jack wanted to know.
"Um, no... unfortunately, we were the only ones who made it down here. All of the others might be... dead. Teal'c was punished to death. He sacrificed himself to make sure that we get down here. I'll never forget that." O'Neill told him.
"Oh... I'm... sorry..."
"No. don't. it's not your fault. Unless you're one of these damn snake heads." O'Neill said when he realized, that Finnley seemed to be kind of confused and nervous. She was looking around, searching for something... or someone, but obviously could not find it.
"Hey, you alright ? What's wrong ?" he asked her.
"I'm just... I ... Where... where is Charlie ?" she stuttered, close to tears. As if he had heard her saying his name, the door opened and a man entered the hall.
It was someone they all knew very well, someone Jack had never expected to be here. A friend. A memory. And as if that had not been enough for the moment, Finnley ran over to him, straight into his arms. They held each other tight, as if they would never let go again, as if they had not seen each other in years. Jack was staring at them, his mouth open, shocked - again.
"My God, Charlie ! you're still here !" she sobbed, smiling and crying at the same time. Charlie looked at her and pushed her hair back from her face to wipe away the tears.
"Hey, Finn, what's wrong ? Why're ya cryin' ?" he whispered, smiling at her.
"You... you weren't here when I came back and... I was worried and..." she returned swallowing.
"Shhh !" he tried to reassure her, "don't cry, Finn. I'm here. it's alright. I just had a look around. There's nothin' to worry about."
"So... Jack... you're here to help us ?" O'Neill shook the alternate version of himself out of his thoughts about what was just happening between Finnley and Charlie Kawalsky.
"Huh ? Oh, well.. Um... well, yes, I think that's what we're here for..." Jack confirmed.
"Hm... and I think the two of us have to talk about several things... C'mon." O'Neill added and pushed Jack to a quite corner.