Alright, here's my disclaimer... STARGATE isn't mine...big surprise there.
So I did a little rewrite of "Something More"...I think I got on a better track this time...gave my self some room for more good stuff...let me know what you think...Yeah I know I took out the good part, but bear with me and I swear what I have in mind is so much better!
SHE was in charge.
With General O'Neill off in Washington D.C., Lt. Col. Samantha Carter was actually in charge...
With the last week passing by uneventfully, Cater rested in the knowledge that she could handle command. Every team had returned unscathed and no other worldly beings had attempted to breach security. Things were rolling along smoothly. Now in the 8-hour count down until the General returned from his meeting in D.C., she had only tightened up the reigns on the entire base. Carter was determined to hand over command of the SGC just as it had been given to her..."in one piece"...as General O'Neill had so eloquently requested before he left. Now she was on her way to the commissary to fill up her coffee mug for the 30-something time that day.
Little did she know that two floors above her, the undoing of her incident free command was about to walk into her life...
In the far corner of storage room S-29, lights flickered through the room as a heavy object moved across the floor. The object turned from the wall where it had been pushed flush with the wall, the quantum mirror settled a good two feet in the middle of the room as a scruffy looking man stepped through the mirror; wearing gray fatigues with an SGI patch on the shoulder.
Moving through the shadowy room, the man ran into the various objects in his path, cursing under his breath as he did so before finding the door and busting into the hallway. Alarms rang out through the hall and within seconds the corridor filled with guards.
"WOAH!" He yelled as the guards trained their weapons on him
The guards didn't move an inch. Behind them, their sergeant came to the front and immediately gave the order to lower their weapons as he recognized the intruder.
"General O'Neill, Sir, I thought you weren't due back until this afternoon?" The sergeant said holstering his weapon.
"General, hu? No..no..no.. you got the wrong guy, who's in charge here?" He said lowering his arms to his sides.
"You are sir." The sergeant said hesitantly.
"NO, I'm NOT." He said not knowing how to explain the situation. "Is Hammond here?"
"Sir, you are the commanding officer of the SGC."
"Okay, this is going no where." He said looking around the crowd. "Is Samantha Carter here?"
Just as the words crossed his lips, Lt. Col. Carter came running around the corner, red faced and out of breath from the record time she sprinted up the staircase when she heard the alarm.
"Sergeant!?" She called through the crowd. "What's going on here?" She asked walking to the center of the group.
It took here a moment to register who was standing before her, she blinked her eyes and looked around at the guards.
"Sam, thank god"
"Sir, you're back early?"
"No, uhmm..." He said stepping closer to her ear as he whispered. "I'm not who you think I am, I came through the mirror." He said as her eyes shot open.
It took Carter a few seconds to escort "Jack" as he preferred to be called, to the elevator and down to the secured level of the SGC command.
As he explained his story, she tried to keep her sense of reality about her. It just seemed too far-fetched that he was from an alternate reality, aside from some facial hair, he looked just like General O'Neill.
Now, after putting "Jack" into a VIP room, she tried to explain the situation to Daniel in the conference room.
"Anyway, he just stands there and tells me that he came through the quantum mirror. I thought General Hammond ordered its destruction, how did it get up to an unsecured level?" She said sitting down in the chair at the head of the table, once again letting anyone know if they came in the room that she was in charge.
"Uh Sam..." He said sitting beside her. His voice was faltering, there was something he wasn't saying.
"Do you know something I don't?" She asked wrinkling her forehead knowing there was more to the perplexed look on his face.
"Well..." He said trying to avoid answering.
"Daniel." She persisted.
"I knew it was up there..." He blurted out quickly.
"You knew?" She said trying to resist the sudden urge to strangle him.
"Well, I sorta told some airmen to do it."
"DANIEL! THAT IS AN UNSECURE STORAGE ROOM ON AN UNSECURED LEVEL! IT'S BARELY A PART OF THE SGC!" Her voice echoed down through the command center as she continued to scream at Daniel.
"I know...I know!"
"You know!? Gen. O'Neill is due back this afternoon! Another General O'Neill just came through the quantum mirror that was ordered to be destroyed by General Hammond over Six years ago and all you can say is that YOU KNOW? We've got 7 hours and 23 minutes to fix this, or find a good way to explain this to General O'Neill or he's going to..."
"Kill us?"
"To say the least."
"Alright...you go talk to Jack...and I'll..." He drifted off and she just stared at him. "I'll do something...productive."
Carter left Daniel in the conference room and headed for the VIP room she left "Jack" in. Rounding the corner she walked up to the guard and motioned for him to step aside.
She pushed the door open and stepped in the darkened room to see "Jack" laying down on the queen sized with his hands behind his head. As walked closer to the end of the bed she stuffed her hands in her pockets, there was something that unnerved her about him...she couldn't quite place it, but there was a definite uneasy feeling.
"You ready to talk now?" He said opening his eyes and lifting his head to look at her.
"Yes Sir, I'm sorry for earlier...I was just-"She said stumbling over her words.
"Hey Sam." He said sitting up right and moving to the edge of the bed. He knew his presence had to make things awkward for her. "Relax," Jack said running his hands through his hair that was an uncharacteristically long. "And stop calling me Sir, the name is Jack if you don't mind." By now he was to his feet and walking around the end of the bed to Carter.
"Sorry Sir..." she said putting her hands back in her pockets. Usually it was General O'Neill who had the hand-in-pocket syndrome during awkward situations. But she felt off balanced around Jack.
He was about to make her say his name verbatim but stopped him self. "Alright, look I didn't come here for the fun little tingling feeling you get when you step through that mirror thing, I need your help." He said reaching into his coat pocket.
"Really?"
"Yeah—look," Jack said pulling out a stainless steel cylinder and holding it out to her. "You are going to need to look at this."
"What is it?" She asked turning it over in her hands.
"It's a virus." He said as she looked up at him startled. "It's alright, Sammie cased it up herself before I came through, it's safe." He said trying to reassure her.
She looked down at the cylinder. It seemed that whenever he was near her she felt the need to create a reason not to actually look at him. He had this way of looking at her that made her feel like she was on a balancing beam...or rather as though she were about to fall off a balancing beam.
Hearing him use her first name so liberal had hit something in her, "Sammie" was something only a few people called her and her commanding officer had never been one of them. But as a good soldier she dismissed the little girlie giggle that she was holding back and continued with the exchange of information.
"One of our guys was infected off world," He said. "It spread through the base in 72 hours. Sam didn't realize what was going on until she was infected, she found the cure of course, but...she couldn't to reproduce it...there was only enough for one..." He said as his voice got shaky.
Carter looked up into his eyes, there was something there...she didn't recognize what she saw in his eyes. One thing was for sure, this man might look like Gen. O'Neill but he certainly wasn't him.
"I'll get it to my lab," She said stepping back. "I should start the preliminary tests as soon as possible." She said heading for the door.
"Hey." Jack said reaching out for her arm. "Can I with you?"
"We're going to have to come up with an explanation for you." She said just imagining what the personal on the base would say at seeing this civilianized version of the militant General they were used to.
"Is my other half around?" He said realizing he still had his hand on her arm, he dropped it and fidgeted with his fingers.
"General O'Neill? No, he's in Washington...he'll be back this afternoon." She said making her point clear.
"This in going to get complicated..." Jack said rocking on his heels and raising his eyebrows at the thought of meeting himself.
"Yes Sir it is." She nodded.
"Lead the way ..." Jack said motioning for the door.
She walked out into the hall and Jack followed. As he walked beside her he could feel the tension in her body. He couldn't understand why she was so awkward around him; she had a Jack here...
Once the tests were done, Carter washed up in the clean room and joined Jack in the conference room, where three armed guards shadowed him. Daniel had joined him and the two were talking peacefully when Carter walked in.
"Okay...the preliminary tests show the virus to be a touch sensitive air born agent." She said as she set a file on the desk before sitting in the head chair. As she opened the file to continue spilling out more information she looked up to notice that Jack and Daniel were staring at her as though she were speaking a different language.
"Can you say that in English?" Jack said smiling.
"It can be passed by touch and through the air. It attacks the immune system while..." she knew if she went on any further she'd loose them again.
"Can you make an antidote?" Daniel asked.
"It'll take some work, but I believe it's possible. It's going to take longer than eight hours though." She said looking to Daniel.
"What are you going to tell Jack?"
"The truth, as delicately as possible..."she said looking at her watch. "Six hours to go... we need to make some progress by then." She said getting to her feet again. "I'm going to get working on the virus containment. Daniel, stay with General O- Jack... try to figure out... anything." She said hurrying out of the room again.
"Does she normally act like that?"
"Like what?" Daniel asked.
"Never mind...so...what do you want to know?" Jack asked as he leaned forward on the table toward Daniel as a smile crept across his face.
Carter spent the afternoon with the team of doctors and scientists that were assisting her in the "project". Meanwhile, all nonessential personal had been released from their duties and sent home until further notice. Carter couldn't keep them in harms way without telling them what was going on, and at this moment she thought that the fewer people that knew about what had come through the mirror the better.
Time escaped her as she worked, and before she knew it there was a pounding on the glass from the observation room above her. When she looked up a very red-faced General O'Neill stared back down at her.
He didn't say a word, he didn't need to. She quickly let one of the other doctors take her place and hurried to the clean room. As she exited into another smaller room, General O'Neill was waiting for her.
"Hello..." He said as he leaned against a table.
"Sir-"She said taking a deep breathe in preparation for the speech she knew she had to make.
"Don't Sir me!" He said cutting her off. "Where the hell is everybody? I leave for a few days and what--you fired everyone?" He said waiving his arms about, the O'Neill temper was surfacing.
"No Sir, I can explain." She said trying to continue.
"Well, I know something is going on...I tried to talk to Daniel and all he did was stutter." He said calming a bit. Now that he thought about it, Daniel was avoiding saying more than 'Hi Jack' when he saw him in the hall way.
"He didn't tell you anything?" She asked realizing that he was about to be thrown into a whirlwind.
"No..." He saw the look in her eyes, something was up, something big...and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know what it was.
She couldn't explain anything at that moment; so she opted for a head nod and without a word, led General O'Neill to the VIP room where Jack was talking with Daniel at a small table.
Carter walked in first. The two men stood and began to speak but when General O'Neill came up behind her, they stopped.
"WHAT THE HELL?" O'Neill said as he caught a glimpse of Jack. "Ohhhh, this better be some Asguard clone joke..." He said walking closer to get a look at what he was praying to be something else than what he thought it was.
"Fraid not Jack." Jack said shoving his hands into his pockets.
General O'Neill looked around the room, giving Carter a look of 'I'm going to kill you later' and then returning to Jack who was staring at him. "Where did you come from exactly?" He said impatiently.
"The mirror." Jack said blatantly.
O'Neill didn't say a word, only turned around and eyed Carter.
"Carter...my office...now." He said motioning to the door.
Carter glanced over at Daniel who was doing his part to stay clear of the situation, as she turned for the door Jack caught her eye, the look on his face gave her hope...maybe General O'Neill wouldn't court martial her right away.
As the door shut, leaving Daniel and Jack alone, Jack turned to Daniel slightly apprehensive about what was going to happen next.
"He sounds upset." Jack said stating the obvious, a talent he and O'Neill were both blessed with.
"Oh...he just hates being out of the loop." Daniel said dismissing the obvious tense moment. "It'll be alright, Sam will smooth things over."
"So..." He said taking a deep breath and leaning against the table. "How'd your Jack get out of the frozen stasis thing?"
"The Asguard..."
"Ah, same here..."
AS THEY WALKED DOWN THE HALLWAY...
She followed him in silence, half because she was afraid to say anything and half because she just wasn't ready to start explaining things just yet.
O'Neill walked right to his office and held the door open while Carter walked in behind him. He didn't say a word until the door was shut.
"Okay, let's have it...end of the world mission or meaning of life stuff?" He said walking over to his desk.
"Neither Sir." She said wrinkling her forehead in anticipation of the actual explanation.
"Good," O'Neill said crossing his arms. "That's a very good start, Carter." He said leaning against his desk. "So what is it exactly? Why am I- he, why is he here?"
"There was a virus brought through their gate," She was getting technical now, this she could handle. "It spread through the base in 72 hours...Their Sam could only make a serum for one...there was no where else to go, he came here for help."
"Help for what?" He asked crossing his arms across his chest, he knew there was a catch.
"To make more of the serum...the antidote."
"Oh," O'Neill said thinking a moment while he looked down at the floor and then back up at her. "Can you do that?"
"Yes sir, a few more hours and we should have the answer." She said trying to sound confident.
"Alright, keep Jack in the VIP room, I don't want him running around ...looking like me and all..." He said trying to remember if there was a standard operating procedure for something like this.
"Yes Sir."
Letting out a sigh, he stood from the desk and tried to think about how to phrase his next sentence.
"Carter." He said trailing off.
"Yes Sir?"
"Uhmm... being my second in command and all...I need you to do me a favor... "
"It's no problem Sir." She said knowing what he was getting at.
"I mean, if you aren't freaked out by him..."
"Like you are Sir?" She said trying to stifle the smile that was breaking through her usual professional demeanor.
O'Neill was in shock; ever since Carter's promotion she'd been getting braver with her remarks to him. "Hey, just cause you got promoted doesn't mean you get to take over my job as the resident smart ass; it's still my job."
"Yes Sir." she said smiling. It was these few moments that she knew her Jack O'Neill was still around, aside from the promotion.
"I don't think I can...deal...with him...just..." he said trying to explain his reaction to Jack.
"I understand Sir."
"You do? Really?" He asked as she nodded. "Good." He said thankful that he didn't have to explain too much. After all it was Carter he was talking to, he should know by now that she pretty much knew what he was going to say before he said it.
"I'm going to go rescue Jack from Daniel." She said walking to the door then turned back as she held the door open.
"Sir?" She asked looking over her shoulder
"Yeah?" He said abruptly looking up.
"How did the meeting go?"
"Meeting?"
"Washington?"
"Oh...you know, the president can't get enough of me..." He said now relaxed in the normal conversation they were having, this was easier than talking about alternate realities. "Hammond says hello...sends his best...says he'll try to stop by and say hi soon."
"Yes Sir, I should get back." She said walking out.
O'Neill leaned on his desk again and braced his hands beside him.
"Oh boy..."
THAT NIGHT...
Carter had been slaving away over microscopes and flasks until her eyes were blurring. As she fought to keep going, one of the doctors came up behind her.
"Mam'm, maybe you should take a break." The young man said noticing her rubbing her eyes.
"Right, I guess I should eat something." She said standing.
As she walked down the hall, she couldn't help but think about Jack. Something about him unnerved her, got under her skin. The way he looked at her, the way he said her name...it was all too...familiar.
Rounding the corner she was lost in her thoughts and didn't even see Jack coming out of the commissary. She ran right into him, and landed on the floor with her feet up in the air.
"Oh, god...Sammie...you alright?!" Jack said grabbing her arm and helping her to her feet. She lost her balance again and fell into his chest. He caught her around the waist and looked down at her. "Hi." He said smiling as she blushed.
"Hi, Sir." She said getting her balance and getting her distance from him.
"I thought I told you not to call me that." Jack said releasing her arm.
"Sorry-"She said holding back a girlish grin as she straightened her uniform.
"You know my Sam had the same problem." Jack said recognizing the look of uneasiness in her.
"What problem?" she asked as Daniel walked up behind Jack.
"She had a hard time calling me Jack too, but she got used to it." He was smiling again.
"Oh..." That smile was killing her, she'd only seen it on General O'Neill a few times and it was never toward her. Now, that boyish grin was made her want to giggle every time he flashed it at her
"Hey Sam." Daniel said looking over Jack's shoulder.
"Daniel, hey!" She said with a high-pitched voice, as though they were doing something they shouldn't have been doing.
"How's the testing going?" Daniel asked.
"Good, it's going good. My eyes were staring to cross, figured I'd take a break and get something to eat."
"Oh, we just finished up-"He said motioning to the commissary.
"Actually, I could go for another brownie... mind some company?" Jack said flashing that smile at her again; she was in trouble.
"Uhmm-"Carter said pausing.
"Yeah, go ahead Jack, I have some things to catch up on...I doubt you'd be interested..." Daniel said walking away.
"Probably not." Jack said backing into the commissary.
As Daniel passed by Carter she gave him a look, if only for a second, he saw it...what was it...fear?
IN THE COMMISARY...
Carter sat across from Jack eating her hamburger. Trying to keep in constant motion to avoid looking up at him.
"So..." he said trying to break the silence between them.
"Hmm?" she said with a mouth full.
"Do I creep you out?" Jack asked blatantly.
"No Sir-"
"Sam, you call me Sir one more time and I swear to god I'm going to jump over this table and-"
"Jack." She said breaking into a smile.
"Thank you." Jack said resting his elbows on the table and leaning forward. "So, I have to ask...am I some kinda ass hole in this reality? I mean—I know we're pretty much the same, but your uh... General seemed kinda uptight earlier."
"Oh...he's just..." She said trying to figure out how to explain O'Neill to...himself.
"Cause I'd never yell at you like that... I don't think." There was truth in his voice that it her, she dismissed it though, she couldn't get tangled up in this no matter how much she might want to.
"Oh. He's just really weighed down right now." She said making excuses.
"Oh, I see. So...General O'Neill, hu? I never thought that would happen, Sounds funny don't ya think?"
"A little..." She admitted.
"But, Lt. Col. Samantha Carter...that has a ring to it." There was that smile again.
"I like it." She said sipping her soda.
Silence fell between them, a silence Carter knew well.
"Look Sam, I don't know how things are here, and I don't want to come in and ruffle any feathers-"
"It's okay." She was getting comfortable around him, how it happened she didn't really know.
"What?" He said loosing her meaning.
"You being here...it's okay." She said cracking a genuine smile.
"Good, I'd hate to be...un-okay..."
The ice had broken. They must have sat in the cafeteria for over an hour talking, about everything and nothing at the same time. Carter couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to him, it was natural. She could smile and laugh right along with him and not have to look away when he caught her looking at him.
"Okay, one more inappropriate question..." He said letting his voice drop a little.
"What?" She said hesitantly.
"Why is it--well, how exactly...I mean...I know military and regulations and all...but how is it that you never got...oh, you know...your Jack?" He said making some gesture with his hands that confused her even more but still, she understood him somehow.
And as his full meaning hit her the color drained from her face as she began to stutter.
"Wow—uhm." She said fumbling over her own thoughts.
"Too straight forward?"
"Just a little."
"Not gonna answer it are you?" He asked knowing full well she wouldn't.
"I'd rather not talk about it Sir."
"It's just me...you can talk to me...I mean, I'm not your Jack but...I'm close enough."
"First off—no, you aren't General O'Neill. And second-- I don't have a Jack...I have a Pete." She said
"Pete? Who's Pete?" He asked trying to ease the tension of the moment.
He succeeded, the crazy-mixed-up look on his face was enough to make her laugh.
"Pete's my...boyfriend."
"Hmmm, do tell..." He said leaning forward.
"He's a cop-"
"Ahh, speeding again?"
She gaped up at him and had to keep her jaw from hitting the floor, that's exactly what Gen. O'Neill had said when she first told him about Pete... They really were alike.
The two continued talking, unbeknownst to them, General O'Neill stood by the entrance watching them. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, it was right out of the twilight zone--what his life was supposed to be like. Seeing Sam sitting across from him, smiling and laughing freely...him making her laugh and smile...he gripped the door at his side as his blood began to boil-- suddenly he wasn't hungry anymore.
After dinner, Carter walked Jack to his room...
"Well Sir-"Carter said as she stopped outside Jack's door as he opened the door and looked back at her when she called him Sir. "Sorry," she said as he gave her a disconcerning look. "Jack...goodnight."
"Hey, wana talk for a while?" he asked holding the door open for her.
"Uhm," Carter said looking around as though someone were watching. "I don't think I should." She said crossing her arms; that uneasy feeling was returning.
"Sam, I just wana talk." He said still standing in the doorway.
"Alright, just a few minutes." She said walking in and closing the door behind her.
"So." Jack said crashing on the bed. "I'm going to be blunt again." He said trying to warn her.
"Do you have to be?..." She said leaning against the buero.
"Hear me out?"
"Look, I'm not comfortable with talking to you about this." She said standing up walking to the door.
"Sam, wait." He said reaching for her arm.
She spun on her heels and stared right into his face.
"Why are you pushing this?" she said getting aggravated.
"Curiosity killed the cat."
"Meaning?"
"Look, I just want to know...it just seems weird that our two...realities are so alike, I'm just wondering what happened here that kept you two apart."
"How am I supposed to know? I mean, nothing has ever been...said...nothing...I've never even-"She said getting noticeably flushed.
"What?"
"Look, a few years ago...I might have thought there was a possibility that maybe...I don't know what I was thinking—but I was wrong, Okay? I'm with Pete now...and he makes me happy."
"Do you love him?"
"No, it's not easy..."
"It's not supposed to be easy...telling you how I felt was the hardest thing I've ever had to do..."
"It wasn't me." She said walking to the door. "Goodnight, Sir." She said walking out into the hallway.
Carter showed up at the base the next morning with a slight bounce in her step. O'Neill noticed it right off, right when she walked into the break room to get a cup of coffee, she hadn't noticed he was standing in the corner.
"Hey Carter." He said as she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Ja- Sir, I didn't see you there." She said holding her cup a ways from her so she wouldn't spill it.
"I noticed, so how's it going?"
"Oh we're ready to test the antidote on the virus today Sir, I think it'll work." She said picking up a spoon and stirring her coffee.
"And Jack, how's he doing?" He said intently as he walked up behind her.
"He's fine, eager to get back..." She said turning around, not realizing how close he was and nearly spilling coffee on him.
"Really? Doesn't seem like that to me." He said bracing her shoulder to stop her.
"Sir?" She said stopping in midstep and looking up at him
"What?" He said lowering his hands.
"Have you tried to talk to him?"
"Carter, you know I want no part of this..." He said walking to the door. "I had enough of alternate reality people the last time your twin was here..." he continued as he held the door open for her. "The last thing I want to do is have a conversation with myself..."
"Yes Sir..." She said walking out into the hallway.
"It's weird though." O'Neill said walking up beside her.
"What is Sir?" she asked sipping her coffee.
"Why would they send him through and not you?" It was a good question and she knew it, she had just been afraid to ask it herself.
"There was enough of the antidote for one person..." She repeated verbatim, it was the only bit of information she had to answer the question.
"I see." He said letting the implication of the statement sink into his head.
"He did it to save them Sir, he took a big risk...in that respect Sir, he's not very different from you." She said pausing at the elevator.
"I saw you with him." He said stopping a few feet behind her as she pushed the button on the elevator, she froze, his words seared into her skin.
O'Neill recoiled; he didn't realize the way he said it implied a great deal more.
"With him?" She repeated as she turned back to him.
"In the commissary..." He said as the doors opened and they both walked in the elevator.
"Oh..." She said not quite sure what he was getting at but at the same time knowing exactly what he meant.
O'Neill was quiet for a moment, waiting for the doors to close. He faced the doors, arms crossed over his chest.
"I didn't like it." He said coldly.
"Oh?" she said not really knowing what to say beyond that
"No." he said glancing over at her this time getting his point across with the look in his eyes. It touched something in her, something that she thought had died a long time ago.
"I see." She said breaking eye contact to stare at the elevator doors, anything to keep fro looking at him.
Another moment of silence and O'Neill let the words fall right out of his mouth.
"You like him?" He said looking down at the floor as he spoke.
Carter didn't know what to say, besides forcing her mouth shut to keep from showing her amazment, she glared at O'Neill then forced herself to look at the doors again as they opened.
"That came out wrong" he said exiting the elevator. Looking back to Carter as she remained in the elevator he tried to explain himself but took a step back. "I have paper work to finish." He said turning and walking away as the doors closed on Carter.
He was hiding. It didn't matter if his promotion meant he had to be more of a leader, he didn't care at the moment he was hiding, from Carter.
General O'Neill sat in the commissary drinking his coffee. He knew this would be one place Carter wouldn't be. She'd have her head stuck in some lab and as was safe here...
Leaning forward on the table, he heard someone approaching from behind, he cringed as he thought it might be carter...crap she found him, what was he going to say?
Much to his surprise, three guards walked by. He was safe. He watched the guards sit at a table adjacent to his and then someone came up behind him.
"Jonathan." The voice said coldly.
He didn't have to look up, he recognized his own voice immediately.
Jack sat across from him with a cup of coffee in hand.
"Jack." He replied still leaning on the table.
Silence fell between them, what do you say to start up a conversation with yourself?
"So." Jack started.
"So."
"General, hu? Never thought that would happen." Jack said trying to start up a conversation.
"It was bound to happen one day." He said noticing the lack of rank on Jack's uniform.
"You quit?" he said motioning to his lapel.
"Retired."
"Really? How's that going?" He said wrinkling his forehead.
"Boring as hell, but it has perks." Jack said setting his cup down.
"Retirement perks? Like?" He said suddenly interested.
"Oh you know, I get to be a smart ass all the time now." He quipped.
"Ahh, a reason to live." O'Neill said sarcastically.
"Plus...you know..." he said hinting at something the escaped O'Neill.
"What do I know?" He asked.
"I got her." He said bluntly, knowing full well he was about to ruffle some feathers.
"Who?" O'Neill asked still maintaining his sense of superiority.
"Sam."
"I wouldn't call Sam a perk."
"What would you call her?"
O'Neill looked up from his coffee. A part of him wanted to break the guys nose. Another part of him knew what this was leading to.
"Why didn't you retire?" Jack asked trying to keep from yelling.
"And I would retire because..."
"You know, Sam said that people in alternate realities were just like us...but you know what, if retirement didn't cross your mind when you came outta that damn ice cube then I don't know who the hell you are!" He said standing up.
"Now wait a damn minute!" O'Neill said walking after him out in to the hallway.
"No, you aren't worth the breath it would take me to explain it to you." Jack said dismissing O'Neill.
"What is your deal?" O'Neill said stopping in the hall staring at this version of himself he didn't even recognize.
"My DEAL?" Jack said turning around and walking back to O'Neill. "My deal Jack is that you are stupid! You had a chance to have the most wonderful thing in the world in your life, but—for some ungodly known reason—decided to once again to dismiss it as though it wasn't even there!" He said getting red faced.
"It's not like that here." He said erasing all emotion from his tone.
"You know what... I know you're in love with her, cause I used to act the same stupid ass way you are acting right now," Jack said jabbing his finger into his chest. "You're throwing it away, every chance you ever have had with her." He said turning and talking a few steps before stopping. He didn't look back. "She loves you." He said calmly. "Do you even care about that?" He said looking back at him over his shoulder to O'Neill. "Or are you so sadistic that you would just keep her around knowing that she would stay here forever if she thought there was a chance..."
Before he could finish; O'Neill turned and walked down the other end of the hallway. Jack recognized the behavior. It was his own not too long ago.
So I did a little rewrite of "Something More"...I think I got on a better track this time...gave my self some room for more good stuff...let me know what you think...Yeah I know I took out the good part, but bear with me and I swear what I have in mind is so much better!
SHE was in charge.
With General O'Neill off in Washington D.C., Lt. Col. Samantha Carter was actually in charge...
With the last week passing by uneventfully, Cater rested in the knowledge that she could handle command. Every team had returned unscathed and no other worldly beings had attempted to breach security. Things were rolling along smoothly. Now in the 8-hour count down until the General returned from his meeting in D.C., she had only tightened up the reigns on the entire base. Carter was determined to hand over command of the SGC just as it had been given to her..."in one piece"...as General O'Neill had so eloquently requested before he left. Now she was on her way to the commissary to fill up her coffee mug for the 30-something time that day.
Little did she know that two floors above her, the undoing of her incident free command was about to walk into her life...
In the far corner of storage room S-29, lights flickered through the room as a heavy object moved across the floor. The object turned from the wall where it had been pushed flush with the wall, the quantum mirror settled a good two feet in the middle of the room as a scruffy looking man stepped through the mirror; wearing gray fatigues with an SGI patch on the shoulder.
Moving through the shadowy room, the man ran into the various objects in his path, cursing under his breath as he did so before finding the door and busting into the hallway. Alarms rang out through the hall and within seconds the corridor filled with guards.
"WOAH!" He yelled as the guards trained their weapons on him
The guards didn't move an inch. Behind them, their sergeant came to the front and immediately gave the order to lower their weapons as he recognized the intruder.
"General O'Neill, Sir, I thought you weren't due back until this afternoon?" The sergeant said holstering his weapon.
"General, hu? No..no..no.. you got the wrong guy, who's in charge here?" He said lowering his arms to his sides.
"You are sir." The sergeant said hesitantly.
"NO, I'm NOT." He said not knowing how to explain the situation. "Is Hammond here?"
"Sir, you are the commanding officer of the SGC."
"Okay, this is going no where." He said looking around the crowd. "Is Samantha Carter here?"
Just as the words crossed his lips, Lt. Col. Carter came running around the corner, red faced and out of breath from the record time she sprinted up the staircase when she heard the alarm.
"Sergeant!?" She called through the crowd. "What's going on here?" She asked walking to the center of the group.
It took here a moment to register who was standing before her, she blinked her eyes and looked around at the guards.
"Sam, thank god"
"Sir, you're back early?"
"No, uhmm..." He said stepping closer to her ear as he whispered. "I'm not who you think I am, I came through the mirror." He said as her eyes shot open.
It took Carter a few seconds to escort "Jack" as he preferred to be called, to the elevator and down to the secured level of the SGC command.
As he explained his story, she tried to keep her sense of reality about her. It just seemed too far-fetched that he was from an alternate reality, aside from some facial hair, he looked just like General O'Neill.
Now, after putting "Jack" into a VIP room, she tried to explain the situation to Daniel in the conference room.
"Anyway, he just stands there and tells me that he came through the quantum mirror. I thought General Hammond ordered its destruction, how did it get up to an unsecured level?" She said sitting down in the chair at the head of the table, once again letting anyone know if they came in the room that she was in charge.
"Uh Sam..." He said sitting beside her. His voice was faltering, there was something he wasn't saying.
"Do you know something I don't?" She asked wrinkling her forehead knowing there was more to the perplexed look on his face.
"Well..." He said trying to avoid answering.
"Daniel." She persisted.
"I knew it was up there..." He blurted out quickly.
"You knew?" She said trying to resist the sudden urge to strangle him.
"Well, I sorta told some airmen to do it."
"DANIEL! THAT IS AN UNSECURE STORAGE ROOM ON AN UNSECURED LEVEL! IT'S BARELY A PART OF THE SGC!" Her voice echoed down through the command center as she continued to scream at Daniel.
"I know...I know!"
"You know!? Gen. O'Neill is due back this afternoon! Another General O'Neill just came through the quantum mirror that was ordered to be destroyed by General Hammond over Six years ago and all you can say is that YOU KNOW? We've got 7 hours and 23 minutes to fix this, or find a good way to explain this to General O'Neill or he's going to..."
"Kill us?"
"To say the least."
"Alright...you go talk to Jack...and I'll..." He drifted off and she just stared at him. "I'll do something...productive."
Carter left Daniel in the conference room and headed for the VIP room she left "Jack" in. Rounding the corner she walked up to the guard and motioned for him to step aside.
She pushed the door open and stepped in the darkened room to see "Jack" laying down on the queen sized with his hands behind his head. As walked closer to the end of the bed she stuffed her hands in her pockets, there was something that unnerved her about him...she couldn't quite place it, but there was a definite uneasy feeling.
"You ready to talk now?" He said opening his eyes and lifting his head to look at her.
"Yes Sir, I'm sorry for earlier...I was just-"She said stumbling over her words.
"Hey Sam." He said sitting up right and moving to the edge of the bed. He knew his presence had to make things awkward for her. "Relax," Jack said running his hands through his hair that was an uncharacteristically long. "And stop calling me Sir, the name is Jack if you don't mind." By now he was to his feet and walking around the end of the bed to Carter.
"Sorry Sir..." she said putting her hands back in her pockets. Usually it was General O'Neill who had the hand-in-pocket syndrome during awkward situations. But she felt off balanced around Jack.
He was about to make her say his name verbatim but stopped him self. "Alright, look I didn't come here for the fun little tingling feeling you get when you step through that mirror thing, I need your help." He said reaching into his coat pocket.
"Really?"
"Yeah—look," Jack said pulling out a stainless steel cylinder and holding it out to her. "You are going to need to look at this."
"What is it?" She asked turning it over in her hands.
"It's a virus." He said as she looked up at him startled. "It's alright, Sammie cased it up herself before I came through, it's safe." He said trying to reassure her.
She looked down at the cylinder. It seemed that whenever he was near her she felt the need to create a reason not to actually look at him. He had this way of looking at her that made her feel like she was on a balancing beam...or rather as though she were about to fall off a balancing beam.
Hearing him use her first name so liberal had hit something in her, "Sammie" was something only a few people called her and her commanding officer had never been one of them. But as a good soldier she dismissed the little girlie giggle that she was holding back and continued with the exchange of information.
"One of our guys was infected off world," He said. "It spread through the base in 72 hours. Sam didn't realize what was going on until she was infected, she found the cure of course, but...she couldn't to reproduce it...there was only enough for one..." He said as his voice got shaky.
Carter looked up into his eyes, there was something there...she didn't recognize what she saw in his eyes. One thing was for sure, this man might look like Gen. O'Neill but he certainly wasn't him.
"I'll get it to my lab," She said stepping back. "I should start the preliminary tests as soon as possible." She said heading for the door.
"Hey." Jack said reaching out for her arm. "Can I with you?"
"We're going to have to come up with an explanation for you." She said just imagining what the personal on the base would say at seeing this civilianized version of the militant General they were used to.
"Is my other half around?" He said realizing he still had his hand on her arm, he dropped it and fidgeted with his fingers.
"General O'Neill? No, he's in Washington...he'll be back this afternoon." She said making her point clear.
"This in going to get complicated..." Jack said rocking on his heels and raising his eyebrows at the thought of meeting himself.
"Yes Sir it is." She nodded.
"Lead the way ..." Jack said motioning for the door.
She walked out into the hall and Jack followed. As he walked beside her he could feel the tension in her body. He couldn't understand why she was so awkward around him; she had a Jack here...
Once the tests were done, Carter washed up in the clean room and joined Jack in the conference room, where three armed guards shadowed him. Daniel had joined him and the two were talking peacefully when Carter walked in.
"Okay...the preliminary tests show the virus to be a touch sensitive air born agent." She said as she set a file on the desk before sitting in the head chair. As she opened the file to continue spilling out more information she looked up to notice that Jack and Daniel were staring at her as though she were speaking a different language.
"Can you say that in English?" Jack said smiling.
"It can be passed by touch and through the air. It attacks the immune system while..." she knew if she went on any further she'd loose them again.
"Can you make an antidote?" Daniel asked.
"It'll take some work, but I believe it's possible. It's going to take longer than eight hours though." She said looking to Daniel.
"What are you going to tell Jack?"
"The truth, as delicately as possible..."she said looking at her watch. "Six hours to go... we need to make some progress by then." She said getting to her feet again. "I'm going to get working on the virus containment. Daniel, stay with General O- Jack... try to figure out... anything." She said hurrying out of the room again.
"Does she normally act like that?"
"Like what?" Daniel asked.
"Never mind...so...what do you want to know?" Jack asked as he leaned forward on the table toward Daniel as a smile crept across his face.
Carter spent the afternoon with the team of doctors and scientists that were assisting her in the "project". Meanwhile, all nonessential personal had been released from their duties and sent home until further notice. Carter couldn't keep them in harms way without telling them what was going on, and at this moment she thought that the fewer people that knew about what had come through the mirror the better.
Time escaped her as she worked, and before she knew it there was a pounding on the glass from the observation room above her. When she looked up a very red-faced General O'Neill stared back down at her.
He didn't say a word, he didn't need to. She quickly let one of the other doctors take her place and hurried to the clean room. As she exited into another smaller room, General O'Neill was waiting for her.
"Hello..." He said as he leaned against a table.
"Sir-"She said taking a deep breathe in preparation for the speech she knew she had to make.
"Don't Sir me!" He said cutting her off. "Where the hell is everybody? I leave for a few days and what--you fired everyone?" He said waiving his arms about, the O'Neill temper was surfacing.
"No Sir, I can explain." She said trying to continue.
"Well, I know something is going on...I tried to talk to Daniel and all he did was stutter." He said calming a bit. Now that he thought about it, Daniel was avoiding saying more than 'Hi Jack' when he saw him in the hall way.
"He didn't tell you anything?" She asked realizing that he was about to be thrown into a whirlwind.
"No..." He saw the look in her eyes, something was up, something big...and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know what it was.
She couldn't explain anything at that moment; so she opted for a head nod and without a word, led General O'Neill to the VIP room where Jack was talking with Daniel at a small table.
Carter walked in first. The two men stood and began to speak but when General O'Neill came up behind her, they stopped.
"WHAT THE HELL?" O'Neill said as he caught a glimpse of Jack. "Ohhhh, this better be some Asguard clone joke..." He said walking closer to get a look at what he was praying to be something else than what he thought it was.
"Fraid not Jack." Jack said shoving his hands into his pockets.
General O'Neill looked around the room, giving Carter a look of 'I'm going to kill you later' and then returning to Jack who was staring at him. "Where did you come from exactly?" He said impatiently.
"The mirror." Jack said blatantly.
O'Neill didn't say a word, only turned around and eyed Carter.
"Carter...my office...now." He said motioning to the door.
Carter glanced over at Daniel who was doing his part to stay clear of the situation, as she turned for the door Jack caught her eye, the look on his face gave her hope...maybe General O'Neill wouldn't court martial her right away.
As the door shut, leaving Daniel and Jack alone, Jack turned to Daniel slightly apprehensive about what was going to happen next.
"He sounds upset." Jack said stating the obvious, a talent he and O'Neill were both blessed with.
"Oh...he just hates being out of the loop." Daniel said dismissing the obvious tense moment. "It'll be alright, Sam will smooth things over."
"So..." He said taking a deep breath and leaning against the table. "How'd your Jack get out of the frozen stasis thing?"
"The Asguard..."
"Ah, same here..."
AS THEY WALKED DOWN THE HALLWAY...
She followed him in silence, half because she was afraid to say anything and half because she just wasn't ready to start explaining things just yet.
O'Neill walked right to his office and held the door open while Carter walked in behind him. He didn't say a word until the door was shut.
"Okay, let's have it...end of the world mission or meaning of life stuff?" He said walking over to his desk.
"Neither Sir." She said wrinkling her forehead in anticipation of the actual explanation.
"Good," O'Neill said crossing his arms. "That's a very good start, Carter." He said leaning against his desk. "So what is it exactly? Why am I- he, why is he here?"
"There was a virus brought through their gate," She was getting technical now, this she could handle. "It spread through the base in 72 hours...Their Sam could only make a serum for one...there was no where else to go, he came here for help."
"Help for what?" He asked crossing his arms across his chest, he knew there was a catch.
"To make more of the serum...the antidote."
"Oh," O'Neill said thinking a moment while he looked down at the floor and then back up at her. "Can you do that?"
"Yes sir, a few more hours and we should have the answer." She said trying to sound confident.
"Alright, keep Jack in the VIP room, I don't want him running around ...looking like me and all..." He said trying to remember if there was a standard operating procedure for something like this.
"Yes Sir."
Letting out a sigh, he stood from the desk and tried to think about how to phrase his next sentence.
"Carter." He said trailing off.
"Yes Sir?"
"Uhmm... being my second in command and all...I need you to do me a favor... "
"It's no problem Sir." She said knowing what he was getting at.
"I mean, if you aren't freaked out by him..."
"Like you are Sir?" She said trying to stifle the smile that was breaking through her usual professional demeanor.
O'Neill was in shock; ever since Carter's promotion she'd been getting braver with her remarks to him. "Hey, just cause you got promoted doesn't mean you get to take over my job as the resident smart ass; it's still my job."
"Yes Sir." she said smiling. It was these few moments that she knew her Jack O'Neill was still around, aside from the promotion.
"I don't think I can...deal...with him...just..." he said trying to explain his reaction to Jack.
"I understand Sir."
"You do? Really?" He asked as she nodded. "Good." He said thankful that he didn't have to explain too much. After all it was Carter he was talking to, he should know by now that she pretty much knew what he was going to say before he said it.
"I'm going to go rescue Jack from Daniel." She said walking to the door then turned back as she held the door open.
"Sir?" She asked looking over her shoulder
"Yeah?" He said abruptly looking up.
"How did the meeting go?"
"Meeting?"
"Washington?"
"Oh...you know, the president can't get enough of me..." He said now relaxed in the normal conversation they were having, this was easier than talking about alternate realities. "Hammond says hello...sends his best...says he'll try to stop by and say hi soon."
"Yes Sir, I should get back." She said walking out.
O'Neill leaned on his desk again and braced his hands beside him.
"Oh boy..."
THAT NIGHT...
Carter had been slaving away over microscopes and flasks until her eyes were blurring. As she fought to keep going, one of the doctors came up behind her.
"Mam'm, maybe you should take a break." The young man said noticing her rubbing her eyes.
"Right, I guess I should eat something." She said standing.
As she walked down the hall, she couldn't help but think about Jack. Something about him unnerved her, got under her skin. The way he looked at her, the way he said her name...it was all too...familiar.
Rounding the corner she was lost in her thoughts and didn't even see Jack coming out of the commissary. She ran right into him, and landed on the floor with her feet up in the air.
"Oh, god...Sammie...you alright?!" Jack said grabbing her arm and helping her to her feet. She lost her balance again and fell into his chest. He caught her around the waist and looked down at her. "Hi." He said smiling as she blushed.
"Hi, Sir." She said getting her balance and getting her distance from him.
"I thought I told you not to call me that." Jack said releasing her arm.
"Sorry-"She said holding back a girlish grin as she straightened her uniform.
"You know my Sam had the same problem." Jack said recognizing the look of uneasiness in her.
"What problem?" she asked as Daniel walked up behind Jack.
"She had a hard time calling me Jack too, but she got used to it." He was smiling again.
"Oh..." That smile was killing her, she'd only seen it on General O'Neill a few times and it was never toward her. Now, that boyish grin was made her want to giggle every time he flashed it at her
"Hey Sam." Daniel said looking over Jack's shoulder.
"Daniel, hey!" She said with a high-pitched voice, as though they were doing something they shouldn't have been doing.
"How's the testing going?" Daniel asked.
"Good, it's going good. My eyes were staring to cross, figured I'd take a break and get something to eat."
"Oh, we just finished up-"He said motioning to the commissary.
"Actually, I could go for another brownie... mind some company?" Jack said flashing that smile at her again; she was in trouble.
"Uhmm-"Carter said pausing.
"Yeah, go ahead Jack, I have some things to catch up on...I doubt you'd be interested..." Daniel said walking away.
"Probably not." Jack said backing into the commissary.
As Daniel passed by Carter she gave him a look, if only for a second, he saw it...what was it...fear?
IN THE COMMISARY...
Carter sat across from Jack eating her hamburger. Trying to keep in constant motion to avoid looking up at him.
"So..." he said trying to break the silence between them.
"Hmm?" she said with a mouth full.
"Do I creep you out?" Jack asked blatantly.
"No Sir-"
"Sam, you call me Sir one more time and I swear to god I'm going to jump over this table and-"
"Jack." She said breaking into a smile.
"Thank you." Jack said resting his elbows on the table and leaning forward. "So, I have to ask...am I some kinda ass hole in this reality? I mean—I know we're pretty much the same, but your uh... General seemed kinda uptight earlier."
"Oh...he's just..." She said trying to figure out how to explain O'Neill to...himself.
"Cause I'd never yell at you like that... I don't think." There was truth in his voice that it her, she dismissed it though, she couldn't get tangled up in this no matter how much she might want to.
"Oh. He's just really weighed down right now." She said making excuses.
"Oh, I see. So...General O'Neill, hu? I never thought that would happen, Sounds funny don't ya think?"
"A little..." She admitted.
"But, Lt. Col. Samantha Carter...that has a ring to it." There was that smile again.
"I like it." She said sipping her soda.
Silence fell between them, a silence Carter knew well.
"Look Sam, I don't know how things are here, and I don't want to come in and ruffle any feathers-"
"It's okay." She was getting comfortable around him, how it happened she didn't really know.
"What?" He said loosing her meaning.
"You being here...it's okay." She said cracking a genuine smile.
"Good, I'd hate to be...un-okay..."
The ice had broken. They must have sat in the cafeteria for over an hour talking, about everything and nothing at the same time. Carter couldn't believe how easy it was to talk to him, it was natural. She could smile and laugh right along with him and not have to look away when he caught her looking at him.
"Okay, one more inappropriate question..." He said letting his voice drop a little.
"What?" She said hesitantly.
"Why is it--well, how exactly...I mean...I know military and regulations and all...but how is it that you never got...oh, you know...your Jack?" He said making some gesture with his hands that confused her even more but still, she understood him somehow.
And as his full meaning hit her the color drained from her face as she began to stutter.
"Wow—uhm." She said fumbling over her own thoughts.
"Too straight forward?"
"Just a little."
"Not gonna answer it are you?" He asked knowing full well she wouldn't.
"I'd rather not talk about it Sir."
"It's just me...you can talk to me...I mean, I'm not your Jack but...I'm close enough."
"First off—no, you aren't General O'Neill. And second-- I don't have a Jack...I have a Pete." She said
"Pete? Who's Pete?" He asked trying to ease the tension of the moment.
He succeeded, the crazy-mixed-up look on his face was enough to make her laugh.
"Pete's my...boyfriend."
"Hmmm, do tell..." He said leaning forward.
"He's a cop-"
"Ahh, speeding again?"
She gaped up at him and had to keep her jaw from hitting the floor, that's exactly what Gen. O'Neill had said when she first told him about Pete... They really were alike.
The two continued talking, unbeknownst to them, General O'Neill stood by the entrance watching them. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, it was right out of the twilight zone--what his life was supposed to be like. Seeing Sam sitting across from him, smiling and laughing freely...him making her laugh and smile...he gripped the door at his side as his blood began to boil-- suddenly he wasn't hungry anymore.
After dinner, Carter walked Jack to his room...
"Well Sir-"Carter said as she stopped outside Jack's door as he opened the door and looked back at her when she called him Sir. "Sorry," she said as he gave her a disconcerning look. "Jack...goodnight."
"Hey, wana talk for a while?" he asked holding the door open for her.
"Uhm," Carter said looking around as though someone were watching. "I don't think I should." She said crossing her arms; that uneasy feeling was returning.
"Sam, I just wana talk." He said still standing in the doorway.
"Alright, just a few minutes." She said walking in and closing the door behind her.
"So." Jack said crashing on the bed. "I'm going to be blunt again." He said trying to warn her.
"Do you have to be?..." She said leaning against the buero.
"Hear me out?"
"Look, I'm not comfortable with talking to you about this." She said standing up walking to the door.
"Sam, wait." He said reaching for her arm.
She spun on her heels and stared right into his face.
"Why are you pushing this?" she said getting aggravated.
"Curiosity killed the cat."
"Meaning?"
"Look, I just want to know...it just seems weird that our two...realities are so alike, I'm just wondering what happened here that kept you two apart."
"How am I supposed to know? I mean, nothing has ever been...said...nothing...I've never even-"She said getting noticeably flushed.
"What?"
"Look, a few years ago...I might have thought there was a possibility that maybe...I don't know what I was thinking—but I was wrong, Okay? I'm with Pete now...and he makes me happy."
"Do you love him?"
"No, it's not easy..."
"It's not supposed to be easy...telling you how I felt was the hardest thing I've ever had to do..."
"It wasn't me." She said walking to the door. "Goodnight, Sir." She said walking out into the hallway.
Carter showed up at the base the next morning with a slight bounce in her step. O'Neill noticed it right off, right when she walked into the break room to get a cup of coffee, she hadn't noticed he was standing in the corner.
"Hey Carter." He said as she nearly jumped out of her skin.
"Ja- Sir, I didn't see you there." She said holding her cup a ways from her so she wouldn't spill it.
"I noticed, so how's it going?"
"Oh we're ready to test the antidote on the virus today Sir, I think it'll work." She said picking up a spoon and stirring her coffee.
"And Jack, how's he doing?" He said intently as he walked up behind her.
"He's fine, eager to get back..." She said turning around, not realizing how close he was and nearly spilling coffee on him.
"Really? Doesn't seem like that to me." He said bracing her shoulder to stop her.
"Sir?" She said stopping in midstep and looking up at him
"What?" He said lowering his hands.
"Have you tried to talk to him?"
"Carter, you know I want no part of this..." He said walking to the door. "I had enough of alternate reality people the last time your twin was here..." he continued as he held the door open for her. "The last thing I want to do is have a conversation with myself..."
"Yes Sir..." She said walking out into the hallway.
"It's weird though." O'Neill said walking up beside her.
"What is Sir?" she asked sipping her coffee.
"Why would they send him through and not you?" It was a good question and she knew it, she had just been afraid to ask it herself.
"There was enough of the antidote for one person..." She repeated verbatim, it was the only bit of information she had to answer the question.
"I see." He said letting the implication of the statement sink into his head.
"He did it to save them Sir, he took a big risk...in that respect Sir, he's not very different from you." She said pausing at the elevator.
"I saw you with him." He said stopping a few feet behind her as she pushed the button on the elevator, she froze, his words seared into her skin.
O'Neill recoiled; he didn't realize the way he said it implied a great deal more.
"With him?" She repeated as she turned back to him.
"In the commissary..." He said as the doors opened and they both walked in the elevator.
"Oh..." She said not quite sure what he was getting at but at the same time knowing exactly what he meant.
O'Neill was quiet for a moment, waiting for the doors to close. He faced the doors, arms crossed over his chest.
"I didn't like it." He said coldly.
"Oh?" she said not really knowing what to say beyond that
"No." he said glancing over at her this time getting his point across with the look in his eyes. It touched something in her, something that she thought had died a long time ago.
"I see." She said breaking eye contact to stare at the elevator doors, anything to keep fro looking at him.
Another moment of silence and O'Neill let the words fall right out of his mouth.
"You like him?" He said looking down at the floor as he spoke.
Carter didn't know what to say, besides forcing her mouth shut to keep from showing her amazment, she glared at O'Neill then forced herself to look at the doors again as they opened.
"That came out wrong" he said exiting the elevator. Looking back to Carter as she remained in the elevator he tried to explain himself but took a step back. "I have paper work to finish." He said turning and walking away as the doors closed on Carter.
He was hiding. It didn't matter if his promotion meant he had to be more of a leader, he didn't care at the moment he was hiding, from Carter.
General O'Neill sat in the commissary drinking his coffee. He knew this would be one place Carter wouldn't be. She'd have her head stuck in some lab and as was safe here...
Leaning forward on the table, he heard someone approaching from behind, he cringed as he thought it might be carter...crap she found him, what was he going to say?
Much to his surprise, three guards walked by. He was safe. He watched the guards sit at a table adjacent to his and then someone came up behind him.
"Jonathan." The voice said coldly.
He didn't have to look up, he recognized his own voice immediately.
Jack sat across from him with a cup of coffee in hand.
"Jack." He replied still leaning on the table.
Silence fell between them, what do you say to start up a conversation with yourself?
"So." Jack started.
"So."
"General, hu? Never thought that would happen." Jack said trying to start up a conversation.
"It was bound to happen one day." He said noticing the lack of rank on Jack's uniform.
"You quit?" he said motioning to his lapel.
"Retired."
"Really? How's that going?" He said wrinkling his forehead.
"Boring as hell, but it has perks." Jack said setting his cup down.
"Retirement perks? Like?" He said suddenly interested.
"Oh you know, I get to be a smart ass all the time now." He quipped.
"Ahh, a reason to live." O'Neill said sarcastically.
"Plus...you know..." he said hinting at something the escaped O'Neill.
"What do I know?" He asked.
"I got her." He said bluntly, knowing full well he was about to ruffle some feathers.
"Who?" O'Neill asked still maintaining his sense of superiority.
"Sam."
"I wouldn't call Sam a perk."
"What would you call her?"
O'Neill looked up from his coffee. A part of him wanted to break the guys nose. Another part of him knew what this was leading to.
"Why didn't you retire?" Jack asked trying to keep from yelling.
"And I would retire because..."
"You know, Sam said that people in alternate realities were just like us...but you know what, if retirement didn't cross your mind when you came outta that damn ice cube then I don't know who the hell you are!" He said standing up.
"Now wait a damn minute!" O'Neill said walking after him out in to the hallway.
"No, you aren't worth the breath it would take me to explain it to you." Jack said dismissing O'Neill.
"What is your deal?" O'Neill said stopping in the hall staring at this version of himself he didn't even recognize.
"My DEAL?" Jack said turning around and walking back to O'Neill. "My deal Jack is that you are stupid! You had a chance to have the most wonderful thing in the world in your life, but—for some ungodly known reason—decided to once again to dismiss it as though it wasn't even there!" He said getting red faced.
"It's not like that here." He said erasing all emotion from his tone.
"You know what... I know you're in love with her, cause I used to act the same stupid ass way you are acting right now," Jack said jabbing his finger into his chest. "You're throwing it away, every chance you ever have had with her." He said turning and talking a few steps before stopping. He didn't look back. "She loves you." He said calmly. "Do you even care about that?" He said looking back at him over his shoulder to O'Neill. "Or are you so sadistic that you would just keep her around knowing that she would stay here forever if she thought there was a chance..."
Before he could finish; O'Neill turned and walked down the other end of the hallway. Jack recognized the behavior. It was his own not too long ago.