"So these 'Goa'uld' are a major threat to Earth in the next 10 years?"
The four members of SG-1, and MacGyver were sitting around the kitchen table of the safe- house. They had been there all afternoon. Now that the sun was setting, it was time to reach a decision about what to do about Murdoc.
"To let him through the 'Gate would alter history. Who knows what our time would be like when we get back?" Major Carter looked gravely around at them all.
"Judging by what he said, this Murdoc has to have an automatic Dialing Device. How else would he get the 'Gate to dial out?" Daniel added.
"If he has significant Goa'uld technology, he can't stay here." O'Neill said harshly.
MacGyver sat, lost in thought. With everything SG-1 had told him about the Goa'uld, Murdoc suddenly seemed quite run- of- the- mill. That certainly explained his theatrics, penchant for vanity, and invincibility. If these people from the future had the technology to destroy him for good... Why wouldn't they jump at the chance? And yet, Mac knew that Carter was right. Anything they did now would alter the future invariably. But how were they supposed to defeat a villain without defeating him?
It had been decided that SG-1 would go to the mountain the next morning. Some sort of trap would have to be laid from there. Mac would stay at the house all night, further crowding an already overcrowded space, in case Murdoc woke slightly crankier than before. He did, after all, know where SG-1 lived...
"We'll just have to see what happens tomorrow morning." Mac said with a yawn.
Starstarstar
Major Carter awoke, cottonmouthed, at three o'clock that morning. She stumbled groggily out of her bed, and began shuffling down the stairs to get a glass of water.
"...Colonel..?" She nearly tripped over Colonel O'Neill, asleep on the landing of the stairs, knees curled to his chest.
"Mmm..?" He groaned and looked up, stretching one leg
"Come to bed." She said quietly.
"Carter?"
"I'm not just going to leave you asleep on the stairs." She whispered.
"Carter..."
"Colonel, I will order you."
"As I recall, Major, I am the commanding officer."
"As a doctor."
"You have a doctorate in Physics!"
"I'm still a doctor." She smiled smugly.
"Yes, doc." O'Neill whispered sarcastically.
What had possessed Carter to even ask O'Neill to come up to bed, she didn't know. But she couldn't just leave him curled up, looking so uncomfortable on the stairs.
O'Neill sat on the corner of the bed, looking at the rumpled sheets where Major Carter had been sleeping. In 1987... He sighed as memories flooded back.
In 1987 he was engaged to Sarah. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, this seemed so strange to him. To be back in a time he had been glad to see pass... It wasn't as if he was unhappy with Sarah. Quite the contrary, but he had grown so far away from this place in his life, so much had happened in the ten years or so of time, that he felt like a stranger wandering lost in his own memories.
"Sir? You can sleep you know. That's what beds are for. Sleeping." Carter had emerged from the stairwell, approaching O'Neill and resting a concerned hand on his shoulder.
"You don't like being here, do you?" It wasn't exactly a question.
"No, Carter. I despise being here."
"D'you want to be left alone?"
"I tried that. You ordered me up here, remember?"
"Sorry, sir."
"This part of my life is over, Carter. People aren't supposed to relive their pasts!" He was nearly shouting now.
"Sir..."
"Carter..."
She sat down beside him, but only for a moment, for he suddenly found himself pacing the room.
"You want to know where I am right now, Carter? Rotting away in some hole in East Germany, waiting for something to happen, while my fiancée is crying at her mother's house because she hasn't heard from me for three weeks and is convinced I'm dead." O'Neill smiled nastily, eyes now sparking with self-loathing.
"Happy memories, right Major? Really looking forward to tomorrow. Oh, and you want to know something else? I took that job because I wanted to. I didn't even have to. I could have been in some cushy office in DC, but I picked East Germany instead." He practically spat.
Carter's eyes were the size of dinner plates.
"I wanted to 'See the World' before I settled down. Well, guess who got screwed? Screwed with my job, screwed with my family, Screwed with My Life."
"What about us, sir?" Carter asked meekly. Her eyes had brimmed with tears. She didn't notice the ones that were already rushing down her CO's cheeks.
"Carter..." O'Neill's voice broke.
"Do you regret this too..?"
"Carter..."
"Sir?"
O'Neill sighed heavily.
"No, Carter. I don't regret the SGC." His voice had dropped back down to a whisper. He rejoined Major Carter on the edge of the bed. "One of the few reasons left I still believe in God..."