Disclaimer: Yeah, the whole alternate universe thing where I do own Stargate is still pending, so it still doesn't belong to me.

(A/N: and please keep all arms and legs, tentacles, third eyes, second heads, Jaffa staff weapons and otherwise important bodily parts inside the ride at all times.)

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Alternate Reality Four

A young sixteen-year-old Jack O'Neill tried desperately to convince Teal'c to sneak him a beer as they sat across from each other in the commissary eating for all intents and purposes what should have been spaghetti and meatballs. The large Jaffa was a naturally patient being, but the boy before him had an incessantly annoying attitude that was hard to endure, even for his older double General O'Neill.

It had been almost a year since the younger clone of O'Neill had decided to stay with the SGC instead of reliving a teenage life, and Colonel Carter had not allowed him any alcoholic beverages, constantly assuring him he would thank her latter after trying to scientifically to explain the effects alcohol would have on his younger body functions and failing miserably at getting him to understand even the basic health reasons for why she was refusing him his drink of choice.

Finally he had stopped asking, but every now and then when he felt particularly weighed down by life, he would try to nag Daniel or Teal'c or even himself into getting him some.

"I believe that Colonel Carter is right in her refusing-" Teal'c began, but was cut off by Jack slamming his fists on the table and then storming out of the commissary in search of the woman who was generally in charge of his basic well being seeing as how no one else wanted the job.

"Carter!" he yelled angrily when he found her in her lab experimenting on some new alien device, "I swear I'll demote you if I don't have a Budweiser in my hand within the next sixty seconds" he fumed, flopping down harshly on a chair in front of her so she would acknowledge his presence.

Sam sighed and looked up, "I thought you were at the cabin, Jack" she commented without much surprise in her voice. By now she was so used to his attitude that reflected the one strongly of the real Jack O'Neill, that she did not even bother to keep tabs on his normally wandering persona, but despite their perfect similarities she had come to refer to the clone of her CO by his first name so as not to get the two confused.

"Nothing to do at the cabin, but that's beside the point" he held out his hand and glared at her, "Beer. Now."

"Need I remind you that technically you are not my CO and therefore have no power to demote me or threaten court martial?" she replied with the obvious while peering into a telescope that she had just placed a sample under.

Jack knew his protesting was useless against her since he no longer was in a position allowing him influence as to her status in the military, but he was bored and so decided to continue his ranting even though it was getting him nowhere.

"I hate being a General," he commented out of the blue, if only to regain her attention. It worked, because she looked up from her experiment with a curious expression on her face, "Technically you aren't a General"

Jack sighed and used his legs to swivel the chair around, "No...I'm not...but speaking...un-technically...I am...so shouldn't...I know...that I...hate it...?" he stopped spinning the chair so he could speak directly to her without having to break up his sentence on each turn.

"Well, actually since you only harbor the General's memories and behaviorisms leading up to the point in time of which you were created, and he has had experiences and memorabilia cataloged in his brain functions since your creation, there may have been circumstances of which you were not privy to that could have changed his basic influenced patterns of action and emotion that in turn caused him to react to his current position differently"

Jack stared at her with a set expression on his face that clearly indicated she was talking in a foreign language and he had probably only understood every other three letter word she had used.

Sam shook her head, "Okay, fine, how exactly do you know that you hate being a General?" she asked, although at the moment she was not keen on paying too much attention to his explanation as she was more interested in the current task she had before her and resumed her same actions as earlier before he had stated that attention grabbing comment.

Jack thought about it for a while, not exactly sure how she would take the answer to that question. He wondered if he should tell her the real reason or just let the subject drop.

Finally he decided it was safe for him to spill his guts, after all he wasn't the one who would have to deal with the aftermath. Well, technically he was, but not directly.

"Because I-I mean, he, misses the excuses" Jack said tentatively, wanting her to take the bait.

"What excuses?" she asked distractedly, much more interested in the alien artifact sitting on her table then where this conversation was headed, although she should've been worried by the dubious tone the boy across from her had adopted to his voice.

"The excuses to hug you" Jack responded quickly, and then waited for the dominos to fall.

Sam paused in her study. She glanced up at him and saw the mischievous grin on his face.

"What?" she asked, though she knew what he had said, her mind did not quite fully register the meaning of his words and she needed to hear them repeated in order for her brain to begin turning once more.

"All the missions we-I mean you guys used to go on," he continued, delighted that he was able to snag her into this conversation, "The trauma you sometimes went through, it gave you guys excuses to hug each other, or hold hands, stuff like that. He wont ever admit it, but the biggest reason he loved missions and hates being a desk jockey is because he can't get away with that stuff now. He has no excuses to hug you anymore"

Sam gave herself a few minutes to digest this information before she was ready to respond, "That's...an interesting revelation, Jack, but it doesn't do either of us much good" she said, and although her tone was calm and collected, her body tensed and she nervously began fiddling with the engagement ring on her finger.

Jack's notice did not escape this action, "Yea, I get it, you've got Pete now..." he shook his head in frustration at just the thought of all the regulations and her marrying a guy that...wasn't good enough for her. Jack stood up to leave, but not before adding, "Carter, are you marrying Pete because there can't be anything between you and Jack, or are you marrying him because there can and you're just tired of waiting?"