A/N: Our story takes a bit of a turn here. The alternate universe is in italics, 'our' universe in regular type. I hope I don't confuse you too much! Let me know what you think. The next update will come much quicker...no students on Monday due to President's Day...YEAH!

Chapter 30 – Parallel Universe

The officer walked quietly down the hall, keeping his eyes firmly fixed in front of him. He looked neither left nor right as he made his way to his destination; the control room of the SGC. No longer under his own power, his feet moved in accordance with the wishes of the one who had recently taken control of him. He wanted to scream out a warning to the people he had worked with for seven years; a warning to kill him before the being inside of him took them all. But he couldn't; all he was capable of doing was moving in the direction that the voice within told him to go.

He heard their voices speaking quietly as he came up the stairs. Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter and her husband, Colonel Jack O'Neill, were discussing the recent appearance of the Asguard and the subsequent disappearance of Anubis and his army. Thor and his fleet of advanced ships had quickly wiped out most of Anubis's forces. Unfortunately for the humans, Anubis had escaped. He would not be deterred so easily.

The officer took his place at the computer monitors, patting his pocket in reassurance that the drug he took to mask the Naquada in his blood was still safely in place. He needed to take it every eight hours in order to keep the Jaffa and the female warrior from discovering his presence. Affirming that the drug was in place, his hands effortlessly moved over the keyboard as he did the job of the host, while at the same time, he listened to the conversation behind him. Though his master was now gone from this galaxy, he still had a job to complete. He was to be richly rewarded upon the completion of his task and, aside from the inherent rewards he would receive, he took great pride in always fulfilling his missions.

His scheming mind perked up as the conversation behind him turned to that of utmost importance to him; the child. He knew he had made a good decision when he switched bodies mere hours ago. This host had much better access to the parents of the child he was seeking.

The woman was now speaking; "Sir, since Anubis has fled our solar system and Thor assured us he wouldn't be back, I'd like to request permission to return to the alternate reality where JJ is and retrieve him."

The General frowned in thought. "I thought you told the other Samantha Carter that you would be back in one week? As it stands now Colonel, you will be two days early. I am concerned that may cause some alarm in their world if the mirror activates earlier than usual. And how will you know that you are returning to the correct reality if she is not there waiting for you?"

"I don't think that will be a problem, Sir," Samantha responded, a note of desperation in her voice. "Sam was going to leave me a sign. She is to tie one of JJ's receiving blankets to a shelf in the room where the mirror is located. I'm sure she's done that already as I took it out of his bag and handed it to her right away." Samantha looked to her husband, a look of entreaty crossing her face.

Even though he knew how much it would hurt her, Jack O'Neill was going to have to side with the General on this one. "Samantha, I'm afraid General Hammond is right. We said one week. Today is almost over. That leaves us with only tomorrow to get through. We can try first thing the following morning. Hell, if you want to try at 0400, I'll be ready to go then. But I really think we have to wait," he stated sadly. He wanted his son home just as much as she did, but he wanted to make sure that nothing was going to happen to mess it up. "Besides, I'd like to make one more sweep of the base to make sure there is no possibility that Anubis left someone or something around that could still hurt JJ."

Samantha's face fell at his words. She knew they were both right; she had said one week and couldn't expect them to be ready earlier. It's not like she could call her alternate self on the phone or something! Besides, if they had taken JJ off base, it would take all the longer to get him back. Time that she wasn't sure they could spare due to the effects of entropic cascade failure. She was willing to risk herself to that, but not Jack. He also had a valid point about making a clean sweep of the base one more time. And so Samantha Carter, desperate though she was to have her little boy returned to her, reluctantly nodded her head in agreement.

Sergeant Davis smiled to himself as he sat at his post. The enemy within had learned more in the last few minutes that in the four days he had spent in a different man's body on base. This host knew where the quantum mirror was located and he had the clearance that these military people required to get close to it. He turned slightly in his chair as he watched the two Colonels depart from the room; the man's arm resting protectively across the woman's shoulders. He felt no sorrow at their plight. The child they had conceived and brought into existence could possess the knowledge that would make his master god of all. He didn't belong with mere humans!

Startled when the human commander asked him a question about the system he was supposed to be working on, the intruder turned back to the computer. Wracking the brain of his host, he quickly responded to the query with a suitable reply, then was left alone to carry on his work. Unbeknownst to the leader of the humans, this host's true work would take him to a parallel universe. He would take the remainder of this day to prepare. Tomorrow he would procure the means to use the mirror to find the child that had so far eluded both him and his master. He would not fail in this mission. The Askrak did not fail.

-

Sam watched her father make his way up the ramp to the Stargate with a mixture of feelings. There was a sense of relief that he was going and she wouldn't have to keep trying to hide her feelings from him. But there was also sadness, too. She didn't get the chance to see him very often and when she did, there was usually one catastrophic emergency or another to deal with. Sam sighed as she adjusted JJ on her hip and followed her father's progress up the ramp. Would her life ever be easy, she wondered to herself?

JJ broke her of her musings as he waved his little hand when Jacob turned one final time. "Papa!" he cried out, bringing a smile to everyone present in the gate room, even the normally stoic marines who currently stood guard. Jacob waved to the little boy, giving Sam one final look of love and concern before he disappeared through the event horizon, the two scientists who were to accompany him close on his heels.

"Well, that was interesting," Jack stated to no one in particular once the wormhole had disengaged.

"I think it could have been a little less interesting had you not been quite….yourself, Jack," Daniel commented dryly.

"Yes, well, I am what I am Danny boy," Jack added with a grin. He then turned to Sam, his expression becoming more serious as he took in her sad look. "Hey, you OK, Carter?"

Sam turned startled eyes on him. She hadn't been listening to them; instead she had been deep in thought. "I'm sorry?" she asked, her tone giving support to the fact that she hadn't been paying them any attention.

"I just asked if you were all right. You were miles away just now," Jack stated with concern.

She gave him a small smile, "I'm fine, Sir. Just thinking."

"When are you not?" he quipped, earning a bigger smile at his familiar reply to her statement.

JJ chose that moment to start fussing. It had been a while since he had last eaten and he was getting hungry. "I think we'd better get JJ fed before he raises a ruckus, Sir. You want to go and eat, sweetie?" she asked the baby as she shifted him once more.

JJ's answer was to bounce eagerly in her arms, babbling incessantly about something or other. Jack was certain he was talking about cake and willingly shared his idea with his comrades. Sam and Daniel rolled their eyes at him while Teal'c raised just the one eyebrow.

As they turned to leave the room, Sam glanced up at the control room. General Hammond and Sergeant Davis were talking to each other up above. For some reason, a chill went through Sam at that moment and she trembled slightly, causing her to clutch JJ a bit more tightly in her arms.

Jack put a hand to her elbow. "You OK?" he asked softly. He had seen her tremble and she grown slightly pale.

She glanced at him, a small look of confusion on her face. "I'm fine, Sir. Just…got a sudden chill, that's all."

Jack studied her a moment longer, his eyes narrowed in study, before he took JJ from her arms and led the way out of the gate room. He had no reason to doubt her but, all the same, he would keep a close eye on her for the rest of the day.

-

On the pretense of carrying out orders from General Hammond, the Asrak who now resided within the body of one Sgt. Davis stole to the area where the quantum mirror was kept. In the late hours of the evening, there were few others about and none of them questioned his presence. He ran a few tests on the device with some of the rudimentary technology the humans possessed. Unfortunately, he did not have the equipment necessary to run his own tests. But he found he didn't need them. He had gained all the information he needed from hearing the conversation between the parents of the child he sought and the leader of this base.

Glancing around, he found the device that controlled the operation of the mirror and slipped it into his pocket. He would study this a bit more in the privacy of the quarters that the host occupied. He would be able to adjust his own device and us it to activate the mirror; thus leaving the original device here. It would buy him more time in the alternate reality as they would never realize that their device had been missing for a short time.

He smiled knowingly as he thought of the two special instruments he had hidden away on the base. In addition to allowing him to operate the mirror, they would enable him to take out any guards he encountered on the other side with minimal effort. And procure the child with little resistance from those who currently guarded him.

Quashing down the feeble protests that he could still occasionally detect from the host, he turned and left the room, nodding to the two guards who stood nearby. These humans were so weak, he thought with disdain. It would be a simple matter to move into another reality, take the child, and come back. He would return triumphantly to his god with the prize Anubis had been after. Of that, the Asrak was certain.

-

Sam had felt uneasy all evening. Something just didn't feel right. She couldn't put it down to anything tangible, so she kept quiet; instead using the pent up energy to play with JJ and work on her computer. She and Jack interacted lightly about the baby, but didn't get into any deep conversations. Which was fine with both of them this evening.

Jack had sensed her mood but didn't push her. He figured she was either upset with him about his wisecracks to her father or she was starting to feel despondent over the thought that they only had one more full day with JJ. Either way, he figured it would be best to leave her be. He certainly didn't want to open up a can of worms if she was still inwardly fuming at him.

And so, when Sam had said good-night at a relatively early time, shortly after JJ went down in fact, Jack bid her a quiet good-night. It was now coming up on 2400 hours. Jack had been watching TV quietly by himself and was ready to turn in when he heard a thrashing noise coming from Sam's room.

Quickly he got up and went to her door, concerned that something might be wrong with JJ. Instead, the light shining from the living room showed him the figure of Sam shifting restlessly from side to side, the sheets twisted around her legs and her face shiny with sweat. As he stepped into her room, she sat up quickly with a gasp, her eyes wide with fear, her breathing labored.

Jack quickly moved to her side and sat on the edge of the bed. "Sam, it's OK. You're having a nightmare." He put his hand on her leg in quiet reassurance. Sam however, looked right through him, the terror evident on her face.

"JJ!" she gasped as she lurched forward in her bed, trying to get to the crib. Afraid she might hurt herself or wake the baby, Jack grabbed her around the waist and hauled her back. In her panic at not being able to reach JJ, Sam began to fight him. Her arms came up ready to strike him and she twisted her body away from him.

Jack restrained her by grasping her firmly around the upper arms and straddling her thighs. She continued to try and fight him so he came within inches of her face and said quietly but firmly, "Carter! Stop it! Nothing is wrong with JJ. You are both safe. I need you to get yourself together. Now!" He gave her a little shake.

It seemed to do the trick as her eyes finally lost their wild look and she focused on him. The fear however didn't leave her eyes. "JJ?" she asked with quiet desperation, her voice still breathless.

Jack loosened his hold on her but kept his hands on her arms. "He's fine, Sam. You were having a nightmare, that's all. Do you remember it?" he asked her gently, absently running his hands up and down her arms to ward of the goose bumps that were forming there.

His heart ached at the look of utter confusion she gave him. Shaking her head slightly, she whispered, "I don't remember anything. Just a horrible feeling that something bad was about to happen to JJ." A tear escaped her eye as her gaze slid past him to the crib at the end of the bed. Realizing her intention, Jack released his hold on her and got up to let her go and see for herself that JJ was indeed all right.

Sam took deep calming breaths as she gazed at the baby sleeping peacefully in the crib at the foot of her bed. He was here; he was OK, just like Jack had told her. Sam shuddered again as she relived that feeling of helplessness that had plagued her during the nightmare. Jack pulled the blanket off the bed and wrapped it protectively around her shoulders as she continued to watch JJ. He kept his arm around her and gently ran it up and down her arm, wishing he knew what she had been so frightened about.

Even though Sam could see for herself that JJ was safe and she felt comforted by Jack's hold on her, she just couldn't shake the horrible sense of foreboding that was coursing through her veins.