"That's impossible…" Daniel said, softly, staring as Dotty walked across the room to the small group standing by the bed.
"You're… dead…" Jack said, just as softly, and looking just as shocked. "Aren't you?"
Dotty smiled.
"I'm not the Dotty Adams you knew, Colonel O'Neill."
"You're from an alternate reality?" Sam guessed. She, too, knew that it was impossible that this was their Dotty.
"Yes."
Dotty walked up to the bed, and placed her hand gently on Ian's chest as the others stared, and then she closed her eyes. Immediately, the look of pain on Ian's face faded, and the cadet sighed in relief.
"How did you get in here?" Hammond asked as she removed her hand from Ian's chest and opened her eyes once more. "The gate-"
"I've been here a couple of days, General Hammond," Dotty replied. "With the death of my other self here I can move in this reality more easily and stay for longer periods of time. I came in through the gate with your SG team on Saturday and watched to see if it was going to become necessary to show myself."
"And it has?"
Dotty rested a hand lightly on Ian's arm.
"We got Ian into this. We weren't going to leave him to face it alone."
"You're from another reality?" Jack asked.
"Yes."
"But you're here, now? To stay, I mean?"
She shook her head.
"I can't do that, Colonel O'Neill."
"But Shawn-"
"I'm not the same Dotty that raised Shawn in this reality," Dotty said, gently. "No more than he's the son I lost in my own. As much as I'd love for things to be different, he and I are almost strangers to each other and it wouldn't feel right. There are subtle differences… things that would show immediately to the ones we love… it wouldn't be fair to try…"
And she had obviously thought about trying.
"But-"
"Would you feel comfortable with a facsimile of your own son instead of the boy that you watched grow?"
It was a calculated question – and one that proved to Jack that this wasn't actually his Dotty. His Dotty never would have asked such a cruel question, bringing up such painful memories. But it had the intended effect, and Jack hesitated, thinking about it before he answered.
"No."
As much as he wanted Charlie back, he wanted the real Charlie. Not some copy.
"It'd feel just as odd for me and the Shawn of this reality. There are differences. Memories that he would have of us together that I wouldn't – and that I would have that he wouldn't."
"That makes sense," Sam said, giving Jack a chance to recover from the question. She could see that it had thrown him just a little. "But you should still see him. It might give him a sense of closure to have someone to say good-bye to…"
Dotty shook her head.
"I'd just hurt us both," she said, softly. "That was one of the reasons I stayed out of sight – I wanted to make sure you weren't going to call him in to take care of Ian's injuries."
"Call him…?" Jack repeated.
"Shawn can heal?" Daniel asked.
Dotty shrugged.
"I'm not sure… he is half Ancient, though, so it's possible. Of course, it's also possible that he only has a latent ability to do it – like humans do – and would need to figure it out himself."
Sam couldn't believe she hadn't thought of the tie between Shawn and Dotty before. It was very possible he could heal people like Dotty could, and they should have at least considered it – even if it didn't work.
"Latent?"
"The ability is there, but not the knowledge of how to use it," Dotty said. She looked at Ian. "You were right; when Alexander used the device on you, he wasn't expecting that side effect. The knowledge to heal shouldn't have been given to you, because it's very dangerous for you to use it. The energy that you heal with comes from within you – and if you over exert yourself there's a very real possibility that you can kill yourself."
Ian shrugged.
"I had to do something."
"And we're glad you did," Dotty said, even as the others nodded. "But I'm warning you now to be careful. We don't want to lose you."
"I can agree with that," Sam said, smiling at Ian, who flushed at the sincerity in her voice.
"Just be careful, okay?" Dotty repeated.
Ian shrugged again; which is what he always did when he was uncomfortable.
"Okay."
"Now, what are Ancients from other realities doing in our own?" Hammond asked, drawing the topic off of Ian and back to what he was most interested in.
"We're keeping track of things," Dotty said. "In your reality, everything is so much different – for several different reasons – and were watching to see how things turn out."
"Why?" Jack asked. "What does our reality have to do with your own?"
Dotty smiled.
"Everything, of course. Mistakes made in one reality can be fixed in another – to make things better in that reality as well."
"So you're changing the course of events in each reality according to the lessons learned in a different one?" Sam asked.
"More or less. In this instance, your reality is so much different from the one I'm in – and most of the others – that we're extremely interested in how things are going to turn out here. Enough so that we're wiling to step in and try to help where we can."
"By kidnapping our kids and sticking their heads full-" Hammond started to say, only to be interrupted.
"Of useful information that may some day save your world the agony that my own has gone through…?" Dotty finished. "Yes. If that's what it takes. And I won't say I'm sorry, because I'm not."