--- --- Old Friends --- ---

"Cass?"

Jack's face as he was seated on the infirmary bed was priceless. The look of total confusion, surprise, and disbelief was the typical Kodak moment where you found yourself wondering where you'd left your camera. Obviously, in this Jack's reality, she wasn't a doctor.

"Jack, I need to get some blood samples, run some blood work, yadda, yadda. I suppose you know the drill."

He grimaced as he scooped up his sleeves and Cassie smiled at him softly, reminded of the occasions when she'd seen her mother treat Jack.

"Yeah, ram that huge honkin' needle into me. I'm sure your mother's pretty proud of you. By the way, where's the tiny dictator?"

Cassie's smile faded momentarily and she felt the blood drain from her face. Her hand shook slightly and she put the needle she'd already been holding down on the tray.

"Cass, you ok?"

She heard the warmth in his voice and the pain she had felt at the mention of her mother was eased slightly. Her nerves had been on the edge for so long now and hearing Jack's voice again asking for her mother was simply too much to bear. Even if it wasn't her Jack. She felt his soft touch on her arm and looked up to meet his worried brown eyes.

"Yeah, it's okay. It's just... Mom... she died twelve years ago. She was shot by a staff weapon on a mission while she was trying to save a wounded soldier."

Her voice trembled only slightly but, as she felt his arms enveloping her, she couldn't help but shedding a few tears.

"Hey Cassie, how's it goi..."

Sam's footsteps stopped. "What's wrong?"

Cassie pulled herself out of Jack's arms. She brushed the tears quickly away and forced a smile on her face.

"I was just about to torture Jack with some of his beloved needles. Wanna join in?"

"Ahw, come on. I won't let Carter anywhere near me with a needle in her hand. Believe me, I've seen what she can do with these things, well the other her, and it's not pretty."

This time, Cassie's smile was genuine as she pushed the needle into his arm. He didn't even notice.

--- --- --- --- ---

He looked at her with wide eyes, fiddling curiously with the stone-like device in his hands. His hair stuck out in thousand different directions, oozing that wonderful boyish charm that seemed to surround him wherever he went.

"The only thing I need to do is touch that device?"

Sam smiled at the barely hidden disbelief in his voice but he did as he had been told. He was so similar to her own Jack that it was hard to believe it wasn't him. A soft buzzing sound emerged from the white device in his hand.

"And what now?"

"We wait."

"You mean, we do nothing, simply sit here, twisting our fingers?"

"Yep, that's about it. The Asgard need at least a few hours to get here; there's nothing we could do to speed that process up."

He nodded and ran his hand through his hair in the way he did when he was thinking. She shook her gaze loose from watching him, wondering what the hell she was doing. He wasn't him. He was not her Jack. Her Jack was out there, needing her help. She didn't even know this Jack and, to top it, he was married. She felt her breath catch in her throat. She needed to get away from him, out of the mountain.

Without another word, she turned around and walked towards the door.

"Hey, Carter. Where ya goin'?"

Pain shot through her at the word. Carter. He always said that. He never called her Sam. She guessed it was a method of self protection, to show himself that she was not 'Sammy'; still, she felt like crying every time he called her Carter.

"I need to finish some work. If you'll excuse me."

She didn't turn around to look at him when she answered. Her feet moved nearly out of their own accord as she fled the room in a hurry. When she'd seen him in that other reality, she had known this would be hard on her though she hadn't been able to imagine just how hard. Now, she looked at him and her heart almost collapsed on itself. But he was not him, she reminded herself fiercely. She'd allowed herself to see more clearly about her feelings for him, her Jack, during the last months of his absence and now the other Jack evoked the too long hidden feelings.

She knew now that she'd fooled herself with Pete. At first, she'd just thought that it was the guilt she felt about Jack's death, leading her to believe that she was still in love with him. But, then, as the days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, she had realized that it wasn't guilt. It was love. As simple as that. Love. A feeling she'd obviously never had for Pete, as ugly and heartless as it sounded. They had signed the divorce papers some weeks ago.

And, now that she was faced with seeing Jack again but unable to tell him how she felt, unable to touch him, to feel him... It was hard. For the first time, she thought, she could understand what Doctor Carter had felt when she'd seen her Jack, the perfect image of a man she'd lost just hours ago. The gray ESGC walls blurred as she rushed towards her old quarters. Daniel had felt the need to assign them to her again as she'd seldom left the base. For all she knew, it could still be winter outside and the darkness and cold would serve her well.

--- --- --- --- ---

Daniel had been there long enough to hear the last words of their little exchange. He could see the sign of tension in Jack as she left so abruptly. Luckily, the lab had two doors. Otherwise, she would have stumbled directly over him, leaning at the doorjamb, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Don't. She'll be okay."

Jack stopped dead on his way to go after her and turned around. His eyes went wide as he looked at Daniel but the look of surprise soon melted into frustration.

"I don't know what I did. She just..."

He sat down on a chair, kneading his fingers through his hair. Daniel found himself once again reminded of his Jack and how similar those two were. God, he hoped the Asgard could help them find him. All other options had already been exploited and losing him was just not possible.

"You didn't do anything," Daniel offered. The confusion on Jack's face made Daniel's lips twist in a smile. His body and his nerves screamed for the beverage he was so addicted to and he crossed the room quickly to help himself to a cup of coffee. Sam always had some going; he knew how much she'd needed it through the last hard months when he had to pull her out of the lab quite regularly. Only one more reason to find Jack.

"You want one?"

"No, I just... I don't know."

Daniel handed him a cup, despite Jack's refusal. He sat down on another chair, watching Jack warily over the rim of his mug.

"This has been hard on her. And you're so much like him, you know."

"Yeah, I couldn't stand a life without my wife. I already miss her. It's easier when Carter's around. She reminds me of her; they're very much alike. That's different than in the last reality we visited. They were married there, too, but..."

"Sam and Jack aren't married."

Jack's eyebrows shot up and his eyes fixed on Daniel's.

"Jack and Sam were forced to leave the SGC eight years ago when they decided to remove the military control of the ESGC. We all didn't exactly part on good terms. Sam and Jack haven't spoken to each other since he left. She feels guilty for that. She married after Jack left but it didn't work out. You know, she thought she'd lost Jack without ever telling him what she felt and now you walk around and..."

"I understand."

Jack's eyes fell down to his fingers, fidgeting with the coffee cup. His face was cryptic as usual and Daniel nodded more to himself than to anyone else.

They sat in silence for some time until Jack started to speak, his voice barely a whisper.

"And there I thought he was the lucky one. My world still fights against the Goa'uld, my wife still risks her life every time she goes through the damn Gate and I lost nearly every one I ever cared about. We lost General Hammond last year, Kawalski eight years ago, and you, well, our Daniel, died three years ago in an attempt to save Sha're."

Daniel fought back the flash of grief at the mention of his wife. Sha're. It had been so many years; still, it hurt to remember.

"Sha're's alive?"

"Oh, yeah, she's fine. She stays pretty busy with their kid. He's quite a handful. The kid is so much like Daniel. He can be so annoying sometimes, rambling on about his latest dig in the garden. A few days ago, he found a fork and called to tell me about it. I told Daniel it would be bad to read the kid all that archaeology stuff as a bedtime story but did he listen to me? No, as usual. And then he went and left me to deal with this mess! At least I got mini-Dan interested in hockey."

A smile touched Daniel's lips at the thought of having a son. Well, now he had one. Jeremy. The kid was great and he could see why Jack had been so fond of him.

Giving this Jack a final squeeze on the shoulder, he stood up and left him to his own thoughts.

--- --- --- --- ---

A bright light heralded the arrival of a familiar visitor and Sam fingered the hem of her shirt nervously. Damn, but anticipation was a killer. She had to hold herself back with all force as the gray alien materialized.

"Thor, it is good to see you again."

Daniel darted out to greet their tiny friend, shaking his hand carefully. The huge black eyes seemed curious, as they searched the room, stilling on Jack's silent form in a corner of the room. Jack's wide eyes revealed an equal curiosity towards the alien and they roamed the figure from head to feet.

"Thank you, Daniel Jackson. It is most pleasant to see you again, though it is slightly irritating. Why did you contact us, O'Neill?"

"Ah, you see..."

He looked helplessly around for someone to bail him out of this predicament. Sam felt her heart clench as his gaze settled on her, those chocolate eyes begging her to help him. Her voice was shaking a bit as she finally answered Thor's question.

"It wasn't Jack who called you, Thor. I mean, it was. But we told him to. See, this isn't Jack O'Neill. I mean, he is. But he isn't the Jack O'Neill from our reality."

Great, Sam, she scolded herself. Way to go. There she was, a former Colonel in the USAF with a PhD in theoretical astrophysics and she couldn't even get a simple explanation out without babbling like a moron. Thor seemed to consider what he had just heard before his black eyes focused on her.

"I see. Where is O'Neill then?"

"We thought you might know. He was beamed away nearly eight months ago and we haven't been able to locate him. His body was replaced by that of a clone. Unfortunately, it took us some time to come up with a system that would allow us to travel realities in order to find this Jack O'Neill so that we could contact you."

Thor looked... shocked, at least Sam interpreted the expression that way. He had obviously no idea what she was talking about. Looks like the Asgard had nothing to do with Jack's disappearance, she thought to herself.

"This is disturbing. I will contact the Asgard home world to see whether they have any information about the whereabouts of O'Neill."

With another bright light, Thor vanished. All looked at each other, not sure what to think about this when Jack's voice pierced the room.

"So... that's an Asgard, huh? Didn't look that scary to me."

--- --- --- --- ---

"You're leaving?"

Jack would have known that it was her, even with all his senses rendered useless. He just knew it.

"Yeah. I did what I had to do, didn't I? Those gray thingies will find your Jack and everything will be swell."

He was standing with his back to her, packing the little belongings he had brought through the Gate in his bag. Her steps moved closer but she stopped some feet away.

His hand reached for the picture on the nightstand. It showed their wedding day. They were smiling at each other, each lost in the other's eyes. It was his favorite photo and he took it with him wherever he went. He must have been staring at it as he didn't notice her starting to approach again.

"You miss her."

It wasn't a question. It was a statement. Still, he chose to answer.

"Yeah. I do. Do you miss him?"

She looked uncomfortable for a moment and he saw the beginning of denial rising in her eyes, but she forced it back, leaving nothing but love shining through.

"I've never said goodbye to him, you know? When he left all those years ago, I assumed it was over. I saw it happening right in front of me. I saw the switch turning, I saw the hate and disgust when he looked at me. And I never told him how I felt."

"He knew."

Those wonderful blue eyes, so similar to those he'd fallen in love with, stared back at him, brimming with unshed tears. Her voice was but a whisper and her eyes fell back to the ground.

"I don't think so... I never... I married Pete and I never..."

The despair in her voice was too much for him to bear and he stepped closer to her, reaching out to lift her chin so she would have to look at him.

"Sam. He knew. Sammy and I, we served together on SG-1 for eleven years. Can you imagine? Eleven. Until, on that one mission, my knee was shot to pieces. Doc Frasier had quite a bit of puzzling to do. Through all of those years, believe me, I knew how she felt. Always.

You know, she dated Pete in my reality, too. They were engaged for nearly a year. She told me later that they simply hadn't been good together, that their characters were just too different. But, even during their engagement, I knew. I just thought that, maybe, he'd make her happy. But I knew it. I never admitted it to myself, but in the heart of hearts... And even when you thought you saw hate in there, I don't think I could ever hate her. Never. And hey, we're nearly identical. That's what you said, right?"

She sobbed quietly and he pulled her into an embrace. But he couldn't give her what she wanted. There was just one person in this reality who could do that and it wasn't Pete. She was still crying those wonderful head of hers off at his shoulder and he felt himself melting away. God knew, he missed his wife. But she would understand.

"Hey, tell you what. I'm not leaving, ok? I'll make sure you get your Jack back. Deal?"

He felt her nodding at his shoulder, the sobbing dying slowly down. Yeah, he would get her Jack back. That was the least he could do. After all, she'd given him the means of contacting the Asgard and possibly defeating the Goa'uld to find peace in his own reality.

--- --- TBC --- ---