Here you are folks – A new story for you to digest. I had a few spare moments ('cos it's pouring with rain here and no fun going places) to download the first chapter to whet your appetite.
Category: Angst, AU, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Romance.
Warnings: Possible confusion? Character's demise.
Pairings: Jack/Sam.
Season: AU 6, Without Jonas Quinn, Set about half way through the season.
Spoilers: Stargate the movie, Children of the Gods, Solitudes, 1969, 48 Hours, Frozen.
Summary: An important VIP, who is a crucial figure in the financial backing of the Stargate programme, wants to meet SG-1. Though tragedy is waiting for them in the wings, he refuses to be deterred by a little thing like the death of one of its members.
Author's Notes: This is purely a fictional AU account of SG-1 and in no way reflects anything actually dealt with in the series. Although it is set in season 6, it involves Daniel, who in this AU version never died in Meridian so therefore never ascended; and Jack is still host to Kanan.
Italics...indicate the internal conversation between the host and his Tok'ra symbiote.
YESTERDAY.
by Lingren.
Please read the Author's Notes first, otherwise this won't make a whole lot of sense!
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be,
There's a shadow hanging over me.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play.
Now I need a place to hide away.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
SATURDAY 1800hrs.
I looked around me, wondering where the hell I was. I was in some kind of a warehouse. Boxes and crates stood piled high around me. Another thing I came to realise was that I was alone. So very much alone with the silent gate. I felt confused; where had everyone gone? What the hell had happened? I wondered. Falling back on my training, I scouted out the lay of the land. Guards were patrolling everywhere. They looked familiar, yet they were different. My leg hurt like the blazes and constantly threatened to give way on me, but I pushed aside the pain. The tingling graze on my shoulder I could forget, it was nothing more than that. It wasn't anything I couldn't handle and I had other, more important things on my mind as I waited; and waited. Hours passed by and still no-one came for me. I didn't believe they could do this to me. It merely confirmed my hypothesis...that I was on my own and there was no way for me to get home again. Not now, nor would I for a long time to come, maybe never.
I became aware of that soft inner voice calming me; assuring me that all was not lost. I called its bluff, snorting at my own misfortune. Again, the inner voice calmed my temper and persuaded me that while I was here, I should make the most of my knowledge and use it wisely. It had a point, I reasoned. What else could I do? So I limped quietly into the dark night and merged into the background in order to live out the rest of my life as discreetly and unobtrusively as I could. After all, it was going to be for a good cause, I was reminded. That small voice in my head would have to be my sole salvation over the coming years; else I might have ended it there and then. It was only the thought of returning to her, that kept me from giving up. Somewhere, I knew she was waiting, searching for me, and it spurred me on.
PREVIOUS MONDAY
"Come on Carter. This is me we're talking about here," Colonel Jonathon (Jack) O'Neill sighed rubbing his long thin hands over his face and through his wayward grey hair with something akin to exasperation. Then he held them out, palms up in a plea to be understood because Sam Carter just wasn't taking this seriously. "You know me and words, we don't mix too well."
"Come on Jack, how could you not get this right?" Kanan complained. "You want me to dictate?"
"Hey! Butt out, Kanan! This is hard enough without you poking your slimy nose in! Go to sleep or something and give me a break!" Jack snapped back.
Kanan huffed and muttered about his host about being an ungrateful Hassak, which his host ignored, then retreated into the back of Jack's consciousness, leaving him free to concentrate his efforts on Sam.
"So let me get this right! After all this time, you're actually asking me out? Why now?" Sam grinned. She was so enjoying his discomfort.
"No! Yes! Damnit Carter. Because I can now, Hammond said the President gave us the go ahead, okay. Take pity on an old guy please. Humour me. It's been years since I asked anyone out. I'm a little rusty," he pleaded softly so as not to be overheard outside the lab. "Just say yes or no."
"To a movie?"
Jack drew in a shaky breath and straightened up, sliding his hands into his pockets to keep them from picking something up and possibly breaking it under the tension he was feeling. He was wishing now that he'd kept his mouth shut, she seemed to be mocking him slightly, making him feel like an inexperienced acne faced teenager all over again, maybe he'd read her wrongly. After all this time spent tap dancing round the issue, perhaps she had changed her mind.
Only she had this power to throw him for six apparently. 'For cryin' out loud,' he remonstrated to himself, as he realised that he was exceedingly nervous doing this. He'd spent months agonising over this very situation and he thought he'd mastered the simple request, but now it seemed to him that she was making the most of his ineptness over finding the right words. Whether she knew it or not, her whole demeanour was making him feel 2 inches tall, not '6 feet' 2 inches.
"Isn't that what people do these days?" he asked, a deep frown lining his face with worry now, wondering if he had made some ridiculous faux pas. It only added weight to the problems of feeling his age, though Kanan had pretty much guaranteed that his body wouldn't deteriorate to anything worse now he was running the show, and his knees felt great.
"Yes sir, I guess they do," she answered sweetly.
"And? So?" he demanded, impatiently waiting for her answer.
"When?" she asked innocently, as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
"Carter, for someone with an IQ of an inordinately, and not to mention appallingly high number, sometimes I wonder," he said acerbically. "We only have one night off this week before we go on our next mission Carter. Think about it and then let me know. I'll be in my office when you finally figure it out,"
"I thought you said she was a genius?" Kanan's disbelieving voice echoed through his thoughts.
"She is!"
"So...!"
"She knows Hiss. It's just her way. She'll be along later," Jack sighed.
"Sure?"
"Positive!"
"If you say so..."
"I do! So quit buggin' me. I know her, alright!"
"I'm just saying..."
"Well don't!" Jack snapped impatiently.
Jack straightened up from leaning over her workbench after grouching at her and then he sauntered out the door without a backwards glance, just happy to get away so that he could regain his equilibrium again. Mostly though, he felt he needed to save face in her eyes, covering up his real feelings by being his usual sarcastic self.
Major Sam Carter grinned widely behind his back, and shook her head. She just loved to tease him, and the thing was, despite his streetwise approach to life in general, he was just so gullible with her and fell for it every time. With anyone else, his temper would have snapped long before it had gone this far, but in her hands...he was putty. Just lately, she couldn't put a foot wrong in his eyes. She sighed with happiness at the though of actually going out with him on a date. Sort of. He'd been more succinct about the whole thing, getting tongue tied with embarrassment before he finally got the somewhat terse request out.
Oh, he was sooo not used to dealing with this side of life, and it showed. Put him in command with several subordinates beneath him and he could rattle their brains with his constant cynical comments on their inept abilities, but get him to open up about anything personal and he became unglued at the seams then clammed up with that infamous scowl of his; which to her eyes, made him look even more adorable.
Sam just knew she would have to make it up to him, but she was having way too much fun right now. He'd actually gotten around to asking her out, and that was something she had longed for, for months, well, maybe years if she was honest with herself, but until recently, she hadn't expected him to feel the same way she had. Anise, alias the Tok'ra Freya, had tested them all on that infernal machine of hers, ages ago, and he had had to spill the beans about his true feelings for her, or be considered a danger to others as well as himself, along with her too. The feelings were mutual. The confession worked wonders in more ways than she could ever imagine. Now things were looking up.
Jumping up from the stool, Sam hummed a merry ditty as she walked from the room, her destination? Jack's office of course!
OoOoOoOoO
SATURDAY 0700hrs.
"So Jack, how'd it go?" asked a very curious Daniel Jackson when he greeted Jack the morning after the big date.
"Like a dream Daniel! Sam was really..." Kanan murmured intruding into Jack's thoughts and making him smile inwardly at the memory.
"How did what go?" Jack replied, pre-occupied as he discordantly hummed his way down the corridor with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
"Jack!" Daniel growled as he adjusted his stride to match the long loping ones of his friend.
"What?"
"Last night? Remember? Sam?"
"Of course he remembers Daniel. Just tell him Jack!"
"No way!" Jack snorted. "This is sooo much more fun!"
"Oh! That," Jack shrugged. "It was okay," he answered nonchalantly.
"It was okay? What kind of answer is that?"
"It's the only one you're getting Daniel."
"Jack!" Daniel pleaded, desperate to know how things stood between his friends.
Kanan sniggered inside his head.
"I see what you mean."
"Nope. No details Daniel."
"Okay. I'll just go tell Mahoney that you're not allowed to have any 'cake' for the next week or so," Daniel reasoned.
Jack stopped abruptly, the tuneless melody arrested in his throat; swallowed like a summer bug during a conversation.
"Whoohoo! That stopped you in your tracks! Nice one Daniel!" Kanan chuckled.
"Can it, slime butt!"
Kanan grinned; he loved this part of his host's personality. He was sooo enjoying all this banter.
"You wouldn't?" he warned. "Daniel!"
The Archaeologist smiled very smugly.
"Try me!" he teased.
"Daniel!"
"Hmmm?"
"Daniel!" he warned again, only louder.
Kanan figuratively sat back relishing the game as it progressed.
"I know my name Jack. Just don't wear it out!"
"Dan..." Jack was about to repeat the name again, but stopped himself in time.
"Ack!" Daniel held a finger up quickly to forestall his friend, warning him against saying it once more.
Jack looked across at the genius linguist for a moment and then it was his turn to smirk smugly.
"You forgot the 'J' Daniel. My name begins with a 'J'. As in 'J'ack, Jack!" Jack said urbanely as matter of fact. He was grinning widely now at rendering Daniel speechless in the process, his friend's mouth left gaping open. "I think I already know your name. Isn't it about time you got mine right?" he feigned a scowl, turning to continue on his way once more, trying not break into a laugh but resumed the tuneless humming again instead.
"You sure you haven't cut yourself today by any stroke of luck?" Daniel asked disparagingly. 'Ooh, Jack was so sharp today. Last night must have been good,' he thought, grinning.
"Don't you have an old rock to go play with? Ya know, like, getting some work done instead of bugging me?" Jack called back over his shoulder without stopping.
"Pot calling the kettle black, Jack!" he yelled after his friend as Jack disappeared round the corner, leaving Daniel standing outside his room shaking his head, a bemused expression on his face.
"Well that was fun! Can we do it again?"
"No!"
"Spoilsport!"
Jack growled. The snake was growing more like him every day, catching his mannerisms and speech. Kanan was becoming his very own echo.
A moment later, the speakers mounted on the walls throughout the base burst into life with a message.
"SG-1 report to the briefing room! SG-1 report to the briefing room!"
TBC