YESTERDAY.

by Lingren.

Italics...indicate the internal conversation between the host and his Tok'ra symbiote.

Previously:

Sam led the way into the briefing room, then into the General's office, shutting the door behind her.

Chapter 12

There were several chairs crammed in the available space, and Adam and Edward were invited to sit down in the two vacant ones. They did so, but Adam and the Doctor were puzzled as to why all these people were here. Adam knew who they were but Miller didn't, so the General introduced him to the team.

"Right!" Hammond began. "Let's get down to business shall we? Dr. Miller, can you assure me that you know all the relevant details of what we are about to reveal?"

"Yes General Hammond. Mr. Ryan and I discussed it thoroughly."

"That's good. Adam, I have something to tell you that I think you will find very difficult to understand. Because of your close association with the late Mr. Ryan, the President has decided that you should be offered a position within the SGC, considering the type of work that you have been attending to for your Patron."

Adam looked stunned.

"I am?" he gasped. He had thought that he would be out on the streets again, but the good Doctor had taken him in for the time being until after the funeral. Up to that point, he didn't have the foggiest notion of what he was going to do for the rest of his life.

"Indeed!" the tall dark man said, and Adam recognised him as Teal'c.

"First of all though we have quite a story to tell you..."

The General was right, Adam agreed, it was difficult to take in all at once. Aliens, some good and some bad, really existed out there; and that these people actually went out into the stars to meet with them, or fight them whichever. He was even more stunned, right along with Edward, when it was revealed that Teal'c was an alien too. Though Adam had a bigger shock in store for him, when the General started to explain that Mr. Ryan wasn't dead after all...at least Hammond hoped he wasn't.

"How long had you known Mr. Ryan?" Hammond asked.

"A number of years, actually. He...er found me living rough on the streets when I was a teenager. We got chatting and he asked me if I would like an opportunity to better myself. Well, who wouldn't? He took me in and sent me to college, where I studied Economics and Business. After I graduated, he gave me a job as his personal aide. That was...just over 24 years ago now."

"So you think you knew Mr. Ryan pretty well?"

"I liked to think I did, but I'm beginning to wonder if I ever really knew him at all? He was like a father to me; treated my like I was his son!"

Daniel shifted uncomfortably and looked at Sam with a sadness in his eyes, that Adam couldn't understand exactly.

"I have to tell you a story Adam. It's a long one and it might confuse you, but I believe you should understand it fairly well. It's about a man called Colonel Jack O'Neill. He worked here along with Major Carter, Dr. Jackson, and Teal'c. They were a team, a bit like a family in a way, until one day when the Colonel became very sick and almost died. The only way to save his life was to have an alien inhabit his body and cure the virus. After he recovered, he had to share his body with that same alien which we call a Tok'ra. You can't tell if it's there just by looking, but it is possible to tell in other ways. Colonel O'Neill could communicate with it inside his head. One day just recently as you know, the Colonel disappeared and we believed him to have died."

Adam's eyes were as big as saucers as the General continued.

"Colonel O'Neill was a good man and a well respected soldier. We all thought a great deal of him. The day Mr. Ryan visited us here; we were still in mourning as well you know..."

Again, Adam acknowledged that he was still with them in the seemingly unrelated story.

"When Mr. Ryan asked you to leave the room, he did so because he needed to talk to us about something private..."

"His funeral arrangements. I understand that now..."

"There was that too, but he revealed to us a secret that he had hidden from everyone except Dr. Miller for the past 40 years."

"He did?" gasped Adam, looking at Teddy now with a frown. "I always felt there was something about Mr. Ryan, though I wouldn't have asked him to reveal what it was I couldn't quite figure out. Is... Does all this have something to do with that secret?" Adam asked, puzzled as to whether he should be told what his benefactor had so carefully hidden from him for so long, and how come these people seemed to know about it too?

"A Tok'ra symbiote, the alien, has the ability to halt the aging process in its host. It also has the ability to heal any injuries or diseases that its host picks up along the way as it were. Colonel O'Neill's Tok'ra, Kanan, was no different, and when Jack O'Neill was declared, Missing in Action, presumed dead, he was in fact very much alive; only we didn't know that at the time. You see the Colonel didn't die as a result of an accident, instead of arriving back in the gate room as he should have done, the Stargate was hit by a powerful surge of electricity from a bolt of lightning and unfortunately it also coincided with a sun spot, which had an adverse affect on the gate and Jack O'Neill was thrown out of the gate alive, hurt a little but he found he'd travelled back in time to 1963. Since then, because he had no way to return to his own time line, he has lived the life of a recluse; making a lot of money, which he used to fund the Stargate programme. He changed his name to J..."

"John Ryan?" Adam cried incredulously.

Hammond nodded, smiling. Adam was quick, he'd give him that.

"John Ryan had to appear to 'die' because now Jack is back to where he should be as regards time; he needs to resume his own life again. Do you understand that? He couldn't tell anyone about his alien symbiote."

"I heard him sometimes. He talked to himself...a lot, but I never thought anything of it. Just..."

"You thought he was a little nutty?" Daniel filled in for him, grinning as Adam nodded guiltily. "Yeah, that sounds like Jack and Kanan."

"It will be arranged that Jack in Mr. Ryan's coffin will be brought here on Friday morning and his body will be taken to a safe planet. There he will be laid to rest and everyone will return to Earth. Kanan will revive him and Jack will join us again a few days later, and no-one will be any the wiser except us."

"He will? Wow, what can I say? I'm absolutely stunned; it's unbelievable. I really can't believe all this! It's...it's like a science fiction story." Adam gasped.

"We know it must feel like we're pulling your leg, but it is true. The Stargate programme has been running for five years now, and Jack O'Neill was one of the first men to set foot on another world. In fact, Dr. Jackson lived and worked on a distant planet for a year before Jack went through to recall him back to Earth. The members of SG-1, Jack's team, have saved this planet from alien domination and destruction several times over."

"Wow!" Adam was impressed, but rendered speechless.

"As the Jack O'Neill that we know, hates doing his paperwork, we thought that perhaps you would like to continue as his personal aide and keep his reports up to date."

Adam looked pleasantly surprised as well as shocked.

"Really? Please, yes, I would love to. Are you sure that Mr. Ryan...em, sorry...Colonel O'Neill will want me here, as his assistant?"

"Adam, he wanted us to find you a job. He just doesn't know that we're offering you this one, here. If we didn't want you here, then there was no way you would have been told his secret. I am sure he will be delighted to see you again when he discovers you are working for him, especially if it means he can get out of writing his mission reports." Hammond said with a wry smile.

Sam and Daniel sniggered at this and Adam felt himself relax. These people seemed nice, and they obviously thought a lot about Jack, as he would have to call him now, or at least Colonel O'Neill.

OoOoOoOoO

FRIDAY.

There was a small public funeral service held at the local church. There weren't many people among the congregation that could claim they were friends with John Ryan, most were merely business associates known by name only over the telephone. Ryan had stipulated that his passing would be a reflection of his life style, quiet and unaccompanied by any trappings of a wealthy society type funeral. He hadn't wanted hordes of people, most of whom he never knew, to attend just because he was a well-known figure; that wasn't the man he was. There was a representative of the President among the mourners as well as one or two politicians. Ryan's loyal staff members were there in force as well as Dr. Miller and Adam who had to pretend to be filled with grief. The members of SG-1 or General Hammond did not attend because they weren't among Ryan's small circle of acquaintances, at least not officially, and they would be having their own memorial ceremony later.

After the service, those that were present consoled each other as much as they could, then the cortege left for Cheyenne Mountain accompanied by Adam and Dr. Miller only, for a very private burial.

The sombre members of SG-1 and General Hammond met the coffin at the entrance to the mountain and bore the remains of their benefactor to the elevator. The hearse and the limousine then departed and whilst waiting for the car to reach level 28, the mood was one of relief.

Sam found it difficult to look at the coffin that bore her dearest friend, the man she loved. It was plain that the last time she had seen him, that he still loved her, but he was that much older now; he had lived another 40 years in between their last meeting and their one and only evening out as a couple.

She wondered if they could they still carry on as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, just because it was only a few weeks ago to her that they had gone out for a wonderful meal after catching a movie and declaring their undying love. Her feelings were running a gamut of seesawing thoughts and emotions, unsure if they could put his recent past behind them.

The doors slid open to reveal an empty corridor and the team carried their friend to the gate room. Hammond had stipulated that the place be free of any unauthorised personnel; the less people knew about this the better. The service was short and conducted with great respect for the SGC's benefactor. Hammond then ordered the Technician to dial up the designated planet.

They watched in silence as the chevrons lit up almost sombrely as if it knew this was a poignant occasion. Once the wormhole had established the party moved off into the event horizon with the earthly remains of the Stargate Command's main sponsor, to the strains of the last post and the salute from the SGC personnel.

TBC

Thanks for your reviews guys, they're always much appreciated. Sorry, but you'll have to wait a little longer for the fluff, but there will be some soon; just bear with me a while.