CHAPTER THREE

"How are you doing Caitlin? You know with all this" Janet said motioning around the room.

"With being in a new place and all" Clarified the good Doctor.

"I guess I'm fine, I'm worried about Aunt Megan, but she needs to cry. I cried for a week after she explained that we couldn't go back and see Cassie or my mum again. But Aunt Megan has never cried. She needed to let it out. I hope she can relax now."

This girl must be older then ten, she talks like a 16 year old, thought Janet.

"When we get confirmation from the president, I can bring my Cassandra in to work so you to can meet, if you want?"

"Definitely, do you have a photo of her, I want to know if she looks the same?"

"I've got one in my office, you can go and get it if you want." Putting Johnny down on the bed next to where Janet was sitting, Caitlin went in to the doctor's office.

A few moment later she returned holding a frame with a picture of Janet, Sam and Cassandra in it.

"She looks almost the same, my Cassie had longer hair." Caitlin stated quite knowingly.

"I let her get it cut a couple of months ago." Janet replied lovingly.

The girl, in front of her was almost the exact image of her adoptive daughter. It almost took her breath away about their similar mannerisms.

While Caitlin made herself busy fussing over the child, now lying on the bed, Janet came to the conclusion that she would ask Caitlin if she wanted to come and live with her and Cassandra, if both the girls were happy with it. Of course she would wait till the president gave the O.K. before she got the girls hopes up.

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RRRRING, RRRRING, RRRRING.

"Colonel O'Neill,"

"Colonel, I have just heard from the president, he has approved the request for Megan and the children to stay."

"That's great General"

"Colonel, we need to organize some accommodation for them all as well as the necessities. I have got someone working on their new ID's right now. They can stay on base for the moment but we need something in the long run. If you can think of anything let me know."

"I'll think about it General."

"Ill let you go and tell them the good news, and can you also let DR Jackson know as well. He seems to be taking this hard."

"No problem sir, ill do that right now." With that both the men hung up.

"What was that about?" Asked an irritant Daniel from the other side of Jack's desk, where he had been brooding for the past hour or so.

"The General was just telling me that the president has given the OK, for them to stay. Are you all right with this Daniel? Remember Megan didn't want to stay unless we were all comfortable with it."

"I know, ill get over it, I don't want them to leave. But it is a lot to take in."

"You'll be right Daniel, I feel sort of the same way, I'm a father again and a grandfather. And to top it all off, I find out that you, one of my best friends by the way. Is married to my daughter. Although I know you would look after her, it seems a bit strange that you were my son-in-law. Very strange."

"I don't know how to take that, thanks I guess." Daniel said with a puzzled look on his face.

Getting up out from behind his desk, Jack asked Daniel if he was coming. The man nodded in consent.

Walking down the hall to the VIP rooms, Daniel and Jack ran into Major Carter quietly leaving the one that was assigned to Megan. Daniel started to speak, but before he could utter a word, Sam held her finger to her mouth to stop him.

She motioned for them to follow her towards the elevator. They silently complied. Once in the safe confines of the elevator, Sam started.

"What's wrong? Has the president made a decision yet?"

"General Hammond just rang fifteen minutes ago saying that they are free to stay if they wish." Answered Jack.

"That's really good, Megan really needs some time to get over everything that has happened. I don't think she could have left if she wanted to. She is so exhausted. I just left her asleep in her room." She didn't think the guys needed to know that she had cried her self to sleep.

"Janet took the kids to the infirmary, I think."

"Well off to the infirmary we go" Jack commented as the doors opened on the right floor.

"Janet, how are you doing with the kids?"

"Fine thanks, Sam. Caitlin is a big help. I managed to find some diapers and Johnny is now clean. They are such good kids."

"I told you," piped up the little girl who had just run into the room.

"I know sweetheart, did you find the bathroom?" Janet asked.

"Yep, so do you know if we can stay yet?" she excitedly asked the men standing there.

"Yes, you and your Aunt are more than welcome to stay if you want." Replied Daniel, who couldn't help but smile at the girl.

"So where are we going to stay? We don't have to live here do we, one of the places we went to, they wouldn't let me go outside to play and they made us stay in our room's unless they wanted to speak to us. Your not going to do that are you?" Caitlin asked suspiciously.

"No not at all, we still have to work out the details but I'm sure we can come up with something that makes everyone happy." Answered the man she once knew as Uncle Jack.

"Sweet," she said gaining a laugh from the others present.

"She really has been around you too much, hasn't she Colonel?" Janet asked after she stopped laughing.

"This you can not blame me for." Colonel O'Neill stated quite innocently.

While the baby and Caitlin entertained the men, Janet pulled Sam aside.

"What would you say if I told you that I was going to ask Caitlin if she wanted to come and live with me and Cassie?" Janet blurted out.

"I think that would be great for everyone, Cassie is always complaining that she is an only child and she might get a kick out of having a sister. I think Caitlin would appreciate it and I think you would love it." With that said the decision was made.

"Caitlin, honey I have something to ask you?" Janet approached the child with caution.

"Do you want to come and live with me and Cassie? I know she would love it and so would I."

"I don't know, I want too but I don't want to upset Aunt Megan." "That is not a problem, we will wait until Megan is up and we will talk to her about it." Replied Janet a little bit disappointed, but not offended.

"Changing the subject slightly Doc, but don't you think we need to get some stuff for these guys." Asked Jack trying to dispel the tension that had shifted into the room.

"Your right sir, what sort of stuff do kids need, that is apart from diaper's?" The Major replied.

"Well I guess ill start a list, diapers, bottles ."

"I don't think he needs a bottle any more Sir." The Major interrupted.

"OK then where was I, that's right diapers, clothes, I suppose you need some of those too don't you Caitlin?"

"Yep" came her reply.

"I can handle that Colonel, I still have some of Cassie's old clothes at home they should fit until we can come up with something else." Inserted the Doctor.

"OK, then I suppose the only thing is diapers, and clothes. But I'm sure we will find something that we have forgotten to add to our list when we get to the shops. Anything else that I'm forgetting?" He asked the group.

Everybody shook their head in unison.

"Alright then, I guess I'm going into town for a few supplies. Its 1430, so Doc you want me to pick Cassie up from school, on my way back."

"I'll ring the school and let them know you are coming, thank you Colonel." Janet said over her shoulder as she went into her office to make the call.

"Anyone else want to come?"

With only Daniel raising his hand, the two of them left.

Janet came back into the room just as the baby started crying. Sam picked up the child from the bed beside her.

"It smells like he needs a change." Caitlin added while quickly exiting into Janet's office leaving the two air force women trying to decide who would do the deed.

Knock, Knock.

"Enter, ah Teal'c how can I help you?"

As Teal'c entered General Hammond's office he took a seat.

"With SG1 not being required, I would like to request permission to go and visit with my wife and son Sir."

"It shouldn't be a problem Teal'c, I'll see what I can do and get back to you in the next hour." With that the big Jaffa stood, and slightly bowed his head then turned to leave the room.

"Jack, Daniel what are you doing here? Is everything OK? Is mum and Sam Alright?"

Jack interrupted Cassandra.

"Well Cassie if you let me get a word in edge ways, ill tell you."

With the few seconds of silence that followed, he took that as an OK to continue.

"Everyone is fine, your mum just wanted us to pick you up and bring you back to base. She has someone she wants you to meet. But first we have to go and get a few things, and stop by your place. Do you know where your mum keeps your old clothes?"

"Yeah, in the attic, why?"

"Save your questions for the Doc. I'm sworn to secrecy. And you know what Carter and your mum will do to me if I tell you anything."

They all piled into the car and headed off to the nearest store.

Megan awoke with a start, she quickly opened her eyes and looked around. It took her a few moments to get her bearings. When she remembered where she was, she relaxed slightly.

Not knowing where everyone had gone, she opened the door to see if anyone was outside. Spotting an SF at the end of the corridor, she tidied herself up somewhat and walked down to the man.

"Excuse me, do you know where Major Carter and my son are?"

"No mam' just give me a moment and ill find out for you. Would you like me to get them to come down here?"

"Yes thank you."

Megan went back to her quarters to splash some water on her face.

Soon there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." She called out from the ensuite.

The door opened to reveal, an air force Major and a ten year old girl each with a hand in Johnny's little ones and helping him swing between the two.

Megan walked over to the pair and held her arms out for her son. Caitlin handed her charge over and went to turn the TV on.

"I've been sent to give you the good news. The president has approved you request for asylum. You can stay if you want to."

"I don't think you realize how much I wanted to hear that. I feel like I can relax now." Megan paused before she continued.

"Sam, I'm sorry about before. It just came out."

"Don't stress about it, you needed to do that. I know it is not a quick fix but I hope you feel a little better for it all?"

"I am thank you."

Sam guided herself over to one of the chairs in the supposed living area of the quarters. Smiling at the baby the whole time.

"He seems to have taken to you."

"I don't know why, my brothers kids can't stand to be in the same room as me. I thought I was cursed or something." Sam replied as she continued to talk softly to the baby in Megan's arms.

"Where is everyone else?" asked Megan.

"Well let me see, Janet will be here soon she just went to get the results of your tests, she said that she had to send your ultrasound scan off to an obstetrician, as she said, she doesn't have much call to examine pregnant women down here. She then has to go and see General Hammond but she wont be long. The Colonel and Daniel have gone to go and get some supplies for the children, you know diapers and all. We don't exactly have call for a supply of them here either."

"Fair enough."

"How is Daniel taking all of this, it is a lot to take in. What about Jack, it's a lot for him too?"

"Daniel is just being Daniel, he is a trying to think it all out too much and he will soon get over it. Honestly I think he deep down like that idea of being a sort of stand in Dad. That goes for the Colonel too. He seems to be doting on Johnny. I think for everyone it will take a bit to sink in, but I think they are off to a good start."

"So how far along are you?" Sam asked motioning towards Megan's stomach.

"Close to term now actually, I'm due in about a month. Janet did the scan while I was in the infirmary, I suppose I'll know for sure when she gets back with the results. Although I think this little one is keen to make his or her appearance very soon. I don't know how I would have done this by my self." She placed Johnny on the ground and pulled some toys out of one of the two bags that she had bought with them through the mirror.

Standing beside the bed Megan started to pull things out of the bag, slowly examining each article and putting it in one of two piles. One for stuff to keep and one for stuff that could be thrown out, like the MRE's that one of the other worlds had given to them.

When she opened the second bag she pulled out her photo album. The one that she had kept in her office on the base she had managed to grab it when they were evacuating. Quietly she sat on the bed and looked over to see Sam sitting on the floor playing with Johnny.

"In my world you were his godmother." Megan broke the comfortable silence.

"Really? I think he remembers me." She replied.

"I think he does."

When Sam noticed that Megan was holding some kind of album but looked like she was afraid to open it, she got up of the floor, leaving the toddler to play by him self and went to sit next to his mother on the bed.

"Is that a photo album, Megan?"

"Um yeah, I managed to salvage it before we had to leave."

"Can I look at it, if that's OK?" Curiosity got the better of her, she wanted to see what her other self and friends looked like.

"Go ahead." Megan stated as she handed the album over.

Sam opened to the first page and noted that it said 'Daniel and Megan Jackson's First Album.' She turned the page and was rewarded with a beautiful photo of a wedding group.

Megan and Daniel were in the middle sharing a kiss, on his left was Jack looking on proudly. Standing beside him was Teal'c. On Megan's right, was a version of herself looking on and laughing, still with short hair, which was surprising. The other Sam's that she new about had longer hair. Beside herself was Janet, and the two girls, Cassie and Caitlin. All the girls in similar dresses, pastel blue thin strapped flowing knee length gowns. The men all looked gorgeous in their suits. The next few pages were photos from the wedding.

Megan and Daniel obviously only had eyes for each other. Their was a photo of Teal'c and Cassie dancing, in the back ground she saw that the other Sam was dancing rather closely with the other Colonel O'Neill. A bit shocked by her discovery, Sam looked to Megan to confirm her suspicions.

Seeing what Sam was looking at Megan said

"Yes you two were dating at the time. You both got married just after Johnny was born. You were celebrating your one year anniversary the day before the attacks started. Again to some people it seemed weird that I was married to one of my fathers best mates and he was married to one of my best mates but I think I can safely say that we didn't exactly lead normal lives within the SGC either. You were perfect together. You treated Johnny like he was your own and dad always joked that when you and him had kids that Johnny would be older then his Uncle or Auntie. It was sort of an ongoing joke." Seeing that it had taken Sam back a bit, Megan stopped and let it sink in.

"Wow, that was definitely unexpected. We were married?" She asked still a bit stunned.

"Yep, it took you two a while to pull your collective fingers out and make a move towards it, but it eventually did happen. He loved you so much, and you him." Megan replied with a smile.

Trying to forget that her and the Colonel had anything but a platonic relationship for a while, Sam continued to turn pages. Soon getting to ones of a pregnant Megan with Daniel protectively hugging her from behind with both hands on her belly.

There was some ultrasound photos in their obviously of Johnny. Next came the baby photos. Then there were the ones of her and the Colonel on their wedding day. Again it was a group photo the only differences were that Daniel and Megan had traded places with herself and the Colonel, and that there was a baby of about four or five months old in Megan's arms.

Taking in every detail of the photo, Sam allowed herself to run her fingers over the central people in the photo. She had only ever imagined of this happening, she never thought that it could actually happen. Granted it was in another reality but still, they looked exactly the same.

Remembering where she was Sam quickly composed herself, before looking at Megan and trying to lighten the mood.

"So I was your evil stepmother then?"

"Stepmother yes, but only occasionally evil." Megan said while laughing at the look she got from her new friend, who reminded her rightly so of her departed friend.

"You and Jack aren't together in this reality, I gather?"

"No, military regulations and all that." Sam replied with sadness in her eyes. Wanting to change the subject she quickly scanned through the next few pages of her wedding.

Quickly finding a couple of Janet and her girls together, and a couple of group photos of all of them together. Finding the rest of the book empty Sam put it back on the bed. She sat back down on the floor to continue playing with Johnny, leaving Megan to finish her unpacking.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," called out Megan.

Janet entered the room smiling at the girl in front of the TV,

"They are all the same no matter what reality always in front of that thing." She said as she entered the room shaking her head along the way.

"Well, Megan the tests have all came back with the right answers, everything is fine with you and the kids and with the babies," she indicated towards the yet unborn baby bulge under Megan's way too big clothes.

"Babies, you mean I was right, it's twins?" Megan exclaimed while quickly sitting down with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Yes it appears to be identical twins, cause of the fact that there is only one placenta.

"Shit, what am I supposed to do with two of them. I'm going to a single mum with three kids under two. Oh god, how am I supposed to do this without Daniel, he was the one that told me he thought it was twins, cause I was getting so big so fast. My DR Fraiser couldn't confirm it she said that if it was twins one was lying in the way and she couldn't see any others. How am I supposed to do this?"

By this time both Sam and Janet were beside her trying to comfort her.

"It's OK Megan, we are here to help if you need it. Both of us." Sam said looking at Janet and getting a nod of agreement.

"I'm sure the guys will be too." Janet added.

Sitting Megan back down on the bed, Janet continued.

"Do you want to know the sex of the babies?"

"Ah, I don't know, I only have a little while longer to go. I don't know. After seeing what you went through with Cassie and boyfriends I think I want these one's to be boys as well." She chuckled along with the other women in the room, the tension of the past few minutes dissipating.

"Well if you want to know, I have the results for you. Have you thought of a names yet?" Asked Janet.

"Ah, no, not really, Daniel and I had talked about it before he died but we never really decided on anything. Oh god, I just realized. I don't have any where to live, no money, no furniture how am I supposed to support these kids?" Megan asked quietly, the tension slowly building again.

"We will sort something out, it's not like we're going to throw you out into the street or anything. Stop worrying about it you might bring on your labor and you don't need that right now so try and calm down and we will figure something out. OK?" Sam told Megan.

"Yep, I guess, I don't want them here any sooner then they are supposed to be either." Slightly more calmed down Megan started to think out loud about names for the babies.

"Caitlin what do you think about names for the babies?" Megan asked the girl.

"I don't know, how about something weird, like Zavian I knew a guy at school called that, but no don't use that name cause he was always mean to me. I don't know."

"Do you guys have any suggestions?"

"Suggestions for what?" Asked Cassie as she entered the room, closely followed by Jack and Daniel. Everyone in the room turned around to see the new arrivals. Janet got up to introduce the two girls, but was beaten to it by a very happy Caitlin running towards the older girl and enveloping her in a huge hug. Cassie not knowing what was going on just returned the hug with less enthusiasm then Caitlin.

"Cassie, sweetie, this is Caitlin. Caitlin and Megan" Janet said as she pointed to the obviously pregnant woman on the bed.

"They came through the mirror that Sam told you about, they are from a different reality, do you remember when Sam explained it to you." The older girl nodded, moving to beside her mother away from the over excited Caitlin.

Janet put her arm around Cassie and took Caitlin's hand and headed for the door.

"Don't mind us we will be down the hall in my office, it's going to take a while to explain all of this." With that the two girls and their adoptive mother headed down the hall towards the elevator.

"So what are we suggesting for?" asked Jack as he placed the arm full of bags at the foot of the bed. Daniel stood shyly at the door, before Jack motioned him in the room. They both took a seat on the lounge.

"We were trying to think of names for Megan's babies", the Major replied.

"Babies? As opposed to baby. Major." Asked a surprised Colonel.

"Yes Sir, we found out a little while ago that Megan is pregnant with twins."

"Hello, I believe I'm in the room." Megan interrupted while trying to get up from the bed. Sam helped her upright, and walked her towards the bathroom.

"The bub's are in the wrong spot, I wont be a moment." Megan stated as she shut the door to the ensuite.

After settling herself in one of the seats beside the lounge, Megan asked the group

"So any idea's yet?"

"No not really, did you have any?" Replied Sam, "You said that you and your ah" finally finding a word that wouldn't be Daniel, "husband talked about it?"

"Yes but we never decided on anything in particular. He really wanted a girl after Johnny," she said motioning to the boy who was waddling towards Daniel. Pulling himself up on Daniel's pants leg. He held his arms out to the man, wanting to be picked up. Daniel seemed happy enough to comply with the request.

As Johnny sat in Daniel's lap trying to pull his glasses off like he used to do with his father. Megan became very silent. Finally the spell was broken and she composed herself enough to continue. "My Daniel liked the girls names Isabella and Alexandra. I liked them too, but we also picked some boys names just in case. Um Daniel wanted Daniel Jnr, but I didn't think it was a good idea considering we already had two Jonathan's around. Two Daniel's as well would be a bit too much. Um we liked Lachlan and Conner. But we hadn't thought up middle names or anything, ah we never got that far before, you know."

Finally Daniel broke his silence and added to the conversation, "I really like the girl's names, Isabella and Alexandra Jackson that sounds good."

"Thank you, I actually am surprised that either you or da. ah Jack have picked up on the coincidence with Johnny's name. In my world it was the source of many jokes for the first few months of his life." Megan stated shyly.

"No what do you mean?" Asked Jack.

"When you say his name out loud, his full name you will notice it, just remember there is another reason he isn't called Jack apart from the confusing part. Jonathan Daniel Jackson, Jack Daniel. I didn't realize until after I had signed his birth certificate that my husband had named my son after a drink."

They all had a good laugh at that, it helped to relieve the tension, Sam noted.

"Trust you two to do that to a poor innocent child." She said still laughing at the innocent looks that she got from both men. Jack stood to leave, and covertly motioned for the major to join him, he knew that Daniel and Megan had to talk about all of this.

"Thank you for getting all this stuff for us da.. Jack, ill pay you back as soon as I get some money."

"No sweat, don't worry about it. And Megan,"

"Um" she replied while once again trying unsuccessfully to get up off of the chair Jack reached over and grabbed her hand to pull her up.

"Call me Dad, I like it." Megan smiled her appreciation at him.

Daniel realized that Jack had left to give him a chance to talk to Megan but he didn't know what to say. Johnny solved the problem and broke the silence that had descended upon the room. Megan sat back down in the chair just as she heard the voice.

"Daddy," Johnny stunned the man whose lap he was sitting in and was able to grab a hold of his glasses and started sucking on them before the older man composed himself enough to wrestle them back from the toddler.

"Did you here that? He just called me daddy." Daniel exclaimed excitedly.

"Well to him, you are. He is way to young to understand everything that has happened. You are I guess, the next best thing. I wanted to talk to you about this, sort of thing." She said motioning towards the boy.

"Ah, OK. What did you want to talk about?" He coyly replied, not wanting to meet her eyes.

"Well mostly about what role you wanted to play in Johnny's life, now that we are able to stay. You are Alright with that aren't you, you don't want us to leave do you?"

"No, no not at all. I think it will just take a bit of getting used to. For every one, I guess. What sort of role do you want me to be with him?"

"Well that is entirely up to you, I mean he isn't really your son, I don't mean to be harsh, but it's not like you were the one that was there when he was conceived. This is hard, I still can't grasp all this alternate reality stuff my self." She hid her face behind her hands, on the verge of tears.

Daniel put the baby down on the ground with the toys and kneeled beside the chair that Megan was sitting in. He pulled her hands away from her face and saw that a few tears had escaped.

"I'm sorry, it's so hard. I mean you look just like him, you sound just like him, Johnny thinks you are. God, you even smell like him." She quietly added trying to look away from the man in front of her.

Seeing that he wasn't moving, she couldn't help herself any more, Megan moved her left hand up to his face simultaneously grabbing his hand with her right one. She gently stroked his jaw, moving her fingers up to his hair, noting that he needed a hair cut.

Tracing the angles of his face with her small hand. He was looking in to her eyes and noticed precisely how beautiful they were.

He bought his free hand up to his own face and cupped her hand with his, slowly stroking her palm with his thumb.

Almost whispering, she pulled her hand away "I'm sorry, I know deep down that you are not physically the same person that I married but I don't know how to accept that when I see that you are the same person." At his slightly befuddled look she apologized again.

"Stop apologizing. I think this is going to be hard on both of us, but I want you to know, that I will not take advantage of you or your children. I never had any brothers or sisters and when my parents died I thought that I would never have a family again. I think this is my second chance, I mean after Shar'e died I went through the same feelings."

"My Daniel loved her very much, she was the main reason that we got together. After she died I comforted him and we ended up spending a lot of time together. My husband once referred to me as his second chance at life, and when Johnny was born he was over the moon."

"I can see why, I've never imagined that I would have children. If it is alright with you I would like to be a part of Johnny's life, a big part and even of the these two." He said while gently laying his hand on her extended stomach. At the precise moment one of them decided to wake up and gave his hand a kick.

"Ah, wow did you feel that." He asked Megan with a huge smile on his face.

"Yeah, I think they are both awake now, and a game of hockey is about to start. Daniel, I would love you to be a part of the children's lives, but you have to understand that at the moment I'm still mourning my husband. The children need a father and if you are willing to do that then I will not object, in fact ill welcome it. I only ask that if you decide to be there for them, you can't change your mind in a year if you find someone else and not want to know them, if you want to do this you have to be willing to do this for life. I know it's a lot of pressure, but I don't want my kids going through what you did, loosing your parents and all."

"I also don't need a replacement husband, I need a good friend, I need someone to talk to about the kids and I need somebody that understands all of my complicated little idiosyncrasies, and trust me I have a few."

"I think I can manage that. And to tell you the truth Megan, I relish the chance to be a dad. I want to help you and the children get on your feet, so to speak."

"Thank you Daniel, I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about that, but speaking of on my feet can you give me a hand?" She asked while holding her hands out motioning that she wanted to get up.

"Janet said she knows the sex of the babies if you're interested. I told her I didn't have to much longer to wait any way." Megan asked Daniel as she waddled off to the bathroom again.

"No, thanks I think ill wait as well." Daniel replied as he sat down with his son to contemplate his new role as a father. He secretly hoped that he would succeed at it.

It would still take a bit of getting used to, but he realized that he didn't have to do it alone. Johnny pulled himself into Daniel's lap and again started playing with the toys in front of him.

Pleas read and review. Ellie Mae