Chapter Fifteen

Jack

"Aaugh!" I yelled as I sat up in bed in a pool of sweat. I looked around to figure out were I was and what is going on.

I am in my own house, in my own room, in my own bed with the sheets damp and tangled around my legs. I try to remember the nightmare but it had already slipped threw the cracks.

I looked at the clock and noticed it was only 0375. I might as well head into work. I am not going back to sleep anytime soon. This has been the norm for the last few nights and still I cannot remember the dream that has plagued me.

I went ahead and cleaned-up and change the bed. You know this is not a very good start for a Monday. Maybe, since I am going in early, I can get some work cleared out before the briefings get started.

ooOoo

"Jacob, you would not be missing a Tok'ra and a ship by any chance?"

This is so weird. It is like deja vue. I just knew what to expect from Jacob and the scary part is I have a very sinking feeling I know who the Tok'ra is.

'Dam!' This is so not a good Monday.

ooOoo

"Daddy, Daddy!" yelled the two kids that wrapped themselves around Garan's legs. "These hellions are Jack and Sam."

'Cool,' I thought, but something drew my attention away, a little girl standing off the path near a very large tree. She did not join the bunch around Garan; she just stood there and stared at me. Something inside clicked and I knew...she is my daughter.

I squatted down with my knees cracking and raised my arms out to her and instantly she ran to me and I heard her mentally say 'Daddy' before we gave each other the biggest hug possible.

While I was getting the hug of my life I remembered my dream, or nightmare, all in one huge flashback, all the way to seeing Oma or Marsha and her twin leaving after exiting the Regnum Mysterium.

Then everything started to spin and I felt strange, like being on a merry-go-round at high speeds with all sorts of bright colored lights flashed in my eyes. When everything stopped spinning and flashing I saw Marsh's face, the one of resignation before she and Marcus were gone.

'Whoa! Deja vue.'

"What the h...!" I was standing there and feeling a strange presence in the distance. I quickly threw up my mental shield around my mind and body, in hopes of preventing the same thing from happening the last time, or was that a premonition, what ever the case, I sped towards my home plane of existence. I knew who it was and we did not need them back in our universe or galaxy again.

Just as I got closer to my reality a power or force slammed me into it with such strength that I could not control my landing or my mental control over my shield, so I hit Thor's deck hard anyway, but I at least do not feel the major burning sensation as before in my back. My head took most of the impact though. I saw Sam's shocked face and heard Tilly's scream before I lost consciousness.

When I woke I was afraid it would be a dream again. I looked around and found quit a few faces staring back at me.

"Daddy? You alright?" I moved my head to see Tilly kneeling next to me with Sam by her side. Daniel was on my other side along with Teal'c.

"I think so. What's going on?"

"I...ahm...not sure, but it looked like you had a rough landing," Daniel said while hugging himself. "How is Oma?"

"Oh...fine, just fine. You know, she and her twin decided to take a sabbatical."

"Twin?" asked the crowd at large.

"Yep, her name," I smiled and tried to sit up, "get this...its Marsha."

"You're kidding, right?" Daniel asked while staring at me with a bemused look on his face.

I slowly shook my head and was hard pressed to stop myself from laughing at Daniel's look on his face and passing out.

Carter asked, "Who is Oma's...no Marsha's twin?"

I sat there debating whether or not to tell them when I heard Jon mentally call out to me, 'Jack? You here yet?'

I frowned and tried to look for him.

"What is the matter Daddy?"

"Jon. Where is he?"

"He's in that pod," Tilly said pointing to the far side of the room.

I shakily got up off the floor with the assistance of Daniel and Teal'c and slowly progressed to the pod.

It was proving to be very difficult, especially when you can't feel your legs and the world keep tilting.

'Jack, tell Tilly it's all right. She did her best,' Jon telepathed weakly.

'She tried what?' I quarried.

'She tried to heal me. It was not enough. She is good, though. She will be a very strong individual when she grows up,' Jon stopped and seemed to pass out.

I asked Thor to open the pod for a moment. 'Daddy, will he be all right. I tried to help him, but I believe it was not enough.'

I placed my hand on her head to comfort her and replied silently, 'It's all right sweetheart, you did well, and you kept him going until I was able to get back.'

'Will you be able to help him?' she asked when she moved closer to hug me.

I gave a grunt of pain as she hugged me, 'I'm going to try.'

"O'Neill, you are hurt. Let me help you first before you try helping Jon," Thor said from his console.

I tried to shake my head to decline help but a wave of dizziness swam through my head and since my legs do not work I ended up dead weight between Teal'c and Daniel. Thor's quick thinking had me in a medical pod next to Jon. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my head injury in hopes to heal myself, but I could not seem to be able to channel the energy needed and passed out from the effort.

Jacob

I was feeling better and was about to let Thor know when suddenly I was transported next to Sam by Jon's med unit. I was going to ask Sam what was happening when I noticed Jack in the unit I had vacated.

"Someone mind telling me what's going on?" I asked.

Daniel looked at me with sad eyes and explained, "Jon is ill and maybe dying; Jack was hurt from re-entering our space and time; other than that everything is just peachy."

I glanced at Daniel and wondered if he was channeling Jack.

"Dad, you and Selmac feeling better?" Sam asked as she put an arm around me while trying to hold Tilly. On a closer look at her I saw how hard all of this was on her. She looked awful.

"Yes, Sammy, we are. In fact, I feel great and so does Selmac. It's like we were rejuvenated. How about you?"

She smiled tentatively and peered over my shoulder at Jack and Jon and said, "To be honest, I don't know. I'm having difficulty comprehending all of this and my heart is breaking because I realized that I do not want to be without Jack any more. I love him," she whispered the last with such conviction that I knew that Jack better get his ass into gear and get well or he will have to deal not only with Sam, but with me as well.

Thor spoke to us from his console, "I have prepared resting places for you to retire and get nourishment. It will be at least two of your hours before we arrive at your home world of Earth. I will contact you when O'Neill is conscious."

"Will he and Jon be alright?" asked Daniel.

"I cannot say at this time. Both are gravely ill."

"Wait! Jack just hit his head right. You can fix that right?" Daniel entreated.

Thor just stared unblinkingly at Daniel without saying a word.

"O'Neill will be well," stated Teal'c. I guess he figured if he stated it as fact it would be true. Something Jack was always good at. One can only hope.

"Thor? Tell us, what are Jack's odds in surviving?" Daniel growled. Yeah, Daniel growled. Amazing, Daniel can be very imposing when needed.

"O'Neill sustained massive head trauma and there was major damage to the spinal cord. He is paralyzed from the waist down and there is intracranial bleeding causing pressure to his brain as well as to the symbiot and the both remain unconscious. I do not know if or when he will regain consciousness."

Silence surrounded Thor except the muffled sobbing from Sam's shoulder where Tilly had buried her head. Daniel looked on the verge of doing the same along with Sam. Teal'c looked as if he would tear something or someone to shreds.

"I am sorry I cannot give you better news. If and when he awakes we will know more," Thor expounds.

"Thor, you think you could show us to our quarters now? And do you have something that will help them rest?" I asked waving a hand at SG1 and Tilly.

Hammond

The day just gets better and better; first, Jack called at 0630 this morning, DC time; second, I fly out to over see the base while he was gone; third, Jon collapsed at school and subsequent disappearance; fourth, the containment of a doctor and now a high school principal, who had to storm the mountain demanding to know the where abouts of her student; fifth, maintain the peace with the evacuees from Endora at the Alpha site; sixth, there is a little girl is missing along with SG1, it is 2300 and still no word from any of them. The team I sent to Endora already returned to say that they found no one but did find evidence of Jaffa and staff blasts at the crashed ship and all we can do is wait.

Sooo...here I am in my old office trying to keep my mind off of the possibilities wondering if Jack and SG1 are all right.

A glow to my right caught my attention. When I looked closer I saw Jack standing there smiling at me with a halo of the light that originally caught my eye. "What the...Jack? What are you doing here and like this? You look like...an apparition."

"You miss me?" he smiled his full blown classic O'Neill grin.

"Jack what's going on?"

"Well, the Goa'uld are cured; Jon is dying; Tilly, my daughter, is the answer to the Asgard genetic problem; Oma saved her twin brother from Anubis, by the way he's dead; the Tok'ra will be an ally that have a future now; and I...and I maybe leaving," he said this while ticking off each one with his fingers.

"What are you talking about son, leave for where?"

"I'm not sure. However, I'm here to let you know that Thor is orbiting Earth and the Endorains can return home. Also, let Laira know that Tilly is well."

"Jack?" I wanted to know more about him when another glow behind Jack appeared. It was Jon. "Jon?"

Jack smiled again and looking at me closely, like he knew Jon was with us. "Jon and I will be leaving. Not sure when we will be back if at all. Tell Sam that I do love her and that we will be together one day," and with that said he and Jon both faded away.

The briefing room is full of sullen faces, mine being one of them, and it is 0400 in the morning. Colonel Carter and Jacob are seated to my left and Daniel and Teal'c on my right.

"You are saying that this Claviger," I pointed to the box at the center of the long briefing table, "worked?"

"Yes sir," said Sam dejectedly. She was not even looking at me, just down at the table.

"What happened to Jon and Jack?" I asked, suspecting the answer.

Daniel cleared his throat and leaned forward with his hands clasped on top of the table, "We were trying to rest when Thor summoned us from our quarters. When we arrived there was a wall of light surrounding both medical pods and." he took a deep breath to calm his breathing and focused on his story, "Their bodies started to raise up and out of the pods that where still sealed and merged together. Then..." he could not say any more. He seemed to choke up.

Teal'c picked the story up, "as in an explosion, they burst into thousand of multi-colored lights and the wall or shield between us and the medical units dissipated."

Sam sat there with tears tracking down her cheeks; Daniel sat back and started his self-hugging and staring at the table; Teal'c sat ramrod straight and focused on nothing.

It was Jacob that finished the story, "Tilly had rushed in behind us and screamed when she saw the fireworks. She collapsed soon after. Thor helped her and in the process he discovered she had the life code needed to help the Asgards." He had paused for a moment then continued; "You saw her state of mind when we got back. It did improve when we got her back to Endora with her mother. Both Laira and Garan took the story of what happened to Jack hard but handled it well."

"Thank you, Jacob. What about the Tok'ra? How are they handling everything?" I had asked, still knowing what Jack had told me.

"We are feeling very well indeed, in fact all of us have regained our youth. There is one exception, Anise/Freya are not only well but also our new Queen. Imagine that, the Tok'ra line has recovered."

"That's wonderful Jacob," I said with as much enthusiasm as I could mustard under the circumstances.

"Yes, but I wished it did not come at such a high price," as he looked at Sam and grabbed her hand to help lend her support.

"So do I...So do I," I said wishfully.