A/N: Ha! Bookworm, I win – I have managed to get this thing done BEFORE Saturday… with a whole extra 24 hours to spare I might add! In compensation for the cruel way I left you all hanging last time, I'll keep this waffle to a minimum:

Part 12 – Rewriting history

Janet bustled around the infirmary in her usual manner, lamenting yet again the series of scrapes and bruises sustained by her favourite SG team. Yet again, such minor complaints were sadly not the only issues. Although Sam had done a good job with Jack's gunshot wound, she wasn't going to let her have her husband back at home until at least the next day. She'd properly explored the injury, washing and dressing it and the Air Force Colonel was now reluctantly confined to his bed.

Usually she would expect him to at least sleep for a little while, but something was bothering him and he was very ill-at-ease. Now that she surveyed the members of SG1 again, she noticed that they all looked perturbed in some way. There was something they weren't telling her. The look on Jack's face persuaded her to leave it for the moment, however. It could wait until she had finished their examinations.

"Teal'c, Daniel." She glanced at the charts held in her hands before looking to the men sitting on the side of two gurney's in front of her. "You can go, but I want you to stay on base tonight, just in case." She looked pointedly at Daniel. "I think there's someone waiting to see you anyway…" she added with a small smile, satisfied as his face brightened as he caught her meaning.

As soon as it was just Jack and Sam remaining in the room, she turned slowly to Sam who she had forced to lie down on the gurney next to Jack. The couple kept glancing at each other with worried expressions which Janet couldn't fathom to understand. There seemed to be a silent conversation or argument going on between them but with a sigh, Janet realized that unless they wanted to share, she would probably remain the dark.

"Sam," she said quietly, bringing her friend to attention, "I kept you in here because there's a discrepancy between your pre-departure and post-departure tests that is puzzling me…. It's not life-threatening," she added hastily as both Jack and Sam's faces registered alarm, "however usually I'd just talk to you alone about this. Would you prefer that or is it ok with Jack here?"

Sam hesitated before answering. She had no idea as to what was going on, but it appeared that she was possibly married to Jack somehow… and if Janet was hesitating before talking in front of her supposed husband, then maybe it wasn't a good idea. She glanced over to Jack, searching his eyes to see if he would mind the rejection of them leaving the room to discuss whatever it was alone.

"S'up to you Carter." Jack said, leaning back into his pillow and closing his eyes. "I need time to think anyway."

" 'Carter'?" Janet looked from one to the other of them, puzzled. "It's been years since you've called Sam that, Jack."

The 'two O'Neills' suddenly froze, looking to each other for an indication of what they should do. Jack shook his head slightly at Sam, hoping she got his meaning. The last thing they needed now was to alert the whole base to the possibility that something was amiss. They needed to gather more information first.

"We were in frequent contact with another Sam in France." Sam rushed the words out, bumbling as she tried to make the hastily-conceive lie believable. "Over time it became easier if everyone called me 'Carter'."

"Right." Janet said slowly. They were both definitely acting strangely, but for the moment there wasn't much she could do, and she really needed to talk to Sam. "Shall we go into my office Sam?" The two women moved slowly out of the room, both turning at the last moment to look at Jack, who seemed completely absorbed in thought.

As soon as they had left the infirmary, both Teal'c and Daniel were somewhat frozen to the spot, unsure of exactly what to do in such familiar and yet necessarily foreign circumstances. As people walked by them, nodding pleasantly as they passed, they wondered if these personnel even really knew SG1, or whether they had returned to a significantly altered present. They didn't know what had changed exactly, but the astounding comment General Hammond had made on their arrival was huge enough.

Before Daniel could descend into a spiral of unanswered questions, a familiar elderly frame appeared around the corner, a terrified look on her face. Daniel saw her instantly and felt tears forming at his intense relief to see that Élodie had survived. Before he could stop himself, his previously frozen body suddenly erupted into motion and he enveloped her small frame in a tight hug that threatened to hurt her.

"How did you-? Are you -? What -?" Daniel tried and failed to ask the countless questions running through his head into Élodie's ear as they stood fused together in the middle of the corridor outside the infirmary.

Élodie pulled away, still clasping Daniel's hands in hers. In truth, it had been less than 12 hours since she had last seen him, but now it was different – now he knew her. It was as if she was young again. She could remember walking away from them across the field all those years ago with such determination… she could remember the vows she had made to herself; that she would survive, honour Philippe's memory, and do all she could to help her friends of the future. Years before, a series of hauntingly realistic visions within her dreams told her she had succeeded. Her arrival at the SGC had confirmed her suspicions, but now she knew that there would be some explaining to do.

As Élodie was mentally preparing herself for this, Daniel was suddenly struck by something: if Jack and Sam were suddenly inexplicably married, then would Élodie's memories of their time together be the same as his? He was about to open his mouth when she cut him off.

"I know you have many questions," she said in fluent English. "I will answer them as best I can, however be assured I share the same memories you do of your time in France." She motioned towards the door behind where Teal'c was still standing. "It is best that I talk to the rest of your team at the same time."

"Janet what's going on?" Sam was standing uneasily near the door of the Doctor's office, refusing the seat that had been offered to her. She knew it wasn't possible, but the thought had crossed her mind that maybe Janet knew she wasn't meant to be married to Jack; maybe somehow she could explain everything. Everything was so confused at the time her mind was screaming out for some sense of order. Most of all, however, she was petrified that there was a catch; that somewhere in this reality there would be a huge downside to the fact that she and Jack could actually be together. She felt all the muscles spasming in her legs and was forced to lean back against the wall as all this and more tortured her soul in the few seconds before Janet broke the silence.

"Sam, honey, are you sure you don't wanna sit down?" Janet saw how her friend was wavering, but couldn't understand what the panic was all about. It wasn't like Sam to jump to conclusions, and there's no way she could envisage what was about to be said.

"Janet, just talk to me." Sam leaned her head back against the wall, squeezing her eyes shut as she spoke with clenched teeth.

"Ok." Janet widened her eyes in puzzled defeat, leaning against the corner of her desk, near the door. Shaking her head imperceptibly, she began her speech. "When we did the routine blood tests before you left, everything was superficially normal so I ok'd the mission immediately." Janet was almost apologetic in her tone of voice. "Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with you… actually," she paused, trying to figure the puzzle out for herself, "what was there isn't anymore." She saw Sam flinch slightly but continued before she could have any reaction. "When the complete test results came back," Janet pursued, "Sam, they indicated that you were… that, that you were pregnant."

Sam snapped her eyes open, suddenly feeling unable to breathe. Not only had she come back to a completely different life, but apparently whoever she had been in this particular strand of time, she was pregnant with Jack's child? Did that mean that she was now pregnant? But that made no sense…

"Sam, honey," Janet moved towards her friend, placing a hand on her forearm, wishing she could take away some of the fear and confusion she could read on Sam's face. "I've checked and re-checked… I re-performed the tests on your blood samples from before and after you were on mission… I'm sorry, but you're not pregnant – and I can't explain it; in fact the complete change between when you left and when you got back is alarming to say the least."

Sam didn't react immediately, merely nodding to herself; it wouldn't have made sense if she'd been pregnant. This of course brought her to another dilemma: what had happened to the pregnant Sam Carter? Where had she gone?

"Sam I need to know what's going on." Janet grabbed her, holding both her arms and looking straight into her eyes. "Your hair, your demeanour, the fact that you and the others look completely disoriented and petrified at being back… what's wrong? What happened to you guys?"

"My hair?" A small voice emerged after what had seemed like an endless pause in the room. Sam looked up quizzically to Janet. "What about my hair?"

"Well," Janet touched her fingers to the short, golden wisps next to Sam's left ear, "When was the last time you got your hair cut while on mission?" The silence that followed, and the look of sheer terror on Sam's face, brought Janet to think of something else. "Sam?" Janet asked quietly, her voice suddenly shaky. "Tell me about time travel again? Who exactly are you?

Sam slowly straightened herself and stood up, independently of the wall. If she couldn't talk to Janet, then they were going to stand no chance in this slightly altered reality. Completely reversing their roles, it was now she who indicated that perhaps Janet should sit down.

"Jan," Sam began pleading for her friend to understand, "I am still me, you're still one of my best friends, we've still been working with each other since the stargate programme began…" She paused, trying to explain something she didn't even really understand, despite her extensive knowledge. "When we left the SGC, Colonel O'Neill was still Colonel O'Neill; Daniel and Teal'c were still themselves… but I-" she stuttered slightly, before taking a deep breath and continuing. "I was Major Carter, 2IC of SG1, and not married to the Colonel…"

Teal'c, Daniel, Jack and Élodie were all gathered in the infirmary, not saying a word, when Janet and Sam emerged; both of them looking somewhat haunted and frazzled. Sam managed a weak smile as she saw Élodie, moving towards her and giving her a friendly hug.

"Je suis tellement contente que vous soyez là, I'm so glad you're here." She said in a grateful voice. "I guess for the most part we succeeded then?" She pulled away from Élodie, searching the woman's eyes. Thinking about their predicament, it occurred to Sam that Élodie may have a completely different memory of the events of 1937.

"Yes." Élodie responded encouragingly in English for the benefit of the others. "But I have quite a tale to tell you; and would think it best that you all be alone."

Sam saw Élodie's eyes flit in Janet's direction and instantly understood. "It's ok, she knows."

At this comment Jack, who had up til now been somewhat contentedly lounging on the gurney, lifted his frame up slightly in alarm. "She knows?" He squeaked to Sam, looking at her in disbelief.

"It's ok Jack," Janet moved a step forward hastily, not noticing Jack's surprise at being addressed by his first name. "Something about Sam's tests tipped me off… and from what I heard, it sounds like you two deserve to land in this particular time variation."

Jack looked to Sam, his eyebrows raised slightly. He assumed that 'time variation' meant just what it sounded like, but still – the whole physics thing was definitely his 'wife's area, and not his.

"I'll explain later sir," Sam brushed his questioning look away, before blushing with embarrassment. Years of training couldn't be forgotten that quickly – it would probably be a while before she managed to drop the 'sir'.

Élodie saw that none of this uncertainty was helping anyone. If she was truly to bring happiness to these people, she needed to give them as best an explanation as she could; but then, in reality, she had done very little to effectuate the necessary changes; probably why there had, to her knowledge, been no other significant changes to their reality. She cleared her throat gingerly to bring attention away from Sam's momentarily crimson complexion.

"When I left you in the north of France," she began speaking the words she had been rehearsing for so long. "I did not know much of what the future held; only that I had lost almost too much to bear, and that for all your help you would receive nothing. I was aware that I couldn't fix everything, but with my knowledge of your lives, and my knowledge of Samantha's feelings in particular, I set about devising a way give you what I could never have."

"The war? How did-?" Daniel had so many questions brimming inside him he didn't know where to start. Élodie cut him off before he could formulate a coherent sentence.

"Daniel, it suffices for the moment to know that I survived the most horrific years I believe mankind ever to have witnessed." Élodie raised her sleeve to reveal a chilling reminder of her war experience: a tattooed number which remained a testament to her internment in a Nazi concentration camp. "I survived, and I don't doubt that the only reason I managed to live through such horror was because of you all; I knew I had to survive."

Jack's face paled visibly at the sight of the tattoo, a thick bile rising in his throat as anger and nausea threatened to overcome him. The older Élodie hadn't said anything about a concentration camp when she had come to them before their mission… As he looked around, he knew that everyone was thinking the same thing; praying that something they had done hadn't led to her incarceration at the mercy of the SS guards.

Élodie let everyone process her revelation for a second before continuing: "I came to America shortly following the war as a refugee among thousands." She smiled slightly, remembering those first years of renewed freedom in the land of opportunity. "I married, bore three lovely children, and generally lived the American dream… but I had one more task left over from France in 1937 that was constantly on my mind."

Everyone in the room looked to Sam and Jack, who in turn were looking at each other. Most faces registered amazement, although both Sam and Teal'c seemed somewhat concerned. It was Teal'c who spoke.

"I do not believe it was wise to attempt to alter the future, Élodie Chabrol." He said gravely looking her straight in the eye, not with malice, but with graveness.

As much as Sam hated to admit it, he had a point. There could have been no telling the consequences of her actions; and although on the face of it everything seemed ok, she had no idea if this would jeopardize the future of Earth down the road.

"Come on T," Jack protested, clasping Sam's hand, trying to assuage her consternation at the same time. "Important as we are, I hardly think us being together is the difference between life and death…"

"Uh, Jack?" Daniel said meekly, almost cowering away from the invalided Colonel as he spoke. "We know of at least two alternate realities when that seemed to be the case…"

"No Daniel," Jack replied instantly, moving closer to Sam, unconsciously wanting to protect her, "In both those realities Sam wasn't in the military – maybe that's the difference."

At that moment Janet grinned widely while eliciting a huge gasp of relief. "So you guys came across the quantum mirror as well? Daniel got lost in an alternate reality, and then the other Sam came through?"

Everyone except Élodie nodded silently, although Jack sported a grin even larger than Janet's, clearly basking in this vindication of his hypothesis. If Janet knew about the same events they did, then maybe it was true that almost nothing had changed. Élodie took this exchange as a good sign and continued.

"In fact, Teal'c," her voice was no longer timid, and her accent seemed to all-but disappear as confidence returned to her demeanour. "After my conversations with Sam and years of reflection, I came to much the same conclusion: that I was potentially playing with fire." She shrugged as the next words came out of her mouth. "I actually hardly did anything to change your situation; all I did was ensure that you two," she indicated to Sam and Jack, "that you two had the opportunity to meet and appreciate each others' company before you were required to work together."

"How-?" Everyone in the room barked the question, eyes wide at the Frenchwoman's words.

"I wasn't even sure it was going to work." Élodie chuckled at everyone's reaction. "As it turns out, my late husband was a German-born scientist who had defected to the US before the beginning of the second world war. At the end of the 1940s, he started working for the US government in conjunction with the Airforce in their aeronautical physics section. I kept my eyes and ears open and soon enough the name 'Carter' began appearing." She nodded to Sam, "First it was your father that was spoken of – an exemplary soldier who was well known to many people in both military and civilian circles. I recognized the name and followed your youth from an early age Samantha – from afar bien sûr."

"So how the hell-?"

"You must be patient, Colonel," Élodie smiled at Jack knowingly. He was just as she remembered, and definitely as she had been told by many people more recently. "When a young renegade recruit of supreme intelligence, who happened to be Jacob Carter's daughter, came to people's attention, no one but my husband and a few of his colleagues realized her full potential. You were one wild child, ma chère." She glanced at Sam again. "Nonetheless, young Sam Carter completed her studies at the academy and continued her research, but her talents were being wasted at the Pentagon – and she was being smothered by a smug superior who did not appreciate her. My husband spoke of her frequently, as he had much admiration for her intellect, and I suggested a mentor for her – not an official superior of course – but someone who could guide help her find her path." Élodie paused, looking pointedly at Jack. "I suggested you, Colonel O'Neill – that was back in the mid 1990s."

The members of SG1 were speechless, but Janet was nodding slowly as if everything were making perfect sense. "You helped each other," she picked the story up from Élodie, as the Sam she knew had told her many times. "Jack had just lost his son, while Sam, you felt completely trapped in your job at the Pentagon and your mother's death still haunted you." Her eyes were glistening with happy tears as she recounted the uplifting tale. "Despite your differences, you both seemed to click almost immediately… by the time the stargate was activated here you were already a couple."

"Hang on a second." Jack was spinning with amazement at all this. "They let us serve on the same team just like that?"

"Of course not," Janet dismissed his comment quickly. "Only you went on the first mission, as Sam hadn't yet been reassigned, and you were still a superior officer."

"Then how-?" Sam hardly managed to stutter the words out.

"Honey, you underestimate your uniqueness." Janet emphasized to Sam. "Without you, there wasn't going to be an effective SG1, you two have been jointly in command almost since the beginning."

Everyone in the room digested this information quietly, while Élodie and Janet both had satisfied smiles adorning their faces. It was Jack who seemed the most perturbed – despite his trademark cluelessness when it came to most of the intricacies of their missions and the conundrums that accompanied them, he had learnt a great deal about alternate realities and timelines.

"How do we know everything else is mostly the same?" He asked initially, before a more alarming thought occurred to him. "Why don't our memories reflect this? Why don't your memories reflect what's happened…" He looked at Élodie worriedly, "Where's the other us?"

Élodie sighed, looking down for a moment before lifting her head to look at Jack. "I can only answer one of those questions Colonel," she said softly. "I knew I had been successful when five years ago a suffered a series of violent visions within dreams and episodic seizures for a time. I share the same memories of you from when I first appeared at the SGC and you were both Major and Colonel," she nodded to both Sam and Jack respectively, "but at the same time within these seizures and dreams I experienced an alternate series of events with you both a married couple." She grimaced slightly, remembering the painful period of her life. "It was many weeks before I understood what was happening or was able to access the subconscious altered memories that were surfacing in my mind. I do not know why my memory wasn't entirely altered, but then I know very little of the phenomena that would be involved in such extraordinary circumstances."

Jack squinted his eyes shut and sank back into the pillow behind him. "God this is all giving me a headache." The sound of movement made him re-open his eyes as Janet precipitated towards him, looking concerned. "Figure of speech! Figure of speech! No needles required!" he yelped at her before she could come any closer.

The sudden outburst caused everyone in the room to laugh, his characteristic reaction serving as a catalyst to release the tension and confusion that had previously silenced them all. Momentarily forgetting the trials of their recent mission, momentarily ignoring the gnawing questions that still lingered, SG1 was able to relax in the company of each other, content in the knowledge that – yet again – they had helped ensure the stargate programme's – and Earth's – continued survival and prosperity.

FIN

A/N: I know, I know… I'm sure you can all come up with holes in this explanation – but then that's ALWAYS the case with alternate reality/time travel issues… there are just too many paradoxes to worry about. Believe me, I typed and retyped so many sections because it was so difficult to bring it all together in a way that was at least acceptable to my mind.

Oh, I also know that it can't really be left there – although this is the end. There'll be an epilogue, but I really can't guarantee that I'll manage to get it out before Saturday. At least the fic's finished, right? I mean, they all got back safe and sound; Élodie survived, Jack and Sam are theoretically together… any complaints? Actually don't answer that... bring on the praise instead!

All that being said, please review and tell me what you thought. Please please please!