Title: The Other Us
Author: Ebbtide
Summary: Jack and Daniel go on another adventure. Things go typically wrong.
Rating: G
"Activate it!" Jack O'Neill cried fantically from his position beside the besieged DHD.
"I'm trying, Jack, but it isn't working. There's some kind of interference." Dr. Daniel Jackson said and he groped blindly for the correct symbols.
"You mean like a busy signal?" O'Neill asked, the tension rising in his voice.
"Yep, that's just about it." Dr. Jackson responded with a weary nod of his head. They had been running from a Jaffa patrol for almost seven hours before reaching the safety of the 'Gate.
"Well, how long until the line's open...This isn't exactly the best place to wait for the kiddies to hand over the telephone. Daniel!"
Jack yelled a quick warning seconds before Daniel heard a staff weapon discharge and then found himself falling to the ground, his back on fire with hot-white pain.
"Jack, I'm hit." He called out through tightly clenched teeth. He heard movement, then a hand was on his shoulder. The Jaffa's intense birage continued unchecked and they advanced cautiously on the pair.
"You need to get us out of here, Dannyboy. Try the Stargate again." Jack had to shout to be heard over the enemy fire.
Daniel gasped in pain as he drew himself up next to the Dialing device and punched in the coordinates and then the large activation orb. Seconds passed, with an unhealthy grinding noise the Naaquada ring sput out a column of liquid energy.
"Yes!" Jack exclaimed.
Daniel's mouth set in a grim line. "We're not home free yet." He muttered uneasily.
"All we have to do is make it to the Stargate without getting hit. I assume you know how to sprint?"
Daniel snorted at O'Neill's sarcasm, but didn't argue. They both knew a quick dash was all they needed to get home safe.
"Alright, climb aboard." Daniel blindly offered his hand to a badly injured Jack O'Neill. Their bodies had taken a lot of damage this time off-world.
"Thanks." The older man said as he was carefully picked up by the surprisingly strong archaeologist.
"You got the IDC code taken care of?" Jack asked.
Daniel nodded and repositioned the man in his arms, taking a few deep breaths. He ran straight for the Stargate's illuminating puddle and with a cry of relief he dived into the wormhole.
A Wormhole Away...
Alarms blare, and red lights flashed announcing the arrival of an unscheduled traveler.
"Do we have an IDC?" General George Hammond (of Texas) demanded as he looked down at the activated Stargate from his position in the control room.
"General, who is it?" The ever inquisitive voice of Daniel Jackson asked as all of SG-1 entered the room. The General turned a questioning look to Walter Harriman.
"SG-1's IDC, sir." The man answered with a confused frown.
Daniel and Sam exchanged baffled glances. "Well, that's impossible, we're all here." The young man stated the obvious with a shake of his head.
The puddle rippled as two men flew out of the Stargate and rolled down the ramp. They came to an abrupt stop at the bottom, a tangled mess of arms and legs.
The guards inside the Gate room trained their weapons on the intruders.
"Get the hell off'v me, Daniel!" The muffled voice of Jack O'Neill yelled angrily from amid the pile of camaflouge clothes. In the control room. Jack's mouth fell open in shocked surprise.
"That sounded a lot like...me." He said slowly.
"And that looks exactly like me." Daniel's crystal blue eyes widened at the sight of himself getting up off the Gate room floor.
Both of the SG-1 look-alikes were injured. Jack's fatigues were caked with mud and wet blood, Daniel's regulation black shirt was ripped and soaked with blood in the back. Something aweful must have happened to them, Samantha Carter decided as she watched them untangle themselves.
"We need a medic!" The Daniel in the Gate room called without sparing a glance to the control room.
"Dr. Fraiser to the Gate room, STAT." Hammond called over the base coms.
Inside the Gate room both men froze at these words and looked up in confusion. Neither moved for several long moments.
"What's going on?" Daniel finally asked when he caught sight of his double standing next to the General..
"Identify yourself." General Hammond called through the speaker system. Daniel looked even more confused.
"Umm, it's me. Daniel Jackson...I'm-."
Daniel's introduction was cut off by Jack as he glared angrily up at the General. From his position he couldn't see the other SG-1
"Come one, it's Daniel, you know, geeky, nerdy, travels billions of light years to study a rock. General!" Jack's exasperated yell turned into a groan of pain as his ribs protested.
"Jack's hurt here. We don't have time for this! I don't care who you guys are, but I need to help Jack...C'mon, General, tell the guards to stand down, please." Daniel hoped they could see the earnestness in his eyes. He didn't know exactly how bad O'Neill's wounds were, but he knew that it had to be bad if the older man still hadn't attempted to get up. Very bad. Jack wasn't the kind of person to just sit around when guns were pointed at him.
The Gate room doors opened and a medic team led by petite, red haired Dr. Fraiser came in at a full run. Daniel backed away from the woman when she approached O'Neill with a stretcher. He could not believe that she could be alive. He knew from the doubles of SG-1 in the control room that he must've been transported to another reality, but to see her alive again was almost too much.
Friaser gave strict instructions to another medic before turning away from O'Neill's stretcher towards Daniel. He took another step back and held his hands out in a warning. He had grieved for too many dead friends, to find her alive made him feel suspicous. He didn't know of any Goa'uld capable of duplicating a human body so exactly, or all of the familiar faces around him, but he refused to take any chances after all of the things he had experienced with SG-1 offworld.
"Stay away from me, please, I don't want to hurt you...but I need to know that it's really you."Daniel heard his voice break with emotion but his questioning eyes never left hers. He looked for anything that might give away her ulterior motives. There was none of the shifty Goa'uld trickery in her eyes.
"I'm Dr. Janet Friaser. I work for the SGC as head medical doctor." She said this matter-of-factly even as she tried once again to get closer to his wounded side. "How did you get hurt?" She asked, ignoring his hesitancy to her prescence.
Now Daniel knew that it was her. It was his Janet that stood before him. Not some illusion of alien technology or trick. It was her and she was alive. The archaeologist mouth spread into a huge grin, he stumbled forward and embraced her in the final hug he had never been able to give.
"You're alive." He said, tears misting his vision. She looked alarmed at his sudden advance, but used the oppurtunity to quickly check his side.
"Yes -yes, I am."
Daniel could not remember seeing anything that looked like a quantum mirror on the planet they had just escaped from, but whatever had caused this to happen, he was eternally grateful. To get one more chance at all of the things he never said or did that had haunted his sleep.
"You're alive." He whipered again, to reassure himself. He breathed in deeply and smelled the clean infirmary smell that clung to Janet no matter where she went. It was mingled with Rose perfume on special occasions. This wasn't, this was just another day in the life of the SGC doctor. Nothing special about his unscheduled arrival in the lives of these people - of this world.
Five Hours Later...Briefing room.
Janet studied the pile of information in the folder before her. There would be no easy way to say this.
"I think that they are from the future, General. When I did tests on the Samantha Carter from another reality her body's age matched Major Carter's exactly. These two, Daniel and O'Neill, they seem to have aged at least five years beyond either of ours and they have all of the same scars." She gave Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Jackson a quick look before continung. "Other than that they seem to be suffering from assorted injuries. From what they tell me they were off-world when they were attacked by a large contigent of Jaffa and gliders. O'Neill lost a lot of blood and his hands lost some of their mobility due to nerve damage."
Colonel Jack O'Neill grimaced in sympathy for his counterpart. He knew how hard it would be for him to give up the life he had. Losing the ability to fight in combat situations would official end any military career.
Dr. Fraiser continued. "I think that out of the two, Daniel Jackson was hurt the worst." This earned her a few surprised glances.
"He was standing and talking coherently when he left the Gate room, although he did react strangely to your prescence." General Hammond said.
Janet nodded, she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "He took an aweful staff blast to the back, it damaged his lungs, spine, and shoulder. It doesn't look like he will ever be able to walk without a limp and then only after a couple of years of treatments and therapy. Both of them are a mess, sir. As for his actions towards me in the Gate room, he explained that to me. Apparently, I'm dead. . .killed off-world during a major battle with the Goa'uld. Daniel was -he was the only one to witness my death. He said I died instantly -I guess that's suppose to console me." Her hand shook when she ran it through her short hair.
"You said there was a great chance that these two people are from our future. They could tell us the planet where this happens and I'll lock it out of the dialing computer." Hammond said.
"No, sir." Major Carter spoke up with a sad shake of her head. "We can't change our future, no matter what. We cannot act on any information they might give us. It could change the future in ways that could mess everything up. We could make things much, much worse." The blonde scientist reached across the table and took one of Janet's hands in her own. "We cannot question these people, no matter how much we want the future to change. I think the sooner we can get them back to their own time the better off we will all be."
"Understood, Major. Dr. Fraiser, are either of them up to a talk. I just want to see if they have any idea how they might have travelled back in time." Hammond added the last to satisfy the Major's concern. The doctor gave a short nod in responce.
"Maybe we should pick some different names for them, sir. It might get a little confusing if we don't." Colonel O'Neill suggested.
"You've got a point Colonel. We'll ask them what they would like to be called when we reach the infirmary. Dismissed."
The six members of SGC walked in silent group through the halls and corridors of the underground complex each thinking about the two men they were going to see, and how their futures would turn out.
Currently...Infirmary.
"Jack, do you think that Janet likes candle lit dinners?" Daniel asked dreamily from where he lay half-drugged, staring at he infirmary ceiling. On the bed beside him O'Neill turned over on his side with a small grunt of pain and studied his friend critically.
"With you?" He asked.
Daniel snorted and then giggled. "With anybody, Jack! I'm not saying I'm going to ask her out. I'm stuck in the medical ward of a secret military base in another reality and underground to boot. Really hard to order any kind of dinner down here."
"Tell me about it." Jack scrubbed his face with one hand, using the other to push the call button beside his bed. A second later a nurse walked into the room.
"You needed something?" She asked kindly.
"Yeah, I'm starving. Is there anyway that I could get something to eat. Sandwich, Jell-O...umm, french fries?" He asked the last hopefully, putting on all of his charm.
"I'll see what I can do." She said. The nurse glanced back over her shoulder as she left and smiled at O'Neill.
"Hey, Flyboy, maybe we should make it a dinner for four." Daniel suggested with a sly smile. "Double date time." He sing-songed with a silly grin. O'Neill rolled his eyes.
"You should wear a sign, Dannyboy, Beware of Love Struck Archaeologists on Drugs."
"Ah, C'mon, Jack. I'm not that bad - I mean, it isn't obvious is it?"
Daniel started to worry as he thought about how Janet would react if she found out that he had formed an irresistable crush on her mere hours after meeting her. She seemed so much like the caring doctor he had known, although there had to be some differences since she was from another reality. Even though he hadn't noticed any of these differences yet, Daniel was sure that he would love them as much as he now loved the woman he had thought lost to him forever.
The infirmary doors opened and the two men looked over expecting a tray of food. Instead they saw all four members of SG-1, Dr. Friaser, and General Hammond. The group formed a semi-circle at the foot of the two beds. Daniel shifted uneasily in his bed, he winced at a spike of pain travelled down his back.
"Guys." He greeted them with a sloppy smile. He wished there was some way to get rid of the drugs, with the affect they were having on him he would proffess his love to Janet in front of everyone or do something equally embaressing. "Um, Jack." He looked to his friend for suppport.
O'Neill saw his discomfort and took over with another charming smile. "So, you guys come to chat...or...what?"
The others exchanged a look before Janet spoke. "I've told them that you aren't from another reality like we first thought."
Daniel frowned deeply. "Yes we are." He interrupted. "We have to be. . .right, Jack? I mean, this is what it's like to go to another reality. I know what it's like. The last time I was in another reality they had never heard of me...and your alive, Janet. This has to be another reality." He breathed deeply after his rapid denial and waited for their response.
Janet hung her head. "You're from the future, Daniel. My tests have confirmed that you and O'Neill are at least five years older than the ones in this time. You're from our future."
Daniel's mouth opened and closed a few times as his mind tried to come to terms with this new information. "Whu-what? That's imposs-totally not possible. We're from another reality. We have to be." he looked deep into Janet's eyes. "You can't die again." Tears choked his voice. "Not again." His hand reached for her.
Major Carter, Teal'c and Dr. Jackson shifted uncomfortably at this show of emotion. They moved back to give the Daniel on the bed a little bit more privacy. General Hammond was sympathetic but knew that they might not have a lot of time to figure out how to get them home. He knew that their being in his time could cause unfixable damage to the timeline. Major Carter had explained this to him on the elevator. They could change everything by simply being there. He could not let that happen if the Major's doomsday predictions proved to be true.
"Dr. Jackson, Colonel O'Neill, we really need to get back to the reason why we've come." He said gently.
Daniel looked away from Janet just long enough to say. "O'Neill's not a Colonel anymore. He's retired, the head of HomeWorld Security." Then he was once again lost in the doctor's drawing gaze. He tried to memorize every dip and smile mark on her face. Her face had started to fade from his memmory the last two years. He had been so busy saving the universe that he didn't have time for personal reflection.
"You're beautiful." He breathed. As soon as he said it he wished he could take it back. He had just given away his younger-selves darkest thought. He had always had a fascination with the doctor, but not until she was gone did he actually have the courage to speak about the feelings. Then it was to late, but now it wasn't. Not yet, but still he felt like he had broken his own confidence. He gave his younger-self an apologetic shrug.
"The reason why we have come." Hammond started again trying to get he archaeologist's attention. "We need to find out exactly how you got here -in the past. There is a very great chance that your being here will change the future in some way and we need to get you back before something terrible is allowed to happen to the original timeline. That is what Major Carter has warned." He paused a moment before drawling on. "It has also come to my attention that your names could become a problem while you are in this time. Is there a nickname or some other name that we can call you for your time here?"
Daniel and Jack exchanged a glance.
"Danny."
"Flyboy."
They suggested simultaneously for each other. Daniel muffled another drug induced giggle behind one hand as he remembered their earlier conversation.
Hammond nodded. "Danny and Flyboy it is then."
Cater, Teal'c and Daniel returned to the bedsides as the Major explained her theory on time travel and predictable sunflares.
(NOTE: I will refer to the "visiting" Daniel and Jack as Danny and Flyboy in the narrative.)
A Few Minutes Later...
"The Aschen." Danny spoke up suddenly as he remembered the race of advanced, but dangerous aliens.
"Who?" Jack O'Neill asked from where he was constructing a paper airplane.
Danny shook his head at the Colonel's predictable antics. "The Aschen are a race of technologically advanced aliens who go around the galaxy killing entire solar systems, adding them to their domain and then moving on to the next system. They-."
"Are very intelligent, very evil little people who have horrible names." Flyboy broke in tiredly. " General, are we almost done here. I don't know about Danie-Danny over there, but I don't think I'm going to be able to do this theoretical-time-travel-babble stuff much longer."
Both men looked exhausted and General Hammond nodded, motioning to the rest of his people he walked out of the infirmary, they followed, leaving Janet alone with the two men. She shifted self-consiously before readjusting Flyboy's drug doses.
"What's really wrong with us, Doc?" Flyboy asked through clenched teeth as he waited for the pain to receed. She stalled answering his question by re-checking the bandages on his hands. The damage was great, they looked more like shredded meat than hands.
"Janet?" Danny enquired at her persistant silence. His military style hair did nothing to take away from the puppy dog expression. "Are we alright? I know we got hit pretty hard, but we've been through worse situations. We'll be alright?"
Janet smoothed the sheet covering Flyboy before straightening. She hated this part of her job.
"No, you two are not alright. I don't think that you will ever fully recover from these injuries." There she had said it.
Danny opened his mouth to say something, then realizing there was nothing to say, shut it again. "Are we- are we dying?" He asked finally in a terrified whisper. He had been in this situation too many times to go through it again.
Janet's eyes widened. "No! Oh, I am so sorry for giving you that impression. It's nothing like that...it's just." Her words trailed off into silence.
"What!" Flyboy demanded impatiently from his bed. He steeled himself for the worst.
"Jack-Flyboy, the nerves in your hands were damaged very badly. I don't think that you'll ever be able to shoot a weapon again. Maybe, with persistant therapy, you'll be able to write, but that could take months. Until then I think you'll be lucky to hold a spoon."
Flyboy's face fell as the implications set in. He didn't have to worry about his job, the writing could be done by his aids, but how could he keep up his end of the budding relationship between himself and Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter if he couldn't even feed himself. How could he prove to her that he could take care of her. Then it hit him that he might never see her again. She had grown into such a strong support for him these last two years. Two years of nothing but unending grief and she had been there through it all. How would she take his disappearance? Would she remember what happened five years before? Did time travel work like that? Flyboy shook his head and settled back into reality. Janet was holding Danny's hand and speaking softly.
"The damage the staff weapon caused is too much for me to fix, Daniel-Danny. I'm sorry, but for the next few months you aren't going to be able to walk. I cannot stress how important it is for you to lay still. Movements of anykind could cause further damage. I am so sorry. I seriously doubt you'll ever be able to walk fast or without a limp."
Danny pulled his hand away from her and turned his head away, he shut his eyes signaling the abrupt end of their conversation.
"Danny?" Flyboy asked softly once Janet had retreated to another room. There was no responce. "Daniel, you okay, buddy?" The older man shifted out of his bed with a groan and hobbled the few feet that seperated him from his friend. He sat down heavily on the other's bed.
"How can she ever see me as anything but a helpless cripple?" Danny asked without opening his eyes. "I'll never mean anything to her as long as I'm like this. How can I show her that I can take care of her if I can't even go to the bathroom?"
Flyboy didn't answer, he looked down at his hands and the weakness they represented. "I know how you feel, Dannyboy."
"Do you?" A tear slid from Danny's closed eyes and soaked into the pillow. "Do you really? I just found out that the woman I've loved for over ten years is still alive and I have a chance to tell her all of the things that I always meant to say...and I can't. I can't tell her that she is the reason I stayed in the program after Shau'ri died. I almost killed myself the night she died." He confessed this with a weak frown. "I can't tell her any of that, Jack. I'd be dead if it wasn't for her and I can't even show her how grateful I am."
"I'm sorry, Danny." Flyboy said softly. He lay a bandaged hand across the other man's chest and they sat in grief sticken silence. There was nothing he could say to console against the truth. Instead, Flyboy lent his silent support.
Janet stood in the doorway, having witnessed the entire exchange, unsure of what to do. She backed quietly away not wanting them to know that she had been there. It would only add to their discomfort. The doctor returned to her office and set down the sedatives she had been prepared to administer to her patients. The syringes rolled across the desk, but she didn't see them fall to the floor. The red haired woman buried her head in her hands and wept for the man she could never love.
The Next Day...Comissary
Dr. Jackson took a seat next to Major Carter, his tray laiden with greasy chicken and sugar filled deserts.
"That's disgusting, Daniel." Sam said wrinkling her nose.
The archaeologist looked down at his plate in confusion. "It's just chicken, Sam." He said slowly.
"Greasy chicken. How can you stay so thin eating stuff like that?" She asked in the kind of tone only persistant dieters can achieve.
Daniel shrugged. "It taste good. Better than those off-world rations I get most of the time."
Sam couldn't argue this point and so turned her attention back to the large salad before her. "You seen the Colonel?" She asked the table in general.
Teal'c gratefully put his fork down into the mashed potatoes he had been trying to aquire a taste for. "I believe he is in the infirmary with Flyboy and Danny." His voice was stoic, but his lips turned up in a small smile. "He insisted upon optaining them ...french fries."
Sam grinned at this news. "Yep, that's the Colonel."
Daniel finished off one of his chicken legs with an appreciative sigh. "You have no idea what you're missing, Sam." He said.
Current Time...Infimary.
"You don't have to stick around if you got more important things to do. I'm sure Carter's just dying to talk your ear off." Flyboy spoke between large mouthfulls of french fries. A huge heap of them were spread out on a tray laid across his lap. Without the advantage of finger movement, he was being forced to scoop the fries up on his unresponsive hands. It would have been very embarrassing in front of anyone else, but Danny and Jack understood his situation.
"Nah, Carter's eating lunch, probably fighting with Daniel over calories. You know, I've never know someone who refused to eat a salad if it has salt. Seriously." O'Neill shook his head.
"I never could understand her obsession with health food. I don't think she even ate a hot dog until-."
"Ahh!" Both O'Neill's cried. Their arms were raised in a mirror motion.
Danny shook his head ruefully, and instantly regretted it when his pain flared down his back. He bit back a sob as the feeling slowly subsided.
"No future-talk." Flyboy reminded kindly. He had noticed the look of pain on his friend's face and it hurt that there was nothing he could do to help. "We did agree." He added after a second.
"Yeah, I know, Flyboy." Danny said with a grimace. "We might say something that affects the timeline. I wonder if this happened last time." He murmed thoughtfully.
O'Neill's eyebrows raised. "Last time?" Then held up his hands quickly to stop any explanations. "I do not want to go there. Ever." He added for emphasis.
Danny chuckled. "You've already been there." He hastly added. "Well, you will be. I mean, you already are there, but you haven't left to go yet."
"Dannyboy, I think you should leave the time-travel explanations to Carter." Flyboy suggested with a chuckle.
Five Days Later...Breifing room.
"Have we gotten any closer to finding our how they got here or how we can get them back?" General Hammond asked. SG-1 shook their heads.
"No, sir. We haven't even been able to figure out anything, General, sir." Major Carter reported dejectedly. She wasn't used to finding problems she couldn't solve. Her pride had taken a serious blow. "We do know that Danny and Flyboy heard a strange grinding sound when the Gate dialed up. That could have been caused by whatever caused them to travel back in time."
Daniel leaned forward in his chair and rested his hands on the table. "What about the future SGC. If they miss O'Neill and...me won't they send a rescue? I know that we would."
"I don't see your point, Dr. Jackson." Hammond said.
Daniel grew very serious. "My point, General, is that if it was the Stargate on that planet that sent them back in time, it could send others."
Major Carter shook her head. "I don't think so. If that was true then they all would have been sent back to the same point in time. They would have arrived exactly the same time as Flyboy and Danny."
"There aren't any manuals on time travel, Sam. We don't even know how time works, much less how to travel through it. Think about it, what if the Gate that they used only creates a finite time warp field. It could send things a certain amount of time into the past. Maybe it's set on five years. Who knows. My point is that we don't know and I think that we should at least acknowledge the possibility."
"We are going to look into all possibilities, Dr. Jackson." Hammond said.
"Sir, if the Stargate on the planet they came from is set to send travellers five years into the past, then there could be a way to reset it so that it can send them into the future too." Major Carter suggested. "All we would have to do is reset the time warp parameters and then send the Colon-Flyboy and Danny through the Stargate. Then if we disconnected the device this would have never happened."
"Absolutely not, Major." Hammond replied. "If you can't disconnect it or reprogram it then there is a chance that you could become stuck on that planet with no means of getting back."
"There is also the chance that we could go back in time ourselves." Daniel added.
"Yes, there's that, Carter." Colonel O'Neill spoke up.
Carter gritted her teeth as she thought through all of her possible options, then her face brightened. "We could go in a ship. Based on the coordinated Danny gave us we know that the planet is within ships range. Two days using an Asguard ship. I could call Thor."
Hammond nodded his agreement. "We'll meet back here as soon as we hear back from Thor. Meanwhile, I would like Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c to check in on our guests."
"Yes, sir."
"Yes, General Hammond."
The Next Day...Infirmary.
Flyboy balanced a spoon on the edge of his nose, using all of his concentration so it didn't tumble off. At the same time he carefully juggled three balls of paper from hand to hand in a simple pattern. His hands couldn't actually catch them, so it was more like batting them back and forth trying to keep the rythme up so that they didn't fall to the bed.
"I could so get used to this no working thing." He said.
Danny looked up from the book of ancient languages that his younger-self had brought him to read. Although he was enjoying the book there was nothing in the world he would rather do than get up and walk out of the infirmary. The knowledge that he might not be able to walk for months had hit him hard.
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Flyboy." Danny said sullenly. He marked his place in the book and laid it down beside him with a heavy sigh. Never had his life seemed so desperately useless. "Personally, I wouldn't mind getting out of this place."
"Well, you might just get the chance." Janet announced as she entered the room eyeing her two patients. Daniel smelled Rose perfume.
"What's going on?" He asked suspiciously.
Janet smiled happily. "You two are getting out of here, that's what is going on."
"I don't get it. I thought that you said I couldn't move my back at all. How am I suppose to even use a wheelchair?" Danny asked, his earlier depression returning. There was no way that he could get off the base in a bed.
"We're going to take your bed with you and we - SG-1, me and yourselves - are going on a picnic topside." She seemed very pleased with herself as she unhooked the two men from their monitoring equipment.
"Sweet!" Flyboy exclaimed when he learned that he would be able to walk himself through the base halls without the help of a wheelchair.
"You have made excellent improvement this past week, Flyboy." Janet explained calmly. "but that does not mean that you're ready to take on the Universe single handedly."
He shot her an innocent look. "Of course, Doc."
It wasn't until they were in an elevator, with two guards helping manuever Danny's hospital bed, that Janet disclosed the real reason for their sudden release.
"We contacted Thor and he thinks that he can get a ship to us by this afternoon. We're going to be waiting for him topside so that we can all be ready to go the moment he arrives."
"The Asguard? How can they help?" Danny asked from where he lay on the bed.
The elevator reached the top floor just then and Dr. Fraiser waited until they had all exited before answering.
"Major Carter thinks that the Gate on the planet you were on was somehow rigged to transport the travel back in time five years. She also thinks that it could be possible to change the Gate so that it will take you five years into the future. If that is the case then she can send you back and then disengage the device."
"Is that wise?" Flyboy asked uneasily. He knew Carter was smart, but there was no way he was going to trust in a theory that relied heavily on an alien - and possibly nonexistent - time trap.
Janet motioned for the guards to take Daniel outside and she signed out for the incapacitated man before following Flyboy through the door and out into the sunny afternoon.
"There are no guarentees, Flyboy, but I think that it's worth the shot. However, incase Sam isn't able to get it to work, I will be coming along to monitor you two."
"Oh, yippie." Flyboy intoned sarcastically.
Janet laughed. "I'm afraid you're going to have to put up with me for a little longer, Flyboy."
The guards were forced to lift the bed over a few stony areas until the small group reached the agreed upon location for the outdoor banquet. French fries and blue Jell-O were set to one side for the patients while an assortment of commissary fare was laid out on table for SG-1 and Dr. Fraiser.
Danny refused to eat, his dark mood still hadn't completely lifted and he found himself watching Janet eat. Every few seconds she would smile at something someone said and then laugh, the same laugh that he remembered from two years ago. How could she have changed so little after all of the horrible things she would see in her lifetime. How could she have remained the pure, kind, feeling woman he would never forget. Sunlight flickered across her red hair making it appear almost blond in some places. She had been such a beautiful woman - she was a beautiful woman. Danny studied her a few moments longer and then turned away. He couldn't allow himself to get any more attached to Janet than he'd already become. There was no way in heaven or earth that he could go through another loss. Not now.
"You gonna eat, Dannyboy?" Flyboy asked from where he sat perched on the end of the bed. Danny didn't answer. He just shook his head and studied the leaves of a plant hanging near his face. It was a blueberry bush, he noticed. Tiny purple berries hung in hidden clusters and he reached out to snag a few. The movement brought a cry of pain to his lips. The others stopped their eating.
"Daniel, you okay?" Flyboy asked in concern.
Danny wanted to nod, but he couldn't move at all, the pain was too great. "Hurts...back hurts." He whimpered through clenched teeth. Janet was instantly at his side reassuring him with simple caresses. She took a syringe out of her white coat pocket and injected him with something. Ten seconds later the pain started to fade and Danny relaxed. He began to feel sleepy and knew that the amount of painkiller had to be very big for the affects to show so quickly.
"Sorry, ruined your picnic." His apology slurred as black colored the edge of his vision. His hand reached for Janet, but fell limp to the bed before it reached her.
"This was expected, don't worry, Flyboy." Janet told the older man as she turned back to the others. Her hand rested on Danny's arm and she didn't move it. "I have enough painkillers for the journey there, but hopefully I won't have to use them. I'm hoping that Thor might have something on his ship that can help Danny."
Flyboy nodded. "Yeah, he has some pretty nifty stuff on that bucket. You know, there was one time when I was froze-."
"Flyboy." Jack warned from the far side of the table.
"But it's cool." Flyboy whined with a sulky frown.
Just then a white light surrounded the entire group and everything disapeared into an Asguard energy beam.
Ten Hours Later...Thor's Ship
Stars flashed by the viewer screen so quickly that they could not be distinquished by the human eye, a purple and white swirl was all that could be deciphered. Both Daniels were sleeping in a side room while everyone else sat in the control room trying not to talk about the future.
"Are we there yet?" Flyboy asked for the umpteenth time.
"Hey, that's my line!" Colonel O'Neill complained, looking up from the Yo-yo he was trying to unravell.
"Well, I didn't hear you using it." Flyboy retorted. They had been in a state of constant bickering since an hour into their two day trip.
"Sirs." Carter barked from beside Thor's console. They both stared at her.
Thor spoke up. "I believe that if you do not cease this distracting behavior I will choose the option to ban you from physical and verbal contact through the employment of a seperating device."
Both Jack's listened to this in disbelief, their mouths hanging open in duplicate movements. They shared a long look.
"Did he just threaten to..."
"Seperate you guys." Janet finished with a smirk from her position on the floor. She was sitting cross legged leaning against the temperature controlled wall.
"Yes, sirs, I think that's exactly what he said." Carter added with her own grin.
That Night...Danny's room.
Danny woke with a cry of pain. It wasn't from the wound on his back, it was from the phantom hurt of his dreams. He had seen Shau'ri again. She had called out to him, begged him to save her from the death that inevitably claimed her. Danny ran a shaking hand through his sweat spiked hair and tried to even out his irratic breathing. Pain ripped through his lungs at each labored breath. Suddenly all of the pain was gone.
"Do you feel better, Daniel Jackson?" Thor's voice questioned softly over the ships com.
"Yeah, thanks. Did you heal me?" Danny asked as he moved first one arm and then the other without any pain.
"No, your wounds are too sever for me to completely heal, but I was able to correct some of the more superficial damage. Your shoulder should be fully functional and the tears in your lungs were quickly healed with my ships technology." Thor replied.
"My back?" Danny asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.
"There was nothing that I could do, Daniel Jackson."
Danny turned his head to one side and closed his eyes. "Thanks, Thor, the pain is much more bearable now."
"I am glad to help, Daniel Jackson."
There was a long pause and Danny tried to lull himself back to sleep. From what he could see of the rest of the ship everyone else was already asleep. Janet had taken up residence on one of the many basic sleep pallets that Thor had furnished in what they had come to calling the Sleep Room. The ships lights had dimmed to fit with the night hours the SGC personel were used to keeping. The blue glow turned the doctors hair red with purple streaks throughout. Danny smiled softly as he imagined the petite woman with purple hair and blue face paint rocking it out in concert. The smile turned into the only genuine laugh Danny had experienced in a long time.
"I am glad that your feeling better, Daniel Jackson."
Danny raised an eyebrow as Teal'c approached his bed.
"I thought everyone was calling me Danny." The archaeologist said in way of greeting.
"I believe that was to avoid confusion, Daniel Jackson. We are the only ones awake, there is nothing to cause confusion." The Jaffa reasoned with a small bow of his head. So much like the one Danny had grown fond of over the years, but perhaps a little more formal.
"Thanks, Teal'c, for your concern. I didn't think you were very open to my - our being here."
"On the contrary, I was most pleased to see you. Your presence here indicates that my Daniel Jackson will live and fight for many more years."
Danny felt honored to hear the Jaffa speak so possessively about him. He looked over at his younger-self and realized just how closed he had been to his teammates at that stage of his life. He had been so insecure, so unsure of what the Universe would do to him next.
"Yeah, well, it won't be an easy future, Teal'c." He studied the stoic features before him and grinned. "But I think we both know that, don't we."
Teal'c tilted his head in acknowledgment. "I have observed that your behavior has changed. I believe you are more of a warrior than my Daniel Jackson is currently capable of being." The large Jaffa took a seat on the floor beside the bed and rested his side against it as he watched Danny.
Danny figited with the hospital gown that he hadn't been able to change out of and tried to come up with an answer that would be true and satisfying without giving away anything about his future. Finally he came to a descision. He looked straight into the Jaffa's unflinching gaze.
"Will you promise not to tell anyone what I tell you, Teal'c? Out of everyone here, I trust you to keep the timeline pure and not to use anything you might learn to change the future...even for the better. If you can promise me this then I will tell you how I got to be this way. I'm afraid that there's no other way to explain how we've come to where we are as a planet, and as indivuals. My story is just one of many that are tangled together and they must all be explained for any of them to make sense."
Teal'c sat in thoughtful silence for a few moments as he examined his motives to see if he could stand true to any promise given. At least he answered. "I will give you my word, Daniel Jackson, that I will keep what you tell me a secret even from those I trust most, however, I cannot guarentee that I will not take action to save the lives of those I care about. If you do not tell me details, I will promise not to act, because I will be unable to do so."
Danny nodded. "Alright, T."
He took a deep breath and organized his thoughts so that he could tell what exactly about the last five years had changed him so much.
"As you know, Janet dies, but I think that my change happened before that. Jack's influence was the biggest factor in my transition from nerdy archaeologist to trained fighter. I can't thank him enough for that. It made the difference between life and death so many times. I don't think he really has any idea how much he's changed me." He paused and turned his head so that he could see where Flyboy lay propped against a wall, his Yo-yo still held in one hand. This brought a smile to Danny's face. "He is the reason that I am here now. You and Sam were always there to help me through the bad patches too, but me and Jack, we understood each other in a way that is hard to explain. Does that make sense?"
"I believe I know of the deep bond that you speak of, Daniel Jackson. I once shared such a bond with my teacher and mentor, Bratac. It is a special thing when two warriors do not need words to understand each other. It is much like Ryac and I were in his younger years." Teal'c said.
"It's like he's the father I never knew. He takes care of me, teaches me." Danny's eyes misted over. "He saved me from a horrible death so many times. Brought me back from a fare share of them too. But that isn't what you wanted to know." He wiped his eyes with the back of one hand. "I think that the real change happened when we were kidnapped by Hathor and led to believe that we were in the future and that everyone we had ever known was dead. Somehow she had created an exact replica of the SGC's main levels and then she convinced us that it was the year 2077. I really believed that everyone was dead. When I found out that I had been duped, that it was all a lie, I vowed never to be used again. She's the one that cut my hair. I never could grow it out after that. I think that it symbolized my weakness."
Teal'c listened with the rapt attention of a child hearing a fairytale as the night dragged on under the stars of the Galaxy. They talked of Anubis, Ancients, Atlantis, the Ori and all of Danny's current battles against his feelings for Janet. The Jaffa listened and gave advice when it was needed and on a few occasions when it wasn't. Through the hours of quite talking a strong bond formed between the two.
THE Planet...Thor's Ship.
"What is your ship called, Thor?" Danny asked quizzically as the bed he was on was wheeled out to where the supplies had been piled. The little gray alien looked surprised at the question.
"Why do you ask, Daniel Jackson?" The Asgard wanted to know.
Danny winced as the bed was jarred by an over enthusiastic Colonel O'Neill. "No reason. Well, actually, in the future you're going to name a fleet of ships after SG-1. I was just wondering if this ship was named after someone important."
Thor dipped his head. "You are correct. I named this vessel, Thallillia."
"Whose that?" Flyboy asked. "Some general of yours? A queen or something?"
"No, O'Neill. It is the name of my daughter."
"Daughter?" Danny and Flyboy spoke at the same time.
"I thought you guys couldn't...you know." Danny said slowly as he tried to understand.
"We cannot. When two Asguard fall in love we download select sections of our consciousness into a computer and randomize the result. Creating a unique mixture of the two Asguard."
Danny and Flyboy exchanged a look. "Well, that's good." Danny said finally.
"She is a chief scientist among our highest ranks." Thor added proudly.
Flyboy patted him on the back. "That's great. So, Asguard love, huh."
Thor blinked his large black eyes and transported them down to the planet.
On THE Planet...Ten Minutes Later.
"I don't know about th-Achooo!-is, Jack." Daniel spoke up from the back end of the stretcher that Danny lay on. "Don't you think that we should've at least had Thor scan the area first? There could be a Goa'uld occupying the planet right now. Jaffa could be covering the Gate. Maybe-."
"Shut up and watch where you're going." Danny growled angrily through gritted teeth as the stretcher jolted backwards suddenly sending waves of pain through him. He had quickly found out that Thor hadn't been able to take all of the pain out of his shoulder and none from his back.
"Sorry." Daniel apologized, steadying the bed.
"Thor said he'd keep an eye on us." O'Neill answered the archaeologist's earlier question.
"Twenty more minutes to the Stargate." Major Carter reported from her position beside Teal'c at the head of the party. Janet came up to walk with them.
"Why didn't Thor just beam us down next to the Gate?" The doctor complained. She had nothing against a healthy hike, but the terrain was rocky and some places were steep. She had tried to help steady the stretcher Daniel was laying on, but hadn't been able to make much of a difference. His pain touched her to her core and she just wanted this rough journey to be over with for his sake.
After a few more minutes of silent hiking, Teal'c took over Jack's place at the head of Danny's bed. The Jaffa moved forward with careful percision, keeping the stretcher perfectly straight. Danny, exhausted from their long conversation the night before, fell into an uneasy sleep.
"Jack? Achooooo! Jack?" Daniel called between a bout of sneezing.
O'Neill rolled his eyes. "Yes, Daniel?" He took off his hat and slapped it against his leg.
"Shouldn't we find a place to set up camp somewhere away from the Stargate? I know that Thor is in orbit and keeping an eye out for Goa'uld, but we have no guarentee that some won't come through the Gate. Plus we have no idea how long it's going to take Sam to fix the Stargate - if she can fix it at all."
"Carter?" O'Neill looked shot a look over his shoulder at his second in command. The blonde woman jogged forward.
"I can let you know within ten minutes if there is a device on the Stargate or DHD." She said.
The Colonel nodded. "Alright. We'll wait until you check this thing out and then if you find something I'll have Teal'c scout us out a camping spot. If somebody does show up through the Stargate, we can always beam up to the ship."
"Sounds good, I guess." Daniel agreed after a slight pause.
"Trust Jack, he knows what he's doing." Danny spoke up just loud enough for his double to hear. This seemed to surprise the other man.
"He's so...military." Daniel whispered back. "Sometimes I wonder about his motivations for going through the Stargate. He doesn't have a wife out there...somewhere. Nobody to save from the Goa'uld."
Danny shook his head. "You're wrong. I was wrong. He does care about the people we meet off-world. I thought for a long time that he was just in it for the glory -the adrenaline rush. I was so wrong."
"Then what is he doing it for?" Daniel wondered, he watched the leader of SG-1 shout and point to the Stargate that had just become visible behind a turn in the rocky path. Both O'Neills looked overjoyed to have the Naaquada ring within site. The area around it appeared deserted.
"He does it for his family." Danny said with a sad smile.
Daniel looked down at his double in confusion. "I thought he didn't have any family left. Sarah divorced him before our first trip through the Stargate."
Danny shook his head. "No, Jack is the kind of person who makes people his family. You're part of his family...he just hasn't figured that out yet. Don't let his sarcasm and comments get to you. He uses them as a smokescreen for his emotions. In all of the long years that he has been working with the military, he never did learn how to express his feelings. That's my - our strongpoint not his."
Then Daniel understood. "He puts down the ones he cares for the most so that he doesn't hurt them. Charlie?"
"Charlie. His death was a hard for Jack. Much harder than anything that we've went through since then." He chuckled sadly. "Although there were a few close seconds."
Daniel carefully sidestepped a large rock, balancing the stretcher carefully. They were just a few yards away from the Stargate now.
"I wish that you could tell me about the future. The things that you have seen and learned."
Danny smiled at the genuine yearning for knowledge that his younger-self still contained. The great rush that followed every historical find had faded during his years at the SGC. Too many bad things had blurred over into his feild of choice. Career and pleasure were no longer synonymous.
"I wish you didn't have to." Danny said too quietly for Daniel to hear.
At The Stargate...Ten Minutes Later.
"Yep, there is definently a foriegn device attached to the DHD, sir." Major Carter reported with a self-satisfied tilt of her head. She had known from the beginning of their journey that there was a relatively large probability there would be no time warp field emitter. To find her theories substantiated - at least partially - made the scientist in her glow with pride.
"Well, see what you can do with it. I'm going to talk to Teal'c about setting up some kind of camp, and then I'm sure the Doc is just dying to check over her patients. That was a pretty rough trail up here." O'Neill said. Jack watched her retreat to the Stargate before he walked back to where the group had set down their supplies and Danny's stretcher in a clearing a few yards from the Stargate. The Colonel motioned for Teal'c and Dr. Fraiser to join him.
"Carter was right. She found some kind of alien device on the DHD. Teal'c, I want you to scout out the area and find a good place to camp out. Doc, how about you help me and Daniel set up a temporary camp here so that you can get a look at your patients before we go and move them again.'
Janet grinned in relief. "That would be wonderful, Colonel. I'm going to have to change their bandages, and I think that Daniel's stitches might've come out."
Jack nodded his understanding and pulled the large pack off of his back, unbinding a tent. Withint minutes he had the military issue tent up and was helping Daniel move Danny's stretcher inside of it. Next Jack sent Fraiser out to collect firewood so that she could sterilize her equipment. Within half an hour they had the makings for a camp completed and Teal'c reported back the abscence of any other likely spots.
"I guess that we're just going to have stay here then." Flyboy said unhappily as the doctor re-bandaged his hands. She injected him with a mild pain killer and then disapeared into the tent with Daniel. Sam had taken a break from the DHD to do border patrol on their small encampment. O'Neill and Teal'c had went off with an excited Daniel to study some ruins that had been spotted over the hill.
With no one to distract him, Flyboy found his thoughts turning to Samantha Carter. He wondered what she was doing right then. He glanced down at his watch and smiled softly. She would be eating dinner in front of the TV. Probably pizza. Flyboy knew that her healthy habits were being slowly taken over by his own lack of dietary disgression. Flyboy stared dreamily into the fire as he pictured her smile and the wonderful way that her eyes sparkled when she was inventing.
"Who is she?" Major Carter asked as she sat down across from him.
Flyboy looked up, startled. "What?"
Major Carter got comfortable on a log across from him. "With that star struck expression it doesn't take an astrophysicist to know that you are very much in love. Have you told her?"
Flyboy grinned at the inquisitive tone. "In my own way, I've been telling her for a very long time." He answered.
Carter scrunched up her nose. "You're ways are sometimes unorthodox, sir. How do you know that she knows what you're trying to tell her? Has she returned your affection?"
"After a fashion." Flyboy replied cryptically. "She's a lot like you, Major."
Carter gave him a long, measured look. "Are you telling me that I'm the one you're thinking about? You're in love with me?"
"You always were too smart for me, Samantha."
Her mouth opened, but she didn't say anything for a few long moments. "I see."
He studied her carefully. "I know that I can be a real pain sometimes and the whole touchy-feely thing just isn't me, but somehow...in a few years, you will change me into a new man. Someone I never thought that I could ever be again."
Major Carter was floored by this unusual confession. "Wow."
"Yeah." Flyboy said softly. "That's what I was thinking too."
The Tent...Current Time
"Ow!" Danny whined. "That hurt."
Janet readjusted her grip on the man's elbow as she tried to re-stitch the long gash on his side with only one hand.
"If you would just stop moving, I could get this done faster." She complained between clenched teeth as she tried valiantly not to jostle Danny any more than neccessary. The doctor cursed her inferior stature, she was forced to work on tiptoe just to keep the wound visible.
"I'm sorry, Janet." Danny apologized. He felt a weight on his throat and realized that he was crying. "I'm sorry." He repeated trying to wipe away the tears with his free hand before she noticed. It was too late, she reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a packet of kleenexes.
"It never hurts to be prepared." She said and gently helped him open the plastic bag. "You never know when a piece of dirt or something will get into your eye."
Danny smiled through the flood of tears. "Only one thing could make me feel like this, and it isn't an allergy."
Janet paused her work on him. "Danny-." She started.
He held up a hand to stop her. "No, I've got to say this now, before Sam gets that Gate fixed and I lose...my last chance."
Janet gently lowered his arm and backed away from the bed warily. "I can't let you do this, Danny. Seriously, no matter how much I wished." She looked away. "This can't happen. I'm sorry."
Danny squinted up at her. "What's is it, Janet? Are you afraid of what could happen?"
"No. I'm afraid of what will happen, Danny."
"You aren't going to die, Janet." Danny confessed earnestly. "I won't let you. When Sam fixes the Stargate we'll take you with us."
The woman shook her head. "No, Danny. I thought that you might be planning something like this, but I can't go with you. What about all of the people's lives that I will be forfieting? You yourself said that I saved your life. If I'm not there to save you..." Her voice trailed off.
"You heard that?"
"Every word and, Danny, I'm sorry."
The tears stopped just as suddenly and unexplainably as they had begun. "You're serious?" Danny asked.
The woman picked up her needle and moved his arm back aside so that she could finished sewing him up.
"Very."
The Next Afternoon...The Stargate.
"I've fixed it!" Carter called triumphantly over her radio. "The Stargate should now be set to send them five years into the future to the day."
There was a brief hiss before Colonel O'Neill's voice said. "Good job, Carter. Come back to camp and help us pack this stuff up."
"Yes, sir."
"And Carter, good job."
The Major smiled as she remembered what Flyboy had told her the day before. Maybe the Colonel did have a thing for her after all. "Yes, sir."
LATER...The Stargate
Flyboy took a step towards the activated Stargate and then hesitated. He looked back to Carter.
"You're sure you fixed it?"
She nodded confidently. "The instructions were written in English on the side of the time warp emitter."
Flyboy glanced at the DHD momentarily. "Oh, of course they were." He muttered sarcastically. Then with one last wave to the rest, he stepped into the blue puddle and disapeared.
It had been decided earlier that Teal'c would carry Danny to the Stargate and let the puddle pull him through. Hopefully, Flyboy would be on the other end waiting to catch him.
"This could get painful. I'm going to give you a powerful pain killer to try and make it as easy as possible on you." Janet explained even as she pushed the syringe into his arm.
"Are you sure you won't reconsider, Janet?" Danny asked laying a hand over hers. She avoided his gaze and carefully help Teal'c ease him off the bed. When he was comfortably situated in the Jaffa's arms, she looked deep into his blue eyes.
"I'll be fine, Dr. Jackson. You just take care of yourself."
Danny knew that this was her way of saying goodbye. He caressed her cheek softly with a thumb.
"Goodbye, Janet." He whispered.
The rest of SG-1 stood back a few feet. They had said their goodbyes at the camp that morning. There was only one more thing for Danny to do before he could leave.
"Sam, come here."
She walked forward to stand beside the Jaffa. "Yes, Danny?"
The archaeologist held out a slip of paper for her to take. "Jack wanted you to have this." He said in a low voice loud enough only for her to hear.
She looked down at it curiously and with a secret smile out it in her pocket. "Thank you."
Danny nodded and then motioned for Teal'c to take him to the Stargate.
"It has been my pleasure to have met you, Future Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said as he approached the puddle.
Danny patted the Jaffa's shoulder companionably. "You too, T."
Then he was being lifted into the coldness of the wormhole.
A Wormhole away...
(NOTE: They are once again Daniel and Jack, BTW.)
Daniel felt clumsy hands grasping at him as he tumbled out of the Stargate. His back ached, but Janet's pain killers were doing their duty and he was able to grab Jack's arms and pull himself up.
"I'll dial home." He offered breathlessly as he stumbled over to the DHD. To his surprise, all of the marks from their earlier fight against the Jaffa were present, but there were none of the aliens around. He quickly punched in the correct symbols and then rejoined Jack. The Stargate spit out a column of blue energy and then sucked it back into a vertical pool.
"Shall we." Jack asked cheerfully, offering his arm for Daniel to use as support.
Then, arm in arm they stepped through the Stargate.
And into the embarcation room. Daniel could see Lt. Colonel Carter sitting in the control tower, General Landry and Colonel Mitchell standing behind her. Vala came in the Gate room at a full run and embraced Daniel with an enthusiastic hug.
"We thought we'd lost you two." She said in her thick accent.
Daniel winced at the pain her touch caused. "We got a little sidetracked."
"Daniel, you're hurt?" Vala asked in concern.
The archaeologist nodded with a groan. "You could say that, yeah."
Then Vala caught sight of O'Neill's bandaged hands. "What happened?" She demanded.
"Oh, just a little Jaffa mix-up. Nothing a trip to the infirmary can't cure." Jack said, happy to just be home again.
"Medic Team to the Gate room." General Landry's voice called over the base coms. "Welcome back, gentlemen."
Daniel grabbed the edge of the ramp to support himself as the pain grew. He felt Vala gently help him into a sitting postion. He wished he was in a dream and any second he would wake up in the infirmary with Janet standing over him. At the same time he knew that he would never see her again. It hurt, but he knew that he would make it through this loss just like he had all the others.
"Jack, I gave her the note."
Jack looked down at him and grinned. "Sweet! Go Danny."
The Next Day...Infirmary.
Jack O'Neill balanced a tray of food with one hand and was trying without success to hold a spoon in the other. Daniel slept fitfully in a bed to his right. It hadn't taken Jack long to figure out that his friend was missing Janet prescence badly. He wouldn't even look at the other doctors. Another loss to add to Daniel's growing list. Jack knew it would be hard for his friend, but he also knew that Dr. Daniel Jackson was the strongest person that he knew. With a little help he would make it past Janet's memory.
"Sir, can I talk to you."
Jack looked up in surprise when Carter walked into the room.
"I'm retired...again. Drop the sir, Carter."
"Drop the Carter, sir." She shot back with a smirk.
He grinned. "What can I help you with, Dr. Carter?"
She slipped into a chair next to his bed and pulled a slip of very wrinkled paper out of her pocket.
"I wanted to read you something that a very, very wise person wrote to me five years ago:
Don't be afraid of the things you think make you weak,
They are the very things that make you stronger than most.
Never give up on love, even when it feels like the one you love
won't or can't listen. Love them anyways.
Don't worry about rules. Follow your heart. It knows what's right.
There's more, but I think that you remember the rest, Jack."
She put the paper back in her pocket and smiled at him. Jack studied her face for a few seconds searching for something and then he found it. Jack moved the tray of food aside and slid to his knees on the floor in front of her.
"Samantha Carter, will you be my wife?"
There were tears in her eyes when she answered. "Yes."
The END.
Let me know what you think! I have a sequal in the works...it's SG-Atlantis of a similar nature.