Title: Though a Candle Burns…

Chapter: 4 of ?

Email: What if Daniel had managed to get Jack to ascend in Abyss?

Category: Angst/Romance

Rating: Teen

Pairing: S/J

Season: 6

Spoilers: Meridian and Abyss are the obvious ones, but anything up to the end of season 6 is fair game.

Content Warnings: Apparent character death (Jack in Abyss), nothing bad.

Archive: My Site: Yes

SamandJack: Yes

Anywhere else: Yes

Disclaimer: Not mine, sadly.

Author's Note:

They reappeared in Janet Fraiser's kitchen, one week later.

"Hey!" Jack exclaimed. "We went to the future."

"We did not." Oma disagreed.

"Yes we did."

"We did not." Oma reiterated. As Jack opened his mouth to speak again, Oma hurriedly explained. "You have heard the expression, time is relative?"

Jack nodded.

"From our point of view, time does not technically exist. We are able to… dip in and out of it at any point we wish." She paused. "That is… those of us who have truly released our burden are able, you are only able to see things that are directly related to you and to your previous life."

"Uh huh." Jack said.

"Did you get any of that, Jack?" Daniel asked snarkily.

"Yes, Daniel, thank you." Jack snapped.

Daniel smirked, earning a disapproving look from Oma.

Jack was looking around Janet's kitchen. "Where's the doc?" He asked.

Before anyone could answer the front door slammed open.

"Cassie! Is that you?" Janet's voice came from upstairs.

"Hi, mom!" Cassie replied.

A moment later Cassandra Fraiser appeared in the kitchen closely followed by Janet.

"Do you want to tell me why you had to leave Sam's so early?" Janet asked, taking a seat on one of the kitchen stools while her daughter busied herself making a sandwich.

"Uh… yeah… about that." Cassie said. "It was nothing, really, just wanted to come home."

"Uh huh." Janet said sceptically.

"What?" Cassie said, all-innocence.

"I think you spent too much time with Colonel-" She stopped. "Since when have you wanted to cut your time with Sam short, Cass?" She asked.

Cassie stopped buttering her bread and looked up at her mother.

"She's just… weird, mom. It's like she's not Sam anymore."

Janet's eyes narrowed knowingly, but she asked, "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, mom." Cassie said. "She's not Sam, she's Major Carter." She threw a mock salute.

Janet laughed and the teenager started back in on her sandwich.

"Add to that the fact that she's lost it and…"

"What do you mean lost it, Cassie?" Janet asked sharply.

Cassie looked up, then glanced away again.

"Cassie?"

"We were cleaning her kitchen-"

"Sam had you cleaning her kitchen?" Janet asked.

"Yeah. So we were putting the dishes away, and I kinda mentioned Jack-"

Janet winced.

"She dropped all the plates, mom. Just dropped them. Then she acted like it was an accident! Like they slipped!" Cassie was getting more and more upset as she spoke.

Janet stood and hugged her somewhat taller daughter.

"Did you know she's going back to work on Monday?" Cassie asked suddenly.

"What?" Janet asked, pulling back from her daughter to look at her.

"I know." Cassie sniffed. "Mom, I wish you'd talk to her."

"I can't Cass. Sam doesn't want to talk to me right now."

The girl nodded. "Jack would never let her do this to herself."

Janet laughed. "Oh yeah, I can see it: 'Carter! What the hell are you doing?'" Both women laughed. "He never understood why she beats herself up so much. Neither do I."

"Okay, so Carter's beating herself up. That's what she does. She'll get over it."

"You trying to convince us, or yourself, Jack?"

"Don't start with me, Daniel."

Oma spoke up. "While Samantha Carter has been kept at home, Teal'c and Jonas Quinn are unable to leave the base."

"She's starting to sound like the narrator of one of those bad cable movies." Jack said in an aside to Daniel.

Teal'c and Jonas were sitting in the commissary with Jacob Carter.

The table was oddly silent. Jonas was picking at his food, Jacob was cradling his coffee, rather than drinking it.

Teal'c sat staring into space.

"Teal'c?" Jacob called the Jaffa's attention. "You haven't touched your food."

"Neither have you or JonasQuinn." Teal'c replied.

"We'll no," Jacob admitted, "but at least we're pretending to. People are starting to stare."

"Why are the Tok'ra not offering us all their information regarding O'Neill's death?" Teal'c asked.

Jacob smiled ruefully. "Never let it be said that you're not to the point Teal'c."

"I will not."

"They're not telling me anything, Teal'c." Jacob said, sounding weary. "I'm just as much out of the loop as the SGC."

"So we're really no further in finding out what happened to the Colonel, are we?" Jonas asked.

"All they'll tell me is that Baal killed Jack. They tried to talk about how greatly they're affected by Kanan's loss," he stopped as though he had realised what he'd just said, "We're affected." He corrected.

"I do not understand why they withhold information." Teal'c said.

"Nor do I, Teal'c, but there's nothing we can do, for the time being. SG-1 go back on active duty tomorrow."

"What?" Jonas asked, shocked.

"You didn't know?" Jacob asked. When both Teal'c and Jonas replied in the negative he went on, "Sam's coming back tomorrow."

"I do not believe this is a wise move on Major Carter's part." Teal'c said.

"Maybe you should go tell her that Teal'c, she won't listen to me."

"Then I very much doubt my words will hold any weight. Once Major Carter sets her mind to something, she will not be swayed."

"Why won't the Tok'ra tell them what happened?" Jack fumed. "I know they know."

"Oh, come on, Jack. You didn't die. You disappeared out of Baal's sarcophagus. I doubt even his Lotar knows." Daniel said.

"So, what? He's keeping it a secret, and the Tok'ra don't want to let on that they can't be sure I'm actually dead?"

"You are correct, Jack." Oma said.

"Look, I can see that they're a little upset…" Jack began.

"A little upset?" Daniel repeated. "Jack, they're falling apart. At least when I died they knew I had ascended. They don't know that about you. They think you died in some Goa'uld fortress after unbearable torture."

"I did." Jack reminded his friend.

Daniel shook his head. "How can you watch this and not want to go back? How can you see your friends suffer like this?"

"I don't have a choice, Daniel."

"Yes you do. You can go back."

"No." Jack was adamant. "Been there, done that…Jonas and Teal'c will be fine."

"And Sam?"

Jack hesitated. "Carter'll be fine too."

Daniel looked away in disgust.

"I think you are underestimating the severity of Samantha Carter's condition." Oma said.

"You don't know her." Jack reminded her.

Oma smiled infuriatingly. "Yes I do. Watch."

They appeared in General Hammond's office. Jack snuck a look at the desk calendar. Two months had passed.

The General looked… older. There was no other word for it.

He was sitting at his desk, reading a report when there was a polite rap at the door.

"Come." Hammond ordered.

The door opened to admit Colonel Reynolds. His arm patch had changed. He was now SG-1.

"General? You asked to see me?"

Hammond nodded wearily. "Have a seat, Colonel."

Reynolds sat, looking uneasy.

"I wanted to talk to you about SG-1, Colonel."

Reynolds nodded. "What do you want to know, sir?"

"First I would like to make it clear that this is off the record, Colonel." Hammond said.

"Yessir."

"How do you think the team is operating?" Hammond asked.

'The team,' Daniel noted, 'not your team.'

Reynolds looked a little taken aback at the direct question, but recovered quickly. "To be honest, sir… badly. I've never seen a team that communicated less in the field."

Hammond nodded, as though he had expected this answer. "Is it all of SG-1, do you think, or just one member?" He fixed the Colonel with a penetrating stare.

Reynolds shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"How can he ask that?" Jack asked angrily.

"Shh." Daniel admonished.

"It's Major Carter, sir." That said, Reynolds seemed to gain confidence. "I know she's brilliant, but I've seen no evidence of it. To be honest, sir, I might as well have an academy cadet on my team."

Hammond nodded again. "Jonas and Teal'c?"

"I get the feeling that Teal'c's thinking of leaving the SGC, to join the rebel Jaffa. Quinn is restless too."

"Give them time, Colonel."

"I am, sir. But I don't think it'll help." Reynolds hesitated. "Permission to speak freely, General?"

"We're off the record, son." Hammond reminded him.

Reynolds nodded. "SG-1 has lost too much, sir. To lose Dr Jackson was almost a crippling blow, but they had the whole 'not really dead' thing to help them out." He paused, obviously thinking about how to go on. "To lose O'Neill like that, sir? I don't think the team will survive it." He caught Hammond's eye. "And not just Major Carter, sir."

"Go on."

"I know my history, General, and I'm pretty good at reading between the lines. Teal'c is with us because he chose to join Jack O'Neill, not the SGC. His allegiance to us came later. He believed that O'Neill could help him free his people. We are going to lose him, General."

"You think he would desert his friends?"

"Not desert, no. But Teal'c left his family behind to fight this cause. What makes you think he won't do it again?"

"Point taken, Colonel."

"Jonas is getting more and more depressed, he told me that it was Jack O'Neill that made him see that there was an alternative to lying to protect his government, that some things were more important." Reynolds sighed heavily before continuing, "I don't know what to tell you about Major Carter, sir."

"Your written reports on the Major have been satisfactory, Colonel."

"She's doing her job, sir. But I get the feeling that her brilliance requires an emotional input, something other than just logic, and I don't think she's capable of that anymore."

"What are you saying, Colonel?"

"I'm saying, sir, that if we get into a bad situation, which is highly likely given what team we're talking about, that she won't be able to pull our asses out of the fire this time."

"So they're distracted." Jack said. "They just lost two team members in quick succession, of course they're distracted."

"Teal'c is thinking of leaving, Jack." Daniel pointed out.

"So maybe its time for him to go. Maybe he thinks that the SGC can't help him anymore. I can't see that it has anything to do with me."

Daniel glared at his friend. "You're lying."

Jack looked away. "Can't I drop in? Tell them I'm okay?" He asked Oma.

"You cannot."

"Daniel did."

"That was different." Oma replied.

"How?" jack asked.

Oma shook her head, unwilling to reply. "Let us observe once more." She said.

"No." Jack snapped. "I want to talk about this!"

But the scene was already shifting around them.