Title: Though a Candle Burns…

Chapter: 6 of?

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

Category: Angst/Romance

Rating: Teen

Pairing: S/J (C'mon people, you're really still reading this part?)

Season: 6

Spoilers: Meridian and Abyss are the obvious ones, spoilers through season 6.

Content Warnings: None.

Archive: My Site: Yes

SamandJack: Yes

Anywhere else: Yes

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who sent feedback. I really appreciate it. Sorry about the gap between updates. Real Life sucks, huh?

Seriously, it means an awful lot to me that you all took time to read and review. Thank you!

"I cannot take you there, as it is now." Oma said softly.

"Why not?" Jack asked.

Daniel sighed. "Because there isn't any there to take you to, Jack."

Jack seemed to digest this for a moment. "What happened?"

Oma made a small movement with her hand and they were in a corridor at the SGC.

Around them people were running and fighting for their lives, the SGC was in full alert mode.

"I thought you said you couldn't bring me here?" Jack asked, looking around at the destruction.

"I could not take you to the place that existed that long after the demise of the Asgaard. We have gone back several months. When the Goa'uld learned that the Asgaard were losing their war with the replicators they lost no time in invading the civilisations formerly under the Protected Planets Treaty. They chose a symbolic place to begin."

"Lemme guess," Jack interrupted, "The Tau'ri."

"The Tau'ri?" Daniel repeated.

Jack glared at him. "Just 'cause I don't use the words, doesn't mean I don't know 'em, Daniel." He said reproachfully.

Oma said, "You are correct, Jack."

They appeared in the gateroom. It was a warzone. They watched as Jonas and Sergeant Harriman went down under the fire of several Jaffa, in defence of the gateroom.

After the SGC had been subdued, the Jaffa left some of their number to guard at strategic points, but most of them gathered together, waiting for someone.

"They're waiting for Baal." Jack said quietly.

Oma inclined her head slightly.

Baal appeared, dressed as flamboyantly as ever. He stalked the empty corridors, a satisfied smirk on his lips.

As he swept past a door there was a sound from the room within.

"Carter's lab." Jack said quietly.

They watched as Baal halted his Jaffa. He motioned one of them forward into the room, following him in.

At first glance, the room was empty.

"I know you are here." Baal said. He looked puzzled for a moment, then said, "I can sense you." He turned to his Jaffa, "Find them."

The Jaffa tore into the lab, scattering equipment and gadgets everywhere.

Finally two of the Jaffa dragged a figure in front of Baal.

Sam Carter.

Jack stared at the ghost of the woman he knew. Sam's face was ashen; her hair fell limply from her head, dull and lifeless.

Baal smiled. "Well, what have we here?" He asked, smugly. "Major Carter, of SG-1."

Sam said nothing.

Baal looked her over casually. "You know, I had no idea of who SG-1 were, and how great a threat, until quite recently, when I had cause to research you." He paused, surveying her again. "I see none of that threat here."

He walked around Sam, inspecting her, until he reached his previous position. "Do you know why I had cause to research SG-1?" He asked.

Sam ignored him, staring down at the floor.

"It was O'Neill."

Sam's head shot up, glaring at Baal.

"After I killed him, I realised that the Tau'ri, especially SG-1, were a significant threat. That you should be exterminated once and for all."

"You still waited until the Asgaard were out of the way." Jack sneered.

"Is that why you waited until the Asgaard were gone?" Sam asked.

Jack smiled. Behind him, Daniel and Oma exchanged looks.

"She speaks." Baal said mockingly.

"Go to hell." Sam and Jack said at the same time.

"I have no use for this one." Baal said to his Jaffa. "She would have been useful as a host, but that is too dangerous. Kill her."

He stepped back and walked out of the room.

One of his Jaffa stepped forwards and aimed his staff weapon at Sam.

Jack was once again in nothingness.

"Jack?" Daniel asked softly. "Jack?"

"Leave me alone, Daniel."

"Jack you-"

Oma put her hand on Daniel's arm, silencing him. "We must go, Daniel."

"But-"

"Now."

Oma and Daniel disappeared.

Jack stared at nothing.

Everyone was dead. Everyone. Teal'c might have survived somehow, but how long would the Jaffa rebellion survive with no allies? What about the Tok'ra?

I'm going back.

Somewhere, Oma and Daniel were watching Jack.

"Oma, you don't know Jack like I do," Daniel was saying reasonably, "we need to push him to make this decision, to make the right choice."

"How long have you known Jack O'Neill?" Oma asked, her tone one of disinterested politeness.

"About seven years." Daniel replied, after working it out. "Since the first Abydos mission."

Oma nodded. "And in all that time, when the situation has been truly dire, have you ever known him to make the wrong choice?"

Daniel thought for a moment. "No," he grudgingly admitted, "not the wrong choice. The hard choice maybe, but not the wrong one."

"It seems Jack O'Neill's lack of faith in himself is contagious."

"That's not it." Daniel said. "Look, Oma… I know Jack is a better man than he seems to think he is, but that's not the point, is it?"

Oma shook her head.

"The point is that he doesn't know that." Daniel finished.

Oma smiled at him.

"You know Jack will make the right decision, because in these circumstances, he can't make the wrong one." Daniel said, finally realising what Oma was doing. "He can't sit back and let that happen, no matter what he believes about himself. Whether or not he believes that his absence is the reason for it."

Oma nodded.

Jack was thinking.

There was no way he was going back to Baal. No way in hell. So that meant somewhere else.

He had to work out a point where he could change everything. Make it all okay.

He remembered when Oma had taken him to Sam's house, after she had argued with Janet. She had known he was there.

What if he could go back to then?

Oma had said they weren't really travelling through time, because for them, time wasn't really happening.

So what if he went there now, what if he descended there? Could he do that?

Jack concentrated on that moment, just after Sam had walked out of the room and they had left. He could see it all so clearly.

He was there.

He looked around the room, still unable to believe that he had done it. Then he walked over to the dresser and tried to pick something up. Nothing happened. His hand passed right through it.

"Shit."

There was a sound behind him, and Sam walked into the room.

She had been crying again. Her face was still wet with tears. She looked around the room, as though expecting to see something.

Then she walked into the room, passing through Jack as she did so.

Again she stopped, but she didn't turn around this time. Her eyes closed and tears slid out from under the lids. "Stop it." She whispered. "Just… stop it."

"Stop what?" Jack asked, having no hope that she would hear him.

Sam gasped sharply. She was silent for a moment, then said. "Stop that. Please."

'She can hear me,' Jack thought. He concentrated again.

He really, really wanted to go home.

He wanted to be here.

He wanted to stop his friends dying.

He wanted it so much it was like physical pain.

Tentatively, he reached out and put his hand on Sam's shoulder.