Hello! This one was faster! Hum.

Enjoy!

M.

Chapter VI

March 19th, 2004

Colorado Springs.

They arrived at the outpost entrance for the Sanctuary; it was an old building with an underground parking lot. The fact that it had an excellent cargo elevator was a plus when they found it and as it didn't look fancy or new, worked to keep unwanted attention on track.

The black van parked with a screech of the tires. Considering the speed, they were carrying and the frame of the Doctor, Teal'c was sure she was going to end up on the floor since she was moving between the two bunk beds that contained his friends. But, surprisingly, she didn't even flinch. He didn't either, but he was used to the change from hyperspace to regular speed.

"We are here," Henry announced as the back doors opened swiftly. Helen jumped out and allowed the team of six people dressed in medical gowns, to enter the van. She shared quick and precise instructions for each of the three patients as the group moved them one by one to stretchers and towards the cargo elevator that for Teal'c looked like they were all waiting for them.

They moved quickly, taking special care around the IV's Magnus had already applied to them on the way to wherever they were at the moment.

"Follow me," Will told to Teal'c and the moment they set foot inside the lift, the doors closed and they started to move down. Teal'c frowned, no numbers were pointing exactly how far they were going.

They stopped soon enough, and with his experience with the SGC elevators, Teal'c calculated they went four floors down. The doors slid open from both sides yet; they opened to concrete walls.

Teal'c heard a mechanical sound but couldn't find the source as the lights went off, and in a matter of seconds, thousands of thin greenish lights covered them. And to his surprise, the seemingly hard concrete surfaces opened to give them access to neverending corridors in which sunlight filtered from the half-closed windows.

'Sunlight?' Teal'c frowned, he would bet all his years as a trained Jaffa that they moved down and not up. But how could that be possible, if there was no sun in the ground?

No one seemed faced about the facts that were bizarre to him; all of them concentrated on keeping his friends stable while moving them as fast as they could around the place. The others tried to remain out of the way so to not disturb the medical teams and walked slower behind them. Another person also covered in a medical gown rushed towards them from the other side of the corridor

"The OR is ready, Doctor Magnus," the newly arrived female said. "We prepared a multi-injured one. Cleaning zone holds a new set of clothes for you, ma'am."

"Well done. What about the antidote? Have you called containment to verify we have enough?"

"Yes, they have ten doses available and on their way to the OR. They will be processing some more with the previously captured creatures. Control said they would be performing some tests on the newest additions before they can make them available for production."

"Any other news?" Helen asked, pointing towards the back. The female followed her line of sight and nodded.

"Nothing that can't wait, Doctor."

They reached a bifurcation, and the crew disappeared behind the double doors on the left, taking the three injured along with them.

"William, take him to the observation area," Helen shouted before she entered a different room.

"Teal'c, right?" The alien nodded. "I'm Will. Please follow me; I'll take you to the observation area." He waited for some questions, but the man only nodded once and waited. "This way, please," he said and started to walk, Teal'c followed him. "The room they are at has an observation area," he explained. "There you can see what's going on, and there's always coffee and tea and pastries there." Teal'c didn't say a word, and Will tried not to sigh. It was going to be a long wait.

The room he saw below him, surprised Teal'c, he had seen several operations rooms both at SGC and in many other alien facilities, yet what he saw below was different from them all. It was four times the size of a regular room, if not more. And each bed was surrounded by what looked like a transparent bubble which made it look more like it was several mini OR's. At the same time, the whole set up allowed the flow of personnel from one bubble to the next in a quick and sterile way.

Everything seemed to be moving slowly until his three friends finally were settled in the operating tables. Then, the frenzy began.

The medical crew started to move to go around like bees in a honeycomb;

"Patient Daniel Jackson, Caucasian," they heard Helen's voice before they could spot her entering the area. "Calculated starting dosage of the antitoxin is 0.5mg," she said. They saw her adding it to the IV and waiting for a few moments. "No sign of rejection or allergies," she announced. "You know what to do," was her finally instruction in Daniel's bubbled.

"We've already started the records, Doctor Magnus," someone said.

"Excellent, due to the extension of the wounds, he needs 1.35mg of the antitoxin," she repeated the steps she did on Daniel and walked away to the third bubble.

"Log was started?" She asked. From their high point, Will saw someone nod. "I've calculated that her starting point will be 5mg of paloraevious antitoxin, which is being introduced to her system as I speak," she took a step back and checked her clock. "No signs of rejection towards the antitoxin present. Well, people, let's get to work now." She added, and the team who was on stand by at that point moved closer.

"Doctor Magnus calculated how much the dosage was factoring things like weight, height, and extent of the injuries. She's the only one who seems able to figure out the exact dosage and reactions she can expect from either the neurotoxin or the antitoxin," Will explained to Teal'c who only eyed him stoically.

"Don't get me wrong, Magnus tried to teach others, but the results were not as expected. It didn't result in any casualties, but the treatment can become more extensive and tedious." Teal'c tilted his head but still didn't utter a word. Will sighed. "Is good she was there; now your friends can get out of here asap when they are back on their feet." The other man only looked at him. "Okay, I'll shut up now."

Down at the OR, several Doctors started to treat the wounds of both males. On the third room, blood began to ooze out as they began to cut the duct tape, unfazed by it, they placed a ball of gauze to dry the blood and clean the area at the same time.

Helen frowned when they removed the blood-soaked object, the injury that had been massive was now a deep scratch. She stopped working, and the team looked at her halting all movement. Helen took a deep breath and started to work on the first and most profound scratch. She cleaned out the dead skin and took away pieces of healthy skin which she assessed could still contain remains of the toxin.

Someone from one of the other rooms entered, asking for Helen's presence. "Keep her stable," Magnus ordered before she clipped the place she was working and moved to the other one, throwing her gloves on her way out, and donning news as she entered.

Helen entered Jack's room and walked straight to the place where they pointed, feeling around the area. She asked for a scalpel and cleaned the area. "Well done," the Doctor said, checking the other places and cleaning them too. And then she returned to Sam's bubble.

Carefully, she started to work again on the girl, making sure to add enough stitches to avoid an awful scar. And then, repeated the process on the other two cuts. Once, she finished, she cleaned the whole area, and gave some instructions for the bandages, and walked to check the other two patients. In Daniel's bubble, she did minimal cleaning to make sure everything was alright, and then once they were all stable and bandaged, she looked towards the observation room and gave them two thumbs up.

Time in an operation room was a rare thing, she knew, it seemed to stop while in it and then when is finished, drops itself over your shoulders. She rechecked her watch only to notice that four hours had passed since the last time she had checked it, and she was starting to feel ready to collapse.

She made one final round, informing that they were to be moved to room three before she left. Once they started to push the gurneys out of the OR, Will showed Teal'c how to get there.

"Mister Teal'c," Helen smiled as she spotted them. The nurses transferred the last patient from the gurney to the bed before they left the room. Seeing all her patients were there, she asked Will and Teal'c to wait outside for a while. She checked that everything was working as it should before she scribbled something on her pad.

"Well, we got the antitoxin on time," Helen said. "The wounds don't look too bad. One of the males had a wound more profound than I first realized, but we managed to get all the contaminated skin out of the way. The female situation was a bit more complicated, although her lacerations were less profound than at first sight, I had to open them a bit further to clean the remains of contamination."

"It seemed worse than just a cut, Magnus," Will affirmed.

"My thoughts exactly, whoever as you listened, there wasn't any internal damage, and by the time we cleaned the scene blood out, I couldn't find the origin of the blood. I found several veins and arteries lacerated; we patched them. However, the extent of the work we did doesn't explain the blood loss we saw. I did take the precaution of checking both physically and using the scans. Alas, despite the oddities of this case, all of them are going to be alright."

"What happens now?" Will asked.

"We'll wait until the sedative wears off," she smiled tiredly at him. "Once they are awake, I'll come and fetch you, Mr. Teal'c. It shouldn't be long until that. Have you eaten?"

Teal'c nodded. Helen excused herself and entered the room again. Kate and Henry walked by a bit later, knocking on the glass to catch Helen's attention. She nodded and walked out to meet them.

"Feeding time finished, I presume?"

"Yup!"

The team exchanged a cautious conversation about their daily activities, and then something clicked in Will's mind. He approached the glass wall of room 3 and his eyes, finally, fell over the face of the sleeping woman.

"Hmm, Magnus?" He called.

"Yes, Will?" She answered, coming closer, excusing herself from the conversation she was having with Kate.

"Did you notice it?" He questioned her without taking his eyes from her patient.

"Yes, I did."

"Can you not speak in code?" asked, a freshly bathed Nikola, who had just waltzed in, making Will jump.

"You bathed," Helen couldn't avoid to point out with a mischievous grin.

"Ha. Ha. As if you, oh! Dear God!" he said, pressing his nose to the glass, looking at the patient first, and then at his old friend.

"She can't be, can she?" He inquired, with widened eyes.

"I don't know." Helen shrugged.

"How you don't know?! Did you test it?" He asked with his characteristic impatience.

"Not without authorization," she pointed. "Even you need that to proceed."

"Helen!" he whined, then pleaded.

"No, and that's final."

"But…"

"No, Nikola."

"Now, who is talking in code?" William mumbled.

Teal'c looked at them with his eyebrow high, he too had seen the likeness between the Doctor and Samantha Carter, but he had experienced that kind of situation before.

The puzzle had fallen in place in Teal'c mind when the man who Daniel had called Tesla neared the Doctor. He recognized him as the male who had kissed Sam's double in Prague. Teal'c squinted observing Helen; she looked similar enough to both the girl and the woman they saw during that trip. But he wasn't sure, there was an age gap calculated for both women, and she didn't fit in either. He diverted his eyes towards the other two beds, and the corner of his lips curled slightly. SG-1 timing was good as ever. A grunting sound made Magnus aware of her waking patients, and she walked towards the room and entered.

"Come on in, Teal'c," she called opening the door again, after she checked something on the tablet she had before, "I'll bet they will be happy to see you."

"I have the biggest headache ever!" was the first words that came out from one of the patients. "I told you not to let me drink that much again!" The older looking one groaned.

"Jesus! Can you not yell, Jack!" Daniel complained, placing a hand over his eyes. Sam didn't speak; she was looking at their surroundings.

"Hmm, guys, we are not at the SGC," she affirmed.

"You are so lucky that alcohol doesn't affect you, T!"

Helen smiled, she knew the effects of the sedative all too well, since she was the test subject a long time ago when they discovered the neurotoxin, and the antitoxin was just a starting point. Sadly, one of the main ways to know if it was making an effect or not, was the pounding head.

"Welcome back," Magnus greeted them. Surprisingly, the three of them didn't look fazed by her looks. 'Come to think about,' she thought, 'the alien didn't make any comments about it, either,' she thought.

"Where are we?" The girl managed to say.

The door of the room opened at that moment, and Tesla pushed Will and Kate in; mostly because he wanted to hear what was going on and didn't want to be the one intruding first. But the look he got from Helen told him he was busted.

"We are at an undisclosed location we call the Sanctuary. I'm Dr. Helen Magnus, and the curious fellows over there are my team members, Dr. William Zimmerman," Will nodded. "Kate Freelander," Kate waved "and Nikola Tesla."

"There were two more…" the girl commented with a frown. She remembered a blonde girl; she thought she had seen before. And a guy.

"Oh, yes. Henry and Ashley." She bit her lower lip, "I know this is not the best moment, considering the headache you must have. However, I need to know who you are and what were you doing down there?"

Everyone went silent for a while. Two of the injured opened their mouths and closed them several times. Teal'c looked at his friends but didn't say a word, and Helen sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She knew they were military for the uniforms and the way they moved, and because she knew the life of Doctor Jackson to a great extent. With all that information, she didn't have her hopes high in their cooperation.

"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, Air Force. Dr. Daniel Jackson," Magnus smiled, "Major Samantha Carter and Teal'c Murray," Sam smiled, and Teal'c bowed his head.

"I'm acquainted with Dr. Jackson's work. Nikola and Henry had already met him before. It is a true pleasure being able to meet you tête à tête, Dr. Jackson. I'm truly sorry I couldn't be there," Helen said with a smile, she remembered quite vividly trying to find him, even if it was more than 100 years ago. "And what were you doing down there, Colonel?"

"What we were doing there is classified, ma'am. And that doesn't explain, what were you doing there?"

"We were hunting," she shrugged, "Now, in regards to your health, taking apart the scratches and poisoning. Colonel O'Neill, you got three broken ribs, and two bruised, and a dislocated wrist." She cited

"Dr. Jackson, you got two broken, two cracked and three bruised ribs, and a mild concussion. Major Carter, you have four cracked ribs and two bruised ones and a lot of blood loss, you might feel lightheaded due to it. And all three of you got poisoned with the Paloraevius neurotoxin through the scratches, which were cleaned and closed and they will itch. The first dose of the antidote is passing through your IV at the moment. The pounding head is one of the key features of effectiveness."

"Peachy," Jack muttered, making Sam smile.

"I will be checking your advance and making the necessary adjustments to get you out of it as soon as possible. Questions?"

"What the hell is a paloraevius?"

"Godzilla, I think it was how you named it," Will grinned

"We should leave you to rest. The paloraevius poison is not the easiest to fight, and I am getting too old for hunting activities," she mumbled. Everyone snorted, the Sanctuary team because they wouldn't believe in Magnus getting older when she was the most active of them all, and SG1 because for them the woman wasn't older than 34.

"My best medical advice for you is: get as much sleep as you can. It's easier for your brain. The antidote will give you an awful headache which, unfortunately, I can't treat." They all winced, "You are already under pain killers, and you should have what would be a suitable competitor with a migraine. We'll keep the lights dimmed out there, and we will turn them off when we leave. Should I call someone to let you know you are not missing?"

"Teal'c, can you make the call?"

"Indeed."

"Very well, then. Now, all of you, out of here, your curiosity must be sated by now," Helen ushered her team away. "Teal'c? May I call you Teal'c?" he nodded. "Kate will show you your accommodations for the night; it will have a phone and an internet connection if you need to use it, anything else, please don't hesitate to ask. Henry," she called the tech, who was waiting outside, "can you fetch a pad for them?" Henry nodded; she turned her attention back to the people in bed. "You will get clothes to change in the morning; Henry will bring you a pad with the residential floor map on it. Come up whenever you feel hungry tomorrow morning, as I said, rest for the night." Then she started to check their vitals and writing down some notes, making all the effort in the world to keep her curiosity at bay, even when she felt three sets of eyes following her every movement.

"Ma'am, I'll risk sounding rude, but, who the hell are you?" She stopped writing and raised her eyes to meet his.

"As I told you, Colonel O'Neill, I'm Dr. Helen Magnus."

"From *the* Magnus family?" She smirked if they only knew.

"It has been a while, Colonel, but if I recall correctly, you were looking for me. Or at least, Dr. Jackson's friend, the one who came with you to the conference, was. Doctor Janet Frasier was her name. She was very persistent, and Henry had to work overtime for her cause."

"I… I didn't know…" Daniel excused himself

"It's not an issue any longer. Is she still the MD at Cheyenne?" They opened and closed their mouths, "Oh! You thought we wouldn't check her? I even know which kind of cereal her daughter prefers for breakfast, and no, it isn't a threat." She stopped, "come to think about, do you want me to call her? If she's still the MD, and you still work at Cheyenne, Doctor Jackson, then I can presume you all work there. And if all of the above is right, then she must be your physician." She concluded, they went all silent, stunned really. How much she knew and where did her connections came from, they all wondered.

"Yes, please." Sam nodded after assessing the Doctor, "She is our doctor. We are under a special treatment, something dif…"

"Oh, that!" Helen exclaimed, "We didn't find anything strange in any other member of your team, Major Carter. You, however, have one heavy metal in your bloodstream, I believe it was called Naquadah by the …" she couldn't say, vampires, could she? "Egyptians, I was under the impression it didn't exist on earth anymore."

"How do you know I have something different? It doesn't come out of a simple blood test," Sam asked alarmed.

"Well," said Henry, who had just entered the room when the Doc was finishing her comment, "the entrance has a not intrusive biological analysis, which scans everyone's bodies to search for something out of the ordinary. It's not as efficient as a full DNA scan, but it helps," he smiled.

"That's the reason why we couldn't give you a transfusion." She explained, "I'm quite surprised you are already awake, with the amount of blood you lost, you should still be too anemic," She frowned pursing her lips. Sam shrugged.

"I'm a fast healer, or that's what Dr. Frasier says," Helen hummed accepting that information a little too quickly for Sam's nerves. But if it stopped her from asking anymore, she wouldn't complain.

"Boss, here's the pad. Also, we secured everything for the night. Kate is going to take the morning shift and catch up with us for breakfast. And to whom should I give this cool piece of tech?"

"Oh, just when I thought I couldn't find anyone geekier than you Carter," O'Neill said. Sam smiled and took the pad eagerly.

"Ok, so you have to," Henry started to say. However, Sam just raised an eyebrow. "Scary," Henry mumbled, looking between Sam and Magnus, who was using the same expression, "really scary." Sam just started to play with the pad; after a while, she smiled at Henry.

"Thanks, I can make this work," she told him and showed him how she controlled it with ease.

"Creepy, doc. Are you sure you are not related?" He meant it as a joke. However, he knew Magnus well enough, and her expression told him something was going on. Sam looked to Helen, and surprisingly, Magnus was the first to look away; 'talk about weird things going on!' Henry thought.

"Well," Helen cleared her throat uncomfortably, "when you start to feel body pain press this button, your sedatives will go in, and you will be sleeping in no time. There's no risk of overdose as they are calculated and fixed with the maximum dosage allowed for each of your cases. Good Night," and then she left. She got a couple of calls to make.

July 30th, 1999

SGC

Somehow, and against all the odds, he ended up in her room. He knew he wasn't supposed to be there, but he wanted to know. He needed to know. Decidedly, he knocked on the door, and after a moment it opened, and checking his surroundings, he went in.

She smiled at him, her lips curved in a way he had seen only on special occasions. Moments so unique, he could have counted them on the one hand. It took all his willpower not to kiss her because she wasn't her and it wouldn't be prohibited. However, even if it wasn't forbidden, this wasn't his Sam.

The woman was Dr. Samantha Carter, the Colonel's fiancée, and not Major Sam Carter, Phd., Nerd extraordinaire, love of his life and forbidden fruit all wrapped up in a beautiful outside.

"Jack," Doctor Carter whispered his name. He closed his eyes, relishing in the feeling of hearing 'Sam' calling him in that way, she smiled. "You, I mean, my Jack, used to do that the whole time, as if he couldn't believe I was his girl," she smiled sadly. "I don't want to talk about us if that's possible. I know it will only make it uncomfortable for you and your Sam." She added, chewing her lower lip. He sighed.

"Okay, don't talk to me about hmm us. Tell me something different, like how did you manage to make the mirror thingy work," Doctor Carter smiled brightly

"You don't want to know about it, it will bore you to death, and I'm not the Sam you want to hear techno-babbling away. So, what about if I tell you some histories that aren't related to us, nor science and then if you want you can share some of your histories. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal."

They exchanged adventures for what seemed hours until finally, silence came to them. It wasn't uncomfortable; it was just there.

"You know, my mom had a friend who told me once a theory of his. He called it: 'the Linchpin Theory'"

"Do I want to know?" She smiled.

"He believed that at some point, a Linchpin exists. And he told me, he felt my mom was one of those." He wasn't interested in knowing more crazy theories, but the mention of her mom was a whole different story. His Carter rarely spoke of her.

"Your mom?" He frowned

"Yes, did you meet her already?" The Doctor asked with hope.

"Your mom here is, she had a car accident when you were 13," He says, sounding sad. "She passed away."

"Oh!" she said a little bit sad, "you didn't meet her yet." He raised an eyebrow at that, "Don't look at me like that! My Carter mom died in a car accident; I was devastated!" She looked at him, sighed and continued, "My dad was late to pick her from the airport, she got in a cab, and there was a crash, she died instantaneously. I still miss her from time to time, but that's for another universe." They were silent once more. "Anyhow, when I was working with the mirror, I got to one parallel universe, and it was completely devastated. I theorized that Aliens brought the mirror to Earth for some reason. Because after I crossed it turned out, strangely I was on Earth. In that reality, the world was in the 19th century: no decent electricity, no computers, no nothing we know now. I managed to find you and Daniel. You both were alive, but you were a drunken fisherman, and Daniel was a tomb raider. However, I, I didn't exist."

"How's that even possible?"

"Without computers, it took me a while to find all the information I needed. By that time, I already knew the Carters weren't my birth parents."

"They aren't?" She shook her head.

"No, I've met my birth parents, and they have nothing to do with the Carters."

"Okay."

"Well, when I crossed, that theory came to my mind, and I looked for my birth mom to see if she could explain things to me. But she wasn't alive anymore; I understood then that she had made a decision that altered the course of her life completely."

"What was that?"

"A decision which leads her to die earlier in that reality. With her passing, the achievements she had completed in my timeline were lost to them. I understood she was the reason behind that result. When I got back to my universe, I searched for James, the friend of my mom, and explained what I saw; he told me my history confirmed his theory, and that she was, in fact, a linchpin. So, if you find my mother, please thank her for doing it and tell her that James was right about the linchpin thing and…" she couldn't finish what she was saying because an entropic cascade failure hit her with all the force.

March 20th, 2004

Jack woke up feeling numb, he was sure he got a big dream, but he couldn't remember what it was. The pounding in his head was brain-numbing and avoided him to try and prod a little more for what it could have been. He sighed, and looked to his companions in the infirmary, he looked at the easy way out, but between the pounding and the tiredness he knew the doors could be open and the place unguarded and even then, there wouldn't be a scape. So, he just turned around and went back to sleep.