Hey, People! Sorry, I know I told you this wouldn't take long, but it is here now.

Enjoy!

M.

Chapter VII

March 20th, 2004

It was late, really late. But he woke up and was unable to go back to sleep. He was pretty sure what was the reason why he awakened, his thoughts confirmed when he patted the bed only to find her gone. He peaked the watch that was brightly displaying it was 2 AM.

He huffed, it did make perfect sense; he could hear the soft tones of her classical music from there. That meant, it was super loud. But then again, who cared?

Not only their side of the corridor, but their whole floor had three residents, and besides that, each level, and wings were soundproofed entirely from the next.

He asked Helen the reason behind it, and she only mischievously smiled. Then, a couple of days later, he was invited to join Pili, in her building, and he found himself assigned to a communal floor. Now, he wanted to be able to forget how some interspecies lovemaking sounded. He shook himself out of his restless mind and got back to his most recent mystery: Her side was cold.

Well, as he concluded it wasn't a mystery per se.

A couple of weeks after his arrival at Hollow City, (they need to find a name for it!). He learned that Magnus not only had her twisted sleeping schedule for which he and his insomnia were also grateful. Especially when he figured out it was nice to have someone who was still up when he was.

He also discovered later that she woke up in the middle of the night for no reason in particular. Those episodes, he had separated them in two kinds: A calm day - so she didn't need that much sleep. And a stressful one - when she had so many things in her mind that sorting them was almost as distressing as the situation that created them.

Either one, for most of those nights, he would wake up, and she would tell him to go back to sleep. Moments later, calm classical music would start sounding, and he would go back to bed peacefully. Some other nights, they would remain up talking about anything at all, or not at all, he smirked to himself. But in some weird nights, she would be gone, and the music wouldn't be a calm one, then a few hours later, she was radiant looking, albeit he could see all the tiredness hiding behind the tons of makeup she still wore when playing her part.

Today, the music wasn't calm. This time, Will knew the cause laid in Room 3, and he found himself pacing while trying to pinpoint the origin of the sounds for the first time since they had ended up (somehow) together.

He found it, and he was about to go in when a hand stopped him from moving.

"I'm sorry, protege, but I can't let you disturb her," Nikola grinned.

Of course, the third resident of the wing would be up; he had, after all, an excellent hearing. Not taking notice on the vampire warning, Will took a step forward, Nikola was faster and covered the entrance quickly with his lithe frame. The door was ajar, and the sounds where louder inside the room.

"I just want to know if she is okay," Willam finally huffed. Truth to be told: he was grumpy, sleepy and the protege call was still somehow a touchy subject for him.

"Really, Junior?" Nikola raised his eyebrow. "She is playing Vivaldi's, Winter. You should know by that alone that she is far from 'okay' I won't be surprised if she starts Mozart's Requiem at any time," Nikola mumbled more to himself.

"Wait, she is playing? Nice try, Nikola. It's an orchestra; even Magnus can't be playing it by herself."

"Well, dear William. Either you are not as bright as you believe, or you never heard her recordings before."

"I have, she plays them often." He scowled, defending himself.

"Did you hear her recordings with her being in the room?"

"Of course! She uses them when she's in her lab or surgery. She was listening to the same piece when patching up that woman downstairs. What is your point?"

"Oh, there was another option, you know zilch about classical music. Oh, young people do have the strangest musical taste. And yet I hoped that since she says you can see what others couldn't. You could also hear what others wouldn't," Nikola sighed dramatically, making Will frown, "Oh, just listen!"

"What am I supposedly listening? Wait! The one she was playing today didn't have the violin playing," Will frowned.

"Shhh, stop ruining it and let's enjoy it," Nikola shushed him, turning around to look at Helen dreamily. Over his shoulders, Will finally got to see her. She was standing in a corner next to a piano. Eyes closed, left-hand fingers flying through the chords. More than enjoying the music, she was enjoying herself, and then it ended. She sighed.

"Come on in you two," she said, placing down the bow and violin. "I was in the mood for some violin today," she said, chewing her lower lip, she looked embarrassed.

"Wow, Magnus that was," Will was amazed, he talked with her daily, and she always had something new to let him know. He wondered just how many secrets Magnus was still hiding in plain sight? "I didn't realize…"

"Why didn't you just play the piano?" Nikola intruded. "Oh, Helen, you must agree with me; it's far more dramatic."

"You play the piano?"

"Piano, violin, viola, cello, you name it, and she plays it," Nikola said… there was something different in his voice when he said it, something resembling genuine admiration or something.

"I simply couldn't sleep," she dismissed.

"Please, Helen, can you play Love's dream? It's been ages since I've heard it perfectly executed. And I know you want to," Nikola said, wriggling his eyebrows. Helen raised an eyebrow.

"If you must insist."

"Yes, I do."

"You always loved my old teacher, didn't you?" She smiled at Nikola and started to play

"I wouldn't say loved Mr. Liszt, but he was a lovely grumpy old man."

"Liszt was your teacher?" Will asked, shaking his head. Helen lost herself in the music. Nikola grinned and turned towards Will.

"Her dad insisted. Helen was four when she started playing it, and the older man visited her, or she visited him until he passed away. You could leave them hours in front of the piano, and they would never notice the time flying by." Both Nikola and Helen lips curled when they felt a fourth person getting closer.

Major Carter stood rooted in front of the door, peering inside to watch this version of herself, playing the piano as if she had all the time in the world to do it. She knew the woman couldn't be from another universe, or there would be dramatic consequences.

Knowing that did not make things easier. If the woman was Helen Magnus, it opened the door for a bunch of questions, starting with: Which was the reason behind the striking resemblance? Could they be related?

She remembered her dad mentioned her biological father was British; could her mother be British too? Could she be her mother? She fixed her eyes on Helen's back; and she remembered the face she saw earlier, judging by it, Doctor Magnus couldn't be older than what 34? She was 33 herself.

Sam snorted, 'of course Helen couldn't be your mother!' she thought. The Doctor was far too young; maybe she was an older sister? A cousin, perhaps? Would she know about her? Would she know about missing family members? She wondered who was Helen Magnus and what secrets lay hidden under that face so similar to her own. There were a lot of mysteries going on in this place. Sam knew it; all her body was screaming for her to find the truth.

Helen wasn't so lost in the music as she seemed and was aware of the person standing out there. The question that had interrupted her slumber, and brought her to the music room filled her mind as she played the requested song by heart. Helen couldn't but question if the Major was her baby? Indeed she had traits besides the similar faces, over average intelligence, judging by how fast learned how to go around on Henry software. And a healing speed that was almost a rival for her own.

"Care to come in, Major Carter?" Sam jumped. "I assure you, we don't bite. Well, at least Will and I don't. Nikola is under control," Magnus raised her voice over the play

"I... I should be resting. I got lost…" The three of them smiled; they could see a lie from a satellite orbiting the moon.

"Please come in, we are just enjoying Helen's skills before bedtime, and it looks to me that you need to sit before you pass out," Will intervened, smiling charmingly, somehow gaining her trust.

"Okay," she went on, taking in her surroundings. She took a seat on a sofa placed next to the piano right next to the one that Will was currently using. Nikola was next to Magnus on the piano bench.

"Oh! I would have loved to learn this thing," he said enthusiastically.

"You had your chance Nikola, and you are still not learning it."

"Oh, you have to pardon these two; they love to annoy each other, "Will said. "I think they know each other too well by now and know where to push. I don't say it out loud, but I know Nikola is in love with her. Thankfully for me, he is too afraid to act on it," Will whispered to Sam

"Oh! You and her?" Sam whispered in surprise. Will nodded and looked at Magnus.

"She is way out of my league, I know," he said, not taking his eyes out of Helen. Sam could see he had a profound love and respect for the Doctor. "Helen and I, we are temporary, I know." She looked at Nikola and could see that was something in his eyes as well. "Nikola and her, they go way back and will go forever if they must."

Sam looked at Will after that comment not entirely understanding the reference. But before she could ask the music came to an end. He smiled at her and then his eyes fell on Helen. This night, Magnus looked exhausted. Under Sam's eyes, however, somehow the Doctor looked younger, looking at her under this light, she thought of her chances of Magnus knowing about her was thinner, someone younger than herself couldn't be around the time her birth.

"Will you want a guide to the infirmary, Major Carter? I have some patients to check, before calling the night," Magnus grinned.

"I do, but I'm going with you only if you stop calling me Major Carter, Dr. Magnus, the name is Sam."

"Sam," Helen tested. "I will use it only if you call me Helen or Magnus. I'll even agree with Doc," she smiled and went to where Will was standing. Magnus wasn't one for public displays of affection, but patted Nikola's shoulders and gave Will a quick peck on the cheek when he came closer to her. "See you later, Will. Good Night Nikola. Shall we, Sam?"

The two women strolled down the Sanctuary corridors and floors separating them from the infirmary. Both had questions running in their minds that both were too afraid to ask. Maybe it was a family thing.

"You think?"

"Would you?"

They asked at the same time and smiled at each other once they were inside the elevator which opened in the infirmary part of the building.

"Go ahead, Sam; I'm older than you, and I've certainly learned to wait." Helen grinned.

"You don't look older," Sam frowned. "You look younger than this morning," she pointed out.

"Yes, the wonders of makeup," Helen sighed, waving her hands in dismissal. "However, I assure you I am older than I look. Now, you had a question. Pray tell, what was about?"

"Nah, don't worry…it is nothing… it can wait, what did you want to know?"

"How is your wound feeling?" she didn't dare to ask. She was too tired to be brave at that point.

"Good, it will heal quickly, I think, but I am not the doctor," Sam grinned. Somehow, she felt comfortable with Magnus, which was a rarity. She never felt that with anybody, not that fast. Well with Jack, but, that was a whole different reason.

"Yes, it will sting. I will give you an ointment for that in the morning after breakfast." She said, and fell silent. "Normally people start arriving 7:30 for breakfast," Magnus said, holding a door open for Sam to go in, and then she went in and checked her two other patients.

"Are they okay?"

"Yes, it seemed to me that you got the worst part of all, but somehow, here you are standing already. You are healing quite fast while your friends are recovering at a reasonable rate; I will place their full recovery in around a week. They are going to sleep right until tomorrow morning; you should try and sleep too, dear. Or would you want something else to help you?"

"Nah, it's not a great deal. I'll look at the ceiling until I can't bear it anymore and fall sleep."

"Well, goodnight then," Helen said but didn't move, she knew if she didn't ask she wouldn't be able to sleep. "Sam?"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind if I ran some test on your blood? As I told you I thought Naquadah was extinct on earth. It could be beneficial for my line of work."

"Yeah, sure," she agreed and immediately regretted it. She was after, all a freak of nature, and she had no means to know if what Magnus called a test it would get as far as mapping her DNA.

If Helen had learned something during all her years of life, it was to read the exact moment when fear was crossing someone's eyes. And she saw it flashing through Sam's.

"Don't worry, my network has over 130 years working, and you didn't hear half of the things we do. I'm not starting to publish thing I don't need to publish. Now, in the unlikely event of getting something so remarkable that needs to be carefully visited, I'll need to get your approval first. Now, rest Sam," Sam nodded; she still didn't know why she trusted this woman.

Helen went down to her lab and recalled Sam's vial from the place where they kept samples. She listened to the mechanical sounds of the computer fetching it, deciding she didn't want to run all the test at that late.

Helen took the delivered vial and used it to get one drop of Sam's blood. With that done, she placed the petri dish in place and moved to type and click on the computer the instructions she needed to follow.

With all settled, she used the countdown for the result as the time to check her ankle, aching ribs and pounding head with the holographic x rays.

"Damn! I'm getting too old for hunting," she thought out loud, remembering when she was in her tunnel.

March 19th, 2004

Magnus's POV

I'm strolling down the tunnel of my choice; every step into it gets me more disappointed, it can't be too long before I reach the end. Surprisingly, when I look straight ahead, I get to see not one, but two sleeping paloraeviuses.

My radio cracks and I hear Nikola's and Will's 'I got nothing' and lower the volume not to awake the sleeping creatures. For a moment, I consider asking for help. But they are sleeping, and I believe I'm capable of applying tranquilizers without getting too close.

I take four or five steps into the tunnel and all of a sudden, I lose the floor beneath my feet. In an attempt to not falling into the dirty water, I manage to move enough to hit myself against the wall hard. What I didn't contemplate was the pipe hanging low until I heard a thump and my head started to spin. And then, I see a third beast walking towards the pair, and everything goes black.

After I don't know how long, I open my eyes and try to get up, a wave of dizziness hits me. 'Great another mild concussion' I think as I feel the rest of my body. 'How did I fell this badly?' I wonder with a deep inhale, adding two or three cracked ribs to my list, and when I start to come up to my feet, I thank the support of the boots, since I've damaged my ankle with the twist. Then, I look around to find where the creatures were.

Gauging the situation, I decide there are two possible outcomes. Either, the first creature continues sleeping, and I can shoot both and go and search for the third. Or I could shoot at one and hope I can move fast enough to escape the second one and pray the third one doesn't notice the riot. I put enough distance between the creatures and aim; both options start with a single shot.

Of course, if I already fell, and injured myself as dumb as I did, I shouldn't have hoped for the easy one. I shoot twice to one, and quickly aim for the second one and, I also shoot twice. However, the moment the creature feels the first sting, it howls loudly awakening its mate.

The second dart gets a second later, the third one ends up in the leg of the second beast, and I don't stay to look where the fourth one ended up. I start to run, hoping my wounds won't make me move too clumsily and endanger myself more than I'm already managing.

The mate didn't spot me; I notice as I turn my head to see if it is following me. I stop and flatten myself against the wall as much as I can, hoping that it won't spot me. And try and concentrate on healing my ankle.

After a few moments, I feel it is strong enough for a sprint; I grab a rock 'I hope it was a rock' and throw it to the mate. My head is still pounding, yet I feel the adrenaline rushing through my body as creature spots me and screeches. We both run, I jump to avoid a missing tile, and I fall right over another missing one; 'what the bloody hell is wrong with me today?' I think as I try to roll to land and keeping myself conscious.

My fall makes the paloraevius stop. I'm not a running prey anymore; there's no need to overdo it. I understand that.

The third one that I had spotted the first time I've found them comes slowly behind as if it's going to supervise this one eats me in the right way. I'm running out of time, a drop of its slime falls over my boot.

"It's not going to happen!" I shout and kick it as hard as I can, and half drag myself a couple of hands back. My before twisted ankle is now sprained, and my wrist is probably in the same condition, and it takes me a moment more than usual to compose myself and stand up. I can swear they looked at me, laughing at my weak attempt to escape.

The creatures move slowly, sensing that I am a hopeless prey. I manage to concentrate enough to direct my healing to the ankle, again. And when I see they are a bit too close, I run for my life.

I see the end of the tunnel not too long after that, I look at my back and get a glimpse of one of the "pal's" preparing to tackle me, I smirk when I notice its plan. I jump and turn, taking my gun out of the holster and shoot when I get a view of the soft stomach skin.

The beast falls not too far from me, I yell for someone to add another dose of tranquilizers to the fallen creature while at the same time I stand up to take a blast gun from my bag and go in again.

The third creature is still standing in the middle of the tunnel as if it doesn't know if it should protect the one who went to me or the one which is still inside. I know I don't have enough time until it decides and considering my unfortunate act, I choose to be the one making a choice. I shot a blast, the electricity annoys the other creature and comes running after me.

"Get down!" I scream to my team. Then I notice for the first time, we are not alone and that whoever the other people are, they are about to get killed.

A beep and a red blinking light on her screen brought her back from her reverie. She shook her head to try and forget the way the last paloraevius attacked the unknowing team and the sight of 'herself' being gravely wounded before she could do anything.

Memories are a funny thing; back then, she didn't notice the resemblance until she was working on Samantha in the tunnel. Now, it filled the blank spaces with the face of the Major and a painful expression on her face.

With a sigh, she chewed her lower lip before taking enough courage to click and see the results. And there it was, she couldn't be more acquainted with it if she didn't have it herself. Or if she hadn't made one herself; the result showed a beautiful four-stranded DNA. She smiled, closed everything, and went back to her room.

"Are you okay?" Will asked when he heard her entering their room.

He knew she was injured earlier and had kept the questioning to himself. Will also knew her well enough to know she wouldn't treat herself until all the others were in perfect condition or at least stable. He even knew, sleep always helped her body to enter healing mode.

So when she entered the room earlier, with a look that showed him her exhaustion. He had walked with her to the bath and sat there talking with her. Then, he convinced her that she needed to sleep.

But now, hours later, he was worried about her wellbeing. He rolled over and turned the bedside lamp, and surprisingly, he saw her smiling.

"Yes, William. Everything is okay; I'm okay. Go back to sleep. I'm going to take a quick shower and will back to bed." he sat on the bed.

"How badly are you injured?" he asked, assessing her movements when she started to move towards the opposite side of the room.

She sighed and then, bit her lower lip. The moment she let the sight out, Will stood up and walked towards her. She lowered her head and allowed him to engulf her in a hug. Will was always amazed at how she allowed herself to be so vulnerable around him sometimes.

"One broken rib, two cracked, one bruised, sprained ankle and wrist and a mild concussion," she added mechanically. "Everything is healing normally, thank you for pushing me to sleep it out early. Most of them are feeling better than before." He took a step back to check her face.

"Do you want me to take a look at them?" Will asked, caressing her cheek softly.

"No, I am fine. I do need sleep, and we both know I will be as good as new in the morning." She pecked his lips. "Thank you, William," she whispered.

"What for? You know that we are in this, whatever we want to call it, together. I will always look after you; you like it or not."

"I know."

"So? Bed?" he grinned, linking their hands.

"Shower," he rolled his eyes but took a couple of steps towards the bathroom.

Next morning

Magnus was always an early riser, even if she was a late sleeper. And then, after the serum, her needs for sleep were diminished to half, unless she was hurt. In which case, she would fall into an almost death sleep until her body recovered its healed status.

Issues were surrounding her sleep existed too, there were nights where her mind wouldn't come to a stop, and she would continuously toss and turn until she untangled or solved the mess. Or days where something in her subconscious would wake her up earlier than she needed.

But like everything in life, there was an upper side to her insomnia. It helped both to spur her relationship with Will out of their shared extra time awake, and to keep said relationship out of the prying eyes of everybody else.

She woke up that morning, with a tired and ecstatic mind, and her body was in pain. The few hours of sleep didn't allow her body to heal fully, her ribs were painful now, and her ankle was tender, but she woke up full of energy.

Helen knew it was due to that incredible sensation: the possibility of getting to know her older/younger child.

She went down to the infirmary to check her patients; all of them were still fast asleep. Next, she headed to her lab; she reached it only to notice on the monitors, that Teal'c was leaving his room.

"Well, at least I will get some company for breakfast," she said to herself.

She monitored the "under" levels and found out Kate already feeding their guarded abnormals, and checked all the other wings under her care. After that, she went to the guest wing of the Visitor Area and found Teal'c looking to the outside. She inhaled deeply and walked towards him; she hoped that, by the stress of the situation, he didn't manage to figure out that the sun shining out there wasn't real.

Henry and Ashley had contacted the Sanctuary and prepared the entrance of unknowing people. Therefore, when they entered the Sanctuary from the under levels of the Colorado outpost, the external corridor was out, they hadn't seen the carved in the rock walls, nor they saw the brick path Will got to see the first time he entered.

The deployed corridor, created for situations like this one, led them straight to the secondary building of Helen's Sanctuary. The secondary facility was the last wall that could keep the intruders from the hidden city. 'Huh, hidden city sounds good too,' she thought.

Then, they kept walking towards her main building, which contained a visitor wing, the "Old City" staff and her lab, Infirmary, surgery rooms and all the essential for her work. 'Oh well, there's nothing I can do now.'

"Good morning, Teal'c, did you sleep well?" she asked. Teal'c turned around and bowed slightly.

"Good Morning Dr. Magnus, your accommodations were more than suitable."

"Can I escort you to the dining room?" Teal'c nodded, "Shall we then?" She asked, pointing the corridor with her head. He bowed again, and both started to walk in silence for a minute or two.

"Well, here we are the almighty dining room," Helen grinned. "There's endless supplies of fresh coffee, tea, and whatever you can eat. Just help yourself," she said, taking a cup of tea and sitting in a place next to the edge of the table. Teal'c raised a brow for her choice of seat and sat in the chair in front of her.

"You are the master of the house; why didn't you sit at any of the edges?" She smiled.

"Well, I might be the owner of the building, and the boss; but, I can identify an alpha male when I see one. They usually prefer to sit on the edges; there's something about the view, and at the other end is not my place, it is Ashley's."

"I see," he looked her straight into her eyes, always the observant one, "You look very young, but your eyes tell that you are wise beyond your years. "

"Your eyes show the same to me." Teal'c raised his eyebrow, and she smiled. "I consider myself an observant person. My years in Earth have taught me considerably about how people, humans, and not necessarily humans alike."

"What are you implying Doctor Magnus?" he asked stoically.

"I'm not implying anything, Teal'c, I'm merely stating that you are not a human being." Teal'c eyebrow rose again. "Please, don't think of this as an attack of sorts, we all have our secrets," she added with a knowing smile.