We are going to the SGC!

Enjoy!

M.

Chapter XIX

March 21st, 2004

Underground Sanctuary.

"How long do you think they will be here?" Will asked as Helen curled up with him later that day. She looked up at him with a smile.

"Well, Samantha is fully recovered. Doctor Jackson probably has a day or two of recovery to get rid of the last cells. Teal'c is back on his own two feet. It's Colonel O'Neill reticence to take our meds was what worried me: however, after calculating his new dosage, I concluded that he needs to add at least three intakes. Or prolongate the treatment," she sighed as he caressed her hair.

"He won't take more than what he was having," Will whispered.

"Exactly, and as we can't exactly give him all that he needs in the two doses he is taking," Helen pointed.

"He will be under extended treatment."

"I'll say three to four days before he is completely clean and free to go."

"Hmm."

"It's something the matter?" She asked, raising her head from his chest enough to look at him. He moved a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Not really, you look exhausted."

"It's been a long day," she sighed. His hand found her side, and she flinched at his touch, he raised his eyebrow. "Ah, Ashley. It wasn't that bad; she only lost it for a minute. Nothing too significant."

"Let me take a look," he said, dead serious.

"There's no need; it's halfway healed already," she dismissed.

"Helen," he started, and she looked at him. Sighing, she untangled herself from him and sat on the bed, lifting the camisole she was wearing. The bruising on her side went from under her breast to an inch or two above her hipbone.

"I thought it wasn't bad," he said, touching it barely above the start of the bruise.

"It's not. If you remember the time around you first knowing about my injuries," Magnus added with a sheepish smile. "I just need to rest, and I'll be perfect in the morning."

"Helen," he started again.

"I know," she bit her lower lip.

"Have you fed yourself at least?"

"I had something before I joined her. And we are going to sleep, so there's no issue if I hadn't," Will jumped out of bed, "where are you going?"

"If you are not going to take care of yourself, then let me do it." He added with a soft smile. "I love you, and you know that"

"Very well then, I'll wait for you to feed me instead of succumbing to sleep," she whispered dramatically. "But you will have to deal with the consequences of feeding me at this time of the night," she grinned mischievously.

"You won't hear a complaint from me."

"Then, hurry up, William."

As usual, she was right. By the time she shuffled in bed early in the morning, and Will opened his eyes enough to see her naked back, and by extension the side in which the purple, yellow and green mark was marring her skin the previous night, there was nothing left but the soft, creamy white skin. He smiled.

He didn't care if that wasn't the norm, but he loved to care for her. He knew he was one of the few who had managed to do it so. And he delighted in the feeling of knowing she allowed him to be there, he knew she was the one with the control in their relationship, and he didn't care as long as the moments in which they could be blissfully happy kept coming.

Five floors below, Jack was stirring in his bed. Magnus had forced him to stay in the infirmary for the night. And unsurprisingly, he found a blonde mane resting in the bed close to his hand. Jack felt his emotions rise and gulped.

How she found him worthy of her care, he didn't know. Why she kept coming to watch over him every time he found himself in this situation, was another of the mysteries he couldn't solve; and even if he could, wouldn't risk to try out for fear of losing her.

Jack caressed the blond hair and sighed. He still remembered the texture from the few and far between times in which he woke up like this, or from those awful situations in which caressing her hair was the only way he found to help her. She sighed happily and turned her head around, messy hair and barely open eyes, she looked lovely.

"Morning," she whispered to him, and he nodded.

"Good morning," he added with a raspy voice.

"How are you feeling?"

"Improved, I guess." He shrugged, he opened his mouth to complain, but she shook her head no, stopping him from continuing.

"I was worried, you know?" Sam confessed in a whisper, after looking behind her to make sure no one else was around yet. "For a moment, what I saw could happen to you was too real and even when I managed to put it out of my mind… it was there, this nagging feeling that I might lose you before I can know what it's like to have you," she bit her lower lip. "I don't like that feeling, Jack."

"Sam."

"Please, don't say anything. I'm just thrilled to know you will be okay. Or at least, feeling better and being under treatment." He smiled at her. "I know you are supposed to stay here, but I'm famished, do you need anything?"

"You? Hungry?" she nodded quickly, "go get something. I'll be right here until both Doctors agree I can go out. I do hope they don't take long," she gave his hand a light squeeze.

"It's for your safety. Here you are under a constant scan, and all the Doctors can be sure you are taking your meds. You know you wouldn't be here if you did that from the beginning."

"I know, I know."

"I'll bring you some coffee, maybe you are lucky, and I can find some bacon and eggs too," she grinned and placed a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth surprising both of them. Sam blushed furiously and turned around, almost running to the kitchen.

After that, she did all in her power not to be caught alone with him even if the next morning found her in the same position. This time, however, the hand who woke her up was Helen's. Sam saw the knowing glint and the lack of judgment and smiled. Magnus pointed towards the door, and Sam nodded before they left Jack sleep while they went to have some breakfast.

To the Colonel's joy, he was allowed to get back to the room after Janet had agreed with Helen it would be for the best.

"Almost entirely recovered, Colonel," Helen's voice had affirmed later that night, and he almost jumped in excitement, he hated infirmaries, no matter how fancy they were.

During previous and following days, SG-1 made themselves scarce, as the Sanctuary team followed their daily routines of feeding, checking, medical examinations, psychological support, training, development, and all they did in their regular basis. Trying to stay as far away from the military team as the building allowed them to.

Although, while trying to avoid Jack, Sam had found herself searching for the Sanctuary team. She had joined Henry, Tesla, Ashley, Kate and Helen in a kind of routine. From early to a couple of hours before midday, Sam could be found in Nikola's lab, learning about all he was willing to tell her. And it was Nikola; he was always willing to explain things that for others would be way over their heads. During the second day she hid, she had managed to convince Nikola to show her how he looked like a vampire, and he reticently did it.

Two hours before midday, Ashley would appear searching for her. The day of the Petro incident, Ashley told her she would find her for boundaries check. Sam agreed to it not quite knowing what it entailed until she understood why Ashley had thought of her.

That first day, Ashley had ported Sam to the bike's garage and chuckled when she saw Sam's expression at the sheer number of motorbikes it held.

"So what do we do?"

"Well, you get into riding gear and then you can pick one and follow either Ashley or me," Helen said. and Ashley laughed loudly at the looks at Sam's face when she saw Helen ready to mount one all riding gear and all.

"So, love for fast rides is your fault then?" Sam had added with a frown. And Helen nodded sheepishly, before mounting her bike. "VRSC A V-Rod, Harley Davidson," Sam whispered in awe touching softly the bike Helen had picked for the day.

"With minor modifications," Helen grinned mischievously, Sam understood what those minor adjustments where once she was speeding herself on it the following day.

After that, once Ashley ported her there, she would dress appropriately and pick one ride she hadn't tried before and followed either Ashley or Helen while the other checked the other side, she found the boundaries checkup as practical and fun.

With the adrenaline of the ride fresh in her body, Sam had accepted Ashley's offer of joining her and Kate a the firing range. Helen encouraged it as long as Ashley promised to behave.

The "shooting range," Sam found out, was a vast room, complete with traps and things firing back at you, which apparently, the Sanctuary team used to train. Kate and Ashley quickly fell into place, and Sam found herself enjoying, her military technique immediately praised and welcomed.

For lunch, she would join her team to exchange whatever conversation they could and spent some quality time with her friends. Then, by Nikola's advice, it was time with Henry. She would help him with the calculus of the new net weapon, and she found herself staying until five when he would push her towards Helen's office because it was tea time and he had a wife to tend.

Tea time, she figured, it was some code. Helen would be at her office with a pot of freshly made tea and some cookies while working in the seating area of her office. Laptop propped over a portable table that allowed her to enjoy her brew and work.

The tip of Helen's lips had curved that first day as Sam entered the office. Sam sheepishly grinned when she noticed there were a fresh coffee pot and some cookies for herself. So, every day, the major would pick a book and seat there while Helen worked, and both sipped their beverages from time to time.

Since the books in Helen's office were mostly about history close to her, Sam found herself venturing questions about them before she could even think it would interrupt Magnus' work. Helen would smile at her and answer her with an earnest look, quite enjoying the disturbance of her questions.

On that first day, she saw Helen frowning at something she was reading; she pushed her table aside and walked to her desk and placed a call. The language she spoke was not something Sam understood, but then Helen had stormed out of the office and returned with a thick looking book. She read through it eagerly until she smiled brightly.

"What?"

"I knew I was right, but you know the men, they are always explaining things to me as if I don't know it myself. Like how Normandy was the only thing that managed to stop the total devastation of WWII. Yeah, right."

"Do I even want to know?" She asked

"Ah, this is an easy one," she pointed to the book, "a Saharan spider bite. Hassam was trying to convince me they are sleep inducers, and the best treatment was to keep the patient monitored and awake. However, that's not entirely accurate. The bite produces sleepiness, yes, but that spider only bites if they are ready for placing their eggs which are..."

"Placed through the bite?" Sam completed.

"Yes, pretty much."

"And Normandy?"

"Well, if we failed to capture the fire elemental on Nazi hands, and one who was about to become very angry. Then no allies could have stopped the disaster. We would be all consumed by a firestorm with no end."

"I guess I like the D-Day story better, less terrifying."

"Yes, so do I. Although my first D-Day was far better than my second one, and that's one I will gladly keep to myself."

Then at some point, they would move for dinner, and bedtime followed close.

Jack also found himself falling into a routine. He had morning checkups with Doctor Magnus; then he was free to roam around. During those days, Jack wandered as far as his legs would allow him. At all times considering he was supposed to be back for lunch, dinner and his night checkup. And he was glad when Teal'c joined him.

With the Jaffa secure presence next to him, he found himself trying to come up with an escape plan, but he couldn't find one. The enormity of the situation in which they were caught up with him when he finally had set his eyes on the sky, to found only rock above his head.

It took him some time to accept what he was seeing. And even if he wasn't a believer on that 'we are underground' thing they had told him at some point. It was finally seeing the rocks above his head and realizing that the thing shining above his head wasn't by far the sun, was what made his mind grasp the concept. To be that far underground and see a river, or feel the breeze, or the warmth of the sun seemed so impossible. Then again, here he was feeling all of those things he didn't know how far into the underground.

If he ignored the fact that they were on Earth, he could feel better at ease when eyeing the creatures and plants which roamed around but never close enough for him to reach them. He found himself considering the situation as if they were trapped in yet another backwater planet until his nerds got all they wanted from the aliens.

Janet and Daniel spent most of their time holed up in the library. Janet had tried to find the area she was with Magnus, but she couldn't and found herself drawn to the medic area instead. She found it had a very eclectic collection of books in several languages and species. Daniel was attracted to the historical part of it. He too amazed by the vast amount of volumes and the variety of languages and styles.

"Huh," Daniel started that very first day, "I get this is a result of extensive worldwide research, kind of like the Google of the civilization for the different areas they study. What I don't get," Daniel commented leafing through some book, "is why if you have all these resources you will keep them in different languages? I mean, I have a wide variety of languages from which to choose, but, what good does it make if you can't understand half of them?" Janet chuckled.

"I guess a display of power, and you should know better than I that, Daniel. First copies are the most expensive ones, especially if they are in good condition."

"Yeah, but, that would make sense if some of them weren't signed. I mean, look at this one," Daniel brought a brown worn-out leather tome to Janet and pointed to some obscure language she didn't know. "It says 'For Magnus, if someone can understand the dark musings of my mind, I trust will be you.' And this is from Hormuzd Rassam."

"Well, both of you have a remarkably good point," Helen smiled as they both jumped in freight. At first, she was amazed at how concentrated they were, not even the loud clicking of her heels had brought attention to her. Then, she had listened to them talking about her library as if it was one of life's greatest mysteries to solve."I didn't mean to scare you; I thought you would have heard my approach."

"Doctor Magnus," both said, and she smiled.

"I thought you would be calling me Helen or Magnus by now, anyhow. Hormuzd was a close friend, of the Sanctuary. He had some ideas archeologist would find outrageous, and he couldn't publish, and here we thrive with those," She smiled

"Now, on the language's part, I believe you could've easily assumed by the book in your hands that the writers donated part of this collection themselves. I'm aware of a couple of tomes signed by Darwin in the biology section. We couldn't ask them to translate them; we are talking about their most obscure and precious ideas," she said, walking past them and towards a stair.

"These bookshelves hold tomes they couldn't afford to share with the world without being thoroughly discredited. I believe you are acquainted with that experience, Doctor Jackson," she stopping the stair in a section and starting to climb it. "Alas, most of them couldn't afford to lose the name they had made for themselves out of fear that given these ideas, they would be considered a joke. Or the ones who had become part of what we know as a collective truth would be taken as a lie too," Helen touched the back of some books softly until she found the one she was looking for, grabbing it she went down with it. "I need some light reading," she told them before disappearing again.

"You know, sometimes I have the feeling she's playing with us," Janet commented.

"Or hiding something, or I'll risk it and say it's because she looks that much like Sam and our experiences with Sam's look-alikes aren't exactly the best."

"Yeah, there's that too."

And now, four days later, SG-1 was waiting in the same part of the library. Janet, Sam, and Daniel were observing the size of the library once more with admiration. Daniel's crestfallen expression talked a lot about what he wanted to do.

"Come on space monkey; we've been here too long."

"You know, Jack, this would have been shorter if you listened to them from the start," Daniel pointed out joining the team. "And if it weren't for you, we wouldn't be stuck here for the extra days, and therefore, I wouldn't have started on this…" he pointed to the last book he had still in his hands, and he was halfway through.

"Yeah, yeah, blame it on the old man."

All of them were back on their clothes. Or at least they thought they were; they had been replaced by new BDU's without their knowledge. The fact they couldn't quite remember the attack and how it had affected the clothes they were wearing was a huge plus to keep them believing the uniforms were theirs.

"If you are all quite ready," Helen commented, entering the room. "Please follow me," she walked them to the entrance where the same golf carts Sam had seen on site four were waiting for them. Helen walked to one vehicle, and the members of her team followed her lead until SG-1 figured they should do the same.

"How are you feeling today, Erika?" Helen asked the pregnant woman who was seated behind the driving wheel.

"As well as one can expect, I want him out by now," she confessed.

As Jack and Sam jumped in the cart with them, Erika turned around and wearily introduced herself to the other two, and then she and Helen fell into a relaxed conversation about Erika's fears over her pregnancy. Erika's relaxed demeanor managed to make even Jack talk and provide her with some tips.

On the second one cart, Kate and Henry completely ignored Teal'c and Janet by talking all the way about the new improvements on guns.

"You know, I'm going to miss Sam, she was a good partner for the firing range," Kate huffed at some point.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, I will miss having someone who listens to my tech talk and doesn't laugh when she knows I'm completely embarrassing myself."

"Aw, that's right! You are going to be stuck with Vlad again, poor thing."

But the one who was extremely glad they arrived was Daniel, he was the first one to jump out of the cart, and it was understandable since he got stuck with the fun ride. Will and Nikola bickering was interrupted continuously by Declan. But when Daniel almost tripped to get down, Declan couldn't avoid but chuckling.

"You were bickering like a married couple again, weren't you?" Helen's voice came from behind them, making both of them blush.

"You know them, boss, they can't stop themselves, even if they try." He chuckled, "I'll blame it to the Magnus charm," Declan told her, grinning. She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "See you in a week?"

"That's the plan, yes," She smiled.

"Then, I'll hope you stick to the plan this time," Declan grinned. "Your things are in the elevator already. We divided the bags as per your orders; we also configured the cars as you asked."

"And their weapons?"

"In the container, you can unlock it when you are out there."

"Good luck, Helen," Erika waved, after kissing Henry goodbye.,

"Yeah, good luck, Doc! Try not to need to get killed again," Kate winked. The two women jumped in the cars they were driving before and started the way back.

"This way, please," Helen told the military team, and they walked inside a cargo elevator along with a black unmarked SUV.

"The second vehicle is already topside, good luck!" Declan said, waving them goodbye.

"We didn't know how you arrived at the site where we found you before; my guess is Henry took charge of retrieving your vehicles."

"I… was I supposed to?" Henry asked, confused; she never told him a thing.

"No, not you," Helen smiled.

"Oh! The other Henry, gotcha! I'll never get used to it."

"William, the second vehicle was set for you by Declan, take Henry and Ashley. I'm taking three of you with Nikola and me on this one."

"What do you mean by 'set for you'?" Jack frowned. "Teal'c, Janet, you go with them. If they attempt anything, Teal'c," The three younger members of the Sanctuary team rolled their eyes.

"Dude, you were, for a little over a week, at our hands and we didn't touch a hair on your head. Why would we do it now?" Ashley asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Carter, Daniel, you both with me, and them." He finished ignoring Ashley's question.

"Then, please enter this one, and you will see what it does mean," Helen sat in the driver's seat and looked down to the console, where a retinal scanner appeared. After her eyes where scanned, the wheel glowed in two different sites, and as Helen grabbed it, her fingers connected with the blue lights of the fingerprint readers on the driving wheel.

"Please confirm identity," the car announced.

"Helen Magnus," she pronounced clearly. "We carry many things on our SUV's, we need them to be safe, and we can't afford to lose them or the contents to anyone."

"Doctor Helen Magnus, driver identity confirmed," the car announced again.

"Hence, we had to develop a way to make them with unique settings to recognize a couple of drivers," Nikola said.

"Recognized voice pattern: Nikola Tesla. Recognized facial scans: Colonel Johnathon Jack O'Neill, Air Force. Doctor Major Samantha Carter, Air Force. Doctor Daniel Jackson, Air Force Consultant. The transfer is safe." And then, the engine started.

The elevator stopped, and they got to what seemed like the parking lot of a building. There was a second SUV waiting just outside the elevator. And the rest of the members of the group walked towards it.

"Checking comms," came Will's voice and video came from the panel in the middle of the dashboard.

"Comm's are active." Helen smiled, knowing they too could see them.

"Are we going to see the wizard?" Ashley asked joyfully, appearing briefly on the screen. Helen sighed, and Sam rubbed her face.

"Straight to Cheyenne Mountain. Don't stop. Over"

The screen got divided into two. In one, they could see what happened behind them. They could see Will's SUV front lights. The second part showed the way to the Mountain.

"This is exciting! The last time I got to go inside an underground government compound was my stint with SCIU!" Nikola whispered excitedly.

"Well, I feel safer with you by my side," Helen started.

"Aww, Helen darling, I knew you always liked me better."

"I was going to say: than leaving you behind to create havoc back home." She grinned.

"You are mean!" He pouted

"You are impossible," she raised her eyebrow.

"I'm your oldest friend!" He whined.

"You are an acquired taste!" She grinned.

"How did you two meet? I mean, I understand you both are abnormals and all," Daniel questioned.

"Ah, we met in college. Oxford, to be precise, she was wearing a lovely red dress, very daring."

"Oxford? I never knew the great Nikola Tesla went to Oxford," Sam frowned

"Well, there are things I don't share in my bio," he grinned to his daughter.

"So, wait, you are the Nikola Tesla?"

"The one and only," Helen smiled, "that's why I keep him around, he knows too much, and we don't want him giving another death beam away."

"It was a death ray! Helen, death ray!" he huffed. She laughed, "You are a such a bully! Alas, yes, that's how we met in Oxford. I was drawn to her like a moth to the flame, and I could never leave after that," he sighed dramatically.

"Except when I had to kill you." She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

"Or when you died, yes."

"Or when you decided to mount your clinic in Mexico."

"Oh! Are you going to bring that one out? I could bring Peru up." He squinted.

"That's low, Nikki, I can bring Colombia."

"What about …" he hummed, "Namibia."

"Ouch, Iceland!"

"You both know you are just throwing country names to each other, right?" Sam asked from the back seat. Helen frowned, risking a glance from the rearview, and Nikola turned around outraged.

"Just countries! Those are the most embarrassing situations we've managed to put ourselves in and still managed to get out of them alive! They are not 'just countries!'"

"I think Sam's right though, you are just quoting country names to try and maybe impress us," Daniel chimed in.

"Why would someone find country name tossing impressive?" Helen frowned.

"I don't know; maybe you want to show off how many places you've been to?"

"Your theory doesn't make any sense to me, Doctor Jackson. It makes me wonder how you managed to get that much information correct for your book before," Nikola huffed.

"Nikola!"

"Well, why would I keep wondering about his correct theories, if I have the man sitting right there, Helen?"

"Because, you are being rude," she hissed, and he rolled his eyes.

"You know me, dear, too well if I might add. You know I'm always like this. Now, tell me, Doctor Jackson, how on Earth did you come with that theory of yours?"

"I…"

"You don't need to answer it, Doctor Jackson. He's just his annoying self."

"How did you come with your theories?" He asked back

"Well, they are obvious. If you understand what happens in the vibrational and energetic level; everything becomes much clearer."

"You don't want to go there, either, Doctor," Helen grimaced, "there won't be a route long enough for half of his explanations."

"I think you are both lying about how you met, and that's why you are creating this distraction of sorts," Jack pointed. Nikola turned around

"Oh! He speaks! It's a miracle! Helen, we should stop, and you should examine him! Maybe we are approaching the end of the world as we know it!"

"Don't pester him, Nikola," Helen huffed, "We, in fact, met at Oxford, Colonel O'Neill. And I was wearing a red dress. I was trying to make a statement of sorts, and somehow, I got Nikola in exchange. And he was also telling the truth when he said he is the oldest friend I have left. My line of work complicates relationships to a new level."

"And being an abnormal doesn't?"

"Not per se, many humans believe I was just one of you. My appearance helps, so does Nikola's. Although, at the moment, having my face is quite complicated, which makes me wonder how on Earth, no one tried to reach Samantha thinking she was me. But the same situation is what grants me today, the chance to park inside the mountain."

"You got an inner parking place?" Daniel asked, "I'm trying to get one since forever now!"

"Having a couple of decent contacts topside does help," she smiled mysteriously.

March 25th, 2004

Hammond's POV

SGC

Briefing room

In the last days, I have received two of the strangest phone calls in my entire career. And what disturbs me the most about it, is the little fact that I run a facility in which aliens share bodies, or beam my officers away without asking or announcing themselves.

But what can I say? I do have a direct line to the President, and more often than not, I must use it to communicate the chaos which can occur inside. What I don't do, is receiving calls from the President ordering me to send my CMO out with someone completely unknown to an entirely unknown location nor asking me to prepare not one, but five NDA's to people no unrelated to the military or political or to anything. His specific order to avoid background checks was what intrigued me the most — followed by the names they would be used to sign up in both entry forms which weren't the ones he gave me for the files. But 'They are all clear' he had said and who am I to contradict an order from the Oval Office? I did ask him a couple of questions to confirm I was talking with our President Henry Hayes and not with an alien version, or a clone or whatever it could be replacing him. But he came out clean.

"It is true?" Catherine Langford asks somewhat storming into my office, and I frown, I haven't seen Catherine in a while.

"Catherine. Hello, what brings you here?"

"I got some information related to the SGC. I want to know if it is true," she says in a voice that leaves no space for dismissal. It always seemed to me that she was more informed about the SGC movements than many people out there. I don't know why I get surprised every time I see her, even if she has been officially out of the SGC loop for many years now.

"Catherine. I will be honest with you," I start and she nods, "You haven't told me anything that could give me an idea of why you are here. You are more than welcomed to stay around, but I do have a meeting in a couple of minutes," I say.

"Oh! If you have a meeting, I'll wait in the mess hall, or better yet I'll go and pay a visit to Daniel. It's been a long time since the last time I visited him," she smiled.

"Doctor Jackson, he is not here, yet." I grimace, "actually, SG1 is part of the meeting. Perhaps, you can stay in it; it's a presentation of the Stargate Program to a group of civilians from a private research facility, you know the whole drill." If I didn't know Catherine I would have said she was about to pass out, but she smiles at me; a huge smile and there's something in her eyes that I can't quite place. She looks thrilled.

"It is true, then," She whispers, mostly to herself. Or so it seems.

"If you can be more specific, Catherine, maybe I can answer you?" I try.

"I was informed that the Stargate Program was about to be presented to one private research facility, specifically a team from the Sanctuary. Am I right?"

All that I know about a Sanctuary is that if something goes wrong, I must press nine on my red phone speed dial and say 'the Sanctuary needs to be ready for the worst.' What I know about the people that are coming to the SGC is little more than I know of the Sanctuary. Over my desk, I have several folders containing NDA's with names I'm yet to put faces and will be, most likely, censored to a few eyes only.

"You are absolutely right, my dear Catherine," I hear someone answer her. I look up and blink a couple of times. For a second, I try to remember the little I know about parallel universes. I try not to scratch my head when a look at the dark-haired version of Sam that is standing at my door.

"Oh, my God! It is you! Helen Magnus! I thought you were dead!" I frown because that's precisely one of the names that I must not mention outside the room.

"Supposedly I am," the woman agreed.

"Well, the afterlife suits you, dear. It's been such a long time since the last time I saw you!"

The two women embrace, and I hear someone clearing his throat in the background. I don't know if I am too astounded to say anything or if my curiosity is taking the best of me because all I can do is hear the exchange without saying anything at all

"My dear Catherine, you look gorgeous as ever." The man grins at Catherine and opens his arms, waiting for her to jump into his embrace.

"Nikola Tesla!" She chuckles and embraces him quickly, taking a step back to look at him. "You will never change!"

"You know that is utterly correct," the Tesla guy winks at Catherine, and I frown. How on Earth, Catherine knows their names? I wonder.

"So, I guess they don't know about," Catherine trails, and both nod once.

"No, they don't know a thing about the Sanctuary relationship with this program." Sam look-alike says.

"Oh, they are in for a surprise."

"Catherine?" Comes from Sam, and I sigh in relief. They look alike, but their voices are different, maybe is the accent. Whatever it is, I'll take it.

"Sam!" Catherine looks to Sam and then to Helen Magnus. And, I can't avoid just doing the same, they have a remarkable similarity, and at the same time they look different, "I knew there should be a reason behind why you always made me remember of someone."

"Well, I guess you three know each other," Daniel commented happily, embracing Catherine to greet her.

"Yes, indeed, Catherine is an old friend of ours," the Carter-like woman says, "she was also a treasured member for expeditions to the most varied places."

"This is General George Hammond from the SGC," Daniel introduces me politely. And I overhear O'Neill whispering to Sam

"I still don't get how everybody is an old friend of her," or at least he believes he whispers, Sam grins at him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. I take you are the famous Doctor Helen Magnus the President was talking to me about," she smiles and nods.

"It is my pleasure to meet you, General."

"The President thinks highly of you," I can see SG-1's eyes widening. "Can I ask how you two know each other?"

"Henry is an old friend of the family," it's all I get for an answer. "And you happen to know Dr. Langford as well?" I ask, and she nods. This woman has connections

"The Sanctuary Network financed many of Catherine's expeditions; we also gave funding to her father. I'm sorry, I'm unpolite. Let me introduce you to some of the members of my team. Doctor William Zimmerman, he is our forensic psychiatrist, among other things. Henry Foss, he is the Sanctuary Network Security Tech. Nikola Tesla,"

"Engineer, Doctor, overall genius!" He says, and Catherine chuckles.

"And with that, he has already introduced his ego," a blond girl says, and Zimmerman and Foss laugh.

"And please meet my daughter Ashley Magnus."

"You made it!" Catherine whispers to her. Sincerely, or my ears work too damn well, or everybody needs to practice the whispering thing. I look at the girl who waves at me and then, I look back at her, and frown.

"You had to have her being young, Doctor Magnus."

"Please, call me Helen or Magnus, General…" she smiles, "and Ashley is our most trained tactical personnel and our security engineer."

"For crying out loud!" Jack interrupts me before I can point that she avoided my comment, "can we start already, we still have to hear Danny-boy here chatting us to sleep!" I scowl Jack with a look, while I motion everybody to take a seat. I asked Walter to prep the room for the regular presentation. Doctor Magnus takes a sit, and Tesla takes the chair next to her. I grab my usual spot, and for some reason, both Tesla and I get deathly glares from Doctor Zimmerman

"Well, let me dim the lights," Daniel says, and soon the room is filled with the bright light of the projector, he clears his throat before starting, "we are going to travel to a long time ago, specifically to El Cairo in 1928. There on a privately funded excavation, Catherine's father found a ring made of a metal unknown until a while ago; and no one could identify the time frame for it. The rock that covered the ring presented engravings on it that looked like some form of Hieroglyphs. Until a few years ago, there were errors in the translation of the text carved in the stone," he says passing images, I frown because I think I hear the Tesla guy saying

"Just not quite as I remembered," But when I turn towards them, all I see is Magnus smiling to him. When I hear her answer, "You cannot expect a brief presentation to be accurate with history. You and I both know they have no idea," and he nods back.

And I'm trying to figure out what those two know about the Stargate, and I am glad to be the one sitting next to them, at least I seem to be able to understand their whispered words.

"Sorry, do you have any questions so far?" Daniel asks. He seems kind of upset, but I guess this is the first time someone talks during his presentation, generally we try not to fall asleep.

"No, please proceed," Doctor Magnus says, giving a warning glare in Nikola's direction.

"Come on, Helen, both of us know it was easy to note these are constellations and not a version of hieroglyphs writing," Tesla whispers to her.

"Nikola, stop it!" She hisses, "Yes, we knew what it said, we couldn't have it, and you know it." She mumbles between her teeth.

"Hey, you two get a room or please share whatever it is with the class, will ya?" O'Neill says, and I want to slap myself in the face for his rudeness. They exchange a glance, a reaction that points they have been subjected to Jack's temper for enough time to know him.

"We were just saying it's quite easy to figure out those are a representation of constellations according to few writings in it," Tesla says getting up and pointing to places in the image. "And here, the writing is utterly clear -a million years into the sky is Ra, the sun god, sealed and buried for all the time his Stargate," he says pointing to the words. "Therefore, if we consider that for Ra to be millions of years into the sky, he should be somewhere in space and this … ring must be a way to connect with his place in the universe."

"How do you know that?" Sam asks, eyebrow raised.

"Because, as I said before I am a genius, remember?" The Doctor shakes her head at his antics and nods him to return to his chair. He nods back and returns to his place. "Please Dr. Jackson, proceed I'll try to keep myself contained."

"Well, for some reason, Catherine contacted me and asked me to translate this, in the same text Nikola pointed out. I managed to translate it, and figured we were treating with constellations and a code of sorts. I wasn't sure about that until they showed me, the Stargate," he said, pointing out to the protection windows that were sliding open. Magnus stood up, so did Tesla.

"Bloody Hell! We were right."

"Jesus! We were right."

They mutter under their breaths simultaneously. I can see them exchange a look, and then, they go back to their seats. The others are too confused to react with more than a frown and widened eyes, and yet, something annoys me about those two and is the fact they didn't look surprised with the information.

"It seems to me you may continue DanielJackson," Teal'c says

"Well, the short version we went to a planet and found out about a Goa'uld pretending to be a God, in that case, Ra. We killed him and freed the people of Abydos. Two years later, someone came through the gate. Jack, Sam, and others went back to Abydos, and we learned per some writings, the gate has a connection to thousands of gates around the galaxy. The Stargate program as a search facility started then. In our first mission, we found ourselves prisoners of an alien; Teal'c helped us to escape becoming an essential member of the SG-1, our team. Which is also the flag team."

"So, you have been around the universe?" The tech guy asked amazed

"Yeah, cool isn't?" Jack says

"That's too damn cool!" The tech, Henry, says, "Can I see the software you use?"

"Well, whatever tech thing you want to see has to go over Carter, she is the one who made the dial-up software," Jack tells him, I know how proud he is of Sam.

"You did? Cool, once again, I'm proven correct! You got the looks and the brain!" Henry says and then looked between Magnus and Sam and turned bright red, "I, ugh, I've just realized that I kinda said that my mo... boss is a milf!" He grimaced.

"Henry, that's sounds completely wrong, dude." Ashley says, "but yeah you're right; mom's hot," she winks at her mother who rolls her eyes in response

"Well, this is a genuinely awkward conversation, and here I was thinking I had managed to do a fairly decent job raising you two, just for you to prove me wrong in a short conversation," everybody laughed at that.

"Ok, we did our part of the job, telling you about the Stargate program and all. So spit it out," O'Neill says, "We all know you aren't saying the whole thing."