Unbearable Silence

Summary: In response to Challenge #35 on sjchallenge; An alternate SG-1 comes through the Stargate led by Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter without Jack. "Lost City" didn't turn out the way we know it did- it was another 2010...

Pairing: Sam and Jack

Sam is Major Samantha Carter from the series. Carter or Col. Carter is the future Sam. The fic is centered around her primarily.

Anything in the body of the text that is italicized, is a flashback. If it is also bold, it is a flashback within a flashback…

Hope this doesn't get too confusing…

Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter looked up to the control room, seeing Major General Lee Thompson doing what George Hammond had done for so long. He was the commander of the base. He was the one who made the decisions. And she was tired of his arrogant, self-righteous ways.

After they had annihilated Anubis's fleet, they should have been rejoicing. It had been the final battle in the long war against the Goa'uld. They now had the respect and fear of all of the system lords. They had, for the first time since the Stargates had been operated by the Goa'uld, become the dominant race in the galaxy.

They had freed the Jaffa from their dependence on symbiotes, killed the loyal Jaffa, and swept the rug out from under the feet of the system lords.

But instead of being overjoyed at their accomplishments, Samantha Carter felt loneliness and regret. General Hammond, Janet Fraiser, her father and Colo-Jack, were dead. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c were still there, they were still on SG-1, but even they had been changed. They all had changed after Jack's death.

He sat reclined in the chair for the better part of an hour. He was trying to use the Ancient outpost there in Antarctica against Anubis. With great mental force, Jack opened a cavern in the floor and out poured thousands of glowing yellow drones. They broke forth from the depths of the ice and attacked the surface. Within the space of fifteen minutes, all of Anubis's ships were destroyed.

On their way to Proklarush Taonas, she had tried to tell him. "Sir, at your house before Daniel and Teal'c showed up, what I was gonna say was ..."

He had cut her off. "I know."

"Dammit, Jack! I LOVE YOU! Don't you get it? I haven't been able to tell you for years, and now…"

He had reached his hand toward her and caressed her cheek. "I love you too."

For the first time since he had put his head in that thing, the tears fell down her cheeks. Sure, they had almost fallen a few times between then and now, but…this was the first time that she allowed them to fall.

"Now, hand me your zat."

She looked back at him. The chair had lost its glow, and so had Jack. She ran to his lifeless body. "Sir?"

She felt for a pulse. It was weak and erratic. "Sir."

She didn't receive any kind of response, and it scared her. "Don't you dare leave us now. We won."

He gave her a weak smile. "Samantha."

Then, he closed his eyes and exhaled for the last time.

Samantha blinked to keep the tears from falling.

"Sam, are you all right?" Daniel asked.

She nodded. "Move out."

Daniel and Teal'c looked at one another, then at the new member of the team, Major Cameron Mitchell. Daniel went through the Stargate first, then Teal'c, Cameron, and finally, Colonel Samantha Carter. She looked back at the SGC behind her. If this mission was a success, none of this would exist the way it did anymore. She would have single-handedly changed the past so that her future was better.