FOR TOMORROW

CHAPTER 4

For disclaimer and other information, please refer to chapter one.

Thanks again to all for reading and enjoying the story, and for sending me your reviews! I love to read them and know what you think.

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Daniel turned the corner, walking blindly to his lab. As he reached his disorganized desk, he sat heavily on a stool and supported his head with both hands. Tears began to fall from his eyes, and he let them. The warmth of them on his face, represented the pain he felt after their Asgard friend's visit, and the excruciating exit of Jack O'Neill.

After leading Thor to the Stargate and watching him disappear through the blue puddle, Daniel had run after Jack, but he had already left the base. He tried calling, but his cell phone had been turned off. Obviously, his stubborn friend wanted to be alone, to drown himself in the grief and rage that invaded him. Daniel cried quietly for a while, until Mitchell knocked softly on his open door.

"Jackson?" the lt. colonel said.

The archeologist wiped his face quickly and blinked repeatedly to mask as much emotion as possible. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…"

"It's ok. It's fine," Daniel assured the other man, as he gestured for him to enter the room. "Did General Landry get ahold of Jack, yet?"

The other man shook his head.

"Ah. I bet he's getting drunk somewhere," Daniel replied, with a sad smile.

"Should we… try to find him?" the other asked, worried.

"Believe me, if Jack doesn't want to be found, we'll waste our time trying to search for him."

"It's tough," Cameron Mitchell said after a while. "I know about his kid, Charlie."

The other nodded quietly and looked down to his hands. "Yeah, Jack's had a rough life."

"I can't even begin to comprehend what he must be going though."

Daniel was quiet again. Yes, he was very aware of what Jack's history was doing to the situation, and how he was probably blaming himself for it. "Jack won't rest until he gets them back, you know."

Mitchell looked at him for a moment and nodded. "I know. He's Jack O'Neill, right? No one is left behind."

The two men gazed at each other and then Mitchell left the lab in silence, as Daniel picked up his phone again, not giving up on his friend either.

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"The Furlings?" Sam asked again.

"Yes," Mili'ah replied.

"What do you want from me?"

"We mean you no harm, Samantha. In fact, you are here to be protected," the other woman said, as she stood up from the bench and approached Sam once again. The others disappeared suddenly, and Sam looked around afraid they too would materialize by her side.

"P-protected from whom? Why? I don't need your protection!" she yelled finally. After regaining her strength, Sam ran from wall to wall, hoping it would change into a window, a door, something. A way to escape the nightmare she was trapped in.

Mili'ah watched as the blonde woman ran across the room in desperation. She had watched over Sam for many years, and had grown to admire and respect her deeply. She saw the strong, intelligent, honest, compassionate human she had been advised she was, the moment she was given the assignment. Mili'ah had been there when her mother died, and when her father buried himself in his career even more after that; she had seen how Sam had grown up with the goal to accomplish anything she set her mind to, and to make her father proud; the alien had watched when the woman had joined Stargate Command and the infamous SG-1, the audacious team of explorers that would change the universe's future forever; Mili'ah had also witnessed the inner struggle the young scientist and colonel had gone through, hiding her feelings for the love of her life, the man who would become the father of her children, the one and only man who would love her, always. The tall brunette had been told about the human feelings she may develop towards them, the sympathy and respect she felt for the inferior race that had proven worthy of admiration and humility from the four major races.

Coming closer to the place where Sam stood as she hit the wall repeatedly but weakly, she placed her hand gently on her shoulder. Seconds later, Sam was standing in her bedroom, a dim light illuminating the form of a lonesome man sitting on the edge of the bed.

"J-Jack?" Sam cried, quiet tears streaming from her blue eyes. She ran to hold him, but passed right through him. He didn't even move from the spot where he sat.

"He cannot hear or see you, Samantha," Mili'ah pronounced afterwards.

"Am I… dead?" Sam said, fearing she would confirm her question.

"No, dear. You are in what you call, another dimension," the other explained, as Sam fixed her gaze on the man before her.

Sam was sure she had never seen such pain and desolation in Jack's eyes. He was frozen, pale. His eyes looked ahead to an emptiness she wished with all her heart she could fill.

Swallowing hard, Sam turned to the beautiful woman as the tears continued to fall, but she tried to contain with no success. "Please. Let me go."

"I cannot do that."

Shutting her eyes tight, Sam kneeled in front of Jack and watched him with sorrow and fear. She looked down to his hands, where he held something. She tried to make out the form of the object and realized it was a white box. From the shape of it, Sam assumed it was a ring box. Standing up, she walked to where Mili'ah was and watched her for a moment, begging silently for her freedom.

"I am sorry, Samantha, I cannot." After a small pause, she continued. "I know you well, and I am aware you have already discovered why you were taken by us."

"It has to do with my baby," Sam nodded, replying weakly, her eyes focusing on Jack once again.

"Do you want to know why?" the other asked gently.

"Why?"

"Because your baby marks the future of your race."

Sam eyes grew as wide as was possible. "WHAT?"

The other smiled calmly and looked towards Jack. "Your baby is the piece that will integrate the Tauri into the superior race Alliance. You will become the Fifth race because of your child."

"What does our baby have to do with our alliance with you as a race?" Sam was growing angrier as the reasons for her kidnapping became clearer.

"Your child is the symbol. Every race must make a big and significant sacrifice to enter the Alliance. It must be something that means a great deal to the individuals that have demonstrated their race is worthy of such privilege."

"You can't make this decision for us! You kidnapped me, and now plan on taking my baby on behalf of Earth for an alliance?" Sam screamed, desperation and indignation evident with each word. As she shook her head and rubbed her temple for a moment, she turned to Mili'ah and stood inches from her, both women standing at equal height. "What if we say, no, thank you?"

"You cannot make that decision for your entire race, Samantha. By entering the superior races Alliance, we will defeat the Ori and the Wraith, amongst all the other dark powers in existence."

Sam's eyes filled with tears again. Helplessness invaded her entirely as the other woman made her feel like the most selfish being that ever was, for wanting to protect her own child.

"If you do not join us, the circle will not be complete and evil will dominate the universe at last. All the power that the Ancients, the Asgard, the Nox and the Furlings possess require the last piece that only the humans can provide to join as one and destroy them. We have waited for this more years than you can count, Samantha."

Sam sat on the white carpet of her bedroom. She breathed long and heavy, trying to assimilate what she had just been told. The lives of every single being in the universe depended on her and Jack giving up their child. For ten years they had fought their enemies, surviving with what Jack liked to joke, pure dumb luck. He, as well as, she knew better; their survival had depended on their will and determination, their true commitment and notion of justice and freedom.

"Why us?" Sam finally spoke, as she watched Jack cover his face with both hands.

"Because you and he have made sacrifices of your own for many others. That kind of altruistic behavior is very rare and almost unseen. You two, along with Dr. Daniel Jackson and the Jaffa Teal'c, have been part of extremely important changes. You have even saved the Asgard from their eminent enemy, the Replicators. The surrender of your child to the Alliance is a sacrifice for all four of you. It must be done."

Sam's blue eyes disappeared behind her eyelids, as she remained on the floor crying in silence. When she opened them again to look at Jack, her heart stopped as her eyes met his and he leapt from the bed instantaneously and ran to where she was.

"SAM?" he yelled as he pulled her into a tight and loving embrace.

TBC…..