Dr. Grace Jacklyn Carter was escorted to Daniel Jackson's office on sublevel 27 of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Her curly brown hair was loosely gathered at the nape of her neck. She wore tan slacks and a red, white and blue blouse. Gold studs adorned her ear while a simple gold chain with a blue topaz pendant lay unobtrusively around her neck, highlighting her blue eyes.

"Dr. Carter." Daniel said with a smile. "I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson, the civilian director of the Stargate Program."

She nodded, respectfully. "It's nice to meet you, Dr. Jackson."

"It's Daniel. Please…have a seat."

"Thank you." She said, sitting in the chair opposite the desk and crossing her shapely legs.

"Dr. Carter, I have to tell you…your work is…impressive."

She chuckled. "It's Grace, and thank you."

"Well, then…Grace, I, uh…I worked with a woman a few years ago that I thought was brilliant, but…you're blowing her theories out of the water faster than I ever thought possible."

"Well, thank you again."

Something about her bothered Daniel, but he couldn't place his finger on it…she had a nice, crisp business look, she seemed to be in good enough shape to be sent through the Stargate on the occasional mission…

Meanwhile, Grace sat there, memories rising to the surface of her subconscious, almost drowning her in thoughts, feelings and sensations.

Dr. MacKenzie's lilting voice. "You're now completely relaxed. I want you to go back to the day you last saw Daniel, he's with you now. Can you see it?"

"Yes."

She saw him. Fire, there was lots of fire. She couldn't breathe. "He's burning!"

"No. Go back further, you've just arrived. Now look around, and tell me where you are."

"Water."

"Your standing next to Water?"

"Salt water."

She saw the mission…but Daniel was taken captive. "Help him!"

"I want you to move on to what happened next." He said, urgently.

She shook her head, trying to get past the fire…all the fire…but he's here. He's right here in this room.

"Darkness…Cold…Wet…"

"We've got to get to the water!" She screamed, feeling trapped underwater.

"Captain!" MacKenzie said trying to wake her up.

"We've got to get out of here!" She said, a feeling of utter hopelessness overwhelm her.

"Carter!" He said, grabbing her by the shoulders. She felt so safe with those arms around her… He's finally able to shake off the haze covering her mind. "My God, Colonel, we left him behind!"

"I know." He said, pulling her into a hug.

"We left him behind!" She repeated

It's all right. We're going back…we're going back." He said, his arms still comfortingly around her.

"Grace, are you all right?"

She looked up. "Yes. I'm sorry, my mind tends to wander."

"Well with that level of proficiency, I would guess that it has to in order to maintain some level of sanity." Daniel said, still somewhat worried about her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded. "It's nothing. My mother says I can daydream about as well as I can solve equations. If that's going to be a problem…"

"Oh no…no…"

"Good."

"I am going to have to run a complete background check on you, and you're going to have to subject to a thorough medical exam in addition to a few physical aptitude tests."

She nodded. "I understand. Thank you, Daniel." She said, standing.

Suddenly, it dawned on Daniel what was wrong. She said his name the way Sam had said it. "Well, thank you, Dr. Carter." He said. Maybe he was just getting too close to the girl. Maybe distancing himself from her would keep him from inferring things that weren't true.

"Please, call me Grace. Dr. Carter makes me sound like I'm my mother."

"Your mother?"

"Dr. Samantha Carter, the pioneer in the field of wormhole physics and Stargate technologies. I studied her theories on wormhole physics and other various phenomena voraciously as a child. Or I guess, at an earlier stage of my development. I suppose I'm still a child to some people."

Daniel's eyes widened. "Samantha Carter is your mother?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"And your father?"

"I've never met him."

Suddenly, Daniel knew exactly why the girl had him on edge. Her brown hair, her crooked smile, her blue eyes and soft tone of voice. This was Jack's daughter. The daughter he was never allowed to have. He would need to have Cassandra run some tests. He had to know for sure before he decided to do anything about it.

"If you'll follow me, our medical doctor, Cassandra Fraiser-Miller, is ready to run the examination."

"Thank you." She said, following him to the elevator.

"I can take her from here now Captain."

"No, sir, it's okay." She said as the elevator doors opened.

"This elevator goes down 30 floors through solid rock. It takes about 3 minutes to get to the bottom. That gives you four minutes to start back up."

She nodded and walked into the elevator. Jack nodded at the soldier controlling the elevator. The elevator doors closed, and she tried hard not to cry. This little girl…this helpless little girl…

"Where are we going?" She asked. NO! She thought to herself. Please, don't really be awake!

"Please, go back to sleep." She said, kissing her forehead.

"I'm not tired anymore." It was too hard to fight. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Are you crying?" She shook her head.

The elevator stopped at level 28. She turned on a flashlight and walked into the dark empty room. She then reached a large metal door, and turned the handle. It was almost as heavy as her heart. She turned on the light, and they walked in. She led Cassie to the wall. "Sit down here and rest for awhile, okay? I have to go."

"You promised you'd never leave me alone." The little girl said with solemnity.

"I'll come back, okay? I'll be back." Cassie nodded. "You're very brave, remember?" Another nod.

"I'm very brave." She said, almost to reassure herself.

"I have to close the door." The little girl nodded, trusting with every fiber of her being that she would return. And she wished was that she really could return. She was still crying as they took one last look at each other, and she shut the heavy door, spinning the wheel to lock it.

"Sam? Sam?"

She ran into the elevator, giant sobs racking her body. She started slamming her fists against the walls and kicking it. Finally, she sat in the corner, allowing herself to grieve. The tears don't stop, but they stop coming in such high volumes.

I couldn't protect her, is the only thought that came to her mind. Suddenly, she realized something. She woke up! She pressed the button on the elevator and went back down to the little girl.

As she walked into the room, she heard his voice. "Sam, do you read me?"

She walked over to the intercom. "Colonel, I'm staying."

"Negative."

"Colonel, she's awake."

"Oh god!"

"Captain Carter, I am ordering you to get back up here, right now." She finished locking the door as she heard his voice. "Right now!"

Defiantly, she walked swiftly over and gave Cassie a hug. "Are we going to die?"

"No, we are not going to die." She said, firmly.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Miller."

"I'm Grace Carter. It's nice to meet you." She said, accepting the hand held out in greeting.

Why today? She asked herself. She had always had flashes of memories, but…why today when she had to make a good impression?

"And you. I hear you've made quite a name for yourself in the field of Quantum Physics. Good for you."

"Thank you."

"So…the works, Daniel?" She asked, before beginning the examination.

He nodded and then discreetly motioned for her to speak with him privately.

"Exam #3 is open. There's a gown and everything." She said, to the eighteen year old.

"Thank you."

As she left, Cassandra walked over to Daniel. "What?"

"I need you to run a DNA test. I have a hunch, but I don't want to say anything until I'm absolutely positive."

She looked at him, confused. "What is it?"

"I don't want to influence the test results." He turned, "Can you have them on my desk by tomorrow morning?"

"I could have them on your desk in an hour." She said in all seriousness.

"I'd appreciate it."

"Sure."