Ok, next chapter.
I feel really bad about not
including this in the last chapters but this story was beta'd by SG-Fan
and I could not have done this without her constant support. THANKS!
I'm glad so many of you like Sophie, it's hard creating a character in fanfiction because everyone likes the main characters so much it's hard to let others in, so that really made me happy. BookWorm37: 1)Good point 2)Thank you 3)Will do 4) I have no idea, ask Sophie. Niceck: Ok, ok. Is this gang-up-on-Beth day? No offence with the 'childhood' quip, I'm sure you had a wonderful childhood. A Tardis is a thing from a TV show called 'Doctor Who' the main feature is it's much bigger than how it looks on the outside. (I don't actually watch Doctor Who and I don't find it very appealing but… there you go!) Unputdownable: Yeah I'm sorry, I take awhile to get into things but all will become clear……I hope.
"Silence!" Sophie yelled with a voice that seemed too strong for such a small woman. The members of SG-1 stopped laughing and amiable chatter immediately- the lady who had so kindly let them into her home had such an over-whelming presence that obeying her seemed to come all too naturally.
Jack shifted uncomfortably in his seat; he didn't like obeying his superiors on the best of days, let alone someone he'd just met. Daniel didn't have any problem with trusting the eccentric woman and had happily spoken to her during the meal about her possessions and their significance. Teal'c was silently and comfortably eating and complimenting and adding titbits of information to the conversation. Sam was literally brimming with questions; eyes alight with enthusiasm and frustration when she didn't get the answers she was looking for. So far, Sophie claimed everything she had was 'magic'. Jack had found himself watching the silent struggle for comprehension behind the mask of politeness Sam had put up. That was the difference between him and his 2IC; he wouldn't care or even notice if he had just insulted someone and that was another reason why she was so good for him.
"Come this way!" Sophie ordered, "I have something important to tell you all." Her tone, which had been so cheerful throughout the meal, now darkened. Her smile disappeared and her face smoothed somewhat so it appeared longer and sadder than it actually was.
She took a couple of shaking steps down from her chair and fumbled nervously with the walking stick she kept close to her side at all times. SG-1 stood up cautiously, instantly sensing her change of mood, and stood warily as she made her way to a door none of them had noticed before.
It looked strangely out of place in the grand room; everything was made big in the hall, big windows, big chairs and big tables. This door was small and strangely insignificant. It wasn't covered in veils or curtains and it displayed no pattern in the woodwork.
"I think the decorators missed a spot," Jack quipped. "You should get your money back,"
Sophie smiled long-sufferingly at him as if she were humouring a toddler then led them into the room beyond the plain wooden door.
The room wasn't what you'd call spacious but it fitted Sophie and SG-1 comfortably around a round wooden table. Sophie sat in an old, worn armchair. It wasn't the age of something that Daniel would consider an artefact and its age couldn't match some of the gems she kept in the great hall but it had the air of something well-used and much loved. The edges were frayed and the pattern had long since been worn off the old fabric. The oak that made the arms looked polished and taken care off as it reflected off the light.
There was one simple lamp in the middle of the ceiling and it hung directly over the middle of the table, lighting each of their faces perfectly. Sophie's face had ceased to be sad and instead sported a thoughtful expression, her nose wrinkling under her glasses and her brows knitted together in concentration.
"You don't know me but I know all of you," she started. "I have seen you grow and watched you love and lose precious, precious things." Her eyes found Jack's and his thoughts instantaneously jumped to Charlie without his consent. His heart stung.
Sophie also caught Daniel's; Teal'c's and Sam's attention and Jack heard their thoughts as if they were shouted at him through a speakerphone. Sha're… Sarah… Drey'auc… Shau'nac… Martouf… Orlin…
Sam's eyes darkened and she fell into a dark silence. He wanted to reach out and touch her hand, stroke her hair, make her laugh, anything to stop her looking like that.
"You are doing so well," Sophie continued, "…and you have done so much for your world and several others… but you are dreadful when it comes to taking care of yourselves."
"How do you know this stuff?" Jack voice didn't come out as strong as he may have wanted it to. The memories of what had passed in the last few years had come so suddenly and without warning that Jack had involuntarily taken a breath along with the rest of SG-1.
"I told you," she smiled sadly, "I have known you for a long time now."
"How-" Daniel started but Sophie held a crooked hand to silence him, rings glinting in the plain light. The old woman took Daniel's hands in her own and held them there, her withered hands contrasting greatly against her smooth, young ones.
"You have many questions to ask, do not waste them on me," She smiled. "Ascension stolen a lot from you," she let go of his hands and placed her palm on his forehead. "But it is not lost and you will find it again,"
Daniel's eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement behind his lenses but a tension had lifted from his shoulders and he looked lighter and happier.
"Teal'c," Sophie turned to the large man. "You still concern yourself about your weakened state since the loss of your symbiote. That is a complete waste of time, if anything, it has made you stronger and your people will taste freedom because of it."
Teal'c gave a solemn but grateful nod towards the old woman.
"You two," the wise woman turned her scrutinising gaze on Jack and Sam as if they were an annoying buzz in her ear. "I don't know what I am going to do with you two." she leaned in and put the lenses of her spectacles in front of her eyes to get a better look at the both of them.
Jack and Sam glanced at each other worriedly and Sam inched closer to Jack for protection, not that she would've noticed herself doing it.
"You have issues," she said simply to them.
"Ya think?" Jack shifted in his chair. He didn't like this one bit. The only thing he felt and knew was wrong with his life was sitting next to him, inching closer as this strange woman addressed them both. As if that wasn't uncomfortable enough, the old woman was smiling knowingly at him for there was no way Sophie had missed Sam's subconscious gesture. Jack had admitted, to himself mostly, what was not permitted by USAF regulations but he had yet to do anything about it. However, he couldn't bring himself to address his feelings with Sam after she seemed so happy with this Pete guy. She had been humming earlier this week, fer cryin' out loud! Now this crazy, whacked out, old woman with no regard for privacy was going to ruin this nice little hole of denial they had dug for themselves. She was going to fill it with dirt and bring it all to the surface. Things like that shouldn't be brought into the open. Suddenly he felt Sophie's eyes were boring into him and he couldn't help but think she was reading every thought he had straight off his face.
Sophie looked back and forth between the two of them for a long time then finally rounded on Sam. "You are wrong," the older woman said angrily, "You are making a mistake."
"What-" Sam said getting up.
"Silence!"
"You can't speak to her like that!" Jack said, jumping up to defend Sam. By now Daniel and Teal'c had also risen to their feet but they were unsure at what had gotten their teammates so angry and stayed back.
Sophie rose to her feet with much more grace than Jack could remember her having. "You are a coward of the worst kind, Jack O'Neill," she said, pointing a bony finger at him, "If you do not see what you are doing, I will make you see!"
Before Jack could respond or answer back, the finger pointed at him retracted into her fist and stole his breathe with it. His hand went up to his throat as he struggled to breathe, taking huge, gasping breaths like a fish out of water.
"Sir!" Sam rushed to side as he fell to his knees. Teal'c rushed at the woman but she pushed him backwards with the wave of her hand, Daniel sped to Teal'c's unconscious form and informed them that he was alive.
As numbness began to spread over Jack's body, Sophie's appearance began to shift and change. She seemed to shrink in height as her body hunched over further, the arm outstretched towards him began to shrivel and shake. Her bones rattled and clicked until her knees gave up and she forced herself down into the chair she had abandoned. The skin around her eyes and jowls sagged and melted, her eyelid drooped over her eyes until there was only room for her black pupils to peer at them.
SG-1 stared, transfixed and unmoving while Jack and Sophie both lost consciousness. The old woman slumped in her favourite chair and the grumpy Colonel collapsed in his Major's arms.
