Author's Note: To ccdsah, here you go...


Chapter Fifteen

"Honey, I'm home," Sam called out in jest as she entered her house, setting her keys on the cabinet by the door, but was hesitant to go any further. She had a sinking feeling that she was about to have a fight with her husband.

"Hey, that's my line!" Jack feigned hurt from somewhere in her house and appeared before her soon afterwards. He had a serious expression on his face. "So."

"So," she repeated, knowing what was coming.

"Living room?"

Sam nodded in agreement. As they entered the living room, she spotted two beers resting on her coffee table. Taking a seat, she sighed and grabbed the bottom across from her. "Do we really need to do this right now?" she tried to prolong the inevitable.

"I think you know my response to that," he replied briskly and didn't give her any time to retreat. "Why Sam?"

"Daniel already told you why."

"No, I mean why would you even propose such an idea, let alone think of one?"

"Again, you know why," she reiterated, "After the second beachhead was established, it was only a matter of time before they came after us. With the way we've been going at them, it was a likely assumption that we were their next target."

"So that gives us the right to go hopping into other realities to steal stuff?" he asked rhetorically and a bit snippy. "You know what not having a ZPM did to our Atlantis, and yet here you were, willing to risk the same outcome for someone else's reality!"

"The Wraith already assumed that their Atlantis was destroyed so what was the harm in taking it?"

"Are you seriously defending your actions?" who the hell was this woman? Certainly not his wife. "You honestly believe they wouldn't come back every now and then to be sure? Without it being cloaked, their Atlantis would be destroyed, just like ours! You would've been gambling with the lives of everyone on that expedition! I know you wouldn't be around for that, but could you honestly live with that on your conscious?"

Sam took a long sip of her beer, hating that he was right. The loss of over half of their Atlantis expedition had been devastating. While Atlantis hadn't been destroyed completely, the destruction the Wraith had caused was enough for them to abandon the city for now. Many refused to leave the Pegasus Galaxy, wanting to stay and try to repair the Ancient city as best they could, but with the damage it sustained, it would take years and resources that only Earth could provide.

"It was a calculated risk."

"I don't care if it was. What I want to know is if you could've lived with that, knowing that you may have been the cause for so many lives lost?"

"No," she admitted in a whisper.

"So then why, Sam?" this time, his tone was more confused instead of angry.

"The IOA and Landry…after the second beachhead, they were putting pressure on everyone to come up with a way to fend off any attack the Ori may have mounted. The main focus was the chair," she explained, "Power was the one obstacle that we had. Most power solutions weren't much of solutions and the only other one we had besides the ZPM would've involved the U.S, hell the world, to know about the Stargate Program, something that Landry and the IOA weren't okay with. So when Bill suggested a ZPM, I was ordered to use whatever means necessary to locate one. Bill also brought up an alternate reality, if it makes you feel better. I just figured out how to get us there."

Jack took a swig of his beer, contemplating her explanation. "Why was the President and myself left out of this decision?"

"The President only knew about the power issues we were facing and that we were attempting to find a solution; he didn't know about the alternate reality. Landry and an IOA representative made the decision to keep it quiet."

Jack snorted. "Of course they did," he said bitterly, "Well, at least it wasn't fully your idea," he took comfort in that.

Silence fell between the two for a few minutes as they took time to drink their beers and think before they spoke. "I'm sorry," she offered and was in some ways. "I'm sorry that I willingly did it, that I didn't fight my orders, and most of all, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. But I will not apologize for going because it ended up bringing an end to the Ori war – it's over because we went there and I will not regret that."

"Just remember that next time, you may not be so lucky," Jack warned, "it may not end up like this and you won't be able to take back the wrong you did and the chaos that follows."

"I know," she looked at him head on, "If I thought there had been any way to defend ourselves, I would've done it, you know that. I didn't want to do it but I was willing to for my planet's survival. It sucked having to lie and betray different versions of my friends and myself and when that Vala gave us everything we needed, you'll never know how relieved I was that I no longer had to betray those people. So, instead of focusing on what we planned to do, let's focus on the fact that we accomplished something even greater."

Jack met her stare, trying to determine if she was really was remorseful. He believed her for the most part. "Something there got to you," he observed, "like it did Daniel or are you mad like Mitchell that a space pirate got the best of you?"

"That Vala was never actually a space pirate," she corrected, remembering the defensive nature the other her had for that Vala. "In fact, she and that Daniel had been married for a couple of years."

Jack's brows went up. "Really?"

"Yep," Sam held up three fingers, "three kids."

"Think that's why he was so gung-ho with Vala and inserting his own genes for the baby?"

Sam shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"You still didn't answer my question," he noted, "What upset you about that reality?"

Sam tapped her bottle lightly as she tried to think of the words. "I don't think upset is the right word," she said, "maybe more wistful or remorseful."

"Why?" he inquired gently.

"Because of us, that version of us," she smiled sadly, "I didn't actually see you there, but I saw pictures of us, married and happy."

"Sam, that's nothing new," his voice still gentle, "We've experience other realities and we seem to always be together in them."

"This one was different," she insisted, "Jack, we were both military. She had the same job I do now, same rank, she was even the leader of SG-1 like I was here while you were the General. The only difference between the two of you now is that he is retired while you're stuck in Washington."

Jack envied the man, that was his first reaction; the second was, how the hell were those two able to make it work? Did they not have any fraternization regs? "Whoa…"

"I know," Sam agreed, "but there's more – they had three children."

"Kids?" he whispered, stunned.

"Jack, I saw pictures and they're beautiful."

He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that another him had three children with Carter. He gave up the idea of having children ever again; first because of Charlie and he wasn't ready. Second, because the only person he wanted to have kids with was forbidden and he wasn't allowed to be with her. "How they hell did they manage that?" had there been an option that neither of them had seen?

"From what she told me, it was a fluke, a stroke of luck," she chuckled bitterly, "As you know from our briefing with Landry you know that Vala wasn't originally from that reality. When she came through the mirror, she brought two children with her. She did so in order to keep a promise to her original Sam that died minutes after giving birth to one of the kids she brought through. Her Sam didn't want her kids growing up without us, in a galaxy soon to be overrun by the Ori. She made Vala promise her that she'd find another reality for them to be raised in. Vala picking the reality we went to was a fluke, a desperate attempt save the children. The Ori were attacking and the only way out was through the mirror; so she went through and blew up the mirrors on both ends, stranding the three of them.

"When Vala brought them to the SGC, the other us couldn't help but fall in love with them and decided to raise them together. I, she quit SG-1 and was transferred to R&D, reporting to someone outside their chain of command. They also got a special dispensation from the President so people like Kinsey couldn't hold that over them. They married not long after the kids arrived."

"You said three children but Vala only brought two with her," Jack pointed out.

"About two years after the children came through, I, she, had another baby, a girl," Sam smiled, remembering the little girl's picture.

Jack let the information soak in as he finished off the rest of his beer and grabbed hers to finish as well. "Names?" he really shouldn't have asked – what was the point?

"Grace, Ian, and Lily," Sam responded softly, "Grace after –"

"My grandmother," he finished, "and Lily after –"

"My mom," she smiled at him, "I don't know where Ian came from though."

Jack shrugged. "I kinda always liked it a bit so I can see why they did that," he commented, "So that's why you're acting a bit strange, 'cause they had kids?"

"I guess.'

He hesitated before asking, "Do you want kids?"

"That ship probably has already sailed."

"That's not what I asked," he chastised, "Do you want kids?"

Sam bit her lip and looked elsewhere. "I don't know," she whispered, confused herself, "I hadn't thought about having any in so long, what with my job and all it entails, I never wanted to put my child through that."

"But the threat has been eliminated."

"And another will take its place," she argued, "one always does."

"Maybe not this time," he grasped her chin and moved it so she was looking at him once more. "We can't always plan our lives around what potential bad guy may or may not arise. I'll ask again, do you want children? I'll make it an order if I have to."

"I didn't before, at least I didn't care," she stumbled out, "but now, after that experience, I think I might. What do you think about that? I mean, it might not even be possible for me; I've might've waited too long, so there's –"

"Carter," he cut her off gently, "First off, there's more than one way to make a family; we've learned that through SG-1 and with Fraiser and Cassie, but if you want to try, we can try."

"Really?" her voice shook slightly, "You're not gonna say you're too old or something?"

"Well, I am," he teased with a grin, "but if it'll make you happy, it'll make me happy. Besides, I wouldn't mind raising a kid with you, biological or not."

"I love you, you know that?"

"I love you too," he declared and pulled her to him to give her a kiss.


o0o


Author's Note: So as you saw, I took some liberties with Atlantis within this reality. They never really mentioned why they didn't go for their own ZPM in Atlantis so I came up with a solution (though I guess they could've been wanting to keep their Atlantis cloaked as well as have a new ZPM to power the chair but I like my version better).

This is the only Jack/Sam scene I'll actually have but couldn't help but write it so...yeah.

As always, let me know your thoughts!