The Alternates

The Jaffa had thrown down their weapons, their small army was shouting and cheering, and Daniel Jackson allowed himself to feel triumphant for the first time in years. For so long he had lived with the weight of failure and loss and while this is no way made up for it, at least it was something.

"Sam, Jack. It's all clear. You can come out now." Daniel said into his radio looking at the small ship where the two had been pinned down moments before by the Jaffa patrol.

There was a pause and Jack's voice came back, "in a minute."

Daniel looked up at Teal'c who cocked his head in an oh so familiar way. "What are they…" Daniel started saying when Jack's radio crackled back to life and it became immediately apparent what was going on in the time ship. "Seriously?" He said incredulously before quickly turning off the radio completely. "Un freaking believable" he fumed as he turned to Teal'c and asked "How long have those two known each other?"

"I am uncertain as to the exact amount of time, however it has most likely been several days."

"Days?! Geeze they must have really taken all that regulation crap seriously to have held out as long as they did when apparently all it takes is for them to start getting it on in every other conceivable timeline is days!" He realized Teal'c was staring at him with one eyebrow raised clearly not understanding a thing he just said. "Sorry," he said holding up a hand. "Bit of a pet peeve. I'll explain later."

"Will you also explain the purpose of a 'peeved pet'?"

Daniel chuckled and clapped Teal'c on the shoulder. "Will do." He thumbed the radio back on. "Jack? Sam?" He said loudly. "Common guys, we need to get the ship out of here before more Jaffa show up."

There was a scrambling sound before Jack's voice came over the radio again, "fine, fine," he grumbled. He emerged with Sam a minute later. Her hair stuck up on one side and her cheeks were tinged pink. Jack walked nonchalantly as if nothing had happened. "Hey guys!" he said, waving once.

"You rolled over the radio Jack, we heard everything" Daniel said crossing his arms. Sam's face turned a deep scarlet and Jack said "ah" somewhat triumphantly.

Daniel shook his head. "I'm going to go talk to Katep about keeping this area secured for the time being. Jack, go with Sam and help her get the ship working again so we can move it somewhere safe."

"Aye aye Captain," Jack said, giving a mock salute and heading back into the ship.

Daniel watched him go. "Never thought there would be a universe where I'd be giving Jack O'Neill the orders," he muttered.

An hour later Daniel headed back to the ship after working with Teal'c to ensure the perimeter was secure. When he walked in he saw Jack was asleep in the front seat and Sam was on her hands and knees, head under a panel with a mess of wires littering the floor. For a second he felt as though he was back with his team, and he felt his heart twist at the sharp reminder of their absence. He forced the feeling down as he did every time he was faced with the vast enormity of everything he lost that day two years ago.

"Hey Sam, how's it going?" he said, walking up to her not bothering to keep his voice down. He assumed this Jack was just as sound a sleeper as his Jack. She startled at the sound of his voice and banged her head into the panel above her in the process.

"Ow!" she yelped, emerging and rubbing her head.

"Sorry, " Daniel apologized, "didn't mean to startle you."

"It's okay," she said sitting down on the bench in the back of the ship. "You wouldn't happen to have any ice, would you?"

Daniel stared at her, "um, it's ancient Egypt."

"Right," she said. "Stupid," she muttered under her breath.

"It's okay," Daniel said sitting next to her. "It took me a while to get used to living here too. Even though I would have killed for this chance back when I was working on my dissertation. Anyway, how's it coming along with the ship? I see that Jack has been oh so helpful" he said gesturing to the sleeping Colonel who hadn't moved since they started talking.

She sighed, "beat to heck but I think I can get it limping out of here."

"Teal'c says we should have about another hour before there's any major resistance, so limping is fine. We can hide it somewhere while we finish getting it up and running."

She nodded and retreated back into the guts of the ship. "Better get back to work then."

He watched her for a minute, "you're pretty good with this technology, how long have you been working with it."

"Her voice was echoey from under the panel, "uh, the Air Force contacted me and you about six weeks ago. They found the ship three weeks later."

"So you're not military." It wasn't a question.

She laughed, "Is it that obvious?"

"Noo" he lied.

She emerged again holding several components. "Sorry, this is just kinda weird. I mean, I know you, and you know me, but we don't know each other, you know?"

"Yeah, I do." Daniel said sincerely.

"You miss them, I can tell. I miss the other Daniel." Sam said gently. Daniel bowed his head and didn't respond as his chest tightened again.

"Will you tell me about them? The other SG1?

"Sure, he said lightly, "someday." He stood to leave "Let me know when it's ready to go and I'll throw some water on Jack and have him get us out of here."

She blushed again at the mention of his name but nodded and went back to work. Daniel walked back out into the sand thinking the universe surely had a sense of humor. He'd have given anything to have his friends back, but this wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind.