Chapter 2 - Old Times
They went back to the office Malcolm had passed before, his mind wondering where they would fit. Before he could dwell much in it, Sam approached the high table now on his left side and pressed something on the wall. As she took some steps away from it, the whole right side floor moved. From the wall where the high table was, up till the entrance door, some mechanism lifted the floor, creating an inner second floor. Below it, a full lounge room with all and a fireplace appeared.
"You believe this will do?" she asked him, and he nodded in awe. The couple moved to the large couch and sat close to each other. Malcolm walked closer to them and lowered his backpack on the floor next to him. He took some recording equipment out and placed it over the table, then pressing a button eight spherical things came out of it surrounding them and marked a cubical area. When Sam giggled, Jack shook his head, amused.
"Um. I don't know if you are familiar with this. This equipment is a special piece; it will…" Malcolm started
"It will take a four-dimensional record of the area. The spheres that flew away are markers set to limit the recorded space. It will register everything inside the created area, allowing this recording to look like we are real, like old movies. Although it can be played as a hologram giving the viewer the impression that he is present here with us," Sam finished.
"Don't even go there," Jack interrupted before Malcolm could say something more. "It's one doohickey that Sam helped to develop. Just start, please. Dinner will be ready soon, and we would like to get this done sooner than later."
"Sure. Can you state who you are?"
"I'm Samantha Carter; please call me Sam."
"I'm Jonathan O'Neill, Jack to everybody who wants to live," he smiled, and she slapped him playfully on the arm.
"Let's start from the beginning. How long have you met?"
"We met a long time ago. Back in 1995."
"We both ended up in the same hospital room for reasons we won't disclose. We became friends, and two months later, we both parted ways."
"According to the file I got from you, your eldest daughter was born in 2005, and that would be ten years later. What happened?"
"With a twist of fate and a mock of destiny, we met again in 1997."
"And according to your marriage license, you didn't get married until 2005 either; I take it wasn't 'love at first sight'?" Malcolm wondered.
"It kinda was… but as she told you, someone up there was pissed up with us."
"We met again when we both were reassigned to the SGC," Sam stated.
"So, they reassigned you to the same base?"
"He was my Commanding Officer."
"She was my Second in Command."
"Oh, I see now the twist of fate you mentioned. Ouch, how long were you in that position?" Malcolm grimaced.
"Those eight years." They both answered.
"Eight years? Wow! I know there are rules against having a relationship with your subordinates or boss in the military. Did you start an affair despite them?" Malcolm inquired.
"No," they both said no rush in their voice.
"When did you know you were in love with each other?"
"I knew I had a crush on him after the first week at the hospital, but I kept it to myself. When we met, Jack was married to Sarah," Sam explained. "Then, two years later, I had to make myself believe he was good as dead in order not to fall in love with him. I failed miserably."
"For me, it was similar. I first thought I just developed the hots for her. I mean, look at her and tell me that's unthinkable! She was funny and beautiful and so young! I was married and in love with my wife. Then fate intervened again, and I was single, she was my second, and a look in her direction told me it wasn't just the hot's."
"We just both assumed the other had no interest in us in that way. Deny yourself something becomes easy if you get as much practice as we had. So, we did nothing," Sam stated.
"People started a rumor, they'd said we had something going on, but everything was unfounded. We were just good friends, and we both were deep in denial."
"Then, on a mission, Jack got stuck on another planet, and I was back on Earth. That was my breaking point. I couldn't deny how I felt after that. I did everything I could to bring him back; the CMO and my CO ordered me to sleep and eat. I didn't leave the base for the almost four months Jack was out there. I know now he was there for a hundred days, but back then, I didn't know how much time had passed; all I knew was that I wanted Jack back."
"What happened when he returned?" Malcolm asked.
"Once he was back, I had to force myself to deal with the fact that I was deeply in love with him, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. There was also no way that I would act on those feelings. I respected him too much to throw his career out of the window." Sam explained.
"I knew what I was feeling back then," Jack said. "I felt the same way she did. I considered letting her know, but I wouldn't dare to risk her career. Also, by then, I knew how I felt, she knew how she felt, but there was this huge thing stopping us."
"Your careers?" Malcolm offered.
"No, that we didn't know how the other felt," Sam chuckled.
"Then everything became more complicated." They exchanged a grim glance
"We were faced with the other feelings when a mission went awry around the fourth year working together."
"How bad it was?"
"We finished setting a bomb. We were running out of the place to escape the intended explosion. Something went wrong, and I got stuck inside the ship, trapped by a laser wall that I couldn't cross."
"And I was on the opposite side," Jack grimaced.
"So, fate forced you to decide if you would save yourself knowing that she would die," Malcolm affirmed.
"Something like that."
"Did you leave?" Both shook their heads no
"He didn't leave me. I screamed for him to run. I asked him to save himself, and he kept fighting with the controls. I knew I couldn't watch him die. He had to live."
"And all I knew was that I couldn't leave her to die."
"For the longest couple of seconds, we just stood there, staring at each other across the unbreakable wall. With that look, we learned what we had been hiding from the outside. Then, a power cut affected the area. It broke the moment. But now the wall was down, and we ran for our lives," Sam shrugged.
"So, by year four out of eight, you knew how the other felt about you. What did you do?"
"We kept it in the room. We chose to work together. It was a no-brainer," Jack said.
"Are you telling me you purposely buried your feelings for each other?" They nodded.
"It was hard for both of us, and it was hard on our friends who wanted us together. Then, at year seven, we tried to settle," Sam said, looking at her hands. "With other people."
"She dated, and even got engaged with a cop, and I dated an Agent. Thankfully, Dad knocked some sense in both of us before passing."
"What did Dad O'Neill say?"
"It was General Jacob Carter, Sam's dad," Jack smiled fondly. "He reminded me there were options."
"And reminded me that 'good things are worth to fight.'"
"And you finally got together?" Malcolm asked.
"No, but we started to go out more with Daniel and T, our closest friends and teammates. We began to share more time and to learn more about each other. "
"So you went dating with chaperones," Malcolm stated.
"Exactly. Then we finally got our chance; we talked about it; we moved some connections and knew they would grant us some days of freedom to do what we planned."
2005
"They won't let you resign, Jack. I'll resign."
"No, Sam, you don't get it? They won't let you resign either."
"I can't go back, Jack, I can't," she whispered to him.
"I can't go back either," he smiled reassuringly.
"So what..."
"They offered me, us, a solution."
"And why I take we won't like it?"
"We don't, but it's better than nothing."
"If it is better than nothing, then let's do it."
"You didn't even hear the offer yet."
"I don't care."
2050
"What did you do?" Malcolm asked.
"After way too many retirements letters rejected, we both got a retirement approved for exactly four days."
"You retired?"
"Yes, we moved some connections to figure out a way to do it. They rejected before all the retirement letters we presented," Sam said.
"We couldn't find a door, so we got ourselves a window. I wrote my resignation letter: I Brigadier General Jonathan Jack O'Neill, blah blah blah. Sam's was something like 'I, Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, blah blah blah,' I signed and approved hers. Then passed mine and hers to my CO. He grinned when he said: 'You know I've waited this moment for eight long years, it's about time, son' "
"Seven days later, I was, for all intents and purposes, Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, Head of Research and Development stationed in Nevada. And he was Major General Jack O'Neill, stationed at DC as Chief of Homeworld Security."
"But something changed," Malcolm stated.
"We got married. There are no regulations against married people working on the same command line."
"Then, why keep the secrecy?"
"We knew people from DC, and they politely asked us to keep our last names. Before they said no one else should know our involvement," Sam started explaining. "It was dangerous not only because of the scuttlebutt that being married to my CO would cause but for the nature of our job. We needed to keep quiet if we didn't want to endanger each other. "
2005
Washington DC
"General Jumper, sir."
"I believe congratulations are in order for you?"
"Yes, sir," they grinned.
"General O'Neill, they will ask you to present yourself in two weeks to take over Hammond's command with a promotion to Major General. Colonel Carter, you will take over Area 51 R&D command as previously intended. I don't know how long I will be able to keep you there. Also, I know you probably want to change your name Colonel, but if you do, you will raise many questions. You don't need that, so I will ask you to remain as Carter at least for the USAF purposes."
"What if we have children?" Sam asked.
"As I already told the General, if your kids are as special as our allies thought they would be, then protect them will become a matter of national security. However, they can't be recognized as O'Neill's kids, that would bring too much attention to you two. I know it is too much to ask, given all you already did for the Earth, but if we don't act like this… we will end up being investigated for favoritism, and God knows what else, and it's not only your career at stake anymore. Even if we are the ones who won't let you go."
"We understand, sir... We don't like it, but we know it only could happen this way."
2050
"I can't figure out why would be a security issue?"
"If someone wants to hurt you, Malcolm, really hurt you… who do you think it will go after? You? Or your loved ones?"
"I see, so you were in DC. It probably was tough to get to you, but she is in Nevada. People disappear every day from there."
"Exactly. I was there for a year," Sam said.
2005
"Congratulations, Colonel Carter; you appear to be about three months pregnant now."
"Two months," Sam stated.
"Excuse me?"
"It has to be two months, actually 7 or 8 weeks. That's the only probably date," Sam said.
"Then you have a big one coming along."
2050
"I got many calls from the SGC during that year," Sam explained. "They wanted me back, but my pregnancy took me out of gate travel. Back then, we didn't know much about how it could affect babies."
2005
"Hi, Cameron," Sam said as soon as she spotted him.
"Hey, Sam, it's good to see you."
"Sorry, it took me so long to get back to you. We have been up to our ears double-checking the new hyper-drive, and then the uplink was jammed with the long-range plotting program being transmitted by the Asgard. No need to bore you. How have you been? You look good."
"Thanks. Listen, Sam. Come back and rejoin SG-1," she laughed at this
"I heard you'd been given the command. Congratulations."
"I'm not kidding. You can keep an eye on R & D in your spare time, just like you always have. Besides, Dr. Lee is pouting because you got the post over him."
"Really?" she asked, surprised.
"No, I made that up."
"I have my reasons for wanting this job."
"I had my reasons for wanting THIS job. One of them was working with you, and please, do not say, "that's nice."
"We'll still work together."
"It won't be the same. What if the world needs saving?"
"Well, if the world needs saving, I will be there doing what I can."
"What if the world needs saving because I screwed up 'cause you weren't here in the first place?" She looked puzzled at the comment. Mitchell sighed and looked around to see if anyone else overheard.
"How about we pretend I didn't say that?"
"Done."
"Lieutenant Colonel Carter to the bridge. Lieutenant Colonel Carter, please report immediately to the bridge."
"Sorry, I gotta go."
"Yeah, I'll buy you breakfast when you get back on solid ground."
"You're on. Talk to you soon." As soon as the video was off, she raised and rubbed her back while walking to the bridge. She had an excellent reason to keep the job and most likely to not return to the SGC for a good couple of months.
2050
"According to your records, you stayed at Area 51 until your daughter's birth. After some months, they reassigned you to Colorado Springs. Now, Jack, you found yourself half country away missing not only your wife but your daughter," Malcolm said.
"Yes, the worst part was I couldn't even tell anyone! I escaped to Nevada to be with her after the birth. However, I couldn't be there for the birth," Jack said.
"We never expected she would be born so soon."
2005
"Come on, Mrs. O'Neill, push now!"
"I don't want to push! I want my damn husband!" Sam yelled.
"I see the head! The body is coming, ma'am! Push again!" the doctor instructed.
"We tried to reach him, but it was impossible. Please, ma'am, push," the nurse pleaded.
"I hate the US Air Force!" Sam hissed through gritted teeth.
"Come on, ma'am! Just a couple more," the nurse cooed.
"Congratulations, Mrs. O'Neill, it's a girl! She seems healthy for a seven-month birth."
Outside Sam's delivery room
"We are here to transfer patient Samantha Carter."
"There's no Samantha Carter in this hospital, ma'am."
"This is Samantha Carter. Someone brought her here to give birth?" She said, showing a picture of Sam.
"And you are?"
"I am Dr. Carolyn Lam. I am her Doctor."
"This way, Dr. "
"Carolyn? What are you doing here?" Sam asked as she spotted Dr. Lam.
"We are transferring you to a military hospital."
"Oh."
"Sam, they didn't have you on the list as Carter, you know why?"
"The only id on my purse was my driver's license," Sam grimaced. "They have my 'civilian' name, not my 'military' name."
"I do not understand what are you talking about, Sam."
"Dr. Lam, here you have Mrs. O'Neill's folder, I mean Ms. Carter." Carolyn looked at Sam with bewildered eyes.
"You can't say anything to anyone, Carolyn."
"I guess that's the reason your kid may or may not be a national security issue?"
"She is a national security issue," Sam stated.
"Why do you say that?" Carolyn asked, confused.
"She has the ATA gene."
"Oh! Is he coming?"
"Yes," Sam smiled. "They will give him four days leave starting tomorrow."
"Do you have the name?"
"Yes. Alexia Grace Carter."
2050
"Ok, so you have a kid. What happened next?"
"I think what happened next was dinner," Aila interrupted them.