"The war … the casualties …" Sam said, her mind exploding with the enormity of the cover up. It was all an elaborate façade, a stage to supply the fodder for Ba'al's army, a way to pacify a creature intent on conquest and power.

That was how it all was changed.

Chapter 14: Making Plans

Sam stayed at the White House overnight. Spending time with her parents was something she'd never expected to do again. Now all three of them knew the truth, the time was even more valuable.

Jacob and Kathleen were saddened to learn this Sam had been motherless since the age of thirteen. Jacob struggled to imagine bringing up his children without Kathleen. Still, somehow his little girl had survived, and from what he could tell, prospered. He and his wife were amazed at the positive changes in their daughter. It wasn't that they didn't love and value the Sam of this reality. It was that they loved her so much. That love rejoiced in the obvious fulfillment their daughter had found, even if it wasn't here, with them. A full bird Colonel, fascinating, challenging work she loved, and a happy marriage, this Sam seemed to have it all. They'd wanted this and more for their daughter.

For his part, Jacob experienced the first threads of hope in a very long time. These strangers from another Earth were presenting him with the answer he'd been looking for since the early days of his presidency. It wasn't about defeating Ba'al and his minions here, with outclassed weapons, worn down military and a deeply depressed populace. It was about restoring the original timeline, where the tragedy of a War Without End had never happened in the first place. And as the goal changed, so did the possibilities for success.

It wasn't lost on Jacob that restoring the so called original timeline would mean the end of life as he knew it. In his simplest reckoning, it meant Kathleen would cease to exist as well. More importantly, as the leader of the supposedly "free world", he wouldn't be the only one to sustain personal losses were the timeline restored. Virtually everyone on the face of the planet would be affected in some way. There would be those who would never have been born. Others would die earlier, die different or die later. Some would be happy and others would have harder lives. But over and above it all, if these travelers succeeded, Earth would be free for the first time in over six decades. That would be worth it, so very worth it.

There would be those who would insist on putting it to a vote, giving the American people, better yet the people of the world, a choice about changing the way things were. Normally, President Carter was as democratic minded as anyone else, but not on this. The vast majority of the citizens of Earth had no idea what was going on behind the scenes of the War. Ba'al's name was generally unknown. And the populace believed that the well onto one hundred thousand who died yearly in the desert theatre, died as heroes on a battlefield. They couldn't know that fully half that number were abducted and altered for use in Ba'al's army of destruction.

Without that knowledge, no intelligent decision could be reached. Personal survival as opposed to planetary servitude; after decades of secrecy, it would be impossible to convince people those were really the stakes. And so it fell to Jacob and the other leaders of the world to make the decision for their people. After all these years of death, destruction and loss, Jacob had little doubt his fellow leaders would agree with his decision.

OoOoOo

By the time of the evening meal, another White House visitor had arrived. After the early afternoon meeting with her father, Sam had contacted Daniel, telling him to be ready for passage on a chartered jet, designated to deliver him to Washington. And so it did. Like the Daniel Jackson of the original timeline, he arrived with a flourish, by helicopter on the White House lawn. Jack and Sam were there to meet him.

"Hi," Daniel greeted both of them. "Missed me?"

"Who are you?" Jack asked, singularly unimpressed with the younger man.

"Dr. Daniel Jackson, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill" Sam supplied. "Daniel, Colonel O'Neill is in charge of national security for my father."

Daniel nodded, silent as he took in the implications of Jack's change of rank. More telling was the change in relationship he felt between his two dear friends. It saddened his heart.

"Good to meet you, Colonel," Daniel said extending his hand.

OoOoOo

Later that night, most everyone in the residence had turned in for the night. Sam couldn't sleep, sequestering herself in her father's study with a state of the art laptop. Tomorrow they would be making plans. As usual, everyone, including her father would be looking to her expertise to make things happen. Unfortunately, she wasn't certain she would come through this time. Time travel wasn't her strong suit. In fact she hated the very concept. Even if they could manage to unearth the Antarctic Gate, how in the world was she supposed to predict a solar flare? In itself that challenge promised months of work in the best of facilities, facilities she doubted existed on this earth.

"Hey," a familiar voice interrupted her. Colonel O'Neill stood in the doorway, hands in his pockets, looking confused and less than comfortable.

"Colonel, come in," Sam said, uncertain how to greet the man who wasn't actually her husband.

"Colonel? I know we're divorced Sam, but since when is it Colonel?" he asked, a tinge of hurt evident in his voice.

Sam bit her lip and sighed, gently closing the laptop as she did so.

"Since you and I both know it's different here," she answered. "We may look like the same people, but we're not. We barely know each other."

Jack wordlessly asked Sam's permission to take a seat across from her. When she nodded, he sat heavily, his large frame clearly uncomfortable in more ways than one. "See, that's what has me confused," he began, sounding exactly like the man she loved, stymied by one or another of her scientific rants. "You are Sam, but you're not?"

"Something like that," Sam answered. "For a reason I don't fully understand I have most of her memories as well as my own. Only they never happened to me."

"So, you and me, we were never …" Jack asked, gesturing broadly between them.

"No, never married."

"And Charlie?" Jack asked sadly.

Sam could see this Jack struggling for control of his emotions. Her Jack or not, Sam's heart went out to him.

"I never knew Charlie, Jack," Sam said. "In my world you did have a son named Charlie but he died before you and I got together."

Jack nodded as if he understood. Of course, he didn't, but he'd never admit it.

"And you, you never… got sick … went to the hospital?"

"No, not like that," Sam said. "I never lost a child," she added, hiding a truth she had no reason to share with this man.

Jack nodded. He was glad she hadn't felt that pain. He continued to look at her as if he'd never seen her before.

"If Charlie hadn't died, my Sam and I would still be together," he whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear.

Now it was Sam's turn to nod sadly. "It must have been terrible," she said.

"She blamed herself," Jack said, as if he could finally purge the feelings he'd held in for so long. "I wanted to help. I loved her so much. She pulled away from me, from everyone. We were in love, I thought I could reach her. But I couldn't help. She tried to kill herself, she wanted to die. My being around just made her worse."

Sam had no idea what to say. She couldn't imagine pulling away from her Jack, not anymore, no matter what happened.

"So you divorced?"

"Her idea really," Jack said. "I was hurt, hell, more than hurt, but I didn't want to make her any worse. So I gave her what she wanted. I knew Jacob would take care of her."

Sam sat quietly, looking at this man who'd lost a great deal in this reality as well.

"Look, Sam," Jack said. "Jacob's talking about helping you set this thing right, restore what you say is the original timeline."

"Yes, he told me," Sam said. "He says he'll need to confer with other world leaders, but believes they'll agree with him."

"What will you do?"

"Find the second Gate," Sam said. "That's the easy part. Then I need to rig it to send us when we need to be."

"And then?"

"We keep Ba'al from changing what was supposed to happen."

"And what happens to my timeline?" Jack asked.

Sam looked at him for a minute, grasping the enormity of his question.

"If we succeed, this timeline will cease to exist."

Jack closed his eyes, exhaling sharply. It was beyond his imagination. As much as he wanted a reality where he and Sam had never turned away from each other, right now the consequences of that choice were too much.

"My kids, the twins, my children with Kerry … they won't exist, will they?"

Sam could feel her own tears gathering. This man had lost so much already. Now the possibility of restoring the timeline threatened to rob him one more time.

"Most likely, no, they won't," she said, as gently as she could. Nothing was going to make this easier.

"You know I can't help you," he said.

"I understand."

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading. Appreciate all the reviews for last chapter. Its a thrill to hear from you. Next chapter, more planning. As you can tell they aren't home free yet.