Title:
Title: All The Difference
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Has references to all Stargate series seasons. Buffy to the end of Season 3
Rating: MA
Disclaimer: Don't own SG1, Buffy or any other character from a recognised series.
Summary: SG1 gets some help from an unexpected source… The future.
" " denotes speech, ' ' denotes thought.
AN: Deviates from just after Learning Curve in season 3 (1999).
Tara sat uncomfortably in the VIP quarters that had been assigned to her in the SGC. The room itself was warm and comforting, but it was being surrounded by so much concrete and so many men that was unsettling her. A knock at the door shocked her out of her introspection.
"Come in." She said, her voice barely loud enough to be heard.
The door opened and the temporally dislocated Witch entered, holding a large, leather bound book in her hands. 'Min' carefully placed the tome on the coffee table in the room, the knelt before Tara with her head lowered.
"War Mistress, it is an honour." She said.
"Please, stand." Tara said, nervously. "What is your name?"
"Warrior Witch, Gamma Grade, Maria West, Firebrand Division. Assigned to the Valkyrie Class vessel 'Joyce's Hope', Home System Flotilla." 'Min' replied, raising to her feet. "You ordered me to report to you at the first opportunity on this side of the timeline, War Mistress."
"Why do you call me War Mistress?" Tara asked.
"Because that is your rank within the Order. You lead us, War Mistress." Maria replied.
"Tell me about this Order." Tara said. "Sit please. And call me Tara."
"Yes War... Tara." Maria replied as they both took seats around the coffee table.
"What is this book?"
"It is your Book of Shadows ... Tara. The basis of our Order."
"Hey." Skipper said as he sauntered into Carter's office, his hands in his pockets.
It had been almost a month since Private Harris had left of OCS and in that time 'Min' had been spending almost all her time with Tara, trying to impart as much knowledge as possible while her body grew constantly weaker.
"Hey." Carter replied absently. "There's something I don't understand."
"Shoot." Colonel Harris replied, leaning up against one of the lab tables.
"Min has terminal bone cancer, but we know that a symbiote can heal cancer, so why did she not blend with a Tok'ra, like my dad did?"
"First of all, she did not want to blend with a Tok'ra. And secondly, she's a Witch." Harris said as if that explained everything.
"Why does her being a Witch have anything to do with it?"
"Because, no Witch or Mage can be taken over or blended with a snake. The snake tries it, they die. Not that they would try it. Magic users and Goa'uld instinctively know each other, natural enemy thing. That's why we have members of the Order on every ship and at every accessible base and dockyard."
"That's amazing." Carter said to herself.
"Actually, I just dropped by to give you this." Skipper said, tossing a burnt DVD on to Carter's desk. "You need to watch this. Now."
Skipper walked towards the door.
"What?" Sam asked.
"Goodbye Sam." He said, closing the door.
"I love you." He whispered as the door clicked shut, low enough that Sam could not hear.
Sam put the burnt DVD into her laptop and ran the video file on it. It was immediately obvious that the file had been burnt from the computer that Skipper and Min had brought with them by the amazing quality of the image, which was of herself. The image was the same age as the she had been in the briefing, but this time the scene was not the SGC. Dressed in a white blouse and Jeans and was seated on a comfortable sofa in a nicely decorated living room.
"If you are watching this, then Xander decided that you needed to hear a few things. I decided to leave it in his hands, as he knows me better than anyone else on, or off, the planet. One of the first things you need to hear is, don't work so hard. My biggest regret is that for so many years, I never looked up from my work. Sure, we were exploring the galaxy and seeing amazing things, but I was so focused on work that I missed so many opportunities. I almost missed the most important moments of my life."
The Sam on screen paused, taking a deep breath, when the sound of a door opening and a shadow played on the screen.
"Mommy?" a small, female voice queried.
A dark haired six year old girl rushed on screen and sat in her mother's lap.
"What you doing mommy?" she asked.
"I'm recording a message for myself, honey." Sam said.
"Why? Won't you remember?" the little girl asked.
"No, honey. It's for me in the past. Remember? I'll watch this before you were born."
"Oh yeah." The little girl said, before turning to the camera. "Hello, past mommy. I'm Janet Lyn Harris. Can I have some ice-cream?"
The last was said to image Sam.
"Sorry, Mom. The she got away from me." Another female voice said, accompanying the image of a twenty-two year old dressed in Air Force Dress Blues, with Lieutenant bars on her shoulders.
"That's ok Joyce. Can you get her some ice-cream and put her to bed? I want to finish this."
"No problem, mom. Come on Janet." Joyce said leading her little sister by the hand, closing the door behind them.
"Those were my... our daughters. We also have a son, Jacob, he's 15. He wants to go into the SGC, like me. Joyce has just joined the Fleet, like her dad. As you no doubt have guess Xander Harris, Skipper, is their father... my husband."
The image cut to a church, with Sam gliding down the aisle in a beautiful white gown, with a long flowing train. Jack O'Neill, in his Dress Blues, was leading Sam down the aisle to give her away. Standing proud in formal Marine Corps uniform, Xander was standing at the end of the aisle with Daniel, an older gentleman with glasses and a redheaded woman, all in tuxedos as his groomsmen. Carter recognised an older Tara Maclay and an older Cassandra Frasier among her Bridesmaids.
The film played out with the wedding, and on to the reception, including scenes from the dance floor with Sam dancing with Jack and General Hammond, Xander dancing with Tara and the Redhead in the Tux, even Tara and the Redhead dancing.
The scene played on a bit more before cutting back to Sam in the living room.
"I'm sure you're wondering why I'm showing you all this, seeing as it probably won't happen now. I guess it's to show you that you can be happy. Don't be so busy trying to save the world that you are no longer a part of it. Live, because I no longer have that option. No regrets though. I had an amazing life."
The image carter gave one last sad smile, then switched off the recorder. The screen went blank.
Carter sat back in her chair, shocked, tears running silently down her face. The phone on the wall rang.
"Carter." She answered.
"Sam." Dr Frasier's voice came through the phone.
"Yeah Janet?" she said, barely keeping her voice from cracking.
"Sam, Min died twelve minutes ago. As soon as she died, Skipper collapsed. We found the metal shard protruding from his back. He died instantly."
Sam hung up the phone without a word, slid to the ground and wept.
TBC
