Blast From The Past
General Jack O'Neill waited in the conference room aboard the Daedalus for their 'visitors' to arrive. Another version of him and Sam – it wasn't like they hadn't seen it before - it's just that it never got old. He felt the old familiar adrenalin rush surge through his veins – this sure as hell beat flying a desk. He absently wondered what relationship this Jack and Sam would have – married, engaged, or still living in denial? A perverse part of him hoped they were still in denial so he could offer some advice to himself to make his move so the other 'him' didn't have to wait as long as he had to find out how wonderful life with Samantha Carter was.
Just as his thoughts started turning towards retirement and taking on a consulting role to train new SG personnel (thoughts that had been appearing a lot more since he and Sam had decided to start a family), the conference room door opened.
Jack stood there in stunned silence for a few moments as he took in the picture before him. 'He' was carrying a little angel who looked about three and had his arm around 'Sam' who looked like she was going to give birth at any moment. Yep – so not going to be able to give this guy advice – looks like he was several jumps ahead already.
"Well this is new."
The real Sam – his Sam- guided the family into the room and suggested they all take a seat. Samantha breathed a sigh of relief and sat down. The shower and meal she'd had had gone a long way to lift he flagging spirits but right now she was tired and wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep for about fifteen hours in a nice soft bed.
Neither Jack missed the sigh or relief that came from the pregnant woman's lips. One of them reached out and held her hand and the other decided that this was no place to conduct this particular debrief.
General O'Neill turned to the airman at the door "Can you tell General Landry to prepare the VIP quarters." The airman nodded and Jack turned to the family in front of him, noticing Sam's raised eyebrow, managing to question the wisdom of his actions without uttering a word. "I 'm going to get our medical team to give you the once over up here and once you have the all clear I think it would be better under the circumstances to conduct this in a more comfortable environment."
Jack, who hadn't let go of Samantha's hand or released his grip on Grace nodded his thanks and approval to his other self. He stood "Well then, which way to the infirmary?"
Jack watched the family being led out by an airman and once they had left the room looked at his wife. "Oy!" He and Sam both sank into chairs opposite each other. "So what do you think?"
Sam looked over at her husband desperately wanting one of his trademark hugs but knowing the security cameras would catch anything they did. The sight of herself so hugely pregnant so soon after her meeting with Dr Lam was like a swift blow to the heart. It was taking all her strength not to start crying. "Well sir, we did get that video tape about twelve months ago to say that some version of our selves did travel back in time to Egypt to retrieve a ZPM."
"Yeah but that's not us – I mean they look like us but they're different ya know? I mean I know I sometimes tease you about being a gorgeous egghead but I kind of get the impression she really is an egghead"
"Jack!" Sam felt herself smiling. Only Jack could manage to lift her spirits without really trying.
"I gotta say though – that Grace is a little cutie – definitely got her mothers looks and a twinkle of mischief from her father I'd say." Jack smiled, hoping their child would look just like her.
"I know." Sam sighed – oh boy did she know she had barely been able to take her eyes off the child since they arrived.
Jack heard the melancholy sigh "There something you want to talk about?" He refrained from adding a term of endearment.
Sam looked at her husband, she knew they needed to talk, but now was not the time – she needed to use all her energy to deal with the family that had just appeared – the family who seemed to have everything she wanted. "Not now okay – let's deal with this first and then we can talk – it's nothing that can't wait."
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Several hours later General Landry sat in the briefing room looking at two Samantha Carters and two Jack O'Neill's and decided his life really couldn't get anymore bizarre than this. They had left Grace sleeping in the VIP quarters being watched by Daniel. If she woke up at least it would be a familiar face – she wouldn't know that it wasn't 'her' Daniel.
General Landry was the first to speak. "So can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?"
General O'Neill looked at his successor, "I thought that in light of Samantha's condition we should probably be a little closer to a medical facility – Dr Lam has checked them all out and they are definitely human and well according to their DNA – definitely us. Samantha is suffering from pre-clamping something and the Doc wants her back in bed as soon as this debrief is over"
Sam looked at her husband and smiled – she knew he sometimes made things up just to get her to smile but she had a feeling in this case he truly had no idea what he was talking about. "That would be pre-eclampsia Sir."
"Um yeah – that thing." It had the desired effect Sam had smiled one of her mega watt smiles at him. He knew perfectly well what pre-eclampsia was – he'd read all the baby books when Sarah was pregnant.
Samantha had suspected that's what she had, the swollen hands and feet had been a give away but the escalated blood pressure really just confirmed it – it was one of the reasons she was so happy to be returning to the twenty first century. Jack had wanted the doctor to deliver the baby as soon as he heard there was a danger to Samantha and the baby, but the doctor and Samantha had managed to convince him there was no immediate danger as long as she was being closely monitored and getting complete rest.
Colonel O'Neill began to tell their story about how they found the tape and then located the Stargate, travelled to Chulak and then back to Ancient Egypt to repair the timeline – which he assumed they had done seeing as they were all sitting here.
It was at this point Sam asked the question that had been burning in her since she first laid eyes on the little girl they had bought with them. "If you only spent ten months in Ancient Egypt then how does Grace fit in – she must be at least three?"
Samantha looked over at her other self and said quietly, "she's your daughter."
Jack looked over at his wife and then at the slightly geekier version of her "What do you mean she's ours – didn't you just bring her with you from Ancient Egypt?" The adrenaline rush of earlier was quickly being replaced by a massive headache.
Samantha was startled by the slight harshness in his tone – this man might look like her Jack but her Jack had always spoken to her with such love and care, she wondered how the other Sam was different to her if she was able to live with this harder version of Jack. "Let me explain," she addressed the whole group. "After we defeated Ra and he left Earth, Daniel introduced us to Grace. The other Jack and Sam – you two" she addressed the couple across the table, "were married not long after you realised you would be living out the rest of your lives in Ancient Egypt – Grace was born about nine months later. When Grace was about six months old there was an attempted uprising against Ra. Unfortunately the two of you, along with Teal'c were captured and executed. Daniel raised Grace until we turned up and we have been raising her ever since."
There was stunned silence. Sam was near tears at the thought of herself leaving her six month old baby an orphan. Jack was the first one to recover enough to ask the next question.
"Why come back? Why now?"
Colonel Jack addressed the other version of himself. "There have been some incidents with Grace looking so different from the other kids – when we left it was still at the name calling and rock throwing stage but we figured that was only going to get worse as she got older."
Jack nodded his understanding. They were parents doing anything to protect their child – he could understand that, he would have done exactly the same thing. "So what now?"
Jack and Samantha looked at each other. "We've bought Grace back to you – Grace is your daughter."
You could have heard a pin drop in the briefing room. Jack and Sam were stunned. General Landry looked at each of the faces around the table before speaking. "That is going to pose a rather large problem, you see General O'Neill and Colonel Carter are not married in this timeline."
Jack and Sam exchanged a guilty look, at the same time the other Jack looked at Samantha whose face showed her shock. "Well, definitely wasn't expecting that little glitch in the plan."
TBC
Next Chapter - Graces future is decided
A/N Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews – being my first Stargate story I was really concerned about how it would be received but the number of reviews and people who have added this story to their alert list has really inspired me to get each chapter out as quickly as possible – so if I haven't had a chance to respond personally to your review yet I apologise and know that I appreciate it very much.