Chapter 3

"Remember, don't say anything," Kawalsky whispered to her as they walked down gray halls.

If Sha're could forget the past couple of days, she could almost imagine that she was back at the SGC, and it was a normal day. Except of course they were being escorted by a group of armed soldiers.

Jake began to whimper.

She propped the baby up onto her shoulder, and gently patted his back.

"Hush my child. Don't cry. We will be out of danger soon, and you can live a normal life." She murmured in Abydonian.

Jake's whimpers turned to full-blown wails. The Captain of the group turned to Sha're, angrily.

"Shut that baby up!" he snapped.

Sha're glared at him, not at all cowed by his scowl. She had seen and faced much worse.

"He is a baby, not a box. I cannot just 'shut him' when I want to. He is hungry. He needs to be fed."

"Look, miss…"

"Misses. Jackson." Sha're interrupted.

"Look, Mrs. Jackson. You broke into a top secret facility. I don't know how you got in or what you are doing here, but you need to stop that baby crying."

"Then find me somewhere to feed him," she said.

--

They sat in the small room for hours, long after Jake had gone to sleep. Sha're sat on the bottom bunk of the bed, watching him carefully. She smoothed his blanket down.

"He looks just like his father when he is asleep," she said softly.

Kawalsky looked up from his game of solitaire on the table.

"Daniel drooled then?" he asked.

Sha're giggled.

"Not quite. But they have the same peace about them, the same…" a sob choked her and she looked away.

Kawasky got up, and sat beside her.

"Hey, you gunna be ok?" he asked.

Sha're smiled tentatively.

"I am fine," she replied unconvincingly.

Kawalsky was not fooled.

"You know, that's something we haven't really talked about," Kawalsky said, putting his arm around Sha're. "The possibility that Daniel could be alive in this reality."

Sha're shook her head.

"There may be some form of my Dan'iel here, but he would not be my husband," she said, her eyes on Jake once more.

"Maybe he wasn't captured by the Gou'ld there," Kawalsky reminded her. "Maybe he's here living a normal life."

"With another version of me?" Sha're shot back.

"There's no other version of you here. Or of me. Sam checked, before…"

"Before she died," Sha're said hollowly. The death of her best friend was still too fresh in her mind to think about.

"To prevent entro… entro… the failure thing," Kawalsky said, carefully avoiding the topic of Sam's death.

Sha're couldn't help but smile.

"Entropic cascade failure," she supplied.

"That's the one," Kawalsky teased. Then he turned serious."Can you do it, Sha're? Can you face him again if he is here?"

"I can. I will," Sha're said, with determination.

"Good girl," Kawalsky gave her a sideways hug. "Things are going to be different now, I promise."

Sha're smiled sadly.

"You cannot promise that, Charlie," she reminded him.

"Hey, the Gou'ld aren't attacking. It's got that at least. And Jake can grow up to have a normal life here," Kawalsky said.

"If they let us stay," Sha're replied gloomily.

"They'll have to. We're refugees, even if it's from another universe. We'll explain things to General O'Neill."

"I will give him the note," Sha're said, feeling in her pocket for the slip of paper Jack had shoved into her hand before she left.

"What note?" Kawalsky asked.

"The note Jack gave me. To give to the other him, explaining everything," Sha're sighed. "He said that would work."

"It will, Beautiful, it will. In the mean time, want to play a game with me?" Kawalsky nodded towards the table, where he had left his cards scattered.

"Poker?" Sha're asked, cheering up.

"No way. You beat me too badly. Last time I played poker with you I lost all my money. And all my self respect. General O'Neill never let me forget it. How bout something safe, like Crazy Eights?"

Sha're smirked.

--

When they came in, Sha're was asleep. She woke to the banging open of the door. Kawalsky was still sitting at the table, his legs outstretched as he held Jake to him. Jake was sleeping again, but she knew that he would need to be fed soon.

"Come with me," the soldier barked at her.

"You talk to me," Kawalsky said, standing up. His usually intimidating stance was somewhat ruined by the baby he held against his chest.

"We're going to talk to her first," the soldier replied angrily.

"I'm the one you're going to deal with, not…"

Sha're held up her hand.

"I will go, Charlie," she said.

She smiled at him reassuringly and dropped a kiss on Jake's head.

"His bottle is in the bag," she murmured.

"They took the bag away," Kawalsky replied.

Sha're sighed. There was such a thing as being too thorough.

She ran a hand through her wild hair, and winced as her fingers caught on knots. Sweeping it up, she pulled it into a pony tail and secured it with a hair tie from her wrist.

The soldier jerked his head, indicating her to follow. Behind her, she heard Kawalsky arguing with the remaining guard to return the bag they had come with so he could feed Jake.

He lead her to another drab gray room, with a large table in it, and a single light hanging from the ceiling. Sha're pulled a face. The Tau'ri could be so melodramatic at times. If this was meant to intimidate her, they were sadly mistaken. The interrogation chambers of Klorel were much more intimidating than this.

She sat at one end of the table as her interrogator busied himself setting up a microphone in front of her, and a camera at the other end of the table, trained to catch her every move.

Finally, he sat down.

"Now," he said. "Let's begin."

--

Daniel stared in utter disbelief at the screen in front of him. His mind was racing with a thousand thoughts, all of them beginning and ending with "this can't be her."

But it was. There, on the screen, as real as life, was Sha're. And Daniel could tell that she was angry.

"I will not be spoken to as if I was a criminal!" she snapped to the person on the other end of the camera.

"If you just tell us who you are, maybe we can help you," a patient voice on the other end replied.

"I have already told you. I am Sha're Jackson."

"But you haven't told us what you are doing at Area 51."

"I will say nothing to anyone except General O'Neill and SG1."

"This would go a lot easier if you would just help us," the patient voice said again soothingly.

Instead of soothing the woman, the voice seemed to make her angrier. Her eyes flashed with angry fire, and she swore in Abydonian, drawing a chuckle from Daniel.

Landry paused the video.

"Do you understand what she said there, Dr. Jackson?"

"Yes, General, she's speaking in an obscure form of ancient Egyptian, a language I learned during my time on Abydos." Daniel replied, trying to keep his mind focused on what he was saying. But that was proving impossible, as he could not draw his eyes away from the beautiful woman on the screen.

"And what did she say?" the General prompted.

"I wouldn't like to repeat it in polite society," Daniel replied, his eyes not leaving the screen.

"Daniel? Hey down here," Vala waved her hand in front of his face, smirking, "I think Daniel's smitten."

Sam shot Vala a look that clearly said to shut up.

"What?" Vala asked, confused.

Daniel tore his eyes away from the image of his beloved on the screen.

"General," he said, his voice dangerously quiet, "If this is a joke, it's in very poor taste."

"Do you know this woman, Dr. Jackson?" the General asked.

Daniel swallowed a lump in his throat. Know her? For years he had longed for her, searched for her, mourned her. It seemed almost unreal that she was there, alive and real. It must someone's idea of a joke, it had to be. There was no way she could be right there, because she had died in his arms.

"This is not who it appears to be," Teal'c supplied, when Daniel stayed silent.

"Why is that?" Landry probed.

"I killed this woman myself," Teal'c said, in his usual stoic voice. "And not a day has gone by that I do no regret my actions."

Sam laid her hand on Daniel's arm.

"It can't be her, can it?" she asked uncertainly.

Daniel smiled tightly.

"You understand the infinite universe theory better than I do," he replied. "You know that anything is possible."

"Who is this woman?" Landry repeated, sounding frustrated.

"This woman is- was- my wife," Daniel answered, looking straight at Landry.

"You were married?!" Vala demanded, interrupting once again.

Daniel ignored her, and continued.

"Ten years ago she was captured by the Gou'ld Apophis, and became host to his queen, Amonet. She…" but here Daniel's voice failed him. Sam continued on.

"Daniel joined the Stargate program to find her. Seven years ago we did. Amonet attempted to kill Daniel, and…"

"I was forced to kill Amonet to save DanielJackson," Teal'c cut in. The guilt of the death of DanielJackson's wife lay heavily on the stoic Jaffa. It was one of the things he regretted most in his life, along with leaving his own wife and child to fend for themselves on Chulak.

"So… they are both dead here?" Vala asked.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied.

"There's something I don't understand. If they are dead here, where did those two come from?" Vala said, wrinkling her nose in confusion.

"Sir," Mitchell cut in, "Vala's right. How can they be here? I read the reports, and the Quantum Mirror was destroyed years ago. Unless they used the gate, which we know they didn't, there is no way for them to get into our Universe."

Landry sighed.

"The official report says that the Mirror was destroyed under the orders of General Hammond. However, unofficially, it was being kept in Area 51 for study. The techs over there said that it couldn't be activated except by our side. Apparently they were wrong. Both of our… guests… have asked for General O'Neill. He's on his way here from Washington to see if they will talk to him. In the mean time, I've had them transferred here to Stargate Command. They should be here any moment now."

Sam took a deep breath, and shot a worried glance at Daniel. His face was expressionless, still looking at the picture on the screen. She had seen him fall apart after Sha're's death, and she didn't want to see him go through that again.

The footsteps coming down the hall gave them a moment's notice before the two familiar strangers walked into the room.

--

Sha're was going mad in that little room. The walls were gray, the floor was gray, the bunk beds were gray, and the blankets were gray. How could Kawalsky lying on those gray sheets with his hands folded on his chest and his legs crossed look so peaceful in such a confining space. For the tenth time that minute, Sha're shifted in her seat at the gray table.

"I know you're restless, Beautiful, but moving around every five seconds isn't going to help anything." Kawalsky said, without opening his eyes.

"I can't stand it, Charlie!" she snapped. "They brought us to the SGC and yet we have been in this room all morning. When are they going to do anything about us?"

"What would you rather they do?" Kawalsky asked, swinging his legs over the side of the top bunk and letting them dangle in the air.

Before she could answer, Jake's wail cut the air.

"Oh, Jake," Sha're said tenderly. She picked him up from the crook of Kawalsky's arm where he had been lying and propped him up on her shoulder. Rocking him back and forth, she sang softly in Abydonian, and he began to quiet.

"Just wanted to know that you Mommy loved you, eh?" Kawalsky asked, coming to sit at the table with Sha're. He made some faces at the baby, and received a toothless smile in return.

"How long will they keep is here?" Sha're asked, resigned.

"Till they need us I guess. They're going to have to identify that we are who we say we are. Look at it from their perspective: two strangers, who look an awful lot like people who are dead show up in a top secret facility that they have no business being in. They won't talk and they demand to see that General who they say is in charge of the SGC, but who it turns out is in Washington. What would you think?"
"That… we are alien imposters," Sha're said with a sigh.

"Bingo. They're terrified of us," Kawalsky said.

"At least they brought us to the SGC," Sha're said, with a sigh.

"Well, that is something," Kawalsky agreed.

They both looked up as the door opened. Two army personnel came in, followed by a woman in a long white coat.

"I'm Carolyn Lamb," she introduced herself. "I'm the chief medical officer here at the SGC. I'm here to take care of your baby while you have your interview with General O'Neill."

"You are CMO?" Sha're asked. "Where is Janet Fraiser?"

The woman regarded her skeptically.

"Dr. Fraiser died over two years ago," she said.

A wave of sorrow passed over Sha're.

"Janet was my friend," she said. "I thought, perhaps, in this reality… she might have been spared."

"I'm sorry," Dr. Lamb said. She turned to Jake. "Is this the baby?" she asked.

Sha're was hesitant to hand her baby over to a stranger, but this woman looked safe enough, and she would have to start trusting someone if she wanted to stay in this universe. She picked Jake up and placed him in Dr. Lamb's arms.

"Hey, sweetie," Dr. Lamb crooned. She turned back to Sha're. "What's his name?" she asked.

"Jac'ob," Sha're replied. "Jac'ob Jonathan Jackson. After three of the finest men I have ever known."

"That's quite a mouthful for such a little guy," Dr. Lamb commented.

"We usually call him Jake," Kawalsky pitched in.

"Ok, well, I'll give Jake a check up to make sure he's healthy, and you can have him back once your interview is over," Dr. Lamb said. She began to walk out of the door with Jake in her arms. Then, she paused. "One question: Jackson? We have a Daniel Jackson here. Any relation?"

Sha're went pale at the mention of her husband's name.

"So he is here," she said.

Kawalsky was at her side in a second.

"We talked about this, Beautiful. You said you would be alright."

"Yes," Sha're said faintly. Then, she gathered herself. "Yes. I am fine. I knew there was the possibility that there would be a Dan'iel here."

"Any relation to Jake?" Dr. Lamb asked, as the two soldiers lead Kawalsky and Sha're out of the room.

"Dan'iel is Jake's father," Sha're said sadly.

The look on Carolyn's face as the two strange people walked out of the little cell and towards the briefing room was one of pure shock.

Author's Note: Another chapter! Yes, I know it's been a long time. But now that my exams are done I hope to be able to write a lot more. For those of you who asked, yes Jake really is Daniel's son and I hope this chapter cleared up some of the confusion.

PS: Anyone else totally excited for Continuum?? I saw the trailer on Gateworld, and it looks FANTASTIC! Plus, Jack is in it, which is super awesome. Stargate hasn't been the same since Jack left...