AN: Happy New Year everyone! Many thanks to all followers/favoriters (is that even a word?)/reviewers/readers for their continued support, and to Demetra83 for the fabulous storyline of course :) As promised, here is the next chapter; enjoy!

Chapter 4 – Doubts

As we approach the end of our working day, Sam answers a call informing her she is wanted in the briefing room at General Hammond's request.

"Come with me Alex, this is about you too," she softly says.

We make our way through the maze of corridors, elevators and flights of stairs as Sam tells me about the Stargate. At first, I am wondering if she is really serious, or if this is some kind of weird hazing tradition; but as we exit the main elevator and enter the control room a few twists and turns away, I understand she is not making fun of me, at all.

"Here it is," she proudly smiles.

I can see the gigantic stone ring through the large window separating us from the embarkation room, and I am really impressed; I don't have time to dwell on it though, as we must go up to the briefing room via yet another flight of stairs. I start to panic as I see the occupants of the room: General Hammond, Daniel Jackson, Colonel O'Neill, a man I don't know – he looks like a coffee-skinned linebacker with a golden tattoo on his forehead, yum – and Ben Connors.

"Thank you for coming so promptly, Major," General Hammond says, inviting us to take a seat. "I asked you all here to hopefully sort out the issue between Doctor Connors and yourselves."

"Here we go, I knew it!" Colonel O'Neill groans.

"Colonel! Doctor Connors came to me and complained you 'stole' – even though I don't like this term when applied to human beings – Miss Roslin from him," Hammond states.

Everyone is looking at me, with a different expression on their face: Sam is benevolently smiling at me, Colonel O'Neill's face is unreadable, Daniel's is surprised, Ben's is furious and the last man's face remains blank.

Suddenly, they all start speaking at once, fighting like fishwives: Colonel O'Neill states his 2IC needs me and their missions are more important, Ben retorts he'll never make any progress if the best elements of his team are taken away from him, Sam argues she needs someone gifted and I seem perfect, Daniel adds I can learn a lot thanks to them. Exasperated, Ben ends up insulting them all, shouting they think they're the kings of the world, their reputation is undeserved and they're just a bunch of incompetent people. General Hammond eventually silences everyone, and the last man finally speaks.

"I think AlexRoslin should be allowed to speak her mind as well, GeneralHammond," he states, his gaze piercing though evidently kind.

I am mute and paralyzed: not a single word seems to be able to get past my frozen lips; but, all in all, what can I actually say at this point?

"She's only arrived this morning, we should leave her some time to make a decision," Sam calmly offers, and General Hammond gives me until tomorrow morning oh-nine-hundred hours to think about what I really want to do before dismissing us all.

Colonel O'Neill stands up and sweeps to the door with a grand gesture, "Ladies first!", elbowing Ben in the gut as he does so; Ben glowers but stays mute. Daniel walks up to me, puts his hand on my shoulder and advises me to discuss it with the interns who have been here a while already. The last man – whose name I still don't know – gives me a departing nod and I watch their retreating backs, still bewildered; General Hammond turns to me as I am about to leave the room.

"Let me give you some advice, Miss Roslin. The choice you will make doesn't matter, do not waste your talent wanting to please others: think only of you, and your career, because whatever choice you will make, there will always be some people telling you it's the wrong one. The most important thing in all this, is to honestly choose in good conscience; everything else will go away, eventually," he kindly states.

I give him a small smile before I exit the briefing room with a last admiring glance at the Stargate through the windowpane.

I chance upon Chloe as I try to make my way out of the SGC through the maze of corridors, and she introduces me to other interns I haven't met yet, inviting me to go along with them to the local pub, O'Malley's I think, for a drink or two to celebrate my new position.

We sit down in a large booth at the pub; the news of the fight between my erstwhile mentor and SG-1 has spread around the base like wildfire and each and every member of the personnel seems to already know who I am, whereas I only know a handful of them.

All my companions start to throw their two cents in at the same time: "You know, SG-1 is the best team EVER – They're the elite team – They're sent on the most dangerous missions and always, always come back – Yeah, but they've already all died at least once! – Dr. Jackson surpasses all of them as far as resurrections go…"

I am also offered all the details as to who's sexier, smarter… Well, it's obvious Ben won't ever be friends with me if I do choose SG-1, but I will learn much more with them than I ever could with anyone else, I muse. I understand that Colonel O'Neill would take me under his wing as well, and that I'd be much better off as his friend than as his enemy.

"If you work with Major Carter and she's happy with your work, you'll see that life at the SGC will be much easier for you than for us poor anonymous eggheads," my seat neighbor states.

"And why's that, Fred?" I ask my new friend.

"When Colonel O'Neill enters an office or one of the labs, he'll only acknowledge people he already knows; he doesn't seem to want to get to know anyone else."

Fred's right: Colonel O'Neill ignored me every time his path crossed mine until Sam introduced us; it changed after that.

"And that way, you can tell us if they're really sleeping together!" Fred continues.

"Who's supposed to be sleeping together?"

"Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill of course! There's a huge betting pool on the both of them but no one actually knows the truth," he grins.

A hush descends over our group as four people cross the pub's threshold. I recognize them and marvel at their physical appearance; I'm wondering whether the brass actually takes it into account when they recruit personnel for the base!

"Who's the tall quarterback alongside Dr. Jackson?" I whisper to Fred.

"That's Teal'c. He's an alien from the planet Chulak and helps with the fight against the bad guys," Fred explains.

"He's in SG-1 too?" I ask.

"Yeah, he's been a part of it pretty much since its inception. But that's a long story, better told during long winter evenings by the fireplace," he winks.

I wink back, and I watch the new arrivals as Sam whispers low in Colonel O'Neill's ear; he looks in our direction and greets me with a nod I return with a smile.

"Wow, you're Miss Popular tonight, aren't you?" one of the girls says.

No one answers as Sam walks away from her teammates and makes her way to us. She's wearing civvies, black slacks, midnight blue blouse and a jean jacket: nothing special, but there definitely is an air about her. All the pub's patrons are looking at her as she approaches; she greets everyone, gives me a smile and wishes me to have fun tonight before walking away.

"Oh gosh, I feel like I'm back in high school, and that the prom queen has just come and said hi to the geeks no one talks to, as if we were a charity case," one of the girls moans after Sam has left.

"Are you kidding? She most probably was prom queen, but she definitely is the geekiest of all the SGC geeks!" Fred states.

Everyone chuckles, smiles or laughs at his oh-so-true statement.

AN2: Hope you liked it! We heart you all very much, don't hesitate to let us know what you thought, and see you soon :)