disclaimer: I own nothing

Author's Note: still slow burning. Chapters are going to be irregular, but I hope you enjoy this one. It was also unbeta'd, so any and all mistakes are mine.

The corridors of the SGC had seen a lot of things in the years since the Stargate had been put into use. Aliens. Foothold situations. Stupid contests of members locked in the mountain going crazy and needing to blow off some steam. None of those things existed anymore. The klaxons had been silent for longer than they ever had been since the program had started.

Most of this, the significance of it all, was lost on Grace Carter-O'Neill. But she was forgiven for being unaware of it all, as she was not yet five years old.

Grace walked down the corridors, gazing around. She had only ever been here a handful of times before the war had started, mostly to pick up her mother or visit doctors. Before that night, she had never even heard of the Stargate. She had never seen it. Now she had.

Her parents had told her that it was something that she shouldn't talk about. It was a secret and everyone who knew it had to keep it. That was okay. She could keep a secret. And there were a lot more important things right now than the stargate.

She had escaped the not-always-so-watchful eye of her Uncle Daniel and was wandering the mountain more or less at will. She didn't have a swipe card for the elevators, but none of the adults really seemed to mind all that much when she hitched a ride.

Grace was currently looking for her mother, but couldn't find her. Her mother hadn't been in her lab and she didn't know where else to look. She wanted her mother. She liked the SGC well enough, but everything was changing and it was frightening. When she started thinking about it, she wanted her mother. And right now she didn't know where to find her.

Grace embarked on the elevator again, smiling at the airman who smiled at her.

"Hello." she said politely, like her parents had taught her, even though she was a little shy around strangers.

"Hello."

That was about it for the conversation. Grace disembarked on the level she was pretty sure the lockerrooms were on. There was a possibility that her mother was in there. Grace walked into it. It was empty and she had walked into the men's lockerroom. Her father wasn't in here. Grace frowned at this, unhappy at the reminder.

Her father wasn't even in the state right now. He had gone back to Washington for his job. Grace didn't like that. She could tell that her mother didn't like that either. But there wasn't a lot of things that they could do about that. Grace knew her parents were very important people and they had a lot of responsibility. Responsibility that often took them from home.

Grace saw her father's name on the one locker. It wasn't locked, so she popped it open, curious as to what was in there.

Most of the items were boring and out of her reach, even if she stood on her tiptoes to try and grab them. She did find a small box where she could reach it, though, and she picked it up, curious as to what was inside.

Pictures. Grace smiled at them. Some were of her parents together. Some were her parents with Uncle Daniel and Uncle Teal'c. Aunt Vala and Uncle Mitchell too.

She reached the pictures that were older and she paused for a moment. Pictures of her father with a woman she had never met and a boy that was older than she was. Grace touched a finger to the boy's face.

Charlie.

Grace knew that she had a brother and that he had died a long time ago. Neither of her parents had talked about it much, but she knew that she was named after him, at her mother's insistance.

One of the klaxon alarms suddenly went off, scaring Grace so badly that she yelped and dropped the box, pictures going everywhere.

"Grace! There you are. What are you doing?"

Grace looked up and saw that Uncle Daniel had come into the room, looking a little frazzled, like he always did when he lost her.

"Scheduled off-world activation." the announcement came.

"You shouldn't be poking through things in here, Grace." Daniel said, walking closer and squatting to pick of the pictures. Grace moved to help him.

"I was only looking at Daddy's." she protested.

"You still shouldn't. It's not polite." he said gently, but he tapped her nose and gave her a smile.

Grace smiled back.

Uncle Daniel put the pictures back in the box and tucked it back into the locker before firmly shutting it. He picked her up and held her on his hip.

"Your mom's going to kill me if she finds out I lost you." he said, pushing up his glasses.

"Again." Grace said solemly.

"You are too smart for your own good, Gracie. I hope you know that." he said.

"Daddy said smart is good. Like Mommy and you."

"Smart is good." he allowed, walking out into the hallway. "But it can also get you into trouble. Like when you figure out how to wander off like that."

"Mm."

Uncle Daniel carried her to the elevator.

"Uncle Daniel?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?"

"Is Daddy going to come home?"

Grace felt him tense beneath her and knew that wasn't good.

"Of course he is. Why would you think he wouldn't?"

"Because all the people on TV aren't going to go home. They were soldiers."

Grace had kept this burning question wrapped up tightly around her mother. But her parents were both soldiers and she was afraid that they would be like the people she had seen. The burning cities, the people unmoving on the ground. It was scary.

"You shouldn't be watching things like that."

"But Mommy and Daddy are soldiers. What if they don't come home too?"

Tears welled in Grace's eyes at the question. It was a very frightening idea. She looked at Uncle Daniel, needing him to answer her. He set her on the elevator floor and squatted so he was at her eye level.

"Grace, your parents aren't soldiers like the ones in Europe. They fight and they protect, yes, but in a different way."

"How?"

"Well, through the stargate. And your dad makes the decisions to help the soldiers that are out there. They're not going to be like the soldiers you saw on the TV."

"Promise?" she asked, sniffling a little.

Uncle Daniel hesitated, then nodded. He pulled her close to him.

"I promise."

XXXXXX

The world was going to hell and Carter had no idea how they would escape that journey. She wanted to know. She needed to know. But she couldn't figure it out. All of this was far too sudden, too complicated. It wasn't right. It wasn't natural. But it was happening all the same and everything was a mess.

The program had been put on pause, except for the most pressing matters. They couldn't just go running through the stargate to start exploring more planets when there was a war raging on their planet that could effect their country at any moment.

It already had. Most Americans had never before appreciated how many things they imported into their country from others. Europe. China. There were more than supply chain shortages. The supply chain had ground to a halt.

The imports of so many goods had ground to a halt. But that wasn't the worst. Food imports were at nearly zero. Though so many foods weren't actually imported from the countries that were at war, the countries that they were grown in had stopped trade with the United States, afraid that war would turn to them. That their people would face shortages.

People were panicking already. Life was normal in many ways, except for the bare shelves in the stores and the horror stories on the news. They hadn't been directly touched. Not yet. Carter knew that they would. There was no way that they could go untouched. Troops had already been sent into the warzones, but not nearly as many as in past wars. America was keeping their soldiers at home, in case the war came to them.

It was enough to stress anyone, but Carter stressed even more. She had a young child. She was in the military. Her husband was in the military. They had gone to the Tok'ra and their other allies for help, but they refused to get involved in a war that was solely between the countries of Earth.

That made Carter want to scream. After what they had done for other planets, aided them in wars against other countries, they would turn their backs on them now? It wasn't right. It wasn't fair. And there was nothing they could do.

She had just walked back into her lab when she heard footsteps and turned. Daniel was walking in, carrying Grace in his arms. Grace looked upset, but she smiled hugely at Carter.

Carter felt her heart throb with love.

The potential future of humanity, the next step of their evolution, had baby soft blonde hair Carter had shampooed the night before, blue eyes, and a dimpled smile.

"She needed some mom time. Sorry." Daniel said.

Carter just shook her head at him and took her daughter into her arms, hugging her tightly and breathing in her scent. She felt the gentle tingle in her blood she felt whenever she and Grace were close to each other.

Grace carried the Goa'uld protein marker, naquadah in her blood, and the ancient gene she had inheriated from Jack. Never before had such a child been born. When she had been born, they had been worried. Everything said she was fine, but the Asgard had said that things lay in store for her child because she was unique. Had said that before she had been born. It was something that scared Carter, but it was something that seemed unimportant now considering the state the world had descended into.

Carter gently rubbed a thumb over Grace's cheek where a tear had clearly fallen.

"What's wrong?" she asked gently.

"I'm scared, Mommy." Grace said, nuzzling against her neck.

"Oh, sweetheart. Of what?"

"The bad stuff on the TV."

Carter's heart sank. They had tried to shield Grace from it, but they hadn't been able to. Not fully. There was no way, especially after bringing her to the mountain. She set Grace on the work surface in front of her so that they could look each other in the eye.

"It is scary." she agreed softly. She couldn't lie to Grace and tell her that everythign was going to be okay. She wasn't certain it would be.

"Are you scared, Mommy?"

"Sometimes."

Grace's eyes went huge. Daniel's widened a little as well, probably wondering why she wasn't going out of her way to comfort her child.

"Will it happen here? The bad stuff?"

"It might. But we're doing everything we can to stop that from happening."

Grace stared at her and Carter wondered if she had said the wrong thing. Her policy, even though Grace was so young, was to be honest. And this was something that she couldn't lie about, but maybe it was something she shouldn't have been honest about. Parenting was tough. It was made even tougher when World War lll had started and everything about your professional life bled over into your personal one.

What she told Grace was true. The United States was doing everything that they could to prevent the war from reaching their soil. But it was difficult to tell who was an ally in this situation and who wasn't. Russia and China were definitely the enemies. North Korea was obvious as well. Other countries, it was harder to tell.

But there were small countries, countries no one ever would have thought of as military might, that were holding their own. Standing their ground, holding back the tided. Fighting to stay and live and be free. It made Carter's heart swell when she heard stories of people who were holding the line and defending their countries. And, by extension, other countries. There was no reason for any of this. Russia and China and the others didn't seem interested in taking control of the other countries. They just seemed to want to wage war.

It was getting bad enough that the SGC had ground to a halt and Homeworld Security was joining the fray because of the potential threat. A part of Carter wanted to fight if the war came to them. But she hadn't been in a regular Earth war since the Gulf War and she had Grace to think about. The little girl that was staring at her with enormous eyes and wanting everything to be okay.

"We're all safe, Grace. You are. I am. Daddy is. Everyone is safe." she said gently.

Grace nodded. This seemed to have made her daughter feel better and Grace lurched forward to hug her. Carter hugged her back and looked at Daniel over her daughter's head. It wasn't the best speech, she knew,but about the best that she could do without anything on the TV or radio or just being said around contradicting her.

"I'm hungry." Grace said, moving on in the typical fashion of a child. It made Carter smile.

"Well, maybe Uncle Daniel will take you to get something to eat. I need to go check on the team that just came back."

Carter looked to Daniel. They both knew that it was SG-1 that had just returned, but she didn't want to bring Grace along. He nodded. Carter picked up Grace and set her on the floor before they all left, heading two different ways.

General Hammond was in the briefing room with Teal'c, Cam, and Vala. None of them looked happy. Carter stopped in the doorway.

"Nothing?" she asked, heart sinking.

"We pulled those sons of bitches' asses out of the fire enough times, you think they would return the favor." Cam said bitterly.

Hammond didn't even give him a look at his language. It was bad.

"Maybe we could go to Kelowna." she suggested, though it was probably an idiotic thing to say.

"You really think that they're going to help?" Cam said in the same tone.

"Maybe if I talk to Jonas..." Carter trailed off. What was she saying? It would never work.

Hammond looked at Teal'c.

"Are you certain that the Jaffa will not aide us?" he asked.

The free Jaffa did owe the United States quite a bit, but Carter knew that it was doubtful that they would help them. They thought that the humans of Earth wanted to rule them as the Goa'uld had. Even when it had been the humans that had helped free them.

Teal'c was silent for a few moments.

"Some of the may indeed be willing to help." he said at last. "But unless the war reaches this country, it is doubtful that they will. Master Bra'tac is speaking to them."

They were on their own.

Carter closed her eyes, but opened them almost immediately when she heard footsteps coming up the metal staircase.

Walter was standing there, expression not good.

"General Hammond, you need to speak to the president."

It was strange that Walter would be the one to tell Hammond that, but it wasn't good. Hammond nodded, dismissing them.

Carter followed Walter back down to the control room, Teal'c, Cam, and Vala following her. Some of the screens were showing news footage, a good way to keep aprised of the war. They all stopped and stared at one. Carter's heart leapt to her throat. Fire. Smoke. A destroyed city. And more.

So much more.

"Oh no." she breathed.

Ramstein Air Base had been wiped off the map. Along with most of Berlin.

They all stayed staring at it for long moments. America had had troops there. Not anymore.

Carter turned away, running a hand over her face. This was getting bad. More and more major cities were being hit. The United States' cities had been spared. London. Toyko. Russia and China's cities had been spared.

Berlin. New Dehli. Paris. Dubai. All those and more had been hit. None of them wiped out, not completely, but it would only be a matter of time. They were being played with, for no apparent reason.

It was overwhelming. It was real. It shouldn't have been. But it was.

Carter's knees felt shaky and her heart felt just as shaky. She thought about what she had said to Grace. She had said that she was scared. That was a lie. She was completely terrified.

She jumped when she felt an arm slide around her shoulders. She turnd and saw Vala. The other woman met her gaze with complete seriousness.

"It will be all right."

Sam laughed a little at the words and took a breath.

"How?"

She didn't intend to say it outloud, but she needed to. Vala was Carter's only true female friend, after losing Janet. Cassie didn't count, even though she loved Cassie. Lam was someone that Carter was friendly with, but not close to.

"We're still standing, for one."

Carter thought to argue with this. The only reason they were still standing was because it felt like the bad guys were saving them for last. It was a scary thought. But Vala was right.

"I just...Seeing all this. Every day. Jack being in Washington. And Grace..."

Carter realized that she felt almost ashamed for how she was feeling. A soldier -especially one that had been through as much as she had been- was not supposed to feel like this. She wasn't supposed to be shaky and upset and scared. She was a colonel in the United States Air Force who had spent years traveling the galaxy and fighting aliens. This shouldn't have been what shook her.

"We're fine for now, Samantha. Focus on that. It's all we can do."

Vala's little pep talk felt a lot like the one that she had given Grace. It made Carter feel a bit better, like she had hoped her talk with Grace had made her daughter feel better. She nodded.

"Thanks, Vala."

"It's what I'm here for. I'm the moral support that keeps this team together, you know."

"I think that goes to Daniel, actually."

Vala gave her a look of mock insult, then lowered her arm from her shoulders.

"Where is Daniel, anyway?"

"Getting something to eat with Grace."

"Then let's join them."

"I have too much work to do." Carter protested. She was spending time she shouldn't have been watching the horror on the news and feeling things about it.

She was currently working on the new glider design for Area 51. She was supposed to finish it tomorrow. The military was hoping to build them in mass production to be ready to be deployed in case the war reached American soil. It was a lot of pressure. She had helped design their original gliders and the Prometheus, so they were expecting her to do it again.

"You still need some fuel for that brain of yours. And taking a break is a way to help maintain sanity." Vala said.

"I could eat." Cam chipped in. "What about you, Teal'c?"

"Indeed."

Carter sighed and nodded. After that, she really needed to get back to work. But she knew that they all needed time like this. Especially after what they had just seen.

Vala was more than happy to entertain Grace while she kept working. The designs were almost finished. If Carter was being honest, she knew that she was holding herself back. She was thinking too much of what these might have to face. What could be done to make it safer and things like that. They just needed a design that they could work with. Things would be altered. She had to keep it in line with their current capabilities, because they couldn't just go skipping off to other planets to the quantity of material that they needed to make the best design.

Carter worked for hours, testing and discarding and then bringing back what she had discarded. She finally finished the design and was more than relieved to hand it off to Hammond so that he could review it and get it where it needed to go.

But her day was far from over. She needed to take Grace to the house to pick up a few things and get Cassie. She wanted both girls on base in case they needed to evacuate through the gate. Especially when Colorado Springs would be a very big target when the war was turned to them. The mountain was the obvious one. But there were so many military installations in and around the city. It was the perfect target. The smartest target, really. Because, yes, Carter had thought about that sort of thing.

She hated that she was smart enough to do so.

Vala decided to tag along and Carter was grateful for it. Vala and Grace got along very well and it kept Carter from having to maintain an entirely cheerful conversation with her daughter.

Carter kept an eye out on everything as she drove. There were less people out than usual. Gas prices were going through the roof, mostly because they could, not because there was any shortage. Stores were bare anyway. Looking carefully, you could see that some stores had already closed indefinitely or been vandilized. Other than that, America was doing fine. She tried to keep that in mind. It was hard to do so.

When she parked at the house, Vala took Grace inside. Carter stayed outside as her cellphone rang. She knew it was Jack and felt a huge sense of relief swamp through her as she answered.

"Please tell me you're on your way home." she blurted out.

She hadn't realized just how desperately she missed Jack, even though he had only been gone for a few days. She also worried when he was in Washington, because it was a very obvious target to try and cripple the United States.

"I should be heading out tonight."

"Good. Great. I miss you."

I'm scared for you is what Carter wanted to say, but she couldn't get it out.

"I miss you too. How's Grace?"

"She's all right. She's scared."

"Why?"

Carter explained. She heard Jack sigh heavily. Both of them wished that they could shield their daughter from this. That they could allow her to continue being an innocent child who was immune to war and what it could do. It wasn't an option anymore.

"Did you see what happened to Ramstein?" she asked in the silence that followed this.

"Yeah. Sam..." Jack trailed off. The way that he said her name put her on alert.

"What? What's happened?"

Dread swooped in and knotted painfully in her stomach. Something else had happened. Something bad.

"Eareckson's gone."

Carter felt shock go through her entire body.

"What?"

Eareckson Air Station was one of the closest military installations to Russia, on an island off of Alaska. Carter had never been there, but her mind was able to conjure up images. It was important in America's defense. And Jack had just said it was gone.

"Russia took it out about an hour ago. It's gone."

"Oh God."

Carter leaned against the car. That was the first attack directly against the United States. And to attack such a remote place...it was obviously a test run. She thought about all the personnel that must have been there. She wondered what might be next.

"It hasn't hit the news."

"It will by tonight."

She heard Jack shift, people in the background talking.

"Carter, I want you to stay in the mountain." It was an order. Not the order of general to a colonel, but the order of a man who was scared for his family.

"Grace, Vala, and I are just getting some things from the house and then we're picking up Cassie."

"Good. Get everything you need and stay there. Please, Sam." Jack's voice turned soft.

"Of course."

"I'll see you tonight."

"Be safe, Jack. Please."

"Of course I will be." There was a brief pause. "I love you."

"I love you too."

The line went dead. Carter leaned against the car and stared up at the sky. Things were happening so fast. The war was coming to them and they were standing alone in this. They were on their way to hell.

Now it was just a matter of how fast they got there.

Author's Note: Not my best writing, I know. I have a weird habit of writing apocalypse stories for my personal enjoyment (not fanfictions, so don't ask for them) but I always start them after the Big Bad has happened and the characters are surviving in the post-apocalyptic setting. So writing it this way (especially as a slow burn) is new for me and a personal challenge I decided to undertake. It will get better as it goes on.

I also pretty much just picked the first names off of Google for the military bases, so it might be wrong. Doesn't matter. They're gone in this world.

Questions, comments, criticisms are all welcome on this one.