Present Day

"Hey, Sam," Daniel greeted his teammate as he set his lunch tray down on the table across from her and took a seat. "What's up?"

Sam sighed heavily as she closed the file she had been reading. "Just looking over the list of new recruits to the science department. The General wanted me to check out their credentials and meet with them personally before they're given the official lowdown on the Stargate Project."

"So what's the problem? I know you've done that before. We all have."

"I know, it's just…I hate to be the one to say whether or not they'll get a chance to even know what's going on here."

"O-kay," Daniel said slowly, dipping his head slightly. "I'm guessing you've got someone particular in mind."

She pulled out a sheet from the folder and handed it across the table to her friend, who wiped his mouth with a napkin before accepting the paper. "This man, Dr. Granseth, is certainly qualified for the program. He has three Ph. Ds: in biochemistry, applied physics, and engineering. He's even got a Masters in Psychology. I've read his work, and he's nothing short of brilliant."

"So?" he prompted, waiting for the punch line.

"Did you wonder why he took an interest in psychology, when he's obviously more involved in hard science?"

Daniel scowled slightly. "He seems to know how the world works. Maybe he wanted to know how people work."

She smiled at the suggestion. "Sounds reasonable."

"He's from Minnesota?" Daniel noticed from the brief info sheet. "Jack will love that. But I assume you had a reason for mentioning the psychology aspect."

"The Air Force just flagged something down from his childhood that suggests he might be a security risk."

"Who might be a security risk?" Colonel O'Neill's voice interrupted from behind her as he approached the table with his own tray. He took the seat beside her and immediately began chowing down on his food.

"One of the potential scientist recruits, sir. He's amazingly qualified in…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. How's he a security risk?"

She managed to avoid rolling her eyes. "It might be nothing, sir, but when he was a teenager he spent several years talking with a psychologist. His mother died when he was three, he was an only child but it seems…" she glanced nervously at Daniel. "It seems he imagined, or hallucinated, that he had a younger brother. I couldn't get many more details, but he mentions it in one of his articles, how his mind created this defense mechanism to help him deal with his illness, acute leukemia. It was an amazing article, sir. In his memories, it was his 'brother' who cured him of his leukemia. He called him his Guardian Angel, because after that, he just disappeared."

She didn't notice the sudden tension in Jack's demeanor. "They thought he was a nutcase?" he asked with forced casualness.

"To put it bluntly," she conceded.

"So how is that a security risk?" Daniel asked.

"You're kidding," Sam replied drolly.

"No, seriously. If he talks, he'd be easy to discredit, with that kind of history."

"That's not really the point, Daniel. What if he can't handle the stress and starts imagining things that aren't there?"

"What if he wasn't imagining things?" Jack asked, seemingly indifferent. "What if he really did have a brother and something happened to him? Wouldn't be the first time someone lied to an emotionally traumatized person."

"Sir?" Sam stared at him in disbelief. "You can't possibly believe that his own father lied to him to cover up his brother's…disappearance."

Jack simply shrugged. "It could happen. So what's this fella's name and when do you interview him?"

"He'll be here tomorrow, with the other potential recruits. His name is David Granseth."

"He's from Minnesota," Daniel added knowingly.

Jack didn't say another word as he finished his meal.

--

David Granseth felt old as he looked around the room at the other scientists who were being considered for this Top Secret government project. He was too old to be contemplating a change in his career but he could always fall back to teaching at the University. He'd done some consulting with the Air Force before so he had been intrigued when he was approached by the military to work on a classified project at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs.

The others in the room were all much younger than him, as he was approaching his 53rd birthday. Some of these kids looked like they were still teenagers, though realistically he knew they were at least in their thirties. He wondered if the Air Force was looking for experience or longevity.

He'd been thrilled when he learned that Dr. Samantha Carter was involved in the project, because he knew what a brilliant scientist she was and she would only get involved in something really important. Or something really cool. That's what gave him the push to take the chance and come out here to see what was going on.

He took his seat at the large conference table and began skimming through the briefing materials they had been given, which wasn't much. He wasn't sure what Deep Space Radar Telemetry would need from him, but he recognized a cover-up when he saw it. He'd just have to wait to find out more.

He hated waiting.

He looked up when someone new walked into the room, and his companions instantly quieted, as the newcomer was wearing the green BDUs of an Air Force officer. He instantly recognized her as Dr. Carter, or Major Carter, he corrected himself. A moment later another person in BDUs appeared, this time an older man with gray hair. The gray-haired man looked directly at him for a brief moment before his eyes flitted around the rest of the room. Maybe this was the General in command of the base.

"I'm Major Samantha Carter," the woman introduced herself, and took a seat at the head of the table. "I'll be interviewing each of you individually later today but I wanted to meet you all together beforehand to discuss some of the issues relevant to this command." She gave a nod to the man now leaning against the door frame. "This is Colonel Jack O'Neill, he's second-in-command of this facility."

"Jack O'Neill?" David exclaimed before he could stop himself. He hadn't heard that name since he was a boy, he never imagined he'd actually meet someone with that same name.

O'Neill looked at him shrewdly but didn't move from his casual perch at the door. He simply raised his eyebrow at the outburst.

"Is there a problem?" Major Carter asked, looking at David worriedly.

"No, no problem. Please, continue."

He was ashamed to admit that he didn't really listen to most of what she said after that. She went over some of the logistics of working for the military, some of the peculiarities of this particular command and the expectations of its scientific personnel. As she spoke his gaze kept drifting back to the Colonel standing unobtrusively against the wall. He hadn't spoken at all, but occasionally their gazes met and they just stared at each other until David forced himself to look back at the Major. He should have been embarrassed by his behavior but strangely he wasn't. It was almost as though the Colonel expected him to be watching him, as though he was waiting for David to make the first move, but he had no idea what that might be.

Major Carter was talking animatedly about some of the advancements they'd made in the last few years when Colonel O'Neill finally spoke. "Carter."

She immediately stopped talking and turned to look at him. "Sir?"

"We have a briefing of our own tomorrow morning. If you expect to get any rest you might want to skip ahead to the good bits."

She smiled and ducked her head slightly. "Yes sir. Thanks for the reminder."

"Anytime. If you need me you know where to find me," he said as he walked away.

"Right, sir." She gave a small chuckle and looked like she was about to resume the talk when one of the others interrupted with a question.

"If you don't mind my asking, Major, but why was Colonel O'Neill here? Was he observing us, or you?"

She was a bit flustered, and he got the feeling she didn't know the answer to that. "Colonel O'Neill plays an integral part of what we do here at Cheyenne Mountain. It's his job to know what's going on. You'll find that the civilians and military personnel are a lot more integrated in daily work here than on most military bases, so it's entirely possible that you'll find yourself reporting directly to the Colonel or General Hammond."

"Kind of avoided the question, but okay," the guy mumbled to himself.

"He doesn't look like a desk jockey to me," David said, though admittedly his frame of reference was quite limited.

"He isn't," Carter confirmed. "This is a unique command. Colonel O'Neill is the most experienced field operative we have."

"Which, I'm sure, will be much more impressive when we learn what's really going on down here."

She smiled at him blankly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. He knew he was right.

He hoped he'd get to see the Colonel again. There was something about him, he just couldn't put his finger on it. It was more than just the name. Maybe, if he got to stay, he'd have plenty of time to figure it out.

--

Forty-two years ago

David sat in his bedroom, re-reading his history notes and making further notes in the margins for things he'd like to look up later when he could get to the library. There was a loud knock on the front door but he let Dad answer it.

Eventually, he could no longer ignore the loud, arguing voices outside of his father and some woman, and he was about to get up to see what was going on when his door inched open slowly. A younger boy with dark blond hair peered inside curiously, but froze when their eyes met.

"Hello," David said warily, wondering who this boy was and why he was wandering through his house.

"Hi," the boy returned, with a lot more confidence than David. The boy stepped inside the room and walked right up to him, stopping just a couple feet from the bed. "I think we might be brothers."

David stared at the boy, unable to think of a coherent response.

"My name's Jack O'Neill. Mom says that man out there is my father. So that makes us brothers, right?"

David nodded dumbly, and then shook himself out of his stupor. "Brothers!" He looked at the door, through which he could still hear his father arguing, shouting, with the woman. He looked again at the boy. "Half-brothers, actually," he said, just to be correct.

He saw Jack's shoulders slump just a little bit, and an expression of hurt and sadness flicker across the boy's face before it was replaced by one of indifference and a shoulder shrug. "Whatever." Jack shoved his hands deep into his pockets and stepped away from the bed, glancing around the room without any real interest.

And just like that, David realized who this boy really was. He was his brother! Without even having to think about it further he stood up, walked right up to the younger boy, and pulled him into a hug. Jack was startled but it didn't take him long to get with the program and he quickly returned the hug, with a little happy laugh.

"Half-brothers is still brothers," David said as he pulled away. "My name's David Granseth. This should be fun."

They both smiled.