Well, here it is. The end of another one of their adventures. I hope you had as much fun reading as I did writing it. Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. It really does make my day as an author to get your feelings and feedback on my work. I've already started my next story, with another couple ideas floating around my head for others. Hopefully I'll see you all then, though I'm not sure when the next one will get finished.
Once again thank you for reading.
Warnings and disclaimer in chapter 1.
Enjoy.
"Major Carter, it is time."
"Just give me a minute Teal'c." Teal'c nodded and backed out of the curtained area. She took a deep breath and leaned closer to Joris. "Father? Can you hear me?" He immediately opened his eyes and stared into hers.
"Is it time?" he asked tiredly. She nodded. "You have nothing to fear from your past Kianna."
"But the past is all I have," she protested.
"No," he said sternly. "You have a future. One that is much more wonderful than any I could ever give you on Birona." She smiled briefly at him as Teal'c stuck his head around the curtain. She took a deep breath.
"I'm ready Teal'c." He inclined his head and calmly guided her from the Infirmary. She could feel the penetrating stares from everyone as she passed the beds that were still in use, but she forced herself to focus only on Teal'c's back, afraid she'd loose her nerve if her eyes wavered even the tiniest bit. Teal'c led her to the locker room and calmly waited outside as she changed. She allowed herself to think about the events of the last few days as she pulled on the fatigues left out for her.
She rarely ventured out from her father's cubicle, even though she knew intellectually that man wasn't her father. But he had a sense of familiarity that calmed her soul. He was recovering well from his brush with death and as the days passed he woke more and more often. Eventually it was him who encouraged her to go meet her friends, which she did reluctantly. She could tell how much she was hurting them when she retreated behind the curtain, but thankfully they never pushed for more than she was willing to give.
When Janet approached her with the Monks offer to help restore her memories it was Joris that finally convinced her to go. Teal'c offered to go with her and she greedily accepted. He was another mystery to her. She felt such comfort and familiarity with him, as well as most of the people around the Infirmary, yet she was always drawn back to Joris.
When she was changed she followed Teal'c to the Gate room and was hit with such overwhelming feelings that she fell to her knees. "Major Carter?" Teal'c asked concerned as he knelt down in front of her.
"I'm okay," she said, forcing herself to look him in the eye. "It's just a bit much."
"Indeed," he told her as he waited for her to get her bearings back. When she was ready, he let her take the lead as they headed back to the Sanctuary.
"They should be back by now," Jack said from his bed.
"SG-1 is with her," Cam reminded him. "So is Teal'c. She's fine."
"Besides the Monks weren't entirely sure if they could help her," Daniel pointed out from his position a few beds down. He was getting the Do's and Don'ts lecture from Janet before she released him. "They might need to try a few things which might just take time."
"Speaking of time, isn't it about time you cut me loose Doc?" Jack asked hopefully.
"Soon Colonel," she told him for the tenth time that day. "Sooner if you stop annoying me and my nurses and be a good boy again." Daniel smirked as she gave him the all clear and she went to join Joris at his bedside. Since he was more aware now she had been consulting him on the technique the Inturi used and possible treatments for Sam. She was also beginning to understand why Sam felt so drawn to him. He was an exceptionally intelligent man as well as being compassionate and caring. He could see him and Sam getting along well if the Inturi hadn't gotten in the way.
"What about me Doc?" Mitchell asked from across the room. "You let Vala out ages ago."
"Vala has one good leg to stand on," she told him, "which is one more than you."
"Burn," Jack joked, but the klaxons announcing an incoming wormhole silenced everyone. A few minutes later Jacob came running into the room.
"She's alive?" he asked Jack, though his eyes never stopped searching the Infirmary.
"She's alive," he confirmed before he launched into the whole story. By the end Jacob had a hard time controlling his emotions and Selmak had taken control. He approached Joris quietly.
"Thank you for keeping Samantha alive," she told the other man, "and helping them rescue her."
"Are you a Goa'uld?" he asked in astonishment. Though his people had known about the Goa'uld for all of their recorded history, he had never met one before.
"I am Selmak of the Tok'ra, and my host is Jacob Carter."
"Kianna's father?" he asked, looking to Jack for conformation. Jack nodded. "It is an honor to meet you Sir." Selmak nodded then bowed her head as Jacob took over.
"Thank you," he cried as he shook this stranger's hand. "Thank you for keeping my baby girl safe." He looked around the room again before settling on Jack. "Where is she?"
"She's offworld with the Monks," he said. "They're trying to see if they can help get her memories back."
"We brought the Memory Recall Device," he said, gesturing to another Tok'ra who was calmly entering the room carrying a small crate. "Hopefully that will help her as well." They chatted casually for another few minutes until General Hammond entered the room.
"Jack," he greeted as he grabbed a chair and sat down next to his bed. "Now that things have calmed down a bit we need to make some decisions." Jack sat up straighter. He knew this conversation was coming.
"I'll retire if I need to," Jack started. "My world ended all those years ago when I thought she died. I've just been going through the motions, and I'm tired of it. I want to live again, not just survive." He turned toward Jacob. "I love your daughter and I know on some level she loves me. I know she doesn't remember right now, but I will spend the rest of my life getting her to fall in love with me again if that's what it takes. Or even just being there for her as a friend if that's what she wants." He turned back to Hammond. "But if you make me choose between her and the SGC I will choose her."
"That's good to know son," Hammond said after a stunned silence, "but that wasn't what I was referring to. Now that Major Carter is back there is talk amongst the Joint Chiefs about reforming the original SG-1." Cam sat up straighter in his bed. "Putting aside your declaration a moment ago, I wondered what your thoughts on that might be." Jack blushed slightly but gave it some serious thought before shaking his head.
"Teal'c has too much responsibility with the Jaffa Nation to abandon it right now. He may be willing to find a replacement and rejoin the SGC, but it would take time. Daniel might be interested in more first contact missions, but a lot of time they come with the fighting for your life missions and he's done with that. As for me, I think my earlier statement sums up my feelings pretty well. Plus we don't even know if Carter wants to keep doing this let alone if she will be able to keep doing this. And I will never force her to do something she doesn't want to do. At this time I don't think reforming the original SG-1 is a feasible option." He looked up at his commander. "I can run the idea past Daniel and Teal'c if you want though."
"I don't think that will be necessary. You summed up my thoughts on the situation as well." He stood to leave. "And Colonel. Good luck with Major Carter, but keep things professional while on base or we will be having another talk. Understood?"
"Yes Sir," he said. Jacob took the opportunity to make his way over toward him.
"Jack," he said politely, "you're right. On some level Sam does love you and you make her very happy. But if you even think about taking advantage of her in her current state Anubis himself will not be able to protect you from me. Understood?"
"Yes Sir," Jack said sharply, sitting up as much as he could. The two Generals shared a look as they left the infirmary.
"I'd say that went pretty well," Daniel said from his position near the door.
"How much did you hear?" Jack asked.
"Pretty much everything," Daniel said coming further into the room. "I brought you a yo-yo."
"Thanks," he muttered, fiddling with the offered toy.
"You know what Jacob said goes for me too," Daniel said. "Probably the same for Teal'c."
"Yeah," Jack admitted. "Speaking of Teal'c. Any idea when they're getting back?" The klaxons sounded just as Jack said that.
"Maybe that's them," Daniel said as he rushed from the room. A few minutes later he returned with Sam, Teal'c, and Jacob. Janet quickly joined their group.
"Any improvement?" she asked studying Sam intently. She seemed more relaxed and confident than before, but Sam simply shook her head.
"The Healers of the Sanctuary were able to help better understand Major Carter's condition," Teal'c reported, "but her memories remain elusive."
"They think my practical memories, my how to memories, were never tampered with by the Inturi and should be fine. But my situational memories, memories of people, places, events, and such are gone. I can probably take apart and reassemble every piece of equipment in this room, but have no idea what any of it is for."
"Please don't," Janet said as she came over to her friend's side.
"We can try the Recall Device," Jacob said. Sam agreed and they spent the next several hours trying to pull up any memories they could. It was all for naught though. Nothing remained from before she woke up in the clearing with SG-1 hovering around.
"I don't think they're gone," Janet said as she saw Sam's disheartened look. "I was talking with Joris and we think there's a chance your memories are just scattered and buried inside your mind. That's why you were still able to remember us even though you couldn't remember meeting us. They might still come back."
"If you say so," Sam said gloomily, taking her customary place by Joris's bedside.
"Kianna?" Joris asked kindly. "What bothers you?"
"I'm just realizing that I will never really know who I am."
"You've already figured out who you are," he countered. "You've already learned not to look for answers in your mind, but to trust your heart." She thought about that for a few minutes.
"Thank you Father," she said, a smile gracing her face.
"Hey did you tell her the good news?" Jack asked from across the room. "Hammond got permission for Dad to stay and offered him a research position on the base." He looked around the room at all the faces turned toward him. "What? Dad is what I call all of Carter's fathers."
"Don't remind me," Jacob grumbled halfheartedly.
"Is that true?" she asked hopefully.
"If you don't mind," he said honestly. "Although I would understand if you never wanted to see me again.
"No," she quickly interjected. "I would be honored to work with you again. To be honest it would be nice to have someone learning all this stuff with me."
"I know what you mean," he said softly, "and I promise I shall try to remember your true name."
"Actually," she admitted hesitantly, "I wouldn't mind if you called me Kianna. It feels right." They smiled at each other for a moment before Janet broke up the party.
"I have patients that need rest," she reminded everyone, "and you must be tired Sam." Jacob reached out to hug his daughter, grateful when she didn't flinch away from him.
"I have to return to the Tok'ra soon," he told her, "but I'll make sure to make some time for a nice long reunion."
"I too will soon need to return the Jaffa Nation," Teal'c admitted, "however I will attempt to return to the SGC on a more regular basis."
"Thanks Teal'c. Dad." She hugged him fiercely before Janet started getting impatient. Everyone grumbled as they slowly dispersed before Jack remembered something.
"Oh Daniel," he called from his bed, "you never did tell us how much they paid for Carter." Everyone stopped and stared at the archeologist.
"Well," he called out from the doorway, "remember when Aris Boch captured us and we found out Teal'c's bounty was Chulak?"
"Yeah," he said after a minute.
"Think bigger," he said with a smirk as he left the room.
"How much bigger?" Jack yelled but Daniel ignored him and rounded the corner out of sight.
"I'll say it again," Vala said from Cam's bedside where she and the rest of SG-1 had gathered unnoticed. "They are legends."
"Indeed," Cam said as he closed his eyes and entered a peaceful sleep.
The End.