A Moment in Time
.
With a hastily scrawled signature, he signed off on yet another report before distractedly answering the telephone.
"O'Neill."
For the briefest of moments all he heard was silence, but it was so complete it instantly set his heart racing.
"Jack, it's Hank."
Instinctively he knew, and for a second his heart literally stopped beating.
This was no personnel update, or word of some crazy SGC incident. This was the news he'd always dreaded.
In dazed silence he took in Hank's words, but the update on the Ori—on Merlin's device—were soon forgotten.
Stable was the word he clung to.