CHAPTER 102
EPISODE……………………my own idea.
A.U. For anyone and everyone that has been wondering about Ford's past, here it comes. The gruesome details. The reason behind everything I have made him to be and do, which I have thought of since the beginning of this story. It just took this long to compile it into the story line. And just about forever to put on the net.
Previously………
They had just gotten back to base after letting the bounty hunter, that had almost captured them, go. He was given a better offer and took it. From what they learned later, this guy was now head of the Lucian Alliance and currently was leaving the Tauri alone. Ford, who couldn't go with them because he was in the infirmary when they left, was still there when they got back. Carter had just gotten back with Mitchell and Vala and the T.A.R.D.I.S. went back to the mansion as pre-programmed after they left.
"Why's he still in the infirmary?" Carter asked as they met Lam at the door.
"He's getting dressed, or was." she said as they all walked in and up to the bed that had a curtain around it. "He just woke up several minutes ago."
"Is anything wrong with him?" Daniel asked.
"Yes." she said worried.
She pulled it back and they saw him sitting on the bed. He had his BDU'S on instead of a suit, and his coat was laying on the bed open along with his guns. He was currently looking at something in his hand, which had a necklace chain hanging over the side.
"General…." Mitchell began.
"Can any of you tell me what Omega is?" Ford asked not looking up from the objects in his hand.
Carter started on some scientific explanation which lasted three seconds before she stopped and tried to ask him what was going on. Daniel started in on the Greek symbol and other things about it. Ford waved them off with his other hand saying never mind.
"He asked me the same thing too. I didn't get it either." Lam said.
"I got a couple of questions. Well, more than a couple." he said looking at them curiously.
"Why did we not wait till you woke up before going after the guy?" Daniel asked crossing his arms.
"Um, no." Ford said with a confused look. "I don't know what you mean by that to begin with. Anyway, one, where is General Westmore?"
Now they were confused.
"The only General I know, or did know was a General West that was dealing with the Stargate program back when it was starting." Carter said. "But I've never heard of a Westmore? Is he Army?"
"Hmm. No. Former Navy Seal."
"The Navy has Admirals…" Mitchell began.
"Okay." he said looking back at his hand. "Next questions. Where's all my other weapons and where did another one of my guns come from? Also, I know this is the T.A.R.D.I.S. key so we can get back to it later. This strange ring thing here, what is it?"
They started to open their mouths to answer or ask him what was going on, but stopped when his next questions came.
"But I guess the most important questions I should be asking is, where am I, how did I get here and who the hell are you people?"
NOW……
They were shocked, so shocked they just stared at him, for several moments while he was looking at his hand and muttered about how the clothes were itching before he moved on.
"Must be the detergent used. Hmm, this key isn't pewter. Neither is this necklace." he said looking at the T.A.R.D.I.S. key and then the small unknown ring object next to the key that was beside his dog tags. "Some of these symbols on this ring look like horoscope symbols. Interesting. Oh, and when did I get dog tags back?"
"Ford?" Carter asked slowly.
"That's Colonel to you Lieutenant Colonel. Unless I've been promoted like Doctor….um…." he said looking at her.
"Lam General. Carolyn Lam."
"Right. So, General Westmore must have retired and gave command to me, even though I told him on many occasions I didn't want it and finally quit because he wouldn't stop bugging me. Besides the fact I got tired of what I was doing out there. You all have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"
"Not a clue General." Mitchell said as he looked at Lam. "Please tell me this doesn't look like it is, what it looks like it is."
"That's he's lost his memory? Yes, he has. And before you ask Colonel…" she said as Carter turned to her sharply. "I haven't found out why yet. I still need to do some test."
"Lost memory?" they all said/asked.
"Look, I don't know who you all are, but I know who I am." Ford said quickly as he got up. "Wait a minute, how did I get here first of all? Where is here anyway?"
"Your car exploded." Daniel said.
"My car? Bomb?"
"Indeed."
"Hmm, wonder who I pissed off this time? Oh well, I was getting tired of that Durango……" he said trailed off. "But the last thing I remember doesn't involve me driving…"
"Okay, let's assume that you did lose your memory, what is the last thing you remember?" Daniel asked.
"Let's see." he said looking up. "I got finished with a mission, about three days ago and just got back to the states. I told him I quit and wanted a new job, Federal Marshal posting, in Colorado preferably. I know they were telling me the different places I could go. Maybe I was headed there and then….hmm."
Ford sat down muttering to himself about possible ideas, that is assuming he did lose his memory as he didn't totally believe yet.
"You were a Federal Marshal….." Carter began with sadness and worry in her voice.
"Was? I don't even remember starting the job."
"No you started it and kept it for awhile before ending up here." Daniel said.
"And here is where? No Federal Marshal office looks anything like this and besides that, I see military personal around. Mostly airmen that have passed by the door. I can tell I am on a base of some sort."
"The Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Stargate Command, General." Mitchell said.
"Stargate Command?"
"Let me deal with this for the moment. Okay, obviously you have lost your memory otherwise you'd know us." Daniel said.
"Who are you people anyway?"
Daniel finally convinced him enough for them all to go to the briefing room to talk, seeing as talking in the infirmary with sleeping patients wasn't a good idea. They made it there, with Vala showing up. As they entered the briefing room, Ford stopped and looked at a particular chair. Daniel was explaining to Vala that Ford lost his memory and she was trying to understand it since it wasn't suppose to be possible. They all started to sit down when they noticed he wasn't moving.
"General Carter?" Teal'c asked.
When he asked again and then started forward, Daniel stopped him quickly.
"He may be in a flashback Teal'c. And he doesn't know he's married."
Teal'c nodded and stepped back. Vala was a little reluctant, but agreed to touch him to see what he would do, in case it was a flashback. She would survive, assuming he didn't try to take her head off, which Daniel assured her he wouldn't do. Ford slowly walked up to the chair and spun it as she was about to touch him.
"Ford?"
"This is my chair."
"You're remembering then General?" Mitchell asked standing on the other end of the table with Teal'c.
"No. This came from my house. I built this chair, personally." he said looking under it as he lifted it up and then set it down. "I built it to accommodate the fact I have a very heavy coat. I can't get normal massages because….."
"There's another one in that office just like it." Vala said and then finished his statement. "You're ticklish, we know."
He looked through the window and then went in and looked at it. When he came back out he sat down in the seat and spun it around a few times.
"Hmm. Even has the massage features."
"Okay, what we need to do is tell him everything…." Daniel began.
"Wait a minute, I thought it was a bad idea to tell someone with lost memories everything at once?" Mitchell asked. "Such as truth's they couldn't cope with could cause more problems or something like that."
"Normally true, but back before the incident with Lara in China, he told us if anything ever happened to him, in a memory loss sense, tell him everything. Don't beat around the bush." Daniel said. "Actually, the words he used was, 'Be blunt, don't beat around the bush, careful of what you say and stuff, just point blank tell me everything.' Does that sound familiar?"
"I'm beginning to wonder if I have lost my memory." he muttered looking at the metal dog. "Is that really K-9?"
"Why? Is something returning?" Vala asked.
"No. But I only tell trusted friends to be blunt with me if I lose my memory. I've told people before those exact words. And I have very few people I can list that I've told. I've never seen or heard of any of you people much less what this SGC thing is, but, you must be telling me the truth in some regard. Especially about the ticklish thing. If I was captured like I thought for a few moments after I woke up here, I wouldn't have my gun…guns and coat. Which I know still work."
"That is K-9. From the show. You, built him, for me. I'll explain it better later." Carter said.
"Okay." he said shrugging.
"Um, you do know that you have hidden blades in the arms and a hidden gun inside the right sleeve, right?" Mitchell asked. "Don't want something to suddenly happen…"
Ford looked at the arms and then made a movement. The two blades came out and almost stuck into table.
"Okay, I had an idea for this once so I guess I made this then. Nice. That would mean I need to move my hand like this…." he said as the hidden CZ-75 came out. "Hmm, not bad. Not my first choice. I guess I do this..."
They all went back in.
"Okay, let's go with the assumption that I have lost my memory, which is looking more and more a possibility. I've still got doubts, but since I haven't seen anyone I know and no one from the C.A.A. has came along to get me or even call, tell me what I'm missing." he said looking around as though he suspected certain people to suddenly show up.
For the next two hours or so Daniel and them all told him different things about the SGC and stuff that he did there and some of the things they did together off base. Ford wasn't all that surprised about being extremely rich. The alien idea was very far fetched until they showed him the zat gun and staff weapon, plus the fact a team came back from off world. They dialed some planet and Carter put her hand through showing it didn't come out the other side as he watched beside it. After explaining the wormhole theory idea, he seemed to grasp it, somewhat, or at least enough be believed it. The use of the Odyssey's transporter caught his attention the most. K-9 really caught his attention, though the story behind how he got him to begin with was a little far fetched too. And they showed him file footage of his counterpart's being there. His future version, his Fox version and his female counterpart. Carter refrained from doing or saying anything when he comment on how the female team looked compared to the male team. Mitchell did say he thought his female counterpart was rather great looking too which got him looks from the others, except Ford. There was only one thing they didn't tell him yet, well a couple things about a particular subject. They were at the table still telling him different things and waiting for Jack to show up. During most of the time they had been talking at the table, Ford kept looking at Carter. A lot, but not in recognizing way, to her misfortune.
"Ford, do you remember something about Sam?" Daniel asked.
"No, not really." he said still looking at her. "I just keep getting this…word, that I think describes something about you."
"What is it?"
"Well, um…." he said unsure as he looked at the other's a moment. "Come here."
She leaned over and instantly blushed as he said the word.
"Oh, um….ahem.." she said trying to avoid the looks she was getting.
"It doesn't mean what…."
"Yes, it does." she said quickly as she leaned over and whispered to him that it was his pet name for her.
"Wait, then….there's only one real way that I…um…."
"There's one thing that we really have told you yet." she said biting her lip. "Trust me on this if nothing else, because this is a lot harder on me than you. We're married."
Shock, was so far from what he was showing on his face. That lasted about ten seconds though.
"Nice one. You almost had me there." he said sighing slightly. "There's no way we could be married."
"Don't tell me it's because of the children issue." she said a little crossed.
"That's one, but really someone of, your league, I'm nowhere near." he said waving his hands slightly. "Besides that, I made a vow to myself not to ever subject a woman to that sort of commitment. Even if I found some woman that never wanted children, it wouldn't be worth it then."
"Have you looked inside your wallet yet?" Daniel asked.
"Why?"
"Remember those Tok'ra we talked about?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah, you mentioned I was once joined with one called Hercules and I did see the file footage. Though that could have been doctored footage, it seemed real enough. What about it?"
"He cured that, DNA problem or whatever it was." Carter said pulling her dog tags out from her shirt and removing the rings. "This ring is mine, this is yours."
He picked it up and looked it over. There was an inscription in the inner part saying, To my true love forever, Samantha P. Carter. The other one said the same, but with the name, Ford P. Carter.
"You took my name, because of the, um, hidden joke behind yours." she said as he started to ask about her ring.
"Joke?" he asked confused.
"Your former last name was Primus and um, we learned from you, in a sense, that your mother used to call you, Primy."
He grimaced.
"Yeah, dear old mom liked that a lot. Dad thought it was funny until she called him it too. Okay, that would explain the name change. Hmm, it does fit." he said trying it on.
"We have a daughter too." she said bluntly.
That stopped him from even breathing for a moment as he stared at her.
"Her name is Sally. She's at home with my parents until we get off work, which happens at the same time. It's only different for you when you get called in for General duties. You have pictures in your wallet. I have pictures too, but they are in my purse in our lab. Our affectionate nickname for her is princess."
"Princess?"
"You always wanted a little princess, and we both liked the name. Though you said that you named her after a comic book character named Princess Sally."
"Yes. That would sound about right. I probably still read comic books then?"
"That and many cartoons. Very heavy into anime General." Mitchell said. "I felt it was very childish at first, but got used to it after awhile. You did say you never grew up anyway."
"I used to tell people I worked with that too. Princess Sally huh?" he said as Carter nodded.
He removed his wallet from his coat and was surprised to see the several photo's of him with Sam and a beautiful little girl that had the name, Princess Sally wrote on the back in his handwriting. Something deep down told him that the photo's weren't fake, but he had no idea what.
"Ford, are you alright?" she asked seeing a tear run down the left side of his face.
"I….know it's true, somehow, I know. But I can't remember it. All those memories, gone. Five or six years completely gone. Damn." he said wiping the tear away. "What's next?"
"Unfortunately, bad news." Landry said walking in.
They all got up as he entered, but Ford didn't move.
"As you were." he said waving them to sit back down.
"What's the problem sir?" Mitchell asked.
"Word spreads
quickly in a short time Colonel. Because he has forgotten, mostly
everything about this place and its people, I've been ordered to
strip you of your rank and status here at the SGC."
"Excuse
me?" Daniel asked.
"I tried to fight it Doctor Jackson, telling them there was a good chance of his memory returning. Even Carolyn told them that K-9's scans indicated something about pathways being slowly fixed."
"Neural sir?" Carter asked.
"Yeah, that was the word she used. Unfortunately, they didn't care. As of this moment Gen…." he said stopping himself.
"I've been fired is what you are saying?" he said still looking at different photos. "You looked really good in this wedding photo Sam. Almost hard to believe it is real."
"That's one way of putting it. Officially court-martialed without a trial is what they are really saying." Landry said before putting a hand on his shoulder. "I hope your memory returns though. And hopefully before all the paperwork goes through. I know you don't remember it, but you're a great asset here."
"Wish I could." he said looking at the photo's still. "Nice Mustang. Is it an original?"
"What's going to happen with him now then?" Daniel asked as Ford was ignored.
"Despite my further protest, that fell on deaf ears, he is not only, fired per say, but his clearance level has been completely revoked. Including the special badge the President gave him. Because of the order I have to make, I'm ordering the rest of you to go with him and help try to get his memory back, not to mention keep him from getting himself into danger, or more than likely killing someone he shouldn't."
"I don't understand." Daniel said.
"Neither do I." Mitchell said. "We could show him around here some more in hopes…"
"You've all got twenty minutes to get him off the base and premises. Effective immediately, he is not allowed anywhere near anything dealing with the Stargate program. Certain personal excluded, only because you're married to him. Otherwise they would rather that I order you all never to come into contact with him ever again."
They were all shocked.
"For how long is this to take place?" Teal'c asked.
"Indefinitely." Landry said grimly. "They're hoping that he never gets his memory back. I've made a few calls to some friends and the news I'm hearing isn't good. There's plans taking place to do things certain people wanted done that he didn't agree with. And at the time could stop them."
"How would I do that?" Ford asked putting his wallet away as he got up.
"You know all the United States most darkest secrets, going back two hundred years. Or you did and have certifiable proof, somewhere." Carter said. "As bad as blackmailing the government is, you did it in a way a lot of people agree with, including all of us."
"Damn, you must be real good friends. Which of you helped me find this stuff?"
"None of us actually, you did it with some help from that future version of yourself." Carter said. "Having a time machine to get the info pretty much proved you had proof."
"Such as?"
"Well, being able to video tape the assassination of JFK for one thing and all the conversations about how and why it happened." Carter said.
"Oh."
"As much as I would like to help in reminiscing, you all need to go. Barret and his team have standing order to place him under arrest if he is still here in, 15 minutes." Landry said looking at his watch.
"We better hurry then." Carter said as they all got up.
Landry went back to his office as the phone rang. They headed out to go get whatever they needed before leaving. Carter stayed with him heading straight for the top. Landry was getting pissed quickly by the phone call, but because the orders came directly from the President himself, he had little choice.
"Walter."
"Yes sir." he said walking into the office.
"Did Colonel Carter come in her car today?"
"I believe so sir." he said confused. "Why?"
"We've got a problem." he said getting up and silently handing the man a note. "I've just been informed that Ford Carter is a wanted man, especially by Interpol. The President himself just called and told me about some photo's that are being sent by fax as we speak. As much as he deeply regrets having to do this, considering Ford's current situation, he is to be arrested before he leaves the mountain, understand?"
Walter read the small note discreetly while Landry was talking to him, only because Landry pointed at it with his eyes saying more than once.
"Understood sir. I'll call the MP's right away. What about SG-1?"
"We tell them nothing. They would try to help him leave. And it's best they don't get involved with this." he said nodding at the note.
"Yes sir."
"And Walter. No lethal force unless necessary."
"What is he wanted for sir?"
Ford and Carter were almost near the top when K-9, who was at her feet, asked her to listen to a message from her watch. Ford could barely hear it as some message from a guy named Walter relayed it to K-9 to give to her. Their cell phone could be monitored at all times, even if they used scrambling devices to keep other's from hearing what was said. K-9, the General Lee and their watches had specific frequencies that couldn't be tapped into, mostly because Ford managed to change them sometime after getting the T.A.R.D.I.S. The T.A.R.D.I.S. and the fact he was a Time Lord was also left out of the conversation they had at the table. They were going to tell him when they showed him the ship, so the idea was.
"Son of a…" she said dropping her hand. "Thanks K-9."
"Welcome Mistress."
"What's wrong?" Ford asked.
"Stun beam only K-9." she ordered.
"What's going on?"
"I can't tell you yet, just trust me."
"Are we about to be attacked or something?" he said as he instinctively became defensive.
"Something."
He zipped his coat and had her get behind him as the elevator was stopping on the top level. Two guards were there with their M-16's at ready.
"I'm sorry sir, but I have to ask you to back up." one of the guards said.
"Why?" Ford
asked crossing his arms. "What have I done…"
"Now
K-9." she said.
Two red beams came out quickly taking the two men out.
"Good dog K-9." she said picking him up.
They left quickly and headed for the parking lot. Ford managed to knock out a few of the guards before they even saw him while K-9 stunned the others from a distance. They were coming up on the corner to the main door when the rest of SG-1 came up behind them.
"What's going on?" Daniel asked.
"Shhh…." Carter began.
"Freeze!" a guard yelled loudly as he came around the corner seeing them there. "Don't move or I will use deadly force."
They all slowly raised their hands. Except Carter since she was still holding K-9.
"SG-1 is ordered to report to General Landry, now." he said waving the M-16 at them to back away.
"What about Ford?" Daniel asked lowering his hands with the others.
"He is to stay here until the MP's arrive. I am only obeying orders sir. They haven't told me what's going on, but its seriously enough I am to use deadly force on you if I have to."
"Must be because I don't remember where all that secret info is that they're going to come after me now or something." Ford muttered as he put his arms down. "I give up."
"Airman…" the guard said looking toward the large door. "Tell General Landry we…"
Ford lashed out quickly cutting the gun in half. The guard dropped the gun going for his side arm when Ford kicked him in the chest sending him into the wall. The other two guards started to aim their rifles. SG-1 followed Ford around the corner as he fired his hidden pistol. They started to yell at him to not kill anyone and were surprised to see the two guards still alive. He had fired four shots hitting both M-16's, once in the barrels and a area near the clips that caused the clips to fall out.
"My next shots will kill. Understand?"
They got down quickly as he waved at the ground. Once outside and Carter telling the others she'd explain later, they all got into the her Mustang. It was kinda cramped, but everyone got in. Ford drove while Carter sat in the middle and Teal'c next to her. Daniel, Mitchell and Vala sat in the back with K-9. Ford was really impressed with seeing the classic and it took her telling him to get his ass in before they all got shot or something to get him out of the staring trance.
"What's going on?" Daniel asked as he tried to get comfortable.
"I got a message from Walter, that came from Landry. That phone call that we heard as we left was the President. Ford's wanted for illegal arms dealing. And he means heavy illegal arms dealing. Tanks, planes, choppers, other vehicles and a mass variety of different types of guns ranging from small arms to rocket launchers and such. One of which includes nuclear weapons. This is all new news to me. Landry thinks it is a false charge to possibly get rid of Ford or something as did the President, but the evidence was to overwhelming to not ignore it. We're not suppose to know anything so that Ford could be taken away and, we not get involved. Walter was given a note with instructions to tell K-9 to tell me what was about to happen. He couldn't call us because our phones could be being monitored."
"Right, K-9 has a special frequency that no one can trace." Mitchell said as they started down the long tunnel.
"I believe we may have trouble." Teal'c said as they saw a blockade ahead of them.
"You said this car has some sort of special shield around it?" Ford asked as they all head the guards telling them to surrender or deadly force would be used.
"Yes, a Molecularly Bonded Shell." Carter said as he down shifted.
"That sounds very familiar."
"K.I.T.T. has it. The talking black Trans Am." she said hoping he remembered.
"Not getting anything, sorry."
"Are we giving up?" Vala asked as he stopped the car somewhat deep in the tunnel.
"Daniel, call Jack and tell him not to come to the mountain. We'll all head for the, special ship we have." Carter said.
"Right." he said pulling his phone out.
"Special ship?"
"You'll see later. Now, unless they use a rocket launcher or anything of a higher explosive yield than that, we're safe. Even from armor piercing rounds. Seeing as we are in the vehicle, I doubt they'll try that."
"These people do know who we are, right?"
"Indeed. We have served with them for many years." Teal'c said.
"I wonder then." he said revving the car as several guards started towards them.
"I think we're boxed in." Vala said looking out the back to see a few military Hummers coming towards them.
"Hang on."
Those guards and the ones at the entrance to the mountain dived or moved out of the way quickly. Out of the dozen or so guards, only three actually shot at the car, but stopped after seeing the other guards not doing anything. He easily drove through the metal fence to get around the two Hummers and plowed through the front gate without any trouble. They were headed down the hill when three large black suburban trucks stopped in a line blocking the road.
"Uh oh." Daniel muttered.
"That's Agent Barret and his men." Carter said.
"Sam, I know you're in there, with the rest of your team. You haven't done anything that will get you in serious trouble so far." Barret said through a megaphone. "Surrender now and I can promise that this will not go on any of your records. Just hand Ford over and we'll forget this whole event ever happened. I'll give you a couple minutes to talk it over. I'm sorry to do this, but I have my orders, and there is very compelling evidence."
"I don't remember anything about you all, other than the photo's in my wallet I know to be true. But I won't blame you if you want me to give up." he said looking at them.
"Hell no! I'll quit the SGC before I let them take you away!" Carter exclaimed.
"Same here." Daniel said.
"Yeah, it wouldn't be the same without you." Mitchell said.
"Indeed."
"Damn, you people are way better than my old team. Kinda like family."
"Actually, you've said that despite not being blood related, we are family." Vala said.
"I really did something right for once then. Wish I knew what it was. Well, all for one then…"
"Indeed." Teal'c said nodding. "And one for all."
"What's your decision…" Barret started to ask when he noticed the driver window rolling down.
And when he saw a large gun being pointed, he got down by jumping into the bushes. A few other's followed while some other guys started firing at the car. Ford fired taking out the front axles of the trucks. Though it was rather jarring and loud on the screeching part, due to the fact of being difficult to drive through the small opening between the two front ends of the suburban's, they made it through. The two trucks were pretty much totaled and the Mustang was still in perfect condition as they roared off down the road quickly. When Landry heard the news, he smiled slightly and told Walter he'd call Washington to tell them the situation, after a bathroom trip.
An hour later, they arrived at Daniels house. But no one was there and so far they weren't being followed, which was strange. They stayed just down the block and out of sight, despite being a classic car. Ford had gotten out and just walked up to the house and looked around. No one was around or in the house, which was way too strange.
"There's no one there." he said getting back in. "That is the right…"
"Yes that's my house." Daniel said.
"K-9, do you detect anything?"
"No surveillance equipment detected Mistress."
"It is possible they have realized that the illegal activity you were charged with was actually false." Teal'c said.
"That's possible." Mitchell said.
"You know, even though we're running, kinda strange really." Carter said getting nods from the others. "The Odyssey would be able to tell them where we are."
"That ship you mentioned?" Ford asked.
"Yes." she said.
"I didn't put some system in this one like you mentioned about the General I have…"
"No." she said shaking her head. "As bad a idea as this could be…"
They all got out, mostly to get rid of the cramped feeling as she called the base.
"Walter?"
"Colonel Carter? We've been trying to reach you for awhile now."
"Yeah, we all turned out cell phones off." she said glancing around with everyone else.
"Everything is okay Colonel." he said hearing the tenseness in her voice. "Everything about that earlier problem has been cancelled. You don't have to worry about anything."
"No offense Walter, but how can I believe that? Those N.I.D. agents did shoot at us as did some of the base personal."
"It's all been straightened out Colonel. The President called and had the former orders rescinded."
"Same question Walter."
"Would it help if I told you that ever since you left the mountain that the Odyssey has been tracking your position and that you're current down the street from Doctor Jackson's place?"
"That…….um, thanks Walter."
"I hope his memories return Colonel."
"What about the…."
"I'm sorry Colonel. He's not allowed to come back. But I'd assume that if his memories return, he'd get back here. Unfortunately, the photo's of him are real as is some surveillance videos, but no one is going after him anymore. A, mutual friend from the future helped again. Sorry to say, but the evidence is real. He has done some very illegal deals dealing with buying weapons and other military hardware. However, Barret said that no one has found out where these items he bought have went. Whatever the case, our future friend got everyone to back off. As for the court-martial thing, that is still being dealt with as we speak."
"I understand, thanks Walter."
She hung up and told them what she learned. Seeing as they hadn't told him about the T.A.R.D.I.S., and he didn't remember buying the weapons and such, they all figured all that stuff had to be in the T.A.R.D.I.S. somewhere if the N.I.D. and other authorities hadn't found anything yet.
"I guess that means we're free to go wherever we want." Vala said.
"Still could be a trap." Ford said leaning on the top of the car.
"Walter sounded truthful." Carter said.
"I didn't talk to him, besides I don't know him. Look, they want me, so if it is a trap, you all leave. I'll go home, and maybe get lucky and wake up to finding this a really weird and bad dream or my memory returning." Ford said sighing.
"I thought we were going to the house we all, had made?" Mitchell said. "Since he might get his memory back from, seeing it, amongst other things."
"We all built a house together?" Ford asked with more confusion than surprise. "I really did something right then."
"No, for you, unfortunately not. As to the building it part. You wanted to help, but with the jobs we have, we paid others to do it. We've furnished it and such." Carter said.
"Well, I'm going to go home and get ready, and then go get my car from the base." Daniel said.
"I'll come with you." Vala said smiling.
"We'll get dropped off at our homes and then head out there then. I'm going to guess it will be awhile before you two arrive?" Mitchell asked.
"Yeah, I'm going to show him Sally.." she said seeing him suddenly sit up. "You forgot again…"
"I'm still trying to grasp the concept that I actually got lucky. Marriage I mean." he said with surprise still in his voice. "Plus being a father."
"Anyway, he'll see her and then I'll show him everything else I can. That don't work, we'll be along shortly." she said.
It didn't take the two long to get home. No one was there and even K-9 didn't detect anything, other than her parents and Sally. She went in first and found out from Jacob that no one came or called the house, then told them what happened. As she was telling her parents, Sally came running from some room of the house and up to Ford saying daddy. They watched as he slowly knelt down and picked her up as she grabbed his neck.
"You have some grip there." he mumbled after he realized she wanted a hug and gave it.
"Mommy says I take after you. What's wrong with daddy mommy?" she asked quickly after looking at Ford for a few seconds.
"Daddy has some memory trouble." Carter said walking up slowly in hopes that Ford remembered something.
"You forget me daddy?"
"I've….forgotten a lot of things. Wish I could remember you though. Always wanted a little princess."
"Daddy remembered me!" Sally said clapping her hands.
"Um…"
Carter took her as she stopped clapping.
"Did you remember something…."
"No, I wish it was the case. Yeah, she does take after the two of us. I can see each of us in her. Wow." he said really amazed.
"Daddy always wanted a girl and he was going to call her princess so that's why he called you that Sally. Like he usually does."
"Oh." she said sadly. "You aren't leaving…."
"No! No way!" he said quickly seeing her look ready to cry. "Even if I never remember, I would never leave. Besides, from what I gather, your mother wouldn't let me anyway."
"That's for sure." Carter said.
"I wouldn't let you leave either." Jacob said sternly. "There's a lot of memories that you will want to remember, so this family will bug you for years if it takes that long."
"What about that future version of him Sam?" Amy asked.
"Only Ford really knew how to get hold of him, such as in a few seconds or something like that. Otherwise, it was putting a letter in a mailbox and hoping he'd get here sometime." Carter said. "Though he did help get the N.I.D. and all those others off our backs."
"Damn. The mail's already ran today." Jacob said.
"I'm going to take him home and show him around, after that, we're going up to the house in the woods to talk with the team. If nothing comes back after showing him some things there, we'll be home and just keep trying daily."
"Did you really get fired?"
"Yeah, not sure why really. On the bright side, at least I can spend more time thinking and being with Sally."
Sally gave him another hug and kiss and then they went over to the house.
"How old is she?" he asked with more wonder than confusion. "Because she doesn't look very old."
"Almost two." she said getting K-9 from the car.
"What?! Walking and talking already?!"
"Look who she takes after. I was talking well before two…um, I know it was before three and was crawling before two. You told us that your mother said you crawled before one or something like that and, basically, you were a very early bloomer."
"And the fact I'm not totally human probably comes into play." he said shaking his head. "I'm going to guess that I probably did something to make people stay away from us, such as scientifically speaking."
"Something like that. I know Janet took some blood from Sally and was looking it over at one time. As far as I know, the sample was used in several test and none of it was taken away by people we wouldn't want looking at it."
"That's good. She's perfectly healthy then?"
"Better than me in some ways."
"Wow, a very nice house. Even has the white picket fence."
"It was mine until we got married and then you moved in." she said as he opened the gate.
"Okay, that sounds like me."
"We dated for a couple of years before you finally proposed, and then we got together in bed. That is what you were wondering?" she asked as they entered the house.
"I guess you really do know me." he said as she put K-9 down.
"Not as much as I would like."
"Wow, nice inside too, wait, what do you mean about not as much?" he asked turning from looking around to her as the last thing she said caught up with his thoughts. "You're not……"
"You've told me, bits and pieces of your past." she said taking her coat off and setting it on the back of a chair. "And the others even less really. Everything I've asked, even if I've begged, you won't tell me."
She looked back to see that suspicious look on his face again as he was glancing around for, hidden things.
"We're not being spied on Ford. K-9 already said so."
"And yet…." he said still suspicious. "I'm wondering if this is some sort of ruse to get me to talk about something I might know."
"Even after everything you've seen, including the zat gun, which I remind you, you even got to fire. And your immortality factor, that can't be faked. Plus seeing the transporter in action."
"Okay, I give you that. A lot of that is hard to fake, most of all the immortality thing since I saw and felt that. Did I, give a reason to why I wouldn't tell you as much as you would have liked, such as everything?"
"Don't do that to me. I hate the fact you can't remember anything. It hurts a lot more than I'm letting show…"
"I can see it in your eyes though."
"As much as I would like to know about your past, I quit bugging you months ago. Whatever hell you've been through, you won't tell anyone about. Your reason is because you think I would take Sally and leave, and that everyone that you've made friends with and became family with would leave you too, or worse, we'd shoot you. As in stay dead permanently. However, you can't die at all. I'll explain that later."
She watched him fidget slightly as looked at the different photo's of them and their friends. She kept watching as he looked around and went into the kitchen.
"Hmm, my kinda set up."
"You're a better cook than I am. You even cook for the base, about an hour or so depending on what time you can give. Everyone loves it. Though personally, I wouldn't mind if you had to stay home and only made those special brownies…."
"What?"
"Brownies. Very rich and chocolaty, made some special way that has what you call a secret family recipe that you made me promise not to every try and chemically find out. Though later you told me the secret and made me promise never to tell. I can't make them as well as you do."
"Brownies…oh, those. Yeah, it is a family secret. I make them for myself when I need a chocolate fix, or a pity party." he said muttering out the last part as he looked in a few cupboards and the fridge. "What's this?"
"Your cold coffee. Sally likes it, I can't stand it."
"Whoa! That's stronger than I usually drink. But it tastes good." he said putting it back. "Guess I upped the strength at some point."
"Yep, so black it's like looking into a void. Daniel tried it once, just to see what it was like, and ended up putting a cup of sugar in it." she said leaning against the counter. "And he's the bases heaviest coffee drinker. But he also adds enough sugar to choke a horse."
"Kinda got the feeling he buzzed a lot."
"No, just reads and translates a lot. Though he has gotten better with you taking over and placing his office on a separate power system. He doesn't leave, you shut the power down."
"Hmm. Have I ever done it?"
"Once. Thankfully he was writing instead of on his computer. Which is probably why you did it. Have mine on a same system, but I have something worth coming to other than a empty house like before you showed up, so you've never had to use it."
"And I still installed it. Wonder why?" he said walking out with her.
They continued to look around, her showing different things. Their last stop was the bedroom.
"Wow. A very nice room. I can see a few things here and there that have to be mine, just like some of the movies and such out there by the TV."
"You've got some of those anime's in here. One's that mom doesn't want Sally to see."
"I got a feeling that the bathroom is, special." he said looking inside.
"Well, it is the one place I keep meticulously clean. If that room is fine, I can cope well with everything else." she said sitting on the bed. "Other than a cologne incident, that wasn't really your fault, there's never been really any big clean ups needed. I exclude the morning sickness I had once…"
He sat down next to her looking at the floor.
"So, kill me huh? Would make sense. Half the stuff I did I started hating. But I was ordered and fighting back would have been pointless. They'd just replace me so why have someone else be given that burden. Once I was able to get out, I got out. I guess if that agency doesn't exist here, then I did get away."
"All you've really said is that you worked with some secret government agency that if it existed here and it was released to the public, what happened at the same time as the SGC, people in the world would be more outraged at what you and your small group did than what we've been doing in that mountain all these years."
"Oh yeah, very bad." he said nodding. "I can agree to that statement."
"You did say it. You also mentioned something about breaking the Geneva Convention many times."
"Actually we broke many treaties, correction, be broke all the treaties with every country, though we were never found out. As far as I was told anyway."
"How big was this group you were with?"
"Five including me. General Westmore was in charge, though officially and un-officially he and the agency we were in never existed. Kinda like Section 13 in Star Trek."
"You made that reference too though you said that people who did find out were either encouraged, forced or killed if they didn't join."
"There was less than a hundred people total in this agency. The headquarters was based deep underground in…."
"You said Montana. We checked once but there is no underground anything there in this universe. A few caverns and caves, but nothing on the size you described."
"Almost three football fields in length and two stories. Other hidden bases were in different parts of the world. Me and team I was with were trained and created to do, anything and everything it took to get rid of whatever was considered a danger. We were given missions and carried them out. No matter how bad, dangerous or suicidal they seemed."
"You said they recruited you out of the Air Force."
"I was. Seeing as I sucked badly at airborne combat, they tried me as a ground unit. I was so good, I was approached and offered the job. They showed me around and told me my pay and some of what I'd do. And then Westmore said either join or die. We did whatever we were told. Didn't matter who, how many or if innocents were in the way."
"You never have said the name of the agency, much less as much as you've told me so far, not that I'm trying to fish, but, why are you telling me? Though if it helps any, I watched you fight and train others…" she said seeing him look at her suddenly. "In your style of combat. It's actually saved lives. Most of what you've shown and taught has been counter attack moves."
"Yes. Most of my style is based on that. The C. double A. Or C.A.A. Counter Attack Agency. Kinda strange name seeing as we usually attacked before they could strike, but that was later. When we all started, we attacked after attacks took place. Kinda like revenge in some senses, but are opponents never knew who attacked since we had no flags, insignias, serial numbers or ranks technically. If we were captured, we had no identifying marks. Ranks were only used in the states and other really safe places. As for why I'm telling you this, is because if I was being monitored, they'd already be here by now to stop me or recruit you. But this all has to be real." he said glancing around anyway.
"Because you've told me more than you usually do." she said as he got up and removed the coat and placed it on a hook on the wall. "Yeah, that's where you put it. Easy access in case of an attack."
"Is there a hidden gun in the bed?"
"Under it. I wouldn't let you tear up my…our mattress."
"Works for me." he said setting his guns on another hook she pointed out.
"I want to try something."
"You mean like maybe hitting me to help me remember? I know I can heal quickly, but….."
"No." she said patting the bed. "I only hit you when you say something stupid or do something wrong and/or idiotic. And that usually is a punch in the arm."
"I probably deserve it then. So what is this…."
The next thing he knew he was on his back with her on top kissing him hard. He thought about tossing her off, but it felt right for some reason. She did say they had a child together and he felt that Sally was his. He could see himself in the little princess and Sam in her too. Plus the rings and all the pictures really showed the fact he had to have lost his memory.
"Anything?" she said barely sitting up.
"Um….it felt right, or um…."
"You don't seem very nervous like your first night." she said slowly unbuttoning his shirt. "You were so nervous I almost had to coach you in what to do."
"Wait, you want to…." he asked surprised, but not stopping her.
"Maybe you'll remember everything then. That's my idea." she said straddling his hips as she continued to unbutton his shirt.
"I'm beginning to think I know why your pet name is Nymph."
"You're not trying to stop me, so you must think or feel something is right." she said pulling the shirt from his pants.
"I don't know about this…."
"You're birth mark is in the same place as mine. Ironic really too." she said not stopping as she touched the area on his waist. "Right here and also a mole."
By the time they had all arrived and found no one around or anyone even looking, Jack was there and the other two hadn't showed up yet. They were all on the upper deck, seated around the table talking. Jack was telling them about some of the things he and Charlie had been doing when Daniel looked at his watch, again.
"They should have been here by now." Daniel said. "We've been waiting for almost an hour."
"He's probably talking to Jacob and Amy too, plus Sally. He always wanted a girl and maybe it hit him pretty hard." Jack said.
"Wouldn't Sam call us if he had gotten his memories back?" Vala asked.
"That's the reason why we're still here." Mitchell said taking a drink of his beer bottle. "They haven't called."
"What are you smiling about Daniel?" Jack asked.
Daniel reached into his pocket, pulled his wallet and dropped a fifty on the table.
"What are we betting on this time Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.
"I'm betting she seduced him and that's why they are late."
"What?! Daniel! How can you even think that?!" Jack exclaimed.
"You told me what to look for once, though I didn't need to know that part of their life. And I have noticed more than I have ever wanted to."
"Wait, you're betting on whether Sam had sex with him?" Vala asked.
"Yep. I'm actually surprised Jack didn't think or come up with the idea." Daniel said.
"I'm in. For against." Mitchell said dropping a fifty from his pocket. "T?"
"I am unsure."
"Vala?" Mitchell asked.
"Oh, um. Hard to say really." she said chewing her lip.
"I'm against. I don't think Carter would do that." Jack said dropping a fifty.
"Well, all things considered, Daniel is the better observer of the team, so I'm with him." she said.
"Where's your money then?" Daniel asked.
"My room. Since you're probably right, why should I bother to get up?"
"T?" Jack asked.
"I believe I will stay out of this bet."
"Okay, can you give us your guess?" Mitchell asked.
"Why?"
"There's two against two here. You could break the tie."
"Hmm." he said sitting back slightly and thinking as they watched him. "I believe, I will stay out of this."
The men groaned as Vala got up.
"I hear a car coming." she said looking over the rail. "Ooh, it's them!"
Sam parked in the front yard as they came out the front door. Ford got out admiring the view.
"This place is nice. I'm going to guess that all the landscaping and gardening work done around here was done by us like at home."
"Not all of it. Mostly us ladies like I told you about on the way here, except Vala. You were doing the fountain and, stuff in that." she said pointing at the large hanger.
"That's huge. What do we have, a ship hidden in there?"
"Sort of."
"What are you not telling me? What's really in there?" he asked suspiciously.
"Either something that will give you your memory back, or worse. Blow your mind to the point you'll not believe anything we've said or shown you and you might run away."
"Carter, you two took your time." Jack said as the group walked up.
"I was showing him different things. We did a lot of talking."
"No you didn't Carter." Jack said leaning a little closer.
"Yeah we did. Saw her parents, my daughter I wish I could remember and the house." Ford said walking around the car.
"Carter, I know the poor man has lost his memory, and I can say on some level it's an interesting idea for trying to help get his memory back, but couldn't you have waited till tonight?!" Jack exclaimed.
"I…what?" she asked more than confused.
"Don't play stupid Carter, that's my job."
Ford cracked up as did Daniel. Mitchell kept himself better composed. Vala laughed lightly until she was looked at.
"And you do it well sir." Carter said getting a glare.
"You don't lie well Carter. You seduced…."
"I know you."
"You remember Jack?" Daniel asked as they all looked at Ford and Jack stare at each other.
"I don't know if that's a good thing there Ford." he said with a jerk of his head at Carter who looked rather hurt and kinda angry.
"Jack? No, he's Angus MacGyver. Or the guy played him on TV anyway. Richard something…" Ford said snapping his fingers a few times as Jack groaned.
"Wait, say that again?" Daniel asked quickly.
"Which part?"
"Did you say MacGyver?"
"Yes he did Daniel."
"Carter…" Jack said with a warning tone.
"Sorry sir, but you can't hide this now."
"Jack?"
"Daniel?"
"Do you know MacGyver? That guy me and Sam have been wanting to talk to for awhile now…."
"I've, already seen and talked to him." Carter said slowly. "More talked to than seen though."
"What?! When?! Why didn't you say something?!" Daniel exclaimed.
"Who is this MacGyver?" Teal'c asked.
"My brother." Jack said waving off Daniel as he started to go into another rant. "Look, we don't talk often for reasons I'm not going into right now. We're here to try and help Ford, not delve into my past."
"Right. Let's go into the house, get something to eat and drink, show the General around and talk more." Mitchell said with a wave as he started to walk away.
"You were right Daniel. We win the bet." Vala whispered.
"Actually, I'm surprised I did."
They all got something to eat and looked around the house, talking about different things and stuff they all did together. This all took a good hour and they were all talking on the top deck.
"I can see I did have a big part in this. I always wanted octagonal pillars." he said looking down at them briefly before looking at the hanger. "So, what's in there that will blow my mind?"
They all looked at each other trying to think of something to say.
"Have you tried listening to your, heartbeats yet?" Daniel asked.
"Not really. Why?" he said not realizing exactly what Daniel said.
"Just try listening." Carter said.
He leaned against the rail, closed his eyes and placed his hand on his chest while listening. It felt wrong and sounded different.
"The beat is off. Way off. What happened to me in that, attack anyway?"
"Nothing that caused what you felt. We're still trying to understand it, but seeing as it is very good news, in a sense, we don't question it." Jack said as he headed for the door. "Let's go see it."
"I didn't get a pace maker did I?"
"No." Carter stated.
"Well, I know for a fact I'm not one of those few people who have their hearts born on the other side of their bodies sometimes."
"Not that either." she said.
She removed her dog tags with the spare key and small Stargate on it from her shirt and unlocked the door. He stepped in slowly, totally in shock. At first anyway.
"Oh my god. It looks like the T.A.R.D.I.S.! I knew you said we had access to technology, but to make it like this……" he said walking around the console.
"Ford?" she asked gently as he stopped on one side and was looking at it strangely.
"General, you remember something?" Mitchell asked.
He didn't move or say anything even when Jack walked up slowly and tapped his arm.
"I'm not human. I'm a Time Lord. How did that happen?" he asked looking at them all. "Because I know I wasn't one before. I didn't have two hearts then and I can't even begin to think of how I have them now. I can even feel them more than before. And I feel some very weird and strange connection to, this T.A.R.D.I.S. Unfortunately, she isn't helping me remember my past. Just what I am?"
That took a good hour of explaining which kinda made his head ache from trying to grasp the concept of it all.
"Okay, so somehow, someway, which is practically impossible to explain, I have some….connection to making it possible to access the, multi-verse? Which is how I am now this way?"
"Yeah. We haven't tried anything since that test." Carter said with a frown.
"Right, next thing you'll tell me is that I was a woman in a former life." he said shaking his head.
"Well…" Jack began.
"I don't and never will believe in reincarnation…."
"There was a, incident in another universe…." Daniel began.
Sam filled in most of the rest of the story, excluding certain parts.
"Wow, when I told you guys to be blunt and tell me everything, I didn't expect this. Is there anything else I should know?" Ford asked bewildered.
They looked at each other thinking.
"Nothing that comes to mind." Carter said.
"I got a question." Jack said as he looked at Ford seriously. "We've all been wondering for years now, but you've never told us about your past. You've explained why on several occasions but we'd all really like to know. You know about our past."
"Not mine." Vala said.
"Nor mine." Teal'c said.
"As far as I know, I'm in that same boat." Mitchell said.
"Well some of us anyway. The point is, you've seen our past and I know we can't see yours or else we would have already went." Jack said adamantly.
"Fine. I may never get my memory back even though some things are starting to look familiar, but when you hear what I say, I won't blame you if tell me to go to hell and never return. I got this…" he said looking at the console as he patted it. "So I can go to other planets and look around. Come back in a century or something maybe. Let's see where should I start…."
"Ford. In our room, there's a very thick folder you placed in a large safe that has your file from working in the C.A.A. Even though I've begged to look at it, you made me promise never to even touch it. Tempted many times, but I've never looked." Carter said.
"I'm going to assume there is some big room we can all go to and sit down in?"
"We can go to the workshop. Or the main one anyway." Daniel said.
"Why there?" Mitchell asked.
"Well, there's that big work table. Plus seeing his other cars might help him remember."
"Other cars? Hmm, that sounds cool." Ford said smiling. "Sam, lead the way to our room. We'll meet the rest of you there. Wait a minute…."
"What now?" Jack asked impatiently.
"I've seen the Doctor's T.A.R.D.I.S. There is no 30 plus inch monitors hanging in his ship." Ford said looking at the active plasma style touch screen laptop/monitor that was hanging next to the screen that showed the outside world. The color black. "A coat rack yes, but a display case no."
"We've done some different things here and there in this place. Mostly me and you have done those things. We've put up over a hundred those style touch screen laptops in several levels, other than to access info if we need it, but mostly to help us know where certain systems are and be able to access them better in case of needed repairs. The main reason was to map out the T.A.R.D.I.S. We still have a lot of work to do and many levels to go." Carter said. "There's also the same laptop hanging next to different rooms in the ship to let us know what we've put in or done to certain rooms. They are silver in color to help us distinguish between them and the others. It also helped us to place a intercom system in. As for the display case, you decided to have that put in for different objects and such, for a quick grab before going out sort of thing. The Tommy gun is yours, made by the Asguard, but you don't use it anymore. As for the sword, you don't use it that often, though you surprisingly have the strength to wield it. It is also made of the same metal like your guns. As is the Tommy gun."
"Hmm. Interesting weapons. Kinda figured the T.A.R.D.I.S. had one…" he said looking back at the console. "But seeing as I never saw the Doctor use one, there probably never was one. Or he just would rather get the exercise and go find whoever he wanted to talk too."
Several corridors later….
"Double doors, that's different."
"We got one of the big rooms and though it does take a minute or so to get to the Console Room, we really don't have much to worry about since it is a time machine and the fact only certain people are allowed in, and only certain people can get in." she said opening the door inward.
"This room is really different from the rest of the ship." he said walking in and seeing there was actual walls without the circles on them.
"We have a huge closet and our own private bathroom."
"And a lot of other stuff, some valuable and some not so valuable looking." he said glancing around.
"Considering the dangers of what's going on out there, we both agreed that everything we highly valued that we didn't want to have to replace or have destroyed was to be put in here. You have a lot of shirts with different, cartoon characters and such on them. In a few other rooms you have lots of collectables. We all have different rooms for each of us actually."
He walked up slowly to the bed that was at the far wall. Dressers, bookshelves and some display cases filled the left side of the room while a large open doorway lead to a extremely big closet that was barely filled even though there was a lot of clothes on both sides. There was also one of those multi cribs that you changed the size of as the baby grew, all the way to a 13 year old. A large mirror and even larger desk was near the doorway out of the room. A full computer was at another desk with a couple slave towers. The large safe was in the corner on the same wall as the door. But what caught his attention the most was what laid on the left side of the bed, left as if you were in it. He picked it up slowly as she walked up seeing him eyeing the blue object that had silver symbols sewn into one corner.
"I thought it a little weird at first when you brought that over the next night after our marriage, but I understood why you kept it."
"My little blanket. I kinda figured it was gone after everything I learned. I know this is my name, which is rather long, but I can't read it."
"It's in Ancient. It says Forandin Primasudeus."
Ford grimaced as he folded it up gently and placed it back.
"Yeah, that's my real name. Surprisingly remember that. Well, that clenches that. I've really lost my memory. No one but my parents knew that as my real name and we never told anyone. I did my best to forget about it but I never really did."
"We better grab that folder before they think we're…."
"Having sex again? Yeah I saw Richa…no, it's Jack. Saw him starting ask about it."
"They made some bet apparently." she said with a grimace of distain. "Oh well. All things considered, they couldn't have thought anything else that we'd be doing."
"What if I was asking a lot of questions?"
"Would you have been doing that since you just wanted us to tell you everything?"
"When you put it that way…" he said looking at the combo lock plus the voice lock and the key code lock. "Geez, I didn't want anyone in this did I?"
"Only SG-1 knows the codes and such to get in. Do I need to do it?"
"Well, let's see. It's probably…"
Six loud clanks and then it opened.
"I must have installed this myself. Looks like my idea."
"Yes it was. Three locks for each locking system. You had 20 seconds for each lock to open the next one or else it would lock up for an hour. Failed the second time, it would lock up for 24 hours."
"I ever fail?"
"You actually don't get it in often. No one does really."
Several shelves showed different objects and other things. A couple of his personal cannons were there, but that had been explained. He picked up a strange glass looking object that had angles to it.
"This looks familiar. What is it?"
"It was found off world by Reynolds team sometime after the incident with me trying to get that strange multi universe gene thing you have to work. I didn't know what it was until I had K-9 scan it and then you panicked for awhile after we called you down. Well, actually you panicked after you tried shooting it with one of your special Adamantium rounds. Surprised everyone, you most of all when the bullet was actually bent from the impact. Even managed to scratch the blade on your sword. The one over here in this case."
"A piece to the Key to Time. That isn't good." he said putting it back. "Guess since nothing has happened so far or anything since we found it, nothing must be going to happen. Or will happen later."
"Well, you did say that the Doctor's universe was probably in trouble. But after seeing these new episodes…."
"What?! They brought the Doctor back?! I thought there was only a movie? When did they start him back up?! What did I miss?!"
"The series was restarted." she said picking up the large tied folder from the bottom.
"Cool, something to look forward to watching if I don't remember things."
"After all this time, I'm finally going to know what it is that made you think of taking your life so long ago. You once told me that was one of the reasons why you were kinda, gung-ho on all those missions, especially the first one we did together. You felt you had no one to live for and if you died fighting for a good cause, then at least you'd left that legacy behind."
"I still kinda have that feeling, but seeing as I actually got lucky to get someone like you and to even become a father, I don't think going out in a blaze of glory is on any agenda." he said rubbing her shoulder gently. "I seriously hope I remember everything, because I must have done something right to get you."
"You still do it though. As to the blaze of glory thing anyway. Though you follow orders better than that first mission. You still do everything right as well, as to us. Well, did."
"I try to get myself killed?" he asked as they were walking toward the workshop.
"No. I mean you go out and fight, protecting the team the best you can with that coat and those cannons of yours. That is if we start getting overwhelmed. Otherwise you tend to stay near us and shoot with us."
"What took you two so long?" Jack asked getting up from a cushioned chair as they came in. "Carter you weren't trying…."
"He was asking some questions, and looking at his blanket."
"Huh? Wait, you have a blanky?" Jack asked with a small snicker.
They others saw his eyes narrow, but that wasn't what made them fearful. It was the small growl that came with it. Teal'c was surprised but didn't say anything, though the look and growl did disturb him. Vala backed up a little from the look and growl, but she didn't smile like Daniel and Mitchell did.
"I have things my parents gave me that I have in my room. Some would be considered, childish." Vala said.
"You knew he had one?" Daniel asked.
"Girl talk." Carter said.
"My father wrapped me in it after I was born. I don't remember it, but that blanket has extreme sentimental value. I don't remember much about you people, but I've learned enough to know you all have your parents or family still. Well, you three guys anyway. I don't know if they left you anything, but seeing as I can't talk to my parents, a tangible keep safe is better than memories sometimes. And yes, even though I've been told they are alive, something either has happened to them or else they are being prevented from helping me right now."
Jack, Daniel and Mitchell all more or less said sorry in some way. Sam sat down with the others as he pulled the small string from around the inch or so thick folder.
"Everything that I have ever done for this agency is in here. There are things in here I have done that still make me hate myself to this day. And probably did when I didn't have my memories lost. As much as part of me wants to toss this folder into some can or fireplace instead of showing it to you all, I can't. You want to know the truth about me, this is it. How and why I was how I was, and maybe will be again. Just don't ask any questions until you've all looked through it. And, if you do judge me like some people in the past have done, don't. Just tell me to leave and never come back."
"What are you going to do?" Jack asked as the folder was slid to Carter.
"I guess I was doing some sort of work on what looks like another General Lee…"
"You're doing some upgrades. Heavy upgrades. Which is why you've….you were driving the normal General Lee for a few months now. The one that exploded. Which is under a tarp behind this building." Carter said.
"I took it all the way back down to the frame. What was I thinking?" he asked himself as he walked away to a table nearby. "Looks I at least left notes or something. What the hell…."
"Um, a quick question…" Jack said turning in his chair. "If this is as bad as you say it is, um, why did you keep it?"
Ford didn't turn around as he sat down at the table and activated the laptop. Took him a moment to figure out the password too.
"Helps him remember the monster he used to be, so he doesn't become it again." Carter said with a sad tone when Ford didn't say anything.
They all heard him mutter a few times, what the hell was I thinking or I was doing what now or the occasional, that's impossible. A few times, he said now that's cool.
She looked through a few things as she handed different parts of it out. When she first saw the picture of him in his Air Force uniform, Colonel rank, it kinda scared her. Though it was just him in the photo, from about the chest up, the eyes were all wrong. Yes it was him, but there was a hatred, anger, grief and pain in there she'd never seen in him. Though Ford always did look extremely sexy to her when he was in uniform, this one didn't give that impression.
"Whoa." Jack said in a low tone as he saw the service photo. "That's just creepy."
"What is?" Daniel asked looking as well. "Whoa is right. He looks ready to snap in this picture."
"Snap?" Teal'c asked.
"Go crazy. Murdering rampage perhaps." Daniel said handing it to Teal'c.
"Indeed. These are the eyes of a killer who grieves for his sins. I have never seen him look like this. I more than once saw this same look in my eyes at one time while I was in the service of the false god Aphosis."
"I hope we never see this side of him." Vala said with a small shudder as she saw it.
"Sad." Mitchell said setting it aside. "I see more pain than anything else. Though I have to agree, he looks ready to snap. We'll have to ask him what changed all that."
"Jesus Christ." Jack muttered as he looked over a couple pages. "He been trained in just about every sort of marital art and fighting style you can name. And a few that I've never heard of. Don't see drunken boxing though or any of the other fights dealing with drunkenness. Not much of a surprise. Mastered almost all of them in record time."
"According to this, he spent a few years in training for taking pain and learning about inner and outer strength building." Daniel said reading. "They used bamboo and oak staffs to beat their students, to gain pain tolerance and better strength, but they always made sure they did their best not to break or crack bones. Ford was at the top of his class in that. He bruise up occasionally, but he'd never break."
"No surprise there." Jack muttered. "Damn, he's flown everything from the Osprey, Tomcat, F-16, F-18, several classified planes and a few I don't even know the names of. He can even fly a 747 airliner if he had to apparently. According to a footnote here, he like the Hercules plane. And was even able to land it on a carrier once. Even got to try flying the Spruce Goose? I thought that plane was a museum piece?"
"It is." Daniel said. "But remember, he comes from another universe, in a sense."
"Now that's an accomplishment. The plane thing I mean." Mitchell said. "Plus his scores in weapons is incredible. He's trained in every gun out there. Including several dozen different types of explosives. As to use of them anyway. Had trouble with disarming explosives, mostly because of color troubles. Capable of building a nuke bomb if he had the materials."
"I can do that too." Carter muttered. "Actually have is the right word."
"Also learned how to use a variety of other weapons. Swords, knifes, staffs, etc. He's a one man army. What have you got Daniel?" Mitchell asked.
"His languages. Fluently learned Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and the other variants, and sign language. Was very good at Russian once." Daniel said. "It looks like he was trying to learn a few others but eventually gave up."
"Hmm." Teal'c said as he raised an eyebrow at what he was reading.
"What's up T? I know that hmm wasn't a normal one." Jack asked.
"The training regiment that Ford Carter was put through would have been difficult for most Jaffa." he said showing Jack the paper.
"Oh my god. With this sort of schedule, I wouldn't even have time to take a crap. Much less a decent piss."
"Say what?" Daniel asked looking up.
"According to this, he had six hours of sleep, every night starting at 12:00 am. At 6:00 am, he got up and did whatever with the team he was with. 20 miles of running, daily. Lifting weights and a variety of exercise that lasted a hour or more. Sometimes three. Each week another five to ten pounds was added to each weight regiment. God if it wasn't for his size and such, he could have been a contortionist. Weapons training and that thing you mentioned earlier Daniel. This happened for over two years, every day. No days off. You ate when you were told to, drank lots of different fluids. Once thought he might have used or been given steroids. Glad to see I was wrong. Man this sort of stuff I couldn't do in my prime. Scaling a 50 foot cliff, free handed! And in ten minutes!"
"No wonder his body looks so good." Vala said.
Everyone but Sam looked at him. Sam was actually in her own world, in a sense. She had given them all everything else about him, except the stuff he did that he hated. She was reading that first.
"What? I may not be attracted to him, but I can admit he has a good looking body." Vala said.
"What are you reading then?" Mitchell asked.
"Something to do with his computer skills." she said with a shrug. "Knows how to hack into pretty much everything. Shut down the entire Pentagon as part of a ordered demonstration, even killed the back up systems and the system that backs that up, all for a minute. Helped rewrite a few security programs for the U.N, the Pentagon and several other agencies, with help from another team member. And something to do with knowing how to do a Fire Sale, with limited help. What's a Fire Sale?"
"Must be a computer term." Mitchell said. "We'll have to ask him later."
"Reading this reminds me of something years ago that he said to me." Jack said.
"What'd he say General?" Mitchell asked.
"I was still in charge of the SGC at the time and Ford had recently became Captain. I had to go to D.C. for….um something which escapes me at the moment." he said waving a hand. "Before I came back, I was at a bar, mostly filled with officers of different branches. No one was paying attention to me, being a General and all. At least not at first anyway. Several Navy Seals were in there and got a little drunk."
"No offense Jack, but he asked about Ford, not about a bar incident with…wait, I don't remember you ever coming back hurt from D.C." Daniel said.
"I didn't get into a fight. Let me finish my story. Anyway, these guys come up to the bar and started ragging on the Air Force. I just let it go and tried to finish my drink in peace. Well, they didn't let up and said a few things that…um, hurt my pride in the Air Force. By that time I was a little, drunk."
"This isn't the incident involving the General in a fight with a Navy Seal is it? I heard about it, but I thought it was a rumor." Mitchell said.
"And you never asked him to find out if it was?" Vala asked.
"Sure it crossed my mind, but I figured it was all made up. I really want to hear this now sir."
"Well…" Jack said sitting back. "I'll just skip certain parts and say they made a challenge, with high bucks at stake, not to mention the honor of bragging rights for which branch would win. I knew that Ford still had Hercules, but like I said, they said some things I couldn't back away from, so I accepted the challenge and told them my Captain would fight anyone from their branch they brought forth. I also betted them a thousand dollars that my guy would win."
"Yes I remember this." Daniel said with a sigh. "Ford told us before and after that you were thinking with your head in your ass again."
"I'll give him that one. It was stupid of me." he said. "But I was drunk and not thinking properly."
FLASHBACK…………
Jack had gotten back from D.C. and found Ford training a group. He pulled him aside and told him of a bet that he had made.
"WHAT?! General, have you lost your mind?!"
"No. Maybe. Look, I can't get out of it. Everything was set up and arranged between phone calls and such on my way back to here. I realized how stupid it was after I left that bar…."
"Oh god." Ford said rubbing his hands over his eyes. "You were drunk when you did all this."
"Um, a little."
What are you complaining about? This is a pride fight, upholding the Air Force, or so he says. We can bet this guy easily. Herc thought.
Yeah, no kidding Herc. We could kill him. For us it'd be like training these people here, but in this case, the guy would be fighting with the intent to win. The Seals would think it's a set up.
"Jack, you have any idea how hard this would be to do? I can punch a fist through a concrete wall. You know how dangerous I am and what I capable of doing. What I was trained in and stuff. Some mans bulky chest isn't going to stop me either."
"You'll have to…..um, take is slowly then. Make it look good. Not use everything you know."
"And if he hits me hard enough I bleed and then suddenly stop? It would turn out worse than that scene in the X-men movie with Wolverine."
"There's that, or you can keep from getting injured. It's just boxing really."
"Why in the hell did you agree to this? Quite a few people here have asked me to get into one of those fights arranged between the branches, but I have said no every time. What am I going to tell them now?"
"Okay, how about you, um….there could be a mission."
"Not going to work forever. After a few times, they're going to wonder…I can just forfeit." he said suddenly realizing it.
"You'd have to do it in the ring. I kinda agreed that you two would at least meet in person first. That way he could see what he was up against and quit before the fight."
A couple days later, and a slightly pissed off Carter, not to mention Daniel as well, the fight was to take place in a local boxing ring in town. Sam didn't come and neither did Daniel. Teal'c did as did quite a few members of the base and a few SG teams. Even though a few former Navy Seals were on some of the SG teams, they did tell the other Seals that this fight was a bad idea. Unfortunately since they couldn't elaborate on why, the other Seals didn't really believe them. And Ford did try to forfeit, unfortunately, the two star Admiral that was the commander in charge of the 6 foot tall guy that was built like Arnold, told Ford no way and ordered him to do it.
His opponent had no hair though so at least he didn't look like Arnold. The other guy had on loose boxing trunks and boxing gloves. Ford had on loose black jogging pants and boxing gloves as well. The fight hadn't even started yet and people were going crazy, making lots of bets. Walter, not surprisingly, was doing it for Jack and their side.
The ref stayed between them as they walked up to each other. The ref stated the rules as the man looked Ford over.
"Your body says you ain't all that dangerous compared to me, but those eyes say otherwise. I'm watching you." he said with a impressed tone and respect.
"Ain't that the point? Look, I don't want to do this. I tried to forfeit but your Admiral ordered me in here. I could kill you with one punch."
"And I the same. I've mastered several different fighting styles, you?"
"Hmm." he said nodding slightly.
The ref had quit talking and was still standing there watching to see if they were going to start fighting before the bell rang. So far, it was just talking.
"I have mastered several as well, but I think you know much, much more. Most people back down from me, and that includes people who haven't met me before. How about we stick only to boxing and use no other moves?"
"I can do that. Don't be surprised if you never land any hits."
They bumped gloves and backed up as the ref had the bell rang. For the next two minutes, all Ford did was block. He never got hit once. It was upsetting the other guy and impressing him as well. The first round ended with no hit on either side. The other team was yelling at their guy while the Admiral was saying take this cocky fly boy out.
"What are you doing out there?" Jack asked.
"Seeing his technique. He's learned quite a few martial arts as well. Judo, Karate and a couple of others possibly."
"You can't take him?"
"Don't be insulting Jack. He's less than a Goa'uld." Ford muttered. "I'm trying to make it look good."
"You're sucking at it."
The bell rang and he went out. Another minute passed and he was still blocking.
"Aren't you even going to fight back?" the man asked.
"If I just take you out right now, it will still look like a set up. My commander put a thousand dollar bet on me winning so I have to make it look good."
He tried a power punch that would send most people spinning. Ford ducked to the side as the guy flew by. Thinking he was going to be slammed into quickly, he turned seeing Ford just waiting.
"No sport in hitting someone in the back. Not unless you're trying to keep from dying in battle anyway." Ford said.
A lot of people were yelling, though it was mostly from the Navy side. The Admiral came around to yell at Jack to find out what was going on. The guy ended up stopping his major attacks and just punched enough to not wind himself. And another round was just like the first. The Admiral ordered him to put the man down, one way or another as the third round started.
"No more pussy footing around here…."
"Yeah I heard him yell it. I think everyone did." he said blocking a blow. "Go for it."
Several kicks and punches later, he still hadn't gotten through and it was tiring him out. People could see him sweating more than Ford was. For Ford, it was mostly the light above them that was making him sweat.
This guy has some skills, I give him that. Herc thought.
"I give him that. Maybe I should tell Jack about him possibly joining us. Remind me later." he said blocking a couple kicks easily.
Fourth round was the last round. He tried a charge attack followed by leaving an opening he hoped that Ford would take. Ford dodged and moved back.
"Okay, that's it. This is stupid now. Are you going to even fight or what?" he said stepping back and holding his arms out.
Ford dropped his defense and held his arms at his side. Everyone got rather quiet.
"Hit me. I'll show you how futile this all was."
A hard right roundhouse made Ford step back a few steps, but it barely made his head turn. The crowd stayed silent to see what would happen. Ford spit the bite guard out of his mouth along with some blood, into the water bucket that he got from Jack.
"Nice punch. Almost broke some teeth." he said walking back to the center. "I'd say let me have the shot to you as well, but no. Just come at me any way you wish. I'll hit when I see an opening."
He got shot off three power punches, all blocked. And two kicks, also blocked. Ford faked a right, going slow enough the guy saw it was a fake and moved to block the left he saw coming, but it never came as the right hook turned into a upper cut only the spectators saw coming. The hit lifted him at least two feet in the air and dropped him on the mat hard. He didn't get up. And thankfully, he didn't break the guys jaw or teeth. Just wounded his pride. Jack was happy for the winnings as was the people that bet on Ford, though they tried not to show it seeing as the SGC personal knew it was pretty much a pointless fight. The Admiral tried to find out more about Ford, but was told by superiors to back off.
"Since then, no one from the SGC has been in any fights between the branches. Mostly because someone might ask questions and such." Jack said.
"Not to mention Ford has been training our people to fight better like him." Daniel said.
"Damn, I wish I could have seen that fight." Mitchell said. "Just to see it."
Jack looked over at Sam as did the rest of them when they noticed she hadn't contributed or said anything at all since she handed everything out. And she didn't comment on the story.
"Carter?"
"Sam?" Daniel asked shaking her arm.
"Yeah, what?" she asked looking up.
"You've hardly said anything." Jack said.
"Actually Sam has said nothing all this time." Vala said.
"Indeed. Your eyes are filled with sorrow."
"Yeah." she said blinking as she pushed the file away. "I kept the parts that talk about the things he's done. I wanted to read them before you all did. I've seen some of your files sir. The ones that don't exist type."
"What? When?" Jack asked surprised. "You know how…"
"What you had to do is nothing compared to him."
Jack turned a file around as the others grabbed a few different ones. Most of his files talked about missions he did, all in his own hand writing. Most of the information ones on his personal abilities and such were copies of originals. Except the picture. They all guessed after seeing most of it that he probably wasn't suppose to have his service record, or at least not in this much detail.
"Oh my god." Daniel muttered softly. "He was an assassin, and more. No wonder he told me once how he hated himself. Now I know what he meant when he muttered about some assassins having better morals."
"Lucky me. I got the one that talks about his nuke bomb in a suitcase." Mitchell said shaking his head. "Good Lord. A couple hundred people all died just to kill three that were hiding."
"This one talks about him sniping several people with a couple of his team mates." Vala said. "But no names as to his team members. One of the targets was apparently a U.N. traitor."
"I….never did anything like this." Jack said softly.
"I see why he never wanted any of us to know this stuff about him." Carter said sadly as she held her arms to her chest, tightly.
"Carter…."
"I hate knowing this stuff. I hate what he had to do. I wish I could take it all back. Even knowing what I've learned, I won't leave him. I can't." she said wiping a tear away quickly. "And I'll quit the SGC if I have to, to stay with him."
"I don't think there is a sentence possible from some of the stuff I am reading here." Mitchell said looking through a few papers. "Killing innocents because they wouldn't cooperate in telling info they knew these people had. And eventually learning what they needed to stop another suicide attack on the U.S. and several other countries."
"I got one here that states he and a couple of his team had to kill a family because they refused to tell them where a certain family member was that was with some group that was going to blow up the Russian capitol and the blame was going to be put on the U.S. They got the info after some….rather tortures methods and stopped the guy before he could get on a plane." Vala said. "Wow, glad I'm not a guy. Having needles inserted into your tes…."
"Okay, I think we can read that ourselves Vala." Daniel said taking the paper away.
"There's several missions I see here where he and this team of four other's killed entire settlements. Most people in one area was fifty. Besides the bomb thing. They all had some connection to terrorist or some plot to destroy something of the U.S or another foreign power that higher ups didn't want attacked." Jack said. "Suicide bombers and such."
"He….kept a record for himself. It makes more sense on, why he calls himself a monster." she said picking up a page. "And why he never wants to become one again."
Jack looked at the page seeing that Ford had wrote down personally how many of each type of person he killed. Instead of showing it to the others, he read it aloud softly.
"Known terrorist, 121. Suspected terrorist, 332. Supposed innocent women, 322. Supposed innocent men, 355. Known innocent women, 155. Known innocent men, 177. Children, whether innocent or not, gave up counting after a thousand. Traitors, 247. People tortured for information, 358, all men. People that actually talked, 352, all men, after learning about or the start of using the needles." he read off then set it down slowly.
"The footnote is kinda comforting." Carter muttered. "More like a secret diary thing."
Daniel picked it up and read it aloud as Jack shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
"Women tortured, none. Refused to do so and refused to rape and was punished/reprimanded for it repeatedly. Unfortunately, other members of my team weren't that caring despite how much of a monster I am, I refused to sink that low to gain information. So they became that sort of monster. Despite the fact I have became a thing I hate and wish to shoot myself daily, I will not do it. I can never truly forgive myself for what I have done, but I take comfort in the fact that I am still here doing it and that I live. Because if I did shoot myself, they'd train another person to go through this hell and have to do all these different things to keep our country and the world safe. And whoever that person might be is better off not being what I am. So I live and do this to keep the whoever might replace me safe. Note to self, remember this always." Daniel said setting it down. "He underlined this last part several times."
"Ford Carter is in many ways like me." Teal'c stated. "We both had to do many unspeakable and evil deeds in the service of our masters. I understand his pain and guilt."
"He had a choice to quit or not follow orders." Jack muttered.
"Actually not." Vala stated as she was looking through the stack near her. "According to one of these papers, which is a copy of some original, having to do with this agency and some of its rules, it says….ah here it is. If any member of the team refuses to obey and carry out an order during a mission and it seems likely they are going to compromise the team or the mission, they are to be killed instantly. I'm guessing that the torturing part he spoke of happened at times when there was no missions going on."
"You think you know a guy." Jack muttered.
"You want me to tell them what you've done sir? I was rather surprised at learning about your classified missions and what you had to do. And some of them report you did the mission under protest." Carter said.
"No Carter. How'd you learn about my past anyway, or should I just point at him?"
"Point."
"That figures." he said rolling his eyes.
"When you join up to serve your country or even join the SGC just like Jackson here, there is just some things you do in your past that you're always going to hate and that some people might look down on you because they learned about your mistake or something you did you regretted doing because of an order you didn't like. I…ended up killing innocent people with my plane when I dropped a bomb on a suspected target that ended up being a error after I pushed the button. They told me to abort just seconds after." Mitchell said looking at the table. "But it was too late by then."
"That must have been that experience that you had to go through to save yourself then with that female doctor." Daniel said.
"Yeah. Not a pleasant memory. The people in that vehicle never saw it coming. Ford once told me to try and take confront in the fact that it was a vehicle instead of some building that would have had survivors. Survivors that if they lived through it, would be disfigured and in both physical and emotional pain the rest of their lives. In this case, they went quickly, unfortunate, but quickly still."
"There's a lot in there still. I barely scratched the surface of his missions." Carter said. "But I think that paper he wrote for himself tells it all."
"So, what are we going to do now? If he gets his memory back…." Jack said trailing off slightly as he looked at them and then the papers strewn about. "Will he run away or never talk to us or, kill himself now that he's not in that universe where someone did take his place by now."
"He can't kill himself. Not without destroying the T.A.R.D.I.S. in the process." Carter said.
"I don't think he'll hate us Jack. Not our fault he gave us this info…." Daniel said.
"It's mine." Carter said worried. "I wouldn't stop begging."
"Carter, has he ever had any nightmares? I hate to admit it, but I have had some. Not great things to wake up from in the middle of the night. Still scares Charlie and Sara when I do it."
"No. I don't even know how he keeps from having bad dreams. I've watch him sleep many times and he always has this small smile, unless I leave in which case it turns into a frown and he wakes up. He always wakes up if I get up. Never fails. Kinda nice now that I think on it more. I get up any time during the night to use the bathroom and he has never failed to hold me close when I come back. Really comforting."
"You know, he's rather quiet and has been this whole time." Vala said looking over her shoulder. "And I know he has great hearing so….."
"Hey Ford, we're done here. We are done aren't we?" Jack asked looking at them all.
They all pretty much nodded and put the stuff back into the folder.
"Ford, you still with us?" Daniel asked as they got up.
"He must be really into what is ever on that screen." Vala said as they walked over. "Wow look at the time."
"We've been looking at that stuff for over two hours. Didn't think we'd been at it that long." Jack said looking at his watch.
The screen showed several detailed 4D models of the General Lee and different design specs. Carter was starting to look closer at one design that showed the wheels at a horizontal setting on the car and a couple strange objects coming out from the trunk. She glanced over to see if he saw her, but his eyes were closed.
"Ford?" she asked waving a hand in his face.
"Please tell me…no can't die unless the ship is destroyed…" Jack said trailing off as Daniel started feeling for a pulse anyway.
"He's alive." Daniel said removing his fingers. Ford fell forward head first into the table as his hand slipped off his chin. And he stayed that way. "And apparently in a deep sleep."
"Very deep." Teal'c said sitting him back up.
"I think we'll have to get him into his bed." Jack said as Ford started falling out of the chair. "At least he took that coat off before he sat down."
Ford awoke hours later and had had several strange and weird dreams. Stuff he did, but didn't really remember doing. He sat up slowly and noticed he was in bed, in the T.A.R.D.I.S.
"I guess this wasn't a dream too. I am a Time Lord."
"Yes, you are." she said softly.
He turned quickly to see her sitting on her side of the bed, her back to him.
"I'm that much of a monster hmm." he said looking down at his hands.
"What? No." she said turning around slightly on the bed to look at him and grab his hand. "Yes, you have some very terrible and disturbing things. And a few here too. I love you and I'm not leaving you. Where you go, I go."
"Then why was your back to me when I woke up?"
"Sally is sleeping on your blanket, on the floor. I was watching her." she said turning back. "No monster could create something this beautiful and also love it, her so unconditionally."
"Oh. Have we ever had any fights?"
"No. It think it is because you concede before one could even try to start. A few arguments here and there, but no shouting matches. I've never felt scared around you when we are together. On some missions and a few other places I have, but that's because you get that look that makes everyone afraid. Even scared yourself once when you looked in a mirror to just see what we meant."
"I really worked on that look, which is why it bothers me. Sorry it freaks you out."
"You don't use it on me or ever try, so I don't worry."
"How long have I been asleep?"
"Didn't really keep count, but I've already had breakfast if that helps any. We brought you in here after you passed out and didn't wake up all night. You moved and squirmed a few times though. Mom and dad came up sometime after you fell asleep. Sally hasn't woken up since 2 am. She was worried about you. Normally, she would sleep next to you, but…I didn't want her to get scared if you woke from a bad nightmare or something. Not happened yet, but I didn't want to take the chance."
"I understand. I had some dreams. Which I figure are actually memories. Is it near 8:30?"
"Yes."
"At least I'm not totally naked." he said seeing his underwear the only thing on. "Wait a minute, did you…."
"Even asleep you're still great." she said turning with a bright smile.
"Huh? You actually…." he asked bewildered at the thought.
"No." she said seeing the look on his face. "I undressed you because we sleep holding each other. You usually wear just jogging pants to bed. In this case it was mostly me holding you since you were pretty out of it. We made a promise to make sure we were both awake if we want to make love."
"That sounds about right to me." he said seeing her robe open slightly as she brought her legs onto the bed. "Where is everyone else?"
"In the house. We have the T.A.R.D.I.S. to ourselves."
"Sam."
"Yes." she said as their lips got closer and closer.
"I'm sorry to say I still don't remember a lot. Though I am happy to hear you'll stay with this, monster. And as much as part of me is starting to really react to your open robe, um we're not actually alone."
"I know." she said stealing a kiss anyway. "I just wanted you to know that I still love you no matter what. We can get together later."
"And yet you're teasing me with a open robe. That's all you're wearing too."
"Sad you don't remember it, but before we had our little princess, we both basically walked around in just robes for a long time. Sometimes not even that. I really hope you remember our wedding night and the things we did that week."
"Did, we have a Kama Sutra book? Because I got some vivid images of a book on sex in my dreams."
"Yes. But we didn't do a lot of what the book said and such. Mostly it's me on top of you."
"We better get up." he muttered as she got a lot closer.
"Damn." she muttered quietly as she closed her robe.
"Morning mommy." a sleepy voice said as they saw Sally's head pop up above the bed. "Daddy remember anything?"
"Sorry princess. Some, but not enough. Mommy is going to go get dressed and help you do the same while I get a shower." he said as Carter picked her up on put her on the bed near him.
"You going to cook for me daddy?" she asked as she hugged him.
"Whatever you want." he said kissing her on the forehead.
Everyone else was inside the house, talking and eating. Other than Mitchell's parents, everyone else was there. Teal'c and Vala's family excluded as well. Carter came in with Sally and told them Ford should be along shortly. They were all just chatting about yesterday while still waiting for him to come cook when they heard the T.A.R.D.I.S take off. Carter was the first to get out the door and see the building disappear. Daniel saw she was scared, worried and pissed.
"Why…" Jack began only seconds after the building had disappeared, and then came back. "Maybe he hit the wrong button or lever or whatever as he was trying to open the door."
"I'll be right back." Carter said rather emotionlessly. "We'll be inside in a moment. No one follow me in case he did what I think he might have done."
"She's pissed." Vala said after Carter went inside.
"Like the lady said, let's go in and wait." Mitchell said.
Carter closed the door not seeing him in the Console Room, though she could hear him yelling. And possibly tossing things around. Didn't take her long to find the gym the guys had mostly made. A few mats were destroyed. All the punching bags were ripped up and most of the weights were tossed around. Surprisingly the walls were not damaged at all. One of the bar bells was pretty bent up though and the others were bent out of shape from being banged on. He was pacing back and forth on one of the semi damaged mats muttering and cursing in another language, or a few. His big coat was in the Console Room, but he had on one of his suits, a very dark red one. She walked up quickly and as he spun to face her, still with anger on his face, she swung. He blocked her attempt to slap him and stepped away.
"What the hell were you thinking?!"
"What the hell was I thinking?!" he yelled making her flinch. "What the hell was I thinking?! What the hell were you people thinking?! You all……"
He stuttered and waved his hands around, obviously not sure what to say.
"I don't even know what the hell to call it! Those secrets I kept from everyone were kept away for a purpose! No one was suppose to ever know how much…."
"Your memory has returned?!" she exclaimed reaching for him.
"Yeah." he grumbled walking past her and pacing again. "It came back and I was enjoying being able to remember everything again, including seeing my car explode in my face. That was so much fun. And then yesterday suddenly came rushing forward."
"You, pretty much gave us that information freely." she said sadly as he kept avoiding her touch.
"If it wasn't for my memory being screwed up I'd say I was out of my mind or brainwashed! I still can't figure out why I just gave you all access to my fucked up past!" he exclaimed loudly as he kicked a 10 pound weight across the room into a damaged punching bag.
"I read most of the info on your missions. And I told you this morning…."
"Yesterday for me."
"What?"
"I programmed the T.A.R.D.I.S. to take off and come back in five seconds after I left. But only after 24 hours in this ship went by."
"To give you time to think?"
"I started to open that door and then everything came flooding back. Did that program, came here and, well…." he said trailing off as he picked up a weight. "So, how'd they take it?"
"Jack…um, seemed to be the only one with any real problem with it." she said as he sat down on one of the benches with a small dark laugh.
"That figures."
"Teal'c sympathizes with you. Said something about memories of things he did. I know he's on your side." she said sitting next to him.
"And the other's?"
"Vala didn't seem to care much and muttered something about seeing worse done by herself when she was under the control of that Goa'uld. Mitchell hopes you stay. Daniel's a little upset at what he read, but understands and still wants you to stay. Dad and mom aren't too thrilled, but they still love and want you here. Dad was more understanding since he remembers some of the memories that Selmak showed him of bad and evil deeds and such."
"What's Jack going to do?"
"Nothing. He wants you to stay too. We all do. Mitchell put it best. We all have mistakes and other things we've done in the past that we all hate or have done that makes others hate us. Comes with the job when you join up to serve or work for your country like Daniel does. Basically, you do your best to put it behind you and try to continue on and not let it drive you crazy or insane. In your case, you got out before you, god forbid, started to like it or got to the point you couldn't stop."
"There was this lady on our team. I have to admit she was attractive looking, but her attitude was the biggest turn off. Even if she was the last female on, no, in the universe, I still wouldn't want to. Had that superiority complex thing. Always was showing off and trying to prove she was equal or better than everyone in the group. Problem was that she succeeded most of the time. Except when it came to hand to hand fighting and weapon use in close fighting. I excelled in that field against everyone. Cared about money, sex, which we all knew was some guy she got together with on the weekend. And unfortunately, killing. She loved her job so much she'd kill people with her bare hands just for the fun of it. Rather sick really since most of the time she came back from a mission covered in blood. Had more kills than I ever did. She sometimes did solo missions for General Westmore just for the fun of it. The pay was always great too and liked to brag about it. She was a sadistic bitch though. Loved to do the torture thing and it didn't matter who it was on. Used to get off on torturing woman, not much on guys. Which is why I usually interrogated them. She once killed several bar patrons just because they wouldn't stop hitting on her. She got to the point she killed someone each day because it gave her some thrill that she had to have. When I saw that, I realized if I kept it up, I'd probably turn out the same, so I quit as quickly as possible. Ended up getting that job with as a Marshal and then here. I was going to tell you all very early in the beginning about everything I had truly done, but…..I couldn't."
"We all noticed you were pretty emotionally attached to us well before the first week was up." she said grabbing his hand. "So, what are you going to do now?"
"Go face the music. Cook for Sally, if no one else wants me to."
"I do."
"That's a given. After that, I'll answer questions."
"We all decided that reading it was enough and that knowing anything else was pointless. Just having to repair this room later should be more than enough for them to know that you're rather messed up by the whole experience."
"Messed up is a understatement." he muttered as they walked out. "I really liked what you did to try and help me remember yesterday."
"I'm more surprised that you actually let me."
"There is only one thing that is truly bothering the hell out of me right now, other than the fear of facing everyone again."
"Going back to work and fighting whoever got you kicked out?"
"No. That will be easy to over come. I have an idea it was probably someone within the I.O.A. and a few people on the hill that were friends with Kinsey." he said as he opened the door and they left. "Where did they get info on me buying all that stuff?"
"Wait." she said as they were half way to the house. "I can understand using the secrets to, and let's say it as it really is, blackmailing the government to get certain things done. Truly I can understand it. If Kinsey had managed to get into office, the SGC…hell, this planet probably wouldn't be here and we'd all be dead or something worse. And the speeding tickets and such, I can live with that too."
"Okay."
"Are you saying that those charges against you, for buying illegal weapons and military equipment is actually true? Walter said it was, but. And if it is, where the hell is it all at?" she asked waving her arms slightly.
She didn't even give him a chance to talk as she looked away and turned to the T.A.R.D.I.S.
"Please tell me…."
"No. There are, um, quite a few weapons in there. Including the nuke bomb I bought."
"Define a few?"
"Um, I lost count actually. K-9 was keeping an inventory list, or is last time I checked."
"And the bigger stuff?"
"Well, we have two M1A-Abrams tanks in there. Fully outfitted, except for that mine sweeper thing. One for research purposes and the other for parts or if I screw something up. The time shuttle is in there, but I guess that don't count. The bomb I bought so it wasn't going to be used by terrorist. No one knew about it as far as I could tell, no governments or anything. Was totally under the radar and I got lucky at even noticing it. Um, nothing else at the moment."
"Then where is it all that other stuff at?"
"The different sites off world. Such as the Alpha, Beta and Charlie. Um, that Earth 2 planet has a lot of that stuff. The Odyssey dropped off its 302's and beamed it into the landing and cargo bays and took it away a few times. The Colonel didn't know or if he did, didn't say anything about who really ordered it to be done. I had it all set up and sent off by my orders alone. Jack was in on it to a point. Quite a bit went to Gia'as, on purpose for your and my counterpart."
"And you're getting this stuff how really?"
"I'm actually getting everything from one guy now. Black market." he said heading toward the house. "Yuri Olof. He knows people who know people. Bought a couple of nuke bombs too off him he managed to come across later. I gave them to Area 51 and they turned them into naquada nukes. I do this to keep them out of the hands of other countries and people who would use them against us. I'm his biggest client."
"Well, that is a good cause thing I guess. Better us than third world countries intent on killing their own people or attacking other countries."
"Some of the weapons we have on the base are bought off him." he said opening the door. "After awhile, it starts becoming suspicious when so much ordinance is ordered for a Deep Space Telemetry facility."
"Ah. So that's why Rally has been excited about all those new weapons and such you bring her every so often."
"Yep. Very few if any people on the hill or otherwise really question when scientific equipment, even if it cost millions, is brought into the SGC. They think it has something to do with our cover story and such."
"Yuri Olof. You're dealing with him?" Jack asked as they entered the kitchen.
"You all have been listening in?" Carter asked.
"Well, the window is open." Jack said waving slightly with his beer.
"And we were at the front door watching to see if you two might start yelling or something." Mitchell said.
"Despite everything, any yelling that happens…" she said.
"Which is rare…" Ford said.
"Happens from me."
"She ah, told me you all agreed on not saying or asking anything." Ford said looking at the floor before looking up. "Is there anything though?"
They others looked at each other then at him.
"I got a few things." Jack said seeing Sam kinda look crestfallen suddenly. But that went away rather quickly as he asked his first question. "Why did you tell Carter about my past?"
"In my own defense, she walked in on me while I was looking and read it over my shoulder. Besides, I've seen worse, and not by me. Are you guys really sure, because if there is anything you want to talk about or yell at me for, do it now, please?"
The whole group looked at each other then at him.
"I think I can say this for everyone here. We can't be mad at you. Despite the, evils of your past, which everyone has in some form or another, you're not a evil person. With everything we read, everything we've seen you do, you're not a bad or evil person. A law breaker, yes. I think you have the world record for speeding tickets, at least in Colorado Springs." Jack said getting a small laugh from pretty much everyone. "My point is, when you showed up all those years ago. You just wanted to stay and help. And never in, nay of our wildest possible dreams, even before you showed up, did we think it possible to have the things we have now. And I am meaning our families back more than the other physical stuff around us. I never dreamed I'd have Charlie back or even be with Sarah or anyone again. And then you bring back Carter's mom and Daniel's parents."
"And saved my best friend. One of them, Ferguson I mean." Mitchell said.
"And me. You're future version, whatever managed to bring back something to save me." Jacob said.
"You've changed all our lives in ways we never thought possible. You've done things for us that we can never repay. I admit, yeah, I'm kinda angry and sad at what I read. But you told all of us, well, most of us that asked, you had a bad past that you never wanted to talk about. Now we know what you meant. And like our troubled past, we're going to not think about it and move on." Jack said.
"Thanks. I was thinking I'd just be leaving or, worse." Ford said wiping a few tears away. "Is there anything else, just in case?"
"Yeah, what are you fixing or do I have to barbeque? I'm starving.." Jack said getting several laughs.
