Janet finally gave in and let Carolyn check her out and treat her injuries. Sam stepped away to go watch over the children – children that she didn't know, but genetically could have been her own. It was a pretty heady thought.

Jacob had a gash on his forehead that had required a couple stitches, but his light brown, bowl-cut hair hid it pretty well. He had Jack's brown eyes, which were carefully watching every single thing that the nurses did. His arms were protectively encircling his little sister as Abigail sat on his lap. Sam noticed that he hadn't let the blonde-haired, blue-eyed cherub get farther than arm's reach from him since they'd arrived in the infirmary. It seemed like his protectiveness had served her well, though; the toddler barely had a scratch on her.

One of the nurses reached to take Abigail in order to get her cleaned up and changed out of her muddy, torn clothes. Jacob roughly pushed the woman's hands away. "Hey, it's okay," Sam tried to tell him as she stepped toward them. "They're going to take real good care of her."

He shook his head hard. "I'm not letting her go. I can't."

Sam decided to try a different tactic. "How about you come, too?" she suggested. "You can keep an eye on Abigail and you can get cleaned up and changed too." Jacob eyed her for a moment, but finally nodded.

After both children were cleaned up and re-dressed in new clothes, they returned to the main room. Jacob again wanted Abigail to sit with him, but the toddler had her own ideas. Once a nurse set her down on her feet on the bed, she turned to Sam with her arms outstretched.

"Mama!" she exclaimed as she reached for a hug. The Colonel was taken aback, but couldn't help but oblige. There was very little chance that they could get the tiny girl to understand what had just happened to her. Was there a point in even trying to explain? Or was it better to just let the toddler find some comfort wherever she wanted to?

Jacob watched them for a moment, his eyes wide in shock. Anger, betrayal, and sadness all flickered across his features. Sam was about to say something to him – she wasn't sure what, but something – but before she could, he suddenly burst into tears. He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, trying to wipe the tears away, but to no avail.

"Jacob – " Sam started, reaching for him, but he jumped away from her like her touch was fire. The little boy scrambled off the bed and ran across the room to Janet. She held him as he clung to her.

"It's okay, buddy," she quietly told him. "It's gonna be okay…" Janet looked up as Sam joined them with Abigail. "Jake's been through a lot. He was by the gate, waiting, when we lost his dad. And he was with his mom, when…" There was no need to finish.

Sam gently reached to put a hand on the boy's shoulder, but he shrugged her off. Was just seeing her face causing him more pain? The desire to find some way to help him was so strong that her heart ached. "I'm sorry, Jake," she quietly told him. "I'm so sorry…"

It was a challenge, and took a couple hours, but Janet and Sam finally managed to get both children to go to sleep. Jake only agreed to even try if Abigail was in the same bed, but the toddler didn't seem to mind. Frankly, she was handling all of this a lot better than anyone else was.

Once the siblings were finally sleeping, Sam stood nearby, just watching over them. A million different thoughts were flying through her head, and she wasn't sure what to make of any of them.

"Here you go," Janet quietly told her as she joined her, offering a mug of tea.

"Thanks," Sam replied as she accepted it. They both remained in silence for a long moment. "I don't know what to do," the Colonel finally spoke up.

"About what?"

"About them. I mean…I'm not their mother. What right do I have to pretend? But at the same time, how can I not take care of them?"

Janet smiled slightly. "I remember that feeling."

"They're beautiful," Sam continued, gently reaching down with one hand to brush a lock of hair from Abigail's face. "They don't deserve what they've been through. If I could erase that somehow…but I know I can't. The only thing I can do is give them a new home now."

The doctor just nodded. She'd had all of the same thoughts when she took in Cassie. Except Cassie hadn't actually been her flesh and blood. "It's up to you, Sam."

"No, it's not," she replied. "I don't even feel like there's a choice involved. I have to do it. Plain and simple."

"They're staying?" Janet asked.

Sam nodded. "They're staying."

It was obvious that took a large amount of weight off of the doctor's shoulders. She sighed a little and smiled. "Thank you."

"What about you?" Sam asked after a sip of her tea.

Janet frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You're going to stay, too, aren't you?"

She turned to her friend, and Sam could tell from the look in her eyes what her answer would be. "I can't," Janet finally said. "I have to go back."

"Back to what? You said yourself there's nothing there."

"Nothing for them," she corrected. "I know it's a losing battle, Sam, but I still feel like I have to fight. It's still my battle."

"Jacob and Abigail need you," Sam pointed out. "You're the one person that's familiar to them in this very strange world."

She shook her head. "They'll be fine."

"Then I need you," she added. "I need my friend."

"I'm not the woman you knew," Janet pointed out.

"It doesn't matter. We were close in your reality, too, weren't we?"

She nodded and looked away. Janet had been best friends with the Samantha Carter from her reality. Her death had been a hard blow on top of so many other losses. It had been made even worse by the fact that, as a doctor, she had been helpless to keep her from slipping away. Seeing this Sam now was both a painful reminder of that failure and a comfort. "Yes," she shakily confirmed. "Yes, we were."

"Then that's another reason to stay. And Cassie – Cassie could use a mother."

Janet nearly dropped her cup. "Cassie's alive here?"

Sam froze. "Yeah. She's going to school at UC Colorado Springs. Janet…"

The doctor wiped at her welling eyes. "I lost my Cassie. There was this virus, from her planet. The Goa'uld – "

"Nirrti," Sam filled in. "She was sick with the same thing here. We were able to find the Goa'uld and cure Cassie just in time."

Janet looked down. "We didn't find her."

Sam stepped over to the phone and picked up the receiver. "I'm going to call her."

"Sam – "

"I've spent the past year and a half wishing that I could tell Cassie that I'd seen you. I'm calling her."

It was late, but Cassie knew from the tone of Sam's voice that this was important. There were few people on the planet that Cassie trusted like her friend/guardian, so she agreed to come over to the SGC, even without being told why (despite asking multiple times).

"Now will you tell me what's going on?" the 22-year-old asked when Sam met her at the entrance to the base.

"No," she replied as they got on the elevator.

Cassie rolled her eyes; the game was getting old. "This isn't funny, Sam. Is something wrong?"

"Everything's fine, I promise. There's just something I needed you to see."

"And it couldn't wait until tomorrow?"

Sam shook her head. "It's waited long enough."

Once they were on the correct level, deep within the mountain, Sam led her to one of the visitor rooms and opened the door. Cassie was rendered absolutely speechless when she saw who was waiting for her.

"Oh, sweetheart," Janet whispered.

"Mom?" she finally choked out before throwing herself into her arms. Sam just smiled as she watched them together.

Janet met her friend's eyes for a moment and smiled. "Thank you," she mouthed to her.

"You'll stay?" Sam mouthed back. Janet nodded.

TBC...