Well, oops. I didn't mean to make the last chapter so gloomy for you guys. Just writing as I go here. As always, thank you so so much for your reviews. Please keep them coming, and have a great weekend! :D
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When the first two weeks were up, General Hammond finally gave Colonel O'Neill permission to take Jade off the base. The General couldn't escape the enormous hug he received from the young girl as soon as the words were out, and she clapped her hands enthusiastically as she hopped up on the examining table in the infirmary.
"Where will we go, Dad?" she asked, as Janet pried open her eye and held up her small penlight. "Can you take me fishing? I want to go fishing so bad…"
Sam laughed at this, leaning over the table on her elbows.
"I'm sure your dad would love to take you fishing."
Jack shook his head with a smile. "When we get back from this mission, we'll all go. Teal'c loves to fish, don't you Teal'c?"
Teal'c looked less than thrilled at the idea, but after sharing a look with Sam, he simply said, "Indeed."
Janet popped a thermometer into Jade's mouth, and the girl wrinkled her nose as she clamped her teeth down on it. Daniel looked up from his seat across the room and smiled.
"Why don't you just take her to your place, Jack? You guys can…do whatever it is that you do."
The Colonel shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the teasing tone in Daniel's voice. "Why don't you guys all on come over? We'll throw a few steaks on the grill…Jade can whip all our butts at chess…"
Sam couldn't help but grin. An evening with Jade and the team was just what she needed before they headed off on this mystery adventure, and she felt excited at the prospect of getting some time with Jack off-base. Things had been extremely confusing between them during the past couple of weeks, even more so than usual. Any time they spent with Jade felt completely natural, as if they belonged together as a family, but whenever she was gone, things felt backwards somehow. Knowing that they would one day be involved was making it very difficult to keep things professional, and she had already noticed a difference in the way he treated her. There were more of his long looks and secret smiles than usual, and he always seemed to find little ways to touch her..his hand on her lower back as they walked through a doorway, his fingers brushing against her arm when he told a story, sitting just a little too close to her in the mess hall. Most of the time, he acted like he didn't even notice, as if it was just an accident, but Sam knew better.
"Is there still no word from Thor?" Daniel asked, interrupting her thoughts.
General Hammond shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Today was SG-2's fifth trip to K'tau, trying to make contact with the Asgard, but we've yet to have any success."
"Well, sir," Sam pointed out. "Jade did say we'd have a two-hour window. Maybe they're unable to receive communications until that time."
Jade nodded her head and mumbled something, but Janet gave her a warning look and straightened the thermometer sticking out of her mouth.
Hammond smiled at her before turning back to Sam. "We're counting on it, Major. Of course, we have to decide what, exactly, we're going to tell them."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "I thought we were going to tell them the truth, sir."
"We will, Colonel," the General assured him. "However, Miss O'Neill believes that we should limit the amount of information we share about what she knows of the future, and I tend to agree. She wishes to speak personally to Thor, when he arrives." He frowned and looked over at the girl sitting up on the table next to him.
"Which brings up another issue. This young lady seems to think that the Asgard should just…drop by and pick her up, take her with him to this battle they're fighting. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't think that's a very good idea."
Jade tried again to speak, and was again hushed by Janet. She crossed her arms and sulked quietly as the others exchanged glances.
They had all been trying to talk sense into Jade for days, but the girl refused to budge. She said there was no room for argument…that she had no choice. Colonel O'Neill was clearly distraught at the idea of sending the girl off into battle, especially one they knew so little about, and Sam found herself equally concerned.
"I think it's a pretty crappy idea myself, General," Jack finally said. "But she does seem pretty set on it. Obviously, if we go through with this, I think SG-1 should go with her."
Hammond nodded his head. "Agreed." He turned back to face Jade and tried to reason with her. "Miss O'Neill, there's a possibility that this mission could be extremely dangerous. Are you sure there no way that you can simply give Major Carter whatever information is needed?"
Jade looked over at Sam, who shook her head and sighed. "I've tried, sir. She says that we…that is, our future selves, ordered her not to reveal that information. It's likely she's been instructed in the use of Asgard technology, and that she can't give us the information we'd need to help Thor without having to explain that technology to us, which of course, would be knowledge we aren't supposed to have…yet."
"You know," Jack said, spinning a pen around in a circle on the counter beside him. "I'm thinking we've already made a pretty jumbled mess out of this timeline anyway. I say we should just screw the whole thing…use whatever we need to get the Asgard out of their mess, maybe get a few World Series results out of the kid…happy endings for everybody."
He winked at Jade, who giggled behind her thermometer.
Ignoring the Colonel, General Hammond turned back to Sam and sighed. "I don't like this, but I don't see that we have much of a choice. The President feels that if the fate of our planet really is in this girl's hands, it's our job to see to it that she's given the opportunity to complete her mission."
Janet finally took the thermometer out of Jade's mouth, and the girl ran her tongue over her teeth.
"Thanks, General. You won't be sorry. I've got it under control."
Hammond looked less than convinced, but he gave the girl a smile before he dismissed himself and left the room, leaving the others to make plans for Jade's first trip off the base.
"Can we have pizza?" she asked eagerly. "Pretty, pretty please, Dad? I love pizza…"
"I'll bring the beer," Sam promised, giving a scolding look to Jade when the girl's eyes brightened. "Not for you."
Janet finished her exam, and Jade followed O'Neill out the door, hanging onto his arm with one hand and pulling Teal'c behind her with the other. Daniel chuckled quietly and trailed behind, but Sam stayed with Janet, watching her friend as she jotted down a few notes on her clipboard.
"So," Janet asked as she slipped the clipboard back in its place. "How are you, Sam?" She slid her hands into the pockets of her lab coat, her warm, dark eyes on her friend in front of her.
"I'm okay," Sam said with a sigh. "I'm starting to get used to it, I think."
Janet shook her head. "I can't imagine how confusing it must be."
"For us, or for her?" Sam asked. "Poor kid. I think sometimes she completely forgets that Colonel O'Neill isn't the father she grew up with."
Janet simply nodded, and Sam thumbed distractedly through a stack of papers on the desk next to her, speaking her next words carefully.
"She knows things."
"About the future?" Janet asked quietly.
"Yeah. Mistakes that are going to be made, people who will be hurt…or killed." She looked up at her friend with a sad smile. "Sometimes when she looks at…certain people…" She paused and let out a small sigh. "I don't know. I just get the feeling she knows something's coming."
Janet stood silently for a few moments, finally giving Sam a sympathetic smile and remarking, "That must be an incredible burden for her."
Sam said nothing. She couldn't even imagine being cursed with knowing the fate of people she cared about and not being able warn them. Janet crossed her arms in front of her, looking thoughtful.
"You know, I had a close friend who I went to medical school with who was stationed in the Middle East during the Gulf War. His name was James." She stared off into space as she brought up the memory. "One night there was an ambush from enemy troops, and James caught a bullet in the chest as he was dragging one of the injured soldiers back to camp." She paused a moment, sadness evident in her eyes. Finally, she turned to Sam and smiled. "James didn't make it, but that soldier he was dragging? He survived, and he was later involved in an operation where he saved the lives of five members of his team."
Sam reached down and squeezed Janet's hand. "Your friend was a hero then."
"But what if I had known?" Janet asked quietly. "If I had known that he was going to be killed, would I have tried to warn him? And if I had, what would have happened to those five soldiers?"
Sam shook her head slowly, Janet's words sinking in. "I know," she sighed. "Poor Jade. No wonder she doesn't want to talk about where she came from. She must be terrified of causing more damage, of ruining someone's life." The two women stood in silence, until Sam shook off her thoughts and gave Janet a warm smile.
"You want to come with me to Colonel O'Neill's tonight? I'm sure it's going to be…interesting."
Janet laughed a little, pulling her clipboard back out and shaking her head. "No thanks. I've got a lot of work to catch up on. Maybe another time."
Sam stopped in the doorway on her way out, looking back and Janet with a small smile. It hadn't been lost to her that Jade had admitted to not knowing Janet personally. Her heart ached at the thought of losing her dear friend, and she hoped that she was wrong. After all, they had already tossed a wrench into the normal timeline. Things might be different this time around. She nodded to herself as she turned the corner and headed back to her lab, smiling at the thought.
Things might be better.