Chapter 8

For the next few days SG-1 was steadfast is helping SHIELD and the Avengers get the Star Gate and the program working. Tony Stark went above and beyond all expectations and had installed his personal computer system, JARVIS to run the Gate's computers. With JARVIS installed and running the Gate's dialing programs Tony worked on a way to remotely dial the Gate from his Iron Man suit.

Sam sat at the computers and screens in the control room overlooking the Gate. She was typing into the data bank known Gate addresses from her reality when Tony walked in.

"How's it going?" he asked her.

She paused and smiled, "Good! I have to admit, Mr. Stark…Your computer systems are about ten years ahead of ours. And JARVIS is absolutely incredible."

"Tony," he took a seat. "Mr. Stark was my dad." He looked upon her as she wore the new black uniform with the SGA-1 patch. Her hair was neatly in place despite the wispy feel to the appearance. Her makeup was perfectly done. It wasn't applied heavy or overabundant. He could picture her in an evening gown sporting diamonds and stepping out of a limo for a night on the town on his arm. But he had a relationship with Pepper Potts and he had to shake the daydream from his mind.

"Tony," she smiled.

He asked, "So um…after your done here you wanna grab a bite to eat. I heard Phil is putting in a commissary."

"Sounds good," she cheered.

Sam then heard a voice come from the adjacent briefing room. It was very familiar voice and one she didn't expect to hear all that soon.

"Mr. Coulson!" It was George Hammond's voice.

She stopped typing and pushed her chair back, "That sounds like General Hammond." She rose to her feet and stepped into the nearby briefing room. Her eyes landed on George dressed in his Air Force blues with visor hat tucked under his arm. Two stars were perched upon his shoulders of the uniform with insignia and ribbon bars. He looked just as she recalled.

Phil gave a displeased look, "General." He stood before his small office door right next to the briefing room in his black suit.

"I am to inform you that the Pentagon is going to be overseeing SHIELD in the operation. I am the newly assigned commander of this base and you will be reporting directly to me."

Phil felt like the rug was just yanked out from under his feet. He was supposed to run the program not some General. He looked over and noticed Sam was smiling ear-to-ear. At that point the figured it was the same General Hammond that SG-1 spoke of earlier. He stated feeling defeated, "Yes sir."

George looked at the control room, to the Gate out the window and at the office off the briefing room that Phil was going to use. He told him, "I will be taking that office there."

Phil stated, "There are executive offices on another floor."

"I want that one. I can see the Gate the controls and have access to this briefing room. You can take one of the executive offices, Mr. Coulson." he told him.

He looked at Sam and she gave him a nod to do so. He sighed, "I'll get my stuff out." He had no recourse as the Pentagon had influence over SHIELD.

Tony whispered, "Is this guy as much of a hard ass as he appears?"

She grinned and nodded, "Yes."

He rolled his eyes, "I wanted Phil in charge."

"Why?" she whispered.

"He's easy," he told her.

Hammond turned and looked at the pair, "You must the Avengers. I recognize you, Mr. Stark. I've been following you for a while in the reports." He walked up to him. "Let's you and me get one thing straight right now," he spoke calmly but firmly with a southern accent. "I don't expect this project to be turned into a party. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," he gave a nod. "No partying."

Only the Avengers knew the origins of SG-1. General Hammond and the Pentagon had no inkling as to the true nature of the four and assumed they were SHIELD agents. He spoke to Sam, "Agent Carter I presume."

She gave a sigh for George always called her by rank. "Sir," she acknowledged.

"I understand you are helping Mr. Stark with the Gate." he told her.

"Yes sir," she nodded. She wished he knew who she was but it was soon apparent he did not.

"You maybe a civilian and SHIELD agent but I do expect this place to be run like a military base. I understand you are related to one of SHIELD's founders, Peggy Carter. If you are half as good as her, I expect to see you go places." he stated.

"Thank you sir," she told him. She wasn't sure if she was related to Peggy or not but at that point it didn't seem to matter much.

Phil sighed, "I'll get my stuff out of the office." He walked back into his office and placed the files back into his briefcase including information on SG-1 and the mirror.

Jack walked into the briefing room next to see Phil for he had a request. He stated as he walked in very casual, "Hey Phil can we get a few ping pong tables and a pool…" he came to a sudden halt upon seeing George.

Hammond gave a displeased look, "I take it you are Agent O'Neill."

"George?" he asked hoping that somehow he would know him.

"That's General Hammond," he corrected. "I have been sent from the Pentagon to oversee the operation. I will be taking that office. Agent Coulson will be taking an office on the next floor. Any request SHIELD agents have must be approved by me." He shifted his weight, "So what is that you were asking for Agent O'Neill?"

"Some things for a recreation room," he told him.

"I can approve that," he stated. "No alcohol on base."

"Yes sir," he agreed.

"This will be a joint SHIELD and military operation," he stated. "I expect things to run smoothly."

Jack gave a nod, "Yes sir."

"I'll be in my office," he told him. He walked to the office and started debating what he needed to set up his new job.

Jack looked over to Sam, "He's not quite our George."

"He just met us," she reminded him.

"I know," he slowly nodded. "How's the data bank going?"

"About halfway," she figured. "Tony and I are going for something to eat. Wanna come?"

"Sure," he agreed.

Tony bit his lip for he just wanted to have lunch with Sam. He said nothing but really hated the idea.

They walked out of the briefing room with Phil in tow. Phil spouted, "That the best office in the entire complex. It's was perfectly positioned."

"That why you wanted it?" Jack asked him.

"Yes and then General Hammond comes in and just takes it," he miffed.

"And for the same reasons you wanted it," Jack gathered.

He confessed, "Yes."

"He took that office in my reality," Jack told him. He grinned, "That fact you saw the same advantages that George saw means you are pretty good at what you do, Phil."

"That a compliment?" he asked.

"Very much so," he nodded.

In short time they turned the hallway. Ahead the elevator door slid open and off walked more military personnel along with someone Jack never thought he would see working in the SGC, his ex-wife, Sara.

Sara stood beside her son, Charlie with Jackie to the other side. She gasped upon seeing Jack standing in the hallway ahead. "Jack!" she exclaimed for she still couldn't believe her eyes.

His eyes softened, "Sara."

"Oh' my god," she cried and rushed to him. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. She then looked him over to be sure this man was her dead husband. She cupped his face and kissed his lips as tears streamed down her face. "I can't believe it's you."

"It's me," he whispered. Jack didn't hold her tight and didn't act like he missed her. He was calm and gentle but the lack of enthusiasm was picked up by Jackie who stood observing his reactions.

After Sara managed to let him go Charlie grinned and hugged him as well, "Dad!" he cheered.

He held Charlie tight as if he missed him dearly. Jackie took note of the difference. She looked around at the faces of those surrounding Jack. She spotted Sam who was looking at the floor. She noticed Sam then looked at Charlie and Jack and gave a small smile.

Charlie let his father go and admitted, "I missed you."

"Missed ya too," he told him. "I heard you have a sister in this reality."

Charlie looked back at Jackie standing behind them, "She right there." He then realized, "I don't have a sister in your reality."

"Nope," he shook his head. He looked upon her. She looked much like Charlie in features. She was shorter than her brother and to Jack looked close to the same age. He asked, "Twins?"

"I'm two years older," she told him.

"Oh," he gave a nod.

Sara gasped, "You don't know your daughter!"

"I only had a son in my reality," he tried to explain.

Sam stated, "Realities can be very different or exactly the same. Our reality is slightly different than yours."

"Like the show Sliders, Mom." Charlie told her. "Remember they went to all these different realities."

"Right," she nodded still trying to comprehend how reality travel was even possible.

Phil spoke up, "One thing! The reality travel is beyond classified. Very few people know about it. The reasons you know about it is due to you being Colonel O'Neill's family. No one else does except the Avengers. Not even Military are aware of the fact your father came here from another reality. It's strictly off the record."

Jackie then figured, "So we can't talk about it."

"Not in public, Major O'Neill." he told her.

Jack asked, "So what do you do, Major?"

"I'm Army Intel," she told him. "I forecast trends."

Jack asked, "What is that?"

"I look at all aspects of a situation and forecast what will become of it and possible future events based on that information." she stated. "It's about 90% accurate."

"She saved my retirement," Sara told him. "She warned me to get out of a market before a major crash."

"That can come in handy," he told her. They started down the hall to move out of the way of wandering personnel. Jack wanted to get to know his daughter more. He wondered, "Does that work on sporting events?"

"Elections, sports, culture…" she nodded.

"Who will win the next world series?" he asked.

"I have to look into that a bit but I should be able to nail down the four most likely teams." she told him.

Charlie cheered, "I won a Super Bowl bet because of her. I was gonna place money on the losing team."

Jack grinned and looked at Daniel, "That's a neat talent."

"It could come in handy," he agreed. He asked, "Jackie is your name, right?"

"Jackie," she nodded.

"What do you think will happen if the Gate is disclosed and aliens come to Earth?" he asked wondering.

"Depends on the aliens," she told him. "If they are more human like and have similar values they will be welcomed into society. If they look like monsters and don't share the same values they will be feared or shunned depending on circumstances."

"So no mass panic?" he asked and looked at his team for they were always told mass panic would ensure.

She shook her head, "No mass panic from the people. Heck, the people are so pissed right now aliens could blow up D.C. and they would cheer. The panic would come from those who would lose money and not be able to profit from it."

Jack huffed unsure, "You could blow up D.C. and the people would cheer!" The notions sounded insane to him.

"Too much corruption for far too long," she told him. "People are sick of it. Of course there will be skeptics who claim it's all a hoax. Some won't even believe it's real. You would see the governments use it to advance legislation and financial interest including revaluation of all currencies. It would be a major event and one that won't go to waste."

Sam agreed, "They would take advantage of it."

"Precisely," she nodded.

Tony pondered, "I can use something like that in my company. Trend forecasting! Need to look into that."

They came to a fork in the hallway. One hallway went to General Hammond's office and the other to the commissary. Jack told his family, "You two kids need to check in with Hammond. Just down that hall. You can tell him I'm your dad but do not tell him about the reality sliding. He doesn't know."

"We won't," Charlie assured. He led his sister down the hall to see the General.

Sara placed her arm in Jack's. She smiled, "It's good to have our family back together. I couldn't wait to see you again after Charlie me you came back."

He couldn't tell her that he moved on from her emotionally and he didn't wish to upset her for to Sara his return seemed to like act of god. He gently patted her hand, "It is."

Sam stood and watched as her heart sank. Recently, Jack admitted he had feeling for her. They kept those feelings at bay for they couldn't risk their careers but seeing how Sara eagerly took Jack into her arms and wanted him back just made Sam's heart ache even more than before. She wanted to cry; to simply runaway and cry but she couldn't. She watched them walk ahead she slowly fell behind the group.

Tony walked beside her. He mentioned, "Touching seeing Jack reunited with his family."

"It is," she nodded holding back tears.

He could tell she was upset but wasn't sure why. He offered, "If you need an ear I'm here, Carter."

"Thanks," she placed her arm in his for support as they walked. She liked Tony. He was a lot like Jack but he could follow what she said and didn't seem to dumb himself down and make her repeat herself. He was brilliant, rich and handsome. She had to admit Tony Stark was a dream for a woman like Sam. Yet, her heart ached for a man much older who had a family. She decided she was going to drown those feelings and go on with her life so Jack could have his family back and she could be free of the heartache.