Disclaimer: All recognisable characters are the property of MGM/Amazon. No copyright infringement intended. I am simply taking my favourite two Gaters for a walk in an Alternate Universe.

Rating: Still T...

Episode Tags: Takes place in Season 7 after 7.16 Death Knell.

A/N: No specific triggers for this chapter. Contains bad language. I have no beta, so all mistakes are my own.

A/N Timeline: As far as dates are concerned, I consider the day of Sam's death to be the day that the episode was released - 6th February 2004 - so this chapter takes place one week later on 13th February 2004. ** Thanks Phailhammer on AO3 for calling out my date error. Too many stories!

Chapter 9: Deception

It was Friday, over a week since Sam had contacted me and still there was nothing at the mirror when I visited before work this morning. Had her General Hammond found out her secret communications with me and shut it down, or was it worse? Had something happened to her? I hoped not, I just couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible had happened. I couldn't explain it, but somehow, I felt connected to her in a way I had never been connected to anyone before – well maybe except for Jack.

Checking my watch and noting the time was nearly 5pm. Jennifer would be dropping Gracie back home tonight at 6pm. Time to go. I swiftly packed up my laptop and carefully locked away the artefacts I had been working on for the last few days. I had hoped Sam could provide some direction on this emotion sharing device given to me by the Tollan man, Narim. Apparently, she had met him in her reality some years ago. I wondered if he had given her one as well. The emotions he placed in the device for me were flattering to say the least, but he just wasn't my type. Besides I had Gracie to think about. She had been asking about her father more and more this past week. I had asked her how she knew about her 'there' Daddy. She told me her spirits heart said she'd find him beyond the mirror. So, then I asked her about this 'spirits heart' which had me confused.

"My spirits heart Mummy – my me from beyond the mirror."

"Your you?"

"There are lots of Me's beyond the mirror, but my 'there' Mummy hasn't met her me yet."

"Are you talking about the quantum mirror honey?"

"Yes, normal mirrors show what you have, special mirrors show what you need."

That was one conversation I would never forget. She pretty much told me she needed her father. I wasn't sure how to take that because I could not go with her, but the thought of denying her a complete family for my own sake was unfair. But then again, so was thrusting a child on two people who didn't know her. Another thing I had noticed was that her eyes had changed from the deep coffee brown to a lighter brown with gold flashes. If I didn't know better, I would say they were glowing. Not like a Goa'uld, but still glowing.

Thankfully she hadn't said anything more in front of Charlie. He had been giving me the silent treatment since lunch a few days ago, well except when Narim came through the Gate with the emotion device. The jealously that radiated from the man was palpable, borderline possessiveness – an emotion I detested – which caused an argument.

"Who the hell do you think you are Charlie?"

"Well, clearly I am nothing to you!"

"For crying out loud Charlie! Don't you get it? It was a mistake; one I plan on never making again. Now, you can either be my friend or get out of my way!" I yelled.

"But you'll take up with some random alien! Gee thanks Samantha."

"I'm not interested in Narim. I'm not interested in anyone except my husband, and since he is dead, I guess I am out of luck." I yelled, then stormed out of the room.

I sighed, then reached into my top drawer for the tatty cypher page. I don't know why I kept it; I knew the cypher. It was easy. Really easy. I guess I kept it because it represented a time in my life where everything changed. Sentimentality. There was a time when I would never have placed such importance on an object. Jack had changed that. He kept a multitude of little things that had been his sons from a pair of baseball mitts, his Cubs hat, certificates, and school photos. He rarely looked at any of them, choosing to keep them hidden away, but within reach on those special days like his son's birthday, or Christmas. I smiled thinking of how my husband had changed my way of thinking. He had lost so much, had so many reasons to be jaded – and he was when we first met – yet he somehow managed to keep a small piece of himself safe from the darkness. I remembered back to my time on the other side with our wedding photo. It had given me such comfort on those first few days after he died. In those days, I found two people who needed that photo more than me. Two people who were alive and suffering without each other. They tried to hide it from everyone including each other, but I knew them both. I saw their interactions - the touches, smiles, soft words. I had slipped the photo into Jack's vest pocket when I kissed him before he left. I had hoped it would give him the courage to go after his Sam.

Folding the piece of paper and dropping back into my drawer. I retrieved a fresh piece of paper and started my note using the appropriate letter to symbol correlation, I told her what the device was, where it came from and asked what she knew about it. I hoped that would be enough information. Folding it up and placing it in an unaddressed envelope before taking a second sheet of paper for my new password. I had been thinking long and hard all week about a phase, settling in the end with one of Jack's most used catch phrases. I chuckled at the number of times I had heard those words from his lips - and even my own from time to time - in many different tones of voice from the time he was angry with Ferretti over something stupid to the time we were enjoying ourselves immensely before the bed slats broke. I laughed out loud remembering how the incident had not stopped our activity despite the mattress being half on the floor.

Making my way to the elevators and down to level 24. I moved through the MALP bay, the technicians in the room all but ignoring me since I was a frequent visitor. Slipping into the room to find the mirror lying dark and dormant. I picked up the controller and navigated to the correct reality. This time the opening reality was only three switches away from the one I was searching for. Seeing the whiteboard propped up on the unfolded stepladder – the password unchanged – I sighed. I still hadn't been able to shake the idea that something terrible had happened. I wanted more than anything to reach out and touch the surface just so I could find out, but I resisted. Having already suffered from entropic cascade failure, I had no desire the relive that experience – an experience that theoretically would affect me almost immediately this time around. Standing less than two feet from the mirror, I frisbeed the letter toward it and heard the snap whoosh as it disappeared from my existence and tumbled to the floor on the other side. I grabbed the whiteboard propped on the step ladder and quickly changed the message, then looked at my watch – 5.15pm – definitely time to go. I pressed the button to disengage the mirror, then turned and placed the controller back on the shelf before leaving the room.

She never saw me, never even bothered to check her surroundings, despite O'Neill drumming into her his black ops paranoia like always facing the door in a restaurant and checking a room before walking through it. I observed as she made her way past the technicians and the MALP's and out the door. I waited a few minutes longer to ensure she would not return. I hated that she was still in contact with the other reality. I hated that her daughter was his daughter and not mine, or this realities Jack's. Jack had been my best friend. He had made me promise to look out for her if he couldn't do it – and look out for her I did – maybe a little too much. But I couldn't change any of that now. When she discovered she was pregnant, the child was either my best friends – her husbands – or it was mine. When she was born, I knew she was his, and I was happy with that. I watched her grow – looking more like little Charlie every day – but the timing was wrong. I knew it was from the start. If Grace was Jack's, she was born far too late, which meant she should have been mine, but she looked like an O'Neill. I never let it bother me until a few days ago, at lunch. Those words – 'real' Daddy – had rung in my brain over and over – real Daddy – used when talking about the other Jack. Not this Jack, not my best friend and not her husband – an imposter. I had never believed her capable of doing such deception.

Making my way from my hiding place into the mirror storage room. I roughly grabbed the controller and started manipulating the lever. After almost two dozen tries, I found it. I knew it was the right one because of the propped up white board on the step ladder similar to our own – not that I knew what it said – and the unmistakable white envelope on the floor in front of the mirror on their side. Placing the controller back on the shelf, I stepped forward and reached out – a snap pop and weird sucking motion pulled me to the other side. The door was closed, but I still moved quickly in case someone in the MALP room heard something. I stooped to collect the note, ripping it savagely in half. I didn't care what it said. I had already disposed of one message from this reality early this morning. Looking down at the whiteboard, I sneered, then pulled my BDU sleeve over my hand and rubbed the message out, finally folding the ladder up and leaning it against the opposite wall. Let's see her find the right reality now that her key was gone.

Satisfied with my efforts, I reached back out to the still activated mirror and found myself on the right side once more. Walking back the shelf, I manipulated the lever a few times before switching it off. I thought about erasing her whiteboard here, but then she would know someone on this side was interfering. Better to let her think the silence was all from the other side. Burying my hands in my pockets and finding the evidence of my deception, I walked back through the now empty MALP room and down the corridor to the elevators. I waited a few minutes before the doors opened revealing Colonel Makepeace.

"Evening Charlie."

"Sir." I responded. I cast my eyes in his direction as I walked into the car. "It's done, she won't be finding them again."

"Good. I have convinced the General to bury the mirror for good." Makepeace stated. "We don't need another O'Neill here, not after the trouble we went to getting rid of our one."

I swallowed but did not show my hand. Jack had been my friend, and while he was a roadblock to getting the NID to take over the SGA, he didn't deserve to die the way he did. Neither did the multitudes of other people who were killed when Apophis swept in and took over. The NID baited the self-professed God, then planned on blackmailing the snake, but that became no longer necessary when the Asgard beamed them away. We had what we wanted – an easier path to attaining more technology – without the champion of morality working against us. O'Neill may have been a hard son of a bitch, but he was honourable. The truth had been kept from Samantha because we knew she would oppose it. She didn't need to know that her husband had been sacrificed for the greater good.

"When it that be happening?" I asked of the mirror.

"It will be transported next Thursday morning to Area 51." He replied. "You have to keep her away from it until then. Can't have her bringing them back here again or disappearing over there. We'll still need her to figure out the things we bring home."

"She wouldn't abandon Grace like that." I informed him as the elevator doors slid open on level 11.

"Use the girl as leverage if you need to." Makepeace stated unemotionally.

"What if she tries to run with the girl." I asked, knowing she had laid escape plans a few years ago in case she had to flee.

"You were black ops Kawalsky, do what you were trained to do and never mind the collateral damage. So long as it ends with Samantha Carter in her lab, I don't particularly care. We'll confine her in Area 51 if she becomes too much of a problem." He responded. I knew an order when I heard it. Keep her here by any means necessary.

"Yes Sir!" I responded with a flimsy salute, as he turned and walked out of the elevator leaving me to consider how I was going to move forward with this.