AU: When an exploration mission goes way off the left field, Jack and Sam are left to patch up their lives. Will that door stay open?
POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNING: Trauma, Sexual Situations, Tragedy, Non-Con/Rape.
Please note that I am Australian, hence my spelling of words such as favourite with 'our' instead of 'or' and Mum instead of Mom.
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters are the property of MGM/Amazon. No copyright infringement intended. I am once again taking my favourite two Gaters for a walk in an Alternate Universe. Takes place after 5.05 Red Sky with some canon episodes skipped (overlooked) and others referenced.
Rating: Gonna start this one as M from the get-go.
Triggers: Sexual tension and that darn room, a touch of non con, but getting more full on in Chapter 4. There will be others down the line, will advise as they pop up to avoid spoilers. I want to keep you guessing at least a little while.
Chapter 2: Temptation
"What the hell!" I yelled. I was still a little stunned from my zap. The shadowy figure stepped back from the Major and turned to face me. I found myself looking at another me. His image flickered, as if he were nothing more than a hologram. Carter was blushed, her lusty eyes dilated and mouth open. It was the look of the freshly ravaged. I looked away from her since seeing her like that did all kinds of things that it shouldn't do to me. The holographic apparition materialised, his face showing all the emotions I worked to keep locked away – desire, lust, need, passion – he wrapped his hand around Carter's wrist, then drew her away from the wall to stand in front of him. He placed one hand on the side of her neck and ran it up into her hair. She moaned and turned into that hand.
"My, but she is a beauty, Colonel." It said languidly, its fingers massaging her scalp, lips and tongue dancing along the cords of her neck. He brought his other hand from her wrist up her side and across her stomach, moving southwards towards its goal. I watched as he applied pressure to the seam of her BDU pants pulling a sighing moan from her mouth.
"Get your hands off her!" I growled. Seeing him… it touch her like that was wrong. My dreams may feature me taking her, but I would never do it. She deserved more than a dirty old man pawing her like that. I tried to ignore her aroused state. Instead focusing on Teal'c as he moved towards my double.
"Remove yourself from Major Carter." He warned. It didn't move. The hand that was in her hair ran down her body and over her breast, squeezing through her tac vest where her nipple was likely situated. Carter took in another ragged breath. Teal'c didn't hesitate further, he grabbed the holograms shoulders and made to jerk him away. It crackled and flickered causing Teal'c's grip to fall through it. It laughed and stepped to the side.
"You can't do anything to me, only he can make me leave." It said pointing toward me.
"Then leave, get out of here." I yelled back. I flicked my eyes to Carter. She had moved back to the wall and slid down it, her knees up and chin on them, eyes focused on nothing. "You OK Carter?" I asked. She didn't move, didn't acknowledge that I had spoken. Her eyes were still dilated and breathing hard, I had to look away again.
"You want her, Colonel. Why deny it?" The shadow said with a devilish smile.
"Major Carter? Are you well?" Teal'c asked. There was still no response. Teal'c looked at Daniel, then at me.
"CARTER! Snap out of it!" I bellowed, my voice causing her to jolt and look at me – the real me.
"Yes Sir, sorry… I'm here." She replied. Her face was still flushed, but she had managed to get her breathing under control. I studied her a little longer. The apparition appeared beside and little behind me in a flash.
"She wants you; you know." It whispered, "I felt her need, her desire, her heat… the way she responds... hmmm-mmm."
"Shut up!" I growled back, "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, yes I do. You dream about holding her, kissing her, fucking her with your tongue and your cock. You think about her as you sate yourself. I know you do because I am you." It said loud enough for everyone to hear. Carter had buried her face into her knees. I could see her shaking.
I turned on him… me, no it and scowled, gritting my teeth. "You are not me!" I yelled then spun back around to face Daniel. "Daniel, find something that explains this!" I gestured to the other me, then walked outside to breathe a little. I needed to be out of that room. That thing was right. I did want her, ever since day one when she dressed me down for calling her Doctor then challenging me to an arm wrestle. Seeing her turned on and wanting was enough to drive me even more crazy about her than I already was. I leaned against the wall as images of me taking her against the wall of the temple assailed my mind complete with the imagined wanton look on her face and vocalisations from the both of us in surround sound. 'Fuck!' I cursed myself, hitting my head on the aged wall. Propelling myself forward to walk another circuit of the ruins, I fought to rid my mind of everything Carter.
At first the attraction had been mild, innocent even, I could blame the touched virus for that. I'd had a taste of her voracity, her passion and I liked it. I wanted more. The more I worked with her, the worse it got. It started with wondering what it would be like to kiss her again and hold her for more than just comfort or when we were freezing to death. After a year, we had an overnighter where I had to share a tent with her. Her womanly scent filled the small space causing my sleep to be assaulted with dreams of her being under me, and over me. Kissing her alternate fuelled my desires and morphed my dreams to include scenarios where I had her backed up against walls, sitting on tables and bent over a desk while I drilled her from behind. Eventually those dreams evolved from hard and fast, lust filled fucking to slow passionate lovemaking. Then there was the force shield and my dreams changed again, this time they were of me waking up with her in my bed heavy with child, of fishing with her at the cabin, stargazing together, making her breakfast on a lazy Sunday morning. I dreamed of holding our first child, kissing her in our yellow kitchen, of family trips to the park. Dreams of things the Air Force dictated that I could not have with her.
"Stop it!" I grumbled to myself. I paced alongside one of the ruined buildings that was missing most of its roof, trying not to let my wayward thoughts consume me. If it hadn't been for Teal'c's attempt at removing that imposter revealing him as incorporeal, I'd have tried to kill him… me… IT… with my bare hands. Eventually after completing half a circuit, I turned around and headed back to the building. Walking back inside. Carter was up helping Daniel. I sat down on the floor by the wall. Carter walked over and started checking me over as was expected of a field medic. I clasped my hands together to avoid touching her. Daniel was trying to find something on the walls that could explain the second me and Teal'c was guarding the latter. As for my other self, he was pacing looking like a caged animal, his hands clenching and unclenching. I knew the look. I used to do the same thing back when I was black ops while waiting for go time during missions. I had chilled out a lot since those days. Though his eyes were fixed on Carter, like he was drinking her in. God, I hope I'd never looked at her like that. I felt instantly dirty.
"How are you feeling Sir?"
"How do you think I am feeling Carter?" I ground out. "I've got a… whatever the hell that is…" I paused because I didn't want to tell her that he was doing what I wanted to do. A rich laughter rolled out from the other side of the room. I saw Carter swallow and close her eyes. When she opened them again, they were dark – midnight in colour and she was breathing hard. God, even the sound of its voice was affecting her. I looked away lest the visions of me taking her come back in full force.
"You are so far from OK, Colonel, it's not funny." He purred with a smirk. "If you were OK, I wouldn't be here."
Daniel looked up from his patch of wall at that remark. "What do you mean if he were OK, you wouldn't be here?"
"Exactly that Daniel, I represent the things he denies himself – the want, the need, the desire."
"There's nothing wrong with me you prick!" I yelled and stood up, perhaps a little too fast. Carter stood alongside me and I felt her reach out to steady me. Her hands were shaking, which made me feel worse.
"Now, now… there's no reason to talk about yourself like that." My double replied.
"Jack! You're not helping! Other Jack… explain how you are here." Daniel said, his brow furrowed.
"I don't know how I'm here – that is your job Space Monkey." It said with a sneer.
"Don't you call me that." Daniel replied with a sharp look at the thing. "If you can't tell me how, then tell me why."
"He is suppressing himself." It said salaciously.
"I am not!" I lied.
It continued, ignoring my outburst. "He is constrained, duty-bound, obligated to do nothing. I am not bound by fetters. I will take what I want. I want what he wants, and he wants her." It said with eyes undressing Carter inch by inch.
"STOP!" I yelled, throwing my arms in the air, and stepping back from the Major. Major Carter. She is Major Carter – your subordinate – a soldier. I closed my eyes and reminded myself over and over that it was against regulations, that doing what I wanted to her was an offence under the UCMJ.
"Jack! Still not helping!" Daniel yelled back at me. I crossed my arms and looked away. Having Carter this close while this thing was breaking down my barriers was getting too much. I took my place seated against the wall again, a little further away from her. She moved with me, not understanding how close I was to breaking. I buried my hands under my backside. She was so close; it would be so easy to pull her in and kiss her senseless. Squeezing my eyes closed to fight the urge and curling my fingers underneath my butt - anything to stop me reaching for her. God, I could smell her shampoo and the scent of her arousal.
He… it looked down at me. "Even now, you are holding back, you are hiding. You want her. You can't lie to me, the more you feel it, the more I feel it. She wants you too."
At that little comment, Carter tensed, as she stood tall from her crouching position, still facing away from him, she turned her head to peer at him over her shoulder. "No, I don't, he is my CO." She replied coolly. I understood why she said it, still I didn't have to like it. The flash was fast, most like a blur, then he was behind her, fully materialised again. His hands found her hips, his lips found her ear. He pressed himself into her as he whispered something I couldn't hear. "Oh, God!" She moaned and leant her hands heavily against the wall, I saw her eyes dilate and her breathing escalate to panting as it kissed her neck, its eyes on me the whole time.
I stood up so quickly, my head swam, "Oh for crying out loud! Get your hands off her!" This time I did pull her into me. I ignored the feel of her warm breath on my neck, her arms wrapped around me. Teal'c walked up behind him to haul him backwards, but his hands passed through him yet again causing it to disappear, the sound of its guttural laugh fading away.
"It seems to have gone." Teal'c stated.
"You sure about that T?"
"I am not."
"You OK Carter?" I asked, turning my face into her hair. Her warm breath across my collar almost undid me. She just nodded. I moved away from her, desperate to not reveal the physical effects of her closeness and the holograms words.
"Daniel. Anything?" I asked the man who was the only one who could give us answers.
"Well, I haven't found a name yet, but this part here translates as 'those who worship him are possessed and empowered'."
"Possessed and empowered by what Daniel Jackson?"
"That I don't know – yet, but… over here, these reliefs show worshippers in various states of pleasure or passion, then there are the maenads interspersed throughout in various states of ecstasy."
"Meaning, Daniel?"
"Well as I said earlier, I would say we are definitely dealing with either Dionysus or Bacchus. The first being Greek, the second being the Romanised version."
"Daniel, what does it mean?" I ground out.
"It means - Jack - that your little fall into whatever that beam was has awakened a version of you that does not feel the same restraint that you do. Think of it as an altered state or version of you, one that is free – or unfettered – to act out its desires."
"That's it, pack it up. We are out of here!" I ordered, only to have both Daniel and Carter plead cases for 'give me bit longer' and 'I'm fine Sir' thrown at me from two different directions.
"Daniel, we don't know what this is. It poses a threat to..." I waved my hand in the air.
"What, Jack?" Daniel replied, his arms crossed and a scowl painted on his face.
"The team... it poses a - threat - yes, a threat to the team." I replied with a broken and minced sentence. In truth, it posed a threat to mine and Carter's sanity.
"Right. So how do you plan on explaining it to General Hammond if it follows us home?" Daniel said clearly. Crap. I hadn't thought of that.
"Follow us home?" I said disbelievingly, "Oh, c'mon what is the chance of that happening?"
"Maybe no chance, but do you really want to test that theory?" My answer to that was a 'HELL NO', because having to explain to Hammond that it wasn't my fault that I was balls deep in my 2IC over the briefing table was NOT on my list of stuff to discuss with my CO. I also did not relish discussing with Hammond why we were home early. I could just imagine how that conversation would go - 'So, let me get this straight Son, you are home early because a ghost of yourself wanted you to sleep with your subordinate.' Yeah! That would go down like a tonne of bricks.
"Great!" I complained. "Can we get rid of it?" I asked, hoping the answer was a definitive yes, and preferably before it drove me insane with want and desire for the blue-eyed beauty not three feet from me right now. We had another two days on this god forsaken planet - 48 hours of temptation. Crap!
"I assume you mean without you having to give in to… certain things?" He replied smugly. I didn't even bother giving him the benefit of an answer, not with Carter in the room.
"I'm going to check the perimeter. You work this out." I ordered, pointing at my archaeologist. Moving my eyes to Carter who was mercifully standing back by Daniel to help where she could, I decided that I would not ask her to join me. As much as I preferred Carter's conversation on patrol, I found I didn't trust myself with her – alone – right now. The physical manifestation of the thing had disappeared, but it was still here, in my head, my own voice telling me how much she wanted me, and why not give in to the urges I had to just take her. I had to get out of this room.
"Should I join you Sir?" She asked. Damn. I wanted to say yes, but I also needed to be away from her. The urge to do what the disembodied voice was telling me to do was hard to ignore. Nevertheless, like a good Colonel and CO, I ignored them, I would not subject her to my inner desires.
'Take her… you know you want to.'
"No Major, there's not much going on here. I'll radio if anything's amiss." I replied.
'Coward.'
I took a deep breath and looked at my watch, "You have 6 hours left today." I told Daniel before stalking out of the domed room. I walked out and started the perimeter, being sure to take my time. The voice didn't stop taunting me, telling how she tasted, how soft her body was, how she felt pressed against the wall.
"Dammit!" I cursed. "I will not give in to you." He reappeared in front of me, his eyes dark, his smile lascivious. I scowled at him. "Why won't you leave us alone?" I demanded but kept walking.
"Because you want her, and she wants you." He said keeping pace with me.
"Yeah, well there's a little thing called regulations that makes your whole argument moot. We can't have each other without jeopardising everything she has worked for."
"When did you become so noble? I don't recall you having these misgivings last time."
"What?!" I yelled, stopping on the spot.
"Hmm, what was her name… ah yes, Captain Amelia Kishorn. Do they know about her?"
Oh, that was low, bringing up the subject of a black ops mission over a decade ago. "Shut up! That is classified, she was a mole, and I was under orders. Any means necessary. If you really are me, you would understand that!"
"What about her career? It didn't stop you having your way with her in the back of the APC, or the ammo closet, or the barracks shower room, or any of the other places for that matter."
"She was a terrorist sympathiser with links to the bad guys. She was using her position to funnel unit movements to them. That is why her career went down the gurgler, not because I fucked her to get that information!" I yelled.
"So, you'll break regulations by fucking a sub, and let's not forget cheating on Sara, all because of orders, but you won't do it to end your own suffering and hers?" He said, before smirking and disappearing again.
"Samantha Carter is a model officer; she is the best damned 2IC I have ever had. I will not endanger her career because of my base desires." I yelled into the empty space. Cursing again, I resumed my walking. Before I knew it, I had completed two more perimeters. Checking my watch, I noted that we had 3 hours left. I continued my pre-set route. My radio crackled to life.
"SG-1Niner, SG1Niner, this is Carter. Over."
"Go ahead Carter."
"My assessment was out by an hour. We have 2 hours left to sunset Sir, packing up now and heading to the tree line. ETA 1 hour."
"Copy, I'll see you there. O'Neill out."
I picked up my pace to meet up with them, thankful that the voice had ceased its tormenting. The sooner we left this place, the better. I hoped that my devious other self was somehow connected to the planet and would not be making the trip back through the Gate, well at least I hoped that was the case. Otherwise, I hoped Daniel had something.