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"That's my dad," Allie breathed, her eyes focused on the picture Grace had selected. She seemed frozen in place, but Grace herself barely noticed.
She stared at the picture Allie had. Allie's mother's hair was darker and shorter than Grace's mom's had been towards the end of her life - but there was no denying that this woman had the same face. And if Grace had needed any sort of clarification as to whether or not she was related to this woman, all she had to do was look in the bathroom mirror. This woman's eyes were the same as hers.
"And that's my mom," she whispered quietly. The two of them had the same parents. But at the same time, they didn't. What the heck? She couldn't understand how this had happened.
"So what does this even mean?" Allie asked, clearly thinking along the same lines as her. Her blue eyes, so like Grace's own, looked as puzzled as Grace felt. "We couldn't be twins..."
"But we have the same parents," Grace finished, letting her own frustration show. "And since I really believe that my dad didn't lie about my mom dying, I don't know what's going on here."
"I don't either," Allie admitted. "I mean, it's not like there could be two of each of them, right?" Her eyes grew wide suddenly. "Wait a minute, could they actually be clones?"
Grace considered it for a long moment before shaking her head. "I don't think so. I mean, why would anyone clone our parents? And then just have them working in different places here? Who could even do that?"
"They are pretty valuable assets. Or, at least, I know for sure our mom is," Allie remarked. Gosh, she even thinks like Dad. "Why wouldn't the Air Force want two Samantha Carters or two Jack O'Neills?" Allie shook her head a moment. "Gosh, this is so weird."
"For real," Grace agreed. But... She gave Allie a small smile. "I always wanted a sister, though. We basically are sisters, you know."
Allie smiled back. "Yeah. I always wanted a sister, too." Her eyes shone with warmth. For some crazy reason, Grace half wanted to cry happy tears over it all. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and get a grip on the emotions welling up inside her.
"I still don't think they're clones, though," Grace continued, running through the possibilities in her head once more. "I mean, when did your mom start working at her base? It's the one in Nevada, right?"
"It is," Allie replied, looking a bit stunned. She clearly remembered that she hadn't mentioned which base her mom worked at before. She took a moment to think, staring at the ceiling as her eyebrows wrinkled. "She started there less than a year before I was born."
"Same here," Grace confirmed. "Surely they wouldn't have had both Samantha Carters working there at the same time."
"I agree," Allie nodded. "But if our parents aren't clones of each other - and I don't think they are one and the same - then where does that leave us?"
Something began niggling Grace in the back of her mind. An article she'd read long ago for science class...
"There's this theory," Grace thought aloud, "that there are a series of alternate realities. Some of them are pretty similar to each other. Maybe you and I and each set of our parents are from alternate realities."
"That's not a proven theory," Allie pointed out. "But Mom did kinda sound like she thought it was true... We've talked about it before after watching one of those Marvel movies."
"I think your parents are the ones from an alternate reality," Grace opined carefully, a bit hesitant to see how Allie would respond.
Allie's face scrunched up a bit, but then she said, "I think you're right."
Grace was a little surprised that she agreed and that she took it so well. "Why do you agree with that?" she asked curiously. She knew her own reasons for her conclusion, but wanted to see what insight her... sister had.
"Well, I don't think the government would put an alternate reality Jack O'Neill in as high a position as your dad is," she hummed. "Mom said my dad only got up to Brigadier General. Yours is a Major General, right?"
"Right," Grace responded. "And I've got a grave for my mom. Do you have one for your dad?"
Allie shook her head, looking a little sad. "Mom said they weren't able to have one. I thought that meant no one could recover the body. I didn't think..."
"That it was in another reality?" Grace questioned softly. "Your mom must have come over with you after he..." She let her voice trail off.
"I think we're right about this," Allie quietly stated. "But how do we confirm it? It's all conjecture right now."
"I mean," Grace suggested, "we could just ask our parents, I guess."
"They'd deny it," Allie said firmly, crossing her arms and giving Grace a knowing look. "Or, maybe not deny it, but at least find some way to argue around it. This could be the result of some crazy Air Force operation, Grace. We'd have to bring in evidence they couldn't argue about for them to actually admit something this huge."
Grace knew Allie was right. This would definitely fall in the category of classified information, and Dad was a stickler for not revealing any of that. "So we what - take a picture of us together? Facetime?"
Allie had a mischievous look in her eyes. Grace just knew that she was going to regret asking her next question.
"What are you thinking, Allie?"
Allie grinned. "I think we should switch places."