Riplets
Riplets
by Badgergater
Summary: Who knew that there were so many possibilities?
Category: Humor, Missing Scene/Epilogue
Episode Related: 913 Ripple Effect
Season: Season 9
Pairing: Daniel/Sam, Daniel/Janet, Daniel/Sha're, Jack/Sara, Jack/other, Sam/Teal'c, Sam/Martouf, Sam/Pete, Sam/other, other pairing
Rating: FAM
Warnings: none
Author's Notes: Author's Note: This is the only episode of S9 I?ve actually watched since the first three, because I knew who the guest would be, and she's always been one of my favorites; considering how once again the writers snubbed Jack fans, it?s doubtful I?ll watch any more. Oh, and though Janet, bless her heart, actually asked the question all Jack fans are asking, "where is General O'Neill?" once again, the writers ignored the issue (and continued to diss all us Jack fans) and did not answer. (Shame on them.) Thanks to Tash and Cokie for the betas; this one is for all the real Jack fans out there, who know there are better worlds and better fates for him.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story was created for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 02/26/06
To say the least, Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter found it disconcerting to look around the room and see copy after copy after copy after copy after copy of herself. It was like looking into a dozen mirrors in the carnival's fun house. Though, to be accurate, they weren't in fact copies of herself, or even duplicates, but alternate others/selves. They were, however, still disconcerting, even unsettling, at the same time that the situation was scientifically intriguing. Fascinating, in fact.
At them moment, however, she needed a break from herself. Quietly leaving the chaotic dayroom, Sam sought a few quiet moments alone to collect her scattered thoughts.
Arriving at the cafeteria, Carter hurried through the food line, selecting a bowl of blue Jello and carrying it to a table in the back corner of the room, savoring the chance to be alone.
She'd taken only a mouthful when 'she' walked in.
Another she-her-Sam-Carter.
Sam sank down low into her chair, but it was too late. She'd been spotted.
The black clad other Sam also selected a bowl of blue Jello and made a beeline straight for her table, taking a seat without asking. The alternate Sam scooped up a spoonful of the gelatin and stuck it in her mouth, tasting it hesitantly before breaking into a smile. "Wow. This is great."
"They don't have blue Jello in your universe?"
"No."
"That's unfortunate."
"Yes, it is." The other Sam devoured the treat, then spied the bowl that Sam had left untouched ever since her duplicate had appeared. "If you don't want that?" she suggested.
"Help yourself." Sam, no longer hungry, pushed the bowl across the table to the other her. Sam was contemplating a way to make her escape when, out of the blue, the black clad Sam asked, "So who are you with?"
"Excuse me? With? I *was* alone here--"
The other Sam gave her a conspiratorial smile. "With, you know. Oh, don't play little miss innocent with me, because we aren't."
"We aren't?" Sam asked, caught off guard.
"None of us, well, except maybe that weird geek with the glasses." The black clad Sam dropped her voice. "I think she's still a virgin."
"I think that's her business."
Black clad Sam shook her head. "Oh please, don't tell me that you're another Miss Priss."
Sam blushed.
Black clad Sam laughed. "See, I knew it. Who is it?"
"No one."
Black clad Sam raised an eyebrow. "No one? Really."
"Well, I was engaged. Last year. To Pete Shanahan."
Black clad Sam slurped down another spoonful of Jello. "Never heard of him. Which team is he on?"
"No team. He's a police office. My brother Mark set us up."
Black clad Sam smirked. "*Mark* set you up?"
"He seemed to think I needed to expand my social horizons."
"So what happened?"
"I broke it off."
"Because?"
"Just because." Sam answered stubbornly.
"So, you and Mitchell aren't, you know?"
"Cameron? No. Are you?"
Black clad Sam smiled.
"You are!" It was Sam who leaned down closer this time, whispering. "Isn't that against the regulations?"
"Not in my universe. We've been together since shortly after he joined the SGC."
Sam sat back. This Sam's teammate Teal'c *had* said something about this Sam going off on a honeymoon. But with Cameron? She'd honestly never thought of Cameron Mitchell that way. He was as forbidden a fruit as General O'Neill had been.
She had to know. "So, if you and Cam are--together?"
"Married."
"Well, what about General O'Neill?"
"Who?"
"General Jack O'Neill. As a colonel, he was commander of SG-1 for seven years, until just over a year ago when he was promoted."
"The Colonel O'Neill on my world died six years ago. He sacrificed his own life to save Colonel Frank Cromwell from being sucked into a black hole."
Sam sat back, stunned.
"Well, to be precise, he may not have 'died' yet. Considering the time dilation factor, and his increasing proximity to the black hole itself, he would be experiencing an extreme slowing of time. But then, I don't have to explain that to you, do I?" Black clad Sam smiled. "So that mishap didn't happen here?"
"It did, but differently. Here, it was Colonel Cromwell who was killed."
The alternate Sam looked puzzled. "If O'Neill's on your team, I haven't seen him here. Where's he now?"
"In Washington. A few months ago he was promoted to major general and assigned to lead Homeworld Security."
"Wow. Major General. Impressive."
--------x-------
When the Jello was gone and the alternate version of herself had left, Sam couldn't get the conversation out of her head. The other her was married to Cam? Who, she suddenly wondered, were the other Samantha Carter's involved with? It was silly, but, curiosity piqued, she had to know or it would bug her forever.
Sam went in search of her other selves.
--------x---------
The first other her she found was wearing ordinary looking blue BDUs. "Hi."
"Hello."
"Oh, this is ah, awkward, isn't it?"
"It certainly is," blue clad Sam agreed.
"Are your quarters comfortable? You're finding everything you need?"
"Yes," the Sam in blue BDUs answered her eagerly. "This place is amazing. I wish they'd let me connect my laptop into the mainframe- you couldn't, ah, help me there, could you?"
"Sorry. I'm afraid there are security concerns."
"I understand, but I'd really like to learn more about your naquadah reactor. It seems much more advanced than our own."
"Maybe later." Sam paused, lowering her voice. "Actually, I was wondering, girl to girl, who, ah, who you're-- I see you've got a ring hanging on your dog tags. On this world that would be a wedding band."
The blue clad Sam smiled, fingering the jewelry. "I shouldn't have it with me, I know, but it was hard enough taking it off to go on missions."
"So, you've been married how long?"
"Almost a year now. I really miss him."
"He's?"
"Gone to Atlantis."
"General O'Neill went to Atlantis?"
"No. Rodney."
"Rodney McKay?" Sam asked, aghast.
Blue BDUs Sam's smile turned dreamy. "I've never met anyone else who could understand even a small percentage of what I was talking about. No one else comprehends quantum physics in quite the same intricate way. It's stimulating just to talk with him."
Trying not to be too obvious, Sam created a diversion. "And what about Daniel? In your reality?"
"After we recovered Sarah and removed Osiris, they kept on seeing each other. They were married a few months ago."
"And General O'Neill?"
"You mean Colonel O'Neill?"
"Right. Right. Colonel O'Neill."
"Five years ago, we went to a planet called Edora--"
"We went there, too."
"Colonel O'Neill was left behind when a meteor strike destroyed the gate. It took over three years for us to reach him and by then, he and Laira had two kids and another on the way. He stayed."
"Wow. That's-- I'm happy for him."
--------x----------
Starting a conversation with this Alternate Sam was easy. "That's an extremely interesting color uniform you're wearing," Sam opened.
"Peridot camo," said the other Sam with a laugh.
"No one but General O'Neill could have thought of that."
"That's right. It was one of many things he changed when he was given command of the SGC."
"You call it Stargate Command in your reality then too?"
"No, SGC stands for StarGate Central, actually."
"General O'Neill's still in command?"
"No, a year ago, when it looked like we'd won all our wars, defeated the Goa'uld and destroyed the Replicators, he retired. I'm not sure where he and Kerry moved."
"Kerry? Kerry Johnson, of the CIA? Tall brunette, lots of hair? Likes pink shirts and well done steaks?"
"That's her."
This was going to take a little contemplation, Sam thought. "And Daniel?"
"He wanted to go to Atlantis, but he missed the Enterprise-"
"Enterprise?"
"That's our newest ship, capable of FTL travel. Part of it is back-engineered from Goa'uld ships, and then the Asgaard gave us a lot of help with the hyper drive engines and the transport beams, of course."
"That sounds very similar to our version, though we call our ship the Prometheus."
"Someone suggested that name, but General O'Neill shot it down. He said it sounded too much like a Greek tragedy or something."
"Or something," Sam grinned. "So, Daniel?"
"Oh, right, he stayed on at the SGC, although Janet really didn't want him to."
"They're together?"
"Married, very married," peridot camo Sam replied. "Cassie has a little sister. You?"
"Single. No kids."
AU Sam shook her head. "Too bad. About being single. Kids would be a problem, but since I work with my husband, Graham understands the demands of the job."
"Graham Simmons?"
--------x----------
The next Sam she found was dressed in a rather plain sand colored uniform. Sam started the conversation and soon worked it around to the information she just had to know. "So, are you married?" she finally just came right out and asked.
The sand clad AU Carter lowered her voice. "No, but Teal'c and I, we've been, 'together' for two years."
Sam gulped. "Teal'c?"
"He was always there for me. When we lost Daniel and then not long after, the Colonel, it was Teal'c I turned to. We started as friends, but, friendship turned into something more. Not that I expect we'll ever marry, I doubt he'll ever get over losing Shau'nac."
"What about Dry'ac and Ry'ac?"
"Who are they?"
"Uh, never mind. But you did get Daniel back, right?"
"Yes. He was ascended for about a year."
"What happened to the Colonel?"
"Colonel O'Neill? Two years ago, he disappeared on a mission. Harry Maybourne had possession of an alien device that was supposed to activate a transport beam that would take us to a major weapons cache. While we were on the planet, establishing protocols for our initial attempt to activate the transport mechanism, which we believe was technology abandoned by the Ancients, Harry snatched my weapon, zatted me and used the device to trigger the transport beam. When Maybourne jumped into the beam, the Colonel dived after him, trying to stop him. They both disappeared. We scoured the planet for weeks, but we were never able to find any sign of either one of them."
"Did you check the planet's moon?"
"The moon?" sand clad Sam asked.
"Yes, the moon above P5X-777. I think you'll find them there. At least, we did," she paused. "If they haven't killed each yet other over the arugala."
"Over arugala?"
---------x------------
"So, are you married?" by the fifth Other Sam, this one dressed in khaki camo of a slightly reddish hue, the 'real' Sam abandoned the polite preliminaries and just came right out and forthrightly asked what she wanted to know.
"Three years. No kids yet, but with this job, well, you know. I keep thinking about taking some time off, but I'm sure you understand how difficult that is. Joe and I do eventually plan to have a family."
"Joe?"
"Joe Faxon. He's the earth's ambassador to our off-world allies."
"What happened to General O'Neill?"
"The Colonel, you mean?"
Sam nodded. "Yes."
"He retired when Kinsey became president. Moved to his cabin in Minnesota. Turned into a recluse, doesn't talk to any of us, not even Daniel. Well, he'll let Teal'c visit once in a while, but Teal'c is rarely on Earth these days."
"Wait, Senator Kinsey was elected president?"
The other Sam nodded glumly.
Sam was getting a bad, bad feeling. "Ah, did you meet some people called the Aschen? On either P4C-970 or through the Volians?"
"Yes. Joe is working to secure our membership in the Aschen Confederation. They've been awfully friendly. Everyone loves them, well, except for the Colonel."
"Sam, you should listen to him. There are things you need to know about the Aschen."
---------x-----------
The Sam wearing a forest camo jacket and BDUs stared at Sam in amazement. "*General* O'Neill? Since when would they allow a Tok'ra to become an Air Force General?"
"O'Neill is a Tok'ra?"
"Yes, he and Kanaan were blended three years ago, to save O'Neill's life after he contracted the Ancient virus during a mission to Antarctica."
"And he just accepted a symbiote? Willingly?" Sam asked, stunned.
"Not really. The Colonel was unconscious, near death, and we had to make the decision for him. We needed the information he was carrying. We got that data from him, but, otherwise, the whole thing backfired on us. O'Neill never really forgave any of us for what we did, especially not General Hammond. I suppose that's why he left."
"Left? To go where?"
"To join the Tok'ra resistance. Under his leadership, they adopted aggressive new fighting tactics and launched an all-out offensive that drove the Goa'uld out of our galaxy and three others, and has them retreating all across the galaxy."
"Wow."
"O'Neill's military experience in combination with Kana'an's knowledge created a formidable warrior leader, the likes of which the Tok'ra had never known."
"What about you?" Sam aksed. "Are you, well, with someone?"
"Of course." The forest clad Sam pulled back her jacket to reveal the nametag on her shirt.
Sam read it with surprise. "Barrett? As in *Malcolm* Barrett?"
"We met several times over the years. He kept asking me out and I kept brushing him off, but finally I followed Daniel's advice and went out with him. You and he aren't--?"
"No."
--------x---------
Olive BDUs did nothing for her complexion, Sam noted as she chatted with this one of her alternate selves.
"I'm Army. I always wanted to join the military but I didn't want to ride Dad's coattails in the Air Force. The Army guys are pretty macho, but I think that's true in all the branches of the service."
"So you command SG-1?"
The other Sam nodded. "Ever since StarGroup-1 was formed. Major Mitchell just joined us, but Colonel Kawalsky, Doctor Jackson and I have been on the team since the beginning."
"Who was your fourth, before Mitchell?"
"Major Griff. He retired nearly a year ago. We had a hard time replacing him."
"No teammates named O'Neill, two L's? Tall, gray haired, brown eyes, sort of wacky sense of humor?"
"There's a Marine Colonel O'Neil I've met, spelled with only one L though, very humorless."
"No, no, that wouldn't be him." Sam paused. "What about aliens on the team?"
"Aliens? Wouldn't be allowed, far too dangerous and untrustworthy."
"Um. Right. So how's Dad?"
"He died of cancer six years ago."
"The Tok'ra didn't help him?"
"Who are the Tok'ra?"
--------x---------
This other Sam was wearing an orange jumpsuit. It was what she'd had on under the hazmat suit she and her teammates had been wearing when they arrived through the gate. Sam already knew that this version of her wasn't military but was a civilian member of her world's SG-1, and a very worried and sad looking one. "So, is everything okay for you here?" Sam asked.
The other Sam nodded glumly. "I'm just worried about Jake."
"Jacob? Dad?"
"No, no, Jake is my son. Daniel stayed home with him. He's a great dad, but--" there were tears glistening in her eyes, "Jake is special, you know."
Sam shook her head, she didn't know.
"He has, he was born with congenital abnormalities. All the radiation I've been exposed to, all the alien viruses, even the Naquadah in my blood, we're not sure which one, or ones, caused the problems."
"I'm sorry."
The alternate Sam nodded. "Janet warned me before we conceived, but Daniel and I, we wanted children so much-"
"So, you and Daniel, wasn't he married to Sha're?"
"She was taken by the Goa'uld. We searched for her, but she was killed. Daniel and I, we spent so much time working together it just sort of happened. Jake is three."
"How do you find the time, to be both mom and scientist?"
"It's not easy. But I don't go off world as much as I used to. Of course, since they split up the teams between the STAGDEF and the OWES--"
"STAGDEF? OWES?"
"The Stargate Defense Program, run from Earth, by General Vidrine, and the Off-World Exploration Site. General O'Neill commands the OWES teams from our beta site."
-----------x---------
"It's just very-awkward-- seeing Martouf here," said the Sam in the gray uniform.
"Really?"
"I have to hold myself back, after all, he's not my Martouf."
"Your Martouf?"
Sam in the gray outfit nodded. "Aren't you and he married?"
"No. The Martouf in my reality died five years ago."
Sam in gray's face blanched. "That's terrible. How did you? Oh, you have my sympathy. This must be incredibly hard for you, having him here."
"It is, yes, but the Martouf I met, we never really got to know each other that well."
"Don't you have Jolinar's memories of him?"
"Only some of them," Sam blushed, "though they are rather intense."
The gray clad Sam smiled. "It was hard at first, to distinguish my own feelings from hers, but he's such an amazing person. I can't imagine myself being with anyone else."
"Oh, I'm not. With anyone. Right now." But almost every other Samantha Carter she talked with was giving her new possibilities to consider.
-----------x---------
The black and white camo-clad Sam laughed at the question. "Who am I with? Hey, after I divorced Jonas Hansen, I swore off men. Forever. It's bad enough I have to work with them every day, much less want to live with one ever again."
"Um, I saw you arrived with people on your team that I didn't know. What happened to the others then, the ones who are on my team? Doctor Daniel Jackson? Teal'c? Colonel O'Neill?"
"Colonel O'Neill commands our top first contact team, SG-FC, with Lieutenant Colonel Kawalski as his second. My team, SG-T 1, is the first, and best, of our off-world technology adaptation teams."
"Wow. That's-- different."
The other Carter shrugged. "It fits us. We've found some interesting alien technology, even managed to back engineer several important artifacts."
"That's good. And the others, my friends, ah, how are they doing personally? Any of them married or anything?"
"Daniel's with Sha're of course. I never heard of anyone named Teal'c. And Colonel O'Neill, I know he was separated after his kid died, but he went back and worked things out with Sara after the first Abydos mission. They adopted a couple of kids that were rescued on missions, Cassandra, Merrin and Loran."
----------x---------
"Jolinar and I often find it hard to agree on the personal side of our lives," the blue camo clad Sam explained.
"You and Jolinar?" Sam asked, stunned.
"You don't know of the Tok'ra and Jolinar of Malkshur?"
"Oh, yeah, I know. I mean, I was her host. But only for a few days. She died saving my life."
"I'm sorry you didn't get to know her better. "
Sam shuddered. "Isn't it a little-- odd, sharing your-brain, with another consciousness?"
"Actually, it's an incredible experience! She's amazing. The knowledge Jolinar has shared with me, sometimes it's absolutely overwhelming," the AU Sam explained enthusiastically. "There's so much to learn, it just seems like there are never enough hours in the day to delve into it all."
The blue camo clad Sam dropped her head. When she raised her gaze, her eyes glowed white and she spook in the harmonic tone of the symbiote. "You should not fear me, Samantha. We would have been friends."
----------x---------
"So what about General O'Neill?"
"What about him?" asked the tan clad Sam.
"Well, you know, did you and he, ever?"
"Are you kidding? He's the most married man I've ever met."
"Married? To?"
"Sara, of course. They've been married since long before he joined the Stargate program, and they've got a whole house full of kids."
"Holy Hannah. Does he have a son named Charlie?"
"Yes, he's their oldest."
"He's okay? Never had any accidents?" Sam asked.
"He's a great kid. Just graduated from high school, and he's following in his Dad's footsteps, going to the Air Force Academy."
"That's wonderful. The Colonel would be very proud."
The alternate Sam was staring at her. "Doesn't the O'Neill here have a son named Charlie?"
Sam shook her head. "Here, Charlie O'Neill was an only child, and he died when he was ten, in a terrible accident."
"That must have devastated the Colonel."
"It did." Sam smiled sadly. "I'm glad that he still has his son in your reality." She paused. "And you? Are you with anyone?"
"Aden."
Sam took a step back. "Aden Corso?"
Tan clad Sam nodded.
"But, isn't he a, ah-" she didn't want to call him a criminal, or a prisoner, though either would in fact be accurate.
"He's captain of the Hebridan warship Sebrus. Long distance relationships are difficult, I don't see him very often, but maybe some day we can spend more time together. He just loves my souffls."
--------x--------
"No, I'm not *married*, precisely, we're actually lifemates, but then the Tolan's concept of marriage *is* different from ours," answered Sam in the brown leather vest.
"The Tolan?"
"Narim and I met nine years ago, when we rescued a small group of Tolan from their homeworld which was being overwhelmed by a series of massive volcanic eruptions-"
"Yes, my team went to P3X-7763, too."
"Narim and I connected then, but we didn't formally get together until after his people's new homeworld of Tollana was destroyed."
"By Tanith, working with Anubis."
The other Sam nodded in agreement. "We didn't know that at the time. Narim was injured helping SG-1 escape the bombardment of the planet. We brought him back to Earth with us, and saved his life. We've been together ever since."
"Who else is on your SG-1?"
"Mitchell, Daniel and Teal'c, same as yours."
"And Colonel O'Neill?"
"He was promoted to Brigadier General two years ago, and assigned to lead the Atlantis expedition. They gated out and vanished. We don't know what happened to any of them. We're still searching, but we've had no contact with them since the day they departed."
----------x---------
The Sam with glasses stuttered. "Me? Married. No. Why would you think that?"
"Well, some of us from the other alternate realities, are."
"Are you?"
"No."
"I had a crush on Daniel, but he wasn't interested." The Sam with glasses leaned in close and whispered. "I think Jay likes me, though."
Jay? Sam had to think. "Jay Felger? But he's--"
"He's so smart, and so smooth, and just a dreamboat," Sam with glasses gushed.
"Dreamboat?"
"Uh huh."
"What about Colonel O'Neill, what do you think about him?"
"I don't think about him, he's my commanding officer."
"Teal'c, then, he's on your team, isn't he?"
Sam with glasses shuddered. "Yes, but he's scary. I just try to stay out of his way."
----------x---------
"Daniel's with Kera?" Sam asked, astonished.
The other Sam, wearing a sleeveless black t-shirt, nodded. "He met her not long after he lost Sha're. We were worried it was an on-the-rebound thing, but it's lasted five years now."
"You found Kera on Vyus, right? After the vorlix gave all the inhabitants amnesia?"
"Exactly. Janet and I spent weeks puzzling over the cause of the anomaly. We think it may have had something to do with a chemical we found on the planet. It was called Dargol, but we never did solve the questions about exactly how it could have been the origin of the phenomena. How something could cause the entire population of a whole world to simultaneously lose their memory remains a medical mystery."
"So you don't know who Kera really is?"
Other Sam in the sleeveless black tee shook her head. "Is that important? Do you know?"
"I'm not sure you should tell Daniel this, but it was Kera herself who created the vorlix, unintentionally, its true, but-- Kera wasn't Kera then, she was-Linea."
"Linea? Destroyer of Worlds? Holy Hannah."
More of an Unholy Hannah, Sam thought.
----------x---------
"Please don't tell me you've never met Orlin," said the Sam in the white uniform.
"Orlin? Yes, he and I met when my team went to P4X-636." At the white-dressed Sam's look of puzzlement, she added. "Velona?"
"Ah, yes. You must have a different system for designating planets."
"True." She didn't want to go into the details of what had recently happened to the Orlin she knew. "So-"
"That was four years ago. Orlin followed us home, and showed up at my home shortly after we returned from our mission. He scared me half to death when he just appeared there, walking through the walls and the furniture. He nearly got me sent in for a psychiatric evaluation before he finally took on human form, a fully functional human form," white-dressed Sam added with a smile.
"He stayed at my house for a few days," the real Sam recalled how he'd wined and dined her. And run up her charge cards buying toasters and microwaves to build a Stargate in her basement, sort of the MacGyver of the Ancients.
"On my Earth, he's stayed a lot more than a few days. Since I was able to convince General Bauer that he wasn't a threat, but rather, an asset, we obtained a security clearance for him. He's an invaluable asset to Stargate Central." Other Sam dropped her voice lower. "And the best lover I've ever had."
----------x---------
All the other Sams and all their different relationships were beginning to make her head throb again and her eyes glaze over. Maybe a few minutes alone would help her to clear her head and concentrate on solving the problem at hand so she could send all these Sams, Daniels, Teal'cs and Mitchells back where they belonged. Deciding to go check on Daniel, Carter hurried through the corridors toward his office. Making the sharp left turn, she ran straight into a Jack O'Neill.
He obviously wasn't the Jack O'Neill from her own reality. This one looked younger-his hair was still a dark gray with a hint of brown remaining here and there. There were fewer lines on his face. Most of all, his eyes twinkled with unconcealed humor and his grin was wider, more open, than any she'd ever seen on the O'Neill she knew.
Unsure how to address him, not knowing if he was a General or Colonel or something else entirely, she decided on the sure and simple. "Sir!"
"Hey, Carter." His smile morphed into a frazzled frown. "Ah, which Carter are you?"
"The one from this world, actually, Sir. Lieutenant Colonel Carter, of SG-1."
"Ah, yes. Colonel Jack O'Neill, of SG-1 from my very own Earth. Arrived here, totally unexpectedly I might add, via PX- something something, out there somewhere." He waved a hand in the air, vaguely in the direction of the gateroom.
The waving hand revealed a gold ring on the third finger of his left hand. "You're the first Colonel O'Neill who's come through the gate," she stated.
"Yes. Strange, isn't it? And disappointing."
She raised an eyebrow in question. "Disappointing, Sir?"
"Pretty much I'm either dead, or a general. Sad end either way."
"Being promoted to general is an accomplishment, Sir."
He snorted derisively. "Me, the man? Sure, the paycheck would be nice. And the parking space. And being able to call up the president and talk curling would be cool. But stuck behind a desk? Away from the action? Putting up with sycophants and politicians?" He shook his head. "Not for this Jack O'Neill."
There was an awkward pause, and then she decided she might as well ask. "Your team, Sir? Who's on it?"
"Daniel, Teal'c, Kawalsky and me."
"Really?"
"Yes. You, or your counterpart Carter on my world, is a civilian scientist working for the SGC. Just as much of a brainiac, just not a military brainiac."
"So we're not teammates?"
"Nope. Putting you on an SG team would be pretty awkward, what with your father being commander of the SGC."
"My father?"
"General Jacob Carter."
Sam smiled softly. "That's nice. For him."
"So, are you going to figure this out soon?"
"In a hurry, Sir?"
"Actually, yes. Sara will have my hide if I miss Charlie's graduation."
Sam gulped. No wonder this O'Neill seemed so different than the one she knew, so much less grim and less burdened. "We're doing our best, Sir."
"Oh, I know you are. You always do, Carter."
"Thank you, Sir. And I'd better be getting back to work on that then." Sam turned to go, then stopped to look back at him. "Colonel, don't be disappointed that you're not a general. You have other things that this world's General O'Neill would trade his life for." She saw the puzzled frown appear on his face, but turned away again, hurrying toward her lab. She wasn't going to be the one to explain that to him.
------x-------x------
The last few days had been an eye opening experience for Lieutenant Samantha Carter. She'd never before really considered all the possibilities in the world-worlds-that surrounded her. So many, many opportunities had been revealed to her.
But now it was time for the last other SG-1 to go home. This was the one Sam didn't want to see leave, because this was the one that included both of her lost friends, Martouf and Janet Fraiser. Sadly, she'd been so busy finding a way to get all the teams back to their own realities that she'd hardly had time to talk to them. Except, of course, for that truncated conversation with Martouf, interrupted by Kvasir, when he'd been on the brink of telling her what had happened to the Sam on his world, why she wasn't on the team that had arrived here.
"Your presence has been sorely missed on our team," Martouf told her.
Sam had to know. "Just out of curiosity, where did I go?"
"Maternity leave," Janet smiled as she stepped forward and hugged her, and whispered two more words into Sam's ear. It wasn't until after the diminutive doctor had gone back through the gate to her own reality that Sam Carter realized the implication of what Janet had told her, but it was too late to ask for clarification.
They were gone.
"Maternity leave? Peter Junior?"
xxx---------xx The End xx-----------xxx
18
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Author's Note: This is the only episode of S9 I?ve actually watched since the first three, because I knew who the guest would be, and she's always been one of my favorites; considering how once again the writers snubbed Jack fans, it?s doubtful I?ll watch any more. Oh, and though Janet, bless her heart, actually asked the question all Jack fans are asking, "where is General O'Neill?" once again, the writers ignored the issue (and continued to diss all us Jack fans) and did not answer. (Shame on them.) Thanks to Tash and Cokie for the betas; this one is for all the real Jack fans out there, who know there are better worlds and better fates for him.Site Navigation
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