Sitting on the infirmary bed, Teal'c glanced to where his shackles now lay discarded. The sight of the wrist tethers could not help but remind him of long ago; of his first hours in the SGC when they had considered him a potential threat. He held no malice towards General Hammond or any other human for his treatment as they had had very little reason yet to trust him. But what he would always remember from that time was the faith O'Neill had placed in him.
As if responding to the thought, the curtain twitched open and his friend slid through the gap.
"Hey, Teal'c."
"O'Neill."
"How you feeling?"
"I am well."
"That's good. Oh, Carter and Daniel are fine, by the way. Daniel's a little tired but he seems okay."
"What of you, O'Neill?"
"Me? Oh, bit of a headache, that's all."
His gaze drifted back to where his recent shackles lay. As his friend's eyes followed, they darkened for a second before his expression grew deliberately lighter again. His memories of these last weeks had already come back to him but the last few days were nothing but a series of disjointed images thus far.
"O'Neill, why was I restrained?"
His friend looked ready to make some remark intended to deflect his interest away from that topic but then appeared to reconsider.
"First time we tried to get everyone back into their bodies it went wrong. Daniel nearly died and you and Carter... went a little darkside on us."
His eyes demanded elaboration and his friend quickly caved.
"You and I got into a little fight and you sort of tried to kill Daniel for his own good. But it wasn't you, T. Grelmin missed bits out when he put you three back in your bodies. Bits like the bit that told you those weren't good things to do."
Teal'c found his voice had abandoned him when he tried to reply because there were new images flashing through his mind. For a moment, he could see O'Neill sprawled against the wall with blood welling from a fresh wound in his arm and the liquid dripping from the blade of the knife he held; then he saw Daniel Jackson unconscious in an infirmary bed as his shadow fell across it. The images brought memory with them and he knew what he had done.
Aware he had not spoken for almost a minute now, he looked up.
"You say it was not me, O'Neill. And yet if it was a part of me then how can it be otherwise?"
Reading the awakened memories in his eyes, his friend replied, "Cos you had no conscience; it would have been the same for any of us."
More memories were surfacing.
"It was not the same for Major Carter. She was similarly afflicted and yet she attempted to kill nobody."
"Because we got to her in time, yeah."
"Or perhaps because there was no part of her which could interpret such deeds as acceptable."
O'Neill's eyes darkened. He did not have to explain to his friend what that statement had meant for the soldier understood immediately. Teal'c had spent decades in the service of the dead false god Apophis and had spent too many years justifying to himself why he followed such horrendous orders. Before he had had any part of him stolen by the Ha'ran technology, he had long since learned how to silence his conscience.
"Wasn't your fault, T. It was mine for assuming you were all right when Carter and Daniel were both messed up. I take it too much for granted sometimes that things are less likely to affect you. Look, you brought Daniel back to the base when something was wrong with him. You were trying to protect him then; hell, you were still trying to protect him when you tried to kill him. It was just your screwed-up self couldn't see the little ethical dilemma in the way of your plan."
"I did not intend to protect you, O'Neill."
Now there was true darkness in his friend's eyes as he sat down on the end of the bed and turned away. He said nothing for a moment but then, "No that time you were after revenge... and seeing as how I nearly killed you all by being a selfish ass can't say as I'd blame you if you'd done it with your conscience intact."
His memories were almost intact now so he understood the incident to which O'Neill referred. But O'Neill's only sin had been a small act of selfishness with consequences of unforeseen proportion; it was not comparable.
Apparently reading in his eyes that he would not soon accept absolution for his recent sins, O'Neill sighed, "Look, Fraiser wanted me to tell you that your results are all fine so you're free to leave the infirmary but she wants all of us to stay on base for a few days to be sure there're no... delayed reactions this time."
"That seems wise, O'Neill."
His friend nodded again.
"It's good to have you back, T."
Towelling her hair dry, Sam paused momentarily to assess herself in the mirror. Her slender legs gleamed in the light and the towel wrapped around her showed off her curves rather flatteringly when she pulled it in at her waist. Wasn't often she could stand and look at herself in the mirror without focusing on her flaws but after all that time in the Colonel's body she had to admit that it was rather nice to be home again. Or maybe it was just that all that time sharing a brain with three males had given her a new appreciation of the female form. Smiling wryly, she turned away from her reflection and finished drying her hair. She'd spent so many years, both as a scientist and as an airforce officer, trying to prove herself the equal of men that it had sometimes seemed like everything would have been so much simpler if ‘Sam' had been short for Samuel rather than Samantha. Well, been there, tried that and no thanks. Being a girl was much better.
After pulling on her clothes, she headed out of the locker room and into the corridor. Glancing down at her watch, she realised she had spent rather an indulgent length of time in the shower because she had only been released from the infirmary for a half hour after two hours of pleading with Janet and had abused her privilege by ten minutes already.
Picking up the pace without looking where she was going she came to the next junction without noticing and slammed right into the side of the man going the other way. As they fell to the ground in a shower of petals she found herself tangled up with...
"Rodney?"
Still clutching the remains of the bouquet, McKay pulled free of her and awkwardly made it to his feet.
"I thought you were in the infirmary..."
Brushing herself off as she got up, she replied, "Janet let me out to go get a shower...."
Trailing off as she realised she really hadn't needed to give McKay that much information never mind the accompanying mental images, she quickly changed topic.
"Those for me?"
Confused for a moment before remembering the tattered bouquet, he proffered it towards her.
"Here. Thought they might brighten up your bedside a little. Well, obviously there were a few more petals on them a minute ago."
Feeling a wave of affection for the scientist, she smiled. He could be so annoying sometimes but he was a quite decent human being if you could just see past the arrogant façade.
"Thank-you, Rodney. That's really sweet of you but you didn't have to buy me flowers."
"Oh, I didn't," McKay gestured behind him as he spoke. "There were a bunch of them in one of the rooms down the hall."
Rolling her eyes, she smiled to herself. He really was a decent human being deep-down. Really deep-down; somewhere under all the annoying.
"You sure know how to make a girl feel special, McKay."
"What? You wrecked them anyway..."
Two days later, Sam walked down the corridor alongside the rest of SG-1 and the soon-to-depart Rodney McKay. Daniel and the Colonel, in their civvies, were the first to break off from the group as they took the elevator to the surface. They were about to head off on their postponed trip up to the actual cabin in actual Minnesota. Turning before they left, her CO said, "You know, you guys are welcome to come as well..."
McKay, with a sideways glance at her, put his hand half up.
"Actually I..."
As the Colonel fixed him with a look, the scientist deflated and continued, more a question than a statement, "...have plans?"
The look still on his face, he nodded once before his expression fell to one of innocent disappointment.
"Really? Well that's just too bad, McKay. Teal'c? Carter?"
Shaking his head slightly, Teal'c replied, "I believe I will remain here."
There was a look shared between the three men that she understood well. The Colonel and Daniel had absolved Teal'c of any blame for what he had done to them but their Jaffa friend was not ready to forgive himself just yet and the guys knew there was nothing they could say to change that. Then, whilst she was still lost in contemplation, the Colonel turned to her. Her plans to take Cass to Toronto had been postponed for a while so she was available and she knew she'd said no to him so many times when it came to the cabin but she was only just back to being a girl and nowhere near ready for a guys' trip just yet.
"I...uh, have plans too, sir."
She'd said no enough times by now for him not to bother asking twice.
"Your loss, Major."
As the elevator car arrived, Daniel stepped forward and hugged her tightly then, breaking from her, pressed a hand against Teal'c's shoulder.
"Take care of yourselves. We'll see you when we get back."
Possibly in vengeance for her ‘plans', the Colonel added, "Provided Carter doesn't deck another civvy officer between now and then."
Rolling his eyes at his friend, the civilian turned to McKay.
"Thanks for your help."
The Colonel added, "Yeah, guess you're not so bad. Annoying, yes but..."
Turning serious for a moment, he added, "Look, you're part of the reason we're still here and we won't forget that. Maybe if a better post comes up for you I might see my way to putting in a good word."
As Daniel stepped into the elevator and held the doors, McKay brightened considerably.
"At the SGC?"
Eyes widening slightly, the Colonel hurriedly followed Daniel into the elevator and started pressing the button constantly as he replied, "Yeah, actually, I was thinking more like somewhere a little further afield. Like, y'know halfway round the world? Another planet? Tell you what, post comes up for someone to go do astrophysics in another galaxy and you're the first guy I'll be recommending for sure. Top of my list, without a doubt."
As the doors finally began to close, he added, "Thanks again. Bye."
As a rather bemused Rodney stared at the closed elevator door, she and Teal'c shared a smile before he turned round again.
When he did, Teal'c inclined his head towards him.
"You have my gratitude also, Rodney McKay."
She smiled, "Hey, Teal'c. I'll catch you up in a minute, okay?"
Reading her request, he nodded slightly before turning to head down the corridor.
Turning back to the waiting scientist, she went to add her own thanks but, before she could, he said, "So, after I've presented this report and coordinated the shipping of the device's remains, I've got a few hours to kill before my flight. They get me here quick enough when they need me but then it's oh just get a commercial flight back."
"Hey, at least you'll get fed."
"Oh, please, have you seen the stuff they serve on those planes?"
"You've time to eat before you go."
As his eyes lit up, she quickly clarified, "As in the singular ‘you'; not the plural ‘we'."
He looked lost.
"But you had plans too..."
She wondered how differently everything that came out of her mouth sounded in McKay's head.
"I have plans and you have plans; this does not imply we have plans."
"Oh."
As he deflated, she sighed, "Look, McKay, I just wanna say thanks for everything you did for us. Without you, I'm really not sure how this thing would've ended but I doubt it would've been good. The Colonel's right, you helped save all our lives and we won't forget that."
For a moment, he smiled at her with such appreciation that she once again remembered he was actually kind of a sweet guy when you got down to it.
And then, as usual, he wrecked it.
"So you owe me, right? Eternal gratitude?"
Sighing as she guessed where this was going, she folded her arms.
"Don't push it, McKay."
"But I was just thinking maybe you and I...?"
She fixed him with her most incredulous look until he caved.
"That's a no, right?"
"That's a never."
His eyes cast down to the ground so she said, "Although..."
As he eagerly looked back up, she continued, "...we both know there are parallel universes where every possibility is played out."
As he nodded, she stepped forward to walk past him.
Pausing just by his side, she said, "Yeah, not in any of them either."
Patting him lightly on the shoulder, she headed down the corridor.
Only half to her, he replied, "That was cruel; unnecessarily cruel."
Smiling slightly to herself, she said, "See ya, McKay."
Standing at the base of the ladder, Jack held it firm as he breathed in a deep lungful of that pure Minnesota air. He knew he was, by birth, from Chicago and, by heritage, from Ireland but it was somehow still Minnesotan blood that flowed through his veins. This was where he'd grown up; the place he got homesick for. That was why his rickety old cabin by its barren lake meant so much to him - even though he could've come up here and rented a better cabin near one of the fish-filled lakes, he would've just been a visitor. No, he owned this place and that meant he still had a place to come home to. And, now repairs were finally underway, he might even have a place to come home to where you didn't need an umbrella indoors when it rained.
Steadying the ladder as Daniel began his descent, he shifted his grip so his friend wouldn't trample his fingers.
As he climbed down, the linguist was saying, "... watertight this side but, from the looks of it, far right corner's going to be a couple of hours work at least."
Alighting gently on the ground, the bare-chested civilian let the hammer drop onto the grass and rolled his shoulder as if to work out a knotted muscle. Since he'd descended, Daniel had really amped up his workout sessions in the gym so even with the weight loss from his recent illness and loss of tone from such a long time spent lying totally inactive in the infirmary, his physique was still rather enviable. However, his endurance had obviously suffered and he sure didn't look up to working on for another couple of hours so he said, "The tarp's over the corner for now and doubt it's gonna rain anyhow. We can sort it tomorrow morning."
Nodding in agreement, the civilian set about pulling down the ladder and setting it on the grass before retrieving his crumpled shirt from where it lay abandoned. Meanwhile, after dragging the cold box over to the decking, Jack slumped down on the chair. A few moments later, Daniel sat down next to him and, after an overlong pause, said, "This is nice."
Opening a beer, Jack took a swig before adding, "And real; don't forget real."
His friend smiled.
"And real. We hope, at least."
"Oh, please, in our job? The amount of fake realities we've been through and things that have messed with our heads... you start playing that game and you end up realising pretty much the last seven years could've been a dream."
Daniel looked like he was considering it for a moment then smiled.
"Nah, a dream could never be as freaky as our reality."
Remembering his dream with Daniel dressed up like Charlie and Carter as a bride with a box of headless grooms, Jack murmured, "Yeah, well, maybe not your ones..."
Daniel didn't appear to have heard him as he continued, "It's odd; even now I remember everything, it's still hard trying to understand that all my conflicting memories are true. Especially the ‘glowy' ones; they're the oddest of them all. I can't even really bring them into focus...they don't fade away, exactly but the more I concentrate on them the fuzzier they get."
He could hear the bitterness in his friend's voice so replied, "So still no closer to getting your ascended memories back?"
Daniel shook his head.
"No, I am closer; that's the frustrating part. Finally, I can remember enough to know for sure that at least some of the knowledge is locked away in my head but not enough to give me the key to unlocking it."
Without Daniel's latent knowledge they would all be dead or part of a psychopathic super genius by now but his friend's time ascended was never something Jack was going to look back on with warm, cosy feelings so he changed topics.
"Did you talk to Teal'c again before we left?"
Nodding, Daniel took another swig from the bottle.
"He knows I don't blame him. I think it's just going to take him a while to let himself get past it. Like you."
"Me?"
"Tell me you don't still blame yourself for us getting submerged."
"And who the hell else would I blame, exactly? I didn't mean to nearly kill you all; that doesn't make it any less my fault."
"It was an impossible situation, Jack. We were never going to survive like that long-term. All that matters is you didn't give up on getting us out of there."
Smiling slightly, Jack replied, "I had help."
"I seem to recall that. Well, part of me does anyhow."
Thinking of the various different Daniels he'd interacted with during this mission, he said, "That's some mind you've got there, Jackson."
"Yours certainly made for an interesting vacation spot. But, you know what?"
His friend looked like he had something important to say so he earnestly asked, "What?"
Then the grin spread across his face.
"I sure pity any fool that had to live there."
THE END