What If (Part 4)
What If (Part 4)
by Th1rteen
Summary: The saga continues
Category: Alternate Universe
Season: any Season
Pairing: Jack/Sam
Rating: GEN
Warnings: none
Author's Notes: Author's notes: I realize it has taken FOREVER for me to post this chapter, but I'm having something close to writer's block when it comes to this story! That being said, I really appreciate everyone who's stuck it out with me here and e-mailed me and even posted to forums asking about this story. For a while life got in the way. but right now I have no excuses. With any luck I'll be posting a fifth chapter soon!
Again, thank you to all of you who are still with me and patiently waiting. Also, whoever it was that nominated me for the Sam and Jack awards for best A/U, thank you very much, it was an honor!
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: 08/09/05
"Could you gentlemen please tell me why I'm here?" Asked a man with a voice so deep it reverberated in the chest of every person in the room.
"We've made a discovery."
There was silence.
"We've found an artifact. We believe it is a gateway, or portal of some type. We have an archeologist analyzing and translating the symbols on it."
"Why does this concern me?"
"He thinks he knows how to use the device."
"Who is this person?"
"His name is Daniel Jackson."
"Why are you wasting my time? That man isn't an authority. He's laughed at in his community."
"With all do respect, his findings and translations make sense-" A phone chirped loudly in the nearly empty room. "Yes?" The voice on the line seemed excited, but was still too soft to hear. "I see... I'll make sure he is informed." He then hung up. "Apparently our laughing-stock has managed to operate the device."
Taken aback, the deep-voiced man asked "What does this mean?"
Another voice, higher and with a slight lisp responded "It means that we have just opened a gateway to another planet."
The deep-voiced man paused, then asked "Is this gateway something that can be used against us?" There was silence in the room which was either meant to signify assent, or knowledge not yet obtained. "I see..." The deep-voiced man turn to his left and asked "Who do we have?"
The man to his left responded "We don't have many Sir. There's Hall, Baker, Furrel..."
"No, not good enough."
"There really aren't that many left Sir, after the Gulf, the POWs either retired or were forced to."
The man with the lisp piped up. "Why POWs?"
The deep-voiced man chuckled, and the man to his left responded. "Madness is a forgivable excuse"
"What about O'Neill?"
"I don't think so Sir."
"Why not? Will he be missed?"
"No, of course not. He's just too unstable, can't be trusted."
"Then he's perfect."
--
Jack was sitting in his office after his close encounter with General Carter. Marty walked in and sat across from him at his desk. Jack seemed to be off in another world. Marty drummed his fingers on Jack's desk for a while and then asked "What's eating you?"
"He hates me."
"I'm sorry?"
"He hates me."
Marty looked at Jack, and around the room. "I'm sorry Jack, maybe I've stepped into another dimension, but last I checked, everything was coming up roses, and you were straight."
Jack dug the palms of his hands into his eyes. "God Marty, you know I hate clichs."
"Yeah, that's why I use them." When Jack remained motionless he continued to prod. "Are you gonna tell me who the mystery man is, or shall I try guessing again?"
"Please spare me." He paused. "It's General Carter."
"She asked you to meet her parents already? Moving a little fast Jack."
"No, we kinda bumped into each other in the commissary this morning. Her father was behind her."
"And you met?"
"Sort of."
"Sort of?"
"Ok! I think I might have said ten words to the man, but I could tell. I can read people."
"Jack, don't you think you might be over-reacting just a touch?"
There was a knock at the door effectively cutting off Jack's reply. Before Jack could tell whoever it was to come in, the door burst open. "General Taylor wants to see you right away Sir!"
Jack looked at Marty and then asked the airmen "Which one of us?"
Before the young airmen could answer, Marty whispered "It's your office Jack, odds are the general wants to see you."
"Yeah, you're probably right." He stood and moved toward the door to his office. "Thank you Airmen, you may go."
"Yes Sir!"
"Jack?" Marty asked just as Jack was leaving.
"Yeah?"
"I bet you're in trouble!"
Jack rolled his eyes at his friend and slammed the door as he exited.
--
"You leave for Colorado Springs in two days Colonel, understood?"
"Sir, with respect, I can't"
"Colonel O'Neill, you do not have a choice in this matter. You are being ordered to undertake this mission. Its duration is approximately three months. You will be further informed when you reach the base. You may not reveal the details of this mission to anyone. When you are in Colorado, you will operate in total secrecy. No contact of any kind with anyone off the base. If you choose not to comply you will be considered AWOL and dealt with accordingly. Do I make myself clear?"
Jack was quiet a moment. ^None of this makes sense. He won't even tell me what I'm going to be doing there.^ "What mission exactly am I undertaking Sir?"
"You will be given the details when you reach the mountain base in Colorado. For now that is all you need to know."
^Crap!^ "Sir, this is really difficult for me to accept. You can't expect me to go on a mission without at least some clue about it."
"Actually Colonel, I can."
Jack was starting to turn red, but controlled himself admirable. He tried to think of some way to gain the upper hand with the general. "And if I resign Sir?"
"You won't Colonel. Do I make myself CLEAR?"
Jack realized he was defeated and said, with more than a little resentment, "Crystal Sir."
The general almost smiled, he made a face that made Jack nervous about this mission, and then said "Good. You are hereby on leave until you arrive on base at Cheyenne Mountain. Dismissed!"
--
Jack almost knocked Marty over on his way back to his office. "Let me guess, it didn't go well with the general?"
"No, it didn't."
"What did you do now Jack?"
"Nothing."
"Now why don't I believe that?"
"I need to get out of here. The general has placed me on leave until I assume my position in Colorado the day after tomorrow."
Marty froze in place but Jack kept walking. "Jack! Wait!"
Jack stopped and Marty caught up. "Yeah, Colorado. For three months, no I can't talk about the mission, yes, I'm upset."
"Ok, wait a second. Let's go get some lunch before you go."
"Off base."
"Works for me."
--
"I think I'm cursed Marty."
"Cursed?"
"I don't know, it just seems that I had the chance to be happy and now... now God only knows what's gonna happen."
"Jack, you're over-reacting. It'll be okay. Have you spoken to her?"
"Not since this morning."
"Maybe you should. See what she thinks, how she wants to handle it." Marty took a bite of his sandwich and looked across the table at Jack who hadn't touched his yet.
"That's the whole thing Marty. What if she doesn't want to handle it?"
Marty sighed. "There's nothing you can do Jack. You have to go. Between me, my sister, and your parents, we've got Charlie taken care of. You have to talk to Sam."
"Yeah, I know. I just don't know what to tell her. I can't say anything about the mission, not that I know very much about it. All I can tell her is what I've told you."
"You can tell her that you care about her, and that you want something to happen between the two of you. That is what you want, right?"
"I really don't want to go Marty. I don't want to be so far from her. I know it sounds pathetically immature but I miss her when I'm not around her. I know I don't know her for very long, but ever since that night, I just can't get her out of my head. And now for three months I won't even be able to talk to her."
"Jack, you should tell her that. Tell her that you're going to miss her. You're a charmer Jack, you can do this."
"I don't want to charm her. I just want to be with her."
"Ok, ok, calm down. Three months is not forever. I think it might even be good for you. You're getting very attached very quickly."
"Maybe you're right."
"Go talk to her."
--
When Marty and Jack left the diner they ate lunch at, Marty assumed that Jack went to go talk to Captain Carter. Jack intended to do just that, but on his way back to the base, he lost his nerve and ended up sitting on his couch talking to himself. "I need to get a grip here. This is insane. What happened to Jack O'Neill the fearless? When did I become so scared? And of a scientist no less!" Who am I kidding, she's beautiful, and smart, and for some reason she seems to like me, that's why I'm shaking in my boots. That, and the fact that I think I'm in love with her. That would probably scare the pants off of anyone. Even General Taylor! Wow, that's not an image I'm enjoying, especially after the conversation in his office today."
Jack ended up thinking and talking to himself for hours. Finally a thought popped into his head that forced him off his couch and out to find Sam. ^Sam's from the future, if that's true, maybe she knows what all this is about! Maybe she can tell me what's going to happen in three months, and hopefully she'll tell me that she'll be here waiting for me when I get back!^
With that thought, Jack made his way over to Sam's quarters and knocked on the door. He hoped she wasn't asleep.
--
"All right, all right, I'm coming!" Sam got up and walked to the door. She was a little annoyed at the impatient banging coming from the other side. She opened the door, intending to tell whoever was on the other side to go take a long walk off a short pier, but when she saw Jack, her annoyance melted quickly, she half smiled at him and looked down.
When she didn't say anything, and made no move away from the door, Jack said "Hi, umm.. I kinda need to talk to you."
He sounded nervous and suddenly Sam didn't feel so well. She didn't know if she wanted to hear what he had to say, she knew, just by the way he was standing that it wasn't good news. She just hoped it wasn't THAT bad. "Uhh... sure... do you want to talk here or somewhere else?"
"I was hoping you'd come over to my place, Marty's going to be dropping Charlie off in a half hour."
"Sure, no problem."
--
The walk to Jack's quarters was nothing short of torture for both Jack and Sam. Sam was stuck in her own thoughts, dreading whatever it was that Jack had to tell her, and Jack was desperately trying to hang on to the hope that his temporary reassignment wasn't dooming him.
Sam noticed that he was walking now much like he did on "bad" missions, the ones that irked him for some reason but he always tried to hide it. He was taking determined, even, steady strides, and, although Sam might be the only one who noticed, he was painfully alert. She knew that he was nervous about something. She started to search her memory trying to figure out what happened at this point in history that would cause him to act in such a way.
Finally, they reached Jack's door. Jack hadn't said a word the entire time and that was unnerving Sam. She didn't understand what happened. This younger version was so open with her. Why would he stop talking now?
Jack opened the door and motioned her inside. He was desperately trying to figure out how to begin. Luckily Sam began for him.
"Look Jack, are you going to tell me what's bothering you, or should I just start guessing?'
Jack laughed a little at that before saying "You are starting to sound a lot like Marty. I definitely need to keep you two away from each other." That seemed to lighten the mood enough for Jack to get a little more courage, but not much. Deciding to be brave, or maybe even foolish, he took a deep breath, and Sam visibly braced herself. "I got some news from General Taylor today."
"Good or bad?"
"Uhh... I think you might be the one to decide that."
"Me?"
"You see, the thing is that you might know more about it than I do."
"I don't really understand."
"See, that's the thing, neither do I. All the General told me was that effective... well, I guess effective immediately, I'm reassigned to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, in Colorado Springs. I'm not allowed to tell anyone anything about my mission, and I can't have any contact with anyone outside the base during my time there." Sam's eyes were wide, and there was a hint of understanding behind them. Jack paused, "Oh, so you do know something about this."
Sam thought for a minute. ^The timing is wrong. This isn't supposed to happen now. I haven't done any work on the Stargate yet. He didn't retire. He's not suicidal. Oh no! I think I may have made a big mistake coming back here!^ "Jack, I don't know exactly how to tell you this."
"Well, it can't be that bad right? I mean it's not like I'm going to die." Sam looked away at his words. "Sam? Sam! You told me I die ten years from now! What's going on?!"
She looked back and him, took a deep breath and continued. ^Ok, this one's for all the marbles.^ "It's the first Abydos mission Jack, I think."
Jack looked confused. "You think?" He moved closer to her almost as if the closer he got, the better he would understand what was going on.
"Yeah, uhh... It's not supposed to happen this way, at least this isn't how I remembered it happening last time. But then again there have been other things that have happened that aren't right either, like my dad."
"And Charlie."
"And Jonas"
Jack laughed. "Can I ask you what you saw in him?"
"To be honest, I really don't remember."
"It wasn't that long ago Sam."
"For me it was a lifetime ago. Besides, I'm interested in someone else now."
Jack wasn't entire sure but he could almost swear that she winked at him as she said that. Feeling playful, he asked, "Anyone I know?"
"Oh, I don't know if you know him." Then she lowered her voice to a whisper as if she wanted to keep it a secret, even though they were the only two people in his quarters. "He's a Colonel in the Air Force."
Jack, playing along whispered back. "I know a lot of Colonels. Why don't you tell me his name and I'll put in a good word for you."
"First you have to promise not to tell."
"Cross my heart." They were still whispering.
"Come closer. I'll tell you in your ear."
"Ok." Jack starting moving closer to her still. He was drawn to her soft voice beckoning him to her.
Sam reached up slightly toward his ear. "His name is-"
"Hi Dad!" Charlie burst through the front door and bounded up to Jack. When he saw Sam he stopped and his faced lit up. "Hi Sam! Long time no see! What's new?"
Sam bent to Charlie's level, "Nothing's new Charlie, just stopping by for a visit. How are you?"
Marty walked in the door and after seeing Sam there, motioned to Jack. Jack went over to him while Sam talked to Charlie. "What's up Marty?"
"You talk to her yet."
"Ahh... no... not really."
"Why am I not surprised? Fearless Jack O'Neill my ass!"
"C'mon Marty, cut me a break, I'm trying."
"You're lucky you've got me on your side you know. Hey Charlie!"
Charlie turned from Sam when Marty called his name. "Yeah?"
"Wanna go for icecream?"
Charlie looked like he was about to jump up and down excitedly, but then though better of it and asked, "Can I go Dad?"
"Yeah Dad, can he go?" Marty was looking Jack in the eye trying to get him to understand what he was doing.
Jack took the hint.
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