Reset-What We Gain, What We Lose
Reset-What We Gain, What We Lose
by Queen Annae
Title: Reset-What We Gain, What We Lose
Author: Queen Annae
Email: QueenAn_nae@hotmail.com
Category: Angst, FutureStory, Romance, Series
Season: future Season
Pairing: other pairing, Sam/Jack
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: adult themes, sexual situations
Summary: Jack decides that he needs to "correct" what happened years earlier.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Chapter One
It had been ten years since we had lost Daniel Jackson. For a while we just plowed through the pain and grief. Each of us dealt with it in our own ways. Some of us never dealt with it just shoved it down with all the other unresolved feelings we had.
Life continued. It always does. General Hammond remarried. Jack and Sam finally got past Air Force regulations. I mean, how many times do you have to save the planet before the Air Force (actually the President) cuts you some slack? Married, with two kids, Jack retired. Sam now heads SG-1. Teal'c still accompanies her on off world missions. Most of us believe that he has taken to being her personal bodyguard as a way of repaying O'Neill for all he did for the people of Chulak and other worlds.
None of us expected Jack to be a stay at home Dad. Nevertheless, bad knees and age crept up fast after Daniel died. Jack had lost too many friends over the years. This was the last he wanted to have to get over. Always great with kids, Jack doted on his son and daughter. General Hammond and the Mrs. were the godparents. Now that Hammond's grandchildren were grown, he had two new ones to spoil as only grandparents can do.
Most of the original staff was gone except for Siler and Davis. There at the beginning, it was believed that they would be there forever.
The SGC had a new commanding officer. General Hammond had retired. His replacement was well versed in the running of the SGC having worked in DC keeping it funded through the years. She was a veteran pilot with a special ops background.
The Pentagon had felt that the SGC could be run by almost any good officer but this President as the ones before him knew that it took a special person to keep the SGC in top form. There had been a succession of generals who had taken a shot at running the SGC. Most lasted less than a month. The paperwork alone was a killer. Most of the threats to Earth were gone and most of the system lords were either dead or so weak as to be little of a threat. Nevertheless, this President knew that the next trip through the Stargate could bring threats beyond the nightmares of the past. Now that they had someone running the SGC that knew what it was suppose to be like, General Hammond and Colonel Jack O'Neill visited the SGC and were kept informed. They were in the wings if the need arose.
Still...in the years immediately after Daniel's death, things happened. Choices were made that weren't always the best. Things done, that in retrospect had horrible repercussions for the indigenous people on some of the planets.
Jack was the heart, Sam the spirit, Teal'c the soul but Daniel had been their conscious. He was the balance to the military warrior nature of the other three. His jumping up and down on his side was more than enough to balance the other three. No matter who came on board to replace him, they never had the weight and many not the nerve to go against O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c.
It wasn't that O'Neill was unapproachable or even unwilling to listen. It was just that you had to get his attention and hold it if you wanted him to take you seriously. Few wanted that type of scrutiny from the likes of Jack O'Neill.
It was late one evening about six months after General Hammond had retired. The new commanding officer of the SGC was sitting in her office attacking the mounds of paperwork that accompanied the job. Now she had a better idea why General Hammond had always been around the complex late at night. At night, well most nights, you could knock through the paperwork in half the time. This wasn't turning out to be one of those nights.
Several times, this and that had interrupted her. Siler had an idea he wanted to pitch concerning maintaining the Stargate. Davis had stopped by to clear his vacation time before making travel arrangements. Sam Carter-O'Neill had stopped in to say hi and invite the General and her husband to the annual O'Neill Fourth of July picnic the next week.
The invitation wasn't necessary...but it did give Sam a chance to talk to the General about some things. Now that Sam was gone, General Margaret "Mac" Hammond had one more thing to concern her. She debated calling her husband. Mac knew that George would be up waiting for her to come home. She dismissed the thought. Talking to Jack was the only answer.
The General closed the file on her desk and retrieved her uniform jacket from the hook in the corner. Pulling it straight after buttoning it, she moved out into the briefing room. At night the Stargate looked deceptively passive. The Stargate had created some of the best parts of her life and yet, she knew what the Stargate program had cost in lives and even some careers.
She didn't believed in dwelling in the past. With her past history, that was not surprising. Another thing the General hated thinking about was alternate realities and parallel universes. She got the concept but thinking about them gave her migraine. Not a little migraine that would go away with a trip to the Infirmary for some aspirin, but one that required serious medication.
This reality hadn't been the kindest she could think of...but in the end, now, with George she was finally realizing that every choice she had made had led her to this point in time. She had a level of happiness she hadn't realized possible just a few years ago.
She switched off the lights in the briefing room and headed home. Once out of the mountain, heading home, she tried to shift from General Hammond to Mrs. Hammond. Most of the time it was easy. Tonight, the job and the worry about what Sam had told her followed her home.
Chapter Two
George Hammond knew something was wrong as soon as he saw his wife. Her eyes always spoke more than she did. Watching her body language might give one a clue, but her eyes always did. He wasn't sure if others knew that. Well, O'Neill might, former President Jennings might. Wise people learned to read her. George had honed the skill over their very rocky courtship. It was part self-defense and part a desire to keep this woman in his life.
While Mac changed clothes, George warmed up some dinner for her. Thank God George could cook. His wife never seemed to have time. Once he told her that he believed that she didn't cook because she couldn't. It had hit a sensitive nerve with her. Three months later she had finished cooking lessons and could run circles around everyone she knew. She had also taken on Senator Kinsey about the Stargate budget, traveled on a couple of missions with SG 1 and 2 and accompanied the President on a foreign trip. Mac never did anything with out doing it with many other things. Oh...during that same time she had rebuilt her relationship with him three quarters of a continent away. Talk about multitasking.... The term was invented to describe Mac.
George worried. She picked at her food. She loved Thai dumplings, peanut satay, and sticky rice. Finally she finished, turning down seconds. As their custom, they cleaned up and did the dishes together.
Mac scanned her DVD collection. She didn't know what she was looking for on the shelf. She passed by George's western collection though she paused at The Searchers. Next were her Mel Brooks movies. No, she wasn't interested in Mel tonight. She felt George behind her. Leaning back, he encased her in his arms. He could feel her leaning further back into him. Whatever it was that was bothering her, it was tearing at her. George said nothing. He held her, his head next to hers allowing her to have whatever she needed from his closeness.
It never ceased to amaze him that she could draw from him like that. First time he had seen her and for many times after that, she had seemed entirely self-contained. Oh sure, there had been little glimmers of the woman she hid so well. It was only when she didn't think anyone was watching, when she was with O'Neill, that the woman shown through and Mac, the Air Force officer disappeared. Those glimpses were what had intrigued him to continue when others might have walked away.
At first, he had been jealous that she only showed that side to Jack. Later, as he learned more about her and her history with Jack, he was glad there had been a Jack she could turn to. Now, she turned to him for that comfort.
Mac opened her eyes. The infusion of warmth, love and understanding she felt surrounding her had given her the moments of respite she had needed. She had been so lucky to meet George and even luckier that he didn't bolt the first time she had been "difficult."
She turned in his arms and hugged him. Her hand went to his cheek as she kissed him softly.
"Do you know how much I love you?"
George smiled and turned to kiss her hand. Turning back to her as she stroked his cheek, "Yes, but you can tell me again."
Her blue-grey eyes lit up and her smile reached up to meet them. She moved back just out of his reach and held out her hand. "How about I show you instead?"
Chapter Three
Over the next few weeks, Mac watched and waited for an opportunity to start a conversation with Jack O'Neill. She didn't think he was ignoring her, but he wasn't going out of his way to talk to her either. He would appear late at night at the mountain, stay an hour or so and leave. Sometimes, like today, he would come and watch Sam, Teal'c and SG-1 head out.
Watching from the briefing room, she had a nagging feeling. Sam had been right. Something was wrong. His posture, manner, everything just seemed off. Nothing was far enough off to put your finger on, still, there was something.
Mac had been so engrossed in watching O'Neill walk up the ramp after SG-1 had gone through that she hadn't heard someone coming up behind her. She rubbed her neck to ease some of the stiffness that had appeared out of nowhere.
"If you sit down, I'll loosen that up for you."
Mac jumped. She didn't even take in who it was before she had dropped into command, "I am fine. I don't need help" mode.
"OK. Take a warm shower later, you know it will help." He added.
She nodded.
She reached out to touch his arm. "I didn't hear you." He took her hand. Something was still bothering her. He wished she would tell him. George Hammond suspected it concerned Jack O'Neill. Jack had passed George in the hallway earlier. If George hadn't said something O'Neill would have walked right by him.
"We are suppose to have lunch with General Carlson in an hour."
"Oh damn." She looked at her watch. "I forgot to make reservations."
She disappeared into her office and picked up the phone. George had followed her into his old office. It looked a lot like it had when he was in command of the SGC. A few changes, her citations and awards instead of his. A slightly less military color to the walls thanks to a midnight paint job by Siler. A picture of them sat on a corner of her desk. He moved his fingers to disconnect the call.
"No need. I called O'Malley's before I left home to confirm the time. When they didn't have us listed, I made reservations."
She leaned over her desk and kissed his cheek.
"What would I do without you?"
Probably be OK, he thought. It was true. She knew it and so did George. Mac was a survivor, much like O'Neill. Fate seemed to enjoy throwing roadblocks, walls, obstacles and grief their way. They, on the other hand, took it in stride and played whatever cards had been dealt them. George wondered how the couple of commanders that had been dealt the hand of Mac and Jack in the same unit had coped. How many of them wondered what god they had crossed to get both of them at the same time?
Hammond's wife excused herself to check the little makeup she wore and push her hair back in place.
George waited out in the briefing room. He missed this place. He missed his people. He knew she had been the best choice to replace him once she told him that she had been offered the job. Had anyone else; including O'Neill, been given the job, he doubted that he would have been as welcome at the SGC. Mac had no illusions about knowing all the answers. She welcomed his visits, even solicited his input.
He understood what the job entailed. However it cut into time he had hoped that they could spend together once he had retired and she had moved to Colorado. The wedding had just made legal and public what their friends (and some enemies) had known for awhile. It was hard in the beginning. He shook his head and wondered how his first wife had been able to handle all the separations, the empty bed, the empty hours, the possibility that someone you loved wouldn't be coming home.
Mac watched her husband looking out at the gate. Retirement had been more difficult than he expected it to be. She hadn't accepted the job here until she knew she had his support. As important as she knew this job was, she wanted him to be a part of the decision. She had passed on the job four times. She was retired. Actually, she was a Special Projects civilian liaison for The President. George hadn't wanted her to take the job. He knew what a strain it was from experience. It wasn't just that he would lose time with her. George Hammond knew what few others knew. He knew her complete military history. He knew what she'd done and endured for her country. She deserved some happiness. She deserved a chance for her mind, body and soul to heal. He hadn't been happy when the President had ignored Mac's wishes and returned her to active duty.
For the first time in his life, George Hammond had attempted to convince a military officer to disregard a direct order. Mac couldn't bring herself to do that. After all, the President was a friend of hers. Some friend, Hammond had retorted. They fought. They even separated for several months. Then the President called George to the White House. Hammond almost didn't go. For her sake, he did.
A compromise was worked out. Mac would take the job temporarily. She would train her replacement. Her replacement balked at taking the 2IC job. Then hell had broken loose on several planets where the SGC had outposts. Weeks turned to months. Finally, George relented and Mac aware that she couldn't leave things the way they were decided to take the job for ONE tour of duty...no more.
She hoped that what Sam had seen in Jack was just problems with adjusting to retirement. Somehow, she doubted it. Nothing with Jack O'Neill was ever easy or obvious.
Now lunch with Carlson. Tomorrow was the picnic at O'Neill's after a brief Fourth of July ceremony in the gate room. Maybe tomorrow she could get Jack alone and talk to him.
It was Mac that came up unnoticed this time. When he turned, she kissed him. It caught him by surprise. He looked embarrassed.
"Problem General?"
"No.... Just thinking how if someone had told me five years ago I'd be kissed by a General here, in the briefing room, I would have thought them insane."
As they started walking towards the stairs to meet with their guest, she stopped and looked back at the Stargate.
"The Stargate has made a lot of insane things possible dear."
Major General George Hammond (USAF retired) nodded. Oh yeah he thought.....a whole lot of things.....
Chapter Four
"He wants to do what?"
General Hammond began to pace. The headache was building. They hadn't been home an hour from the picnic before he had gotten it out of her. He had seen them talking near Sam's vegetable garden. Their stance and demeanor, even from across a very spacious backyard had told him that they were not talking about how the tomatoes were doing.
When they took it inside and closed the door to Jack's den, he knew it was serious. The look on Mac's face two hours later when she came out said too much. The rest of the picnic she never left his side. In the past it had been a habit of hers to make the rounds several times during get-togethers. She liked to get to know people that worked around her. Mac had been outgoing and normal before she had talked to O'Neill. Now she was quiet, introspective, and almost clingy.
Now at home she never strayed. It was as if she was afraid that if she left him out of her sight that he would never come back. Finally he had just sat her down and made her tell him. He believed her when she said that she was going to tell him anyway. He believed that she had even told Jack that she was going to tell him.
Jack O'Neill. Damn him. This time he had gone too far. It only took Hammond a few minutes to know that the plan was do-able but not in Mac's or his best interest. Had he believed that this needed to happen, he would have supported it. O'Neill could stand retirement. He had the best this world had to offer in Sam, two kids, a second chance and he wanted to throw it away. What's more, he wanted to toss away everything the rest of the universe had for the last ten years for what? For the chance for him to die saving people instead of Daniel? Not that Daniel was dead...he just existed on another plane. However, if Jack O'Neill was successful Daniel would be alive and Jack. Well, Jack would be dead. There would be no marriage to Sam, no children, no happiness for Jack O'Neill.
And George could lose what he had waited so long to find. Mac hadn't needed to say it. All the clingyness now made sense. She was going to let Jack do this stupid thing. Somehow, reason flew out the window when she and Jack got together. Both believed and trusted each other so much that they didn't even question hair-brained schemes when the other one came up with them.
Hammond tried to get Mac to see it was foolish. He didn't succeed. He was so angry with Jack and frustrated with Mac that he slept that night in the guestroom. She had cried herself to sleep. It was only the second time they had been in the same place and slept apart since the separation when she went back on active duty.
He remembered another, earlier time after her rescue, after that, George had insisted she move in with him. The official story had them sharing his house until she found one of her own. Their friends had a better handle on the truth of the matter. They had fought then about Jack's ability to convince her of anything.
In the morning she dressed and left the house with out talking to George. When he awoke and found her gone, he knew he had carried his anger too far. It was stupid to punish himself and her because of O'Neill.
Chapter Five
Jack was waiting at Cheyenne Mountain when she arrived.
"Early aren't you?" she said. Her watch had read 6:30AM. Their meeting wasn't scheduled until 9.
"Nope. Late night in the lab." He took in Mac's less than perfect appearance. The circles under her eyes told him that she had done a lot of crying over the previous night. In the beginning he hadn't wanted to confide in her. However, he knew that if she were on his side that his chances of success rose astronomically.
They went into her office. Someone had already started her coffee. She poured a cup and made it the way she knew he liked it. It was an old habit from her days at the Pentagon. The first thing a woman learns is to make coffee and remember who gets what in it.
She started to sit down. "Sit down Jack."
"You tell him?" Like he didn't already know the answer to that.
"Yup."
"I guess he wasn't happy about it." Great Jack, state the obvious, she thought.
Her reply was interesting.
"Ya think?" She did it with perfect inflection. Jack was a bit startled to hear his own comment and tone tossed back at him.
"So. I told you. It was not a done idea. You come up with something better and we'll go with Plan B." He sipped on his coffee hoping she had come up with another idea. His heart sank when she shook her head.
They talked for awhile.
"I guess I'm off the General's Christmas list this year." It came out before he had realized how bad things had been for Mac at home.
Mac stood up. The anger and frustration flared up in her. "This is not a joke Jack. You want George and I to gamble that this is the right choice. You want us to forgo the love we have here to help you knowing that in the other reality we might never get together."
She paused only for an instant. She was not finished.
"Jack I'd say that you were more than off a Christmas list. I'd say that I have never seen the General so pissed as last night." Mac wondered if she would even have a marriage left to save by the time she got home.
Jack slouched in the chair. The bravado was gone. Sometimes Jack could look so vulnerable. However, she knew better. Unless he had at least a dozen bullets in him and missing four days, he would still be no more vulnerable than a rattlesnake you had just tromped on in the woods.
It was that Jack broke the silence.
"Should I expect a visit?"
Mac shrugged.
"He's your husband. How deep is my grave?"
She looked up and stared into his luscious, to-die-for brown eyes. "So deep that we slept in separate rooms last night."
"Ouch, that's pretty deep."
"Oh yeah, real deep." She looked up to see her husband outside the door to her office. Not now, she thought. Give me some time here. Let me try to work out something before we lose a friend and a friendship.
Hammond knocked on his wife's door. This had gone far enough. If they weren't to have the rest of their lives together, he wasn't going to blow what they had by being petty and childish. He wanted to apologize. Then he saw O'Neill sitting in the other chair. All the anger and frustration of the previous night returned.
Jack O'Neill turned to see his former CO outside the door. He was not ready to deal with Hammond right now. It was bad enough he had caused problems between them but he did not want or need to deal with the fallout from those problems. He stood up when Mac got up and opened the door.
Hammond noticed that rather than say enter, come in or some other comment to say..."OK you can come in now" she had come to the door herself. He wondered if she was thinking that she might need to come between him and O'Neill. Yeah, he'd like to punch O'Neill right about now but he knew it would be blocked before it ever landed.
"George, come in. Jack and I were just talking about the fallout his plan has already caused."
Jack choked. Damn her. However, that was Mac's style. Toss things out there and see what happens. Hammond had to know that they had been talking about what happened last night. It's not like Mac's eyes weren't enough to cause O'Neill to ask questions.
Hammond moved into the room. "I see. Did she tell you that I acted foolish? That I wasted time we could be together because I was pissed that I could lose it all because you want to fulfill your martyr complex?"
This time Mac choked. It wasn't like George to go straight for the jugular. He was more laid back and a "people" person. She was the cut the crap and get to the point one.
O'Neill started slowly. He sensed that George had refocused his anger at him instead of Mac. That was a good thing. Well, it seemed like a good thing.
"No. What she said was that you two had words about what I want to do. That it involved a fight and separate sleeping arrangements, something that caused her considerable pain."
Mac rubbed her eyes. They were sparring with each other waiting for a chance to land definitive verbal blows. It had to stop before someone stepped over the line and said something that couldn't be taken back.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!"
She slammed a folder on her desk.
"I will not sit here and listen to this. You (she pointed to Jack) want to throw away the very thing you have been looking for the last fifteen years. You (she pointed to Hammond) can't see beyond your personal feelings."
She was wheezing. This was not good. Jack knew it and so did Hammond. She pulled more air into her lungs and continued.
"I am stuck in the middle here. I see Jack's point, don't necessarily agree with it, but I do see it. I am terrified I am going to lose everything I hold dear if this happens. I am too damn close to it to make a rational decision and everyone I could go to for advice either can't be told or is just as close to it as I am..."
Then she did something she hadn't done in years. She cried while she was in uniform. She sat down in her chair and swung around with her back to the two men in the world she cared the most about. Jack got up and closed the blinds to the office. Hammond went to his wife. He stood her up; took her in his arms; and held her. He whispered in her ear. "I love you. God, I was so stupid last night. I was just so afraid of losing you. Forgive me?"
She nodded and then reburied her head in his shoulder.
Chapter Six
Jack stood there. He hadn't wanted to come between them. He hoped that even with whatever changes happened that they would find each other. With him out of the picture, he wasn't sure she'd become head of the SGC but they'd had enough conversations over the last few years to know that her heart and head were on straight. He knew that what she wanted was a life with the man she loved. He hoped that what he had to do didn't cost her or the General the happiness they both deserved. Politics and circumstances had kept them apart at times and prevented them acting on their love for so long.
Now he stood there and watched two people he cared deeply for handling a problem that he had created. If there was any other way, they had to know that he would have chosen to do it that way.
Now, he nodded to George and backed out of the General's office leaving them alone. He set the lock on the door and closed it so no one could intrude without them knowing.
Hammond convinced Mac to take the rest of the day off and leave the mountain. They went on a picnic. Nothing special, they stopped and got some sandwiches and sodas at the local deli and went to the park.
They didn't talk about what was on both their minds. They just enjoyed the afternoon and the time they could have together.
All that she said was that Jack had promised her not to act for at least a week. She had made him promise to give her that much time. It really hadn't taken much to get him to agree to a week. Mac suspected that the week only meant five days. If Jack got paranoid that she was going to restrict him from the base, he would go early. She knew that. Hammond knew it and most of all Jack knew they knew it.
Chapter Seven
Jack came home and was jumped by his children. The nanny had left. He sat in his chair and watched them play. Hammond had been right. This was what he had been looking for the last few years if not forever. He had everything he didn't have a right to have. Maybe that was what was wrong. He knew he didn't deserve this happiness. Daniel did. Daniel had saved them all so many times. Daniel had kept him alive on that first mission. Daniel had made him consider other alternatives. He hadn't always taken Daniel's advice but he had listened. There were times he did things differently because of Daniel. The times he had done the "right" thing not the proper military one.
Five days later General Hammond received a call from his wife.
"George, I think you need to come in right away. I got a bad feeling that Jack's gonna jump the gun." That was all she said.
Margaret Hammond left her desk and returned to the window where she saw Jack O'Neill pacing back and forth. She knew that there was a solar flare due soon. The last five years had seen major advancements in solar flare predictions. There was one due in about two hours and another in two more days.
She pressed the button to talk to the gate room. "Colonel O'Neill." Jack looked up at her. "Could I see you in my office?" He looked at the gate and then at Mac. He owed her for so much. If she hadn't intervened with the President he might not have been able to marry Sam with out them leaving the military. That he had retired just a few months later was an irony not lost on anyone. He owed her more for what she was willing to risk now to help him.
Jack O'Neill's hands were stuck in his pocket when he walked passed Maggie Hammond and into her office.
"Sit down Jack."
Jack sat.
She went to her desk and sat down.
"You're ready to do this, aren't you?"
He nodded.
"What are you going to put into the note?"
He pulled it from his pocket and handed it to her.
"Watch Daniel on P3x4C3. Col. Jack O'Neill"
She refolded the note and handed it back to Jack. "Think that will do the trick?"
"I hope so."
"What if I don't let you send it?"
Jack leaned forward in his chair. "You know that I'll find a way. If not now, then later. Eventually, I'll find a way. You know I will."
"Yes, I know you will. That's why I won't stop you."
The knock on the door broke the lock each had on the other's eyes.
Hammond did not wait to be allowed in. If Mac was right, time was short and he was not going to waste it standing on the wrong side of a door.
"George, glad you're here."
Her eyes and O'Neill's demeanor said everything. It was past the time of arguing. He had known that last night. She had buried herself in his arms and stayed there all night. Their being together was right. He knew that.
In the hours that he held her while she slept, he remembered everything they had gone through before circumstances had allowed them to be together. Hammond remembered how many times he had reconsidered their relationship; remembered how he almost hadn't asked her to marry him despite having bought the ring months before he had asked her.
Then there was O'Neill. Each time he had thought about walking away, O'Neill had done or said something to keep options open. It was as if Jack O'Neill had been their personal matchmaker. Without O'Neill, well, he doubted he and Mac could have managed to keep the relationship going.
Now O'Neill was planning on doing what Daniel did. This was bad. It was bad for O'Neill, bad for Sam and bad for him and Mac. God knows what it would mean to the rest of the universe.
"George?"
"Sorry, just thinking."
O'Neill stood and faced Hammond. This man had given him a chance to rebuild his life. He had saved his life more than once. He had fought to get the President to allow him to marry Sam. Yes, he had managed to play matchmaker between Hammond and Mac but now he was undoing everything that he had worked to make possible. There was nothing he could say, so he said nothing.
O'Neill turned and looked at his friends. He checked his watch. Forty-two minutes to go.
"I think I should go down to the gate room. Who's gonna handle the dial out?"
"Davis. I told him I wanted to do a practice dial out drill. He looked at me funny but didn't question me."
"You give him the General Hammond look?" It was an attempt at humor. It did get a small smile out of Mac. She nodded. Jack smiled back.
Jack started to leave. Hammond moved between him and the door. Mac held her breath.
"Son, I know you think you are doing the right thing..." he paused. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir. I am."
Hammond moved aside.
Jack stopped at the doorway.
"You two staying here?"
They both shook their heads. "We'll be down to the gate room in a few minutes." Mac answered. Her eyes tried to read her husband's mood. Something. She couldn't read it, but there was something there.
As soon as Jack was gone, Maggie took a piece of paper from her desk and wrote a note on it. "Maggie......go to P3x4C3....watch Daniel and Jack." Then she signed it. Once done she folded it and put it into her pocket.
She looked up at her husband. "You didn't think I was really going to let him sacrifice himself for Daniel. All I have to do is keep them in line until the radiation suits arrive."
Hammond knew his wife better than most. He knew she would come up with something. He also knew what she would do whatever it took to keep Daniel and Jack alive, even if it meant sacrificing her own life.
Chapter Eight
"Chevron 7 locked. Wormhole engaged."
The blue horizon whooshed out and then back. A beautiful sight, most of the time, now it was an ominous one. Most of the gate room personnel had been given their leave. Only Davis and Siler were in the control room. Mac had secured the briefing area to keep observers away from the observation windows.
Jack walked up the ramp to the horizon. He turned and saw Mac and Hammond following him. He wondered. He might have figured Mac was up to something had the alarm on his watch not gone off. He reached out and sent his note through the wormhole. He turned to face Hammond who had coughed to allow Mac a chance to slide her note through. Jack realized that she had made a move towards the wormhole.
"You didn't?"
"I just came up with a Plan B. You really think I'd let you commit suicide?"
"Yes. No. How the hell should I know? I just know that Daniel shouldn't have died."
While they argued Hammond moved between them and the wormhole. No one but Davis and Siler in the control room noticed that he did something to create a ripple in the event horizon.
SGC
Gateroom
Cheyenne Mountain Complex
Years earlier
"Incoming traveler, sir." Davis indicated.
"What the hell? Close the iris." Hammond wondered who could be coming home early this time.
"No need sir. We're getting SG-1's signal, sir."
"What? They aren't off world."
"Should I close the iris?"
"No. Not yet."
Hammond leaned forward. He had been through this scenario once before. That time it had been the right thing to do to leave the iris open. Nevertheless, what was right one time was not always right the next time.
"Sgt., set the self-destruct timer. Three minutes. Just in case." He spoke into the microphone. "Security to the gate room."
Before you could wink an eye, the gate room was full of SGC marines. All were in combat gear and their rifles were aimed at the gate.
Just like the last time, a note came through. Then another one came through. Finally a third one came through and the wormhole disengaged.
Hammond leaned forward again. He and Major Ferretti who had been in the control room canceled the auto-destruct sequence. "Stand down troops."
Having heard the commotion, SG-1 had headed to the gate room arriving just as Hammond had come down from the control room. Hammond picked up the first note.
"Sir, haven't we done this before?" Jack was worried it might be another looping thing.
"Colonel, until we read these notes..."
He handed the first note to Colonel O'Neill. "Seems you are still sending yourself mail, Colonel."
The second note caused him to stop. He looked around in the gate room until his eyes fell on the woman hanging back. She wasn't a part of the SGC, officially. Though the continued operation of the facility often depended on how good she was at her job. Now she was getting mail from the future.
"Ma...Colonel Craig. This one's addressed to Maggie. Since you are the only Maggie around here, I suspect this is intended for you."
Colonel Margaret Craig moved forward. She'd been keeping her distance from General Hammond of late. Even though they'd agreed to talk about things later, it was hard to work together and deny they had feelings for each other. It was only that she wasn't here most of the time that made it even bearable.
She took the letter. It was her handwriting. O'Neill was busy reading his note. She opened hers but noted that the General had stooped to pick up the third note. As Jack read his out loud.
"Watch Daniel on P3x4C3 Col. Jack O'Neill" "It's my handwriting. Least there isn't any blood on it this time."
All eyes turned to Mac, all eyes except General Hammond's. He was busy looking at his note and shoving it into his pocket. O'Neill noticed it. Mac noticed it. Neither said anything.
"OK...Mac. What's yours say?"
She shook her head. "This doesn't make sense. It's my handwriting and it's addressed to me but it is signed General Hammond."
Jack O'Neill crossed the ramp and took the note.
"Yep.... Your handwriting. " He read the note. "Mac...go to P3x4C3.... Watch Daniel and Jack. General Hammond."
Jack looked at Hammond and looked at Mac. Neither one offered an explanation. Mac prayed that she hadn't written the note because Hammond was in no condition to write it.
Hammond now rejoined the group from his spot higher up on the ramp. He looked up at Davis in the control room.
"Lock out the coordinates for P3x4C3 in the dialing computer." Then he looked at Jack and Mac still staring at their respective notes. "Whatever happened worried the two of you enough to send a message back in an attempt to change history."
Some hours later General Hammond sat at his desk. A small white box sat in the center of the desk with the note addressed to him laying open next to it.
There was a knock at the door. He looked up to see Colonel O'Neill peering in.
"Come on in son." O'Neill enters. "Sit down."
Jack sits.
"How can I help you?"
"General, you were pretty fast to lock out those coordinates. Mac's note only indicated that she should go with us. My note only indicated that I should keep an eye on Daniel." Jack paused a moment then continued. "I saw you pick up the other note and pocket it sir."
Hammond picked up the note off his desk; looked at it and then handed it to Jack.
"LOCK OUT P3X4C3." Then below it was written," White box, back corner, top right desk drawer."
Jack looked a bit puzzled.
Hammond started. "Obviously Mac felt something happened on P3X4C3 that needed to change. Perhaps some one else wanted to change...." He paused. He still didn't have a handle on what would cause three of them to send different directions. "Whoever it was, the future me didn't like either plan."
"Enough to send your own note, sir?"
"Exactly."
"But...the note about Mac. It's signed General Hammond. Why would she sign your name?"
Hammond opened the white box that Jack had seen in the middle of the desk when Hammond had handed him the note. Inside the white box was a small blue box that held the answer.
Jack waited hoping it meant what he thought it meant.
Hammond opened the box to reveal an engagement ring. "She didn't sign my name. She signed her own. It seems that at some point in time she made General and agreed to be my wife."
"Then the rest of your note...."
"Not sure. It could have meant to explain her signature...."
Jack intervened. "It could have meant that you wanted to be sure that whatever happened that the two of you...."
"Possibly both. Still it's odd that Mac was even in the equation. It's like she was in charge."
"If you haven't noticed, sir. Mac tends to take charge when things need to happen a certain way."
Hammond nodded. Still, he knew there was something he was missing but he didn't think it was all that important. He had locked out the coordinates. Now he had to decide what to do next. He toyed with the box.
"You going to ask her?"
The General looks at the ring. The overhead light catches in the facets.
"I've had this ring a month now. I never seemed to find the time or place to ask her. Things kept happening."
"Looking for advice, sir?"
"Yes, no. At best, things are complicated now." He looks at the ring again. "This could complicate them further."
"Sir, nothing comes easy when it involves Mac." He thought for a moment before continuing. "She's worth the complications."
Hammond looked at Jack. "I know that son. I know. I'm just not sure that I am."
"Shouldn't you let Mac decide that?"
Before Hammond could answer, a voice came from the doorway. "Let me decide what?"
Hammond palmed the blue box. Jack got up to leave, blocking Mac's view of the desk.
"Don't let me interrupt."
"No interruption Mac. I was just leaving." Before he left, he turned to the General. "Sir, the gate room's pretty deserted this time of night."
Chapter Nine
Maggie looked confused. Something was going on. She had seen Hammond pick up the third note. She had seen him palm something on his desk when she entered before Jack had blocked her view of the desk. Something WAS going on, she was part of it, and she wasn't. That annoyed her.
However, George had a way of coming to points in his own time. He would fill her in when he was ready. She trusted him even more than she trusted Jack O'Neill and that said a lot.
General George Hammond stood and took his jacket off the coat tree in the corner behind his desk. "Take a walk with me?"
"Sure, why not?" Even if they had problems, she enjoyed his company.
Mac followed Hammond down the steps to the control room. Hammond smiled. Jack had been right. There were just a couple of techs on duty doing routine maintenance with Sgt. Siler.
Hammond looked out at the gate. She moved to his side.
"What do you think when you look at the gate?"
"Oh, you mean when we're not picking up parts of SG-1 or some other team off the ramp? Or watching my friends go off perhaps not to come home? Or when I touch the event horizon myself and wish I were ten years younger?"
Hammond smiled. Mac's mind was in full gear tonight.
"No. I mean when you stand here, like now and just look at it."
She looked at him looking out at the gate. She turned and faced the gate. "I'm in awe of those that built it, in awe of those brave enough to go through it time after time to explore and protect."
She turned back to face Hammond who was still looking at the Stargate.
"I'm proud that I know the man that keeps it all together."
She takes Hammond's hand. One of Siler's techs notices. He taps Siler on the shoulder and points. Siler points back to the work at hand. The tech nods.
Hammond squeezes her hand.
"You know, you do a lot yourself. Even Senator Kinsey has eased up on us since the President sent you to us."
Hammond sensed Mac pull back at the mention of Kinsey's name. He changed the subject.
"Let's go down to the gate room. I rarely see it this quiet. It's almost like it was at the beginning."
Jack heard them go down the steps to the gate room. He moved into the control room from the back landing. He had Siler and his techs take a break, sending them down the back steps.
Chapter Ten
Hammond looked at the ring that had so changed his life. Another ring had the potential to change it even more. Mac wondered what was going on. Yes, George could be introspective but he had been so quiet since the notes had come through the gate. She could only wonder what the third note had said. Mac wondered whom it was from since she had sent the second one for General Hammond. The more she had thought about her own note she was comforted by the fact that she was still alive and still close to him in whatever future the notes had come from.
"Mac. When I came here, it was for one last tour before retirement. Heck, I barely had a month left. Then all hell broke loose. You would have though that in the last few years I would have learned how valuable time is."
She didn't say anything.
Hammond turned to face her. He had something in his right hand. It was the note. He handed it to her.
She read it. When she looked up her eyes held confusion.
"Why would you send a note when I had just sent one for you?"
"You didn't."
"What? Of course, I did."
"No. You sent a note to yourself and I sent one to myself to make sure I overrode your decision and...."
"And what?"
"And to make sure that part of the future we were losing wouldn't be lost."
His hand reached in his pocket and he handed her the little blue box. In the control room Jack waited for her response. With Mac, you could never be sure how she would react. Flight or fight. Neither one fit this situation but they were her two main choices of response. Not now Maggie...not now. Hear him out...Jack thought.
She opened the box. It was the most beautiful ring she had seen. Of course, any ring from George would have been beautiful.
George lifted her chin to make eye contact. "Maggie, would you do me the honor of marrying me?" He rarely called her Maggie except in private.
Mac closed the box, dropped her head and closed her eyes. Three hearts stood still.
When she lifted her head and opened her eyes the smile she had reached the one in her eyes.
"Yes, George. I will marry you." He took back the box; took the ring from it; and slipped it on her finger.
Hammond looked up at the control room. He knew the briefing room would be empty. When he saw only Jack in the Control Room, he looked back at Mac who had also spotted Jack. She grinned and flashed him a thumb's up sign. Jack turned his back to the gate.
Hammond took her in his arms and gave her a kiss. It rivaled the reported one that Sha're gave Daniel on Abydos.
A few minutes later they broke off the kiss as SG-7 began to establish a wormhole from off world. With no one but Jack in the control room, Mac and General Hammond scrambled up the steps to the control room. Hammond and Jack disengaged the iris and allowed SG-7 to return home.
Siler returned with the rest of the techs. While Jack made small talk with Siler, the General and Maggie slipped away.
Jack smiled. He had done good and so had the future General Hammonds. He knew that something had happened to Daniel in the future. It meant that all of them would need to keep a closer eye on him. He figured that whatever he had needed to do was something Mac couldn't allow him to do. It also stood to reason that whatever Mac's solution had been was not agreeable to Hammond. Still, in that reality Mac and the General had managed to marry. Whoa...talk about confusing...two General Hammonds running about the SGC.
For now, he was happy that they would try to make a go of it in this reality. It wouldn't be easy. Jack could think of ten roadblocks off the top of his head and he was not nearly as good at spotting roadblocks as Mac was.
He hoped the President could intervene and help them out. They weren't in the same chain of command. Her making General would make some of the other problems a bit less difficult. Still, there was bound to be talk. There was bound to be trouble from Kinsey and his pals. Jack shook his head. That could wait until tomorrow. Tonight his friends were together and happy. For a moment in time, everything seemed to be moving in the right direction.
Jack O'Neill should have known it was too good to be true. Maggie had told him so; however; he had told her that things were different. She was different. She had found her future. Somehow telling her that had made O'Neill forget that like himself, Maggie was a magnet for trouble.
Seven weeks...seven wonderful weeks until some idiot ran the Generals off the road. General Hammond was in the hospital and Mac...there was a body that was burned beyond recognition in the passenger seat of Maggie's new Mustang convertible.
How the hell was Jack O'Neill going to tell the General that Mac was dead?
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