THE WAY… SERIES

BOOK ONE

Part IV:

THE WAY THE WORLD IS

Disclaimer: Stargate: SG-1 does not belong to me. The only thing I claim are the original characters.

Summary: Separately, he wouldn’t assume that they were the missing SG-1 members. It would just be a fluke, a coincidence, pictures depicting look-a-likes. But together, that was too much of a coincidence.

---

“I’m not sure I understand why you think this mission is necessary, Major. By your own account this world had nothing to offer us.”

“Yes, sir. They had a severe drought when we were there two years ago. We couldn’t do anything except offer humanitarian aid. We’ve kept in periodic contact since then and they’ve always been eager for anything we could offer.”

“So what’s changed?”

“When we called them up yesterday they didn’t need our help anymore. Said everything was fine.”

“So? Shouldn’t that be a good thing? They’ve fixed their problem.”

“Yes, sir, General. We were calling yesterday to offer a new irrigation system we thought would work. Except we’d only just talked to them four months ago in our regular contact and they were just as desperate. They never gave any indication they were turning things around and the science types seem sure it wouldn’t be possible in four months.”

“I can’t authorize this mission based on your curiosity, Major.”

“General Hammond, sir, something’s obviously changed drastically. We think it’s worth checking out.” Ferretti turned and looked at the rest of his team who all nodded in agreement.

“General!” The almost yell preceded the briefing room door slamming open. “I need to talk to you about that… that… Mackenzie.”

“I’m in the middle of something, Colonel,” Hammond said.

“Do you know what he’s trying to do?”

“Colonel,” Hammond said again, a bit of a warning tone creeping into his voice.

“He’s decided to have Daniel committed! That’s he’s crazy. And that, General, is crazy!”

“I already know about Doctor Jackson’s situation, Colonel.”

“Daniel’s never been crazy he… you, what?”

“I discussed the situation with both Doctors Mackenzie and Frasier earlier today and approved the transfer.”

“Bu… you can’t do this!”

“Colonel-“

“With everything we’ve seen don’t you think we owe it to Daniel to at least consider other options?”

“Colonel O’Neill!” Hammond barked. “In my office. Now!”

O’Neill visibly hesitated, his eyes going from the obviously irate General to the just noticed SG-2, before he slunk off to the office door. He closed it with just a bit more force than necessary and flicked the blinds shut.

Hammond let out an aggrieved breath and turned back to the table. “SG-2, you have a go. You’ll depart at 14:00.”

Ferretti stood. “Yes, sir. Thank you.”

“Dismissed,” Hammond said and then turned for his office. He didn’t say a word as he closed the door and settled behind his desk to evaluate the man opposite him. “Jack,” Hammond said, “I understand how you feel-“

“Actually, sir, I don’t think you do,” O’Neill said.

“I know how it feels to lose team members and people under my command, Colonel,” Hammond said a bit more harshly than he’d intended. “You’ve had a rough couple of weeks with Major Carter and Teal’c’s disappearance and now this. But that doesn’t make you unique and it doesn’t give you permission to fly off the handle.”

O’Neill shifted, fingering the folds in his pant legs. “This isn’t about Carter and Teal’c, General. It’s about us writing Daniel off because he’s… inconvenient.”

“We’re not forgetting about him, Jack. Doctor Mackenzie is going to try and help him.”

“But he’s not crazy, General. Daniel is not a schizophrenic!”

“That’s not what the medicine is saying. Doctor Frasier isn’t giving up yet, either, but the SGC isn’t equipped for what he needs,” Hammond said and let a silence fall between them. “How about you take a bit of time? See him get settled in, make sure he’s adjusting.”

“We only just got back on active duty, General,” O’Neill said as his restless fingers started a rapid tattoo on his leg.

“I don’t need distracted people in the field, Colonel. Just a few days.”

O’Neill finally shrugged his shoulders a bit and nodded. He had the door open and one foot in the hall before he paused. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Hammond said. He leaned back in his chair once the door closed and shook his head over the curse that had seemingly descended upon SG-1. If things kept up like this no one would want to fill the vacant spots on the team despite its reputation.

---

Ferretti stepped out of the Stargate and slipped on his sunglasses. He adjusted his cap and waited for the rest of his people. They struck off down the well-worn path through the fields.

“How far is the town, sir?” Casey asked.

“Oh, about twenty minutes,” Ferretti said.

“And what, exactly, are we doing here?” Warren asked.

“Weren’t you at the briefing, Captain?” Ferretti asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“And you still don’t know?”

“No, sir.”

“Huh.” Ferretti said. Then he smiled. “Then I guess you should ask our Rhodes scholar.”

The fourth member of their team scoffed out a laugh. “Ha, ha. Very funny, Major,” Doctor Lena Rhodes said.

“Well?” Ferretti said after a pause. “Are you going to enlighten us, or not?”

“You argued for us to come and you don’t know?” Rhodes said.

Ferretti shrugged. “You wanted, I argued. That’s how it works.”

Rhodes hummed under her breath. “If they’ve solved their drought it’s by means of technology we don’t have. And that would be useful. And if they haven’t solved it then—”

“They’re lying,” Ferretti finished. “And that is interesting on a whole other level.”

Casey had been walking point and stopped. “Hey, Major? That wasn’t there before, was it?”

Ferretti walked up beside him and looked a little ways off the path towards a sizable stone wall. There was a small crowd of people milling around it. “I don’t believe it was,” he said and led them towards it.

They were met with smiles and nods as the crowd shifted about and dispersed some. The bottom of the wall was lined with candles and dried herbs like some kind of offering. Ferretti couldn’t figure out what was so great about a wall until they circled around to the other side.

“Hey, it’s a mural,” Warren said.

“Actually, it’s more like fresco,” Rhodes said as she fingered a spot.

Ferretti was staring in wide-eyed shock. Casey noticed it first and nudged the Major. “Sir?” He asked and then really looked at the mural. “Whoa,” he mumbled.

“More like… holy shit,” Ferretti finally said.

“What?” Rhodes turned from her examination and looked at the whole picture. “What’s the big deal?”

Warren scratched his jaw and titled his head. “You are that new, ain’t ya?”

“What new?” She asked. “What’s the big deal? It’s just a picture of a bunch of people.”

Ferretti was shaking his head slowly, still enraptured. “No, it’s not just a bunch of people. That,” he jabbed his finger towards one of the figures, “is Teal’c. And that,” he moved his finger, “is Major Carter.”

“Those missing officers?” Rhodes clarified, even though it was still a main topic of conversation – and gossip – at the SGC.

Warren nodded in confirmation.

Casey was tilting his head every which way to get different angles. “You really think so, sir? I mean, they look kind of… different.”

Ferretti scanned the picture again. There were differences, sure. Teal’c had hair, he looked older, a bit harder and a little more worn. But his chiselled expression, the emblem on his forehead, all made him recognizable. Carter was a little harder to recognize. It had taken a moment before it had really clicked; but underneath the cold, hard look her features were unmistakable, her eyes a startlingly blue. Separately, he wouldn’t assume that they were the missing SG-1 members. It would just be a fluke, a coincidence, pictures depicting look-a-likes. But together, that was too much of a coincidence for Ferretti’s tastes.

“What about the rest of ‘em,” Warren said as he waved his hand at the other four figures.

“I don’t know those three,” Ferretti said, “but him, him I recognize. That’s Baal.”

“Baal the System Lord?” Casey almost squeaked out. “What’s he doing in a picture with them?”

“I don’t know,” Ferretti said, “but I don’t like it. Maybe he was involved.”

“He is a protector,” another voice intruded on their conversation.

Ferretti turned and nodded. “Pennin, it’s good to see you again.”

“And you, Major Ferretti. But you had no reason to come. As we told you, our problems have been solved. By these,” he gestured at the mural.

“They fixed your water problems?” Casey asked.

“Oh, yes. Four moons past they appeared and had a solution within days. Then they were gone again,” Pennin said.

“Do you know where they went?” Warren asked.

“No,” Pennin shook his head.

“And you’re sure it was them,” Ferretti asked, pointing once more to the mural.

“Yes, positive. It would be hard to forget.”

“You actually spoke to them?” Rhodes said.

“I did. I was their… guide, if you will.”

“Did they seem okay?” Ferretti asked. Pennin hesitated as his eyes drifted to the mural. Ferretti noticed, “Pennin?”

“They were… not very forthcoming,” he finally said.

“Can we maybe go back to the Goa’uld thing?” Casey waved his arms as he spoke.

“Goa’uld?”

“Yeah,” Casey said. “They’re bad guys. And he’s one of them.”

Pennin was shaking his head. “They were all kind people. Perhaps wary, cautious, but certainly not… bad, as you say.”

“Well what do ya mean, protector?” Warren said.

Pennin moved closer to the mural, seemingly glad of the change of subject. “Exactly that,” he said. “They were all protective of each other but these three,” he pointed at Teal’c, Baal, and a third man, stout and grizzled looking, “were especially protective of this one.” He pointed at Carter.

“Did you get their names?” Rhodes said, still apparently sceptical that these people were who Ferretti thought.

“Of course,” Pennin nodded, “we could not simply call them… you, that one, this one…”

“We get it,” Ferretti waved his hand.

When Pennin remained silent Rhodes gestured for him to go on. “Why are you so interested?” He asked, sudden suspicion in his voice.

“They’re friends of ours, they disappeared… a while back,” Ferretti finished hesitantly, realizing their timeline of a disappearance a month ago didn’t fit at all with Pennin’s.

Pennin got that look on his face again like he was thinking hard about something, glancing between them and the mural. “If they are friends then I should not need to tell you their names.”

Ferretti glanced at his team, mentally conceding Pennin’s point. But this situation wasn’t adding up and Pennin’s own hesitance to talk wasn’t helping. “Only two of them are friends,” Ferretti finally said.

Casey, closest to the mural, turned and pointed. “That’s Teal’c,” he paused and glanced at Pennin who nodded, “and that’s Major Carter. Sam Carter.”

Pennin stopped nodding, suspicion clouding his face again.

“What?” Warren asked. “That’s who they are!”

“That is not what they called her,” Pennin said.

“No?” Ferretti said.

“No, it was Colonel.”

Ferretti chewed on his lip a bit as he thought. It was another piece of this strange puzzle but one that didn’t fit. “Well, that’s just a rank, Pennin. It changes.”

“And that’s Baal,” Casey finished. “We don’t know the other three.”

Pennin studied them for a long time, seemingly evaluating their sincerity. Ferretti was never more happy for their previous positive contact with these people; he was sure it would swing things their way. Finally, Pennin nodded.

“So how long ago’d they leave?” Warren asked.

“As I said, they were gone again in days,” Pennin said

“Did they leave through the Stargate?” Rhodes asked.

“I… ah,” Pennin fumbled his words.

Ferretti turned a hard gaze on him. “What aren’t you telling us, Pennin?”

Pennin dragged his hand through his hair and over his face, finally gesturing at the wall. “They returned.”

“They came back? Here?” Ferretti said.

Pennin nodded.

“When?” Warren asked.

“Three days ago,” Pennin said with no small degree of reluctance.

“Are they still here?” Casey looked around like he expected to see them any moment.

“No,” Pennin shook his head. “They left yesterday morning.”

“Where’d they spend the two days?” Rhodes asked.

“In the cabin, same as before,” Pennin said.

“Can you show us?” Ferretti asked.

“I… yes. But they did not leave anything behind. Nothing that will help you.”

“Show us anyway,” Ferretti said, trying to keep the eagerness out of his voice. It wouldn’t do to get their hopes up since Pennin admitted they’d already left. But something that meant nothing to him could very well mean everything to them. Ferretti had to hope because this was the first lead they’d gotten… ever. And it was news he dearly wished to bring back to the SGC.

---

“This is it,” Pennin said as they entered the clearing that held the cabin.

Ferretti looked around, feeling like he should be able to tell that they’d been here. There was nothing, though. Just a recently used fire pit, a pile of wood shavings around the logs that served as seats, and scuffs in the dirt. “What they’d do while they were here?”

“They stayed here,” Pennin said. “I ensured they had food, water, everything they needed. We kept away as they wished.”

“Why did they come back?” Rhodes asked.

Pennin shrugged as he moved to pull open the cabin door. “They said simply that they needed a safe place to stay.”

“But why here?” Casey asked. “There must be lots of safe places.”

Ferretti turned suddenly from his spot in the doorway. “Something was wrong, wasn’t it?”

Pennin looked uncomfortable again, shifting his feet and avoiding eye contact.

“Pennin, what aren’t you saying? They’re friends. If they’re in trouble we’d like to help them.”

“They saved our people, Major Ferretti. We will forever be grateful. They trusted us enough to return when they were in need. They never asked anything except that we not ask questions. I… will not betray that.”

“Fine,” Ferretti huffed and tromped into the cabin.

There wasn’t anything spectacular. Table and chairs, some beds, a couch, and a fireplace. Nothing of note until they stepped into the back room and all four stopped dead in their tracks.

“Whoa,” Casey murmured.

Ferretti let out a low whistle and walked around the room slowly with Warren in tow. Rhodes and Casey circled the other direction.

“It must run in the team,” Rhodes said.

“Doctor Rhodes!” Ferretti turned and snapped.

“What,” Rhodes said as she looked at him, “don’t tell me you weren’t thinking the same thing!”

“First of all, Doctor Jackson isn’t crazy. And Major Carter and Teal’c are two of the sanest people you could ever meet.” Rhodes was smirking a tiny bit. “What!”

“You knew what I was talking about, that means you were thinking it too. And I don’t care what you say, Major, but writing… gibberish on the walls, hell, writing on walls is crazy.”

“What makes ya think it’s gibberish?” Warren asked as he ran his hand over a section.

“Does it make any sense to you? Do those look like they actually mean anything?” Rhodes challenged.

“No,” Warren said, “but I ain’t no scientist.”

“And for all we know, this could be old,” Ferretti said.

“It is not,” Pennin said. “It was them.”

“Do you know who?”

“No, Major, I do not. I never entered until they had left.”

“Major Ferretti!” Casey’s voice came from farther back. When they joined him he pointed at the broken window next to the door that was hanging off its hinges. “Those pieces have blood on them,” Casey pointed.

Ferretti pulled a bag from his pack and scooped some of the glass inside. “Snap some pictures of those walls, Rhodes. We’ll get the mural on the way back.”

They had everything they thought might be useful within fifteen minutes and headed back to the Gate.

“I just wish we knew where they’d gone,” Ferretti said.

“No one observed their departure,” Pennin said as they stopped in front of the Gate.

“I did! I did!” A small voice came from the bushes around the Gate followed by the patter of small feet.

Pennin knelt to greet the child. “Evon, what are you talking about?”

“I was playing seek and find! I saw them go!”

Ferretti hunkered down next to him. “Do you remember the symbols and their order?”

“Uh-huh,” Evon nodded and smiled.

Ferretti led him to the DHD. “Could you point them out?”

Evon eagerly stood on his tip-toes to see the panel and started pointing as Casey wrote. Ferretti turned back to Pennin and smiled. “Thanks for all your help, Pennin. And I’m happy for your people.”

Pennin didn’t look too happy and let out a large sigh, his eyes on Evon. “When you find them, do me a favour Major Ferretti?”

“We’ll make sure they know you kept their confidences,” Ferretti said.

“Got it, sir,” Casey reported.

“Great, dial us up, Captain.”

Warren slapped in the address for Earth and punched in the IDC. “We’re good, sir.”

Ferretti motioned them to the Gate. “Thanks again, Pennin.” Then he stepped through, eager to speak to General Hammond.

---

“Alright, Major. You made a case to go and you were back in less than three hours. What happened?” Hammond asked.

“Sir,” Ferretti started, “we found out why they didn’t need any more help.” He motioned to Rhodes who slid copies of the photos she’d taken to Hammond and Frasier.

Hammond picked up the pictures and flipped through them. He paused and sat totally still for a long moment. “Major…” His voice faded out, seemingly unable to ask the question.

“Yes, sir. That’s who you think it is,” Ferretti said.

“Oh, my…” Frasier said quietly.

“They weren’t there anymore but one of the locals saw where they went next. General, they only left yesterday. We should be able to catch up to them,” Ferretti said.

Hammond waved a hand, “Hang on, Major. You said the water problem was solved four months ago. Major Carter and Teal’c were both here four months ago.”

“I’m aware of that, sir,” Ferretti said. “But who else could it be?”

“Well, we’ve seen robot doubles, crystal copies, shape shifting aliens, and body swapping machines,” Frasier said. “And we know there are alternate realities.”

“We found some blood,” Casey said. “It’s only a one in three that it belongs to either of them but it’s still better than nothing.”

“Blood?” Frasier asked.

“On some glass,” Ferretti said. “It should be in the lab by now. And General, we should at least follow up. This is the first real lead we’ve ever gotten.”

“I’m aware of that, Major,” Hammond said. “But there are a lot of unknowns in this situation. Not the least of which is him,” he pointed at Baal.

“Pennin was adamant that Baal was… nice,” Ferretti said.

“Nice?” Hammond couldn’t keep his disbelief from fairly dripping off the word.

“Yes, sir,” Warren said, “and he said Major Carter was the one in charge.”

Hammond rubbed his forehead. That didn’t mean anything. With Baal in the picture they could all be hosts. But that didn’t exactly mesh with solving a planet’s persistent drought and not asking for anything in return.

Frasier was flipping through the rest of the pictures and paused on the ones of the cabin. “What’s all this?”

“It looks like gibberish,” Rhodes said.

Frasier was shaking her head a bit, her forehead creased in thought. “That looks like Major Carter’s writing,” she said, her eyes on one particular section that was actual English words. The repetition of go go go didn’t leave a good impression, but Janet was certain the loops on those g’s belonged to Sam.

Hammond had been thinking the same thing. He nodded. “Get copies to Doctor Lee and whoever else might be helpful. We’ll send a MALP.”

Ferretti grinned. “Thank you, sir. What about Colonel O’Neill?”

Hammond paused by his chair for a long moment. “Let’s not get his hopes up yet. That address could be wrong.”

---

The beach was picturesque, beautiful, and ultimately… empty.

“Doesn’t look like anyone’s here, sir,” Walter said.

“But there was,” Ferretti said. “Pan right. See, there. Someone built a fire recently. And those are tracks. Someone could still be here. General, permission for more thorough recon?”

“You’ve got it,” Hammond said with a decisive nod.

---

“There ain’t nothing here, sir,” Warren said as he kicked at some of the sand around his boots.

“Except this,” Ferretti called and motioned them over. They clustered around and looked where he was pointing.

There, scratched into the sand, was more of what Rhodes was calling gibberish. But in the middle sat a Gate address.

---

“Why does this always happen to us?”

“You, Pierce, why does it always happen to you!”

Pierce sighed and peered through the bars of his cage. “You haven’t had the best track record lately, sir. But fine, why does it always happen to me?”

Dalton twisted his head to look at Pierce, locked in a cage suspended about ten feet off the ground. “Just lucky?”

Pierce huffed and tried to get a better view of Dalton. “Can’t you just do that thing. You know… that thing?”

Dalton sighed. “I’m trying. But my hands aren’t exactly mobile, Pierce.” He looked up at his wrists, chained to a pole above him. There was no slack, no movement was possible.

Pierce sighed and shuffled around to get comfortable. He arranged his knee to block the glare of the sun and glanced at the other inhabitants of the swinging cages. None of them were talking, most weren’t even making eye contact. “You figure they’re okay?”

“Sure,” Dalton said on the tail end of a grunt. “The Colonel was on a mission. Nothing was stopping her. And as soon as she’s done she’ll come after us.” He glanced around the hills that rose all around them, looking; she could have sent someone after them already.

“I figure about two hours,” Pierce said.

“Yeah?”

“Uh-huh,” Pierce said. “We were in the right spot. It was just a matter of opening that chamber thing. Twenty minutes to finish there. An hour or so to walk here. Maybe fifteen minutes of planning. Ten to get into position. We’ll be standing upright again in two hours, tops.”

Dalton stopped straining against his chains. “Great,” he gasped out, “now be quiet, huh?”

Pierce looked through the bars again. “A little cranky, are we sir? At least you get to sit upright.”

Dalton looked at him and rattled his chains. “At lest your arms aren’t being stretched to their limit!”

Pierce’s reply was lost when he snapped his mouth shut and turned towards the sound of voices. The tribesmen who’d ambushed them as they’d been standing guard outside the Colonel’s cave were coming back with two more prisoners. They were stuffed into a cage and hoisted up to swing about eight feet diagonally right of Pierce.

“Son of a bitch,” Dalton said quietly, snapping Pierce’s attention back to the Major.

“You okay, sir?”

“Yeah,” Dalton huffed an annoyed breath. “This is just getting old.”

“Hey, we did good! It’s been months since the last time any of us broke the deal!”

“Seven months, thirteen days,” Dalton said.

Pierce stared and blinked for a moment. “Should I be concerned that you remember that?”

Dalton gave up tugging on his chains and tilted his head back to look at Pierce. “It was that Requa place. Sort of memorable.”

“Ugh,” Pierce shuddered in memory. “Yeah. I tried to just… wipe the whole thing out.”

“Lucky you,” Dalton said, almost too quietly to be heard. He was silent for a while, staring into the distance. “So two hours, huh?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You want to put a bet on that?”

Pierce looked down at the top of Dalton’s head. “You’re gonna bet against the Colonel?”

“Nope. I say we’ll be out of here in eighty-five minutes. Tops.”

“Stakes?”

“If I win, you have to teach me the Pierce Special,” Dalton said with a grin. He’d been trying to get the recipe for ages.

“Hmm. And I if win you have to teach me that backwards trip flip thing. Deal?”

“Deal,” Dalton said immediately.

“Hey! Hey!” It was one of the newcomers.

Pierce and Dalton both craned their necks to look. “Yeah?” Dalton asked.

“Do you have people coming to get you?”

“Yep,” Pierce said.

“Think you could spring us at the same time?”

“Depends,” Dalton said, suspicion heavy in his voice. “Who are you?”

The man gestured to his companion. “Doctor Rhodes. I’m Major Ferretti. SG-2,” Ferretti said. Then he leaned forward making his cage rock a bit and scrutinized them. “You guys look familiar.”

Dalton and Pierce looked at each other. “Never seen you before,” Dalton said. “Can’t imagine where you’ve seen us.”

But Ferretti had realized and was shaking his head. “No, I know you. You were in the mural. You know Carter and Teal’c,” he said and looked around. “Where are they?” When he turned back to them he started in surprise.

Dalton and Pierce’s faces had gone stone cold as they delivered the most severe looks Ferretti had ever seen.

“I think you better tell us who you are,” Dalton grated out quietly.

---

Hayden toggled the small radio disc attached to his jaw. “Baal, you almost done? I think the tribesmen are coming back.”

Baal’s response came after a brief delay. “You said they’d left!”

“Well, now they’re coming back,” Hayden said as he shifted his gun and hunkered down in the cave entrance. He could see movement, at least a half-dozen of them creeping through the trees. A shot whizzed by his head. “And these ones have guns!”

“Hold them if you can and then get in here,” Baal said rapidly.

Hayden returned fire, poking out of cover to deliver precise shots. The tribesmen weren’t as good with guns as they were with their spears, bows, and arrows, but they were competent.

He’d taken down four but more were coming and Hayden determined it was time for a strategic retreat. He fired a few more shots and then stood, making it almost to safety when a blast grazed his leg.

Hayden stumbled and started firing blindly behind him as he lurched into the cave. He kept going until he’d circled the bend in the tunnel and was in sight of Baal and the Colonel. He dropped down to get his weight off his leg and shuffled around to secure the entrance.

“Baal! They might be right behind me!”

---

“Hold them if you can and then get in here,” Baal said rapidly and then turned to Carter. “Carter, we’re out of time. Carter!”

Carter didn’t move from her position staring at a panel that was cut into the cave wall. She’d led them here in a sudden flurry of connections that had started three days ago. She’d been completely gone, totally out of it, for almost all of that time which meant they couldn’t do anything but follow. They’d tried to figure it out, tried to snap her out of it or slow her down but nothing had worked. They’d concluded the only thing that would end it was her accomplishing whatever she was after. So they’d followed but they’d worried since she wasn’t often gone for such a long stretch.

Baal snapped out of his thoughts when she finally moved, pressed down a series of buttons on the panel. A section of rock that was obviously separate from the cave wall groaned and grated as it slid inwards. The chamber it revealed was only large enough for one person to step partially inside and held a stone chest, seemingly carved out of the cave itself.

Carter stepped forward and opened the chest. Then she paused, her whole body shuddered, and Baal blew a sigh of relief. She looked around, down at the chest, and finally at him. “Baal?”

“You led us here,” Baal said. “Grab that,” he nodded at the smaller box the chest held and opened his bag. She plunked it in without question.

“Baal! They might be right behind me!” Hayden’s yell reached them, the urgency in his voice making Carter reach for her weapons before he’d fully spoken.

They stepped outside and headed towards where Hayden was sprawled. A tribesman rounded the corner moments before they reached the Lieutenant. Carter shot him and the next two who followed. Hayden lurched away from their falling bodies, his eyes vigilant for more, when another shot and a yell came from down the passageway.

“It’s Teal’c,” Carter said.

Hayden sagged when the Jaffa appeared. “Did I ever tell you guys that you have the best timing?”

“Yes,” Baal said and then met Teal’c’s gaze. “So?”

“I followed Major Dalton and Lieutenant Pierce’s trail until it left the forest,” Teal’c said. “We will be able to locate them rapidly.”

“You okay?” Carter asked.

Hayden nodded, “Just a graze. I’m fine.” He accepted her offered hand and tested his leg. “See?”

Carter was nodding but digging around in her pockets. She finally pulled out a bandage and tossed it to him. “Wrap it up anyway.”

Hayden sighed but didn’t argue.

Carter was looking around, her familiar confused but trying to figure it out look on her face. “Where are we?”

Teal’c motioned them to the cave exit. “We will discuss it as we walk, Colonel Carter.”

---

Ferretti blinked in confusion as he stared at the other two men. “I already told you who we are,” he said.

“More than names,” Dalton snapped. “Where you’re from, how you know them, why you’re here.”

Ferretti looked at Rhodes who shrugged, clearly leaving it to him as the team leader. This wasn’t the reaction he’d been expecting and it was throwing him off balance. “We’re from the SGC,” Ferretti finally said, “SG-2, like I said. I’ve known them since they started working there going on… oh, three years now.”

Dalton and Pierce looked at each other. It was a significant moment that Ferretti didn’t miss. “How’d you find us?”

“We saw a… mural thing,” Ferretti said, “on a planet where you ended a drought.”

Dalton cursed softly and shook his head.

“What are your names?” Rhodes finally spoke.

“Dalton.” Then he jerked his head up to the cage, “Pierce.”

“You got first names?” Ferretti asked.

“Doesn’t everyone,” Dalton said.

Ferretti pursed his lips as he considered Dalton’s hostility. Then he nodded at Pierce, “I heard you call him sir.”

“Uh-huh,” Pierce uttered, not giving an inch.

Ferretti sighed and rubbed his hair, wondering if this was worth it. They were more than tight-lipped and it was positively aggravating.

“So you’re from Earth?” Rhodes asked, picking up the slack while Ferretti gathered his thoughts for his next question.

“We’re not talking about us,” Dalton said after a brief pause.

“What else do you want us to say?” Ferretti asked. “That’s who we are. Do we need to list our life’s accomplishments or something? And what’s with the third degree, anyway?”

“It pays to be cautious,” Pierce said.

“But we’re friends!” Ferretti grated out lowly, his frustration mounting.

“According to you,” Pierce said.

A commotion from the ground ended their argument as the tribesmen suddenly started swarming around chattering among themselves and pointing every which way.

“Did we ever figure out why they took us?” Pierce asked.

“I assumed they were slavers,” Ferretti said as he watched.

Dalton had a better view by virtue of his position on the ground. It didn’t help him figure out what was going on, but when one of the tribesmen dumped a bag that spilled open to reveal very human looking bones, he swallowed the lump in his throat. “Whatever it is,” he said, “it isn’t good.”

---

Janet turned from her desk, reaching for a file, and started when she saw Colonel O’Neill lurking in her office doorway. “Colonel, did you need something?”

O’Neill shifted on his feet and then entered, taking her question as implicit permission, and slumped in the chair opposite her desk. He stared at his fingers for a long moment and then sighed and met her eyes. “Daniel doesn’t belong in that place,” he said.

Janet sighed and abandoned thoughts of catching up on her paperwork. They’d had this conversation before and it never got any shorter. “I understand why you think that, sir, but the fact is there isn’t any sign that something else is going on.”

“But it could be a thousand things we’ve never even heard of!”

“Or it could be the Stargate, Colonel, or just something that was going to happen to him,” Janet said, keeping any heat out of her voice.

“Have you seen him?”

“I have.”

O’Neill sighed and gripped the arms of the chair tightly in anger. “Mackenzie’s got him so hopped up on drugs if he wasn’t crazy before he will be now.”

“I’m not giving up, sir,” Janet said. “But to help Daniel my tests need to actually show something. They aren’t, not yet. And until they do he needs to be in a place with closer supervision and more extensive facilities than the SGC.”

O’Neill sighed again but finally released the chair arms. He twisted around a bit, looking torn between leaving and staying.

“Was there something else, Colonel?” Janet finally prompted.

“You wanna grab some lunch, Doc?”

Janet smiled and, reasoning that her paperwork wasn’t going anywhere, stood. “Sure,” she said. They headed down the corridor in silence.

She knew he’d spent most of his spare time with SG-1, bouncing between Daniel and Sam’s labs, working out with Teal’c, and eating. With Sam and Teal’c gone Daniel had become his sole source of entertainment and distraction but now the Colonel was at loose ends. He hadn’t formed any kind of bond with the two replacements Hammond had assigned and had never been as close to other team members as he was with SG-1.

Janet understood all that because she’d been feeling much the same way for the past month. She didn’t have a team and wasn’t nearly as close with her staff as the SG teams became, but Sam was a major part of her life, the only person on base who routinely spoke with Janet, not Doctor Frasier. She’d felt Sam’s absence keenly, the friendship and pressure valve a good friend provided, the ability to grab a quick meal together or just talk and forget about the crazy world of the SGC.

It seemed only natural to her that, both being a bit lost, they would turn to each other for some of that support and understanding. They understood how close the other was to their missing friends.

---

Warren dropped his binoculars and plunked his head onto the ground.

“So? Sir?” Casey asked.

Warren offered the binoculars wordlessly.

Casey peered through them, finding the swinging cages easily. It was a blemish on the landscape, the large frames that held the cages aloft standing out like nobody’s business. “There’s quite a few of them,” he said.

Warren raised his head and nodded. “I think we might need help.”

“I guess,” Casey said. “You don’t think we should wait it out a bit? See what it’s like at night?”

“I think they won’t be going far,” Warren said as he rolled off his stomach. “I think there’s only two of us and over twenty of them.”

Casey was still looking at the tribesmen, trying to discern some clue about their next move. “I guess. It’s just, the Gate’s kind of far. By the time we get there and get back… what if something happens?” Casey asked. When he didn’t get a response he set the binoculars down. “Captain Warren?” He said and turned. “Whoa!” He reached for his gun reflexively but stopped when he realized there were far more guns already pointed at him.

Warren was beside him, staring in a bit of shock, his grip loose on his own weapon.

“Sir?” Casey said softly, wondering why the Captain hadn’t warned him. Then he really looked at them and realized why.

“Teal’c? Major Carter?” Warren managed to say first, his voice an octave higher than usual.

---

“Who the hell are you?” Hayden said from his position in front of the Colonel, his gun levelled at them.

“Uhh…” Warren stuttered, still shell shocked at their sudden appearance. “I’m Captain Warren. He’s Lieutenant Casey.

Baal edged to the side a bit to get a look at their jackets. Warren and Casey followed him with wide eyes, their hands tightening convulsively on their guns. “SG-2,” Baal said and turned to look at Carter and Teal’c.

Hayden glanced backwards. “Do we know them? They good guys? Colonel?”

Carter jolted herself from her stupor at Hayden’s prompting. They’d been walking along, filling her in on the last three days, and suddenly found two people, distinctly not tribesmen, who knew them. It was more than shocking.

They were SG-2, they were Earth, they were the past. They were everything she and Teal’c had left behind so long ago. She’d decided to go back to Earth, resigned herself to all the questions and suspicion they would meet, but it hadn’t ever seemed real. Carter had started to think they would never make it.

But now, here it was, just bam, out of the blue, and she didn’t know how she was supposed to feel. Their faces might as well belong to strangers, their uniforms, what she’d essentially lived in for a decade, seemed alien.

With an effort she shook it off and pushed it down. Now wasn’t the time to deal with how she felt about Earth. It was time to get Dalton and Pierce, deal with these two, and worry about the rest of the SGC later.

Carter scanned their faces, actively rooting around in her mind for memories, but came up empty. She titled her head towards Teal’c a bit. “Teal’c?”

Teal’c had been scrutinizing them as well. After another moment he nodded. “SG-2, Major Ferretti. Nicholas Warren and Sean Casey.”

Warren shifted at this odd exchange, his nervous eyes flicking from Baal and then to Carter like he couldn’t decide who to pay attention to. “Great,” he finally said, “so does that mean we can drop the guns?”

Carter flicked her eyes between them, looking for some sign of trickery, some clue that this wasn’t what it seemed. She could find none and Teal’c recognized them. She nodded. “Hayden,” Carter said since he couldn’t see her.

“Sir,” Casey said lowly, his eyes on Baal.

“It’s fine, Lieutenant,” Warren said.

“Where is Major Ferretti?” Teal’c asked.

“Down there,” Warren gestured. “We split up in twos to recon. When we couldn’t raise them on the radio we retraced their steps and tracked them here.”

“Them?” Baal asked as he pulled out his own spyglass and evaluated the cages. They hadn’t mentioned a fourth member and neither had Teal’c.

Warren jolted at being addressed by Baal and hesitated in his answer. He skimmed his eyes over the rest of them but none of them seemed disturbed. “Uh, yeah, Doctor Rhodes,” he said.

Teal’c turned to Warren. “I do not recognize that name.”

“She’s new,” Casey said as he finally got to his feet and dusted himself off, positioning himself as far away from Baal as possible. Warren followed.

Carter was keeping half her attention on them, still not totally comfortable despite who they supposedly were. “He’s not going to bite,” she said and got a bit of amusement when they jolted and whipped their eyes around to her.

Warren swallowed and shifted his feet as he studied her, trying to read her uninflected, deadpan tone but failing miserably. How he wished he could see her eyes behind her sunglasses, get a clue about her mood from them. But he couldn’t and he had a feeling she was staring at him, evaluating him in turn, and gleaning far more than he was. He didn’t know if he should look away, if that was a sign of weakness or of the deference she deserved because regardless of this Colonel thing she had always outranked him. His indecision left him staring dumbly.

He had doubted that they would actually find the missing SG-1 members. And now here they were but they weren’t acting anything like he’d expected. The Major Carter he remembered had been a kind, caring, open, and compassionate woman; the person before him was cold, aloof, and harder to read even than Teal’c. Then he wished for Major Ferretti so he wouldn’t have to deal with them.

Carter finally turned to Baal, releasing Warren from her gaze. “So?”

Baal turned and lobbed the spyglass at her. “They’re there,” he said. “Dalton’s on the ground, Pierce is above him. Sixth cage from the left.”

Carter peered at them for a long time, evaluating their posture and what little she could make out of their expressions. She knew them, how they looked and how they moved. “They look okay,” she said. Then she turned her attention to the tribesmen and really studied them. Carter swore.

“What is wrong?”

“Where are we?” Carter asked as she turned to them.

“Oh, uh,” Hayden fumbled around in his pockets and pulled out the pad of paper he’d written the address on. He handed it to Baal who passed it to Carter.

She glanced at it and swore again.

“Colonel Carter?” Teal’c prompted once more.

Carter blew out a breath and gestured into the valley. “They’re Pygrins,” she said.

“Really?” Baal asked as he plucked the spyglass from her to look again. “I guess they are,” he finally said. “We must be on Quep.”

“Indeed,” Teal’c said as he finally remembered why the address looked familiar.

“Why does this always happen?” Carter muttered to herself.

Baal smiled. “Well, you’re the one who—“

“Ah,” she waved at him. “Don’t even.”

Baal smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

“Excuse me,” Warren finally said, “but what are Pygrins?”

Hayden groaned when all three of them turned. “I know that look. Tell me they aren’t… cannibals or something.”

“They are not,” Teal’c said.

Hayden sighed in relief.

“But they have this… pet, thing,” Carter said.

“They worship it,” Baal continued, “and part of that is feeding it.”

Hayden groaned.

“They’re going to feed all those people to some… thing?” Casey said, eyes wide.

“Uh-huh,” Carter said and turned back to the valley. “So, we do this just like on Varna?”

Baal clapped his hands together. “Works for me.”

“Indeed.”

Carter nodded and pulled her automatic out of its sling on her back. She adjusted it into a rifle and passed it off to Baal. “Teal’c,” she said and nodded off to the right. He followed her gaze and headed out. Then she turned to Hayden. “You’re staying here.”

“But—“

“You’re staying,” Carter said.

Hayden sagged but nodded. He knew that tone. She threw the spyglass at him. He caught it with a mutter, “I hate being sidelined.”

“Then stop getting yourself shot,” Carter said. She flicked her gaze to SG-2. “You’re staying too.”

Warren and Casey shared a look, opened their mouths to protest, and then gave in under her withering stare.

Carter turned to start her part but hesitated when she met Baal’s eyes. “You need to get moving,” she said.

“I will. You sure you’re…”

“I’m good.”

Baal stared at her for a long time, assessing. Finally he nodded. “Be careful.”

Carter gifted him with a brief grin. “Always,” she said and then started towards the cages.

Baal’s motion to Hayden to keep an eye on her went unseen behind Carter’s back.

---

Pierce straightened as he caught movement in the distance. He grinned. “Hey, Major Dalton.”

“Yeah?”

“Cavalry’s here.”

Ferretti twisted around to try and see. “What? Where?”

“Ha!” Dalton chortled.

“What?” Pierce looked down at him.

“It’s only been eighty minutes. I win.”

Pierce snorted. “Not so fast, sir. The bet was we’d be out and standing up. If that takes more than five minutes then I win.”

Ferretti and Rhodes had finally spotted the so-called cavalry. “That’s it?” Rhodes said. “That’s one person!”

“That is the Colonel,” Dalton said, his pride and utter belief clear.

Ferretti could finally make out enough features to identify the person. “Shit,” he said, “it’s Carter.”

“Hey,” Dalton barked sharply, “show some respect.” Then he strained forward as much as his chains would allow as she grew ever closer to the oblivious tribesmen.

---

Carter could almost feel Teal’c and Baal’s eyes on her as she approached the tribesmen. They were in position ready to play their part, their open radio channels ensuring easy communication.

She’d been rooting around her memory for the language the Pygrins spoke but hadn’t been able to find it yet. Deciding it didn’t matter that much she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Hey, assholes, how about you take a hike,” Carter gestured to the hills with her weapon knowing they wouldn’t understand her.

The tribesmen whirled upon hearing her voice and brandished their weapons. One of them pointed his gun at her.

Carter tsked and shook her head. “I wouldn’t do that,” she said moments before a crack cut the air and he fell from Baal’s shot.

They were looking around now, jabbering in their distress, and it was enough for Carter to remember the language. She started yelling back at them, telling them to leave. When they didn’t get the message she pointed, singling one out, and Baal shot him.

Their agitation increased tenfold and three decided they would run at her with their spears. Between Baal, Teal’c, and Carter they didn’t get within five feet. The rest of them paused, perplexed about those who had seemingly dropped dead at a word from her and realizing they were outmatched.

“Leave,” Carter told them again, “before more die.” They hesitated so she took one step forward and moved to raise her gun again. They scattered. She waited until she couldn’t see them anymore. “Hayden?”

His voice came over the radio after the briefest of pauses, “They’re gone, Colonel.”

“Colonel!” Carter turned at the yell from Dalton and Pierce and found them both, grinning at her like idiots.

“You guys okay?”

“Yep. It’s good to see you, Colonel,” Dalton said.

“Just perfect… as soon as you get us out,” Pierce added.

Carter rocked back on her heels and shook her head at them. “I dunno, Pierce. I’ve got half a mind to just leave you up there.”

Pierce sputtered. “Then why’d you come?”

“For me, of course,” Dalton said with a smirk. “The Colonel likes me.”

Pierce looked between them with a squinty eyed gaze. Finally he shook his head. “Nah, you like me, too. Now come on,” he rattled the cage, “I’m cramping up.” He looked at her, saw the small, quirky smile and raised eyebrow and groaned. “Pllllease,” he whined.

Dalton snorted. “That’ll change her mind.”

Carter sucked in a breath, “You just keep getting your butt captured, Pierce. And saving it is a pain in mine.”

“Oh, come on, I’ve been good. And it’s not my fault!”

“Are you teasing him again?” Baal asked as he arrived.

Carter’s smile was all the answer he needed.

“Baal!” Pierce focused on his new target. “Come on, you like me! Let me down?” He paused and huffed when Baal started laughing. “Of course not, you’re always on the Colonel’s side. Where’s Hayden? He’ll let me down.”

Carter joined Baal in his laughter. After she wound down she motioned Baal to the cage. “Get him down, huh? Gently,” she said and then turned to Dalton’s chains.

By the time Teal’c and Hayden arrived with Warren and Casey in tow, Dalton and Pierce were on their feet stretching the kinks out.

“Is everyone well?” Teal’c asked.

“Yeah,” Dalton said, “Thanks. Did you guys get or… do… whatever we were, uh, doing?”

Carter nodded.

“Good,” Pierce said as he finished whirling his arms around. “Then let’s vamoose before those cannibals come back.”

“They weren’t cannibals.” Hayden jumped in, “they were just going to feed you to their sacred… uh…”

“Giant reptile…”

“Thing,” Carter finished Baal’s description.

Dalton and Pierce looked between their team and then at each other, trying to figure out if they were serious. “That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Dalton finally said.

“Hey! What about us!”

They all looked up to see Rhodes and Ferretti waving their arms and rocking their cage a bit.

“Sir!” Warren and Casey said in tandem as they moved to the cage.

“Are ya alright?” Warren asked.

“Peachy,” Ferretti said. “Now get us down, Captain.”

“Yes, sir,” Warren said and went about figuring out the winch.

Carter grimaced as she watched. “Forgot about that.”

“They said they know you guys,” Pierce said.

Carter nodded vaguely.

“It would seem that we have finally arrived in the correct time,” Teal’c said.

“Oh,” Dalton said. “Well, that’s… good, isn’t it? I mean, you don’t exactly seem… happy.”

Carter and Teal’c looked at each other for a long time. Teal’c finally reached out and squeezed Carter’s hand. “It is an adjustment. We will require time.”

“Whatever you need from us,” Hayden said.

“A buffer would be good,” Carter said and then winced as the cage dropped to the ground with a crash. She braced herself as Ferretti and Rhodes scrambled out and the entirety of SG-2 turned to face them.

---

“Enter,” Hammond called in response to the knock on his door. “Doctor Frasier, what can I do for you?”

Frasier settled in the chair and shifted. “The test results on that blood SG-2 brought back came in.”

“And?”

“And, I’m pretty sure it’s Major Carter’s,” Frasier said.

“Pretty sure? Not certain?”

“No, sir. There wasn’t enough for a DNA test but Major Carter’s blood work is fairly distinctive; it’s the same blood type and has the same protein marker and naquadah levels. If it isn’t hers it would be a remarkable coincidence.”

Hammond dropped his pen and leaned back in his chair. “So what are we saying, Doctor? Because Major Carter and Teal’c were here when they were supposedly ending a drought. Could it really be them?”

“I can’t answer that, sir,” Frasier said. “All I can say is that the blood didn’t show anything abnormal but I could tell more with a larger, more recent sample. With everything we’ve seen I don’t think we can dismiss this out of hand, General.”

“I agree,” Hammond said after a moment of consideration, “but we also can’t assume it’s them because…”

“Of everything we’ve seen,” Frasier finished with a bittersweet smile. She stood to leave but paused, “One other thing, sir. Do you think maybe it’s time we informed Colonel O’Neill? I just had lunch with him and he’s… moping, sir. This could be what he needs.”

“Yes,” Hammond said with a nod, “I’ll tell him. If SG-2 does find them at least he’ll be prepared.”

“I’m not sure it’s possible to be prepared, General,” Frasier said and then left. She was still reeling and she’d only really lost Sam. She was close to all of them, sure, but Sam was the only one who was part of her life outside the mountain and whose return would make one young preteen ecstatically happy.

---

Ferretti hadn’t quite been able to believe his eyes or his ears once he’d known he was looking at Carter. She hadn’t sounded like the respectful person he remembered and when she’d started yelling in the native language his head had really spun. Her teasing of her team sounded more like what he remembered of the sometimes odd but easy relationship between SG-1.

But as he’d scrambled out of the cage and turned to face them Ferretti hadn’t been able to reconcile the sight of her and Teal’c standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Baal, a Goa’uld, a fricken’ System Lord. So he’d pulled Warren’s sidearm and pointed it at the goateed man on instinct.

Six guns met him as Pierce liberated a gun from Hayden and Dalton plucked one from the many holsters strapped on Carter. They stared down barrels with flinty-eyed gazes for a long, charged moment.

“Didn’t we already do this,” Hayden muttered but didn’t take his eyes off SG-2 for even a second.

With that comment Ferretti realized that Warren and Casey had already met up with them. “What were you thinking,” he said, pitching his voice towards his team despite knowing it would reach the others over the paltry five feet that separated them.

“He’s with them, sir,” Warren said slowly, aware Ferretti’s anger was on him. He’d made the decisions.

“Or they’re with him. He’s a Goa’uld, Captain!”

“Hey, now,” Baal said, “don’t go throwing around labels like that.”

“Shut up!” Ferretti said and raised his aim to Baal’s face. “Just… be quiet and get away from them,” he waved his gun to one side. Baal didn’t budge. Ferretti looked at the others, “Fine, then, I’m telling the rest of you to move.”

Dalton snorted, “We don’t have to listen to you.”

“I’m the ranking officer and I’m ordering you to move!” Ferretti said, a bit desperately, wanting control of the situation back. He’d seen Baal in the mural but hadn’t really considered what meeting up with him would be like.

“Like hell,” Dalton said. “We listen to the Colonel and only the Colonel.”

“She’s not a Colonel!”

“You are incorrect, Major Ferretti. Colonel Carter is in fact a Colonel,” Teal’c said.

Ferretti looked at him, the Jaffa’s calm, measured voice distracting his attention. It sure sounded like Teal’c but it didn’t look like Teal’c. And Carter… Ferretti shook his head. The mural hadn’t shown the scars, the veritable arsenal she was wearing on her body. It didn’t make any sense and in that instant Ferretti realized either these weren’t their Major Carter and Teal’c or something very, very strange was going on. “Just… move! Or I swear…” He trailed off as they started to shift.

Except they didn’t separate and leave Baal standing on his own. Instead they moved forward, forming a wall in front of Baal, Carter, and Teal’c, their weapons still pointed and their expressions resolute.

“We have more guns than you,” Pierce said, “and we’ll actually, you know, shoot them.”

“Sir,” Warren said, “I think we should talk about this. They seemed, well, like a team. And he didn’t act, uh, Goa’uld… ish.”

Ferretti considered that in silence. The six of them were definitely acting like they were close, like they cared about each other, even Baal. It wasn’t behaviour that was characteristic of a Goa’uld, none of them seemed to fear him or show him any deference. It was Carter who seemingly had all the respect, who they were all looking to for their next move.

“You gonna shoot us, Ferretti?” Carter finally asked as she studied him between Dalton and Pierce’s shoulders. “Or do you want to just stand here until the natives come back?” She was silent for a moment, staring at him he could tell, and then shook her head. “This is ridiculous. We’re going,” she said and they all turned as one unit, keeping her and Baal in the middle.

“Hey!” Ferretti said a bit uselessly, frozen in surprise and indecision.

“We just gonna let them walk away, sir?” Casey asked. “We did come to find them.”

“I think,” Warren said as he stared after them where they’d paused to find Dalton and Pierce’s gear, “if we let them walk away now we won’t see them again, Major.”

Ferretti groaned and handed Warren his gun. He would just have to take a leap of faith, trust that there was more going on here than he knew, than he understood, and that his team’s instincts were right. “Wait up!” He called as he jogged after them.

Dalton turned, his weapon still raised.

Ferretti raised his hands. “No guns,” he said. “Promise. Just… we came looking for your guys. We’d like to take you home. But if you could maybe explain,” he glanced at Baal who had a mild expression on his face, “that would be good.”

“It is an exceedingly long and—“

“Complicated,” Dalton jumped in.

“…story,” Teal’c finished with a small smile. “We would prefer to only tell it once.”

Which meant General Hammond. Ferretti supposed he could understand that. He nodded. “Okay,” he said and turned his attention to the pile of stuff. “Have you seen our gear in there?”

---

Carter kept her eyes forward. Ferretti and the rest had been dead set on walking in the rear. They probably didn’t want Baal behind them, Carter mused. It was fine with her. If she couldn’t see them then she could forget for a minute that they were about to head back to the SGC.

It still didn’t quite seem real, she supposed it wouldn’t until they stepped into the Gate room. She’d been trying to imagine their reception and had decided there would be more gun waving, a lot of questions, and probably a bit of yelling. Just thinking about it gave her a headache.

Carter blinked and paused for a moment as she assessed herself. There was a bit of a light-headed feeling accompanying the headache and a persistence fatigue. She pushed herself forward, determined to get to the top of the hill.

“Colonel Carter, are you well?” Teal’c asked.

“Yeah,” Carter said, cursing his perceptiveness, as always, “just a little…” She trailed off as she swayed on her feet.

Teal’c and Baal each grabbed an arm and guided her onto the ground. She blinked at them as their faces fuzzed around the edges.

SG-2 had caught up. “What’s wrong?” Ferretti asked but was largely ignored.

“Here,” Baal said after digging around in his bag, “eat.” Carter looked at the compressed bar with displeasure. “Carter,” he said lowly, “it’s been two days since your last real meal.”

“Not that that counts,” Dalton chimed in.

Carter sighed but grabbed it, recognizing their looks and that she was truly outnumbered. Teal’c and Baal together had always been bad enough but when the rest joined in she never had a chance. The moment the bar was gone Teal’c silently handed her a canteen.

Baal was looking for another bar and turned to the others when he came up empty. “You guys have any?”

“Yeah,” Pierce started digging in his pack.

“Ah-ha!” Hayden beat him to it and pulled one out. “You actually like these ones, Colonel,” he said and tossed it to Teal’c. He reached back into the bag and pulled out a box. “Hey, is this the… whatever?”

Carter finished chewing and nodded. “Yeah.”

He rattled the box. “Cool. We know what it is yet?”

“Nope,” Carter said and dusted off her fingers. Teal’c pulled her up without a word, steadied her, and adjusted her sunglasses. They shared a brief smile.

“You people came all the way out here for that and you don’t even know what it is?” Rhodes said.

“Yep,” Hayden said as he put it back in his bag.

“Not even a guess?” Casey asked.

They all shook their heads.

“Then how do you know that ya want it?” Warren asked.

“That’s how it works,” Pierce said. “The Colonel leads, we follow.”

“You good?” Baal asked, his eyes still on Carter.

“Yeah. How far is the Gate?”

“Uh,” Dalton paused in thought when everyone turned to look at him. “It’s about,” he waggled a hand, “another twenty minutes?”

“Great,” Carter muttered as she started walking. “I’m putting a moratorium on all three-day space outs.”

SG-2 shared confused looks as everyone else chuckled.

---

Ferretti let out a relieved breath when the Stargate finally came into view. The tension, though it was less than it had been, was still thick and it was making his teeth hurt. He couldn’t figure them out and they weren’t sharing. He would never be so happy to get back and hand this whole mess over to General Hammond.

“So, I think I should radio ahead first,” Ferretti said, “maybe warn them about you.”

Carter nodded and waved vaguely at the DHD, looking like she just wanted to take a long nap.

“Lieutenant,” Ferretti said to Casey who started dialling.

Casey was halfway through the sequence when a yell sounded and an arrow whizzed right between them. Everyone whirled and unleashed suppressive fire while Casey finished dialling in a frantic rush.

Ferretti cursed and ducked a spear. “This is such an SG-1 thing,” he muttered as he picked himself up.

The Gate opened in a whoosh.

Casey punched in the IDC. “Sir! We’re good!”

“Let’s go!” Ferretti yelled.

Carter ducked behind the DHD and kept firing as she accounted for her people. “Hayden, Pierce, move it!” She poked her head up and saw Rhodes cut off with Ferretti trying to instruct her to the Gate. “Teal’c!” Carter nodded her head towards them.

Teal’c wove his way through the fray expertly and plucked Rhodes up to sling over his shoulder.

“Colonel, down!”

Carter just reacted to Dalton’s yell and fell to the ground, watched as an arrow cut the air where her head had been. “We good?” She asked without moving.

“Yes!” Ferretti said.

Carter fired blindly behind her as she stood and ran for the Gate.

Nothing was ever easy.

---

O’Neill dragged his feet on the way to the General’s office without looking like he was dragging his feet. He couldn’t imagine what Hammond wanted to talk about but had a feeling it wasn’t anything he wanted to hear. He didn’t want to listen to another lecture about his replacement team members and how he had to “give them a chance,” or that they weren’t giving up on Daniel when they clearly were.

Resigned to his fate he stopped at the door, paused to contemplate running away and saying he must have missed the summons, and then finally knocked.

Hammond’s voice sounded, a bit indistinct, but O’Neill took it as permission to enter. He pushed the door open. “You wanted to see me s… Mackenzie! I’ve been trying to talk to you for days!”

Mackenzie turned from his chair facing Hammond and sighed. “And I’ve been avoiding you, Colonel.”

“Have you seen what you’re doing to Daniel?”

Mackenzie sighed and stood. “I assure you, Colonel O’Neill, I’m doing my very best.”

“Best! He’s so loopy he can’t sit still! You’re making him worse. He was still coherent when he was here.”

“Colonel,” Hammond said as he stood, “this isn’t why I asked you here.”

“With respect, sir, I’ve been trying to pin him down for days,” O’Neill said and turned to follow Mackenzie who was trying to slink away.

Hammond sighed but followed, determined to mediate the argument that had been brewing since Doctor Jackson’s initial diagnosis.

“It’s a medical matter, Colonel, and your personal opinions don’t bear any weight,” Mackenzie was saying. “A lot of people develop mental illness out of the blue, and they don’t walk through a Stargate multiple times a week.”

“Walking through a Stargate is why we shouldn’t jump to the he’s crazy explanation! You don’t have any proof—“

“And neither do you, Colonel. But I at least have medicine on my side.”

O’Neill huffed and in the pause he took to think up his next remark the klaxon sounded. They all redirected to the control room without much thought.

“I know him and Daniel isn’t the type—“

“There is no type, Colonel, that’s exactly the point,” Mackenzie cut him off.

“Sir,” Walter said, “receiving SG-2’s IDC.”

Hammond paused as his stomach lurched. He hadn’t told Jack and he hadn’t prepared himself for the possibility that Major Carter and Teal’c would be walking down that ramp.

“Sir?” Walter asked.

“Open the iris,” Hammond said, ignoring the look O’Neill was sending him because of his brief hesitation.

Lieutenant Casey stumbled through first, followed by an arrow, and then two other young men Hammond didn’t recognize. The defence teams raised their weapons on instinct but the people on the ramp were too preoccupied to notice. Next Captain Warren ran through. There was a pause.

“What did Ferretti get himself into this time,” O’Neill muttered, “and who are they?”

Hammond called a medical team, just to be sure. It was always a decent precaution when a team came in under fire.

The wormhole rippled again and another man Hammond didn’t know ran through. Then a larger person, and Hammond swallowed convulsively when his eyes landed on that face that whispered enemy. Then Ferretti and, finally, after another brief pause, two more people in tandem, firing their weapons behind them, one with a body slung over his shoulder.

All ten of them were clustered on the ramp, just spilling onto the floor, but from the height of the control room Hammond could see them all. When those last two people turned he felt his heart skip a beat and the shock reverberate through the Gate room and control room.

Out of the corner of his eye Hammond saw O’Neill sway just a bit as his hand tightened on the back of Walter’s chair.

“Carter? Teal’c?”

---

Jack O’Neill couldn’t believe his eyes. He stared in open-mouthed shock and fought the very real urge to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming when his missing people appeared through the Gate. He was having trouble wrapping his head around it.

Not once had he considered them truly lost or dead. But he’d been forced to face reality after weeks of fruitless searching, and not just by Earth. Jacob had actively looked and even Thor, once he heard of the situation, agreed to be on the lookout for any word.

But it wasn’t like they’d been lost off world. Instead they had disappeared, literally into thin air. At first they’d thought maybe an artefact or gadget had gone off or an experiment of Carter’s had gone wrong, but that couldn’t explain them disappearing simultaneously, right down to the thousandth of a second, from different parts of the base. Then they’d thought maybe an Asgard beam or some other transport technology but there hadn’t been any sign of that. There hadn’t been anything and that had bothered O’Neill most of all.

He’d consoled himself by choosing to believe that wherever they were at least they were together. They’d be able to look out for each other and find their way back. Somehow that prospect was less disturbing than thinking of them disappeared to God knew where and being all on their own.

And now, suddenly, here they were, standing on the ramp, whole and alive and justifying every second of his and Daniel’s belief when others had shaken their heads and given up.

O’Neill blinked and blinked again, just to make sure, and then a smile bloomed as the shock started to wear off and happiness crept in. He swept his eyes over them, not able to take in much detail beyond knowing it was them, and finally launched out of his stupor and ran to the Gate room.

---

The Gate room was chaos. The medical team had arrived and was standing in one doorway, Janet the vanguard of a shocked group of nurses and techs. O’Neill had charged down as soon as he’d overcome his shock and bulled his way through the other door, Hammond hot on his heels. The defence teams were shifting uncertainly, unsure who they should be aiming at and who, if anyone, they should shoot. The people clustered on the ramp were too involved in checking themselves to notice.

Carter helped Teal’c lower Rhodes to the ramp and then turned to everyone else. For a second the recent past imposed itself on the present and they were in Dalton’s SGC and that was General Keegan, but Carter pushed it down and focused on the now. “Everyone okay?” She asked, raising her voice above the din of everyone jabbering at the same time in confusion. She turned to the closest person who happened to be Baal. Carter blinked and then looked again. “Baal?”

“What?” He turned to look at her. “What?”

Carter pointed.

Baal raised his arms and looked down and then twisted to see the arrow jutting from his lower back. “Oh,” he said and reached for it.

Carter snatched his hand away. “Don’t,” she said then looked at the rest of her people. “Anyone else have any ohs?”

Dalton physically patted himself down and pulled open his jacket. “Nope,” he said.

Hayden wiped at his forearm, “I think I was nicked.”

“I’m fine,” Pierce reported.

Carter turned to Ferretti who was hovering at the end of the ramp, his uncertain gaze flicking between them and the shifting throng of onlookers. “We’re good,” he finally said.

“Carter! Teal’c!” The yell cut above the rest of the noise, quieting much of the murmur as everyone focused on the person who was actually doing something.

They both turned at their names and watched as the speaker pushed his way through the defence teams to stop and grin at them. Carter felt the vaguest flicker of memory, a tug of thought upon seeing his face, but then it was gone.

“O’Neill,” Teal’c said with genuine pleasure and the beginnings of a small smile.

“Hey, T,” O’Neill’s grin grew and then he turned his eyes on her. Carter had a frozen moment, wondering what she was expected to say in the face of his joy, to this man she didn’t remember, when another voice saved her.

“Major Ferretti! What were you thinking, bringing a known hostile onto this base without warning?”

Everyone who hadn’t been silent was now, turning to watch General Hammond as the crowd parted for him, his authority bringing rough order to the chaos. O’Neill pulled his gaze away from his missing team members. Carter braced herself for the impending explosion.

“There wasn’t time, sir, we were under fire,” Ferretti said.

Hammond turned to look at Baal whose arm Carter was still holding. The General pointed, “I want him taken into custody immediately.”

“General, I don’t think that’s-” Ferretti started but his warning came too late.

“Whoa,” Dalton wheeled around and backed up the ramp to stand in front of them, Hayden and Pierce following. They drew their weapons and it was déjà vu all over again.

“Third time’s the charm,” Hayden muttered.

“… a good idea,” Ferretti finished in a mumble.

Met with weapons the defence teams lost any uncertainty. They responded in kind.

Hammond looked shocked for a minute and glanced at Ferretti.

“We should talk about this General,” Ferretti said quietly. “They are a team and they’re real protective.”

“Doesn’t mean he isn’t a Gould,” O’Neill said, his initial exuberance draining away as his face hardened a bit. He flicked his eyes to his team members. “How about you guys get down here?” When they didn’t move he straightened up and looked at them a little more closely, “That wasn’t a suggestion.”

“Indeed it was not, O’Neill.”

O’Neill waved his hands in an ‘and so’ gesture, obviously expecting them to hop to and do what he wanted.

“Major Carter,” Hammond said.

“Colonel,” Dalton snapped immediately.

“Excuse me?” Hammond asked after a pause.

“It’s Colonel Carter,” Dalton elaborated.

“They’ve been saying that the whole time, General,” Ferretti offered in pseudo-explanation.

“I’m still telling you to get off that ramp,” Hammond said.

“You’re not touching him,” Carter said.

“Carter…” O’Neill said.

“No!” She cut him off and registered his surprise. But it didn’t matter right now.

Baal shifted and grimaced as he evaluated the room. It was tense, neither side seemed inclined to budge, and everyone was armed. It was a recipe for disaster. “Maybe it would be best if-“

“It’s. Not. Happening,” Carter bit out and pulled her sunglasses off to stare at him; Baal wilted under her look.

“Colonel Carter,” Teal’c turned to her, his head ducked. “This is the best course. By cooperating we can ensure his safety.”

“Teal’c…” Carter was shaking her head before he’d finished speaking.

He cupped the side of her face and stared into her eyes. “Trust me, Colonel Carter,” he said lowly. “I believe in these people whom you do not remember.”

“I think,” Baal said, “that it’s a… moot point.” He listed to one side as his legs buckled. Carter managed to break his fall and went down with him with Teal’c right behind her.

“Baal, hey,” Carter tapped the side of his face as she crouched over him. “What’s wrong?”

“Colonel?” The question came from Dalton and the Lieutenants in tandem but they didn’t dare take their eyes off their adversaries.

“I think it hit my kidney.”

“Your… but you can fix it?”

“You need to cut the arrow out,” Baal said. “Then I’ll be… good as new.”

“Cut… shit,” Carter swore softly. She looked down at her hands. She couldn’t wield a knife without risking more trauma and even with a symbiote they couldn’t go blithely damaging his organs and expect a good recovery. She looked up into the unsympathetic faces of the SGC, seething at their black and white view, their inability to see past a word. “Dalton!” Carter barked.

Dalton moved immediately and crouched by her side. “Colonel?”

Carter pointed at the arrow. “Get it out.”

“Wh… but, with what?”

She scanned the room and stood. Teal’c caught her arm as she passed. “It would be best…” Teal’c’s eyes were on the medical team, flicking between them and her, and she knew what he was thinking before he spoke.

“No,” Carter said immediately and shot him a look; he released her arm and ducked his head. She pushed off the ramp and headed for the medical team. They gave her odd looks but Carter paid them no heed, instead snatching the closest bag uncontested. She pushed it into Dalton’s hands and then took his place blocking Baal from their weapons.

“This is how it’s going to work,” Carter said, her eyes flicking between Hammond and O’Neill, “when Dalton’s done we’re all going to the infirmary. You can have our weapons but we won’t be separated. Ever. You can ask your questions, we’ll prove who we are, but Baal’s not getting carted off to be some… experiment.”

“Christ, Carter, who the hell do you think we are?”

Carter looked at him. She felt that twinge of memory no matter where she looked or who she saw but it always disappeared before forming into anything concrete and left a hammering in her head. “The people pointing guns at us,” she said simply. She saw understanding in his face, his realization that she was interpreting their reception as an aggressive act.

“This is the military, Majo…uh,” Hammond fumbled over the rank when the Lieutenants shot him a look. “We don’t accept ultimatums,” he finished.

“You do now,” Carter said. “This is how it is or we’re leaving.”

An odd sound from Baal and a relieved sigh interrupted the standoff. “I’m done, Colonel,” Dalton said. “It looks okay.”

Carter glanced at them, her gaze lingering on Baal, and nodded. Then she looked back to Hammond who was talking quietly with O’Neill.

“I say we do it, sir,” O’Neill said quietly. “It’s Carter and Teal’c. It will be worth it just to defuse… this,” he waved a hand to indicate the volatile atmosphere.

“Agreed,” Hammond finally said, “but you drop your weapons here and will have an escort at all times.”

“Guys,” Carter said as she reached for her belt. She unclipped the belt, the thigh holsters, and the harness along her chest that held her knives and backup underarm gun holsters. Carter dropped it all at Hammond’s feet with a clatter, ignoring the look on their faces. She added the rifle from her back and watched the pile grow. It was a rather impressive collection of weapons.

When they were done Teal’c and Dalton hauled Baal up and helped him down the ramp behind the Lieutenants who were flanking Carter.

---

O’Neill tried not to stare. They were on edge, he could see it in all their shoulders and their stiff pace even without knowing them. But it was hard with them right there in front of him despite knowing how twitchy staring would make them feel.

Seeing them on the ramp was paling in comparison to the shock of actually seeing them. O’Neill knew them, as well or better than he’d ever known anyone, and despite it being a month he could mark the differences without thought. It was that stark, that fundamental.

They were… old. Teal’c had hair, grey hair, and Carter wasn’t anything like the young, enthusiastic Captain he’d first met. They were old and battle-weary; it was a look he knew but had never expected to see on them. And certainly not now.

There was a hardness to them, too, written on their faces and flickering in their eyes. That was a look he knew well, one he’d seen on his own face a time or two. It spoke of hard times, bad times, and bad… things. There was a brittle edge to it like they were only just holding it together and a hit in exactly the right spot would shatter them.

Carter had more of it, that on the edge look. But it was in Teal’c too, told by the looks he gave her and the way he stayed just in arm’s reach, always turned slightly towards her like he feared if he turned his back she’d suddenly be gone. And the aching feeling that if it ever happened the Jaffa would be lost.

And then there were the scars. He’d noticed the one on Carter’s face immediately, jutting out from behind her sunglasses, but the extent had surprised him when she’d finally pulled them off. Then there was the glint of metal along the right side of her face that defied explanation. It was all topped off with a noticeable but not pronounced limp that favoured her right leg. They were severe injuries to have left marks like that, ones that couldn’t have been sustained and healed so completely in a month. It was another thing that didn’t quite fit.

There had to be a story there, an explanation for them being them but… not. And an answer for the Gould because that was something O’Neill just couldn’t see. Teal’c would have never teamed up with a snakehead and Carter was just too… Carter to go along with it.

But O’Neill knew it was them. Despite the differences, despite the questions, he just knew. Call it a gut instinct, an intuition, his longstanding knowledge of who these people were asserting itself, but he knew. He felt it

---

Janet stood outside the isolation room that held six beds and took a fortifying breath. The hope of the entire mountain was resting on her shoulders. It had spread like wildfire as soon as they’d left the Gate room. The word was out that SG-1’s missing members were back. They all wanted it to be true because losing people was always demoralizing. Janet was just pretty sure she wanted it more than most but she had to remain objective and impartial for the time being.

She swiped her card and entered but had to pause and just take it all in. Sam was pacing a short circuit while rubbing at her head, clearly bothered and throwing looks at her people but especially Baal. Teal’c stood at the exact middle of her path, his hands behind him in his familiar stance but his face not quite as impassive as usual. There was just something different that Janet lingered over until she realized. It wasn’t overt but his eyes were following Sam, his regard intent and concerned.

She skimmed over the rest. The other three were sitting on one bed, generally looking relaxed and talking quietly. But there was a certain current, a feeling like they always had a portion of their attention on Sam, as if they expected she would suddenly tell them to spring into action.

Janet glanced at the observation window where General Hammond and Colonel O’Neill were watching, making no effort to hide their interest. She finally resolved to start and cleared her throat. The combined impact of five gazes was momentarily overwhelming but she pushed through it and walked a little closer.

“Doctor Frasier,” Teal’c inclined his head and smiled, “it is most excellent to see you well.”

Janet smiled, a little confused at his phrasing, “Thank you, Teal’c. It’s good to see you, too.” She couldn’t stop herself from looking at Sam who was studying her intently with an expression Janet was used to seeing turned on alien machines, not people. “Sam?” Janet tried hesitantly.

Carter glanced at Teal’c. “Janet Frasier,” he said. “You are friends, Colonel Carter.”

Janet got stuck on that sentence for a moment, sifting through all the implications, and then snapped back to the present in time to see Sam huff out a breath and resume rubbing her head. “Right now,” Janet said, “I need to make sure you aren’t a threat to the base and that you two are who you say.”

“So,” Dalton said into the awkward silence, “standard blood work, MRI, all that?”

“Yes,” Janet said.

Dalton hopped off the bed and pulled at his jacket. “I’ll go first. And Pierce here, oh…” he diverted suddenly and whirled to face Janet, “you can’t do an MRI on the Colonel.”

Janet stared at him for a moment and then remembered that he was talking about Sam. She jerked her eyes to her friend. “Why not?”

“Magnets,” Carter grated out between her teeth as she squeezed her temples.

“Magn…” Janet trailed off when Sam turned a fraction and she caught the glint of metal. “Oh, well, an ultrasound will be fine. Are you…” She cleared her throat, wondering at her nervousness around this woman who her daughter adored, “okay? I can get you something for your headache.”

Carter released a short, odd sounding laugh and shook her head, then groaned. Teal’c was there, grasping her hands and pulling her onto a bed, his movements slow and gentle. “Colonel Carter has her own painkillers, Doctor Frasier,” Teal’c said and started to dig around in her pockets.

“So, Doc,” Dalton said when Janet stared for too long. He smiled and gestured to himself, “We doing this?”

Janet nodded. “Of course,” she said and gestured him to sit on an unoccupied bed. She wondered briefly at his eagerness for a check-up and then caught his concerned, nervous glances towards Sam. Janet thought maybe she was starting to understand.

---

“Major Ferretti, would you care to explain?”

“Sir,” Ferretti shifted and glanced into the observation room, “it just happened. I was captured with Rhodes and those two were there,” he pointed out Dalton and Pierce. “And then, suddenly, there was Carter, yelling and swearing and… well, breaking us out, sir.”

“And where’d the Gould show up?” O’Neill asked.

“He just came out of the hills with a rifle. He was doing the shooting, taking out the people threatening Carter,” Ferretti said.

“And you say that they’re together?” Hammond asked. “That Major Carter and Teal’c are working with Baal?”

“Sure seemed like it, General. They talked with each other just like they would to any one of us. And it was Carter who was in charge, sirs, no question. He listened to her, too; no hesitation,” Ferretti said.

“Are we sure he hasn’t just… brainwashed them or something?”

“That’s what Doctor Frasier is trying to determine, Colonel,” Hammond said.

“I’m telling you, General, he wasn’t acting like a Goa’uld. And the rest of my team will say the same. Warren and Casey dealt with them all first. And…” Ferretti hesitated and snapped his mouth shut.

Hammond turned to him. “And what, Major?”

Ferretti shrugged. “I don’t know about you but they sure aren’t the people I remember. There’s something going on, sirs, that we don’t know anything about. And they chose to come back even knowing this was how it had to happen. They must want to be here.”

O’Neill shuffled his feet and slouched against the glass as Frasier moved on to the man Ferretti called Pierce. “Yeah, but to come home or to blow us up?”

Hammond sighed and rubbed his forehead like the whole situation was making a massive headache. It probably was. “For now we wait until Doctor Frasier finishes.”

“And then?” O’Neill asked. “Are you honouring that deal? Not separating them?”

“Major Carter seemed adamant,” Hammond said.

“Yeah,” O’Neill muttered, “not exactly like Carter.”

“Sirs,” Ferretti said, “one thing I do know, they’re all insanely protective of Carter. If you screw her over you’ll be ticking them all off.”

“Colonel?” Hammond turned to O’Neill for an opinion. They were his people, he knew them the best.

O’Neill sighed and tipped his head back in thought. “They’re acting like we’re the enemy, sir. Carter’s acting like… she expects us to lock them up and throw away the key or something. Proving them right would be a mistake.”

“And Baal?” Hammond asked.

O’Neill shrugged. “For now he’s Doc’s patient, sir. She makes the calls. It wouldn’t be the first time we had a turncoat,” he said, his eyes on Teal’c.

Hammond turned to him in surprise.

“I know,” O’Neill mumbled. “Snakeheads are snakeheads. I don’t trust them. I’m just saying it’s possible, sometimes, for… people… to change.”

“And the Tok’ra are snakeheads,” Ferretti chimed in. “We trust them.”

“But they aren’t Goulds, Ferretti.”

“But they were,” Ferretti said.

“Alright,” Hammond raised his hand, wanting to nip the argument in the bud. “That’s enough. We wait and see. Take it step by step. Thank you, Major, you’re dismissed.”

“Sir,” Ferretti said and nodded.

“Oh, and Major?” Hammond called. “I don’t want to be hearing about this mission around the base. We have enough gossip already.”

“Sure thing, sir,” Ferretti nodded. “SG-2 won’t say a word except in the debriefing.”

“Thank you, Major,” Hammond said. He waited until Ferretti’s footsteps had faded and then turned once more to O’Neill. “I was going to tell you, Jack. That’s why I called you to my office.”

O’Neill was silent for a long moment. “Guess I messed that up,” he said. He sucked in a long breath to think. “It wouldn’t have made a difference, General. Seeing them…” he gestured vaguely into the room, “that was bigger than having them back.”

Hammond turned his eyes back onto the six of them, watching as Frasier finished with the other young man and turned to Carter. He couldn’t imagine telling Jacob that his daughter was back but wasn’t the person he remembered. “I know what you mean, Jack. It’s been a hell of a day.”

“With more to come,” O’Neill said quietly. He shook his head. “What happened to them, sir?”

Hammond only wished he had the answers.

---

Carter kept half her attention on her people as they underwent their examinations. But she couldn’t stop thinking, analyzing the situation, scrutinizing the base to find anything familiar to trigger a memory.

She knew that she should know this place. It had a certain kind of familiarity beyond her memories of Dalton’s SGC, like a vague sense of déjà vu, or a barely remembered dream But that was all. There were no true memories, no connection to this place – or the people.

Janet Frasier, MD. Carter knew the name now that Teal’c had said it, just like she knew Colonel Jack O’Neill, General George Hammond, and Doctor Daniel Jackson. The names weren’t the problem after being reminded. It was that nothing came with the names or the faces, even though Carter knew these people had all been as close to her as Teal’c. Well, perhaps not as close as Teal’c was now, but as close as he’d been before.

It hadn’t bothered her before, the giant gaps in her recollection, but now, being surrounded by people who all looked at her with knowing eyes, with expectations, it was disconcerting in the extreme.

And it was making her head pound, like her brain was working overtime to find what she was looking for and failing miserably. If it would just stop, just for a second, Carter thought maybe she could make some headway. But it was a relentless, thought-destroying agony so she took the pills gratefully when Teal’c fished them out for her.

Then, suddenly, Janet Frasier was standing before Carter, looking hesitant and unsure, and Carter had something else to focus on. She straightened on the cot and searched one last time for a thread of memory, a pang of feeling that would make trusting this doctor easier. It never came.

“Sam?” Frasier finally prompted. “You need to take your jacket off.”

Carter blinked in surprise. Sam. No one except Baal called her that now, and only rarely when he was feeling especially emotional or like he really needed her attention. It was… odd. But Carter responded to it and reached for the zipper and buckles, not saying a word when Teal’c helped ease it off her left arm.

She watched as Frasier’s eyes paused on the writing that was travelling merrily up and across her forearm to the elbow. Carter raised an eyebrow when the doctor’s eyes met hers again but was surprised by Frasier’s next words.

“Your hand,” she said, gesturing to the white cloth visible under Carter’s right glove, “may I see it?”

Carter flexed her hand. No one had gotten around to telling her what she’d done to hurt it. She glanced at Teal’c, took comfort in his calm, reassuring gaze, and then decided that she was already fully committed so she might as well cooperate. Carter held her hand between them.

Frasier’s touch was light and gentle as she pulled off the glove and removed the bandage. Carter allowed herself to relax the smallest bit as she watched every slow, considered move the doctor made. And then it clicked, that Frasier was being so careful because she knew, or at least could see, that Carter was on edge. She was going slowly, transparently, and had likely purposefully chosen something simple and innocuous to start with. Carter relaxed a bit more.

It lasted until Frasier came back with a needle to draw blood. Carter was suddenly ramrod straight, Teal’c’s hand on her back serving only to keep her from bolting off the cot. The others had reacted seconds after her, suddenly vigilant for some kind of threat.

Frasier seemed more than surprised. “What’s wrong?” She asked and then looked between Carter and the needle. Finally catching on she capped the needle and stuck it in her pocket. “Sam?” Then, trying a different approach, “Teal’c?”

Teal’c turned to answer only when he was positive that Carter wasn’t going to speak. “Colonel Carter does not like physicians, Doctor Frasier,” he said.

“I noticed,” Frasier replied.

Teal’c inclined his head. “She has a particular aversion to needles because of…” He paused to consider what to say.

Carter sighed, closed her eyes, and leaned heavily on her arms where they were braced on the cot. “Gonna have to tell them everything anyway, Teal’c,” she said quietly.

They’d spent so long being careful, playing it close to the chest, letting in only those who proved themselves worthy over time and trials. But they couldn’t do that here. These people already thought they deserved that trust and disclosure and would see secrets as a betrayal, a reason to doubt them. Except they weren’t in, not for her, not anymore, so it was a hard habit to break; but Teal’c trusted them and for now that had to be enough.

“Very well, Colonel Carter,” Teal’c said and glanced behind him to the observation window. O’Neill nodded to indicate that they were listening so Teal’c started. He outlined Doctor Friessen and his experiments in bare detail, enough to make them understand the situation but leaving out everything about the time travel and the fact that it had happened at the SGC. That was for a more formal setting, far too complex to delve into when they simply wanted to facilitate a medical examination.

Carter let his words wash over her, instead concentrating on his and Baal’s physical presence. She didn’t want to think about it and dredge up those memories. Not right now.

When Teal’c’s low voice died out Carter forced her eyes open and looked up. Frasier’s face showed horror, sympathy, and what Carter was pretty sure was pain on her behalf.

“Thank you,” Frasier said softly. “I do need blood, Sam, but I’ll do whatever you need to make you comfortable. Maybe if,” she turned to glance at Dalton, “someone else took it?”

Dalton landed on his feet immediately and smiled at Frasier. “I’m game,” he said. “Colonel?” His voice dropped a bit, losing some of its gruff edge as he stood before her. “Let me do this for you?”

Carter nodded. She didn’t have to think about it. Dalton she trusted and he had more than enough medical knowledge to competently take a vial of blood.

Frasier handed him the needle but couldn’t force herself to step away. She watched over his shoulder just to be sure he knew what he was doing and took the opportunity to pick out the small needle scars that attested to Teal’c’s story.

“Alright,” Frasier said as she accepted the vial, “we’ll bring in an ultrasound machine next. We can just do you all here since you want to stay together. Okay?”

Carter nodded and blew out a relieved breath. She’d survived. But that had just been stage one. There was more medicine to be done and then, eventually, the debriefing. She looked over at Baal’s still unconscious form and envied him for a moment.

But then she looked at Teal’c, who despite his concern for her had happiness shining in his eyes. She’d done this for him, for that look he was giving her now, so she’d keep doing it and survive for the same reasons. He was worth it.

And Carter had to admit the prospect of having a roof over their heads, access to hot meals, and showers, while not having to worry about camping out and the dangers that entailed, or being jumped by hostile natives, or breaking some arcane, ridiculous law and being thrown in jail was more than appealing. It would be nice to simply live and not have to constantly worry about their safety.

But first she had to remember that she trusted these people, that this wasn’t another war zone pitting them against everyone else. And that was the definition of easier said than done.

---

“Okay,” Janet said as Hammond and O’Neill turned to her, forestalling their questions, “here’s what I know. They are Sam Carter and Teal’c; full DNA match.”

“Okay, but what about alternate… thingies,” O’Neill said. “Like the one Daniel detoured to?”

“They are genetically identical, sir, and their blood work is the same. They both have rather distinctive body chemistry with specific levels of naquadah. Their physical scars are also all the same.” Once I found them, Janet thought. “And the chances of people from different realities suffering exactly the same injuries is astronomical, or so I’m told. I feel confident saying that these are our Sam Carter and Teal’c, despite everything else that doesn’t fit.”

“Works for me,” O’Neill said. “Sir?”

“Absolutely confident?” Hammond asked, needing to be more cautious by virtue of his position.

“Absolutely, sir. One-hundred percent.”

“Very well.”

Janet nodded in a satisfied way and then continued, “And none of them are Goa’ulds.”

“Except the Gould,” O’Neill said.

“Yes, Colonel, except for Baal,” Janet said, a bit exasperated with him already. “They aren’t carrying anything that could be harmful to the base. They don’t have any bombs or anything of the sort secreted in their bodies. Their blood was all normal. They’re human, indistinguishable from you or I.”

“I hear a ‘but’ coming, Doctor,” Hammond said.

“But, sir, there are a few strange things,” Janet said.

“Such as?” O’Neill asked.

“I noticed something… odd, about Major Dalton’s hand. With his permission I did some x-rays and it appears to be artificial.”

Hammond seemed to think for a moment, obviously bringing the man in question to mind. “I didn’t notice a prosthesis.”

“No, sir, you wouldn’t. It’s a fully functional hand. It looks normal. But it isn’t and it is far beyond anything we can do,” Janet said. “And there’s the issue of the metal visible on Ma… Col... uh, Sam’s,” Janet finally settled for the easy solution, “face. We managed to get her through a CT scan and, well, see for yourself.” She turned and brought the scans up on the computer. “It’s bigger than just two circles. Those are part of a larger device that’s fused into the skull and has infiltrated into the brain,” Janet said and pointed out the lines that shouldn’t be there.

“What does this mean, Doctor?” Hammond asked. “Is that device influencing her actions? Has she been compromised?”

Janet bit her lip and finally had to shake her head. “I don’t know, sir. It’s not emitting any kind of signal I can detect. But it is…”

“Creepy,” O’Neill said. “Something else poking around in Carter’s brain. Just what she always wanted.”

Janet folded her hands before her. “Ultimately, General, we have to ask them. I can’t even begin to guess what this device is or how it ended up,” she gestured to the scan, “like that, without leaving any kind of scarring.”

“So you’re clearing them?” Hammond asked.

“Yes, sir. It’s my assessment that they don’t pose a medical threat to this base and aren’t under any alien influence.”

“Even from the snake?” O’Neill asked.

“Yes, Colonel,” Janet smiled just a bit, “even from him. Who will be fine by the way, if you cared.”

She didn’t think they did, dismissing him as simply a Goa’uld, but they hadn’t been in that room. They hadn’t seen or felt the connection between all of them, the sense that they were a team. It was a feeling Janet was used to since she was around SG teams most often when one of them was in peril. During those times their caring for each other was heightened. She’d felt the same thing with them, resonating for both Sam and Baal. And she’d seen how concerned Sam was for him, the looks she was sending him In the face of her best friend’s genuine concern Janet couldn’t just dismiss him.

O’Neill turned to Hammond, ignoring Janet’s low jibe, as some of his earlier eagerness crept back in after five long hours of waiting and watching. “General?”

“I guess it’s time to debrief them,” Hammond said. “I’d like you to attend, Doctor.”

“Yes, sir,” Janet said.

“I’ll have them brought to the briefing room in half an hour,” Hammond continued. “If either of you have anything you need to do before then I suggest you hurry. This is going to be a long one.”

“Absolutely, General,” O’Neill said. “We’ll be there.”

Hammond nodded and took his leave.

Janet and O’Neill turned to look at each other. They stared for a long moment and then, finally, Janet’s professional mask slid away as she fought off tears. “It’s them, it’s really them. But if you’d seen what I did…”

The toll of whatever they’d been through was there for anyone to see so long as you knew where to look. But the story their faces told wasn’t even the half of it. Janet hadn’t known what true shock was until she’d gotten a look at Sam’s torso. None of those marks had been there before. It hadn’t just shocked her, it had enraged her. Not just because she was a doctor but because that was her best friend’s skin, a body she was charged to care for that belonged to a woman she considered family.

She’d had to hunt under all the new scars for the ones she knew were there, the ones that would help prove her identity. And the more she’d looked and searched the angrier she’d gotten until it had built to such a degree it turned into sorrow and pain at imagining each one being inflicted. Janet hadn’t been able to keep it all away; at one point her vision had blurred so much Sam’s back had turned into an indistinct smear. She’d taken a moment to suck in a deep breath and force it all down, focusing again on her job and who she needed to be in that moment.

The entire time Sam hadn’t moved an inch. She’d sat stiff and ramrod straight again, her body nearly vibrating with painful tension that Janet had seen bunching her muscles. She was sure it had only been Teal’c, standing in front of Sam with their foreheads together and their eyes closed, that had allowed the exam to progress.

As odd as it may have seemed to Janet to have him there she couldn’t deny that it had worked. That Sam had wanted it – needed it. And after hearing about Friessen, what she now knew was likely only a tiny fraction of the story, Janet was prepared to do whatever Sam needed.

“Hey, Doc,” O’Neill said quietly, “you did good. And whatever’s happened they’re here and we’re here. We’ll pull them through.” He opened his arms a bit, tentatively offering a hug, which she accepted gratefully.

The tears broke free but Janet thought she deserved the release after keeping herself so in check for five straight hours. “It just hurts,” Janet found herself saying into his shirt, “to see that. And she doesn’t even know who I am.”

O’Neill patted her back and clasped her shoulders when she pulled away. “We’ll figure this out, Doc. We’ll do what we need. And Carter’ll remember. She can’t forget this place forever, she lives for it. And you and Cassie are family. I think they just need time to… adjust.”

Janet nodded and finally pulled away to retrieve a Kleenex. She appreciated his effort, his optimism, but knew him well enough to know he didn’t necessarily believe what he was saying. And Janet was a realist. There was no guarantee about anything, especially since they still had no idea what was going on.

“Thank you, sir,” she said.

“Anytime,” O’Neill nodded and then gestured behind him. “I’m going to… go, now. See you at the debrief.”

Janet nodded and then glanced at the clock. She determined that she had enough time before the debriefing to clean herself up so she didn’t look like she’d just broken down.

And then they would get their answers.

---

Baal finally drifted back to consciousness, the hole in his kidney repaired and the wound closed. When he opened his eyes he was met with an unfamiliar ceiling and the strange feeling of lying on an actual bed. Beds had become luxuries for them.

“Hey, you’re awake,” Pierce said as he leaned over. “Colonel! Lazy Bones is up!”

Baal scowled a bit as he pushed himself up. “Lazy Bones? Next time you get skewered we’ll see how you feel,” he said.

Carter’s hands landed on his arm and diverted his indignation. She was concerned so he smiled to reassure her, allowed her to poke around where the wound had been for her own peace of mind.

“I’m fine,” he said and caught her restless hands. “I promise.”

He fought the urge to give her a hug or do something more than hold her hands. He thought she looked a little rough around the edges, like she could use it. There was a tightness at her eyes that meant a bad headache, a certain nervous edge to her movements that spoke of her tension.

He wondered, briefly, what had happened while he’d been out but then decided it was obvious. They were in a medical lab and the mere sight of such things was generally enough to put her on edge.

Their hands were enough, though. Their hands and their eyes could speak volumes. So he asked and she answered, saying it wasn’t so bad and she was dealing the best she could.

Satisfied, Baal turned his eyes to the rest of them. “So? Should I expect being dragged off to the stockade?” Carter jerked slightly where she was leaning against his bed and leaned into him the tiniest bit. “I’m kidding,” he said lowly.

“I believe we will be cleared,” Teal’c said. “There is no reason for Doctor Frasier to do otherwise.”

“And they know we aren’t about to be split up,” Hayden said.

Dalton straightened up. “I think we’re about to find out,” he said.

They all turned to see the SF standing in the doorway. He looked very nervous and cleared his throat before speaking. “General Hammond has requested you all in the briefing room.”

“All?” Carter asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Everyone.”

Baal squeezed her hands once more before letting go and standing. “Would ‘cross your fingers’ be an appropriate thing to say?” He asked as he moved to the door.

“How about ‘once more into the breach’?” Dalton said.

“Nah, that’s a little pessimistic, don’t you think, sir?” Hayden said.

“Maybe… ‘here’s hoping’?” Pierce suggested.

“Perhaps ‘have faith,’” Teal’c said as they all stepped into the hall with their escorts falling in behind them.

Baal smiled as the conversation went on and he felt a further easing of Carter’s tension as she allowed herself to be distracted. Sometimes, being a devious Goa’uld had its advantages.

---

Anticipation hung heavily in the air as they waited for the SF to retrieve everyone. Finally, the doors opened and the Lieutenants entered, each taking a different side and scanning the room, like they were standing guard. Then Carter, flanked on either side by Teal’c and Baal, and finally Dalton brought up the rear.

It caught O’Neill’s eye because even here, even when they were being escorted by armed guards, they were acting like they expected a threat at any moment. Like danger was waiting in every corner. And it was clear to him that it was all done with the aim of protecting Carter. O’Neill knew what it looked like when soldiers rallied around their leader. That was what he was seeing and it left an odd feeling in his gut.

“Thank you,” Hammond said to the SF and then gestured to the table. The whole side to his right was vacant for their use. They slipped into their chairs after a moment and then stared across the table.

O’Neill shifted at their looks, part expectant, part suspicious, but mostly impartial. He glanced at Frasier and then Hammond, both of whom were looking increasingly uncomfortable as the silence dragged on. He was just about to take the initiative when Teal’c beat him to it.

“Where is Daniel Jackson?”

“Daniel…” O’Neill trailed off, not able to say it.

“Doctor Jackson isn’t able to join us,” Hammond said.

“What has delayed him?” Teal’c asked.

“He hasn’t already gone crazy, has he?”

“Hayden!” Dalton hissed and kicked the Lieutenant’s leg.

“Ow! What? It’s the truth!”

“How do you know that?” O’Neill asked, his sharp gaze drilling into Hayden’s along with Hammond’s.

Hayden blinked under their looks and glanced at Carter. She waved him to continue. He huffed a breath, figuring it had been too much to hope that she would save him from his big mouth. “Well, we were told that that’s… what happened,” he mumbled as he realized how dumb it sounded.

“Told?” O’Neill asked. “Who said? How?”

“When?” Hammond added.

“Oh… awhile back,” Hayden said.

“Be specific, Lieutenant,” Hammond ordered.

“Ohh,” Hayden hummed in thought as he counted back, “maybe… two years ago?”

“Two years,” Frasier said. “Daniel only developed his condition a week ago.”

“Yeah, well, two years from our perspective. It won’t be for a long… long time from yours,” Hayden said.

A small silence fell and persisted as the SGC personnel stared at him in blinking confusion.

“I’m sorry,” O’Neill said, “but…what?”

“I think you had better start at the beginning,” Hammond said, his eyes on Carter and Teal’c who exchanged a long look.

“The beginning,” Carter mused quietly, “is the end of the world. We saw the apocalypse and then we found a way to undo it.”

Another long, heavy silence fell as Carter allowed her statement the time it deserved to filter into their understanding. This wasn’t going to be easy, they were being asked to believe a lot, so it couldn’t be rushed.

“And how did you manage that?” O’Neill finally asked.

“Colonel Carter created time travel,” Teal’c said.

“Time travel,” Hammond repeated as if he needed to say it to believe it.

“Indeed.”

Hammond nodded slowly and then glanced at O’Neill, his expression clearly doubting. O’Neill offered a shrug.

“We’ve seen it before,” Frasier said. “With SG-1. You’ve seen it, General.”

Hammond had to agree with that. He couldn’t argue that it had been proven possible but that had been a freak accident of the Stargate. Believing that someone had set out and actually built some kind of time travel machine, even if that someone was Sam Carter, was pushing the envelope in his estimation.

“So when did this happen?” O’Neill asked.

“Eight years from now,” Carter said. “And a few months.”

“Right,” O’Neil said. “So, eight years from now you’re a Colonel, Teal’c has grey hair, and Earth gets conquered by the bad guys?”

“No,” Carter said. “Eight years from now Earth was blown to pieces. Everyone died.”

“By whom?” Hammond asked.

“Gould?” O’Neill ventured.

“No,” Teal’c said.

“Replicators?” He guessed again.

“No.”

“Maybe those guys we pissed off on 287… or 278?”

“No, O’Neill.”

“Vantari,” Carter finally said, ending the exchange.

O’Neill and Hammond shared a look. “Never heard of them, Carter.”

“No one had until they killed us all.”

They were silent for a third time, sharing more looks and small head nods as if asking if they were really going to believe this. It irritated Carter. Hammond noticed.

“You have to understand Teal’c, Ma… Colonel Carter, this isn’t easy for us to hear. You say Earth was destroyed but here we are.”

“Because the Colonel fixed it,” Dalton snapped.

“And who are these guys?” O’Neill said suddenly and gestured at them. “And what about him,” he jabbed a finger at Baal. “How did that happen?”

“It occurred later, O’Neill. You did wish for us to start at the beginning, did you not?”

Hammond sighed and raised his hands. “We did. It’s just…”

“How about proof?” O’Neill blurted.

“Proof?” Baal finally spoke, his incredulity at such a question clear. “They aren’t proof enough?” He gestured to Carter beside him and Teal’c beyond her. “What more do you need?”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” O’Neill snapped.

“Well, so sorry,” Baal said, “but I’m not keeping quiet because you don’t want to hear from me.”

“We don’t need to hear from you,” O’Neill said.

Baal leaned forward to meet his eyes more firmly. “You’re wrong,” he said.

“Yeah? What do you have to offer?”

“I know them,” Baal said simply, “better than you.”

O’Neill snorted.

“You all knew who they were, but they haven’t been those people for a very long time,” Baal continued, ignoring O’Neill’s hostile look, “and you need to realize that.”

Hammond raised a hand. “That’s enough,” he said. “We’re straying from the topic. Everyone is here because of what they can contribute. Now, please, back to the question of time travel. How did that happen?”

“Colonel Carter built the device using the information she received from the repository Earth created; it held all the relevant information the SGC had gathered over the previous eleven years,” Teal’c said.

Carter nodded, appreciating his talent for succinct summary more than ever. “We went back a year to take out the Vantari fleet before they could attack Earth. We were supposed to then be reintegrated into the timeline.”

“What went wrong?” Janet asked, her gaze riveted on them, clearly engaged in the story and suspending her doubts.

Carter sighed and rubbed her forehead, “What didn’t? We… I built a wormhole weapon to destroy the fleet. But there were a lot more Vantari than we thought and I had to increase the power. A lot.” She paused and seemed to drift away in remembrance.

“Upon attempting to return,” Teal’c smoothly picked up the yarn, “the weapon’s energy affected us.”

“How?” Janet asked as she shook her head, confused.

Teal’c looked at Carter who was still lost in thought and turned to Baal.

Baal cleared his throat as he considered how to start. Carter had explained it to him, or at least what she thought must have happened, but it had been awhile ago. “They were travelling through a rift, a tear, in space and time. That rift was affected by the huge amount of power being output in close proximity by the weapon. It essentially… overloaded,” Baal paused here to judge if they were following. “Instead of being a controlled rift it…”

“Went crazy,” Pierce said.

Baal nodded in acceptance of the description. “And instead of going back to be reintegrated into the timeline, they were sent forward. And since they couldn’t be reintegrated in the… new past, as it were, they disappeared from here.”

“How far forward?” Hammond asked.

“Over four-hundred years, General Hammond,” Teal’c said. “We were separated upon our arrival. I was able to join the Resistance.”

“Who were they resisting?”

“The Vantari,” Carter said as she finally snapped back to the present.

“I thought they were gone, though?” Janet asked.

“Not gone,” Carter shook her head, “just kept from attacking Earth. And this was almost half a millennium later. They changed a bit but…” She shrugged.

O’Neill had lost much of the hostility he’d shown Baal as things had progressed. He was studying Carter with a highly speculative look now, like he suspected he knew what was coming. “So Teal’c landed with the good guys, what about you?”

A low, bitter laugh escaped Carter as she shook her head. “Not the good guys.”

They were silent again but for a different reason now. This wasn’t a lull to doubt them, to wonder at their truthfulness or their sanity. It was one to reflect on the implications of those four words, easy enough to do when the evidence was there for all to see.

Janet blinked rapidly and downed a large gulp of water to clear the lump from her throat. She knew all the marks on Sam hadn’t occurred at the same time, that some were very old and others more recent, but she saw them all now, imagined them all being inflicted at this point in their story.

She looked around, saw that Colonel O’Neill was staring hard at the table, like he did when something was bothering him. Even Hammond was visibly affected. Then she turned her eyes to Sam’s people.

Dalton was staring into space, his jaw clenching rhythmically. The Lieutenants had their lips pursed and were making an effort to not look at Sam, like they were according her a respect, a privilege, by giving her that privacy. Teal’c’s face was hard and sorrowful at the same time in memory. Baal looked angry at having it all brought up again – and Janet considered how true his earlier statements about knowing them likely was – but had half his attention on Sam. And Sam seemed to have drifted again, her face loose and distant.

“I think we could use a break,” Hammond said. “I know I need to digest this.” He stood and nodded at them all before retreating to his office.

Janet had no doubt he needed to process it. But she had never respected him more for also giving Sam and the rest time to deal with their memories without making it about them.

Feeling useless and hating it she stood and poured water for them all. Colonel O’Neill caught on and joined in, asking the nearest SF to grab some doughnuts or something from the commissary.

Slowly, everyone lost their gloomy expressions and Janet remembered what Colonel O’Neill had said.

We’ll pull them through.

She was starting to believe it.

---

“I think we’re all ready to continue?” Hammond said as he settled into his chair and claimed one of the bagels the SF had scrounged up. Everyone nodded. “Good. You were separated but at some point you must have found each other again.”

“Indeed, General Hammond. We were able to effect Colonel Carter’s rescue after fifty-one days.”

“She was in the middle of rescuing herself,” Baal added.

“You were there?”

“Baal led the Resistance, O’Neill,” Teal’c said and glanced at Carter. Her fingers were white on her glass of water and her eyes distant. Teal’c laid his hand over her wrist. She jerked a bit at the contact and then relaxed. “Colonel Carter?”

Carter shook her head. “I’m fine, Teal’c.”

“Then what did you do?” Frasier asked.

Baal smiled a tiny bit. “And then three months later Carter ended the war.”

Carter snorted. “Hardly.”

“You did,” Baal insisted.

“I killed a bunch of people, that’s all.”

Teal’c’s hand was on her arm again, his movements silencing both of them. “It was an effort of the entire Resistance, however it was heavily driven by Colonel Carter’s tactics and inventions.”

Hammond nodded and looked between them. “And that’s is?” He finally prompted when it seemed they weren’t going to say any more. “Then you came home? Because that’s a bit light on the details, Teal’c.”

“That is not the end of the story, General Hammond,” Teal’c said. He looked at Carter, then Baal, the three of them exchanging long looks and small gestures as if silently debating something.

“What?” O’Neill finally said. “Just say it!”

Teal’c sighed almost imperceptibly and glanced at Colonel Carter again. He could think of a hundred things they had left out, like Ryland, like how he’d almost lost Colonel Carter to her own mind, the political intrigue, the family they’d made there. But he had to question if it was necessary. Did General Hammond and O’Neill really need to know every detail, and did they need to know right now? Some of it could hurt them, like Colonel Carter’s mental instability. But if they didn’t have a full grasp of everything could they truly understand? He wished, now, that they had discussed this before.

“Then we settled down,” Carter said, taking the decision from Teal’c.

“Settled down?” O’Neill said.

“I found them an out of the way house, got them set up, and let them just live,” Baal said.

“So you simply started a new life?” Hammond asked, his disbelief clear.

“Why didn’t you come home right away?” O’Neill asked.

Teal’c shifted, feeling like they were being accused, like the others thought they had abandoned the SGC, abandoned Earth.

“We couldn’t,” Carter said as she rubbed at her forehead, “the time travel remote was in pieces. And I… was just done.”

“Done?” Frasier asked with concern.

“Done,” Carter affirmed with a nod. “Done fighting and killing, done being the world’s favourite punching bag. We just wanted to live.”

“We had made a family and we did not wish to abandon it,” Teal’c said.

“Yeah, but… what,” O’Neill paused and huffed out a breath as he searched for the words to say what he was thinking.

“I think it’s just hard for us to imagine the two of you…” Hammond trailed off as well as words failed him.

“Living the quiet life,” Frasier said.

“Exactly!” O’Neill nodded and pointed at Frasier. “You’re both so… committed, to the job, the fight. Giving it up seems… weird.”

“We gave up nothing, O’Neill. We had finished this fight a year before. There were no major threats to Earth.”

“So how long did you stay?” Frasier asked.

“Twenty years,” Carter said.

“Twenty!” O’Neill yelped out and looked around the table to check Hammond and Frasier’s reactions, as if assuring himself they’d heard the same thing.

“How is that possible?” Hammond asked after picking his own jaw up off the table.

Everyone was looking at Carter but she turned to Baal since he’d explained the technical aspect before. And this was something he’d actually discovered, something they’d talked about on various occasions, theorizing and finally concluding how it had happened.

“When they were sent forward,” Baal said, “they weren’t just sent through time. The rift was so overpowered it ripped them out of time. Meaning they wouldn’t age.”

“Are they back… in time... now?” Frasier asked.

“I would assume so,” Baal said. “We figured arriving within about a month, give or take a couple of weeks, from the point they were removed from the timeline would be sufficient.”

“I’m sorry,” O’Neill waved his hand, “can we go back to this twenty year thing?”

“There’s nothing to go back to,” Carter said shortly. Her headache was getting worse, screaming behind her eyes, and their questions coupled with their doubt were weighing on her. “We lived, we left. It’s over. You don’t get a say.”

“Hey,” O’Neill raised his hands, “I’m just trying to understand, Carter. It just doesn’t seem like something you would do.” He flicked his eyes to Teal’c. “Either of you.”

Baal leaned forward on the table, “Which is the point, I believe.”

O’Neill scowled at Baal. “I wasn’t talking to you,” he said lowly, his hostility creeping back. He could tolerate Baal when he had relevant information but his pithy comments grated on O’Neill’s… well, everything. And he did not appreciate the insinuation that he didn’t know his people anymore. “Why is he even here, General?”

“We talked about this Colonel,” Hammond said.

“And I still think-“

Carter hit the table and stood, pushing her chair back with the force of her movements. “You aren’t here to sit in judgement,” she grated out between her teeth.

“That’s not what I-”

“Yes! It is! And not just Baal. You have expectations of all of us; if we don’t meet them then we’re not right.”

“Uh, Colonel?” Dalton said.

“What?”

“You’re bleeding,” he said and gestured.

Carter caught the trickle of blood coming from her nose and squeezed her eyes shut. She turned to grab a tissue from the side table but only got one step before faltering.

Baal had been watching and was on his feet instantly. “Whoa!” He caught her and eased them down to the floor. His eyes widened as her body convulsed. “Teal’c!”

“Colonel!” Dalton, Hayden, and Pierce said as they stood and clustered around the trio.

“This has occurred before,” Teal’c said as he kneeled in front of Carter and Baal.

“What happened?” Hammond asked as he stood and inched closer, O’Neill at his shoulder. Frasier was trying to get closer but Carter’s people had set up an effective screen. They were ignored.

“When?” Baal asked Teal’c, not daring to pull his eyes away.

“Long ago,” Teal’c said. “I believe this may be a good thing, however.”

“Good!”

“Indeed.” Teal’c hunched over as Carter stilled to get a look at her face. “Major Dalton-“

“I got it,” Dalton said. He pivoted to the side table Carter had been headed for and grabbed the Kleenex.

Teal’c gently wiped the blood from her face, simultaneously assuring himself that she was breathing. Then he nodded at Baal who immediately arranged Carter on her side with her head in his lap.

Carter woke up with a shudder and gasp, a small, brief cough marring her first mumbled, confused words. Her eyes scanned the room fervently but locked on Teal’c’s face as soon as she saw him. He smiled and grasped her hands.

“You’re okay,” Baal said quietly, his hands on her head both to ensure the most intense tingle and itch and reassure himself. “You’re okay, Carter.”

Teal’c recognized the expression on her face, the utter confusion, the bone-deep exhaustion, and he knew if she was going to talk about what had just happened she wouldn’t do it here. He looked over his shoulder, finally acknowledging the others. “Are we to return to the isolation room?”

“Yes,” Frasier said, knowing it was up to her.

Teal’c nodded. He’d expected that after such an incident, despite being cleared as no medical threat. “We will do so now,” Teal’c declared and stood.

Baal took a brief moment to adjust himself and then stood with Carter in his arms. She stirred as if to protest. “You can barely lift your head right now, Carter. You can’t walk,” he said and then headed for the door.

Dalton motioned the Lieutenants to follow. He paused at the door and turned to them. “We’ll, ah… probably be awhile,” he said. Then he was gone before they could ask any awkward questions that he either didn’t know the answer to or wouldn’t answer, even if they put a gun to his head.

---

“Okay, what was that!” O’Neill said as the door closed on Dalton’s back and he turned to Frasier.

Hammond faced her as well. “I thought you said they were okay, Doctor?”

“No,” Frasier said and shook her head, “I said they weren’t a threat to this base. I never said they were in perfect health.”

“So what’s wrong with Carter? Because that didn’t look good.”

“I don’t know, Colonel, but I’d like to find out. So if you’ll excuse me…” Frasier trailed off and moved around them.

“Of course, Doctor. Keep me informed,” Hammond said. Once she’d left he turned to O’Neill. “We need to talk, Colonel.” He motioned to his office, pulled the curtains and closed the door.

“I know what you’re going to say, General,” O’Neill started as he sat.

“I really don’t think you do, Colonel,” Hammond said before he could get stared. “I understand your feelings, Jack, I do. We want to know what happened but we can’t push them, especially since they’re so on edge. If everything they’ve said is true then it’s been more than two decades since they’ve so much as seen us. It’s understandable that they mistrust us, that they feel like they don’t know us. And it’s clear that we don’t know them, not anymore, despite what you may think, Colonel.”

“They’re my team, sir, and some things don’t change,” O’Neill said.

“But a lot of things do. That woman is Colonel Carter and everything that implies. And Teal’c has come into his own. He was always his own person but he’s more assured now, about who he is and how he fits here. We can’t ignore that and expect them to be the people we remember. I’d like you to keep that in mind, Colonel.”

O’Neill sighed and tipped his head back so it was hanging off the chair back. “Are you ordering me to keep an open mind, sir?”

“I’m saying that Colonel Carter,” he didn’t hesitate over the rank for even a second this time, “was right. We were judging them; we can’t do that.”

“I know,” O’Neill said after a long pause. “I just… agh!” He shook his hands and sat up straight. “So much was wrong and finally, finally, something went right. They were back. Except they aren’t. And that Gould…” He trailed off.

“We discussed that, Colonel, and I don’t want to hear another word on the topic,” Hammond said firmly. It had been clear to him that the hostility between Colonel O’Neill and Baal had been the point at which things had started to spiral.

“But he’s a Gould, sir, walking around our base!”

“My base, Colonel,” Hammond said. “Even though I can’t imagine how it happened I know two things about Baal. He’s part of their team; and he is… different.”

Hammond still couldn’t quite articulate what that difference was but it was there. In his bearing, his attitude, in the way he’d calmly stood on the Gate room ramp and let them point guns in his face. It was in the pride he’d had in his voice when speaking of Carter, the calm and grounding his presence seemed to give her. And if nothing else, the obvious concern he’d shown for her, the… tenderness with which he’d handled her had sealed it. He wasn’t a Goa’uld, not in the traditional sense. The why might escape him but for now it wasn’t as important.

“Okay,” O’Neill said, “I’ll give him a chance.”

“Good,” Hammond said. “Now, should we call Jacob?”

“Uhh…” O’Neill stalled for a moment as he thought. “He has a right to know Carter’s back but…” He shook his head, imagining Jacob, the Tok’ra, walking in and seeing Baal the System Lord standing next to his daughter. “I guess you’d have to prepare him, sir.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Hammond said and sighed. “Thank you, Colonel. You’re dismissed.”

O’Neill nodded and took his leave, not envying the General.

---

Carter rubbed her face as the effects of the seizure wore off and she started to feel a little more like herself. She accepted the water Teal’c handed her with a smile and downed half the glass.

“How do you feel, Colonel Carter?”

“Better, Teal’c, thanks,” she said and handed him the glass.

“You scared us,” Baal said from where he sat on the end of the bed he’d deposited her onto.

Carter nodded and rubbed her temples. Her head was still pounding but some of the intensity had faded. It helped, being surrounded by her team, people her brain remembered. There was no constant pressure to find that missing information, no ceaseless twinging of nascent connections being obliterated.

“What happened?” Dalton asked.

“And was is that,” Baal motioned to the visible sections of the transmitter, “or same old same old?”

“I think… both,” Carter said.

“You have remembered something,” Teal’c said with authority, his confidence in his own estimation of the situation showing.

Carter nodded once, very slowly, her forehead creased in thought. “Yeah. It… wasn’t a lot. Just some images, feelings… a few part conversations. Sitting there with them all,” Carter shook her head.

“Something finally shook loose, huh?” Hayden said.

Pierce smacked him for his phrasing.

“No,” Carter said, “that’s… accurate. I’ve felt it since we got here, a pulling feeling, kind of always on the verge of… something.”

“Why the nose bleed?” Baal asked as he tilted her head to get a better look at her face. “That seems… bad.”

“The same thing occurred when Colonel Carter first took on the repository. We believed it was simply a result of overload. If Colonel Carter is to regain her memories, if they are to…” He paused to consider his words.

“Take up space?” Pierce said. “You lost them, well, we don’t know why, but maybe to make room for all that other stuff. If they’re going to come back they need to make room for themselves.”

“Indeed.”

Carter sighed and laid back on the pillow, throwing her arm over her eyes. “Whatever,” she muttered. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“You don’t know that.”

Everyone save Carter turned to the door where Frasier was standing with a small smile.

“Forgive me for intruding,” Frasier said as she entered, “but I’d like to see if I can help. From everything you’ve said I assume you haven’t had much access to medical aid. That doesn’t need to be the case anymore. If you’re willing Sam, I’d like to try.”

Carter moved her arm to peek at Frasier. Some of what she’d remembered included vague memories of this woman along with a handful of feelings, among them a strong affection and deep trust. It wasn’t quite real yet, hadn’t moved from something she’d remembered to something she really felt for herself, but it was reassuring to have that proof. “What do you need?”

Frasier pulled a stool closer to the bed and sat among them facing Carter. “For starters, a full accounting of everything that brain of yours has been through. There were some… interesting things on your scans.”

Baal snorted, “That’s an understatement.”

“You’ll have to help me out, Teal’c.”

“Indeed, Colonel Carter.”

Carter nodded and cast her mind back. “The first thing would be the repository.”

---

O’Neill wasn’t quite sure where he was going. He’d left Hammond’s office intending to check on Carter but then decided maybe they wouldn’t want to see him just yet. Before he wouldn’t have thought twice. But now… she’d been mad. Madder than he could ever remember her being at him. He wasn’t quite sure how to deal with that.

But that was exactly what the General had been saying. This wasn’t his Major Carter anymore. If nothing else, the startling and obvious absence of sir proved it. It used to be her standby, appended to almost every sentence, every word she’d spoken to him or a superior office. Hell, it had essentially been a name for him. But he hadn’t heard it once and in fact hadn’t heard his or the General’s ranks pass her lips. He couldn’t recall her addressing anyone except her team. He wondered if he was simply having a failure of memory or… but no, he was right. She hadn’t said it and he wondered if it was conscious on her part or simply an illustration of how far removed from the military mindset Carter now was. Regardless, it proved that everything he’d known about her, all the ways he’d dealt with her no longer applied. It was safer to approach her as a stranger than assume any kind of familiarity. Safer for him and probably easier on her.

Carter’s outburst and accusations about expectations had surprised him but after he’d thought about it he’d realized how stressful this must be for them. Thrust into an environment that was familiar but too far removed to really feel like home, surrounded by people who presumed a pre-existing relationship that, for Carter and her people at least, no longer existed. It would drive him crazy.

Teal’c wasn’t any easier to figure out. The changes in him were less pronounced but they were there. He wasn’t the quiet, unassuming Jaffa who wanted to fit in and prove himself, who was full of zeal to save his people. He was instead self-possessed, confident, and strong, committed to Carter above all else. That much was clear to O’Neill.

They all seemed pretty committed to Carter. Even Baal. That had surprised O’Neill most of all. When Carter had collapsed Baal was out of his chair like a shot. His fear and concern had been clear on his face for everyone to see – not just people who knew him and where to look. And that first one had really tripped O’Neill up. Fear. It wasn’t something Goulds admitted to or showed. It just wasn’t in their makeup. But there it had been plain as day as he handled Carter like something… precious, almost.

O’Neill’s steps faltered as he replayed the scene. He blinked and tilted his head in thought, considering. But then he dismissed it. It was too outrageous to consider. Never happen. He’d actually thought Carter and Teal’c were more likely, with the way they always seemed to know where the other was, the looks they could send to say more than a thousand words, the palpable connection between them. But then, a lot of that was true for her and Baal as well. And the other guys, though to a far lesser degree.

Nah, O’Neill decided. Never happen. He shook his head for entertaining such thoughts and resumed walking. It had been about an hour now. He’d swing by the infirmary and see what was going on.

---

“So you never found out what it’s doing?” Janet asked as she examined the remains of the transmitter more closely. She hadn’t before since she hadn’t deemed it a priority and Sam had seemed especially gun-shy about her face. “Doesn’t that drive you nuts?” She caught a flicker of looks between them all and wondered.

“I think Teal’c nailed it,” Carter said and pulled her head out of Janet’s hands, clearly having reached her limit of physical contact.

“And that would be?” Janet prompted, her eyes flicking to Teal’c.

“I suggested that perhaps the device is collecting and collating the repository information, independent of Colonel Carter’s own subconscious, and then delivering that information to her.”

“Carter always knew what had happened during an absent period,” Baal said. “Once she figured it out that way she could recite it down to the last detail, without fail. And then one day, after this, that wasn’t always the case anymore.”

Janet looked between them for more information. They’d been telling the story in turns, all of them jumping in with elaborations, facts, and perspectives whenever the mood struck. She’d adjusted to it easily and was entertaining herself in the lulls by guessing who would speak next. She’d quickly learned not to rush them, especially Sam. They spoke when they were good and ready and not before.

“The Colonel can just get swept away,” Pierce said, “sometimes for hours. And when she comes back,” he shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Can you tell the difference?” Janet asked. “Between a subconscious induced period and the transmitter?”

“There are no rules, Doctor Frasier,” Teal’c said.

“Just trends,” Baal added. “When it’s the transmitter we can’t get her out of it. But we almost always can when it’s not. And she tends to do more writing when it’s the transmitter, almost like it’s trying to help her brain figure it out faster.”

Janet looked down at Sam’s arm. When she looked up Sam was nodding before she could even ask the question. “And that house on the planet where you ended the drought? Is that what happened there?”

“Yeah,” Dalton said. “The Colonel went off on a three-day frenzy. We needed to get somewhere where folks would help us out.”

Carter shifted on the bed and huffed out a breath. “They need to baby-sit,” she spat.

“Colonel Carter,” Teal’c’s low voice was the one heard over all the other vocalizations of her title. “That is not true.”

“What else do you call constantly watching me?”

“Looking out for you,” Baal said.

Janet noticed that he chose his words carefully. Taking care of you wouldn’t have gone off any better than baby-sitting. “What do you guys need to do?”

“We don’t have to keep the Colonel from walking into a tree or anything, if that’s what you mean,” Hayden said. “She’s still aware on some level, at least enough to avoid that.”

“It is exceedingly difficult to make Colonel Carter stop,” Teal’c said. “We have only succeeded in getting her to eat or drink a handful of times.”

“So when she comes back,” Baal said, “if it’s been awhile, she’s more likely to keel over than anything. We need to make sure she eats, drinks, sleeps, that kind of thing.”

“Hey!” Carter said, her voice low but cutting into the conversation. “I’m right here.”

“Our apologies, Colonel Carter,” Teal’c said.

“But someone here needs to know this,” Baal continued, “and you’re not big on explanations.”

“Okay,” Janet said before they could spiral off onto a tangent – something they excelled at. “I think I understand. How does this relate to the briefing room?”

“I believe it is logical to think that the transmitter is seeking out the remnants of Colonel Carter’s lost memories and retrieving them, just as it does with the repository knowledge.”

Janet nodded. “I think that’s a sound assessment. I’d like to come up with some way to try and see what the transmitter is doing or… something. I’ll need to think about it, though.” She stood and nodded at them all. “Thank you for explaining everything. This will be very helpful. I’ll let you know when I come up with a strategy. Get some sleep, Sam,” she said and turned. “All of you, actually.”

She paused when she stepped in the hall. “How much did you hear?”

“The tail end,” O’Neill said. “Carter’s been through a lot of stuff.”

“Yes, and that’s not all of it. So, try not to rile them up, sir, okay?”

O’Neill nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

---

When O’Neill stepped through the door he felt their frosty gazes like a physical force. The six of them, all acting in concert, could be quite impressive. He cleared his throat. “I’d like to uh, well, I didn’t give you guys a fair chance. But I want to understand everything, you just have to give us something to work with. I can wait though, until you’re ready.”

He’d realized while listening and noting Frasier’s approach, markedly different from his and even Hammond’s, that they couldn’t take the strong-arm position. They couldn’t order any of them, despite four of them being in the military, to do anything. It would only get them defensive. They’d spent too long looking out for themselves and fighting all comers to just drop that attitude.

“So I’m going to try,” O’Neill continued, “and I might still screw it up, but just… bear with me?” His eyes were on Carter, knowing she held most, if not all, the power and sway in this room.

“Yeah,” Carter finally said.

“Great, good,” O’Neill said and rocked on his feet a bit. “So…” he searched vainly for a safe topic, not wanting to just leave, and then hit upon it. “Daniel! You know about Daniel so you must-“

“Daniel isn’t crazy,” Carter cut him off and sat up a little straighter, her face taking on an edge. “You need to get him out of there. Now.”

O’Neill nodded. It was exactly what he’d hoped to hear, what he’d wanted to hear, but her vehemence surprised him a bit. “Good, okay, then I have to talk to the General,” he said and paused.

Carter nodded and waved, “Go!”

“Right,” he turned on his heel and then abruptly swivelled back, “you can fix him, right?” The sudden shift in her expression, the look she threw at Teal’c, didn’t fill him with confidence. But then they nodded at each other and Carter nodded at him and he knew they’d figure it out. Because he’d been right, some things didn’t change, and they could still pull off the impossible.

---

“This is ill-advised, General,” Mackenzie said.

“What was ill-advised was letting you get your hands on him in the first place!” O’Neill said.

“You’re making a decision based on completely unfounded information,” Mackenzie continued, ignoring O’Neill totally, “from a woman whose own sanity I would seriously question.”

“Oh, come on,” O’Neill said, “don’t start in on Carter now. You haven’t even talked to her.”

Mackenzie turned and finally acknowledged O’Neill, “I don’t need to, Colonel, what I’ve seen and heard from other personnel is enough to make me question her stability.”

“Give me a break! You’re just looking for someone to medicate. General,” he turned to face Hammond, “they’re from the future. They know how this is supposed to play out.”

“Please,” Mackenzie snorted, “time travel. It’s ridiculous.”

“And you work where?” O’Neill snapped as he rounded on Mackenzie again.

“That’s enough!” Hammond yelled, gratified when they fell silent immediately. “I believe them, Doctor Mackenzie, and it’s good enough for me. I’m ordering Doctor Jackson’s immediate transfer back to this facility and the suspension of his medication. He’s back under Doctor Frasier’s care. Colonel, if you’d like to supervise be my guest.”

“Yes, sir,” O’Neill said with a grin. He threw a triumphant look at Mackenzie before beating a hasty retreat to get Daniel.

“This is a mistake, General,” Mackenzie said.

“I really don’t think it is, Doctor,” Hammond said.

“I don’t just mean Doctor Jackson. If you think that both Major Carter and Teal’c aren’t in need of a psychological review well, sir, then I’d have to question your objectivity.”

“It’s Colonel Carter, Doctor Mackenzie,” Hammond said.

“Not in her personnel record.”

“Yes, well, circumstances have changed. And don’t for one second question my professionalism. I won’t be making any judgements about what they do and don’t need until I have the full story. You’re exhibiting a troubling habit of jumping to conclusions, Doctor. I suggest you rectify it. You’re dismissed.”

Mackenzie left reluctantly; he clearly wanted to argue his point but recognized that General Hammond had firmly closed the door on the subject. At least for now.

Hammond sighed as his office door closed. He took a moment to let himself bask in the silence and then reached for the phone. He had three new officers to officially incorporate into the SGC and a Colonel who was in need of an official title. There hadn’t been any discussion of what they wanted to do after all this was sorted out but there wasn’t any harm in getting the ball rolling. Bureaucracy took time and when, if, they decided they wanted to stay, Hammond wanted to be able to tell them it was a done deal.

---

Footsteps. The footsteps had faded. But the husk of the man with the sunken face and grey skin was still lurking in the opposite corner of the room. Looking at him. He’d jammed himself into the small indentation of the cell wall to get away but it wasn’t working. Those empty eyes kept staring at him.

So he closed his own eyes, willing it away, counting to ten like he had when he was young. He looked again and laughed because the dead man had multiplied and now three of them were staring.

He laughed until he lost his breath and choked. Then he dragged his hands down his face, pulling on his eyelids, thinking maybe they were a blurred illusion and if he could just get his eyes open a little more they would coalesce into something else. Something that wasn’t looking at him. If they would just…

“Stop looking at me!” He yelled and flung his arms, trying to motion them away, strike out, but they were too far and he’d forgotten where he was so he toppled over and hit the soft, padded floor.

He gripped it with his fingers, pressing down hard and squeezing until his joints ached, because the floor… he could feel it. It was there, supporting him, it was real. It had to be real, he knew it was real because if it wasn’t he’d be falling into space now. He wasn’t so it was real. That made sense. Not like the dead men, the faces and whispers and footsteps, the even horizons in closets, that looked and felt and sounded real but weren’t. When he thought about it he knew they weren’t – couldn’t – be real, but sometimes, even with thought, they seemed real.

They were and they weren’t and they were and they weren’t and he was going in circles, spinning in place, running a hundred miles an hour without moving until he didn’t know which way was up or down, which way the gravity pulled you, and lost himself in a swirling mess of reality and fiction that only got more twisted the more he tried to figure it out.

So he would stay here, riding high and scraping bottom all at once, ignoring the dead men with the penetrating looks and hoping that the next time someone asked, he’d still be able to remember his name.

“Daniel?”

He didn’t move because it wasn’t real.

“Daniel? It’s Jack.”

Daniel shook his head. Jack didn’t come like he used to. Jack wasn’t here. It wasn’t real.

“Come on Daniel.” This time it came with a touch on his shoulder that rolled him over and then moved to his cheek. “It’s time to get you out of here.”

He froze because it was too much to hope. It wasn’t real, it wasn’t real, it wasn’t.

Then hands, moving him, lifting him, rolling him away, and finally he looked because this was too real to be fake.

But still he chanted that it wasn’t real.

And then sunshine and wind and he really looked, gazed around, caught Jack at his side and a vehicle looming ahead.

“We’re fixing this, Daniel. You’ll see.”

He was loaded into a car and they started to drive away, the hospital grew smaller in the back window and the farther they went the more he started to believe.

It was real.

---

“Colonel Carter, you must calm down.”

“Why?” Carter said as she paced the length of the isolation room, her path taking her from Teal’c at one end and Baal at the other. Dalton, Hayden, and Pierce were keeping themselves off to the side, staying well out of her path. They knew an impending explosion when they saw one and knew they weren’t the best people to handle it. “That’s not going to help.”

“Neither is pacing,” Baal said.

“You don’t know that,” she snapped at him.

“It doesn’t seem very productive to me,” Baal said mildly.

Carter turned abruptly at the end of her circuit and kicked a tray of medical instruments. They clattered to the floor. She glared at Baal as she resumed pacing.

“Did that make you feel better?”

“Yes!” Carter said and turned to him. “What the hell do you want from me?”

“To calm down,” Baal said. “You can’t do this if you’re angry.”

“You don’t—“

“Know that,” Baal finished. “As you’ve said before. But I’ve never seen you do it while angry.”

“So you’re an expert now?” Carter snapped.

“Yes,” Baal said. He didn’t take it personally. She was mad and frustrated and needed someone to vent at. She wouldn’t yell at Teal’c and none of the others would be able to simply brush it off as no big deal. They didn’t know her well enough yet, didn’t have much experience with her volatile temper.

“I can’t do it.”

“Now you’re the one who doesn’t know that,” Baal said.

Carter finally paused in her pacing, long enough to take a moment to really think about it, and lost some of the tension across her shoulders. Teal’c took his opportunity and moved in to lightly grasp her shoulders.

“You can do this, Colonel Carter. You were able to gain control over the repository information. I believe the transmitter is doing much the same thing and, as such, is something you can exert your control over. But first you must try.”

Carter gripped his arms. “I just… last time…” She shook her head.

Teal’c pressed their foreheads together. “This will not be like last time, Colonel Carter. I… we… will not allow it.”

Carter pressed into him a little more and then her body sagged a bit, losing the last of its painful tension, and she nodded.

“Very well,” Teal’c said as he guided her onto a cot. “You can do this, Colonel Carter.”

“Yeah,” Hayden said. “Just… let it come.”

“Zen, remember Colonel?” Dalton said.

“And you’re the boss of your brain, Colonel. It doesn’t get to boss you around,” Pierce added.

“Just focus,” Baal said, making sure the last word was at least productive.

---

“How is Doctor Jackson?”

Janet sighed and shook her head. She motioned to the screen that showed the footage of his isolation room. Another screen in the observation deck of his room displayed the footage of Sam and her people. “Those drugs have him pretty far gone, sir. But he’s starting to come down. All his symptoms are still there, though, stronger than they were.”

O’Neill was watching as Daniel walked, slightly unsteadily, up and down his room with one hand on the wall. He seemed to be talking to himself and twitching a bit, looking around like he expected something to be there in the corner of his eye.

Hammond nodded and shifted his focus to Carter when she kicked over some instruments. “And what exactly is happening here?”

Janet stuck her hands in her pockets and watched the exchange, grimacing at Sam’s harsh tone. “Teal’c was relating what he remembered about these… Goa’uld killers. Since he was infected he wasn’t around to actually see our solution and he doesn’t remember reading about what we did.”

“So it’s all on Carter now,” O’Neill concluded. “And she doesn’t remember.”

Hammond leaned forward, straining to hear Carter and Teal’c’s quiet exchange. “Do you know what they’re referring to, Doctor? ‘Last time?’”

“No, sir,” Janet shook her head. “I think it’ll be awhile yet before any of us really get the full story.”

“I’m still waiting to hear about those guys,” O’Neill said, his eyes on Dalton and the Lieutenants who had wisely – or at least he thought so – stayed out of the exchange until now.

“Is Colonel Carter going to be able to do this?” Hammond asked.

“I hope so, sir. If not we’ll have to take what Teal’c knows and try to figure it out from there.”

O’Neill peered through the glass as Carter closed her eyes and her face suddenly went slack. “Guess we’re going to find out.”

---

Hammond only just kept himself from holding his breath as the event horizon rippled and Jacob Carter stepped onto the ramp. He was a General, he did this kind of thing all the time, but he’d known Jacob a long time and despite his professionalism this was different. “Jacob,” he said with a smile.

“George,” Jacob replied. “It’s good to see you. Your message was a little vague though.”

“We need to talk, Jacob,” Hammond said and motioned out of the Gate room.

Jacob was looking around for something or, far more likely, someone. “Is it Sam? Do you know something?” Hammond hesitated and he saw it. “George?”

“It’s… complicated.”

“How complicated can it be? Either you know something or you don’t.”

“She and Teal’c returned about twelve hours ago.”

Jacob stopped walking. “Where is she? I want to see her.”

“Jacob, it isn’t that simple.”

“I want to see my daughter, George. Whatever you have to say, you can explain on the way,” Jacob said, resolute and with a very familiar stubborn set to his chin.

Hammond sighed softly and finally nodded. “They’re in the infirmary. And just keep in mind that I warned you.”

---

Frasier watched from her place against the wall, trying to remain inconspicuous but still be close enough to help if anything happened. She was joined by Dalton and the Lieutenants who were keeping themselves out of the way, either out of self preservation or long experience that told them they couldn’t help.

Carter had sat on the cot for a long time, in excess of thirty minutes, before anything had happened. Suddenly she’d stood and grabbed the nearest pad of paper, moving about randomly and erratically as she scribbled and wrote. So far nothing she’d done had made sense to anyone watching and it was closing in on ninety minutes.

“Maybe this was a mistake,” Baal said. “With everything that can go wrong maybe we shouldn’t have risked it.”

“Colonel Carter will succeed,” Teal’c said. “She triumphed over the repository and her subconscious. The transmitter can be controlled as well. I believe the risks to be worth the gain.”

Baal heaved a sigh but nodded. If Carter could figure this out and turn the transmitter into something that worked for her rather than against, it would do wonders for how she viewed it and herself. “But it’s taking too long,” he said.

“We must be patient,” Teal’c said.

Dalton shifted his position and nodded. “The Colonel can do this. If the transmitter is doing… something else, maybe it’ll just take time for her to force it to find what she wants.”

“Yeah,” Pierce said. “And all this,” he gestured at the sheets of paper, “is just that other stuff coming out.”

“Colonel?” Hayden said as he noticed her suddenly stationary body as she stared at the wall.

Carter shuddered abruptly and listed to one side. Teal’c and Baal moved simultaneously to catch her and guide her onto a cot. Frasier moved in as well. They crowded around her anxiously until she opened her eyes.

“Colonel Carter?”

She grabbed Teal’c’s hand and squeezed to reassure him as her eyes sought out Frasier. “Blood… protein… cells,” Carter mumbled.

Frasier blinked and looked between Carter and the others. “What? Sam, I don’t understand.”

“Here,” Dalton said as he handed one of the many pads of paper to Carter.

Carter scribbled a few shaky words onto the pad. They were sloppy and crooked because of her trembling hands and only partially opened eyes but Frasier was well-versed in deciphering bad penmanship.

“You want me to put your blood… in the centrifuge?”

“Yeah,” Carter managed to say before her head lolled to the side and her eyes drifted close.

“But why? Sam?”

“Colonel Carter is asleep, Doctor Frasier,” Teal’c said. “She will likely remain so for several hours.”

“Okay, well,” Frasier looked at the scribbled note again, “this will take a bit of time anyway. I’ll get started.”

Once Frasier had left Teal’c turned to Baal. “As I had said, Colonel Carter was successful.”

“Hey,” Baal raised his hands, “I was with you. But I’m a realist; have to consider all the outcomes.”

Teal’c grunted a bit. “I believe you are allowing too much of Colonel Carter’s pessimism to rub off on you.”

“Let’s just hope she’ll start to remember other things, too,” Dalton said.

“And we have to rack another one up for the Colonel’s stubborn determination,” Hayden said.

---

O’Neill hadn’t been able to force himself out of the observation room. With Daniel back he’d felt like he should be there too, but he couldn’t split himself in half. So he’d settled for watching the feed of Daniel’s isolation room and being with Carter and Teal’c, since they were where all the action was.

Even though he still had no idea what was going on he’d been riveted to the edge of his seat, hoping that the next move Carter made would be the one that put this all together. As the minutes had dragged by he’d stopped expecting a miracle with every breath and turned his attention to actually studying the people. It had left him with the uncomfortable realization of how similar Carter and Daniel currently were, in both their demeanour and activities. If someone had stopped him on the street and asked, O’Neill would have said that they were both crazy. Now he had Mackenzie’s voice echoing annoyingly in his head. The voices floating up the stairs were a welcome interruption.

“So what you’re saying is that my kid saved the planet and then spent twenty years living several centuries in the future, and they’re just getting home now? I’m sorry George, but is this a joke?”

“No joke, Jacob. It’s what happened, in their own words.”

“Well, forgive me if I don’t…” Jacob trailed off as they entered the observation deck and his eyes went immediately to the window where they locked on Carter who was writing rapidly on the countertop. “Ho-ly… what is going on?” He scanned the room and his eyes landed on Baal. “And what is he doing in there?”

“This is why I wanted to explain, Jacob. Baal has apparently been with them from the beginning. He’s-“

“A Goa’uld,” Selmak said, his displeasure clear as he took control.

“Different,” Hammond said.

“Goa’uld do not change,” Selmak said.

“Excuse me!” O’Neill stood and waved a hand. “Weren’t you Goulds once? Didn’t you change? Who says he can’t?”

Selmak turned and glared at O’Neill a bit. “I’m surprised at you, Colonel O’Neill.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m no fan of snakeheads. But he hasn’t done anything yet. And I think Carter and Teal’c are more important than him. I kind of think Jacob would agree.”

“I do,” Jacob said, as abruptly back in control as he’d been gone. “I don’t like it but I’m not as… vehement as Selmak. I just,” he turned to look out the window again, just in time to see Carter falter and start to collapse. He couldn’t contain a small grimace of distaste when Baal caught one arm.

Hammond stepped up beside him. “I’m the first to admit that time travel makes my head hurt, but this is future Baal. The present one, the one you know, is out there somewhere. Shouldn’t the Tok’ra know something?”

Jacob nodded after a pause. “I’ll send word back for Baal’s latest movements, for our peace of mind if nothing else.”

“Ours too,” O’Neill muttered, thinking it would be as close to the proof he’d asked for.

“It won’t make this,” Jacob gestured, “any easier but…” He trailed off and shrugged, visibly pushing it from his thoughts – perhaps ignoring Selmak – and focusing resolutely on Carter. “Now what’s all this about?”

Hammond sighed as he considered how to start and settled in to deliver the highlights.

---

“Okay,” Janet said as she re-entered the isolation room, “the centrifuge will be done soon and I need to know what I’m doing next.”

Teal’c straightened from his chair at Carter’s bed. “Colonel Carter awoke briefly and we have discussed her words. You must inject Daniel Jackson with the protein marker left behind by Jolinar of Malkshur; this will make Machello’s Goa’uld killers believe his symbiote has died. They will exit through his ear.”

Janet blinked as she took that all in. She’d figured out for herself that she’d been separating Sam’s blood cells out but hadn’t quite been able to put her finger on the why. She hadn’t expected such a complete answer, had in fact anticipated having to figure it out on her own. But it made sense. “Are you sure Teal’c?”

“Yes.”

“Alright,” Janet said and then turned her attention to Sam. “How’s she doing?”

“Well,” Teal’c said.

“She should be up and about in another hour or so,” Baal said.

“Oh? And you’re an expert?”

“Generally,” Baal said.

Janet felt her eyebrow creeping upwards as she turned that over in her head. He clearly wasn’t going to elaborate and she didn’t think that would change if she asked. But it was definitely an interesting statement. “Okay, let me know when she comes around. I’m going to finish with Daniel.”

---

The world had stopped spinning, he wasn’t running in place anymore, but the dead men and whispers were still there. They still seemed just as real, maybe more real, because nothing was blurring the edges of his reality anymore.

He’d curled himself up onto the bed and pulled a blanket over his head to try and block them out. It wasn’t working any better than closing his eyes had.

He tensed suddenly at the sound of footsteps, anticipating another grey face would soon be looming over him and staring. But it never happened, no matter how many seconds slipped by. Gradually, he relaxed.

“Daniel?”

He tensed again on instinct. But he knew that voice. And suddenly he remembered leaving the hospital and getting into the car, the white building fading into the distance, and Jack had been there. It had been real. He pulled his blanket off his head. “Jack?”

“Hey, Danny,” Jack said with a smile. “Frasier here’s gonna fix you up. Just one more needle. Okay?”

Daniel turned his head, squinting against the light, and peered at the short, smiling woman. She wasn’t anything like the doctors at the hospital, nothing like Mackenzie who had condemned him to this hell in the first place. She was simply Janet and Janet was the one who fixed you. So he offered his arm.

Janet smiled reassuringly and gently injected him and then stepped back. She seemed expectant, waiting for something, and he couldn’t figure it out.

And then an odd feeling, a bit of a burning and squirming, then a small bit of pain in his ear. He turned his head into the pillow and grimaced until he felt something slither and slide its way out, accompanied by a familiar, old voice.

Janet plucked it away with tweezers, her face joyful and triumphant as she grinned at them both. Then she called in others, the rest of her staff, who started to buzz around in a familiar manner. “We just need to check you out Daniel, okay? And then you’ll have to get some rest. But you’re going to be fine.”

“Hear that?” Jack said and clapped his shoulder. “Fine. Tip-top shape. What did I tell ya? All fixed up, just like that!” Jack grinned and squeezed his shoulder.

Daniel thought he seemed inordinately happy. He still felt like something worse than what you would scrape off your shoe and the prospect of sleeping for a week was very appealing. So he nodded in sleepy agreement with Jack and allowed his eyes to droop closed.

He relished the silence as the medical personnel finally drifted away and shooed Jack off. He relished the lack of footsteps or whispers. But then the air shifted and he jerked his eyes open to scan the room, expecting a dead, grey face or penetrating eyes. But he was alone. He repeated it to himself as he forced his eyes closed. When he felt the air shift again he jerked but managed to keep himself from looking.

It isn’t there it isn’t there it isn’t there.

It was a new mantra and he focused on it as fiercely as he had all the others. After a dozen or more repetitions he cracked his eyes to scan the room once more. Nothing. Daniel closed his eyes in satisfaction, having proven his point to himself.

There wasn’t anything there.

But he still felt like they were looking at him.

---

“I want to talk to my kid, George.”

“And when are you going to let them out of isolation, General?”

Hammond turned to Frasier in the face of their questions. “Doctor?”

“My assessment hasn’t changed, sir. They aren’t a threat to this base. I see no reason why they shouldn’t be released to base quarters. And frankly, sir, I think it will help them. They’ve been getting a little… antsy,” Frasier said, thinking of their increasingly rapid pacing and shortened tempers with any medical personnel who went into the room.

“And what about Baal?” O’Neil added.

“Colonel…”

O’Neill waved, “I’m not saying he shouldn’t be let out with the rest of ‘em, General. But everyone here is going to see a Gould.”

“They will retain their escorts for the time being and I’ll suggest that Baal not go off on his own,” Hammond said.

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Jacob muttered, thinking of how closely Sam, Teal’c, and Baal had kept themselves.

“Great,” O’Neill clapped his hands. “We’ll go tell them the good news. Jacob?”

“Colonel,” Frasier called before he could leave, “one other thing. About Daniel.”

“What? He’s okay. Right?”

“Yes,” Frasier said. “But it’s been a few hours and he hasn’t moved much from his bed. I know he hasn’t slept the entire time. I thought that seeing Sam and Teal’c might help. Get his mind off it.”

“It’ll be our next stop, Doc,” O’Neill said and led the way to the isolation room.

---

Jacob couldn’t keep himself from tensing in anticipation when they stepped into the isolation room. They’d filled him in on everything including Sam’s spotty memory. That didn’t concern him as much as the obvious changes he could see in her. Gone was the sparkle in her eyes, the easy smile, and the light-hearted attitude. He was looking at a hardened soldier, scarred by time and battles lost, masquerading as his daughter. It didn’t help that Selmak was nattering in his ear, fuming about Baal while still concerned about Sam. It was an odd combination.

But still, when she turned to him and her eyes registered only the vaguest recognition and none of the warmth he’d come to expect, he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. She was still his daughter and he’d thought for several agonizing weeks that he’d lost her.

So he smiled but kept his distance, not moving to hug her or kiss her cheek as he usually did, recognizing the wariness in her stance and the watchful gazes of the men who surrounded her. He tried to keep himself loose and relaxed, studiously avoiding looking at Baal lest it set Selmak off, and opened with his customary “Hey, kid.”

Sam blinked and swept her eyes over him and then grimaced as she rubbed at her head. But she mustered a small half-smile and nodded at him, “Dad.”

“General Carter,” Teal’c said and inclined his head, “it is most wonderful to see you and Selmak.”

Jacob smiled a little more easily in response to Teal’c, “Thank you, Teal’c. Same for you. You two scared us this time.”

“Indeed. Things did not go as we had planned.”

Sam snorted and shook her head, “When do they ever?”

Jacob kept the smile on his face even as he shifted a bit nervously. Even though he’d been watching and listening on and off the last several hours from the observation deck he hadn’t been prepared for the vibe in the room, for the bitter and biting edge to Sam’s voice, and the shuttered look in her eyes.

The air was heavy with expectations and Jacob had the sense that it was do or die – if things didn’t go well here, it could very well severely damage his relationship with Sam. So he cast about desperately for something else to say, something of more substance than an inane quip that might help clarify one of the thousands of questions he had, but not serious enough to scare them off.

“So,” Jacob finally said, “George makes it sound like you two had quite the… experience.” He avoided the word adventure at the last moment, its connotations too heavily weighted to the positive. “How about some introductions?”

“Major John Dalton,” Sam started as she gestured to the stout, grizzled man. “Lieutenants Liam Pierce and Chris Hayden,” she finished, skipping over Baal. Jacob didn’t say anything about it.

“And you’re all… from the future?” Jacob clarified.

“That’s right,” Dalton said.

“From Earth? Our military?”

“Yep.” Hayden said and grinned. “The Major’s an army guy. We’re Air Force,” he gestured between himself and Pierce.

Jacob nodded slowly. He still wasn’t entirely sure he bought this time travel thing, but a lot of that was Selmak’s insistence that it wasn’t possible. Jacob could see the changes in Sam and Teal’c and just knew they couldn’t have resulted from a few weeks, no matter how hellish. And Sam wouldn’t lie. “And how exactly did you meet up?”

“In a maze,” Dalton said. “The Colonel saved our asses.”

“As fascinating as this is,” O’Neill cut in from where he’d been standing by the door, “we can save it for more debriefings. Frasier’s cutting you guys loose. We’re assigning you quarters right now and you’ll keep your escorts but you’re free of the infirmary.”

“Great!” Dalton said as he dropped his hands onto the Lieutenant’s shoulders and started prodding them out of the room. “I’m hungry.”

Baal watched them leave and then shifted his gaze to O’Neill and pointed at his chest. At O’Neill’s nod Baal slipped by Carter with a low “I’ll be outside.”

Teal’c and Carter locked eyes for a long moment and when she finally nodded he left as well, taking O’Neill with him and leaving father and daughter essentially alone.

Jacob appreciated the gesture and their foresight but wasn’t sure it would help. The tension was less without them all filling the room and Baal’s unnerving presence but now that he had the luxury of turning all his attention onto Sam he realized something: he was looking at a stranger who he had no idea how to talk to. The chasm between them seemed wider than it had ever been, even after her mother had died, even after their biggest fights and periods of stony silence.

“Sam…” He found himself saying, unsure where to go from there but trying to tell her how much he’d missed her. “I… are you…” He shook his head and walked within touching distance, raised his hand towards her face, towards the scars and metal discs, in question – seeking reassurance that she was okay, that she was there. She didn’t quite flinch but she pulled back a bit and then seemed to force herself forward again; he wondered at everything that had made her so gun-shy, even now, here, with him. “Are you okay?” He asked, knew it was dumb since she’d clearly been through hell, but needing to ask.

“I’m… living,” Sam said, and she must have caught the expression that he felt flicker across his face, his concern at such a lacklustre and oblique answer, his inability to understand. “I’ve been a lot worse. I’m living now. I used to survive.” Then her eyes flicked to the door where her team was standing, surely listening with half an ear because if Jacob had learned anything in his observation it was that they didn’t leave anything to chance with their leader. And Sam was the leader. “They all help,” she said.

Jacob thought she must have been reading his mind. Because even though he was aching to know the what, why, and how of everything that had happened those weren’t easy, quick questions. But Baal… he was complex too but Jacob needed to know something – anything – about him. “All?” He asked and saw the understanding in her face.

“Yes,” she said, simple and firm.

“He’s a System Lord.”

“Was as System Lord.”

Jacob couldn’t keep the scoff contained. “That’s like saying Hitler was a painter. Sometimes it doesn’t matter who a person was or is now, it can’t make the things they’ve done better.”

“You don’t need to understand.”

“Of course I do!”

“No!” She yelled at him. “You just need to know that I trust him with my life. With everything. That’s enough!”

“He’s a Goa’uld! How could you-“

“Don’t you dare say that,” she grated out, her voice going from angry and loud to suddenly low and intense, a different kind of seething anger that Jacob had never heard from her before. But he knew it was far worse, far more dangerous. “You don’t know who he is. And you don’t get to ask how I could do anything – you weren’t there, you didn’t go through what I did. You don’t know me and you can’t understand my choices.”

“Because you aren’t saying anything!”

“Maybe I don’t want you to know!”

“He’s a Goa’uld,” Jacob said again, not sure how to articulate his thoughts. It seemed so simple to him, so black and white.

“He’s biologically identical to the snake in your head. And you can’t see past Selmak’s hatred to accept that he gives me something I need.”

Jacob was caught flat-footed. Sam actually had arguments, more than simple, stubborn statements of basic truths. It was all he had on his side – Baal was a Goa’uld and Goa’ulds were bad, therefore Baal was bad. It was simplistic and straightforward but the world was not a simple place. And maybe she was right, maybe Selmak’s long-standing war with the Goa’uld was blinding him. But he couldn’t just drop that perspective on the spot when this had only been sprung on him a few hours before. Jacob turned away, shaking his head.

“If you can’t accept it,” Sam said after a few strained silent moments, “that’s fine. It’s who I am, he’s part of my life. I won’t change to be what you expect. I won’t defend myself. I stopped that a long time ago. I am who I am.” She’d been moving to the door the entire time and now paused at the threshold. “It’s your choice.”

And then she was gone and Jacob was left with the feeling that he’d royally screwed that up. But she’d left the ball in his court which meant, if he wanted, he could still salvage their relationship.

---

Baal knew that he was going to be the main topic of discussion. He’d forgotten that Carter’s father was a Tok’ra until the man had walked into the room. And he’d suddenly been struck by what a huge issue this could be. He wasn’t worried though, that secure in their relationship and the knowledge that Carter wasn’t out to fit in. The SGC would accept them or they wouldn’t; they sure as hell weren’t going to change to facilitate that acceptance.

So he listened, half in morbid curiosity and half to just keep on eye – an ear – on Carter. She was edgy and tense, a little less so since waking up from her transmitter-induced nap, but the confinement had really started to grate on her. If she flew off the handle he wanted to know immediately.

But he was capable of splitting his attention so while he listened he swept his gaze around to finally land on O’Neill who was staring back. Baal met his eyes firmly and frankly, trying to nail home I’m here and I’m not leaving.

He could appreciate the man’s reactions, he had been fighting a war against the Goa’uld for three years, but the utter stubbornness and inability to accept that something – someone – might change and be different was starting to annoy Baal.

He hadn’t done a single threatening or suspect thing while here, not even a single word, but O’Neill was still watching like at any second Baal would spring into action to kill them all. It almost made him want to do something, just lunge forward and see what O’Neill would do, but Baal thought maybe it wasn’t the best idea. At the very least, Carter would be mad. And that was always bad. He was just starting to tire of the constant suspicion; he knew, though, that humans needed proof, that even Carter and Teal’c’s word wouldn’t be enough to convince them that he was on their side. It was all about actions for the Taur’i – except he needed an opportunity first and that likely wouldn’t happen until they trusted him a bit more. It was a vicious circle.

Baal could mitigate some of his irritation by recognizing that a large part of it was protectiveness, for Carter and Teal’c, which was something they had in common and earned O’Neill points. Not that he would ever say it – at least not for awhile. If things were reversed, if he and O’Neill were allies and they were unsure about someone else, Baal knew he would appreciate the man’s suspicion, caution, and doubt, his resistance to being immediately swayed. Being on the receiving end, however, was just plain annoying.

When loud, angry voices suddenly filled the hall much more clearly Baal dismissed his thoughts. They all jolted a bit, fighting their ingrained instinct to see what was wrong, and waited. Baal strained his ears and couldn’t help smiling at Carter’s last words before she stepped into the hall.

“Someone mentioned food,” Carter said, as if she hadn’t just been yelling at her father.

“Cake,” O’Neill said, “I think this calls for cake. And we need to talk about Daniel. We can swing by and see him after.”

“And real coffee,” Hayden said. “No offence to the Pierce Special.”

“Yeah, hey!” Pierce turned to Dalton suddenly. “Does this mean you don’t want the recipe anymore?”

“I won that bet, fair and square. You’re paying up, Lieutenant.”

“Fine,” Pierce grumbled under his breath.

“Colonel Carter?” Teal’c asked lowly from where the trio was bringing up the rear.

“I’m fine,” Carter said. “Really.”

Baal bumped her shoulder lightly. “Give it some time. He… they… might come around,” he said. Then he caught their looks. “What? It can be good to be an optimist sometimes!”

“That wasn’t even the biggest issue,” Carter said and ghosted her hand across his briefly.

Baal nodded in agreement. If they were reacting so badly to his mere presence what would they think when they found out that he and Carter… No. Baal shook his head. It didn’t bear thinking about. They didn’t know yet and although he had no illusions that they would figure it out eventually there was no point in worrying. Like everything else they would either accept it or they wouldn’t.

“I believe that calmer minds will prevail, Colonel Carter.”

“Let’s hope so.”

---

“Daniel? I brought cake,” O’Neill said and set the plate of cake on the table. “Come on, Danny-boy, I know you aren’t sleeping.”

The lump that was claiming to be Daniel Jackson shifted and groaned a bit. A section of blanket was pulled down and half his face peeked out as he looked at O’Neill with an unfavourable expression. “What do you want, Jack?”

“I want you to eat cake!”

“Go away, I’m sleeping.”

“Frasier says you haven’t been even though you haven’t moved from that bed.”

“I’m trying to sleep then, okay?”

“Not okay. We’re celebrating!”

“What is there to celebrate?” Daniel asked as he rolled on his opposite side and firmly closed his eyes.

“Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c said, taking his perfect opening to speak.

O’Neill watched in anticipation but his grin quickly faded to a confused frown when Daniel didn’t move. He just burrowed deeper into his nest of blankets and squeezed his eyes shut even more.

“Daniel?” O’Neill said as he threw looks at Carter and Teal’c.

“Go away, Jack,” Daniel muttered.

O’Neill turned and looked to Carter and Teal’c for help. Carter walked up to the bed and delivered a solid swat to the back of Daniel’s head.

“Hey! Why do you always have to be such an ass, Jack?” Daniel said as he started to turn to face them.

“It wasn’t me,” O’Neill said from his spot closer to the foot of the bed.

“Oh, really? Then who…” Daniel finally pushed himself up and raised his eyes, his words freezing in his throat when he saw them. “Bu… wha…”

“We were right,” O’Neill said, his smile back in place, “Carter and Teal’c were out there. And now they’re back. We’re celebrating.”

“But what… happened?” Daniel asked as he sat up a little straighter, his own morose mood forgotten for the moment.

“That is a story for another time, Daniel Jackson. We are here to discuss you,” Teal’c said.

“Me? I’m, no, I’m…” Daniel shook his head in denial.

O’Neill snorted, “Right.”

“Really,” Daniel insisted.

“Then come eat cake.”

“Ah,” Daniel’s eyes scanned around the room rapidly, lingering in a few choice places, and then he shook his head. “No, thanks. I’m tired.”

“Frasier says there isn’t anything wrong with you, Daniel. Why aren’t you chomping at the bit to get out of here?”

Daniel met his eyes and then averted his gaze. “I ju… you can’t…”

When he trailed off again Carter gave a small sigh. “Teal’c,” she said softly and motioned towards the door with her head. He nodded and collected a slightly protesting O’Neill on the way.

“We are departing, O’Neill.”

“Why?”

Teal’c waited until they were in the hall. “Daniel Jackson does not believe we understand his predicament.”

O’Neill sighed and raised his hands as if giving up; he leaned against the wall, abandoning all notions of returning to the infirmary. “And what would that be?”

“He is doubting his own sanity.”

“But it was those things!”

“Indeed,” Teal’c said. “And yet, he has doubts.”

“And Carter’s going to be able to help how, exactly?”

Teal’c raised one expressive eyebrow and stared at O’Neill’s face until he deflated and nodded his head. O’Neill had made his own comparisons between the induced crazy in Daniel and Carter’s apparently commonplace, frequent actions that were freakishly similar. He wasn’t about to say it though, no matter how true it might be, and it seemed neither was Teal’c.

They settled in to wait.

---

Carter waited until they were in the hall before she turned to fully face Daniel. She allowed herself a moment to scan his face, remember his features, and allow her mind the time for any brief twinges that might restore even the vaguest memories. It had happened with her father so she hoped it would happen with him.

He was staring right back, his eyes wide and curious as they took in every detail. Oddly enough, Carter wasn’t as bothered by it as she usually was. There was no malice in his gaze, no judgement, just a plain curiosity and desire to know.

“You aren’t crazy,” Carter said, going for the heart of the matter as always.

Daniel seemed a bit surprised by her forthright approach and it showed as he blinked, taking a few moments to form a response. Finally he shook his head. “You don’t know that.”

“The hell I don’t.” Carter said. “One, it was Machello’s things. Two, it’s a long story, but Teal’c and I have already lived this. You aren’t now and never will be crazy. I’m really here, Teal’c’s really here, you’re really here, and that hospital is long gone. This is real.”

“You could be lying to me,” Daniel said. “Maybe I am crazy, maybe you’re fake. I don’t know.”

“Daniel!” Carter shook his chin a bit and moved closer. “Do I look like what you would imagine?”

He stared at her, frozen by her sharp tone, but really looked again. Finally he shook his head. “But that doesn’t mean—”

“You think you’re seeing things still but they aren’t talking anymore, aren’t moving around. It’s just a shadow out of the corner of your eye. A feeling like someone’s behind you. That isn’t crazy, Daniel, it’s paranoia. It’s trauma. It will fade.”

“That sounds crazy to me,” Daniel said quietly but his face was begging her to make him believe it.

Carter blew out a breath, unsure how to make him understand. Then her eyes drifted to her arm. She pulled up her sleeve. “Crazy is doing this for hours and not remembering, not knowing what it means. It’s writing on walls, floors, tables for days non-stop,” she said and then raised her bandaged right hand to his face. “It’s apparently putting your hand through a window and not only not remembering but not noticing. It’s needing people to watch you, force you to eat, force a bandage on your hand. That’s not you.”

Daniel’s eyes were wide again as he stared. “Sam, I don’t know…”

“We’re not talking about me,” Carter cut him off before he could try and respond to everything she’d said. “That’s not you,” she reiterated.

“I want to believe you, I—”

“Then do,” Carter said.

“It isn’t that easy,” Daniel shook his head.

“Yes it is.”

“I got so twisted around,” Daniel said, “the men looking at me, the distance, the world was so far.”

“That was the drugs. The drugs will leave you feeling screwed up for days,” Carter said. She caught his speculative look, asking how she knew without actually asking. So she turned her arms over to show the needle marks. Daniel didn’t have any of his own since Mackenzie had been far more careful than Friessen but he was smart enough to know what they were.

“What…” Daniel spoke lowly, half in question because she’d said they weren’t talking about her.

“Someone decided I was a good test subject,” Carter muttered and then pulled her sleeves back down. “You just… gotta decide to believe that you’re okay. That this is how it’s supposed to be. Eventually, you do believe. And hiding in here won’t help.” His eyes were wandering again and he flinched suddenly as he stared at one corner. Carter turned his chin around to meet her eyes. “They aren’t there, Daniel. But as long as you keep looking…” Carter shook her head.

Daniel closed his eyes and shook them off with effort. When he looked at her again he nodded with a certain degree of resolve. “Okay. I’ll… try.”

Carter nodded, released his chin, and whipped the blanket off him. “Come eat cake. Make O’Neill happy.”

Daniel was moving out of the bed and gathering his clothes slowly but paused at her words. “O’Neill?”

“It’s a very long story.”

“Must be,” Daniel mumbled as he pulled on his pants. “I thought you had cake already?”

“We left everyone else right away to come see you,” Carter said as they moved to the door. Daniel suddenly pulled up; Carter turned to see him staring at a cabinet of drugs. “Daniel,” she called softly.

Daniel jolted and whipped around to look at her. “They aren’t there. I know. I know.” He stopped at the door, this time because of hesitation and a small amount of fear. He took a deep breath, then another, then moved for the door. He stopped, pulled back, and shook out his hands. When he tried again he didn’t get any farther.

“The longer you wait the harder it’ll be,” Carter said. “It won’t be as bad as you think.”

“More personal experience?” He asked, mostly in jest.

Carter nodded once, not noticing that he wasn’t serious. She missed his look of increasing interest. “They aren’t all really going to be looking at you. Not usually anyway.”

“Okay,” Daniel nodded. “We can do this.”

“Yes.”

“Jack and Teal’c are right outside. Right?” He asked, suddenly hesitant.

“Right,” Carter said. She didn’t know about O’Neill but figured he probably was, going on what little she remembered of him. And Teal’c, she could feel him, tingling just a bit, not so much as a Goa’uld or Tok’ra and with a certain kind of vibe that was just Teal’c. Baal had the same thing going on, a distinctiveness, that she’d noticed when she’d seen her Dad.

“Right, okay,” Daniel mumbled to himself a bit, talking himself into in apparently. “Okay. I’m ready. We can do this. I’m not crazy.”

“Not now, not ever,” Carter said.

When he reached for the door and, this time, actually opened it, Carter smiled a bit in satisfaction.

----

“What did the Tok’ra have to say?” Hammond asked as Jacob entered his office, having just left the control room.

Jacob nearly collapsed into the chair, his posture an odd combination of relief and astonishment. “Our most recent intel on Baal is only about two weeks old. It places him on Nevana with a contingent of Jaffa, apparently looking for… something.”

“So this is a different Baal,” Hammond said. “Apparently a… good one.”

“Apparently,” Jacob said and then shook his head. He closed his eyes for a long moment, a degree of tension on his face that told Hammond he and Selmak were still at odds. “Which also gives credence to everything Sam and Teal’c have been saying,” Jacob said as he opened his eyes. He caught Hammond’s look, “Not that I doubted them, George, but I can bet a lot of other people will.” He flicked his eyes to the red phone in elaboration.

Hammond sighed and rubbed his face. “In the grand scheme it isn’t such a fantastic story. But the scale…” He trailed off and shook his head again. “Honestly, Jacob, only your daughter.”

Jacob laughed, allowing it to go on longer than the comment deserved, needing the release after his confrontation with Sam and the tension with Selmak. “It’s quite the yarn,” he said, then his face suddenly went sombre, “I just wish it told a happier story.”

“I’ve been putting off making a report,” Hammond started slowly, knowing Jacob had his own issues to wrestle with, but there were only a limited number of people whose ears he could bend with this one. “Until we knew more for sure and until I had decided what should… be forgotten.”

Jacob was suddenly totally focused on Hammond as he caught the General’s tone. “What are you worried about?”

“Jacob,” Hammond said, his tone chiding, “tell me you haven’t forgotten how politics work. As soon as certain people hear ‘time travel’ their eyes are going to light up. Which says nothing of the NID.”

“You think Sam and Teal’c will be… pressed for information?”

“Yes,” Hammond said immediately. “The NID has been interested in Teal’c from the beginning. And in your daughter since she became a host. I’ve shielded them as best as I could until now but…”

“You’re worried,” Jacob finished. “Why?”

“I had the President on my side before. A few other people who didn’t support experimenting on people. I can’t think of anyone who will be against finding out what Earth and the SGC’s future looks like.”

Jacob blew out a heavy breath and planted his elbows on Hammond’s desk. “Honestly, George, I think this is too big to keep quiet. You have to explain Baal, why Sam and Teal’c have aged, those other three with military ranks but who we have no record of, not to mention Sam being Colonel Carter. It’s too big to hide and that’s without factoring in base gossip.”

Hammond was fiddling with his pen, flipping it agitatedly through his fingers. “That’s the same conclusion I came to.”

“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be smart about it,” Jacob said. “Get the guy at the top on your side first,” he looked again at the red phone. “And use that the six of them don’t want to be separated to their advantage. They obviously look out for each other. It’s easy to grab one or two people but six together?” Jacob shook his head, “That’s approaching impossible.”

“You’re right,” Hammond said. He turned his eyes to Jacob for a long moment of scrutiny. “Are you okay?”

Jacob leaned back in his chair, “Honestly, George, I feel like I’m spinning. When I got your message I had a feeling it was about Sam. But this wasn’t what I was expecting.”

“Is Selmak still angry?”

“Not… angry,” Jacob said. “Vehement that he have nothing to do with Baal and…” he trailed off and ducked his head. When he met Hammond’s eyes again Selmak was in control. “I believe it is reckless to trust in a Goa’uld so freely, General Hammond. It is an admirable trait of the Taur’i’s, to give people… second chances and the… benefit of a doubt. But it would pain us both to see that precipitate the SGC’s or even Earth’s destruction.”

“I’m trusting Colonel Carter and Teal’c,” Hammond said.

“People who, by your own admission, are not the same as those you remember.”

“I plan to exercise caution, Selmak. But I don’t think anything could have happened to make either Teal’c or Sam Carter want to destroy Earth. This all started so they could save it.”

Jacob was suddenly back in control and smiled at Hammond a bit apologetically. “We’re still hashing it out. I see it both ways but… it’s my kid.”

Hammond leaned back in his chair. “These are the days I wish I could skip but at the same time, they’re the ones that—”

“Make it worth it,” Jacob finished with a knowing smile.

The klaxon sounded, punctuating Jacob’s statement perfectly.

They both went to the Gate room where Walter was just receiving an IDC. “It’s SG-7, sir.”

“Open the iris,” Hammond said.

Major Griff stumbled through first, his face stark and white, his clothes bloodstained in a few places. The rest of the team came through two beats later, holding one man between them, a wound visible in his stomach even from the control room.

“Medical team to the Gate room,” Walter called upon seeing the blood.

Hammond moved to the Gate room before the team got to the end of the ramp. “What happened? You’re overdue two days, Major.”

“Jaffa,” Griff stated and nodded at the wound on his Lieutenant, visible as a staff blast.

Frasier bustled in then, carting the injured man off to the infirmary in record time. “Baal’s Jaffa. They seemed to think we’d know where whatever they were looking for was.”

“Get yourselves cleaned up and eat,” Hammond said, inferring that they’d either been captured or on the run for the past two days or more. “Doctor Frasier won’t be ready for you for a bit anyway. We’ll debrief after you’ve been cleared by medical.”

Griff nodded gratefully, handed off his weapons, and trudged out of the room with his remaining team members.

Hammond turned to Jacob as they moved back to his office. “Baal,” was all he said.

Jacob nodded. “It’s going to get messy.”

---

Hayden concentrated on his piece of cake and Pierce across from him but he couldn’t ignore the vibe in the commissary. “I feel like everyone’s looking at us,” he whispered.

Pierce glanced up and over Hayden’s shoulder, “That’s because they are.”

Hayden shifted his shoulders and tried to shake off the feeling that was settling between his shoulder blades, the awareness of being watched. It was almost worse since he was the only one sitting with his back to the rest of the room and couldn’t confirm that all those eyes belonged to friendly people.

“You’d think they’d be used to weird stuff by now,” Dalton added.

“It’s probably mostly me,” Baal said as he scanned the room, sending most of the gazes skittering off in other directions.

“We should have gone with the Colonel,” Dalton muttered.

“They wanted to do it alone,” Hayden said.

“We could have waited in the hall.” Pierce stabbed at his cake, as displeased with all the attention as the others.

Hayden sighed and broke off another piece of cake. He supposed they all should have expected it. They’d returned with a Goa’uld and two of the SGC’s missing personnel with a fantastic story; of course everyone would be curious, shocked. But he’d gotten used to Doctor Frasier’s easy smile and non-judging eyes, her willingness to give them all a chance. He was grateful beyond words to be out of the isolation room but it had lulled him into a false sense of... acceptance, he supposed. But then, this was better than he’d expected. If it was their old SGC they would still be locked up in cells, likely for the foreseeable future.

“Mind if I join you?”

Hayden jerked his head up to see Major Ferretti standing at the table, tray in hand, a mild look on his face. Dalton gestured to an empty chair.

“So,” Ferretti scanned them all, his eyes lingering on Baal for a few seconds more, “how are you all… settling in?”

“We just got released from the infirmary,” Dalton said.

“I see. And let me guess, Colonel O’Neill suggested cake?”

“Yeah,” Pierce said, “and we were hungry.”

Ferretti glanced around, “Where is he? And the others?”

“They went to see Daniel,” Hayden said. Then he watched as Ferretti nodded in understanding and started poking at his food, obviously at a loss about what to say next. It was obvious to Hayden that Ferretti was trying so hard to make the effort; Hayden appreciated it, and he was sure the others did as well, but it was almost more awkward now.

Ferretti suddenly straightened up, having found something to say, “Word is you guys cured Daniel.”

“The Colonel and Teal’c,” Dalton said. “We didn’t do anything.”

“Except be the cheering section,” Hayden said.

“Hey, Ferretti, what the hell are you playing at!” Someone yelled from across the room.

Ferretti’s face tightened into a grimace but he ignored it. But when the yell came again, filling the suddenly quiet commissary, followed by the sounds of a chair scraping back and footsteps, he sighed. “I’m sorry about this,” he said to them before he turned. “I’m eating lunch, Colonel Makepeace. Is there a problem?”

“Yeah,” Makepeace said, not elaborating, but his hard look directed at Baal told the story.

“Nobody’s forcing you to be here, Colonel,” Ferretti said, “And last time I checked, I was free to eat with whoever I wanted.”

Makepeace didn’t say anything, just met Ferretti’s eyes in a cold stare. That went on for several long seconds until the commissary doors were pushed open and an incoherent yell broke the standoff.

Hayden turned at the sound and saw the man who’d made it, his eyes locked on them. And then the man was running at them, seemingly blinded by his fury. Hayden stood, knocking his chair over, and backed off to get a better read on the situation. Major Dalton and Pierce had moved with him and Baal gained his feet just in time to be tackled by the charging man.

“Hey!” Dalton yelled as he stepped into the fray to pull the guy off Baal. He got elbowed in the face for his efforts but wasn’t about to be deterred.

“Major Griff!” Ferretti yelled.

Hayden glanced around, wanting to help but knowing there wasn’t room for him at the Major’s side. So he committed the other details to memory, sure this would have to be reported and discussed. Makepeace had stepped back and was watching with interest; no one else seemed inclined to do a thing, and their so-called security were turning a literal blind eye. Hayden started to fume, his previous good impression fading away, faster every second.

“Son of a…” Dalton muttered as he almost got Griff under control. He lost his grip, ducked a wild punch, then reacted on instinct and delivered a solid hit of his own that dropped Griff instantly.

Hayden saw the atmosphere change at that development. Makepeace said something that was lost in the sudden shuffle as more people stood. Hayden turned to keep them in sight, just like the Colonel had taught him, and ended up back-to-back with Pierce. Dalton was squaring off with Makepeace and Baal was still on the floor when the first punch was thrown.

Hayden blocked and reciprocated, sent his opponent stumbling back a few paces. They exchanged a few more swings and misses; he managed to duck or divert most of them and landed a few of his own, but none of them were disabling. He’d just found an opening for a disabling hit and was on the verge of committing when someone yelled and his opponent stepped back. Hayden turned to see what had happened and found Dalton holding Makepeace in a headlock. He realized in that moment that Makepeace was the ringleader.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Hayden turned to see Colonel O’Neill standing at the door, the Colonel and Teal’c behind him and another man, Hayden assumed Daniel Jackson, at O’Neill’s side.

“Let him go,” O’Neill said as he entered the commissary.

Dalton wasn’t paying him any heed though, his eyes on Carter who was walking farther into the room towards Baal.

“Nice,” Carter appraised as she passed him.

“Been practicing,” Dalton said.

“On me,” Pierce muttered as he rubbed his neck.

“It is indeed a most proficient hold, Major Dalton,” Teal’c said.

O’Neill was gaping at them as he sputtered at being ignored. “Dalton,” he said, a bit more sternly, “I said—”

“I heard you the first time,” Dalton cut him off without even turning to look at O’Neill.

Carter had reached Baal and was studying his bloody nose. “You okay?” She asked as she held out a hand.

“Fantastic,” Baal said. He accepted her hand and stood beside her, wiping at his nose.

“Colonel,” Hayden warned as he continued his survey and saw Griff finally collecting himself and pushing to his feet.

Carter motioned Baal towards Teal’c and stepped into Griff’s path as he stood and focused on Baal.

“Get outta my way,” Griff mumbled.

“Nope,” Carter said. He straightened as his face cleared, finally shaking off the effects of Dalton’s stunning blow, and studied her carefully. Carter was expecting his swing and caught it easily. He moved to try again but she had him dumped on his back before he could get started. She paused, decided he wasn’t getting up, and turned her back on him. “Dalton,” she said.

Dalton finally released his hold. Makepeace straightened and backed off, glaring at them. “You’re all crazy,” he said.

“And you’re idiots,” Carter said, including everyone who was standing in her statement.

Makepeace straightened in indignation. “Watch it,” he said lowly and took one step towards her.

Teal’c moved from O’Neill’s side for the first time and slid into his spot at Carter’s shoulder. “I believe you are… biting off more than you can chew, Colonel Makepeace,” he said.

“Okay,” O’Neill said, a little too loudly and a lot too brightly, as he inserted himself between Makepeace and Carter who were locked in a hostile stare, “show’s over. Everyone who’s bleeding or bruised get to the infirmary. Everyone who isn’t should head to their quarters. Hammond’s going to hear about this. Now,” he added with authority when no one moved.

Carter started for the door first, her people behind her. She motioned Daniel, still at the door in apparent shock, ahead of her.

“Which category do we fall into?” Dalton asked.

“Infirmary,” O’Neill said, making the decision for them.

Pierce, from his position in the lead, didn’t move until he glanced at Carter and got a nod. He ignored O’Neill’s sigh and grumble.

“Jack,” Daniel said as he fell into step beside him, his eyes flicking to Baal in confusion, “what’s going on?”

“You missed a lot, Daniel,” O’Neill said after a long pause. “A hell of a lot.”

Hayden had to agree with that sentiment. He’d missed seeing a lot of the SGC; even though he knew the facility well the infirmary had driven him a bit stir-crazy. He wondered how long it would be until they were released again.

---

“There are no serious injuries, General. Quite a few black eyes, scraped and swollen knuckles, but nothing debilitating,” Frasier reported. “Though I have to ask, what did you hit Major Griff with?” Dalton raised his right hand and flexed it in answer. Frasier whistled softly as she examined it, “You bruised his jaw quite severely.”

“He could have easily broken it,” Carter said from her spot beside Dalton on the bed.

“That doesn’t make it better, Carter,” O’Neill said.

“Hey, my guys didn’t start it!”

“That’s the playground defence!”

“And one you’ve used yourself, Colonel O’Neill,” Hammond interjected loudly before their argument could spiral. He cleared his throat and looked around the infirmary, still bursting with the personnel from the fight. All eyes were on them. “I think we should move to the briefing room,” he said and led the way.

Once they were settled at the table, still arranged according to stark divides that had all of Carter’s people on one side and everyone else on the other, Hammond resumed the discussion. “What happened in the commissary is inexcusable,” the General started, “I can’t have my people so at odds that they’re attacking each other. Now would someone like to explain?”

After much shuffling and nudging Dalton cleared his throat. “I guess it started when Ferretti joined us. Everyone… took exception, and that big guy…”

“Colonel Makepeace,” O’Neill said.

“Yeah, him. He was getting on Ferretti’s case. Then Griff charged in and jumped Baal. I moved to get him off, hit him, and then a bunch of other people were joining in. That’s it,” Dalton finished.

“You didn’t fight back?” O’Neill asked, his eyes on Baal.

Baal snorted. “Do I look stupid? I didn’t do a thing.”

“You didn’t start the fight? None of you provoked it?” Hammond asked.

“We were just eating,” Hayden said.

“They didn’t even fight back,” Carter said.

“I’m sorry,” O’Neill raised a hand, “did you walk into the same room I did?”

“Colonel Carter is indeed correct, O’Neill. Had they regarded the incident as a true fight Doctor Frasier would have found more serious injuries.”

“Yeah? How do ya figure?”

“They spar with us,” Baal said. “They have been for two years. Frequently. They could all hold their own against anyone here, probably beat mo