Changing Reality
By
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Disclaimer: Neither SG1, SGC, nor for that matter SG-anything are mine. We all know who they belong to. I've just borrowed them, cleaned them afterwards and left them (sort of) 'as were'. Written for no money, only love, with no intention to infringe on any copyright, purely for entertainment. Please don't archive without my permission.
Changing Reality
The quantum mirror shut down with little noise and no drama, cutting off Doctor Samantha Carter from a world she had tasted only briefly. Little additional light had spilled through from that other place into her own world, yet as the image disappeared she felt as if she had been plunged into darkness. Misery consumed her, eating away at her belly, ripping into her heart.
Jack dead.
Oh god. She'd had no time to take in this fact, so busy trying to fight the Goa'uld that had attacked Earth and invaded the SGA, so busy trying to survive, that there was no time for mourning.
It seemed the time was now.
She felt someone touch her arm, knew it was General Hammond or Charles Kawalsky, but couldn't bring herself to respond. She heard other voices but blanked them out. She didn't want to hear questions, didn't want the company of others. What she wanted to do was hide herself away with her pain, lose herself in it, her only companion the memories of the man who made her feel complete.
She wanted him back.
She felt so cold inside, as if her entire body was encased in ice, and wondered if she would ever feel warm again. For a few seconds on that alternate Earth, seeing that alternate version of the man she loved, the ice had thawed, her emotions rising up to grasp the reality of his being alive - until her mind screamed at her that it wasn't her reality, her Jack.
No, her Jack was dead. Some desperate, needy, part of her had hoped that other Jack could be a duplicate of her husband. He was so like him in so many ways. Yet her alternate self seemed blind to his charms, Major Carter seeing only a friend and a commanding officer. Perhaps her Jack's alternate self could learn to love Doctor Carter, even if there was no desire for that other Sam.
Then she kissed him. And knew she truly had lost her Jack.
The pain inside her intensified and she reached for it, losing all sense of the outside world, arms wrapping themselves around her shuddering body to lock it all in and to lock everything else out.
She felt a touch on her shoulder and closed her eyes, not wanting platitudes or, god forbid, praise from General Hammond.
"Leave me. Leave me, please."
A loved voice murmured against her ear, "I can't do that."
The hand tugged gently, turning her round, then reached up to stroke her tear-slick face. The fingers were trembling slightly as they reached her lips.
Her eyes flew open.
Her first thought was that she was losing her mind.
Her second thought was 'We made a mistake. This isn't my reality'.
Jack O'Neill, tall, handsome and most importantly alive smiled gently at his wife and pulled her in close. Seeing her reaction he held her more tightly, as if the heat of his body could melt the frozen expression on her face. His voice was soft, intimate, as he murmured, "Hey, Sam. I got to meet the Roswell greys."
"The Asgards. They brought you back." The words came from her lips but Sam had no control over them, just as she had no control over the emotions and thoughts whirling and colliding inside her. Shock began to wear off as several facts began to make themselves known. The heat of a large body against her own. The warmth of another's breathe stirring her hair. The arms around her that felt so right. Even the scent of him was right, warm male musk and a faint trace of citrus.
"Yeah. The aliens fixed up pretty much everyone. Even that weasel Samuels. Hammond told me about what happened. The mirror and the alternate reality stuff. Sweet. We can't get you a promotion but I figure I could get Hammond to let us sneak off the base. We still have an anniversary dinner to eat. Cold by now of course. And I guess we should ... talk. I guess."
She heard the confusion in the voice he tried to keep matter-of-fact. She looked deeply into gentle brown eyes and saw the love and the uncertainty as he clearly tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.
Not dead.
Jack. Her Jack. His smile. His stubbled chin and soft lips beneath her fingertips. His eyes gazing at her with all the love in the world, in her world.
She kissed him. And knew she truly had her Jack back.
-fin-