2006

"Carter?" I whispered, trying to keep my shaking voice steady.

She slowly lowered her foot, and took a tentative step towards me. Seemingly without thought, she pushed her long hair behind one ear and moved closer. After seeing the speed in which she had nearly killed me, I stayed as still as my unsteady body would allow.

"Carter?" I repeated, still keeping my voice soft.

She had moved so slowly, I had barely seen her move, but she now stood only six inches away from me. After that excursion, she was not out of breath. I had barely moved and I was gulping in the oxygen. I watched her eyes, not sure if she was going to kill me on the spot or-

"Jack, is that you?" Her eyes filled with tears, which began to spill over and roll unchecked down her cheeks.

With the speed I had seen just seconds before, she shortened that small distance and wrapped her arms around my neck and started to kiss me. I could feel the wetness of her tears as she held me tight and continued to kiss me.

I put it down to being drugged and bashed on the head a few times, but I found myself kissing her back, feelings that had been slammed down into my depths began to break free of their restraints and burst forth. I ignored the pain that she produced while she held my sore head and pulled her closer to me, losing myself in the moment as time stood still.

She pulled away, seconds before she let out a sob and sank to the floor of her cell. I briefly closed my eyes and tried to quash the feelings back, before crouching down in front of her pushing her long hair away from her face.

"Carter… Sam. I'm sorry, I…" I had no idea what to say. How do you tell someone that you aren't who they think you are and that the one that she thought was me, was still out there?

I gently pulled her to her feet and walked her over to the cot. As I sat down, I pulled her gently down onto the hard surface and held her against me. She clutched at me, holding me so tight it hurt my bruised and battered body; it was as though she was drowning and I was the only lifeline that could save her. All I could do was give her a little respite, some small oasis in the sea of despair.

Some oasis, it did not last long. Sam seemed to have run out of tears as she was now quiet, not letting me go. I had scooted up against the wall and she had come with me. I had no idea how long she had been incarcerated here, but if the length of her hair was anything to go by, a long time indeed. There was no way she was going to let me go, of that I was sure. Not now, not ever.  'Houston, we have a problem.'

Unfortunately, the problem at that moment came walking through the door. I squeezed Carter's shoulder, but she buried her face into my chest and hung on more tightly.

"Carter?" I spoke evenly and warningly.

The tone of my voice must have penetrated through, as she slowly raised her head to look up at me. I could see her movement out of the corner of my eye, as I did not want to lose sight of my enemy standing in the doorway.

"Now isn't this cozy?"

Carter gave a small gasp, let go of me and swiveled around to face the person who had just spoken. Her head moved around slowly and looked at me again, reaching up a tentative hand, she touched my face. Then very slowly began to move her head from side to side. "It can't be. No…" Her voice broke on the last word.

"Hello, Carter. I see you have met my alter ego." The overdressed general smirked  'most unattractively I might add'  as he spoke.

She turned back to me. "Who are you?" she whispered, so quietly that I barely heard her.

I felt helpless. I couldn't help her escape, I couldn't tell her what she wanted to hear and worst of all I couldn't comfort her in her distress. I wasn't who she thought I was. For some weird reason the man she thought I was stood in front of us, gloating at her misery.

Still struggling with my inner feelings, I forced all the emotions back into the drawers, stuffing them haphazardly anywhere they would fit. I would have to sort them out later, when I had more time.

"I'm from an alternate universe."

Her eyes filled with tears, not from joy or release, but from real true sorrow and pain.

"Oh." She pulled away from me.

I watched her face. I could see her mind working away, thinking this all out; the scientific reasons behind this, the complications of me being here and then finally, the ramifications of what might now happen.

She turned away from me and stood up to face her captor. I creakily followed suit.

"No. You can't do this. You have to let him go back."

"And why should I do that?"

I watched mesmerized as my other self slid his hands into his pockets; a sure sign that he was insecure.

Her lips trembled as she pulled in a breath that went deep into her lungs. Closing her eyes briefly before opening them, she spoke evenly and clearly, "Because of the entropic cascade failure." She turned her head and looked at me. I nodded in return to let her know that I understood what she meant. A sadness emanated from her eyes as she looked at me a second longer than necessary, before looking back at my other self. The strength from this woman never ceased to amaze me. My respect for her rose considerably in those few moments.

I was desperate to know what had changed this man standing before us. He must have once been as I am. She had thought that I had been him, until he appeared. The answer to my question came all too soon.

He laughed, and then spoke again.

"Who cares? He will make a good specimen."

"NO!" Carter shouted and moved with lightening speed. Spinning around, she brought her right leg up and kicked high, straight for his throat. But this Jack O'Neill was too fast for her.

Seconds before her foot would have made contact with his neck, his eyes glowed yellow and he moved to the side. Her foot and leg went crashing into the wall, and I heard the crack, as the small bones in her foot broke from the impact. The cry that came from her was not of pain, but from the despair of failure. Falling back onto the floor, she lay still, tears of frustration coursing down her face.

Now I knew why these people were not behaving as they should, they were Goa'ulds.

Cautiously, I knelt down beside her, and helped her to stand on her good leg, propping her up.

"I'm sorry. I tried," she whispered.

The despair and grief that that permeated her whole being brought all my emotions pouring out and spilling out of control.

In desperation I pulled all my strength from within myself to take back control, but it eluded me. It was gone. Just like the woman I loved, gone. Just like the man she loved, gone.

I found the strength leave my legs as I began to sink to the floor pulling her down with me. It was finally over; I had lost the fight in another world, with another Sam to another me, to another Goa'uld. I closed my eyes in defeat.

I didn't feel the rough hands as they pulled me to my feet, or the pushing and the shoving as they wrestled me away from her arms. But I did hear her last words, ringing in my ears and head as I was dragged down the corridor to another room.

"Fight it; don't give up. Remember, fight it. You can win. Fight it, Jack, fight it. I have faith in you."

The words were still strong in my head as they strapped me to a chair. They reverberated around my being, as they ripped the collar away from my neck. Her voice was so strong it drowned out the squealing that filled the room, as I watched the squirming Goa'uld lifted out of a cooler. I felt my head pushed roughly forward, then the cold wet slippery feel of it sliding along my neck. Then the sharp pain, as it burrowed its way through skin and muscle. All my nerve endings screamed with pain as it curled its way around my spinal column. Then the insinuating voice began to creep and merge with her last words.

~*~

2025

~*~

~*~

2006

Silence. It had gone. I could not feel its presence anymore.  'Crap. Now how am I going to convince this lot?'

Hopefully, my eyes had glowed when it first entered, but that was it. No more glowing eyes for this Jack O'Neill.

I carefully looked around me and kept my sarcastic tongue stuck inside my head.

Chief snake leaned forward and looked at me closely. "What is your name?"

The first feelings of panic began to tingle down the back of my neck.

"Tek'na."  'Hey! Where did that come from?'   Instead of the panic lessening with the name of the Goa'uld announced from my mouth, it increased. Maybe he had not died after all. I couldn't understand how I would know his name, but it had suddenly popped into my head.

"Welcome, Tek'na. Everyone here goes by their host's name, but as there are two Jack O'Neill's you will have to use your own name."

I nodded in acknowledgement, and then pointedly looked at my restraints. Reaching forward, they removed the straps that held my arms, chest and ankles to the chair. I slowly stood up, carefully masking the pain that spiked in my damaged knees and back.

"I wish to change my attire and bathe. This host has neglected his hygiene. Then you will advise me of what is happening. This host is not well informed."

"Yes. Please report to the briefing room when you have finished. Also, we wish you to tell us all that your host knows."

I nodded, stood up and started to walk from the room.

"Tek'na," he called.

I stopped and carefully turned around. "Yes, sir?" I replied.

"Remember that there are visitors on this base that are not aware of whom we really are. At all times, you must not reveal your identity."

This would explain the lack of the echoed voice that the Goa'ulds usually used. At least I would be able to avoid that problem now.

I nodded again in acknowledgement and moved as smoothly as I could out of the room. Hopefully, keeping my face blank.

The journey to the showers was uneventful. Mindful of the cameras that were in the corridors, I kept up the pretence of a healthy undamaged body all the way. By the time I had reached the locker room, I could feel a fine sheen of sweat covering my body. The pain was almost unbearable in my knees, especially in the one that Alexander had not fixed, and a sharp pain stabbed my ribs with each step I took.

I entered the locker room. Thankfully it was empty. I walked straight over to O'Neill's locker and banged it open. While rummaging in there for some clean clothes, I quickly scanned the room for any signs of added cameras. I didn't see any.

I grabbed a towel and limped my way over to the showers, quickly turning on the faucet. Before I stepped under the hot spray I briefly checked over my injuries. Yup, lovely colours already. The bruising seemed to travel completely around my torso but I couldn't see any broken skin. My knees were scraped and already showing signs of bruising. I didn't realize I had rubbed my hands over my face, until it hurt when I made contact with my nose. I moved slowly and painfully over to one of the mirrors and checked that out. I couldn't see any obvious signs of damage, except for the smears of blood on my face.   'Okay, I should be able to disguise this.'  

The shower was just what my aching muscles needed as it eased the tightness from them. I could feel my whole body relax under the hot spray. Unbidden, Sam's face came to my mind as the spray rained down on the back of my sore neck. Long and short hair merged, as I tried to blot out the image of a dying Sam with the alive and broken one I had just met. What little hope she had built up was dashed with my arrival and the disappointment at the outcome.

The mess of my emotions coursed their way around my heart, making it constrict with pain. I had deluded myself into believing this Sam was my Sam; my heart was feeling things that it hadn't felt with the Colonel Carter I had met on the last universe. The double loss was too much. This Sam did not love me; she loved him, the one trapped by a snake. I leaned my hands then bowed my head against the wall, not feeling the hot water flow down my back. Hot tears stung my eyes before they mingled with the water that poured down the drain.

Drawing in a deep breath, a sharp pain dug into my ribs bringing me out of my misery. I slowly stood upright and stuck my face under the water, washing away all evidence of my emotional pain. I turned the faucet off and proceeded to get dried and dressed. I had a new resolve; these snakes were not going to ruin Carter and O'Neill's chances. Not in this universe. Not if I had anything to do with it.

~*~

The briefing was short, but not sweet. In fact it didn't bode well for this SGC at all. I noticed that stuffed shirt seemed to enjoy talking a lot, while Fraiser and Daniel sat silent. As he started to talk, I wondered what had happened to Jonas and Hammond and there were a few other missing faces. I couldn't be sure if they were never in this reality or if they had conveniently been removed.

"Each person on this base is one of us. We have managed to infiltrate it completely. Sometimes we have visitors from outside that are not…" He paused, looked around at the others in the room, smirked and continued, "at first, but they always leave as one of us."

He stood up from the table and wandered over to the large window and gazed out at the Stargate. "We never dreamed at first that there was a Stargate here on this planet, but when Doctor Jackson here was taken as host the first time, we found out." He spun around and faced me. The smile on his face was not nice. "This is so much better than the ship we built. We have teams off world, infiltrated within the Jaffa, Tok'ra and of course the Alpha site. The only people that we could not get anywhere with were the Kelownans; they don't like the Tau'ri very much."

He walked stiffly over to the coffee pot and poured himself a mug of hot steaming liquid. "We are in the Pentagon, but not the White House… yet." He smirked again.

"Tek'na, we must not be seen together in one place, not yet. Your host will come in very useful in the future."

He turned to Fraiser and nodded to her to continue.

"We are not worried about the entropic cascade failure, because you two are not the same, only your hosts are. But we will need to keep a close eye on your health, just in case. If the worst happens, we have another host for you."

Trying not to show my nervousness, I nodded.

"Now, Tek'na, we wish to know all about your host, where he has come from and how he came to be here."

'Okay, so here comes the tricky bit.'

"Sir, my host will not reveal anything to me, except that he was sent here by the Kelownans and that he wishes to go back home." I held my palms out in resignation. "He is most stubborn minded in this," I added.

O'Neill nodded in agreement. "Yes, I am surprised that he yielded that much to you. But I have a secret weapon, something that will get your host to tell you anything you wish. Not at first maybe, but eventually." He finished this with a rather evil grin.

He turned to the others. "Dismissed."

Gesturing to me to follow, he led me into his office. I stood in front of his desk, while he sat down in the soft chair. He leaned back and looked at me.

"Your host, he has feelings for Major Carter. I observed his behavior before, and you will use this to your advantage. This was the only way I managed to retrieve information from my host. It took a long time, but eventually he broke."

Feeling cold, I nodded.

He pulled out a pass card from his locked drawer and handed it to me. "This will get you into her cell whenever you want, to your quarters and to the commissary. Other locations are out of bounds to you until our visitors have left. Do you understand, Tek'na?"

"Yes, sir," I acknowledged.

"Dismissed."

Just as I turned to leave, I saw him slump down onto the desk. A strangled cry came from his form and he looked up. Wild, terrified eyes looked out at me. "No!" He leapt up over the desk lunging for me. I managed to back out of the way in time, before he slumped back down onto the floor at my feet.

I was at a loss of what to do. If I revealed myself, I might jeopardize the only chance these people had. Slowly he raised his head; he stared out at me with a look of pure hatred before his eyes glowed a pale yellow as the Goa'uld took back control.

Seeing the anger in the Goa'uld, I beat a hasty retreat. I didn't want him to know that I had seen his weakness. But internally I rejoiced; these Goa'uld were weak. If this could happen here; maybe it would happen with others. Pushing the concern I felt for the other me trapped inside his own body to the back of my mind, I walked straight towards the elevators.

Once I had arrived down among the storerooms, I swiftly checked for cameras. Pleased to see that there were none; I limped my way to her room.

I carefully opened the door a crack before peering in. There was no way I was going to risk a broken neck this time. I needn't have worried; she was lying on her back on the cot, with her foot propped up wrapped in a heavy casing of plaster.

"Carter," I hissed, and then slowly opened the door more.

She looked at me briefly then looked up at the ceiling.

After shutting the door, I limped into the room and stood by her cot and looked down at her. Immediately, I felt my emotions begin to bubble to the surface again. Knowing that this would do neither of us any good, I quashed them firmly down.

"Major Carter, attention!" I spoke harshly.

Her head snapped around and stared straight at me. I gave her my best brigadier general stare. I have to admit it must have been painful for her, but in no time she was hanging onto the wall, trying her hardest to stand to attention. As I moved to her side, I could see her eyes swiveling around to watch me.

"Eyes front, Major." She complied.

I observed the broken pieces of chair had been removed and a portable toilet had been installed in her room.

"At ease, Major."

I knew she had to be careful, she wouldn't want to give me away if I was not who I was. Also, she had no idea if I had been able to beat the snake or not. I needed her to realize that I was genuine and I needed desperately to keep this totally military, or I would never be able to cope.

"You may sit, Carter." I softened my voice.

I limped back over to the table and hoisted myself up onto it, so I could rest my knees, never once through the journey turning my back to her. That foot with a solid cast on could finish me off in a second.

"Yes, it is me, Carter. The snake is dead."

She raised one eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders. I knew it was going to be hard to convince her.

"You know the alternate O'Neill. The one that likes to be comfortable." I waved my arm down over my BDU's. I could see she still was not convinced.

"You can't fool me; I can sense your symbiote."

A tendril of doubt spiraled through me, filling me with horror. I looked to the ground, trying my hardest to cope with this knowledge. He was still there, waiting, listening, getting ready to take control. Panic began to fill me and sweat broke out across my forehead. I heard a slight noise and quickly looked up into the concerned eyes of Carter.

~*~