The Times That Weren't - Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, I am only playing in the world.
Previously: Ch 1 | Ch 2
The Times That Weren't - Chapter 3
Stargate Command, January 2006
Cam leant against the entrance to one of the science labs staring at a sight which most men would consider their ultimate fantasy. The woman he loved times sixteen. It did nothing for him though. He only loved one of them, and his eyes could always spot which one she was. It was true there were slight variations between most of these Carters, and he had to admit that the one by the coffee machine was really rocking those glasses and he made a mental note to ask his Sam about the Hot Librarian look. Three of them were dressed exactly like her yet he still knew which one she was. His eyes just latched on to her automatically. He didn't think too much about the reasons why. Right now his eyes were seeing his Sam talking with the Tok'ra, Martouf, who came through with Dr. Janet Fraiser's SG-1 team. Not a sight he was liking at all. He needed to find something to do. He was getting antsy, and when he got antsy he needed to work up a sweat. And knowing himself as he did, he was pretty sure he knew where he'd find willing cohorts. He spun about and walked down the hall to one of the guest rooms housing the other teams and nodded to the SF standing outside, who nodded back and let him pass. Opening the door and sticking his head in, he noted the first ersatz SG-1 team that came through the wormhole dressed in their black BDUs, minus their Carter of course, and he got the other Mitchell's attention.
"Up for some hoops, Mitchell?" he asked, seeing a look of mild surprise followed by ready understanding come over the face of his doppleganger.
"Yeah, if you can swing it," was the reply, "better'n just waiting here for the Carters, love 'em to death an' all, and don't get me wrong, I know they'll figure it out, just..."
"You're gettin' antsy." he finished for his other self, who just nodded. "I'll arrange something, some SFs will be by to bring you to the gym in a while." The Teal'c who had been standing by the far wall just raised an eyebrow at the two Mitchells.
"Are you planning to organise an interdimensional basketball tournament, Colonel Mitchell?" asked the Jaffa. The Daniel who was seated at the table opposite the other Mitchell raised both eyebrows at the thought.
"As interesting as that might be, T-man, I was actually thinkin' about a Mitchell vs Mitchell five-on-five." A slow grin spread across the other Mitchell's face at the thought. "We'll pick teams an' everythin', it'll be great, the rest of you can be the crowd." Daniel and Teal'c looked at each other and at their Mitchell before the Jaffa bowed lightly to Cam to indicate his assent. "Great! Gimme a little bit and we'll get this show on the road." Cam slapped the inside of the door after finishing and ducked his head back out to go have a quick word with the Boss.
It took a bit of work, but Landry eventually approved, and with a small contingent of SFs present alongside the other-dimensional SG teams, the small gym was soon filled to capacity. His Daniel and Teal'c were seated in the front row, surrounded by a very diverse yet eerily similar crowd.
"This is the craziest thing I've ever heard of." declared Daniel as he watched the dozen Mitchells divide themselves into two teams and start warming up.
"It is indeed a unique occurrence, Daniel Jackson. One which I am very much looking forward to." replied the Jaffa beside him. Janet Fraiser showed up at the door to the gym and Daniel caught her eye, indicating the seat next to him which she took.
"I really can't quite comprehend what I'm looking at." she observed. Ahead of them two groups of Mitchells huddled together for final preparations before the toss-up.
"Alright, we're gonna have to sort ourselves out for names so we don't get confused. Since this is my home turf I'll just pick 'em for you." Cam looked around at the five pairs of nearly, but not quite, identical blue eyes, whose owners just nodded their consent. "I'm Shaft Prime, you're Cyborg Shaft," he indicated the one whose medical scan showed a metal plate in his head then pointed at the Mitchell who was clearly younger than the rest by several years, "Shaftboy-"
"So we're going with a Superman naming scheme?" interrupted the Mitchell to Cam's left, the one who would be last to get a name as he had started going from his right. Cam just nodded before continuing.
"Cam-El," he indicated the one Mitchell whose callsign wasn't 'Shaft' before moving on, "Last Shaft of Krypton, and lastly, Bizarro Shaft." All the Mitchells save the recipient chuckled as he named the man on his left, who glared at them.
"Why do I get to be Bizarro?" he asked with a look of ill-humour.
"'Cause you're like the anti-me, man!" cried Cam. "You grew up in Nebraska, you're a Marine aviator, and you're dating Vala! You're a goatee away from being from the mirror universe!" The others were nodding as he listed all these faults to the last Mitchell's growing consternation.
"Grandma's macaroons?" asked Shaftboy.
"Hate 'em." replied Bizarro.
"See!" cried Cam. "Who the Hell are you?" He was grinning and slapped the marine on the shoulder before setting up some position assignments and some plays for them to call and told Shaftboy he was taking first shift as the sub. Once it was all sorted they bumped fists and broke up to walk over to the center to meet with the other team, Cam stepped forward slightly to talk to the first team's Mitchell whom he'd made the other team's captain by dint of seniority. He quickly indicated the names he'd given his teammates for fairness' sake and wasn't disappointed that his counterpart had also given his teammates names.
"Yeah, we did the same, just with Spider-man." He started with himself before indicating the sub at the sideline and continuing up the line of Mitchells back up towards himself. "I'm Spidey, he's Amazing, Spectacular, Ultimate, 2099."
"Hah! 2099, I really liked that one." Cam grinned and the other smiled slowly before pointing out his last team member beside him, the real stand-out.
"And of course, MJ." He indicated the only female Cameron Mitchell that had come through the 'gate. "We're all set whenever you're ready." Cam was about to say they were when he heard a voice from the crowd.
"You know, Cam looks really good as a woman." Twelve heads spun as one to lock eyes on Daniel, his Daniel, and the growing space between the linguist, Teal'c and Janet to either side of him, who obviously wanted no part of that last comment. Almost as one, the eleven male Mitchells crossed their arms and stood in a line in front of of the startled archaeologist.
"Jackson! You're not thinking ungentlemanly thoughts about the lady Cameron are ya?" Cam glowered at him. "We might have something to say about that." He flitted his index finger along the line of Mitchells just as the female Cameron started laughing behind them.
"Don't worry, Cams, I can take care of myself." She was definitely amused at having unexpectedly gained eleven very protective brothers. "Besides," she began looking at Daniel with a raised eyebrow and a huge grin and turned to face him with her hands on her hips. "Danielle would kick my ass if I ever looked at a man." There was a roar from the other Mitchells which was dwarfed by the laughter from the rest of the crowd. Daniel looked between Janet, who was in hysterics, and Teal'c, who had a visible smirk plastered over his usually stoic features. The female Cam Mitchell waved and smiled to her archaeologist girlfriend in the crowd.
In short order the game started and it took triple overtime to decide the outcome, much to everyone's enjoyment. Master Sergeant Siler had set up a video camera for posterity, and because there would be a bit of a black market for the recordings. Each ersatz SG-1 team also got a copy when they were returned to their own universes. Many months later, Cam would screen the game for the team after Vala rejoined them as she had begged to see it, Sam herself hadn't been present at the game either. She definitely enjoyed the sight of so many Mitchells sweating so profusely in some very shapely sweatpants and tight shirts. Vala even made a discrete comment to Sam about the female Mitchell as the guys were very intent on watching the game.
"She is so very pretty." she whispered while leaning towards Sam without taking her eyes off the television. Sam nodded.
"I'd go gay for Cameron." she said very softly and shared a laugh with the brunette over the joke.
Jack O'Neill's cabin, Minnesota, September 2008 (alternate timeline)
Cameron killed the engine of his rented four-by-four and stepped out into the darkening sky to find Sam and Daniel hovering by the door on the front porch of the cabin, he could see a fire going inside and could smell something cooking as he reached into the back of the truck to get his duffel bag and the box of groceries he'd brought to their little illicit reunion slash camping trip.
"Hey, Daniel," he called, "bet those undercover feebs never figured a discredited academic with one leg would be able to lose 'em." Daniel smiled at that and lent heavily on a walking stick as he held the door open for his friend.
"They must not have believed me when I told them I've been trained by the special forces." Daniel shrugged innocently and Cam laughed.
"Really good to see you, Sam." He smiled at her warmly and Sam couldn't help herself, coming over and giving him a hug as he held the box against his hip with one arm. He grinned when she kissed his cheek.
"Really good to see you too, Cam." she replied taking the box from him and heading inside. Cam put a hand on Daniel's shoulder and paused for a moment to show his relief at seeing him. Daniel nodded in return and both men walked inside. "Good thing we didn't tell them about the transponders in our arms or we'd never be able to meet up. Typically predictable reaction, they really shouldn't have left us alone on that sub for so long if they didn't want us to conspire together."
"The part that nearly made me snap was that ass on the bus telling me they'd arrest me if I tried to make contact with 'Mr. Jackson or Ms. Carter,'" said Cam making air quotes with his fingers, "as if doctorates and ranks earned in an alternate timeline didn't mean anything." There was a silent beat before all three of them broke out into laughter simultaneously at the absurdity of it all.
"Did either of you have trouble with your handlers?" Sam asked from the small kitchen. "Mine thinks I'm still at home. Built myself my own Chimera system and rigged the house with computer control. Let's just say I'm going to be repainting one of the upstairs rooms for a couple of days. Also tagged her car with a passive transponder so I know where she is at all times." Daniel and Cameron were staring at her mouths agape.
"Uh, I told mine I was going camping in Wyoming." Cam supplied as he saw the teasing smile on Sam's face. He lay his duffel on one of the chairs at the table and sat down in another.
"I told mine I was going to be visiting several Native American burial grounds in New England, no specific itinerary." Daniel mentioned, sitting down on the couch by the fire and propping the cane at the side, scratching at his knee through the fabric of his trousers, just above the top of his prosthetic leg. "Any chance we can get our own holoprojector systems? It would be best to avoid more coincidences such as both Cam and I going on trips at the same time." Sam beamed at them as she walked in from the kitchen with a tray of drinks.
"Yep! I made you each one, I'll show you how to use them tomorrow. I've also got lists of the sort of equipment you'll need to set up your own places for computer control. All off-the-shelf stuff." She sat down next to Daniel on the couch and patted his knee after having distributed drinks.
"Do you think Gen- Colonel O'Neill would mind us using his place for this, if he knew?" asked Cam from his seat at the table. A dark look came over Sam and Daniel on the couch, they definitely felt a little betrayed by the Jack O'Neill in this timeline. Using his cabin for their rendezvous seemed like a little bit of payback for his brush off of them.
"Don't really care what he thinks actually." Sam muttered and Daniel looked at her with a slight look of surprise. He hadn't been expecting quite that much resentment. "We'll draw up a list of alternatives for our next meetup." Both men nodded at her.
They then proceeded to hash out possible plans for attempting to deal with their situation. First they all agreed they had to keep pressing their handlers to allow them to officially contact each other. It was maddening to each of them to be living in a world so drastically different from their own and not to have the solace of each others' company at least. Stealing two days every month or so was a joke. They also agreed their first course of action should be to try to contact the Asgard, to see if they were still around, although the chances of that might be slim as they had had no help from Earth with the Replicators in this timeline and who knew what sort of progress they'd made with their own genetic research. If the Asgard were still around then perhaps they could help them find Ba'al's temporal device, whatever it was. If they couldn't contact the Asgard then maybe the Tollan were still around, Ba'al would have needed a plan to deal with Anubis after all. Sam was designing a subspace communicator system from memory and trying to think up engineering solutions for replacing what they had used Asgard tech for in their timeline to strictly using Earth tech which wasn't overtly hard to get. Cam offered some suggestions for ideas which left Sam a little stunned, not thinking he had any knowledge of Asgard technology at all, when she asked about it he simply shrugged, saying it sounded right in his head. Daniel proposed that Sam should split up the materials list between them as it would be too suspicious for her to buy it all herself. The irony of using their government stipend to get around their non-interference orders were not lost on any of them.
Sam had set herself up with a home theatre/automation installation business so buying a lot of technical doohickeys would be easy for her. Cam had opened a classic car restoration and customisation business, and that gave him access to raw materials they could use as he was in the market for sheet metal work. Daniel had been the revelation though. As an archaeologist he had a fairly good idea of who the fences were for stolen antiquities, and such people knew people who knew people who heard that putting a little cash in certain places caused envelopes with certain documentation to replace said cash after a while. They each had an identity with a corresponding set of IDs and passports and bank accounts of which their government handlers were completely unaware of. If push came to shove they could all get out of the country within a day and have ready access to cash.
Their stomachs sated, their heads filled with plans and their hearts full of conviction they found themselves breaking up for the night sometime around three in the morning. A restless Cam found himself staring out over the lake, devoid of fish. He heard soft footsteps behind him along the wooden planks and turned slightly to see Sam sidle up to him, rubbing her arms at the chill night air.
"It gets cold early in the year here, Cam, especially at night." The moonlight caressed the outlines of her face as she spoke and he stood silently watching her for several moments after she'd finished speaking. She looked at him after his lack of reply drew her notice and seeing his gaze she dropped her eyes back down to the water. Cam sighed and looked out over the still black water himself. It was several minutes before his low voice broke the quiet darkness surrounding them.
"You know when I said it was a pleasure knowing you back at Elmendorf?" He could feel her turn towards him, he hadn't said those exact words and it had just been a ruse to throw off suspicion from their plans, but he had to tell her what he was really feeling at that time. "What I really wanted to say was I can't live the rest of my life without you, Sam. I wanted to tell General Landry that." He heard her breath hitch and he turned to face her, he could see her eyes were wide and shimmering in the moonlight, but she stood her ground which was a good sign. "We're not Air Force right now, Sam, and I think we both know the government can't really keep us apart if they tried, the only thing doing that is us," he motioned from her to himself, "you and me." She still made no move to walk away or contradict him so he pressed forward. "I'm not saying we're not going to do our damnedest to fix what's happened here, believe me I think this world bites the big one, the damn Navy in charge of the Stargate? It's sacrilege!" She grinned at that, looking down at the deck at their feet, and he smiled knowing he had a chance. "But I'm going to take a chance at what I want, Sam, and what I want is you. I love you, Samantha Carter." He watched her as she raised her head to look at him, a very serious look on her face.
"What happens if we set things right? Reverse everything as if it never happened?" Her eyes were fierce, he could see her hands were clenched under her elbows as she hugged herself in the cold.
"I will find a way, I promise you. I will make it happen." He reached a hand up slowly, tentatively to cup one of her cheeks. Her fiery blue eyes still had not left his, even as his fingers made contact with her skin, the determined, calculating look never left her face. After a few moments she raised one of her own hands to his chest, grabbing a fistful of his jacket she pulled him towards her and pressed her lips against his, leaning into him as he wrapped his arms around her back.
Daniel watched them from one of the darkened windows of the cabin, he chuckled to himself once, shook his head and turned away smiling.
Stargate Command, September 2009
Sam drew back the slider on the media player again and listened to the recording once more. She'd received uncompressed digital copies of the tapes from Walter after her debriefing on their scouting mission to P2R-128 and she'd been listening to them ever since in fascination. They described a world and events which couldn't be more different to the one they'd returned from the day before. It had turned out the UAV scans of the area around the 'gate had failed to spot the small enclave of villages nestled in the trees surrounding the Stargate. This made the planet unsuitable for their purposes, but it did bring them into contact with another interesting culture, one which Daniel was certainly giddy about. Matriarchal in nature and freed from Goa'uld slavery centuries earlier, the villagers kept a wary, but curious vigil over the 'Ring of the Gods'. Cam let her be the spokeswoman once it became clear that the villagers felt a little uncomfortable dealing with him. They also looked more favourably towards all the questions Daniel was asking once Sam implied that he was an assistant for their eminent scholar Vala, whom they immediately adored, much to Jackson's chagrin. Teal'c was Teal'c and the villagers treated him as they treated all warriors, warily. They slated the planet for further visits by diplomatic and cultural teams, preferably led by women, and returned home after several hours.
She'd long ago verified that the voice on the tapes was Cameron Mitchell. An eighty year old Cam at least. Once she'd added filters to take that into account the match probabilities shot up from the low seventies to the high nineties percentiles. It was indisputable, but she'd played this section of the recording over and over as she listened to something which was giving her great pause. She pushed a lock of her now sandy brown hair back around her ear and concentrated on the voice of Cameron Mitchell as he described Daniel getting shot in the side by a staff blast and falling off the catwalk into the chasm below the power core of Ba'al's stellar activity satellite monitoring outpost. She heard the pained, emotional timbre as he clearly relived the memory of seeing his friend die and it again brought a heavy lump to her throat as she listened. It was a tone she'd heard her own Cameron take when he spoke of friends he'd lost in the field or the sky during battle, and in hospital after succumbing to their injuries. However, that tone was as nothing compared to the raw emotion that overtook him as he spoke of her own death. As the recording played his voice grew hoarse and strained, it finally broke and fell away, there were several moments of silence interspersed with barely audible shuffling and rustling noises in the background, she could swear she heard a couple of near-silent sobs, before the voice came back for a few words before falling silent again and a loud click could be heard where the recording was clearly stopped. When it restarted the voice was still weak and strained and still faltered with the words as it described how she was shot in the back. It didn't elaborate beyond the barest facts, but the emotion in the voice hinted at what was left unsaid. She recalled the looks of pain and emotion on the faces of her teammates as they heard this portion of the recording and the look on Cam's face had scared her, as if he was clearly seeing what was being described in his own mind's eye, his own voice telling him how she died on a faraway planet. Vala also looked stunned and wan. The tape had ended not long after that and they had each retreated from the briefing room separately. Even after that first time hearing it described, it wasn't the events she'd focused on, but Cameron's voice. It was a voice she'd never heard from him. When he described her death she didn't hear a paean to a lost friend. It was deeper and sharper, a still raw wound even after forty years. Depths of pain that only accompanied the loss of the dearest part of one's soul.
"That's a bit morbid isn't it, Sam?" Dr. Bill Lee's voice startled Sam from her reverie on the emotion being revealed by the recording. "Listening to someone relate how you died over and over." He slid a mug of coffee along the table to her and she could feel the wetness on her cheeks, realising she'd been crying freely for the last several minutes.
"Ah, it's not that," she explained, smiling slightly in gratitude as she took the mug in both hands, "it's his voice. So much pain." Bill nodded and patted her arm before making his way out the door of her lab. She closed down the media player and began her report to Landry on her findings, trying desperately to regain her composure, glad only that it hadn't been Cam who had brought her a refill at that moment, unaware that he was standing outside her lab with his back pressed against the wall, nodding gratefully to Dr. Lee for taking in the coffee he'd brought for her in his stead.
On to Chapter 4