Ouroboros, by Amaranth Traces

-- Chapter Thirteen --

Rising from his bed, Daniel quickly dressed in the robes that were part of his daily life in ancient Egypt. He had developed a routine, and this was just part of it. He had done his best to keep a low profile, and as such, his life was unspectacular.

Since Sam, Jack and Teal’c had died more than four years ago, Daniel had lived a solitary life. In an effort to limit his contact with the local peoples, Daniel’s work to build the forces of the rebellion had been done entirely through Katep. With a few exceptions, the rebels were completely unaware that many of the ideas Katep was bringing to the table were from Daniel. History, should it record anything at all, would cast Katep as the leader of the rebellion. And that was fine with Daniel.

They were taking things slowly. Every effort had been made to ensure that events would unfold the way they were meant to. Their plan was good. Daniel was confident that it would force Ra to leave Earth. Their forces would be ready to launch their coordinated attack before the year was out.

While working to fulfill his promise to Sam, Daniel had also been waiting. Waiting for today. Today marked the end of the monotony of the last four years. Today was the day.

Yesterday, Daniel had witnessed the completion of the tomb that would be discovered a month before he stupidly suggested that SG-1 travel back in time to obtain a ZPM. Today was the day he would fix that mistake. Today, he would undo all of it.

He dug through the sand in the corner of his tent. Carefully, he pulled a cloth-wrapped bundle out of the hole. Daniel checked its contents. The ZPM glowed brightly, and the jar that held the video camera was unharmed. Today, he would hide these items in the tomb so that he and his friends would never make their ill-fated trip into the past in the first place.

He ran his thumb over the inscription he had painstakingly carved into the side of the canopic jar. The pottery had been on the soft side for inscriptions, but Daniel was hopeful that it would still be legible in five thousand years. It had to be. His future self would find it, translate it, and know what it meant.

But even has he hoped that today would fix everything, a small voice inside him was whispering that it was possible SG-1’s presence in this time period had, in fact, considerably changed history. If that was the case, there was the possibility that he and his friends might have to come back in time again in order to correct their mistakes.

Daniel ran a hand through his hair and pulled his hood over his head. He went outside and approached Katep’s tent.

“The tomb is finished. I’m going today,” Daniel told his only friend in the local language.

“That is good news, Daniel. I hope that your journey will be successful.”

“There is a chance that it will not be. If that is the case, my friends and I might return.”

Katep’s eyes widened. “They will return from the dead?”

“Not exactly. It is possible that if they come, they will not have the same memories and life experiences. They would be like different versions of us.”

“I do not understand how this can be.”

“I cannot explain it, Katep. If they arrive, I ask that you do not tell them what happened to them.”

“You wish that I lie to your friends?”

“I wish that you allow me to be the one to explain things.”

“And to your wife?”

Daniel turned to stare blindly at the horizon. “If she comes—” He took a steadying moment and began again. “If she comes, she won’t really be the woman who was...is...” he sighed, beyond caring about the solution to the paradox, “will be my wife.”

He squeezed his eyes closed, trying once again to block out the anguish of losing his entire family in a single week. Daniel forced the pain and guilt back into the coldness of his heart. He concentrated on maintaining the mental wall that separated him from the world that punished him with every sunrise. “I don’t— I need to be the one to tell them,” he said.

Daniel felt a hand on his shoulder, and he opened his eyes. Katep was looking at him solemnly, nodding. “What should I say?”

“I don’t care. Just—” He shrugged Katep’s hand away and attempted to strengthen his resolve. “Tell them our plans ended up exposing us to those still loyal to Ra. That they were captured and executed. It’s not a lie. And—” Daniel took a deep breath. “Make no mention of my marriage.”

“If that is your wish.”

“Thank you, Katep.” Sam hadn’t wanted Jack to learn about their relationship on the tape. And Daniel wasn’t about to let him learn about it through a perfect stranger, either. “It’s my hope that they don’t arrive at all, but just in case...”

“I understand, Daniel. Good luck.”

--

Daniel hated travelling to the tomb, yet he had done it every day to check on the progress of its construction. What bothered him most was crossing the hill that overlooked it. The hill where Sam and Daniel had been married. The hill where they had made love after learning that he was going to be a father – the most wonderful news of his life.

Every time he climbed that hill, Daniel felt a little more of himself slip away. He became a little more bitter. A little more angry. And a little more cold.

Moving quickly down the slope, he snuck into the tomb. After a brief search, Daniel found the ideal location to conceal his treasures. Somewhere they wouldn’t be identified as out of place by the natives, but somewhere they would be found in five thousand years.

He held the jar and ZPM in his hands, staring at them for a long moment. When he put them on the shelf before him, everything would change. Daniel licked his lips and, with a deep breath, he carefully placed the items down.

Nothing happened.

He looked around the tomb and released the breath he was holding. Frowning, he picked the ZPM up and set it down again. No. It couldn’t be. Daniel made his way outside, hoping that leaving the tomb would trigger the ripple in time he so desperately needed.

Nothing happened.

So much for the common solution to the Grandfather Paradox.

Dejectedly, Daniel sat in the sand. He had failed them again. Halfway around the world and five thousand years in the future, he and his friends should have received the ZPM and the tape and never made this trip. He shouldn’t be here now. Unless history had changed.

The last shred of hope in his heart gave up its valiant struggle for survival. He had killed everyone he loved. And there was nothing he could do about it. With a resigned sigh, he got up.

Then, pulling his hood back over his head, Daniel started back up that hateful hill.

--

As he neared the encampment, Daniel saw Baraka running towards him. “Daniel! They have returned!” the boy shouted.

“Where are they?”

“Daniel, they did not appear to know me.”

“It’s very complicated, Baraka. I will try to explain later. Please tell me where they are.”

“They are with my uncle.”

Unbidden, emotion flared in Daniel’s heart as he followed the boy, running across the sand. They moved quickly through the tents, slowing as they neared Katep’s.

“Go and play,” Daniel told Baraka softly.

“But I wish to see Jack.”

“There will be time for that later.”

The boy looked forlornly at him but nodded before heading off to the centre of the encampment.

Approaching the tent, Daniel could hear voices coming from within. He hesitated at the door, listening. Katep was honouring his request and telling the alternate versions of himself and his friends that they had been captured and killed.

“Really? All of us?” Daniel could have smiled at Jack’s voice.

“All but one,” answered Katep.

That was as good a cue to enter as any. Daniel ducked through the doorway of the tent and pulled back his hood. He surveyed the people inside.

Teal’c was wearing the armour of a First Prime, Jack’s slouch was more pronounced than usual, and Sam...

Daniel fought to pry his eyes away from the woman who looked just like his wife but was obviously very different. She was wearing glasses. And the way she fidgeted and nervously clasped her hands in front of her made it quite clear that she wasn’t the strong and confident Sam he knew so well. It hurt to see her like this. More than Daniel had imagined.

He looked around for his alternate self, but couldn’t find him. “Well, this can’t be a good sign.”

“Why’s that?” asked Jack.

“Where am I?” Daniel had a bad feeling about this. He tried not to think about the alternate realities he had experienced. Realities in which he and Sam had never met. Realities in which Sam had been involved with Jack. Daniel had always had a hard time believing that was a coincidence.

Jack looked around the tent. “Ancient Egypt?”

Daniel stifled a sigh. It seemed that Jack was Jack no matter the timeline. “No, I mean the me from your timeline.”

“I killed you,” said Teal’c.

“Why?”

“You were a Goa’uld spy.”

Oh, lovely. Daniel shook his head slightly. “Good reason.”

“It was horrible,” said Sam.

Her voice tore a gaping hole in his chest. Daniel tried to dismiss the pain by dismissing her. “Yeah, I’m sure.” He avoided looking at her. He focussed instead on Jack. “Why are you here?”

“Yes.” Jack pointed at Daniel, grinning. “Excellent question.”

Daniel glanced at Katep. He knew that he had become more short-tempered the last few years, but these people were incredibly frustrating. “You don’t know?” This was unbelievable.

“Well, I thought I did there, for a while. And then I realised I...didn’t.”

Daniel sighed, trying to stay in control of himself. “Well, I know why I’m here.”

“Good! Let’s start there!”

“We came back in time to get a ZPM.”

“Right!” said Sam. “It was buried with the tape.” She glanced at Jack before looking back at Daniel. “Why is it so important? I–I think you were about to explain it but the, uh, the–the batteries on the camera ran out.”

Daniel kept his gaze focussed on Jack. Seeing Sam, but not Sam, was too difficult. Jack at least seemed more or less his typical self. “Long story. Why don’t you take a seat?” Daniel indicated the table behind them, and Jack and Sam sat down.

With a deep breath, Daniel began the abridged version of what had happened. “Basically we got trapped here because you,” Daniel pointed at Sam and stared at her feet, “didn’t want to affect the timeline. But ultimately, you and you,” he looked at Jack, then Teal’c, “couldn’t stand the idea of living out the rest of your lives under Ra’s rule without doing anything. We remembered there was a rebellion here on Earth – that’s how the gate got buried in the first place. So we figured what difference would it make if we’re involved or not? Unfortunately, we never got to execute the plan.”

“We heard,” said Jack.

Daniel looked away from them. Despite the coldness in his chest that was his constant companion, he still couldn’t lie to their faces. “Yes, we tried to do too much, too fast.” That part was definitely true. If they hadn’t been so eager to meet with two rebel leaders at the same time, Sam and Teal’c would never have been caught off guard the way they were. Sam wouldn’t have been killed. And Jack and Teal’c wouldn’t have been in the marketplace later.

He should have known better. But he had learned from his mistakes. The work he had been doing with Katep had been painfully slow. “Since then, Katep and I have been slowly building up an underground movement,” Daniel continued. “I can only assume things don’t go well because if you’re here, you saw the tape, and the future still needs fixing.”

Jack nodded. “Something like that.”

Closing his eyes briefly, Daniel tried to swallow the guilt that once again threatened him. He had failed them. Sam had asked only one thing of him, and he had failed her.

“Oh, we didn’t just see the tape. We saw the tablet,” said Sam.

Daniel glanced at Katep, and then really looked at Sam for the first time since her arrival. “What tablet?”

“Oh,” she said. “The one you haven’t written yet and put where the stargate was supposed to be buried.”

Daniel marvelled at how quickly Sam could wrap her mind around the concepts of time travel. Wait. Did she say... “‘Supposed to be’?”

She nodded. “In our timeline, the rebellion that you planned actually works. Ra ends up leaving, and Earth is free. But, uh, Ra takes the stargate with him.”

The sheer magnitude of his failure struck Daniel with physical force. “Okay, that’s a problem,” he said slowly.

“Yes! The gate is never found at Giza, and–and none of us join the Stargate Program.”

So this Sam really didn’t know him. She didn’t even know the other him. Daniel sighed as she continued.

“But you left a tablet in an obscure Egyptian dialect telling us the date of the rebellion and where to find the second stargate in Antarctica.”

That made sense. After Ra took the stargate, Daniel would definitely try once again to fix the future. “Good for me. So you’re here to make sure Ra doesn’t take the stargate.”

Sam nodded slowly.

Jack shrugged. “It’s a plan.”

Baraka ran into the tent. “Daniel! Daniel! Jaffa!”

“We must hide,” Katep said.

“Where?” asked Jack.

“In here.” Katep and Baraka pulled back a mat on the floor and started digging sand away from the edge of a stone slab. Daniel waved the alternate versions of his friends closer. The stone was removed to reveal a ladder leading into a dark chamber. Daniel followed them down, and Katep sealed the opening behind him.

Daniel took a torch from Jack and shone its light into the depths of the chamber. SG-1’s weaponry and vests sat on a crate nearby. Staff weapons lined the walls, and trunks along the wall were both filled and covered with zats and shock grenades.

“Sweet!” said Jack.

The Jaffa patrols passed through regularly, but fortunately, they never stayed very long. As Daniel and the alternate versions of his friends hid, they discussed possible strategies to prevent Ra from taking the stargate when he left Earth. Daniel felt the familiar anger toward himself rising in his throat as he realised that he didn’t mention the ship’s cloak on the tape. There were a lot of things he should have put on that damned tape.

The stone slab above them moved, causing Jack to jump. Daniel squinted into the light, shielding his eyes from the falling sand and dust.

Katep leaned over the opening. “They are gone.”

They all climbed back up the ladder to the surface. Sam reached up for Daniel’s hand as she got to the top of the ladder. After a brief hesitation, Daniel took her hand and helped her up.

Nodding his thanks to Katep, Daniel noticed that Baraka was clinging to his uncle. He looked like he wanted to leap into Jack’s arms.

“Jack, Teal’c, this is Baraka.” Daniel waved the boy closer. “He— He knew the other Jack and Teal’c.”

Baraka looked up at Daniel with wide brown eyes.

“It’s okay,” Daniel said softly, glancing at Jack and Teal’c. “They don’t remember you. It’s like they never met you. But they’re still them.”

Jack crouched to the ground, smiling. “Hey, kiddo.” Baraka launched himself at him, throwing his arms around his neck. “Whoa!” exclaimed Jack as he placed a hand on the ground to balance himself.

“I have missed you, Jack.” Baraka looked up at Teal’c. “And you as well.” He grabbed their hands and began dragging them out of the tent. “Come!”

Katep glanced between Daniel and Sam before quickly following his nephew. Now alone with Sam, Daniel shifted uneasily on his feet, very aware that another version of his dead wife was standing next to him.

“Daniel?”

With reluctance, he turned to look at her. Her eyes roamed his face and body. She lifted her hand, and it hovered uncertainly near his head. Then, abruptly, she pulled her hand back. Dropping her gaze to the floor, she cleared her throat and clenched her hands into fists at her sides.

“Your hair is different,” she said. Slowly, she raised her head and looked at him. There was pain in her eyes, and Daniel felt his heart ache. “I saw you die,” she said, biting her lip. “I didn’t even do anything. I–I just stood there. Stupid and useless.”

Daniel longed to pull her into his arms, to tell her that everything would be all right, to let her melt the ice that had grown in his chest. He struggled against the urge. “You’re Sam Carter. I couldn’t imagine a reality or timeline in which you are either stupid or useless.”

She wrinkled her nose and shifted her feet in the sand.

“I’m sorry, Sam,” Daniel said. He searched her face, trying to find a trace of the woman he loved.

“I liked him,” she said very quietly, dropping her head. “I didn’t know him very long, but I—” She sighed. “I really liked him. He stood up for me.” Sam looked up at him again, pursing her lips. “No one’s ever done that before. He was really sweet. And he helped keep that creep McKay away from me.”

She was hurting. She missed the other him. Daniel placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, trying to reassure her. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to say anything for fear of showing this Sam how much it was killing him to see her.

She lifted her head, squinting at him from behind her glasses. “You’re not him, are you? You’re...” her voice trailed off as she studied him. “You’re harder. You have sharper edges. You’ve been hurt. A lot.”

Daniel dropped his hand from her shoulder and stared at the ground. He didn’t want to talk about any of this with her. Not right now, anyway. He needed time to adjust to this new Sam.

“What was the other me like?” she asked. “Was she...interesting?”

Daniel walked to the door of the tent and looked outside. “Yes,” he said very quietly.

“What happened to her?”

“A Jaffa shot her. She died.” He struggled to maintain clinical detachment from this stranger with a face from his dreams. And his nightmares.

“Oh.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel saw her move to stand next to him. She seemed nervous, hesitant.

“What happened to you?” she asked softly.

“I died too. Just not enough.”

She laid a gentle hand on his arm, and for a split second, she was his Sam. Daniel felt all of the barriers he had built around himself disintegrate. It took all of his self-control not to grab her and kiss her. He managed to pull away, stepping outside. “It’s all my fault,” he said to no one in particular.

Sam followed him outside. “What is?”

“All of this.” Daniel gestured with his arm at the encampment. “It was my idea to come here. We got stranded, and it was my fault. Everyone died. And it was my fault.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

He glared at her. Who did she think she was? She wasn’t his Sam. She didn’t know anything. What right did she have to show up here, looking and sounding just like his wife? She shrank away from him, and he closed his eyes, shaking his head, trying to regain control of his temper.

When he opened his eyes again, she was staring at him compassionately. “Look. Even if it was your fault, feeling guilty about it won’t fix anything,” she said.

Daniel couldn’t bear to look at her any longer. He turned to face the expanse of sand beyond the encampment. “The other me,” he said finally. “Did he find an inscription on the canopic jar the camera was in?”

“Jar? I–I don’t know. I don’t think so. I don’t even think he was given the jar. They didn’t even give him the tablet to work on. Just pictures of it. I was dying to see the ZPM, but...” She shrugged. “The Air Force people didn’t trust us very much. I really think the only reason we were brought in at all was because we were on the tape.”

Daniel sighed. So much for his brilliant plan. At least now he knew how he had failed. He still had time to fix things. Baraka ran up to them, followed by Teal’c and then Jack.

“You’re fast!” said Jack. He grinned at Katep. “What a great kid.”

Katep bowed his head. “Thank you.”

“So, I guess we need to check on the ship’s cloak.” Jack turned to Sam. “You do know how to fix it if it doesn’t work, right?”

“Um, I don’t know. Maybe.” Her eyes darted from Jack to Daniel and back again. “Yes.”

“Great! Let’s get a move on.”

Daniel watched Sam and Jack head back to the Jumper to test the cloak. He fixed his eyes on the pair as they disappeared over a dune near the edge of the encampment. Once again, he mentally kicked himself for not mentioning the cloak on the tape. He sighed. Yet another failure.

“Daniel Jackson.”

Daniel looked up at the alternate-timeline version of his Jaffa friend.

“I must regretfully inform you of the extent of my involvement in the fate of the other Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c said solemnly. “You did not give in to torture. Apophis ordered me to leave, and I did, despite the fact that I knew he would implant you with a Goa’uld. After the members of your party had escaped, it was I that killed you.”

“Yeah, well. I’ve been by the Goa’uld tortured plenty of times. And as for the implantation and death of the other me...” Daniel shrugged, not particularly caring what had happened to his alternate self. “I know that I would rather die than live as a host. You did him a favour, Teal’c.”

The Jaffa gazed at him steadily. Finally, he closed his eyes and bowed his head.

Daniel turned back to look at the waves of sand. “So, Apophis is still alive, then?”

“Indeed.”

“Figures.”

“I understand that he is not alive in your timeline.”

“Uh, no.”

Teal’c was silent for a moment. “The Tau’ri have indeed become a formidable enemy to the Goa’uld.”

Daniel shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so. After we killed Ra, I think the rest just seemed second nature.”

“Ra is one of the most powerful System Lords. You killed him?”

“Well, not me, exactly.” Daniel thrust his chin in the direction of the sand dune where Sam and Jack had disappeared. “It was mostly Jack. I was just there.”

“Have other false gods fallen at the hands of the Tau’ri?”

Daniel studied him for a moment before deciding that he was genuinely interested. “Uh, yeah. A few. Let’s see, between us and our work with the Tok’ra...” Daniel started counting off on his fingers. “We’ve killed Hathor, Setesh, Sokar, Heru-ur, Osiris, Apophis...” He looked up at Teal’c solemnly. “Cronus.”

Teal’c tensed. “My father was avenged?”

“You killed him yourself.” Daniel decided that wasn’t exactly a lie. And it was certainly easier than explaining that Cronus had been killed by an android duplicate of Teal’c.

“I will do everything in my power to ensure the success of our plan so that your timeline can be restored.”

Daniel nodded. “I know you will, Teal’c. Thanks.”

Katep approached again, joining them.

“Will you show me the battle plans for the rebellion?” Teal’c asked Daniel.

“Sure. I’m not a strategist. I’m sure you could do much better.” With one final glance in the direction Sam and Jack had gone, Daniel turned to enter Katep’s tent. He unrolled the maps and scrolls onto a table.

Teal’c studied them for a moment. “Your strategy is good.”

Daniel didn’t respond. He just stared blankly at the map before him.

“But it does not work well as a distraction of our plan to steal the Chappa’ai.”

That caught Daniel’s attention. He looked up. “Wait a minute, we know this plan works. If we alter it...”

“We may fail,” said Katep.

“With this plan, the uprising succeeds and Ra leaves,” continued Daniel.

“And Ra takes the Chappa’ai. If we are to be successful in keeping Ra from taking the Chappa’ai, we must focus the efforts of the rebellion on distracting him from it.”

Daniel glanced at Katep and turned away, frustrated. Teal’c was right. Everything they had worked on these last four years was for nothing.

“Trust me.”

Daniel looked at Teal’c. After a moment, he nodded. He was being given a second chance. The alternate version of SG-1 was proof of Daniel’s failure, but with them came with the knowledge of how to erase it.

Teal’c again studied the plans before him. “Who designed this strategy?”

Before Daniel could answer, Katep spoke up. “Although Daniel will say that it was me, it was in fact he who devised our plans.”

Teal’c looked at Daniel. “Are you not a scholar like your other self?”

“Yes,” Daniel answered. “I am.”

“These are the plans of a warrior.”

Daniel shrugged. “I’ve studied the works of some of the greatest military minds in Earth’s history. Well,” he sighed. “My Earth’s history, anyway. And I spent eight years learning from the best.”

“To whom do you refer?”

“You,” Daniel said. “Well, you and Jack O’Neill.”

Teal’c was silent for a long moment before bowing his head. “You honour me, Daniel Jackson.”

“But clearly, as you’ve pointed out, the plans are not appropriate for achieving our goal. How do you suggest we change them?”

Daniel, Katep and Teal’c discussed alternate strategies that could both force Ra from the planet and protect the stargate. Then, the radio on the table crackled to life.

“Hey, guys,” came Jack’s voice. “We’ve got a little problem here.”

“Katep!” Daniel shouted as he grabbed his radio and P-90. “Get everyone together.”

“But we are not yet ready!”

Daniel stopped at the door and turned back to Katep. “I won’t let them die again!”

Finally, Katep nodded and hurried out of the tent. Teal’c picked up his staff weapon and followed Daniel across the sand towards where the Jumper was parked.

“Daniel! Teal’c!” came Jack’s voice again.

“We’re almost there!” shouted Daniel into his radio.

He could hear staff blasts nearby. Ducking behind a dune, Daniel and Teal’c peeked over the sand to find more than a dozen Jaffa surrounding the ship. Daniel was relieved that Sam and Jack were nowhere to be seen and that the Jaffa were shooting at the Jumper. He looked over his shoulder, trying to decide how far behind Katep and his army were, and then turned back to the ship.

Daniel knew the staff blasts weren’t powerful enough to damage the ship’s hull, though their energy discharges were probably wreaking havoc on the ship’s electrical systems. Probably creating quite a light show inside the Jumper, too. But Jack and Sam were perfectly safe as long as they were inside.

“Well,” said Daniel. “This doesn’t look good.”

“Indeed.”

“Though it is quite ironic.” He glanced back at Teal’c. “This whole thing started because Sam didn’t want to take the Jumper back from a Jaffa patrol.”

“Daniel Jackson, I will speak to my brothers, tell them that they can live free of oppression by false gods.”

“I don’t think that will work, Teal’c. We’re five thousand years in the past. The Jaffa rebellion is a long ways off right now.”

“I must try.”

Reluctantly, Daniel nodded. If nothing else, the attempt would buy them the time they needed for Katep and their troops to get there. With great purpose, Daniel and Teal’c strode out from behind the sand dune toward the group surrounding the Jumper.

“ Jaffa!” Teal’c shouted. They all stopped firing at the ship and turned to face Teal’c. He raised his arms wide from his body. “Hear me.”

Daniel squinted at the Jaffa, trying to see clearly. One of the Jaffa took several steps closer to them.

“Ra is not a god!” Teal’c continued. “You can live free!”

“A’kek, shol’va!” shouted the Jaffa.

“I don’t think he bought it,” Daniel muttered. Over a nearby dune, he saw a head pop up briefly before it disappeared again. Good. Katep had arrived.

“Relinquish your weapons and surrender.”

“Kel’tek trey! Lo t’nak!”

Daniel nodded. “Yeah, I thought you’d say that.”

“Shal kek!” shouted Teal’c.

At the battle cry, Katep climbed over the dune, armed with a P-90. He shouted and made a broad gesture as hundreds of screaming villagers carrying staff weapons and zat guns appeared at the top of the dunes, completely surrounding the meagre Jaffa forces. Daniel raised his P-90, levelling it at the lead Jaffa.

Quickly admitting defeat, the Jaffa all dropped their weapons and surrendered.

Daniel lowered his weapon and pulled out his radio. “Sam, Jack, it’s all clear. You can come out now.”

“In a minute,” came Jack’s voice through the speaker.

Daniel scowled at the radio in his hands, his mind racing for any explanation for Jack’s response besides his gut reaction. He glanced at Teal’c and did his best to hide his resentment, jealousy and anger. However, he wasn’t entirely certain he was successful.

For a long moment, he stared at the Jumper. Finally making a decision, he walked quickly towards it. Daniel keyed open the door and glowered at the two people looking up at him from their embrace on the floor.

He wanted to scream, he wanted to shout, but he had no right. These people were not the people he knew. She was not his Sam. And despite the similarities, he was not his friend Jack. Clenching his jaw, Daniel took a deep breath and just walked away.

This was his punishment. He deserved this pain for allowing the people he loved to die five thousand years before they were even born. Apparently, having to live without them wasn’t enough.

“Daniel!”

He heard Sam’s voice behind him but didn’t stop walking.

“Daniel, wait! Oof!”

Hearing her grunt of pain, Daniel turned around. Sam was several steps behind him and had fallen in the sand. She looked up at him, her eyes pleading.

He offered her a hand, helping her up. As she brushed the sand off her uniform, Jack trotted toward them. Daniel glanced quickly at him and then back at Sam.

“It’s not what you think,” she said quietly.

Daniel gently cupped her cheek with his hand, the ache in his chest intensifying. “Sam...” he whispered. He gazed at her for a long moment before drawing a shuddering breath. Then, lowering his hand, he turned and walked away from her.

“Hey! You said you lied about being attracted to Daniel!”

Despite himself, Daniel smiled slightly at Jack’s words.

“I thought we were about to die!” came Sam’s indignant reply.

“Well, that’s just great.”

“Maybe the future me does have a boyfriend.”

Daniel looked around at the rebels still shouting in victory from the top of the surrounding dunes. A thousand screaming people might make the perfect distraction so that they could steal the stargate and hide it from Ra.

And they would succeed in that plan. The timeline would be restored. SG-1 would have the ZPM and never have to go back in time in the first place. Everything would be made right. This time, it would work. Daniel would make sure of that.

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