Ouroboros, by Amaranth Traces

-- Chapter Sixteen --

The next week flew by. They had used the ZPM to establish a wormhole to Atlantis and had sent reinforcements to hold off the Wraith invasion of the city. Now, the Daedalus was taking the ZPM to the Pegasus Galaxy to power the city’s defences.

Daniel had been saddened to learn that Jacob had died, and had accompanied Sam, Jack and Teal’c to the funeral. He was worried about Sam, but she insisted that she was fine. She and her father had been given a chance to talk and say goodbye, she said.

The news that she had broken off her engagement with Pete hadn’t been nearly as upsetting to Daniel. In fact, no one appeared particularly bothered by it, least of all Sam. And despite his stoic exterior, Daniel thought Teal’c seemed downright pleased.

Daniel looked over at Sam, who was seated next to him in the back of Jack’s rental car, watching the northern Minnesota landscape pass by her window. He’d had another lengthy conversation with her about the events after he was taken by the Replicators. Daniel believed that she was okay, but there was something about the way she looked at him that was different. Not in a bad way, he didn’t think, but he couldn’t quite identify it.

And then there were the items from ancient Egypt. Daniel couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something...off about the way he and Sam had interacted on the tape. The inscriptions on the canopic jar weren’t entirely legible; five thousand years could do a lot of damage. But what he had been able to translate told that ‘ Egypt is not all history dreams’. The rest had been mostly illegible, except for something that looked like it might read ‘Hold her close. Never let go.’ Daniel had been frustrated by his inability to read the full text.

As he watched Sam gaze out the window, it was too easy to let his imagination run wild. Daniel could almost believe that the message on the jar had been written by his other self. Almost believe that it was about Sam. But that was crazy, wasn’t it?

She turned to him, her eyebrows rising on her forehead. “What is it?” she asked quietly.

Daniel just shook his head, smiling. He glanced to the front seats of the car where Jack and Teal’c were discussing the apparent philosophical similarities between Star Wars and the Simpsons. Turning his attention back to Sam, he hesitated. There it was again. The look was back. It unnerved him to see an expression on her face that he didn’t recognise.

“Put your seat backs and trays in the upright position. We’re coming in for a landing.” Jack pulled the car into a tree-lined laneway. “Welcome to paradise! Please leave all cell phones and weaponry in the car,” he continued in an overly-cheerful flight attendant voice.

Sam pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and frowned at it. “What if there’s an emergency, sir?”

“Let someone else take care of it for a change! We’ve saved the world how many times now?”

“Thirteen,” Teal’c said matter-of-factly.

“That many? Huh. Well, we deserve a break. We’re on vacation. Fate of the world be damned.” Jack paused, then shrugged. “Well, so to speak.” He craned his neck to look at Sam through the rear-view mirror. “Don’t make me make that an order, Carter. I don’t like giving orders when I’m on vacation.”

Sam smiled and put her cell phone in the pocket on the car door. “Yes, sir.”

“Excellent!”

The car pulled up in front of a large cabin, and they all stepped outside. The sun was warm, a slight breeze ensuring the heat stayed at a comfortable level. The air was sweet and clean. Daniel looked around. This was a really beautiful area.

Jack opened the trunk and began setting their gear on the grass next to the car. He stared at the pile of bags, his hands on his hips. “Why do we have five bags? There are only...” He made a show of counting heads, then held up three fingers. “Four of us.”

Teal’c picked up one of the duffels and put it back in the car. “This one can remain in the vehicle for the time being.”

“T?” Jack looked at the Jaffa with his eyebrows raised. “Care to share with the rest of the class?”

“Perhaps at a later time, O’Neill.”

Daniel exchanged a curious glance with Sam.

“I see. Alright, then.” Jack rubbed his hands together. “Daniel, Teal’c, you guys look after the supplies.” He picked up two lawn chairs and two duffel bags then nodded to Sam. “You better not have a computer in here, Carter.”

Instead of answering, Sam just cleared her throat and reached for the other two bags. She looked up at Daniel and gave him an exaggerated wince. He couldn’t help but chuckle. Daniel had packed his laptop too, but he wasn’t about to tell Jack that.

Jack groaned, rolling his eyes. “Come on. Let’s get busy relaxing! That means no computers.”

“I really do find my work relaxing,” Sam said as she followed Jack around the cabin.

“Oh, for crying out loud! Just humour me, will ya? You’ll enjoy fishing. I’ll show you.”

“Fishing, sir?”

Daniel watched his two friends disappear around the corner and then turned to Teal’c. “So, what’s in the bag?”

With a small smile, Teal’c tugged on the drawstring, opening the duffel to reveal several large water guns.

“That’s quite an arsenal,” said Daniel. “You sure you don’t want to bring them in?”

“O’Neill did request that all weaponry remain in the vehicle.”

“He did, didn’t he?” Daniel chuckled. “Well, I have a feeling he’ll change his mind once he sees those.”

“Indeed.”

“So.” Daniel turned his attention back to the trunk of Jack’s car. “Do you think he brought enough beer?” He grabbed the handle of one of the cases and pulled it out of the car.

“I believe O’Neill prefers to cook with Guinness.”

“Cook?” Daniel glanced around the corner of the cabin where Sam and Jack had disappeared. “Jack cooks?”

“With Guinness.”

“Great...”

Together, they brought the coolers and beer into the cabin and began packing everything into the fridge.

“I do not believe there is adequate room for all of these items,” said Teal’c.

“Hmm.” Daniel peeked into the fridge and surveyed the supplies Jack had packed. All of the meat, vegetables, soda, and water, as well as one case of beer filled the shelves. “Well, I think we can live without the second and third cases of beer in the fridge right now. If there’s a Guinness emergency, he can stick them in the freezer for a few minutes. Assuming there’s room in there. And that he prefers them cold.”

Teal’c opened the freezer and looked inside. “There is indeed sufficient space.” He turned to Daniel with one eyebrow raised. “O’Neill has Fudgsicles.”

“Ooh, that’s nice.”

They began filling one of the coolers with a selection of beverages.

“I have been meditating on the existence of the tape that was discovered in the Egyptian tomb,” said Teal’c.

“Yeah. Weird, isn’t it?”

The cooler filled, Teal’c pulled two Fudgsicles out of the freezer and handed one to Daniel. “I am not certain how such a tape could exist.”

Daniel leaned against the kitchen counter, opening his Fudgsicle. “What do you mean?”

“After travelling to the past, we created the recording for our future selves to see.”

Daniel nodded. “Right.”

“However, now that we have seen the tape and determined that the timeline has not been altered by our actions, we will not be making that journey to ancient Egypt.”

“So, if we never travel back in time to make the tape, it’s impossible for us to have seen it in the first place.”

“Indeed.”

Daniel chewed thoughtfully on his Fudgsicle for a moment. “I don’t know, Teal’c. It’s a paradox. From what I understand, time travel is fraught with them.”

“It is curious.”

“That’s a good word for it.”

“Do you believe it is possible that we have had this conversation before?”

“You mean in another timeline?”

Teal’c nodded and pulled another Fudgsicle out of the freezer. He offered it to Daniel.

“No, thanks.”

With a slight shrug, Teal’c tore open the packaging and took a large bite.

“I guess anything’s possible,” said Daniel, considering the implications of Teal’c’s question. “I mean, I suppose it’s even possible that in some timeline, we received the tape and learned that things were drastically different than they were supposed to be. We might have travelled back in time again to fix the past and change the future.”

Teal’c just raised his eyebrow silently.

Daniel chuckled. “Yeah. You’re right. That’s just crazy.”

When Teal’c finished his second frozen treat, they took the cooler outside. Each picking up a lawn chair, they carried the cooler between them, heading around to the back of the cabin. Jack and Sam were already seated in their chairs on the dock.

“Fishing up a storm already,” Daniel said. “In Jack’s fishless pond.”

“Truly, it is a futile exercise.”

“Well, it’s nice they left us with all the heavy lifting.”

They set the cooler down. Teal’c began to set up his chair, and Daniel opened the cooler to pull out two beers, narrowly missing being caught by Jack’s fishing line as he prepared for another cast. Then, Daniel headed down the dock to offer the cold drinks to his friends. He stood behind them a moment, enjoying the scenery and fresh air. Sam cast her line out onto the water.

“Hey, thanks!” said Jack, accepting the beer that Daniel passed him over his shoulder.

Turning to Sam, Daniel offered her the second bottle. She was staring out at the water, a worried frown creasing her brow. “Sam?”

She jumped as if startled. “Oh,” she said, her eyes falling on the beer he held out to her. “Thanks.” She took the bottle and turned back to the water, chewing her bottom lip and half-heartedly reeling in her line.

Daniel looked back and forth between Jack and Sam. “Something wrong?”

“I’m not sure,” Sam said slowly.

“For crying out loud, it’s not a big deal, Carter.”

Daniel turned to Jack. “What isn’t?”

“It could very well be a big deal, sir.”

“What could be?”

“How could— Ha!” Jack began to quickly reel in his fishing line. “Yes!”

Daniel watched, confused, as Jack pulled a fish out of the water.

“Couple more like this and we’ll have supper!” exclaimed Jack. “Look at that!” He held the fish up for them to see. “What a beauty!”

“Wait a minute.” Daniel turned to Sam. “There are fish? What about the tape?”

Sam didn’t respond.

Jack finished putting the fish into the basket that hung in the water off the side of the dock. “Like I told Carter, it’s close enough.”

“Close enough?”

The catching of the fish had brought Teal’c from his lawn chair onto the dock. “I do not understand, O’Neill. When you brought me here four years ago, there were no fish in this pond.”

“Yeah, well, you were so bummed about it, I had it stocked. So the next time I managed to convince you to come fishing, there’d be something to catch. Didn’t figure it’d take this long, though.”

“Then the timeline has been affected by our journey into the past,” said Teal’c.

“Oh, come on! It’s just fish, people! It’s not the end of the world. I know, ‘cause I’ve seen that! We all have.”

“It’s still a change, sir,” said Sam.

Jack rolled his eyes. “All of the major events that Daniel prattled on about on the tape happened. This has to be close enough! Right?”

Sam looked at Daniel. He shrugged. He didn’t know what to think. Teal’c just raised an eyebrow and walked back to his lawn chair.

“Right?” asked Jack again.

“Um, I suppose so, sir,” Sam said finally.

“Good. Now, back to fishing. Daniel, you wanna try?”

“Uh, no, you two have fun. I’m going to go sit with Teal’c.”

Jack shrugged. “Your loss.”

Daniel wandered back up the dock to sit next to Teal’c. Jack’s pond had fish. The tape said it shouldn’t. It wasn’t an Earth-shattering difference – he hoped, anyway. But, as Sam had said, it was still a change. And it made Daniel wonder what else might be different in this timeline.

“It would appear that all is not as it should be,” said Teal’c.

“Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing.” Daniel stared out at the two people on the dock.

Jack said something that Daniel couldn’t hear. Sam shook her head, looking out at the water. After Jack nudged her shoulder, she turned to him. He said something else, and the two stared at each other for a long moment. Finally, Sam smiled and nodded slightly. Jack grinned and cast his line back out onto the pond.

Daniel released a heavy sigh. He pulled a bottle of Heineken out of the cooler and popped off the cap. Rolling the cold liquid around in his mouth, he watched as Sam reeled her line back in.

“The information we left ourselves on the tape was in no way comprehensive.”

Pulled from his thoughts, Daniel turned to Teal’c. “What?”

“It was impossible for us to leave details about every event that shaped our galaxy on the tape. Your other self was not even able to finish explaining the purpose of the ZPM before the battery expired.”

“Good thing we already know what it does, I guess.” Daniel looked again at Sam. The sunlight made her hair sparkle. She turned to Jack, laughing. Daniel scowled at his beer bottle and set it on the ground.

“As O’Neill indicated, the major events of history appear to have transpired as they were intended. Though perhaps, as the presence of O’Neill’s fish would seem to indicate, some of the more minor events may have been altered.”

Daniel dragged his gaze away from Sam and Jack to look at Teal’c. “Yeah. Well, I guess if they’re minor events, it’s not a big deal.” He stood up and stared at the cabin. “I’m gonna go inside, I think.”

“Daniel Jackson.”

He stopped, halfway to the cabin, and turned back to Teal’c.

His Jaffa friend looked at him gravely. “Perhaps it is our responsibility to ensure that the minor events that have been changed do indeed come to pass.”

“You mean you think we should get rid of all of the fish from Jack’s pond?”

Teal’c raised an eyebrow and looked out at the water. “Perhaps some events are more minor than others.”

Daniel frowned. Teal’c was being more cryptic than usual. But it was clear that he wasn’t going to say anything more on the subject. With a final glance at the pond and the two people fishing off the dock, Daniel headed back toward the cabin, lost in thought.

--

“Well, I’m out.” Jack leaned back in his chair and took a swig of beer. “Guess we know which of the four of us has the best poker face.” He peered inside his bottle before setting it down on the table.

Teal’c calmly assembled all of his chips into neat piles. “Indeed.”

“Carter, why don’t you take the second bedroom.”

Sam smiled. “Thank you, sir.”

“I’m afraid my sofa’s not very comfortable,” said Jack.

“I’ll take the sofa.”

Jack turned to Daniel. “You sure? It’s not bad for sitting, but it is a little lumpy for sleeping.”

“I’ve slept on far worse, Jack.”

“True enough. Alright, T, I guess that leaves you and me bunking in the master bedroom.”

“Then it is most fortunate that I brought these.” Teal’c pulled a pair of ear plugs out of his bag.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“You snore quite loudly, O’Neill.”

“I do not!”

“Indeed. You cause vibrations in the windows.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “That’s ‘you’re a window-rattler’, Teal’c. And I do not!”

Daniel chuckled as his two friends disappeared into the next room. Sam gathered up the last of the empty beer bottles and set them on the counter next to the sink. Finding her duffel bag still next to the door, Daniel picked it up and handed it to her.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Sweet dreams, Sam.”

She looked up at him. And there was that look again. He studied her, trying to guess what she was thinking. Abruptly, she closed her eyes and dropped her gaze to the floor. When she looked up again, the expression was gone.

“Good night, Daniel.”

“Good night.” He watched her go into the bedroom, closing the door behind her, and sighed.

Something was definitely bothering Sam. She usually talked to him about whatever was on her mind. He didn’t know what was different this time, but she didn’t seem to want to discuss it with him. Or maybe she did but didn’t know how to begin.

Daniel changed into the sleeveless tank and loose cotton pants that he slept in. For the life of him, he couldn’t imagine what Sam would be afraid to talk to him about. With another sigh, he settled in for the night. Maybe he’d try to talk to her about it in the morning.

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