I walked down the hall and up to the control station, smiling as Walter came over from checking some monitors.
"Leaving us, ma'am?" he asked as he sat down on his chair and swiveling toward his controls.
"Yes Sergeant, I am afraid so."
"Well, I hope there are no casualties waiting for you on the Prometheus," he said as he took the paper I had written the coordinates on.
"Me too," I smiled. I walked down into the Gate room and waited for the Gate to start its dialing sequence. I heard it whirl into action as I checked a pocket for my key card badge, but quickly straightened as I saw Marines filtering into the room next to me, their guns drawn. I whirled around as the Gate did the ka-whoosh and the Marines clicked their guns. I grabbed the pistol off the nearest Marine, getting a tight glare for it, and leveled it at the shimmering Gate.
"Unscheduled off-world activation!" Walter's voice rang out. I could have told you that, I thought as the first ripple in the surface appeared and a moment later Daniel, Cam, Sam and Teal'c came through, all quickly leveling their guns at us in return.
"Whoa hoo, what's going on?" Cam asked as he slowly swept the crowd.
"Perhaps you can tell us?" General Landry asked over the intercom.
"Well I thought we were going home after another uneventful battle of wills," Cam said. I groaned: leave it to Cam to make a flippant remark with guns trained on him. "Are you sure you dialed correctly Jackson?"
- - -
It turned out I had to delay my homeward trip again as Landry asked me to help him assess who was who.
"You mean which team is ours?" I asked as we rode the elevator to the VIP rooms.
"Yes. I guess. Look, Dr. Lam said it was pointless to do DNA tests since if these are parallel universe SG's they would be the same as each other. I am almost afraid to ask Carter."
"Which one, Sir?"
"Exactly," he said with a chuckle. "We have the original - err the first SG team who came through - in the VIP rooms and are going to let the second SG team talk to them."
"Surely not each other," I said, in my minds eye seeing how each team member would react to seeing each other.
"Well, we need to see what's going on first. We are trying to keep them apart from... themselves. But I fear it will become impossible soon."
"You know how to tell them apart?"
"No. That is one thing I did not like when Dr. Lee told me about parallel universes."
"Well, just make patches or arm bands for them. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta... and so on."
He nodded, giving it a thought. "I sure hope we don't get more..." he said as he was cut off by Walter's voice and announcement that there was another 'unscheduled activation.'
He sighed and hurried back down to the Gate room. I cautiously opened one of the VIP rooms and was met by two pairs of blue eyes and a silly grin.
"Hey Twinkie," Cam said. He was dressed in black fatigues as Daniel was in green. Before I knew it I was enveloped in a bear hug. "Goodness, you have not changed. You still here on base patching wounds I see."
"Um ya, sort of. I am the CMO on Prometheus actually. The arrival of another..." I cut my eyes toward Daniel. "Team, kind of bumped me off schedule."
"Well I am glad. I want to know all 'bout that new guy who is trying to hire you," Cam said, sitting back in his chair. He leaned it back and studied me. "You didn't dye your hair."
"No, why should I?"
"Oh something about change, new life..." he waved his hand dismissively. I smiled a tight smile and understood why Landry had deemed the coming of a second team confusing. I left to join someone else's conversation.
-- - -
By the time Green Fatigue Carter (Bravo Team) had finished briefing Landry on her and Black Fatigue Carter (Alpha Team) idea of the Beachhead type of wormhole disrupting the normal flow of all the universal travels to the SGC, Landry had a third team (dressed in Blue - Charlie Team) and had suspended all Gate activity. Dr. Lee was eager to work with either Carter.
I was attached to the Bravo Team and was observing Carter to make sure her vitals were stable since there were more then one of them in the same universe. Dr. Lee looked like he could use the cliff notes to what the Carter's were discussing. He looked to me, but I shrugged; I understood what I could but I was more concerned about a patient collapsing.
"Hate to interrupt you all but, Doctor, I think we need you up at the VIP rooms," Landry said as he tentatively came into the room. "Nothing serious, just some more patients."
I left Dr. Lee taking notes, I think, and the Carter's discussing multiple dimensional shifts and point conversions. See? I can follow Carter-speech. Landry once more retreated to his office where I am sure he was fending phone call after phone call and I reached the VIP rooms. I heard Daniel talking and could make out Teal'c standing in the doorway as I approached.
"Very unexpected," Daniel said as Teal'c let me pass into the room with my medical bag. Daniel stepped aside and beamed. "Look who it is!"
I turned and did my own wonderment stare. In flesh and bone, fully whole and alive, stood Dr. Janet Frasier. "Oh wow! Janet!"
"Dr. Bailey DeBarr. You - oh!" She took a step and we hugged each other. As she pulled back I could see she was just as surprise to see me as I was. "Daniel was just telling me that I am dead in his reality." I nodded. "But you see, in my reality it was you who was tending to the soldier and was shot. I was tending to a soldier -"
"Near the Gate," I finished. That was where I was when Janet was killed - in my reality.
"Ya. Cam will be thrilled to see you, he was devastated when we told him, but he has been able to deal with a bit better now that he is part of the SGC too," Janet said.
We chatted lightly as I did a quick post mission check. Daniel and Teal'c (Bravo Team) each swapped stories from what had happened since their Janet had been killed and how things had happened in Janet's reality. In the end the Desert Camo Team (Echo Team) had been checked out and I was surprised - Cam, Daniel, Martouf and Janet were the team. Most of the other teams had my SG-1 team members in it, sometimes having another member other then Teal'c in them.
Bravo Team and Echo Team ate dinner together, inviting me to the meal more for extra conversation then for medical reasons. We chatted well into the morning before each team turned into bed.
- - -
I did not ended up going back to the Prometheus after all. Only the Alpha and Bravo Teams headed off to work the solution. In the end we had 16 Carters working on the problem and Landry agreed that two could have done the job, but with 16 it seemed to get done with lightening speed. With Kvasir, who came in Thor's stead, helped cement the plan. Unfortunately it was a solution that would have each of the SG teams permanently stranded in one reality.
I had breakfast with Janet the morning that Alpha and Bravo teams were going on the mission and she expressed some concern about this solution. I urged her to go tell Landry, hoping it would help her adjust to the thought of being permanently here. She came back to my office and she did not look any happier.
- - -
After mission brief:
Alpha Team was not as friendly as we all thought. They took control of the Prometheus, forcing the Bravo Team into the brig and aimed the ship toward Atlantis. I did tell Daniel that he almost got to see Atlantis after all, which made him laugh until I wiped one of his cuts clean.
Cam was beaming as he retold the double-crossing of the double crossers. "You should have seen us, Bay. We were doubling back and taking them out one by one. Ok it was kind of weird to be hitting myself, but it was a weird situation."
Sam looked over at him and nodded. "I never thought I would actually be able to talk to myself as in actually seeing myself and then having 15 others of me to bounce things off of. Be glad you did not have to keep all of yourselves straight."
"Oh ya, well you try to play basketball against yourself with you on your own team. And to top it off they would all call each other 'Shaft.' Very confusing."
"So who won?" I asked, even so I knew the answer.
He grinned as he hopped off the bed. "I did!"
We sent off the begrudged Alpha Team back without their desired object: Atlantis's ZPM. Before they went through Alpha Cam told Bravo Team Cam - who was my reality's real team - to cut the 'green one', which made Cam look around nervously.
"Do I really want to?" he asked quietly as we watched several other SG teams file past.
"You never know until time comes I suppose."
Finally the Echo Team came up last and Janet and Martouf each said good-bye to Daniel.
"Your presence has been sorely missed on our team," Martouf said to Sam as he backed away.
"Just out of curiosity, where did I go?" Sam asked as Janet came up to her.
With a smile in her voice and in her eyes, she said, "On maternity leave." I saw the Echo SG-1 catch each other's eyes and grin. I thought I saw a slight blush on Daniel's face, but then he turned to face the wormhole.
Janet and I embraced. "I have something for you." I picked up a yellow box and opened the latch, revealing 40 tiny vials of the prior cure.
"Thank you. You a wonderful doctor, and your reality is lucky to have you." Janet handed the box to her Cam and was wrapped in a hug by Teal'c.
"May it not be the last time we meet," he said softly. In his voice I heard the same small sorrow we all felt to see our beloved fallen friends alive and once more among us.
"Well, I would love to stay, but we have a world to save," Janet said as she steadied herself. Giving another smile she walked up the ramp, followed by the Echo Team.
We all felt a bit of sadness and satisfaction wash over us as we watched the wormhole disengage.
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Stronghold