Both Jack and Annika had frozen on the spot at the command. Both cursing that they hadn’t thought to move away from the exposed foyer to discuss their options in a more secure area.

"Put your hands in the air and turn around!"

Jack’s natural instinct of sarcastic humor kicked in. "Well, which is it?" he called over his shoulder. "Freeze or turn around?"

"Yeah," Annika piped up, though her heart was still pounding. "It can’t be both." She caught Jack’s frown, understood it for what it was. There was something wrong with the person’s voice, it was unnaturally deep, and vaguely familiar.

A new person responded. "You are under arrest for the most pathetic temporal explanation in any timeline."

Psychic and colonel blinked at each other. That sounded awfully like Sam with a head cold. They spun around to see Daniel, Sam and Teal’c leaning casually against the information counter with huge grins on their faces.

Annika gave an excited squeal, bounded across the marble floor and leapt into Daniel’s arms. "You’re okay! How’d you get here? When did you get here?" She pulled back and thumped him on the shoulder. "And that was just mean!"

Jack had followed, just a smidgen more sedately, looking totally confused as he hugged Sam to him. "How?" was all he managed to ask.

Daniel started to answer but was sidetracked by Annika capturing his face between her hands and giving him a long, delicious kiss.

Teal’c took over the explanation. "The quantum mirror on Ba’al’s ship was damaged, however, Major Carter recalled that when Daniel Jackson first activated the attachment, it depicted the devastated scene of the New York Museum of Art, surmising that the mirror connects to the closest alternate mirror in the vicinity of the current time. We procured a teltak from the hanger bay, proceeded to New York, executed an incursion on a currency institution and used the mirror to arrive thirty minutes ahead of you in this time."

"Sweet," Jack had turned to the Jaffa to listen to the explanation, though he kept one arm draped over Sam’s shoulder. "Whoa, back up. Incursion on a currency institution? You robbed a bank?"

Daniel and Sam shifted guiltily. "Um, yeah."

"May I ask where this streak of larceny came from?" He pointedly looked at Daniel who was supposed to be the moral compass of the team.

"Well," Daniel cleared his throat, trying to ignore the stunned expression on his wife’s face. "Once we finish here, we’re going to Washington and back, and then to Colorado and back…and we couldn’t exactly fit the teltak in our pockets for the free ride."

"We have to be as unobtrusive as possible," Sam added. "Otherwise we risk making the timeline worse…we don’t have a young General Hammond we can borrow the money from this time."

"And the event will cease to exist once we rectify the time line," Teal’c added.

"Oh, okay," Jack shrugged. "But we’re leaving that out of the official report."

"Already thought of that," Sam grinned.

Annika sensed through their bond how guilty Daniel felt about the act, no matter how necessary it might have been. Not only because it went against every moral code of his being, but a worry that she’d think less of him. She hugged him tight. "It’s kinda sexy to be married to an outlaw." She felt a tickle beneath her heart, his thanks for alleviating his guilt.

"We also acquired nondescript clothing to assist us blending in among the citizens." Teal’c held up a single gym bag that was packed full.

"Right, campers," Jack brought them back to the matter at hand. "Have you managed to figure out where the cleaner meets his untimely fate?"

"We think so," Sam nodded, leading the way. "We did a bit of snooping around while we were waiting for you…"

A few minutes later they were spread out between the staff locker room, lunchroom and supervisor’s office, for they deduced that it was in this area that the Jaffa had killed the cleaner. Sam had studied the clock in cards and daily log books, searching for a hint of the cleaner’s, as well as the others staff’s routine. According to the holes punched in the time cards, Bob Jones was in the habit of arriving a half an hour early for his shifts, at least fifteen minutes before the other cleaners. The night watchmen, the only other people who were in the building hours before opening, did their rounds every two hours and took one hour. Luckily for SG-1 they patrolled from the top down, otherwise when Daniel, Sam and Teal’c had stepped through the mirror they could well have run into them. By their estimates they had a solid thirty minutes before arriving back to the lower levels. Which meant that the men Ba’al sent only had a very small window of opportunity when Bob would be alone, between when the night watchmen completed their rounds and when the rest of the cleaning crew arrived.

They had found no trace of any Jaffa, so they had no idea if they would be dealing with a single warrior or more, though given the ‘tasks’ they had to do, it was unlikely that anymore than three per event had been assigned. However Daniel had worked out that the Jaffa had been on Earth for a week. He had experimented with the dates of the mirror attachment. He’d jumped back progressively by day, staying only a couple of seconds in each. For the last three days the mirror had shown the museum foyer where it now stood. Four to seven days ago it had been in a storage room with some artifacts that weren’t currently being used for display. On the eighth day he’d taken one glance at the golden glyphs and had shut the portal down, recognizing them as the wall of a teltak ship. Absently he had wondered where this mirror had originated, then dismissed it as unimportant.

It wasn’t long before they heard the sound of a key in the door unlocking. Instantly alert, the team watched a man approximately the size of Teal’c walk in, whistling a nonsensical tune. When he clocked in using the card of the early bird cleaner, it confirmed that he was the man they’d been waiting for.

Oblivious to the five pairs of eyes that were watching him, he headed for the locker room, they assumed to change into his uniform. Sam and Teal’c let him pass, then slipped into the room with him. Jack managed to duck inside as well while the flapping door was swinging back and forth on its hinges. Daniel and Annika, the pair furthest away, kept watch outside, alternating between peeking into the round glass portal of the door and scanning the corridor.

Bob the cleaner, however, rather than stop at any of the lockers lined up against the wall, proceeded across the room to the bathroom. Still whistling he pulled out a folded newspaper from his back pocket and entered one of the stalls.

Jack, Sam and Teal’c exchanged glances that were a mix of uneasiness at ‘spying’ on a man sitting on the toilet, and irony. Sometimes saving the world wasn’t the big adventure one would expect it to be. Quite often, pardon the pun, it was crap. This was another detail they would be skimming over in the report.

They busied themselves keeping an eye on the other stalls, the window along the outside wall and the air vents in case anyone had somehow sneaked by them. Due to the cleaner’s whistling they almost missed the scrape of a ceiling tile being slowly shifted aside directly above the stall of the unaware cleaner.

Peachy. They’d been hoping to ambush the Jaffa, before he/they got anywhere near the cleaner. How were they supposed to get the man out of there without alerting him to either their or the Jaffa intent on killing him, presence? Inspiration struck. In a loud voice Jack called out, "Hey, Bob, you in there?"

There was a rustle of newspaper from within the stall. "Yeah."

"Ya’ wife’s on the phone." Jack motioned to Teal’c and Sam to take positions in the cubicles on either side. The pair silently moved, training zats’ on the partly opened panel above that had stopped moving at the sound of Jack’s voice.

"Can you tell her I’ll call her back?"

The colonel rolled his eyes. Did the man not get this was a life or death situation? Wracked his mind to recall something of the limited knowledge they had gleaned from the short newspaper article that could help. "She sounds upset, something about your kid."

"Oh great, what’s he done now?" the man grumbled. "Just give me a second."

"Sure thing. I gotta get back to the rounds. She’s on the Super’s phone." He glanced at the locker room entrance. Saw Daniel, who’d overheard the whole thing, give a nod then move away from view. Listened to the cleaner’s now hurried movements and the toilet flush before he dashed out into the corridor.

Daniel had raced down to the office and placed the phone receiver onto the table making it look like someone was on the line. He ducked back out just as the cleaner jogged towards him. As soon as he’d entered the office, Daniel pulled the door shut, locking it from the outside. Ignoring the man’s startled protest at finding himself tricked and trapped, the archaeologist ran back to the locker room.

Annika was peering through the door window, but she made room beside her for him to see what was going on inside. They could see Teal’c and Sam from the torso up, them having stood on the toilets. Jack was slightly off to one side. All three had a zat’ pointed at the man who was now lowering himself from inside the ceiling. It would have been easy for any one of them to fire at him right then and then, however they didn’t, needing to know if the man was working alone, or if there were others behind him

The Jaffa, dressed in normal clothes so as to blend in, had his back to them. It wasn’t until, he slid the tile back in place and leapt lightly from the cistern that any of them saw his face.

The shock of who it was shattered Annika’s concentration maintaining the Nox weave. "Oh, Gods, no!" She burst into the room, Daniel hot on her heels, as all of SG-1 shimmered into view.

The Jaffa was as shocked by her sudden outburst in the silent room as he was to be suddenly surrounded. Took less than a second for the shock to be replaced by recognition of who had cornered him and an instant scorn of hate. His hand reached for a knife he had hidden beneath his shirt.

Daniel was the one who fired his zat’, for his reflexes weren’t momentarily frozen by surprise. He’d suspected it would come this when he’d heard the man’s dying words on Ba’al’s ship, he just hadn’t known at which point of time he would appear. It was with mixed emotions that he watched the electric pulse incapacitate the warrior. This Jaffa had saved his parents in this time, had sacrificed himself to protect his wife in another. It was just so damned cruel that they had to kill him now. He prepared to squeeze off the second shot when Annika dashed into his line of fire.

"Wait!" She pleaded of her teammates, kneeling by the stunned man’s side. Tarn’el’s cryptic words now made horrible sense, as did her vision of his back-to-front loyalty. Gently she brushed his cheek, causing his glazed eyes to lock on her. "Tarn’el?"

His hatred was briefly clouded by confusion of how she knew his name. "My Lord will prevail. You will die by his hand."

She ignored his brainwashed words. "You’re wrong, my friend."

"I’m no friend of yours, Tau’ri witch," he spat.

"Perhaps in another time we were," she said softly. "I’m sorry it has to be this way." Tears blurring her vision she fired her zat’. "May the true Gods carry your soul to peace." She pressed the trigger for the last time and the warrior’s body disintegrated.

The others gave her a moment to compose herself then she felt Daniel’s hand on her shoulder.

"My Angel, we have to move from here, the guards and other cleaners will be arriving soon."

With a sigh she got to her feet, her gaze never leaving the now bare spot where the Jaffa’s body had been. "He knew. He knew we would have to kill him, and yet he helped us escape."

"He was a warrior with true honor," Teal’c said solemnly. "And we will remember him as such."

Annika gave him a grateful smile, accepting the comforting arm of her husband around her shoulders. A vindictive gleam touched her eyes. "Oh, I am so glad that I was able to kill Ba’al at least once today, even if it wasn’t our Ba’al."

"Me too," Sam nodded, the same glint of satisfaction in her sapphire depths. The sentiment was mirrored by everyone. "Very therapeutic."

"Who knows, we may get the chance to bump him off a few more times before the day is done." Daniel was all too eager at the prospect.

"Here’s hoping," Jack agreed. "Okay, let’s find a place to hole up."

A  A  A

Daniel remembered a storage room that he’d explored in the days his parents had been setting up the exhibit, and the team spent the hours until the museum opened hidden inside. They took the opportunity to change into the civvies of jeans, t-shirts and sweatshirts, then took turns keeping watch, Jack ordering them to get some sleep. An order that none of them were able to follow, the knowledge of what they had yet to do looming in their minds, anxiety growing with each passing minute.

Annika had long since given up even the pretense of sleep, as had Daniel. They simply lay spooned together, trying to give what comfort and support they could.

"I wish we didn’t have to do this," she whispered. She could feel her husband’s emotions becoming more and more distressed and felt helpless to ease his pain. "We could already be well on the way to the second time by now…"

"We have to stay to make sure no more Jaffa have been sent. And we won’t be sure of that until it’s…over." Daniel’s dread of what was to come was mixed with guilt, for he was glad that ‘his’ portion of the mission would be over and done with. Sam and Jack would have at least another day of this gut wrenching dread gnawing away at them.

Sam automatically converted the scientific theory into Jack terminology. "Because we destroyed the temporal box."

"Right."

The blank look he gave told her that he still didn’t understand. His next question confirmed it.

"But even though we destroyed the contents, won’t he remember what was in it?"

"Okay, the second we change the first event back to how it was, everything that happened after that date reverts back, including memories. In 1997 Ba’al won’t remember reading the data crystals, and because we destroyed the box he won’t have any way of getting that information again." Sam looked expectantly waiting for either a nod of understanding or another blank look.

"Got it." Jack was pretty sure that he did anyway. He took a look at his watch. "Well, let’s get this ball rolling."

It was a subdued group that, once again hidden by the Nox invisibility cloak, crept out of the storage room. Being careful not to bump into any of the people who were filling the corridors they made their way across the foyer to the cordoned off room at the back. They spread out across the room, keeping their eyes open for any sign of any extra Jaffa.

It was a surreal experience that Daniel could well have done without, to be in that room again. He had thought that his experience with the Gamekeeper had desensitized him somewhat, but now, standing here, seeing his parents, seeing himself as a child, he realized how wrong he’d been. He absently supposed that was because this time he knew it was real, that it wasn’t an advanced mind trick that would reset. A glance at his watch told him there was less than five minutes to go. The others had tried to talk him out of being here when it happened. Some instinct told him that he had to be in the room no matter how hard it would be. He had tried to explain the compulsion, and he could tell from the concerned looks he was receiving that he hadn’t been successful.

The clock ticking down, he focused on anywhere except on his parents, couldn’t stand to watch how oblivious they were that in a few short minutes they would be dead. Looking at himself as a child was equally hard. Found himself backing up against the wall as far from them as possible to stop the urge to call out to them, to warn them. Felt a soothing caress beneath his heart and looked up to see Annika watching him, her eyes full of worry for him. He gave her a weak smile. Then frowned in puzzlement tinged with hurt. Why was she all the way over the other side of the room? Didn’t she know that he needed her by him to help him get through this?

She started determinedly to stride over to him when the sickening sound of stone crashing down reverberated through the room followed by screams of the surrounding people. She spun back around, but her sight never made it to the devastation of the collapsed exhibit. Instead she found herself looking at the cute little boy that Daniel had been, his face a mask of total horror. She froze on the spot when the child backed up towards her, oblivious to her presence. His gaze locked on the bloody face of his dad, head twisted at an impossible angle, lifeless eyes staring at him. All that was visible of his mom was her arm sticking out awkwardly from beneath the stone slab. The wall abruptly stopped his escape from the horrendous scene, the jarring motion causing the tears that had welled in his eyes to spill over.

Not two feet from him, Annika could clearly see the fight going on within him. The shock and disbelief, the heart wrenching need for the last few seconds to have been a nightmare, to not have to acknowledge that the mangled bodies under the rock were his parents. Trying to be brave and strong just like his dad taught him. She hardly dared to breath, scared that he would hear her. They couldn’t step in and alter the true timeline, no matter how much she wanted to hug the heart broken boy who would grow into her husband. She darted a panicked look at the others who were looking just as torn as she was. Her eyes flicked back to Daniel. His expression was different. It was still tortured by having witnessed his parents’ death again but there was bewildered recognition as well.

Without giving the others a chance to object, Annika released herself from the Nox weave that kept them hidden from sight and reached out a hand to the child Daniel.

Sam was ready to sprint across the room to stop her, even though she knew she’d be too late to stop the redhead. They couldn’t change the timeline again, who knew what the consequences would be? As hard as it was to just stand back, if Daniel had gone through the trauma alone all those years ago, then he had to do so again this time. Daniel’s hand closed over her wrist. She started to shake herself free, but the look on his face stopped her.

"I remember this." His voice was barely audible. "A woman appeared from no where, later on I thought I just hadn’t seen her walk up…" His throat closed up as he watched his young self skitter away to the corner, resisting the hand of comfort, swiping at the treacherous tears that continued to leak out. His thoughts from that moment resounded in his head. Can’t cry, ‘cause boys don’t cry…and even if they did, if I cry now, then it makes it real…it isn’t Mom and Dad under there…it’s the workers or the museum crew or their assistants. Yes! That’s it! It’s their assistants…they look alike, ’specially with all the dust and blood…

Annika saw his little chin wobble, and she crouched down to his level.

The sob that tore from the boy’s throat was heard over the noise of the people still attempting to unbury the two archaeologists in the vain hope that they were still alive. Annika wrapped him in her arms and he clung to her like a lifeline. Over his sandy head she looked to where her she knew husband to be though she could not physically see him.

Through the pain tearing at him there was a disbelieving awe that this moment had already happened. That in his grief he’d blocked it from his memory. Some of the heartache that had scarred his soul ebbed. Watching the scene unfold, he remembered snippets of the words that had been so soothingly, and in hindsight, lovingly, whispered to him. Realized he’d been carrying them in his mind to this day.

"They will be with you forever, alive in your heart."

From her position Sam could see Annika’s lips moving, beside her Daniel lip-syncing in a hushed tone.

Daniel had heard variations of that platitude in the days and weeks to come from the friends and colleagues of his parents, but every time it was spoken, his ears had heard the voice of the mystery woman who had first consoled him so tenderly. He jumped when he felt Jack’s hand on his shoulder.

"Danny, do you remember how long…?"

Numbly he nodded. "Only a few minutes. Mom’s aide took me away while they cleared the…rubble…she looked after me until the funeral, social services after that."

Even as he spoke the order of events, a dark haired woman walked a little unsteadily across the room. In shock, it seemed a miniscule thing that her friend and boss’s son was being comforted by a total stranger. Later on, once the chaos of the day had drawn to a close, she would wonder about the redhead. The way the woman murmured and held the distraught boy gave the impression that she wasn’t just a good Samaritan; that she knew the Jacksons, for the pain in her unusually colored eyes was more than a casual observer.

Annika tried to hand Daniel over to the woman, but he clung to her, refusing to let her go. With her heart wrenching she pried him lose. "Daniel, I have to leave now…"

"No, stay!" he cried, throwing his arms back around her.

"I’m sorry, I can’t." Her neck was still tingling, but for the life of her she didn’t know what else to do. Then words tumbled from her lips unbidden. "A long time from now, you’re going to have an idea," she spoke softly so only he could hear. "Something so fantastical that no one will believe you. Believe in yourself. Believe what your heart tells you is true, because it’s so much more than you can ever imagine."

The boy had stilled at her words, his sobs turning into loud sniffs.

She pulled away, and saw his grief stricken blue depths had a touch of curiousness in them. She couldn’t stop herself from gently wiping away tears that had spilled down his cheeks. "Goodbye." She turned away and hurried for the exit.

"Wait! Please!"

Annika heard his footfalls as he chased after her. As soon as she turned the corner she wove the Nox trick once more, pressing herself against the wall to keep out of his way.

Arms embraced Annika from behind. She twisted around hugging her husband as tightly as he hugged her. Words weren’t necessary, the emotions that they couldn’t name even if they had been able to sort them all out, expressed in their touch.

After a long moment, Daniel pulled back a little, resting his forehead to hers. "I’ve waited thirty years to say this, though I didn’t know it," he said hoarsely. "Thank you for being there."

"You’re welcome," she replied thickly.

"Did you know…?"

She shook her head. "No. I reacted on instinct."

There was a clearing of a throat beside them.

"I hate to break this up," Jack began, "but we should get moving."

Reluctantly they drew apart. The team picked their way through the people to the mirror that was on display as a ‘decorative piece, origin unknown, anonymous benefactor’. With everyone’s attention diverted on the tragic disaster down the way, no one noticed the brief reflection flicker when Daniel activated the ancient device and the attachment, nor the five ripples in the glass as they stepped through.

A  A  A

"That was…unexpected." Despite his determination to remain aloof from the situation, he was as enthralled as his sister by what he was witnessing. The mirror on Earth had by fluke been positioned so they had been able to see down the length of the foyer into the room beyond. They’d been silent observers of the most traumatic event in Daniel Jackson’s life.

"It is the nature of the Goa’uld."

"What they have to do, no person should have to do."

"And yet they are willing to do it." He gestured to the view screens. "They are doing it." His hand followed through to point to the console that monitored temporal changes. The glowing beacon had changed the moment Daniel’s parents had been crushed. It was no longer the angry red, rather it was a dark orange; still not ideal but it was a start down the right direction.

"And why did we not do it? We could have stopped this. As easily as I retrieved the packs, I could have retrieved the device days, months, even years ago."

"It is not our way. We do not interfere."

Her eyebrow arched sardonically. "Then what have we been doing all these months?"

"What we have done is guide and educate, giving them the tools and knowledge so that when faced with this…circumstance, they were able to solve it on their own."

She gave a slow nod, however he knew his sister, there was something from their previous conversation that was troubling her. "You are concerned about her reaction more than the others."

There was no need to identify who he referred to. Another nod. "We should have told her. It’s unfair to ask her to make such a decision when her emotions will be so fraught. It was callous of us to…" she cut off. "We gave her this ‘extra limb’, let her grow accustomed to using it and then we’re going to chop it off."

"It will be her decision to make," he reminded. "The way it was done was necessary. To have it suddenly manifest without her knowing how to control it would have been detrimental for everyone." He saw that his logic, which was in truth the logic of the entire Council, was reluctantly accepted. Also saw it did not lessen her concern. "You care for her very much."

"She’s family, Anteaus, how can I not care? She trusted us... Trusted me. They all trusted us. How can we expect them to not see this as the most horrendous betrayal?"

"You acted with the full supported of the Council."

"And you think that they will care about that?" Lya asked softly.

"Time will tell."

A  A  A

Once they were all safely through, Teal’c carefully tugged on the hook of the attachment that protruded through the portal. The attachment clicked free. As they had discovered on their earlier trip, there was a two second delay before the mirror disconnected so that they could bring the control with them. Jack signaled for them to move to the revolving doors of the main exit. Once outside, they ducked into a side alley and Annika released her hold on the Nox weave, then they casually strolled out into the open. They headed for the nearest transit terminal.

Jack had been keeping a watchful eye on Daniel, looking for signs of how he was dealing with having just seen his parents die again. Saw the grief that his friend wasn’t even trying to hide, but also saw an odd peace reflected behind his glasses. He put that down to the whole business of Casper’s instinctive improvisation act. Now that was a weird concept guaranteed to mess with your head. Having your adult wife, who technically hadn’t been born yet, console you when you were a child. Yep, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, this was the most screwed up mission we have ever been on. Or maybe that look of peace was simply because Daniel’s ‘chapter’ in this mission was over and done with. He found himself hoping that was the reason, because it gave him something to cling to for when his turn came. And nope, not gonna’ go there just yet… He snuck a peek at Sam. Didn’t need a psychic connection to see her anxiety was growing with every chug of the train. Noticed the frown creasing her brow change. Uh oh, not a good sign. He draped an arm around her shoulder. "Carter, what’s up?"

"I was just thinking." She automatically leaned into his embrace though she was far from relaxed.

"There’s a shocker," he teased. "What about?"

"How easily we found the correct portal opening from 2004 to 1973. Not the time but the place."

"Easy is a good thing." Jack didn’t see what the problem was. Everything else about the last day had been hard, a touch if easy was welcomed with open arms.

"But highly improbable," she sighed. "When we activated the mirror, it opened to a room that clearly was off-world. When Daniel entered the year, it should have kept that connection and changed to wherever that mirror was in 1973, but it jumped straight to the one at the museum."

The conversation had brought Daniel out of his own reverie. "That is odd." At the time there had been a glider dogfight going on above their heads and he hadn’t given it a thought. With his previous experiences with the mirror they’d had to search at least a half a dozen parallel universes before finding the one they needed.

"Does it really matter?" Jack asked both of them.

"Not really," Sam shrugged. "It’s just a puzzle."

"Let’s just put it down to Lady Luck," the colonel decided. The discussion, while not really shedding any light, had made the tension ease up a little, it had taken their minds off the waiting game they were playing. That is, Jack noted, except for their resident psychic who was deep in thought staring out the window. He took note that Daniel didn’t seem worried about his wife’s demeanor, so it couldn’t be too serious. Still, it never hurt to double check. "Casper?"

Her head jerked, looking a little sheepish. "Oh, it’s nothing."

"‘Nothing’ nothing? Or ‘it could be vitally important down the track’ nothing?"

"‘Nothing’ nothing," she assured though that thoughtful look remained.

"Casper, spill."

"Well, since we’re voicing things that don’t add up…it’s the visions from the cave of you and Charlie."

"What about them?" He stole another glance at Daniel. The archaeologist was looking curiously down at her waiting for her to continue. Obviously he hadn’t found anything odd about the visions he’d shared.

"Your cabin," she started hesitantly. "It looked different. Not just redecorated over the years different, but the layout."

Jack blinked at her in disbelief. "That’s what’s bugging you?"

Slim shoulders lifted up and down in a self-conscious shrug. "I told you it was nothing."

The colonel heaved a sigh of relief. If that was the worst that was troubling her, then things must be looking up. "Well, that’s an easy one to answer. I’ve got two cabins. One in Minnesota, I inherited from my Pappy. The one in Colorado Springs, Sara and I bought when I was transferred so we’d have a weekender that wasn’t a twelve hour drive away."

Annika gave him a thankful smile. "Oh, well, that explains it."

Jack eyed the others of his team. "Any other nagging thoughts I can answer for anyone?"

"Nope, I’m good," Daniel grinned, ignoring the slightly acerbic tone of his friend.

"Actually yes, O’Neill," Teal’c spoke up. "It has troubled me for some time."

"All of my wisdom is at your disposal," he wisecracked.

"When we are in need of improvising technology in an emergency situation…"

"Uh huh."

"Who is this ‘MacGyver’ you make reference to?"

Jack’s eyes narrowed on his teammate. Was Teal’c choosing now to work on his sense of humor? He tuned out the snorts of laughter from the pair across from him and that Sam was doing her best to keep a straight face. "How is that related to anything at the moment?"

Teal’c was an expert at controlling his facial expression, however it was difficult not to smile at O’Neill’s exasperation. "You did not specify that my 'nagging thought’ had to be related to our current situation."

The big guy had to be messing with him, Jack was sure of it. "MacGyver is a goody-two-shoes who can build an engine out of a stick of gum, a rubber band and a paperclip."

The Jaffa contemplated that response. "How did he accomplish such an impossible task?"

"Because he’s MacGyver. It’s what he does," Jack replied, then gave his friend the real explanation. "He’s a TV character."

Teal’c gave a nod of understanding.

A wistful smile touched Sam’s lips. "He’d come in handy right now. He could whip us up a supersonic engine that could zap us instantly to Washington and we could get this over and done with." She rubbed a weary hand across her forehead to relieve the tension headache that had steadily been forming. "This delay is driving me nuts."

They all shared the major’s frustration. They had grown accustomed to the almost instantaneous travel of the Stargate, hyper light speed and beaming technology. This conventional mode of transport was a snail’s pace by comparison.

Annika didn’t miss Sam’s worried glance at Jack. While the train ride was slow, going to Washington would only take three hours. It was the next trip from the mirror that had her really concerned. It would be at least twenty-eight hours travel time from New York to Colorado Springs, which meant twenty-eight hours Jack had to brood about Charlie, rehashing the guilt his son’s death had caused. "I think I’d prefer Thor’s beaming technology." She tried to keep the situation light. "Supersonic speed would play havoc with my hair." The last was a bit muffled as she tried to stifle a yawn, her body suddenly reminding her that it had been well over forty hours since she’d slept.

The redhead’s yawn started a chain reaction in the others. The need for sleep overriding the anxiety they were still feeling.

"Well, that’s one way to pass the time." Daniel shifted his position slightly so that Annika could snuggle against him. For a moment he considered suggesting pulling out the beds that were folded into the compartment walls. The lethargy of his limbs vetoed the idea.

A few seconds later, the exhausted team had fallen into a deep sleep.

A  A  A

"Lya, what are you doing?" Anteaus demanded. In the time he’d been away giving a progress report to the Council, his sister had retrieved the ‘Bowl of Sight’ from their thatched home and scried for the specific location of SG-1.

"The mirrors only show the view of the rooms in which they stand," she replied, pretending to concentrate on maintaining the image of the sleeping team. Really she was just avoiding her brother’s stern gaze. "I’m sure that the Council would appreciate more information at this critical stage."

A muted rumble echoed up from within the bowl, followed by Sam’s slurred, "Jack, you’re snoring."

Anteaus peered at the scene the bowl was depicting and raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Yes, them sleeping is of vital importance."

"They rest now, but it will be a short respite," she defended herself. Her doe eyes never left the redheaded psychic. The conversation she’d overheard had given her an idea. Her guilt at what her people had done convinced her that it was a good one. All she had to do was make sure Anteaus didn’t guess what she was up to until it was too late.

Maybe it was the influence of the people she was now watching, whom she had spent so much time with over the last few months, ‘guiding’ them to this point. Perhaps it was a long dormant gene that had reawakened as it had in Annika, for the Nox had not always been the placid peacekeepers they were now. Either way, Lya could no longer stand back and be an ‘impartial’ observer. And if she did it right, SG-1 wouldn’t really question this particular development, for Annika’s ‘latent’ abilities had all developed on a need basis, this would be no different from those times. Very gently she entered the dream of the woman she had grown to love as a sister. This also wasn’t a ‘new’ development. It had in fact been one of the only abilities they had not enhanced, Annika having developed dream walking subconsciously before ever meeting anyone connected to the Stargate. Manipulating the dream, however, was something Lya had never had the cause or the inclination to do before now. The only problem the Nox had was how to prompt Annika into believing the dream instructions were available to her in the waking world. The colonel provided the perfect ruse by giving an extra loud snore, partly rousing all in the carriage.

Quickly but gently she manipulated Annika’s hand into a graceful wave. Lya’s own hand mimicked the motion. A second later the colonel disappeared from the cramped quarters.

Anteaus gave a start at the vanishing act, his head snapping up to his sister, catching the follow through of her hand movement. "Lya! What are you doing?"

"Some would call it guiding." She threw his earlier comment back at him.

"That’s not guiding. It’s blatant interference. Annika does not have the capability of translocation and she never would have even with us enhancing her natural abilities."

"She does not know that…not yet. And if I can make what they have to do easier for them, then I will."

"I knew having you as the primary emissary was a bad idea. You have become too emotionally involved, too passionate, too…too…"

"Too much like the Tau’ri?"

"Yes! Next thing you’ll be taking up arms to fight the Goa’uld."

"I have broken no more of our laws than previous. I have not lifted a finger to harm another."

"You cannot do it again," he insisted.

"It is too late." Lya nodded at the bowl that showed the team now very much awake. "They are already drawing conclusions of what happened."

A  A  A

Sam was jarred out of her slumber when Jack’s warm supporting body disappeared making her fall against the now vacant seat. "What the hell?" She blinked around the compartment. "Where’s Jack?"

"Did you see that?" Daniel rubbed at his gritty eyes. He’d been more asleep than awake but he had definitely seen Jack just vanish into thin air.

Teal’c gave a curt nod. "O’Neill disappeared from his seat. It did not appear to be beaming technology of any kind." The comment forestalled Sam’s speculation about the unlikely intervention of the Asgard.

"So how’d he go…and to where?" Annika shook her head to clear the remnants of sleep. She’d been having the strangest dream…

Teal’c opened the door, intending to start a search of the train, only to have it knock into something.

"Ow!"

He scowled at his wide-eyed teammates. "Hey, what’s the big idea?" Only then did it hit him that he was not on the uncomfortable seat in which he had dozed off on. "What’s going on?"

Everyone gave bewildered shakes of their head.

Teal’c lent a hand to pull the colonel to his feet, and once he was planted firmly back in his recently vacated seat, he looked expectantly at them. "Okay, I’ll tee off. I remember falling asleep, then nada."

"All I remember is the dream I was having," Annika shrugged.

"You were snoring," Sam added what vague details she knew. "Woke me up a couple of times."

"So you kick me out into the hall?" Jack halfheartedly grumped. But that didn’t make sense. A light sleeper at the best of times and this was by far not the best of times, he would have woken up the moment someone tried to shift him.

"Daniel Jackson and I saw you simply vanish." Teal’c wore a thoughtful frown. There had been a slight ripple effect as O’Neill had disappeared. He had seen something similar before. "O’Neill, are you experiencing a tingling in your body?"

"Oh, I’m just filled with warm fuzzies right now," Jack said snarkily, then really considered the question. "Yeah, like static electricity. How’d ya’ know?"

"I have experienced that sensation the times the Nox have translocated me."

"I think we would have noticed if a Nox was around, they kinda stand out." The colonel blinked as his brain caught up to his tongue. "Casper, you working on a new party trick?"

"You think I did it?" Annika was wide-eyed. "I didn’t do it…at least I don’t think I did. I was asleep."

She sighed. "Knots."

"Knots?" Sam arched an eyebrow. "Not the Nox?"

"As in tying a rope. Someone was teaching me different knots…double bowline, icicle hitch, butterfly loop, dogshank…"

"I didn’t know you knew knots," Jack interrupted.

She gave him a wry smile. "Neither did I."

"Then what?" Daniel urged her to continue.

Her brow creased as she concentrated on the details. "There was a bug or something making an irritating grumbling noise…"

"O’Neill’s snoring," Teal’c surmised.

"Hey, I resent that!" the colonel huffed.

"I couldn’t concentrate, so I swatted it away." As Annika spoke, her hand seemingly of its own accord, demonstrated the flapping motion…

And suddenly the room held only four people again.

Before anyone could pick their jaws up off the floor there was a sharp rap on the door and Jack’s voice singsong-ed from outside. "Avon calling!" He reentered the compartment again with a smirk. "Think that pretty much cinches that you did it."

Annika did her best to suppress the shiver that shot through her. "Oh, I hate this."

"I think it’s cool," Jack grinned.

"And what if I had inadvertently sent you off the train instead of to the hallway?" she shot back.

That wiped the grin off his face. "Not so cool."

"However if you could master control, it would greatly assist our current mission," Teal’c hesitantly put forward.

Sam nodded, trying not to let her own personal desire to see this mission end quickly put pressure on her teammate. "Save us at least two days of travel…keep us less time in the past."

Annika could see everyone’s hope that she would agree to at least try to figure out how this new tangent of her abilities worked. Could feel the same hope from Daniel, though he did his best to keep his feelings neutral through their bond. And truth be known, she couldn’t wait for this mission to be over as well. Yet there was something just not adding up about this whole thing. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was, other than how suspiciously convenient it was to have suddenly developed the knack of translocation. Gave a mental shrug, a lot of her newfound abilities had manifested that way now that she thought about it. So why did this time feel so wrong? Despite her misgivings she gave a slow nod. "I’ll give it a whirl."