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Chapter Text

After Colonel Samantha Carter returned from Atlantis, Major General Jack O’Neill was working at the Pentagon, and Sam began working at Area 51. They bought a house together in Colorado Springs near Stargate Command and got married. Jack had a small house in Virginia near Washington DC. Sam had one in Nevada near Groom Lake. They were managing a long distance relationship for about a year. This was one of their cherished long-weekends together at the Colorado house, sort-of their mini-honeymoon.

“I was thinking…” Jack murmured between kisses on Sam’s neck. “that maybe it’s time to settle down in one house, right here in Colorado.”

“Yes, I agree.” Sam responded. “No reason to hang on to three houses.”

“Is it alright with you if we have kids right away?” Jack asked between kisses. “I’m not getting any younger, you know.”

Sam smiled.

“I think I’m ready for that, yes.”

“That’s good.” Kisses continued. “Is it alright with you if we start working on that right away?”

“How about right now?” Sam suggested seductively.

Jack stopped kissing her and looked at her with his deep brown eyes boring into her crystal blue ones. Then he quickly carried her through the house toward the bedroom, making a “whoob whoob whoob” noise like Curly from the Three Stooges during the last steps before the bedroom, making Sam giggle and laugh.

###

A few hours later, they lay snuggled together in bed after a vigorous round of love making.

“So, how long until you know if you’re pregnant?”

“A while. A few weeks, I guess. If I miss a period, or it comes late, or has a light flow. Then I can take a pregnancy test or just go to the infirmary to find out.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. So much.” Sam touched Jack’s face and then kissed him.

“Pulshra es amicua mea.” Jack said, lovingly. Sam was a bit puzzled.

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, sorry. It means, you are beautiful, my love.”

“Very sexy.”

“So are you.”

“Jack? Was that Ancient that you just spoke?”

“Hmm? Oh. I guess so. It just popped into my … head.”

“Are you feeling okay? Headache?”

“I’m fine. Nothing wrong with me. Nothing WRONG, see? English.”

“Maybe you should get checked out at the infirmary, just to make sure.”

“Sure. I can do that. When I get back to Washington.”

“Okay.”

###

Nine and a half months later, Jacob Jonathan O’Neill was born. A few months after that, Samantha returned to work at Area 51 with reduced hours, and sometimes working out of the SGC. Jack retired again, sold his Virginia house, and became a stay-home Dad taking care of little Jake at their Colorado house.

One morning, Sam walked into the kitchen while Jack was preparing breakfast. Jake was sitting in his high chair.

“Pata esuro.” Little Jake babbled. Daddy, I’m hungry.

“Jack, are you teaching Jake to speak Ancient?” Sam asked.

“Well, I’m here all day with him. It’s just the two of us. Didn’t think it would hurt. I can stop if it bothers you.” Jack answered, rather nonchalantly.

“No, it’s fine. Actually it’s pretty cool. Just… a bit …”

“Weird? Odd? Unnatural?” Jack was fishing for a word.

“Okay. All that. Yes.”

Daniel Jackson came over for a visit and witnessed Jack and Jake having a conversation in Ancient.

“Pata me tene.” Daddy, hold me. Jack picked up Jake and held him on his hip.

“Hoc es mellus?” Is this better?

“Beatus nunc.” Happy now.

Daniel was astounded.

“Jack, this is amazing. And you’re not having any ill effects from this?”

“Nope, got a clean bill of health from both infirmaries at the Pentagon and SGC. “

“So the Asgard, Thor specifically, didn’t remove the data from your brain last time. He just adapted your brain so that the data wouldn’t hurt you.”

“I guess so.”

“Do you know what this means? You can translate all the text we’ve acquired that’s written in Ancient!”

“No, no. Retired now. Daddy duty.” He bounced Jake on his hip.

“What about part-time? Jack, you’re an incredible resource now. Can’t let it all go to waste.”

“Well, what about you? You can translate this stuff, can’t you?”

“Yes, but it’s much more labor intensive for me. I have to look up every word and phrase. You can do it… well, for lack of another word, naturally.”

“I don’t know….”

“We could work together, how about that? And you won’t have to go to Atlantis. Come on, Jack.”

“Nam clamac, Daniel! I’ll think about it.”

“Ha! You said, ‘for crying out loud’!” Daniel laughed.

Jack sneered a little and bounced Jake on his hip some more.

Just then, Daniel realized something else.

“Jack, if you still have the knowledge of the Ancients, then you might still possess the healing power of the Ancients as well. Like when you healed Master Bratac.”

“Maybe. Possibly.” Jack gave Daniel a suspicious sideways look. “What are you implying?”

“So you could help people get healed from their injuries or cured of sicknesses. This is a big deal!”

“No deals! I don’t want a line of the infirm standing on my driveway! I’ve got a family to raise. Besides, all this stuff is classified anyway.”

“You could still help our own people at the SGC. Look at all the times SG1 ended up in the infirmary. You could cure everyone!”

“I guess I could. So when little Jake here stubs his toe running into the house, I’ll be able to fix that. Thanks for reminding me! This will save us a ton on our insurance deductible.”

“Jack…”

“Give it a rest, Daniel. My first priority is my family. The rest of the galaxy has to wait. Okay?”

“Okay.” Daniel decided to back down and let the idea take root in Jack’s mind. He knew Jack wouldn’t be able to turn his back on something like this when no one else has the ability that Jack possessed.

# # #

Later that night, after Jake was asleep, Sam and Jack were relaxing together on the sofa, enjoying the quiet.

“Daniel thinks I should go into the SGC to help translate some Ancient texts and other stuff for the Atlantis base.” Jack said quietly, wanting to get Sam’s opinion.

“Well, it’s not like anyone else has an Ancient database in their head. Only you.”

“True.” They sat quietly some more. Then Jack said, “I really love being here with Jake. I don’t want to miss anything.”

“I know.” Sam said softly, giving his arm a squeeze, and a kiss on the cheek. “You’re a wonderful father.” She snuggled into his chest a bit, and he put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her even closer. “When I worked at the Atlantis base, we were always trying to figure out how stuff worked because none of us could read Ancient. I mean, Daniel helped a lot when he was there, but most of the time it was just trial and error, and guesswork. Sure would help a lot to have more things translated.”

“I don’t want to go back to Atlantis.”

“I don’t think you’d have to go there. They can send over images and documents. You could work on it right here at the SGC.”

“That’s what Daniel said. He also said he would help me out.”

“Of course he would. So can I.” Sam smiled and rubbed his arm.

“You think I should do this? What about Jake?”

“I could leave Area 51, so I could be here more. Get permanently assigned to the SGC again. Sell the Nevada house. We’ve been wanting to do that anyway, right? Now’s the time. And we could have Jake be in daycare a little while. Socializing with other kids would be good for him.”

“All right. I’ll contact Mitchell in the morning. Set something up.”

###

Jack went to the SGC and had a talk with Brigadier General Cameron Mitchell, who was now Base Commander, taking over from Major General Henry Landry when he retired. It was decided that Jack would come in on a part-time basis as a consultant to do some translations.

On his way out, Jack’s curiosity got the better of him and he decided to pop in to the Infirmary to see if there were any patients being treated. Sure enough, there was a member of SG-12 who was suffering from a nasty cut on his leg.

Jack walked up to the bed, said hello to Lieutenant Harris, and asked if he wouldn’t mind a quick peek at his injury. With the Lieutenant’s consent, Jack pulled back the sheet and saw the man’s leg wrapped in bandages. Jack placed his hand on the leg, lowered his head and shut his eyes for a moment to concentrate.

“Oh my God. The pain is gone!” the man said almost immediately.

Jack looked up, and quickly removed his hand. He looked around for the attending physician.

“Hey Doc. Come take a look at this.”

Dr. Escobedo came over to take a look.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“I think he healed me.” Lt. Harris marveled, looking at Jack.

“What?” The doctor said, incredulous.

“Check it.” Jack said plainly.

Escobedo picked up some bandage sheers and cut the bandage off the man’s leg. There was no injury to be seen at all. Not even a bruise.

“That’s amazing.” She looked at Jack. “Clearly we need to have a little chat, General.”

###

Another meeting was held with Jack O’Neill, Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter-O’Neill, Cameron Mitchell, Dr. Martha Escobedo and the current head of Homeworld Security, as well as a representative from The White House to discuss the issues involved with Jack O’Neill’s knowledge of Ancient technologies.

“Okay, not too long ago, I would have been the one in charge of deciding what to do with a situation like this, and now I have to say that it feels weird to know that I don’t have say so over what’s in my own brain.” Jack started off exasperated.

“That’s not exactly true, Sir.” Mitchell replied. “That’s the whole purpose of this meeting. Obviously something needs to be worked out. I have a suggestion, if you’re all willing to hear it.”

Jack looked around at all the people assembled, and everyone seemed interested in what Mitchell had to say. Jack waved for him to go ahead.

“Alright. Now, of course this all depends on how much you’re willing to participate, General. But I think we should set up a few courses for you, not unlike at a university, but they would be set up right here at the SGC. You could teach us, or people assigned to take these courses from you, what you know about various subjects the Ancients had knowledge in. Take Medical Advancements, for example. You could meet with our top medical people for maybe four hours a week teaching them what you know regarding Ancient medicine. Maybe another class on engineering tech. Whatever. You would know more, General. What do you think?”

“That’s actually not a bad idea, and I had similar thoughts. I need to get some of this stuff out of my head and into the heads of other people who can work on it. It’s really not fair for me to horde this information when it could help so many people.” Jack agreed. The others nodded in agreement as well.

“Any thoughts on other subjects?” Sam prodded.

“Maybe one on culture. I’ve got a lot of art and music swimming around in my head too.”

“Really?” Daniel was surprised. “We haven’t seen or heard any of that yet.”

“Well, it’s in here.” Jack tapped the side of his head.

“I think we need to assign someone to be in charge of setting up these courses and to help you out.” Mitchell suggested.

“Daniel.” Jack and Sam both said together, as Daniel raised his hand.

“Okay. So Dr. Jackson and General O’Neill are going to head up this project. Any thoughts on a name for it?” Mitchell looked around.

“How about Legacy? Project Legacy? The Legacy Project? Seems fitting.” Jack offered.

“What kind of degree or certification do you want to award for completing a certain amount of hours and testing?” Sam asked.

Jack stared at her for a moment, then looked around at everyone else.

“I don’t think we need to do any testing. Just present the information. I guess it would be more like seminars than university courses.”

###

At home one morning, Jack was in the bathroom shaving, when Sam rushed in, headed straight for the toilet and threw up. When she was finished, Jack yielded the sink to her so that she could rinse out her mouth and brush her teeth.

“Baby number two.” Jack said, with a knowing smirk. Sam looked at him through the mirror.

“You know that?” She asked.

“Kinda obvious, but yeah.” He put down the razor and started rinsing the shaving cream off his face. “I can tell you if it’s a boy or girl. Want to know?” He said, proudly.

Sam touched her belly. “Oh my god. You can already tell that? Well, yes, of course I want to know!” She tugged at his arm. “Tell me! Tell me!”

Jack patted his face with a towel, hung the towel back on the rail, and turned to Sam. He put his hands around her face.

“We are having a beautiful little girl.” He smiled at her, his chocolate brown eyes full of love.

“Really? A little girl?” Sam’s eyes started to well up with joyful tears.

“I can also make your morning sickness go away. Hold still.”

Jack held Sam close, and they both closed their eyes. After a moment, Sam gasped.

“Jack!” She pulled back a bit and stared at him, smiling with her eyes wide. “No more nausea!”

“Yep. And you’ll have a perfectly healthy baby too.”

“I’m the luckiest mom in the world!”

“I’m the luckiest man in the world. I love you.”

“I love you too. So much!” They hugged each other tight. “Let’s name her Janet, after Dr. Fraiser.”

“Excellent. Janet Samantha O’Neill. How does that sound?”

“Lovely.” Sam smiled and kissed her husband.

###

Jack and Daniel sat in Daniel’s office working out a curriculum for Project Legacy. Daniel was busily scribbling in a notebook, while Jack swiveled in a chair opposite his desk.

“Okay, how about this.” Daniel started. “Four courses. Medical Advancements, Engineering, Culture, and Ancient Translations. How does that sound?”

“Good. I want Fridays off though. Any money I make from this project all goes into a trust for Jake and Janet, and any other kids we may have.”

“Okay. The uh, translations section will just be you, I think. Not a class with students. Just time for you to work on the Atlantis translations.”

“Oh? You don’t think others could benefit from that knowledge?”

“Well, of course they could, but it would be difficult to start a class that way. I mean, once I figure out all the grammar and syntax, then we could teach Ancient as a language. Later. Maybe next year.”

“When are we starting all this? I’m so ready to get going.” Jack said, impatiently.

“Well, I was thinking next month. It won’t take long to set up a couple classrooms here. I’ve already got a list of students for you.”

“Great. Let’s do it.”

“Sam wants to take all your classes. Did she tell you?”

“Yes. We’re putting Jake in daycare when we’re both here.”

With a heavy sigh, Daniel put down his pen, lifted up his glasses and started rubbing his eyes.

“It’s too bad we don’t have one of those Tokra-Goa’uld memory hologram things. It would make all this so much easier.” Daniel said.

“I can make that. It’s not that hard.” Jack said.

“Not hard for you, maybe. You can really make one of those, you think?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, we should get the Engineering class to get started on that right away. Once we have that, it will speed up everything else.”

“That would be great. The one thing that’s bugging me about all this, is how slow it’s going. Sam’s gonna have the new baby soon.”

“I know. Sorry. We’ve had a lot of delays just getting started. Then prep work takes time.”

“Hey, can I see that list of students?”

“Sure.”

Daniel shifted through some papers on his desk, and then handed one over to Jack. Jack looked it over, then furrowed his brow a bit.

“Daniel?”

“What?”

“We’ve got all humans in these classes. From Earth.” Jack stated.

“Uh, yeah… Oh. You think we should open up the courses to some of our allied off-world friends?”

“Don’t you? I mean, the Asgard even said that the information wasn’t meant for us. I think maybe we should spread it out a bit.”

“Who would you like to include?”

“At least Teal’c, Ishta, and Bra’tac, for starters. Jonas Quinn, even.”

“We can contact them.” Daniel nodded.

“We should probably run it by Mitchell first though.”

“I’m on it.”

Chapter Text

At long last, it was the first day of the Ancient Engineering class, which was the course Jack thought was the most important. There were ten people in the class, and he knew every one of them. Notable students included Jonas Quinn, who had made the trip through the Stargate, as well as Rodney McKay, coming in from Atlantis. Major Paul Davis was in attendance from the Pentagon. Of course, Samantha Carter-O’Neill was there, having dropped off both kids at daycare. Sergeant Siler, General Cameron Mitchell and Dr. Daniel Jackson were also present.

“Looks like the gang’s all here. Who’s minding the store?” Jack asked.

“Walter.” Was the group response.

“Oh. Well, we’ll have to make sure that we let him look at a tape or something later.”

“Everything is being recorded.” Daniel confirmed, pointing up to the camera in the corner of the room.

“That’s good. Okay, let’s get started then.” Jack sat down at the table in front of the classroom. “So, this might not be the first project that we actually work on or make, but the first thing I want to mention is actually a Goa’uld thought-hologram device. The Ancients had something similar, and I think if we had one of those, then everything else would come a lot easier.”

“THD?” Rodney said. “That sounds a lot like DHD. Too confusing. We’ve got to come up with a different name. Like, um, how about O’Neillogram?”

“Are you kidding? That’s a no.” said Jack. “Maybe the ‘ogram’ part.”

“Oh well. Sheppard said I wasn’t good at naming things.”

“In Ancient, Cognive ima-- …” Jack paused for a second. “-ogram Device. CID. Just made that up. How about that?” Jack offered.

###

Medical Advancements was held in the observation room above the infirmary. Ten students here also, with many of the same students as the Engineering class, a few hours earlier. Additional attendees for this course included Dr. Carolyn Lam (former Chief Medical Officer at the SGC), as well as the current CMO, Dr. Martha Escobedo, and some of her staff. This course made Jack a little uneasy, since medicine was not his personal area of expertise, even though he now possessed quite a bit of medical knowledge. Luckily, Dr. Escobedo was there to help him through it. Jack and the doctor were both down on the Infirmary level, with a male patient sitting quietly on the exam table.

“Good Afternoon.” Jack started, addressing the students up in the observation loft. “Thank you all for coming. Most of you are much more familiar with some of this stuff than I really am, so I’m just going to briefly mention some basics before we go right into demonstrations.”

Jack looked directly over at Sam, who smiled, giving him encouragement. He smiled back quickly, before moving on.

“So you probably all know that medical illnesses are forces that generate from inside the body, such as Diabetes, for example, and traumatic injuries are forces from outside the body, such as a punch in nose.” Jack made a little fist punch motion which made some of the students snicker a little bit. Sam shook her head and chuckled.

“That’s my Jack. Always trying to be funny. Lightens up the mood.”

###

After the course ended for the day, some people stayed behind a bit to chat with each other in the hallway. Rodney McKay had Sam cornered and was jabbering on about his own Ancient theories. Sam was being polite and listening as much as she could, but was really anxious to get back to her family with Jack. When Jack finally appeared in the hallway, he was met with applause, whistles and cheers. He smiled and put up his hands a bit shyly, a little embarrassed.

“Thank you all, really.” He said honestly. “But I’m really just the courier for the information. Thanks really go to the Ancients themselves, whoever they were.”

Rodney made his way up to Jack and shook his hand vigorously.

“It was an amazing day, General. I wish I could stay for the whole term but Sheppard and Woolsey will be coming next. We agreed to take turns coming for a week at a time.”

“What a shame that we won’t be graced with your presence for the whole time.” Jack said, a bit snarky, and looked past Rodney for a moment to make quick eye contact with Sam, who tilted her head toward the way out. Jack nodded affirmative. “I’d love to stay and chat longer, but I’ve got a wife and family waiting for me. See you tomorrow, McKay.”

Jack patted Rodney on the shoulder, and then made his way through the hall, shaking a few more hands as he went. Finally, he reached Sam and took her hand in his. They continued on together toward the elevator.

###

On the first Culture day, Jack walked into the designated SGC classroom to find Daniel talking to an Air Force officer who was setting up a synthesizer keyboard.

“Good Morning!” Jack said, cheerfully.

“Good Morning!” Both Daniel and the officer returned the greeting together.

“Jack, this is Major Warren Cole of The Singing Sergeants.” Daniel formally introduced him.

“The Singing Sergeants, you say?” Jack shook his hand.

“Yes, General. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. The Singing Sergeants is the official choir of the US Air Force, sir.”

“And yet, you’re a Major.”

“Yes, sir. I guess they wanted alliteration in the name of the group.”

“Looks like you brought your own musical instrument.”

“The synthesizer can actually mimic many different instruments. I thought it might come in handy.”

“Yes, it very well may. We can have an Ancient jam session.”

“I’m looking forward to it, sir.” Major Cole smiled.

###

Engineering class. Jack, Daniel, and Sam were recalling their experience with the Goa’uld thought-hologram device.

“We had these little round implant things jammed into our temples.” Jack remembered. “Hurt like f…… whoa. Heck! Hurt like heck.” Jack stumbled, avoiding profanity.

“Say it in Ancient.” Daniel prompted.

“It hurt like cohetus gehano! There.” Jack said. Everyone laughed.

“Oh man, he’s teaching us all the dirty words now.” Major John Sheppard quipped. “I knew I’d love this class. I’m writing this down.”

Sam continued their story. “They also drugged us with some kind of sedative fluid to make us relax. This made it easier for specific memories to come to the surface.” Sam explained.

“To the surface?” Jonas Quinn inquired.

“Well, normally you have many thoughts and memories bombarding you at any given time, like a sea of memories. This drug allowed your thoughts to slow down enough to focus on a single thought or memory, and then the device could form that memory into a projectable image.”

“I’m thinking maybe we should have Dr. Escobedo sit in with this class as well.” Daniel suggested. “We’ve got medical merging with engineering here.”

“That’s true of a lot of alien devices. Good idea, Daniel.” Sam said.

“I’ll go find her. Excuse me.” Daniel got up and left the room.

“There are some anti-psychotic drugs that work this way.” Sam informed.

“So we need to figure out how to build the device that projects a memory.” Seargent Siler said.

“And one that extracts a memory.” Major Paul Davis added.

“Yeah.” Sam sighed, and looked at Jack.

“This is actually going to be more difficult than I originally thought.” Jack said, apologetically. “The Ancients had a similar device, and I know how to make it. The problem is we don’t have the right tools here yet. They haven’t been invented yet. We have to build the tools first. Then we can start building the device.”

“Can’t we Macgyver something together from the alien tech that we already have?” Sheppard asked.

“Possibly.” Sam said. “We do have access to quite a bit of alien tech that we’ve acquired over the years right here at the SGC. I could also requisition items from Area 51 if we need them brought over here. However, when Jack built the power booster device, he just used equipment that we had on hand right here.”

“What I need to do is just start drawing up the designs for the tools and the device, and then we can take it from there.” Jack said. “We’ll also have to get our hands on some raw materials so that we can manufacture these things.”

“Is there anything that we can do to help you?” Cameron Mitchell asked.

“Well, I won’t know until I start drawing the designs. Tell you what, you guys can gather around while I start drawing the designs.” Jack motioned for everyone to move their chairs around to see better.

“Won’t this take a long time?” Mitchell said.

“Oh, he’s fast! Just watch.” Sam smiled. “Everyone quiet please.” Sam took out her stopwatch so that she could time him.

Jack spread out some drawing paper on the table, then grabbed a protractor, compass, straight edge ruler, triangle ruler, and a lead pencil. He sat for a moment and concentrated. Everyone was quiet. Then he started drawing. Very quickly. The image appeared right away, and appeared to be textbook quality. He never erased anything, but each mark he made was perfect. Jack didn’t utter a word the whole time he was drawing. Everyone was watching in wide-eyed amazement.

Daniel and Dr. Escobedo quietly entered the room and stood at a distance close enough to see what Jack was doing.

He had drawn some kind of hammer/hook/pestle tool that obviously had multiple uses. He had drawn right and left side views, front view, top view, bottom view, and back view. Then he started writing notes next to each view in the Ancient language, but then he went back and wrote the English translation under each one as well. Then he sat back in his chair, apparently finished. Sam clicked her stopwatch.

“Three and a half minutes.” She said quietly.

Astounded, everyone started chatting at once.

“That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” Sheppard said.

“Incredible. It’s beautiful! Not a single correction!” Davis said.

Sam walked over behind Jack and rubbed his shoulder a bit.

“You all right, Jack?” she whispered to him.

Jack seemed to snap out of his trance and reached up to touch her hand.

“Yeah. I’m good.” He assured her. “Really good, actually. It felt really good to do that. Getting it out of me.”

“General, I’d like to see you in the Infirmary before you go home today, if that’s okay?” Dr. Escobedo asked.

“Sure.” Jack replied.

###

The Culture class had 20 students, since it wasn’t as techy and appealed to more people. During the first class, they had decided to work on Ancient music, since many of the classmates had at least some musical experience in their background. Plus it helped that Major Warren Cole was a choral director.

Jack and Major Cole were trying to plot out the notes for an Ancient melody, while the rest of the students observed. Jack tried humming the tune at first.

“Try it using La La La for the notes.” Cole was in choir instructor mode.

“It’s pretty low in parts. Can you get a cello or a tuba on that thing?” Jack indicated the synthesizer keyboard.

Cole placed his hand on the top of the instrument.

“This baby can play contrabassoon and pipe organ, which is about as low as you can go.”

“Cool. Okay, how’s this… La La La La…” Jack sang some very low notes.

“Not bad for a baritone.” Cole commented, and then played the same low notes back with the synthesizer on contrabassoon.

“I really can’t do it justice.” Jack lamented, feeling a little discouraged. “It’ll be great when we get that thought-hologram device up and running.”

###

A couple of months later, the Engineering classroom walls were completely covered with Jack’s various designs. Most were for tools and the thought-hologram device, but there were also drawings for musical instruments and medical devices.

Teal’c suggested that a state of Kelnorim meditation could serve the same purpose as the sedative drug and would be much safer. He spent time with Jack at home to practice the ritual so that the class could concentrate on the mechanics of building the device.

A rudimentary version of the device was built. Jack was now going to test it for the first time.

Dr. Escobedo insisted on monitoring Jack’s vital signs during the procedure. Jack agreed that this was prudent.

Jack sat in one of the regular classroom chairs. The doctor placed a blood pressure cuff on his left arm, and a pulse oximeter on his right forefinger. She also placed twelve-lead EKG electrodes on his chest but let him wear his blue BDU shirt slightly open. She had the EKG monitor on a table to Jack’s left.

A large Ancient-modified computer monitor was set up on a table to Jack’s right, which would serve as the image projector.

Sam placed a light-weight metallic garland-like device on Jack’s head. The front of it rested just above his eyebrows, like a crown. The device had three prongs coming out of it, and each prong had a soft-tip point at the end which also made contact with his head, one at each temple and the third at the back of his head.

The lights were dimmed, since they decided not to use candles for the Kelnorim. Everyone was quiet. The image monitor was on and showing electronic snow with the sound off. The medical monitor showed Jack’s EKG rhythm, with a digital readout of his vital signs. The doctor had turned off the alarms so that there would be no beeping noises.

Teal’c sat in a chair directly in front of Jack. Their knees were almost touching.

“Are you ready to begin, O’Neill?” Teal’c said gently.

“Yes. Ready.” Jack replied. He closed his eyes, as did Teal’c.

“Relax. Concentrate.” Teal’c’s low voice was steady and soothing. “Imagine the center of your mind.”

Suddenly the image monitor changed from electronic snow to a very faint image.

“Oh my god, it’s working!” someone whispered.

“Shh!” said another.

The image wavered back and forth from snow to some kind of image that slowly became more and more clear.

“It’s a little boy…” Rodney said wondrously.

“My son….” Jack whispered. “Charlie.” A tear slowly fell from Jack’s eye and slid down his cheek. “My boy.”

“Doctor…” Sam said, a little alarmed.

“He’s fine.” Escobedo said.

“Jack,” Sam was worried.

Jack held up his right hand. “I’m okay.”

“Focus your mind.” Teal’c said.

Suddenly the image became quite clear. Charlie was sitting on the floor in front of a Christmas tree, opening a present. His eyes were chocolate brown, just like Jack’s. He had a wonderful smile as he looked at his Dad.

Jack smiled. “My son.” He whispered again. Then he laughed a little bit, as if he was in the room with Charlie again right now. Which, in a way, he was, at that moment. However, the laugh made the connection break. Like waking up from a dream. The monitor returned to snow. Jack opened his eyes.

“I think that’s it.” Sam said.

“Yes, that’s it for now.” Jack said, wiping the tears from his eyes. Sam lifted the device off his head and set it on the table.

“We were successful, O’Neill.” Teal’c smiled and touched Jack’s knee. “Congratulations!”

“Thank you.” Jack smiled. He reached for Sam’s hand and squeezed it.

“You did it.” She smiled, breathing through her own tears.

“We all did it.” Jack agreed.

Everyone finally clapped and then started talking among themselves over what they had witnessed.

Sam helped Jack to stand up, then he immediately took Sam in his arms and hugged her tight, not caring that the whole class was watching.

“Nice memory that you chose.” Sam said. “I have to admit, for a second I was a bit worried about how you would react.”

“Some of my strongest memories are of Charlie, so I chose something happy. I wanted to give this thing the best chance of working, but I also wanted a positive spin on it.”

“It worked great.” Sam said.

“I could have chosen some other memory that makes me happy, but I didn’t think that you’d …”

Sam cut off his comment by swatting his arm. Jack made a pretend “Ow” face, and then smiled. Sam hugged him again.

###

A few weeks later…

“Okay, settle please. Let’s get started.” Major Cole ordered. After he had everyone’s attention, he asked, “I think we need a name for our little Ancient choir that we can use for the upcoming dog and pony show.”

“How about the O’Neillettes”?” Rodney called out.

This was met with a mixture of chuckles, groans, and outright laughter, with Sam and Daniel both saying, “No, Rodney,” simultaneously.

“Big no on that one.” Jack said.

Major Cole picked up a marker and walked up to the whiteboard at the front of the room.

“Okay, let’s hear some other suggestions then.” He stood ready to write.

“How about Stargate Sonatas?” offered Major Paul Davis.

“That’s more like it. Alliteration reigns.” Cole wrote that on the board, and then wrote O’Neillettes under it. Jack shook his head. Sam and Daniel laughed.

“Mystical Musicians!“ offered Vala Mal Doran.

“Another good one.” Cole wrote it on the board.

“The Ancient Choir.” Teal’c said flatly. Cole nodded and wrote it on the board.

“Okay. It is what it is. Good. Any others?”

Chapter Text

A “dog and pony show” or “Cannem e Mannem” (in Ancient) event was set up with all the designs, artifacts, machines, and medical advancements from Project Legacy on display to show off to the President and high officials. Jack even had designs for new musical instruments that could be manufactured in order to complete some of the music. A short concert (only two pieces) of Ancient music was also planned at the end of the event that same evening.

On that evening, in the Gate Room, the ramp had been temporarily dismantled, and choir risers had been erected in front of the Stargate, flanked with the usual flags. All the Air Force students stood on the risers in their dress blues, while Teal’c and Ishta both wore their Free Jaffa regalia. Daniel Jackson, Richard Woolsey, and Jonas Quinn all wore black and white tuxedoes, and Vala Mal Doran wore a surprisingly tasteful black evening dress. Cole had arranged them all to stand in standard SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) positions on the risers. Jack and Teal’c were in the front row for the Bass section, Jonas and Daniel in front of the Tenor section, Vala and Ishta in front of the Altos, Sam and Carolyn in front of the Sopranos.

Major Cole stepped up to the microphone as the assembled guests applauded from their seats facing the Stargate.

“Good evening. Thank you all for coming tonight. I am Major Warren Cole, and I am the choral director for the United States Air Force choir, known as The Singing Sergeants. I am also very pleased to be the choral director of our newest Air Force choir addition, The Ancient Choir.” He stepped back and spread his arm back to indicate his group of students all standing on the risers behind him. The audience applauded.

“Creating this choir, or perhaps I should say re-creating this choir has been the most difficult challenge of my career, but it has also been the most satisfying and fun endeavor that I have ever done. With the help of General O’Neill, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and many others up here with me, we have translated Ancient music, never before heard on Earth, from its native format into the musical format that you are about to hear. Without going into the details of Music Theory, I can say that this was no easy task. But I hope that you will enjoy what we have come up with. We have completed two Ancient songs that will be sung acapella. Perhaps in the future, music can be written for accompanying instruments. For now, I present to you, The Ancient Choir.”

Light applause was followed by silence, as Cole stepped up to his synthesizer keyboard, then slowly and softly tapped the four starting notes, one for each section, for the singers to get their starting pitch. He then walked around to the front of the choir, and began to conduct the group in their performance.

Words were not sung, but only notes vocalized by “Ooh”. The lowest notes were sung solo by Teal’c’s rich Bass voice. Once the song got up to a higher register, Jack and the other Basses joined in. Blending with the Tenors, Altos, and Sopranos, the chords made quite an angelic and other-worldly sound.

When the second song finished, the audience was eerily silent as everyone sat in complete awe of what they had just heard. Then slowly and surely, thunderous applause ensued. Jack made a “whew!” gesture as he mimicked wiping sweat from his brow at Cole, who laughed, as did anyone else who saw him. Cole indicated for the choir to bow, causing the crowd to clap louder, and then Cole indicated for Teal’c and Jack to both bow separately, which got the audience on their feet for a standing ovation. Jack then indicated for Cole to bow, which also got a high-level response. There were whistles and shouts of “Bravo!” from the crowd.

Cole then indicated for Jack to step up to the microphone. Everyone applauded, including the choir.

“Thank you all.” He said, almost speechless, and smiling so hard, he could feel his own dimples. “This has been an incredible experience, for all of us. Thank you all for being part of it. In Ancient, grateus omnebodo. Special thanks to Dr. Daniel Jackson for talking me into all this, and of course, to my wife Colonel Samantha Carter-O’Neill for all her love and support, and smarts!” Jack paused for laughter and applause. “This turned out so much greater than I had ever imagined. Thank you, thank you all so much.” He put a hand over his heart, and then bowed again. He turned back to Cole and the choir, blowing a kiss to them all.

“You’re a rock star, Jack!” Daniel shouted, and everyone in the room cheered.

A sense of euphoria came over all the people in The Gate Room as it became a din of joyous crowd chatter. Everyone was expressing their awe and excitement over all the Ancient presentations from Project Legacy.

Several people came up to Jack to congratulate him and express their feelings about the project, including former President Hayes.

“Jack, you just continue to amaze me on levels I can’t even describe.” the President said, shaking his hand. “I don’t know how you keep doing it, but I hope you keep on with it.”

“Thank you, sir.” Jack said, getting overwhelmed. “That means a lot.”

As the President stepped away, General George Hammand stepped up. He and Jack just looked at each other for a moment, before Hammond finally spoke.

“Jack, I just can’t tell you how proud I am of you and all that you have accomplished.“

“Thank you, sir.” Jack said, getting a little choked up, and then he and Hammond hugged each other for a moment, then Hammand stepped away, getting a bit choked up himself.

Rodney McKay came up to Jack.

“General, I know you think most of my ideas are rubbish, but I really just had to tell you how much all this information means to me, and how much I appreciate that you are revealing all this to us, at such a personal level.” Rodney claimed with heartfelt enthusiasm.

“I appreciate that, Rodney.” Jack smiled at him.

“It really got me to thinking…” Rodney continued, “Maybe this is the Ancients’ way, or maybe even the Universe’s way of saying, we’re so sorry for your loss. Please take these gifts, which are all that we have, and all that we are, which still isn’t enough.”

Jack was stunned. He just stared at Rodney for a moment.

“Sir? Are you alright? I didn’t mean to upset….”

“No, Rodney, I’m fine. Thank you.” Jack smiled and put a hand on top of Rodney’s shoulder. “Thank you very much. That’s quite a concept.”

Relieved, Rodney gushed. “Well, that’s me, the concept guy. I wish you continued success, General.” He shook Jack’s hand quickly, and then turned and walked off. Jack watched him for a moment, then noticed that Cameron Mitchell was now standing next to him.

“Enjoying the accolades?” Mitchell said.

“Yes, actually. Especially that last one.” Jack said pensively.

“McKay? Really?” Mitchell chuckled.

Focusing again, Jack turned to Mitchell.

“Has he made any special requisitions lately?”

“Oh yeah. I’ve got a stack of them on my desk.”

“I think you should give it to him.”

“Which one?”

“Doesn’t matter. All of them.” Jack look at him with a very commanding expression.

“Okay. I’ll review them tomorrow.”

Jack nodded. Then he clapped a hand on Mitchell’s back. “Thank you, General.” And he was back to the euphoria.

He saw Master Bra’tac, Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman, and Major General Henry Landry standing together speaking very animatedly to each other. As Jack walked up to them, they warmly shook his hand and expressed their amazement about Project Legacy.

###

Back at home late that same night, Jack and Sam were talking in bed together, reviewing all that had happened.

“Oh my goodness.” Sam remarked, after Jack told her what Rodney had said. “That’s really profound. Spiritual, even.”

“Yes, it was.” Jack nodded.

Sam’s brain was in gear again. “Also familiar. Hang on a second.”

She reached for her laptop computer from the night stand. She opened it up, and typed ‘all that we have’ in the search bar. Sure enough, up popped a Catholic hymn called, “All That We Have.”

“I must have heard this before somewhere. I knew it was familiar. Take a look.”

She turned the screen so that Jack could see it.

“Is Rodney Catholic?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know.” Sam shrugged. “Might just be something I remembered that has nothing to do with him.”

“Play it.”

Sam hit the play button, and they cuddled together while the song played.

“It’s really pretty.” Jack said when it was finished.

“Yes.” Sam closed the laptop and returned it to the night stand.

“I wish your Dad could have been here, Sam.” He looked at her. She smiled sadly. “I really miss showing off for Jacob. He was the one person that I really felt was missing tonight.”

“Aw, Jack.” Sam snuggled up to him. “He was there, because you thought of him. And he was proud of both of us. I’m sure of it. Aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I guess so.” He smiled and kissed her.

“I wonder what triggered all this?” Sam said. “I mean, when I was pregnant the first time, you asked how long until I would find out if I’m pregnant. But the second time, you knew before I did.“

Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. It started after I retired so maybe it has to do with being less stressed, and more relaxed? That’s the how the thought-hologram device works. It’s how the healing thing works, and the Ancient chair, and piloting Puddle Jumpers. I’m just glad it doesn’t give me headaches anymore.“

“I’m glad that Thor fixed it so you could have the data in your brain without it doing any damage.”

“I wasn’t going to mention this, but Thor did more than just make the Ancient database comfy in my mind. He added a lot of Asgard information into my noggin as well.”

“More information? I hope your brain doesn’t explode.”

“It won’t.” Jack said confidently, and kissed Sam on the cheek.

“Maybe if we get around to baby number three, we could name it after him?”

“Thor.” Jack considered. “What if it’s a girl? Thora?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Baby number three, you say? Can we work on that right away?”

“Get over here.”

# # #

The End