Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

TUESDAY

Daniel sat at his desk in his office with his six year old daughter, Skylar, as he went over her work. It was summer vacation for the almost-second grader but she asked that he teach her more languages. She already knew eleven languages but, as he told Vala, kids absorb languages very quickly. She was also quickly advancing in math and science thanks to Sam.

The little girl with long dark hair and his eyes swung her legs in her chair beside him. "You know it's right, Daddy," she grinned, just like her mother.

Daniel finished looking over her work and confirmed that it was, indeed, correct. "You're right. How are you so smart?"

"Good genes," Vala answered, coming into his office with some snacks. She kissed their daughter on the top of her head. "Let's hope your brother or sister gets those genes, too."

"Mama, when the baby is born in 4 months, can I start teaching it languages?" Skylar asked, excited that she could teach someone else what she has learned.

"Not for a little while," Vala shook her head, running her fingers through her daughter's hair, "Maybe a couple years."

Skylar's eyes widened. "I could learn 30 more languages by then!"

Daniel laughed. "Let's work on Alteran for now."

The Klaxons went off indicating and unscheduled activation of the Stargate and Daniel and Vala looked at one another. There were no more enemies in the universe.

"I'll go," Vala said. "Probably an SG team coming back early."

Vala got to the control room in time for Walter to say there was an IDC and Landry approved the opening of the Iris. Sam met her there and they all waited to see who was coming through the Stargate, the defense team ready

The watched as two people, dressed in sand tan robes walked through the Stargate.

"That's Dr. Jackson and…" General Landry started, not sure who the second person was.

"Sha're," Vala finished, "I recognize her from her photo. But Daniel is in his office with Skylar so that is not *my* Daniel."

"So how did they get here?" Sam asked, more to herself than the others.

General Landry bent down to the microphone to speak to the Gate Room. "Defense team stand down. Please accompany the visitors to the infirmary."

"How did they get here, Colonel Carter?" Landry asked.

"I don't know, sir," Sam answered, quite perplexed, "Vala and I can go talk to them and try to figure something out."

Landry nodded. "Let me know what you find out. Yesterday, I thought Monday was too quiet."

The Other Daniel and Sha're had various tests, met Dr. Lam, asked where Dr. Fraiser was, and were informed they would be told soon. Confused, The Other Daniel told Sha're everything was okay and they would find out what was going on soon.

Sam and Vala had a quick chat with Carolyn then entered the infirmary and found their new guests.

"Sam!" The Other Daniel greeted her, "What is going on?"

"Um," Sam replied.

"You're not where you think you are," Vala told them simply.

"What?" The Other Daniel asked, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?"

Vala didn't know why but she found this sort of funny. It could be his hair. "I'm Vala. She's Sha're, you're Daniel but not the right Daniel. You're not where you think you are."

"What she means," Sam continued, "is that we are pretty sure that you're from an alternate reality."

"Dan-yel?" Sha're asked, confused. She knew a bit of English - conversational English - and she understood more than she could speak but this was beyond her. She got what Vala said about the names but the 'Daniel, not the right Daniel' set off some alarms and Vala spoke pretty quickly.

The Other Daniel took a minute to translate what they had said and answer her question of 'what do you mean alternate reality?!' with 'I don't know yet'.

"Okay well how long has it been since Daniel has been on Abydos?" Sam asked Vala while The Other Daniel was translating for Sha're.

Vala thought for a moment doing some mental math with how long she's known him and how old Skylar is, while Sam thought as well. "18 years, I believe."

Sam nodded, "About that. We should figure out if this Daniel and Sha're have just come from an Alternate Reality or if they have time traveled as well because I don't know about you but Daniel looks younger."

"I thought that, too. But does that matter? Do all alternate realities have to have the same timeline?" Vala asked.

"Yes," Sam told her, and everyone, really. "Imagine making a choice right now and making another choice at the same exact moment. That could create two different realities and two different timelines. It would happen at the same time."

"I've been on Abydos for about 7 years," The Other Daniel told them having overheard part of their conversation, "We visit Earth once a year. The Goa'uld were just defeated."

"That is another example of alternate realities," Sam explained, enthralled by it all, "They defeated the Goa'uld sooner than we did in this reality and Sha're was never taken as a host."

"Sha're was taken as a host in this reality?" The Other Daniel asked, shocked. "The Goa'uld never even came to Abydos. We have two children."

"So do you know Teal'c?" Vala asked, knowing they'd be talking kids later.

The Other Daniel nodded. "He was a Jaffa."

"Mama!" Skylar ran into the room, ahead of Daniel's shouted 'don't run, Sky!'.

"Who are you?" Skylar asked, "You look like my daddy but your hair is longer and you have big glasses. My name is Skylar but you can call me Sky. Like the Sky outside," then she turned to Sha're, "You're pretty. How did you get here? What's your name?"

"My name is Sha're," she said in her practiced English smiling at the girl, "it is nice to meet you."

"Sky," Sam started to explain to the talkative child, "you know how we told you about the time the Stargate took us waaay back in time to 1969?"

"Woah." Daniel said upon seeing...himself and especially Sha're.

As her daughter thoroughly distracted by a science explanation she could understand (and liked), Vala took Daniel's arm and moved him a few feet away.

"We think they have time traveled from an alternate reality," Vala told him, taking his hands.

"That's a new one," he said blowing out a deep breath, wrapping his mind around the alternate reality.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I think so," Daniel nodded. "It was just a surprise seeing her."

"I can imagine," Vala gave him a quick kiss before adding. "She's very pretty in person."

"She is," he agreed.

Vala squeezed his hands, "if you need to talk let me know."

"Daddy! Sha're speaks Abydonian!" Sky squeaked with excitement. Sam explained how Sha're and the man who looked like her Daddy got here and it made sense to her - they needed to get back to where they belonged. Then Sha're told The Other Daniel she was hungry.

Before Daniel could reply, Skylar bounced over to Sha're and spoke to her in Abydonian.

"Hi! I'm Skylar. I'm 6 and my daddy taught me Abydonian. I'm hungry, too. What do you like to eat?

"Hello Skylar. I am much older than 6. When we come visit Earth I like to eat pizza," Sha're replied to the energetic child.

Sky smiled widely, "I love pizza! We should get some!"

"What are they saying?" Vala whispered to Daniel.

Daniel laughed, "They want pizza."

They ordered pizza and were waiting for it to be delivered to an SF. In the meantime, Sam, Vala, and Daniel met with General Laundry; during which time another team came back who was not from the future nor from an alternate reality. Skylar decided to wait in the commissary with The Other Daniel and Sha're - she was geeking out over getting to talk to a real Abydonian person.

"What languages do you know?" The Other Daniel asked Skylar.

Skylar thought for a moment. "English, Spanish, French, Abydonian, German, Latin, Japanese, Chinese, Egyptian, Portuguese,...um," she counted on her fingers, "and Greek. And I'm learning Alteran."

The Other Daniel gave her a questioning look. "What is Alteran?"

"The language of the ancients! They're the ones who made the Stargate and they're really cool and they're all shimmery. I've never met them but I've heard about them. They're not suppoooosed to help people but some of them do and then they get in trouble but it turns out okay in the end because they don't really mind. It's like when I touch one of Daddy's artifacts. I'm not really supposed to but I just wanna see it closer! But I get caught and I explain why I did it and then I don't really get in trouble in the end because I was just trying to find out more and do stuff to help anyway. Anyway that's what Alteran is."

"That makes sense!" Sha're told her with a smile. From the short time she spent with Vala earlier she could tell this girl was very much like her mother.

"Do you have any kids?" The inquisitive girl asked.

"Yes," Sha're said said in English then continued, "We have two sons."

"Why didn't they come, too?"

"They weren't feeling well." She told Sky.

Skylar frowned. She doesn't like being sick. "What are their names? How old are they?"

"Akil is almost 6 years old, like you, and Lev is 4 years old," The Other Daniel told her, "And before you ask Akil does know a few languages but they prefer to play archeologist and have digs in the sand."

"What languages do they know?"

Daniel sat down with them, across from himself and next to chatterbox Skylar. "That's enough questions for now, sweetheart."

"They have two boys, Daddy," Skylar reported excitedly. "Do you think the baby will be a boy?"

"We'll have to wait and see, Darling," Vala replied, pizza boxes in hand and followed by Jack and Sam.

"I just had to see this!" Jack said, pulling a chair over to sit at the head of the table, adjacent to both Daniels. He gave a friendly wave to Sha're "Hey. I'm Jack."

"Hello. I am Sha're," she replied with a smile.

Sam sat next to Sha're and Vala sat across from her, on the other side of Skylar with some plates for everyone.

"You know," Jack continued, "I missed the other 'gate thing with the black hole when we got all the SG-1 teams. A whole room full of Carters. A whole room full of Daniels. I mean. The possibilities."

"I missed it, too," Vala lamented with Jack while Sam opened the pizza, "Being in the Ori Galaxy and all."

"I keep telling you, I'm not sure the Ori Galaxy was as bad as Washington, D.C. and all those politicians," Jack teased her with their ongoing argument.

Daniel broke in to diffuse this. "Where is your daughter, Jack?"

Jack shrugged. "She wanted to play basketball with Mitchell and T before she had some food. What can I say? She's a weird 7 year old who doesn't want pizza."

"She did like to experiment on it the other day," Sam said proudly, grabbing a slice.

Skylar turned her attention from her Abydonian conversation with Sha're and The Other Daniel about pizza and food on Abydos, "Olivia got to experiment on pizza?! Cool!"

"Maybe you can do food experiments with Liv this weekend at your sleepover," Sam told her 'niece'.

Cam and Teal'c finished their game with Olivia and came to the commissary for some food with Jack and Skylar. Sam, Vala, Daniel, The Other Daniel, and Sha're went to Sam's lab to try and figure out how The Other Daniel and Sha're got here and, once that was figured out, how to send them back.

Sha're took a seat at the work table, looking around. "All the things are so similar," she said in English.

"Wonko, isn't it?" Vala asked.

"Wonko?" Sha're questioned, never having heard that word before.

Vala waved her hands a little as she explained possibly her favorite word. "Strange, weird, odd, crazy."

Sha're smiled and nodded. "Yes, yes. Very wonko."

Daniel dropped his head and sighed slightly, knowing his wife's proclivity for that word. Getting anyone to use it made her happy. When Skylar started saying it as a toddler Vala was practically giddy.

"She's going to teach it to the kids when we go back," The Other Daniel told them knowing Sha're liked to teach them new words she learned while on their trips.

Vala grinned and bounced slightly next to her Daniel, "that's exciting!"

Sam looked up from her computer, "Okay I sent a message to Atlantis to have them check their records for anomalies before and around the time this Daniel and Sha're came through and I messaged Dr. Lee to have him and some others check as well. Now, we know that solar flares cause time travel."

"How do we know that?" The Other Daniel asked.

Daniel answered the question for, well, himself. "When we went back in time to 1969 the wormhole was too close to the sun and was hit by a solar flare. And then we went through the Stargate too soon when we were coming back so we went into the future."

"So we're looking for a solar flare and something else," Vala summed up, "Buuut what is the something else? Not a black hole again."

"Since SG-7 came back and they were this SG-7 we can assume it was something on the way from Abydos to Earth," Sam explained, thinking aloud, "You are probably correct that it's not a black hole because it would keep happening like before."

Vala went over to Sam's whiteboard, uncapped the black dry erase marker, and drew a circle on the left side and wrote an 'A' in the middle of it. Then she drew a circle on the right side and wrote an 'E' on the middle of that one. Between the two she drew a squiggly line. Under each circle she drew a stick figure with glasses. Under the circle with 'A' on it the stick figure with glasses had longer hair.

"Vala, what are you doing?" Daniel asked, watching her draw but also ready to stop the drawing.

Vala recapped the marker and tapped her chin with it. "I thought this might help me think. But really I just drew a picture of you both and the planets."

Sam looked at it for a moment. "Leave it. That could help later. You never know."

A beep from Sam's computer drew her attention back to it. She read the message and relayed it to the others. "Atlantis says they have a lot to look at and they probably won't be able to get back to us until the morning, our time."

"I mean. It's space after all." Vala reasoned.

"I can set up a program." Sam said while typing, already setting up said program, "to scan my programs for the data I want while we wait even while Dr. Lee's team is looking for the same things."

The Other Daniel nodded, "The more people….or programs looking the better."

"Then, I guess, we can get this Daniel and Sha're set up in a room, report to General Landry and," she finished typing, "take the kids home for the night."

"Quick question," Daniel scratched his nose once an SF took The Other Daniel and Sha're to VIP quarters, "Do we need to worry about entropic cascade failure?"

"What is entropic cascade failure?" Vala asked looking back and forth between Daniel and Sam.

"I don't think so," replied Sam sounding a tiny bit more unsure about her statement then Daniel would like. "I was thinking about that and in this case we are dealing with time travel as well so you're not exact replicas, let's say. It's like when we went back to 1969. I would surmise that in this instance that because the other you time traveled as well as came from an alternate reality we won't need to worry about entropic cascade failure."

"Daniel!" Vala demanded, "What is entropic cascade failure?"

Jack, Sam, and Olivia got home and Olivia's black great dane, Magnet, wagged her tail from her crate.

Olivia went to let her out from her crate and take her outside, and their grey cat lifted her head from her bed atop the dog's crate.

"Do you think we can get our new friends back to their time and place?" Jack asked, putting his keys in the dish by the door.

"I don't know," she said, scratching Quarks the cat's head on the way to the back of the house to check on Olivia and Magnet, the dog. "We've always gotten misplaced versions of ourselves home before. I'm hopeful."

Olivia and Magnet were running around the back yard in the light of the sunset. Sam watched them and Jack slid his arms around her waist from behind and dropped a kiss to her shoulder. "You'll figure it out."

Mags ran up to the door and Olivia followed her. Sam opened the sliding door for them and Magnet excitedly sniffed Sam and then Jack. He pet the tall dog before sitting on the couch.

"Sky is still sleeping over this weekend, right?" Olivia asked, sitting in her favorite chair adjacent to the couch.

Sam sat next to her husband, "Of course. Even if we're still working on it, Dad will be here with you two."

Olivia picked up her iPod Touch to text her friend. "Cool. We have to finish making up our language and we wanted to do some experiments on food and we wanted to teach Mags a new trick. We tried to teach Quarks but she's a cat and refused, obviously."

"Obviously," Jack replied as he would when Sam says something that makes perfect sense to her, "what are you trying to teach her?"

"How to roll over. It's for our plan," Olivia told him, while texting Skylar.

Jack looked at Sam, "She gets that talking and typing from you."

Sam nodded with a smile. "What are you two talking about, Liv?"

"Our language so far and *our* theory about Sha're and the other Uncle Daniel," Olivia explained, putting down her iPod to wait for a reply, "we think it was magnets."

Jack smiled, "That's my girl! It's always magnets!"

Magnet came over wagging her tail and sat by Jack, looking at him. Olivia giggled, "She thinks you called her!"

"Yeah, you're a good dog," Jack petted her head.

Skylar ate her chocolate ice cream at the kitchen island while texting Olivia from her iPod Touch. When she was finished with her ice cream she had to make a couple changes to their language in her notebook. They were discussing their sleepover plans for this weekend and how she could convince her parents to get a dog.

Vala checked on Sky after her shower, saw she was fine with her ice cream and laughing at her iPod - so the conversation with Olivia was going well - and found Daniel taking clothes out of the dryer.

"Wow, so helpful," she teased, folding her arms over the baby bump.

He feigned an offended look, "I do the laundry!"

"Yes, yes. Every other month or so…" grinned Vala, "Alright, I know. More often than that!"

Daniel pulled out the last couple items and put them in the laundry basket then closed the dryer door. Vala walked around and stood in front of him making him lean back against the dryer.

"How are you doing with…?" she gestured with her hand.

"The laundry?" He evaded.

Vala narrowed her eyes and rested her hands on his shoulders, "The other time and place you and Sha're thingy."

Daniel placed his hands on her hips, pausing a moment before answering. "It's incredibly weird. I thought it was weird before with the quantum mirror and seeing other SG-1s or with the black hole and all the other teams came through but that was the entire team. But it's weird to see them. So much has happened in my life to come to this point that to see a past alternate...thing but also it is a viable timeline. Incredibly weird."

"Understandable," Vala nodded, "If it was me with Tarek, who I was supposed to marry before I was taken by Qetesh I would find that very weird as well. Though how would we end up on Earth? It makes sense that they're here. I would have no reason to come to Earth. I suppose if there were -"

Daniel cut her off by kissing her softly, his hands sliding up to her back.

"Thank you," Vala said when they parted. "I would have just kept going on and on."

"I know," chuckled Daniel.

Vala ran her fingers through the hair on the back of his neck, "But like I said I think I know how I would feel and I wanted to make sure you were doing alright."

"It hurts less than I thought it would to see her," he explained, "but I'm happy to know she wasn't taken as a host and that ...the other us has a good life and at the same time I'm worried about the you in that reality."

"Oh don't worry about me in any reality," Vala grinned her plotting grin, "I'm probably stealing ships and finding treasures."

Daniel chuckled and the very real possibility of that fact, "I suppose you're right."

"I'm always right," she smirked, "and you're really okay?"

"Mostly," he told her honestly, "I'm okay that she's okay in that reality."

Vala accepted that answer seeing the truth in his eyes. "Do you think it's weird that Sky likes Sha're so much?"

Daniel shook his head. "She likes to talk - like you - and she gets to talk to someone who is actually a native Abydonian speaker. Plus Sha're is a nice person. I'm not surprised Sky likes her. She's a good judge of people, also like you."

"And you!"

"Mama?" Skylar asked from the end of the short hallway. "I think the baby wants ice cream. Can I have more?"

Vala laughed resting her forehead on Daniel's shoulder. She lifted her head to look at Skylar. "That's not how it works, Darling."

"Why not?" Skylar asked with a pout that could match her mother's.

Daniel let go of his wife so she could explain why pregnancy cravings apply only to her. 

Chapter Text

WEDNESDAY

Vala found Sam in her lab the next morning studying her computer. The Other Daniel and Sha're sat at the other end of the table.

"Good morning!" Vala greeted everyone, a decaf mocha latte in hand.

The three others responded in kind.

"Where's Daniel?" Sam asked, looking up from her computer.

"SG-4 needed something translated from their last mission," Vala shrugged, "Honestly Sky could have done it but they don't have a linguist."

Sam nodded. "We can grab him if we need him. Or we have this Daniel should the opportunity see fit!"

"I can see many opportunities in which having two Daniels would be very advantageous," Vala said, grinning at The Other Daniel in her suggestive manner to which he was not accustomed.

"Um, I uh," he stuttered, not sure what he should say to that.

"She's joking," Sam told him before he had a little heart attack and they affected the future in another reality any more than they already were.

A young man in a lab coat with a laptop knocked on the open door before Vala could lament about Sam ruining her fun with The Other Daniel.

"Colonel Carter, I have those results you were waiting for," he announced, carrying a laptop.

Sam waved him in. "Perfect, Dr. Featherland. I'll take that. Thank you. And thank Dr. Lee for me."

Dr. Featherland handed over the laptop. "No problem. We were happy to help. We found solar flare activity and some electromagnetic activity around the time that this Dr. Jackson and Sha're arrived. You will find it all in the program."

"That's very interesting," Vala said, mainly to herself.

Dr. Featherland said goodbye and went back to his office and The Other Daniel translated the tricky information of what they discovered for Sha're.

Sam clicked through her computer. "Atlantis reported similar findings. Solar flares and electromagnetic activity."

"Well we suspected the solar flares," Vala replied, "because of time travel."

Vala went over to the white board where she had drawn the pictorial representation of Abydos and Abydos Daniel and Earth and Earth Daniel. To the very right of her squiggly line she she drew another, smaller circle with an S attached to the top of it.

"Okay so we got the solar flare. Now what about electromagnetic fields?" Asked Vala.

"I have a theory but I need to run home and get something," Sam told them, "I'll be back soon. It should prove my theory correct!"

Vala recapped her marker. "Why don't you just ask Jack to get it?"

"That would entail asking Jack to find it - and it's easier finding it myself. Plus he would have to bring Sky and Liv up here, then back home, and I'm sure they're having fun playing," Sam explained. "It'll be faster if I do it myself."

Sam came home to a great dane wrapped in toilet paper; Quarks watching her - unamused - from the top of Magnet's crate; couch cushions, pillows and blankets all over the floor - probably the remnants of a fort; empty bowls on the coffee table; various Barbies, dolls, legos, and science toys were strewn about the floor; and playful screams came from the backyard. Making her way around the mess Sam went to the back sliding glass door to see her daughter and niece climbing on top of the play structure - Olivia in the playhouse part and Skylar on top of the monkey bars.

Sam stepped outside, followed by Magnet, to find her husband watching them from the deck.

"What is going on here?" She asked, just a tad more than slightly peeved.

"Oh hey!" Jack replied with a smile, "What are you doing home?"

Sam gave him a look that quite a few years ago would be labeled insubordinate. "I needed a book for my theory. But I see the living room exploded."

Jack was saved by the girls noticing Sam was home.

"Mommy!" "Auntie Sam!"

They ran across the yard, up the 3 stairs, into her sides, and hugged her.

"What are you doing here?" Olivia asked, "Can you play?"

Sam shook her head, "No I was just asking Dad about the mess I found!" She told the girls with a big surprised face, "And then I have to find a book and then go back to work."

Skylar started talking first, "Uncle Jack let us have Trix for lunch because they're for kids and then we wanted to make a fort."

"So we made a fort because we were off world and we to stay the night!" continued Olivia, "so that was our base!"

"But we were under attack from the mummy dog and her master," Sky explained why Mags was wrapped in toilet paper at least, "so the fort fell down. And then the Barbies had to discover why the mummy was alive and make a fixer elixir!"

Liv took over from there, "But then there was an explosion because the calculations were off."

Jack shrugged and patted the still partially wrapped up Magnet, "And then they had to go outside."

"Wow!" Sam laughed, "That sounds like a really exciting mission."

Skylar and Olivia nodded. "It was!" Olivia told her, "but we're not done yet."

"I need to find my book and get back to the SGC," Sam told them.

"Will you tell Sha're I say hi?" Sky asked her, swinging Sam's hand in hers, "And my mama? And Daddy? And Walter? And The Daniel who is like Daddy?"

"Me too, Mommy!"

Sam nodded with a smile, "Absolutely."

"Okay! Let's go chase that mummy!" Oliva said, running off after Mags who had run after a squirrel. Skylar ran after her, the pair laughing.

Sam turned her attention back to Jack.

"It'll be cleaned up," he told her, standing up, "it always is."

She laughed, "there was an explosion because the calculations were off?"

"Don't even tell me that never happened, Colonel," he chuckled, teasing her.

"I wouldn't dream of it, sir," she replied cheekily before giving him a quick kiss.

Vala grabbed a dish of green jello from the cooler in the commissary when she felt a hand on her lower back.

"Green?" Daniel asked, coffee cup in hand, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Don't ask me," she told him, heading to a table, "this is your baby."

Daniel chuckled, taking a seat across from her, "I don't like green jello."

She shrugged, eating a spoonful. "I do now, apparently."

"You liked lemon pie with Sky," Daniel recalled, then laughed, "that was fun when McKay was here."

"Oh it was! He wouldn't come near me," Vala grinned, and put on a voice like his, "'one drop of citrus is fatal to me!' He practically ran away. Yeah, we should teach Sky that trick."

"I'm normally against her tormenting SGC and Atlantis personnel but…maybe," Daniel decided, laughing into his coffee.

Vala ate more green jello. "When is our briefing?"

Daniel checked his watch, "Half an hour."

"Good," she nodded, "Sky's dentist appointment is tomorrow at 10 but depending on what General Landry decides about our...well Sam's plan I may not be able to take her."

"Let's see how it goes," he told her, "I can take her and if you guys need me we can reschedule her appointment."

"Okay!" Vala smiled, happy with that resolution, "And then Carolyn said she would see us for the ultrasound whenever we were finished."

"Mitchell is convinced it's a boy," Daniel told her, "Something about his grandma and...honestly I forgot what he said."

Vala laughed, "Well he'll find out tomorrow."

Everyone sat around the briefing room table - Vala at one end next to Daniel then Cam, and General Landry. Across from Vala was Teal'c then The Other Daniel and Sha're. Sam displayed a computer model of her data before she began to explain it.

"There is a proposal that electromagnetic fields have something to do with string theory in alternate realities - which in quantum theory allows for multiple versions of our universe to exist and overlap, and even interact with one another on the quantum level," Sam explained. "Vala and I - along with a few others looked at the recent space activity as well as some scientists at the Atlantis station to see if we could see if there were any correlations between solar flares and electromagnetic activity."

"They were kind enough to compile data we wanted to look at and then we found patterns," Vala told the others, "Obviously we knew we wanted information on solar flares since there was time travel."

Sam nodded, "And then I remembered that string theory talked about electromagnetic fields but since we hadn't really ever experienced anything like that my book on it was at home. Anyway we figured out that," stopped the model of the data, "right here is where the solar flare and the electromagnetic field occurred at the same time."

"The electromagnetic field possibly happened in Sha're and Daniel's reality and caused them to," Vala gestured her hands upwards, "woosh and then the wormhole jumped here through," she gestured again with her right hand almost hitting Daniel, "a solar flare and they time traveled."

"Right," Sam agreed. "But since that same electromagnetic activity was occurring here then if we create the same circumstances we can send them back."

"But with a solar flare on the opposite side of the sun," Daniel said, remembering how time travel with the Stargate and solar flares worked.

"Exactly," Vala nodded.

"But how do we predict solar flares?" General Landry asked.

"The Asgard database," Sam told them simply, "Vala and I already looked and there are significant changes just beneath the surface of the sun just preceding a flare that a detectable by satellite."

"Did you test it?" Asked Cam, knowing that was a stupid question.

Vala nodded. "We have it set up to continuously detect and predict solar flares."

"We are still monitoring for electromagnetic fields but so far none are have been occurring at the same time as the solar flares," Sam continued, going back to her visual aid that now changed to show their ongoing data. "However, that is more easily fixed."

The Other Daniel raised his hand slightly, "Um, how?"

"Well we can create an electromagnetic field. Creating a solar flare is pretty impossible," she told him.

"What would you need to create an electromagnetic field?" Landry asked.

"The Odyssey, some large magnets, a lot of insulated copper wire, and a really big bolt or something similar made of steel," listed Sam, "And Colonel Mitchell and Teal'c to help. We can create a large electromagnetic generator, connect it to the outside of the ship, and use the ship's systems to control it. Then we can disconnect it when we're done. "

General Landry nodded, "Detail the size and amount and I'll get it prepared. I anticipate it will take at least 11 hours to get to Odyssey back from it's current location so we can get you the materials in that time. Anything else?"

Sam shook her head. "No, sir. Vala?"

"Nope."

"Alright, you're dismissed."

The group dispersed and Vala went over to Sam, speaking quietly. "Do you think we could enact Plan Girl Trio Coffee Break?"

"Do you think General Landry would agree?" Sam asked, shutting down the computer model, "And you think Sha're wants to go?"

Vala raised an eyebrow, "She's been confined here. I'm sure she wants to go. And leave General Landry to me. I'll be back in a few."

Vala turned to head to the General's office and saw her husband still sitting in the chair waiting them with amused curiosity.

"Do I want to know what you're planning?" Daniel asked, turning the chair around so the back was to the table.

With her hands on the armrests she leaned down towards him, "Just some girl talk, Darling." She gave him a quick kiss before continuing on to Landry's office.

After a knock on the door and a response allowing her to enter, Vala was ready to propose her plan.

"What can I do for you, Vala?" Landry asked, looking up from the file on his desk.

"Sam and I want to take Sha're off base," she started. He looked like was about to say no so she continued quickly. "General, she must be so bored. Can you imagine? At least this other Daniel can read and translate and talk to...himself. She just needs some girl time! An hour, two tops. Some coffee, decaf for me obviously - I just have to have a decaf, soy, double whip mocha latte - maybe a hot chocolate or iced tea for Sha're, a frappuccino for Samantha - she loves those. We'll be back in no time. We can even pick something up for you if you want."

Vala waited somewhat impatiently while Landry thought about her proposal.

"Okay," he conceded, "But no more than two hours."

"Thank you!" Beamed a bouncing, excited Vala.

She went to tell Sam they had a go for their excursion and to find Sha're so they could go out.

Daniel looked up from his Asgard translations when he heard someone come into his office and saw himself...the other himself.

"Oh hello," Daniel said.

"Hi," The Other Daniel replied.

"Where's Sha're?" Asked Daniel, not used to seeing the other him without her.

The Other Daniel sat on the stool that was usually reserved for Vala, "She went out with Vala and Sam to Starbucks a couple hours ago."

Daniel nodded, "Leave it to Vala to spring someone. That's a pretty long Starbucks trip though."

The Other Daniel nodded his agreement.

Daniel located his cell phone under a couple papers and sent Vala a text asking where they were. He quickly received a photo reply - a selfie of the three of them.

"They're at the mall," Daniel told 'himself', while sending a text telling her to come back soon.

"Are they coming back soon?" The Other Daniel asked.

Daniel squinted as his phone. "I'm not sure. She just sent back the kissy lips emoji," he said, showing The Other Daniel his phone, knowing he would be unfamiliar with emoji.

"Hmm."

"Yeah."

"So we found out that in this reality Sha're was taken as a host," The Other Daniel said, getting to the subject he was curious about - the differences in realities.

"Uh yes," replied Daniel, "we had been married for a year and then Apophis came to Abydos after SG-1 came back and took her and Skaara and she was made host to Amonet. Then I joined SG-1 to find her and about 3 years later we did but she had control of me with a Goa'uld hand device and Teal'c was forced to kill her so she didn't kill me."

The Other Daniel listened with awe. "I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't a great time."

"How did you meet Vala?" The Other Daniel asked, "because she is...well she scares me a little bit."

Daniel laughed. "I met Vala almost 9 years after I joined SG-1. She used to be host to Qetesh."

"Ahh Qetesh, that explains it," The Other Daniel said in realization.

"Oh?" Asked Daniel amused because he knew his wife. "What did she say?"

"Something about two of us being advantageous."

Daniel laughed, probably harder than he should have seeing that his other self had no experience with Vala but it was funny to see it from this side.

"What?" The Other Daniel asked.

Daniel shook his head. "She's just messing with you. You don't need to be afraid of her. She can't do it to me anymore because I do it back so you're new meat so to speak."

"I see. So continue with your story," prompted The Other Daniel.

"Oh yes. Um, she attempted to steal our ship after leaving me the only one on board. We fought."

"You fought her?"

"Well she hit me! And then she kissed me, I called her a fruitcake, and she headbutted me, but I zatted her and locked her in a room. But then I let her go and got everyone back on board. A few months later she showed up at the SGC. A treasure hunt later and we can't get rid of her. Eventually she became a part of the team. And part of me."

The Other Daniel couldn't reconcile this information. "A treasure hunt?"

Cam chose that moment to walk into Daniel's office. "Are you talking about the Pirate Princess? Or is this an idea for Tiny Space Monkey Pirate Princess' birthday?"

"He asked how I met Vala," Daniel told Cam.

Cam nodded, "That is an unlikely pairing, huh? Yeah Princess used to be a Space Pirate. She came back with a treasure hunt and a special tablet to entice Danie!"

"Vala used to make...questionable choices," summed up Daniel.

"But then we were good influences," Cam added proudly.

"She has to have changed if she's a member of SG-1," The Other Daniel agreed, knowing the members of his reality's SG-1, "but I am still amazed at how you first met."

"You and me both," Daniel laughed.

"I've seen you talk to yourself before, Daniel, but this bringing a whole new meaning to it," Jack said, walking into Daniel's office, Skylar and Olivia following him.

"Hi Daddy! Hi Daniel!" Skylar greeted with Vala's enthusiasm and climbed on Daniel's lap," Hi Uncle Cam!"

"Hi," The Other Daniel replied.

"Hey Tiny Space Monkey Princess. Hey Doctor Liv Monster," Cam greeted girls.

Olivia pulled over the spare stool next to her uncle and climbed up. "Mommy and Auntie Vala and Sha're went shopping because Mommy remembered something she wanted to buy after they had coffee," Olivia told them, "And Auntie Vala loves the mall."

Skylar nodded, "Me too!"

Jack made his way to the other side of the desk. "Did you really expect them to be back in two hours?"

"I didn't know they were gone," Daniel said, gesturing to his Asgard translations, "But I knew Vala was planning something with Sam after the briefing."

"Mama and Auntie Sam always plan things," Sky told Daniel in a seriousness only a six year old could, "And then you usually make a face and Uncle Jack usually laughs at you."

Olivia nodded in agreement. "That's true."

The Other Daniel laughed. "You know it's bad when the kids can predict it."

"Yeahsureyoubetcha," Jack agreed, "Anyway, they'll be back pretty soon. The munchkins wanted to eat dinner with everyone. That's why we're here."

"Yep. We solved the mystery of the mummy dog on P9T-682," Olivia reported proudly.

"It was a magic potion left over from the Goa'uld," Skylar added, "Once I got the translations right and we got the calculations perfect so the Barbies stopped blowing up their magic potion fixer elixir, the mummy dog went back to normal."

"Is that so?" The Other Daniel asked, intrigued by their imagination.

The girls nodded. "It took lots of calculating and the mummy dog chased us a lot but also took some naps so we had some opportunities to do stuff."

"Better than any of our missions," Daniel laughed.

"Can I be part of one of those missions?" Cam asked, a little jealous that they got a mummy dog.

Skylar and Olivia looked at one another to confer.

"Maybe," Olivia decided.

Cam smiled, "I will take maybe!"

"What is maybe?" Vala asked as the trio breezed into the office carrying Starbucks cups and a couple shopping bags.

"Maybe I can be part of one of Sky and Liv's missions with a mummy dog and exploding calculations," Cam told the ladies proudly.

Vala put her bag down on the shelf and leaned on the desk next to her Daniel, "Oh, fun! So Daniel," She said, talking to The Other Daniel, "You might need to get Sha're Starbucks once you get back to your time and reality and go to the right Earth...we maaay have gotten her addicted. This was our second trip on the way back."

Sha're nodded while sipping from her straw.

"What did you get her?" Daniel asked, stealing a sip of Vala's regular drink even though it was decaf.

Sha're thought for a moment recalling her order in English. "Grande, single-shot, no whip strawberries and cream frappuccino."

"With some mocha drizzle," Sam added, "I told her it was good with that."

"I love strawberries and cream frappuccinos!" Olivia bounced in her seat.

Sky ginned, "Me too! But I like the vanilla bean ones."

"Maybe we'll get some Friday," Jack told the girls, "And you can get all energized for your next mission."

"Oh! Was it magnets, mommy?" Olivia asked, excitedly, "Will magnets get this Uncle Daniel and Sha're back to their planet?"

"Um, actually...partially yes," Sam nodded, just a tad worried that the girls had guessed what they did about magnets. It was most likely a coincidence but then again they were very smart kids, "Part of how they got here was an electromagnetic field and they do occur in space and in nature but we can't predict them. So we're going to make our own using a really big magnet and one of the ships in space."

"It's always magnets," Skylar said simply.

"This is what I'm saying," agreed Jack, "Now let's go eat!"

Chapter Text

THURSDAY

Sam stood on the bridge of the Odyssey with the crew and Cam. The electromagnetic generator they built had just been beamed into position outside the ship and Teal'c was waiting in a spacesuit to connect it to the Odyssey for the time being. The plan was to send The Other Daniel and Sha're back with a radio so they could let them know if they had successfully gotten back to their Abydos.

"How is it going out there, Teal'c?" Sam asked, hoping he was almost done.

"The generator is attached, Colonel Carter," came Teal'c's reply over the comms. "I am returning inside."

"Thank you. We'll see you in a few," replied Sam, grateful that part was over with. She picked up her radio from the console and called down to Vala. "Vala, it's Sam."

"Sam, how are things up there?" Vala asked from her set up in the control room monitoring solar flare activity.

"We just got the electromagnetic generator attached and systems look good," Sam told her looking over the officer's shoulder at the computer, "any idea when our next flare will be?"

"Twenty-four minutes," reported Vala, " and another should be happening two hours after that. Sha're and this Daniel are ready to go when we are."

"Got it. We'll shoot for the first one," Sam planned, using her tablet get a reading on the controls of her electromagnetic generator.

"Colonel Carter, I am inside," Teal'c told her over the comms.

Sam nodded, more to herself, "Good. Vala, I'm starting the generator and I'll send you the data of the field as well."

"Thanks!"

Twenty-two minutes later Sam had readings of good sized electromagnetic field with her generator.

"One minute until the flare," Vala told her, "We're getting read to dial the gate. I see the electromagnetic field is doing well."

"I'm showing the same readings," confirmed Sam tapping on the tablet, "I'm going to keep it going just in case."

"We're starting the dialing sequence now."

"Copy."

Sam, Cam, Teal'c and the Odyssey crew waited on the bridge to hear the status of the their mission.

"Waiting is the worst part!" Cam lamented, from Sam's far right.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow in agreement. "Indeed it is."

Vala's voice came over the radio, "They made it back to their correct time and reality. We did it!"

Vala left the control room and walked with as much bounce as one could being 20 weeks pregnant. Successful missions always made her happy. She arrived at the elevator just as Daniel and Skylar exited.

"I was just going to get my phone to see how much longer you would be," she said, giving Daniel a quick kiss.

"Did they get back okay?" Daniel asked, still holding Skylar's hand.

Vala nodded, "Everything went perfectly and Teal'c is removing the generator from the Odyssey now. They'll be down soon. Now tell me! How was the dentist?"

"It was great!" Sky reported, "No cavities and I have a loose tooth!" She pointed to the general area of said loose tooth, "Now do we get to see the baby? I haaaave to know if it's a brother or a sister!"

"Then let's go!" Vala grinned, her daughter's excitement mirroring her own, "Carolyn is waiting for us and she might have a little something for you. But only if you walk quickly and don't run."

Skylar took off for the infirmary doing her best power walk, and Vala slid her arm through Daniel's as they made their way down the hall.

"I swear I'm fine," Daniel told his ever-plotting wife.

Vala looked at him with faux shock, "Whatever do you mean, Darling? I couldn't just want to walk down the hall with my husband sending our daughter off to…" with his look telling her he didn't believe a word she was saying she fessed up, "yeah, you know me too well."

"I will always miss my Sha're like you will miss your Tarek," he said, "but knowing that in that reality she's okay, I'm fine. And as you decided, you're okay too. Maybe there's another reality where I didn't go to Abydos and Sha're is also fine. Alternate realities are limitless."

"Okay, we're all here," Cam said from his seat at the table in the commissary once Daniel, Vala, and Skylar arrived, "Can you tell us if it's a boy or a girl? I got 20 bucks on boy."

"I do believe you are incorrect, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c disagreed, bowing his head slightly.

Olivia looked at Jack, "Daddy why does Uncle Cam have twenty dollars on a boy? What boy is it?"

Jack laughed, "It means he's betting money that your Aunt Vala is having a boy."

"But he would be wrong," smirked Vala pulling the ultrasound photos out of her pocket and placing them on the table, "because we're having another girl."

Sam grinned, getting up to hug Vala. "I knew it! Congratulations."

"Yeah!" Sky smiled, "Me and Liv are having a sister!"

"Sweetheart, Liv isn't your sister, she's your cousin," Daniel gave his daughter the simplest explanation of their relationship, "You're getting a sister, but Liv is getting a cousin."

Cam handed Teal'c twenty dollars. "Now tell me this. Is there an alternate reality where I won this bet - one where Jackson and Vala are having a boy instead of a girl?"

"It is possible, yes," nodded Sam, taking her seat again, "There are an infinite number of alternate realities that come from any point in time."

"I like this one best," Skylar ginned.