Fic: On The Other Side Of Everything
Title: On The Other Side Of Everything
Rating: PG
Pairings: Team fic, mentions of DV in parts V and VI
Spoilers: Unending
Summary: After the time on the Odyssey, Teal’c has to reconcile the memories of the team he left behind with ones of the team he got back. A small series of vignettes spanning six months, going from “Unending” to the beginning of “The Ark of Truth”.
Thanks to
aeryn_b for the beta :D
On The Other Side Of Everything
I. One week after the Odyssey
“Fifty or sixty years! Something interesting must have happened… Obviously I hooked up with someone! Was it you, Muscles?”
Teal’c just stares at his young, now younger, friend. She asks about him and Col. Mitchell. He gives an indecipherable look and leaves the room. As he leaves he hears, “Gen. Landry?” and holds back a smirk. He hears Vala Mal Doran rush out of the room but she pauses by the threshold, this time her words are preceded by a pregnant pause, he pauses as well, and another name is uttered. This time the name is whispered, and if Teal’c was not trained to pick up on the small sounds that people tried to hide, he would have never heard it.
“Daniel…” This time the name is not a question. The way she says the name is quiet, too quiet. It is almost as if Vala Mal Doran dares not say this name louder for the fear of shattering the hope that Daniel Jackson’s name brings. She is willing to keep that hope locked in her heart. He hopes she will be able to let it out one day. He continues on his way.
In the gateroom he hears Vala Mal Doran say, “Life is too short”. He watches as she and Daniel Jackson share a look all too similar to the many they had shared over the years that neither remembers. He smiles.
As the gate dials Col. Carter asks him how hard it must be for him to keep this secret. He agrees, but doesn’t tell her that keeping the secret is nothing compared to the pain he feels in seeing them all young again. He is, of course, glad that they have all survived, but he misses the friends, the family he grew old with in those years. They are the same people, but they are not.
He misses the home they made on the ship. The sounds, the laughter, the tears, the hugs. He misses a future that did not happen. He misses it so much that it has not even been a full week after their return and he has already bought several cello concertos and has asked the botany department for a few seeds of what had been Gen. Landry’s favored plants.
Now Gen. Landry sends them off with a “Godspeed.” They head up the ramp, and Teal’c can’t help think that even despite everything and the happy years they had on the ship, that maybe, this time it will be different. Better.
II. Two weeks after the Odyssey
Colonel Mitchell had kept up his training into his early sixties when Colonel Carter’s threats to take away his red meat and mash potatoes had finally paid off, and he had relented. Teal’c had supported Colonel’s Carter decision, but not for the reasons that many would think, because even in his later years Colonel Mitchell had been a formidable opponent. Not as quick or spry as he had been, but he no longer needed the agility of his younger self anymore. With short, precise moves he would have beaten many skilled warriors in a heartbeat.
Now it is different. Now, even with his added years, Teal’c can beat Col. Mitchell as quickly as he had done in the beginning. But Teal’c cannot bring himself to feel smug; he had many years of being on the receiving end of Col. Mitchell’s staff to rid him of any conceit he might feel. He is all too aware of the potential the young man holds.
The first time he spars with the man in this time, he forgets that it is not the Cameron Mitchell that had learned to disarm him in five, sometimes three, moves. He had beaten the man embarrassingly quickly.
“Damn, T, I thought people were supposed to get slower in their old age, no offense.”
He looks at the young man on the mat floor, remembering his old friend, and answers, “A Jaffa never slows, Col. Mitchell. We are warriors until death.”
“Got it, Energizer bunny… Hey, wanna help me out here? I think something’s broken.”
Teal’c remembers.
He remembers how unhappy his friend had been in the beginning, how much anger he had held in his movements. Now his friend fights with the same passion, but none of the anger. He has a lighter heart now, no longer burdened with his imprisonment. Teal’c thinks he might grow to be an even more formidable warrior. Teal’c feels an immense honor in being able to witness it again.
III. Three weeks after the Odyssey
Teal’c misses Samantha Carter’s cello. Her favorite concerto was Elgar's Concerto in E minor, Op. 85. It was his favorite too. She had played it on their last night before she pressed the button.
He thinks back to the many years of hearing the soft strums of Col. Carter’s bow as it stroked the strings of the instrument. The passion, the longing, the hope, the despair, the hope again, the love, the finality. His dear friend had become a master at her craft, and he misses how her clever hands gave them all something to love in all those years. A love they all shared. With her hands she gave what she could not give with her mind. The belief and the faith that it would be okay in the end.
He knows she doesn’t miss it. But he thinks that a small part of her longs for it- for the escape she found in the music she played, in the music she loved. Her fingers, now callused with the odd burn marks from an overblown fuse, used to be callused because of hours of practice. Hours of scales and measures. Of Chopin’s Sonata in G Minor. He thinks she would prefer those calluses to the ones that she has now. Maybe it is him who prefers it.
He looks at his calendar and sees that her birthday is coming up soon. He makes several phone calls to find the best cello he can. He puts the order in when he finds one almost exactly like the one she replicated. It’s easier than he expected. Not long after the order is placed he takes a base car to the nearest mall. He goes into the music store. There he gets several books and sheets of music that he will later bind together; in her later years Col. Carter had started to compose her own pieces.
After he leaves the music store he heads for the exit. He is almost out when he passes a sporting goods store. He sees a pair of rollerblades in the window. He smiles and goes in. He makes sure to buy neon pink shoelaces as well.
IV. One month after the Odyssey
As Father’s Day creeps closer, Teal’c’s thoughts are filled with Gen. Landry. Even though the General had never talked about it much, he had missed his daughter immensely.
The first year Dr. Lam’s birthday had rolled around had been the first day that the General had not been his usual positive self. One more birthday he had missed, even if Dr. Lam would never be aware of it. He had sat with his plants all day and began to study how to breed certain plants together. Specifically, Irises and Lilies. Much later Teal’c learned they were Carolyn Lam’s favorites, and thanks to the Asgard technology Gen. Landry managed a beautiful hybrid that he called The Carolyn-Kim.
In his last years they were the only flowers that grew in abundance on the ship, and in the General’s last days they all made sure he had a fresh batch everyday. Teal’c wishes he could tell the doctor just how much her father missed her.
He is sitting in the infirmary after a mission, and looks at the calendar that hangs over Dr. Lam’s desk, “I see congratulations are in honor for the General.”
Dr. Lam looks at him oddly. He pretends not to notice. “Sorry?”
“It seems that Father’s Day is approaching; it must be a grand day for the General, to be honored as both a father and soldier. The Jaffa have a similar day where we honor the achievements that one has had in his life as a warrior. It is an auspicious day to be celebrated with friends and loved ones.”
Dr. Lam looks at him and then at the calendar, she appears to be deep in thought and then sighs.
“We haven’t really celebrated Father’s Day in the last few years.” Her eyes drift back towards the calendar.
Teal’c nods. “Maybe it is time to begin, Dr. Lam.”
V. Two months after the Odyssey
Teal’c knows they all gained back a lot after their return from the time dilation field, but he is also aware they lost much as well. Particularly Daniel Jackson. He watches his friend in his office; he is working on a translation or mission report. He watches, all too aware of what Daniel Jackson has lost.
He has lost love. Again.
He and Vala Mal Doran had shared fifty years of happiness, and Teal’c mourns that they are not aware of that fact.
They had made each other happy and whole for a lifetime, and now they are in separate rooms angry and fractured. The last mission had not gone well. Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran had scowled and clashed with each other. The words they had said could not be taken back, and both were still suffering the aftereffects.
Vala Mal Doran is currently sparring in the gym with Col. Mitchell, and Teal’c is sure the Colonel will have more than a few bruises to show for it tomorrow. Vala Mal Doran is quite the opponent when she wants to be. She punches her anger out, when she can’t stand to hold it in anymore.
But Daniel Jackson is losing himself in papers. He hids his feelings inside, developing like a virus that eats at him. Buried like the cultures he looks to uncover. There are very few people with whom he lets the levee break, and one of them is the reason why he’s submerging himself in his work.
Both are miserable and angry. On the ship when they had fought it had been similar, but every night they would sleep in the same quarters and the next morning (or morning after, depending on the fight) they would be Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran again, not the angrier, colder versions that had roamed the ship. Teal’c never knew the particulars of their reconciliations, and never really cared to know, his friends just always seemed to find their way back to each other. Bound in a way that he accepted and didn’t need to understand. They understood, and that was all they needed.
But now….
Now, he watches as they push away from each other, and unlike on the ship, they ignore, fight, and deny the pull that binds them together. Now, they distract themselves from it. They spar and play basketball, they work on mission reports and translations, they banter, bicker, and shop, and they try to ignore what Teal’c can see so clearly. What he saw for fifty years.
After their return from the time dilation field, Teal’c knows they all gained back a lot. But they lost as well. Yes, they lost much as well. Though in Teal’c’s opinion, none lost more than Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran. They had lost each other. Teal’c only hopes they are able to find one another again.
VI. Three months after the Odyssey
It is the day.
That horrible day full of tears. He knows that they don’t remember, but he does. He remembers what that day had done to them. He remembers Vala Mal Doran’s pain all too well.
It had happened in their fifth year. It had been a shock. Nobody had expected it, it had all looked fine, but it had happened anyway. It had happened on this day and they don't remember. But he does. He remembers the tears and the despair. How Vala Mal Doran had barely left their room for a week. How Daniel Jackson had stayed with her the whole time, taking care of her.
And in return they had taken care of them. They had made sure they ate and slept and talked. It had been hard on all of them. Despair had permeated the ship on that day and the following weeks. He remembers helping Col. Mitchell fix his room. He remembers sitting with Col. Carter, who cried for what had been lost, for what she had not been able to save. He remembers Gen. Landry holding a picture of Dr. Lam by the window as he looked out at their creeping death. But nothing could fix or soothe Vala Mal Doran and Daniel Jackson.
In the following years they had always honored that day- for themselves, for Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran, for what had been lost. The ship had always been quiet on that day, this day, much like Gen. Landry’s day would later become.
Today is that day. This day. And he honors it still. He is quiet and observing- it is a good thing that people don’t see much difference in his demeanor.
He watches Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran. They are happy and smiling at each other. He watches as an excited Vala Mal Doran moves forward to caress one of the gleaming statues. He watches as Daniel Jackson moves to intercept her, an arm goes around her waist. Daniel Jackson starts to explain something, smiling and lecturing all at once. The arm does not move. Vala Mal Doran nods and grins, her eyes roll, and they move to follow the guide. The arm casually drops. But they still smile.
It is the day. Teal’c remembers. They do not.
And for once he is glad. They can be happy today.
VII. Four months after the Odyssey
The night Gen. Landry had died, after Teal’c had escorted Col. Carter back to her room, he had then gone back to the General’s room. None of them had wanted the General to be alone for his last moments. Arriving, he had found that Col. Mitchell was already there.
When the General had been confined to his bed, Col. Mitchell had begun bringing their weekly chess games to him. But Gen. Landry could not longer play. Too weak. Too tired. So Col. Mitchell would then just sit and speak quietly to a man that he had grown to respect and love almost as much as his own father. That night Teal’c had stood silently by the door and watched as Col. Mitchell sat quietly for the end moments of the General’s life.
The following days, weeks, and months they had all mourned. Together. Apart. A team. A family.
The General had died in their twenty-first year.
Teal’c also remembers how the very next day after the General’s death, when he had gone to the bridge, he had found that Col. Mitchell was already there. Watching. In their last years Col. Mitchell had taken up the General’s post. Every morning just as the General had, Col. Mitchell would look out the wide windows to their impending death. On their last night he had been there too. Both men had died old and honored. Teal’c honors them still.
Now Teal’c watches an almost reverse of the situation. Col. Mitchell lays immobile on an infirmary bed. In protecting a bystander, he had subjected himself to several gunshot wounds that had shredded his insides. They had brought him back as fast as possible and had watched as Dr. Lam fought relentlessly to keep him alive. But the wounds had been severe and the Colonel had lost much blood. Teal’c knows Colonel Mitchell will not give up so easily, but he is also aware that in this life they got back, the odds of his friends living long and happy lives have been lessened exponentially.
On the ship they sat, waited and watched Gen. Landry die. Nothing more could have been done. Now they sit, wait and watch for Col. Mitchell to live. Nothing more can be done.
In the viewing room above Colonel Mitchell’s room sits General Landry. The man is quiet in his waiting. He waits for the young man to live. This will not be the Colonel’s time. This is not the Colonel’s time. None of them believe it or accept it.
The rest of the team sit and wait as well. Col. Carter holds his hand. Daniel Jackson tells him to fight. Vala Mal Doran alternates between goading him into waking up, demanding him to wake up, and just sitting. Teal’c himself, sits and waits like the General. He also reminds Col. Mitchell they have a rematch waiting in Madden.
The day Colonel Mitchell wakes up it is only General Landry and Dr. Lam in the room. The doctor has barely left her patient and the General uses that as an extra excuse to be in the room. When SG-1 gets to the room, Colonel Mitchell is already trying to charm his way out of the bed. He smiles at them, weak but alive. They smile back, relief flowing through them all. But Teal’c feels the biggest relief of all. He was not willing to lose his friend a second time. Not this soon.
They still had much to do. Much to live.
VIII. Five months after the Odyssey
There had been something, someone, missing in all the years on the ship.
Teal’c will not deny that he felt the lack of Jack O’Neill in those fifty or sixty years.
In some ways Jack O’Neill had been the one who brought this mismatched family together. He had given Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter a place where they felt they belonged, when they had felt so out place everywhere else. He had inspired Teal’c to leave everything and join a fight that he had once thought to be futile. He had brought General Landry into the SGC. He had presented Cameron Mitchell with an opportunity that had changed his entire life. He had even given Vala Mal Doran the nod of approval, which only Teal’c knew about because O’Neill had taken him aside and asked how he saw hers and Daniel Jackson’s emerging friendship after the events with the Ancient device and the stones. Both had approved.
On the ship they had all missed Jack O’Neill a great deal. Some more than others.
When they return and O’Neill hears about the events of the Odyssey, he calls right away and asks if they are all okay. They all reassure him, but he still asks about the years none remembers but Teal’c. O’Neill’s lines of questions are as probing and amusing as Vala Mal Doran’s and Col. Mitchell’s, but Teal’c will not answer them either. Honestly, he rather enjoys evading certain questions. Knowledge is indeed power.
Sitting across from him, O’Neill takes a bite out of his pie and narrows his eyes, “It’s been five months, can’t you just at least tell me if that thing that I asked about before happened?”
“I cannot, O’Neill. You know this.”
“Know, shmoe… I know nothing.” O’Neill waves his fork at him and takes another bite.
Teal’c looks at his former SG leader and friend, and smirks, “I can tell you one thing…”
O’Neill’s brown eyes rise in anticipation for this news; he is probably looking forward to holding it over certain people’s heads.
“You were greatly missed.” Teal’c says, brown eyes meeting. His tone lets his friend know just how important his words are.
In front of him, he can see how his friend tries not to let the information overwhelm him. He just swallows and nods, before he takes another bite.
“I miss-would have missed you guys too.” Teal’c knows that O’Neill won’t allow himself to say anything more, but he also knows that his friend just said everything that needed to be said.
IX. Six months after the Odyssey
They are off base when they get the message. They are having lunch at Samantha Carter’s favorite Italian restaurant. They are smiling and laughing, like a family. Teal’c remembers many breakfasts and dinners similar to this.
Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran sit next to each other. He is next to them. Samantha Carter and Cameron Mitchell across from them. They joke about Col. Mitchell’s latest loss of his pants. They talk about Col. Carter’s progression with the cello. Daniel Jackson mockingly scolds Teal’c about buying Vala Mal Doran rollerblades; she smacks Daniel Jackson on the arm with a laugh then loops her arm around Teal’c own with a grin. She loves her new rollerblades.
Teal’c has come to realize he still has his family with him; they are just a bit different.
Then the message comes. They head back to the base with haste.
At the base they get the news.
They are in the briefing room and Gen. Landry stands in front of them. A father in front of his children. His eyes stay a second longer on one of them before he speaks, “SG5 just radioed in, they say they have encountered an Ori defector.” Teal’c can sense his family’s tension as if they all know what is coming next. Gen. Landry continues, “They say his name is Tomin.”
Next to Daniel Jackson, Vala Mal Doran takes in a deep breath, while Col. Carter and Mitchell’s eyes drift to her. Teal’c is infused with the knowledge that a new battle is about to begin. A new chapter in their lives has begun.
But Teal’c is also aware that they’ll get through it together. Like a family.
To be continued in The Ark Of Truth… Dun dun dun!
--
AN: Who knows if it will really be sixth months from “Unending” to Ark of Truth, and who knows how Tomin really comes back in the picture, but I hope you all enjoyed. Teal’c got his family back and now they all get on an adventure! Yay!
Rating: PG
Pairings: Team fic, mentions of DV in parts V and VI
Spoilers: Unending
Summary: After the time on the Odyssey, Teal’c has to reconcile the memories of the team he left behind with ones of the team he got back. A small series of vignettes spanning six months, going from “Unending” to the beginning of “The Ark of Truth”.
Thanks to
aeryn_b for the beta :D
On The Other Side Of Everything
I. One week after the Odyssey
“Fifty or sixty years! Something interesting must have happened… Obviously I hooked up with someone! Was it you, Muscles?”
Teal’c just stares at his young, now younger, friend. She asks about him and Col. Mitchell. He gives an indecipherable look and leaves the room. As he leaves he hears, “Gen. Landry?” and holds back a smirk. He hears Vala Mal Doran rush out of the room but she pauses by the threshold, this time her words are preceded by a pregnant pause, he pauses as well, and another name is uttered. This time the name is whispered, and if Teal’c was not trained to pick up on the small sounds that people tried to hide, he would have never heard it.
“Daniel…” This time the name is not a question. The way she says the name is quiet, too quiet. It is almost as if Vala Mal Doran dares not say this name louder for the fear of shattering the hope that Daniel Jackson’s name brings. She is willing to keep that hope locked in her heart. He hopes she will be able to let it out one day. He continues on his way.
In the gateroom he hears Vala Mal Doran say, “Life is too short”. He watches as she and Daniel Jackson share a look all too similar to the many they had shared over the years that neither remembers. He smiles.
As the gate dials Col. Carter asks him how hard it must be for him to keep this secret. He agrees, but doesn’t tell her that keeping the secret is nothing compared to the pain he feels in seeing them all young again. He is, of course, glad that they have all survived, but he misses the friends, the family he grew old with in those years. They are the same people, but they are not.
He misses the home they made on the ship. The sounds, the laughter, the tears, the hugs. He misses a future that did not happen. He misses it so much that it has not even been a full week after their return and he has already bought several cello concertos and has asked the botany department for a few seeds of what had been Gen. Landry’s favored plants.
Now Gen. Landry sends them off with a “Godspeed.” They head up the ramp, and Teal’c can’t help think that even despite everything and the happy years they had on the ship, that maybe, this time it will be different. Better.
II. Two weeks after the Odyssey
Colonel Mitchell had kept up his training into his early sixties when Colonel Carter’s threats to take away his red meat and mash potatoes had finally paid off, and he had relented. Teal’c had supported Colonel’s Carter decision, but not for the reasons that many would think, because even in his later years Colonel Mitchell had been a formidable opponent. Not as quick or spry as he had been, but he no longer needed the agility of his younger self anymore. With short, precise moves he would have beaten many skilled warriors in a heartbeat.
Now it is different. Now, even with his added years, Teal’c can beat Col. Mitchell as quickly as he had done in the beginning. But Teal’c cannot bring himself to feel smug; he had many years of being on the receiving end of Col. Mitchell’s staff to rid him of any conceit he might feel. He is all too aware of the potential the young man holds.
The first time he spars with the man in this time, he forgets that it is not the Cameron Mitchell that had learned to disarm him in five, sometimes three, moves. He had beaten the man embarrassingly quickly.
“Damn, T, I thought people were supposed to get slower in their old age, no offense.”
He looks at the young man on the mat floor, remembering his old friend, and answers, “A Jaffa never slows, Col. Mitchell. We are warriors until death.”
“Got it, Energizer bunny… Hey, wanna help me out here? I think something’s broken.”
Teal’c remembers.
He remembers how unhappy his friend had been in the beginning, how much anger he had held in his movements. Now his friend fights with the same passion, but none of the anger. He has a lighter heart now, no longer burdened with his imprisonment. Teal’c thinks he might grow to be an even more formidable warrior. Teal’c feels an immense honor in being able to witness it again.
III. Three weeks after the Odyssey
Teal’c misses Samantha Carter’s cello. Her favorite concerto was Elgar's Concerto in E minor, Op. 85. It was his favorite too. She had played it on their last night before she pressed the button.
He thinks back to the many years of hearing the soft strums of Col. Carter’s bow as it stroked the strings of the instrument. The passion, the longing, the hope, the despair, the hope again, the love, the finality. His dear friend had become a master at her craft, and he misses how her clever hands gave them all something to love in all those years. A love they all shared. With her hands she gave what she could not give with her mind. The belief and the faith that it would be okay in the end.
He knows she doesn’t miss it. But he thinks that a small part of her longs for it- for the escape she found in the music she played, in the music she loved. Her fingers, now callused with the odd burn marks from an overblown fuse, used to be callused because of hours of practice. Hours of scales and measures. Of Chopin’s Sonata in G Minor. He thinks she would prefer those calluses to the ones that she has now. Maybe it is him who prefers it.
He looks at his calendar and sees that her birthday is coming up soon. He makes several phone calls to find the best cello he can. He puts the order in when he finds one almost exactly like the one she replicated. It’s easier than he expected. Not long after the order is placed he takes a base car to the nearest mall. He goes into the music store. There he gets several books and sheets of music that he will later bind together; in her later years Col. Carter had started to compose her own pieces.
After he leaves the music store he heads for the exit. He is almost out when he passes a sporting goods store. He sees a pair of rollerblades in the window. He smiles and goes in. He makes sure to buy neon pink shoelaces as well.
IV. One month after the Odyssey
As Father’s Day creeps closer, Teal’c’s thoughts are filled with Gen. Landry. Even though the General had never talked about it much, he had missed his daughter immensely.
The first year Dr. Lam’s birthday had rolled around had been the first day that the General had not been his usual positive self. One more birthday he had missed, even if Dr. Lam would never be aware of it. He had sat with his plants all day and began to study how to breed certain plants together. Specifically, Irises and Lilies. Much later Teal’c learned they were Carolyn Lam’s favorites, and thanks to the Asgard technology Gen. Landry managed a beautiful hybrid that he called The Carolyn-Kim.
In his last years they were the only flowers that grew in abundance on the ship, and in the General’s last days they all made sure he had a fresh batch everyday. Teal’c wishes he could tell the doctor just how much her father missed her.
He is sitting in the infirmary after a mission, and looks at the calendar that hangs over Dr. Lam’s desk, “I see congratulations are in honor for the General.”
Dr. Lam looks at him oddly. He pretends not to notice. “Sorry?”
“It seems that Father’s Day is approaching; it must be a grand day for the General, to be honored as both a father and soldier. The Jaffa have a similar day where we honor the achievements that one has had in his life as a warrior. It is an auspicious day to be celebrated with friends and loved ones.”
Dr. Lam looks at him and then at the calendar, she appears to be deep in thought and then sighs.
“We haven’t really celebrated Father’s Day in the last few years.” Her eyes drift back towards the calendar.
Teal’c nods. “Maybe it is time to begin, Dr. Lam.”
V. Two months after the Odyssey
Teal’c knows they all gained back a lot after their return from the time dilation field, but he is also aware they lost much as well. Particularly Daniel Jackson. He watches his friend in his office; he is working on a translation or mission report. He watches, all too aware of what Daniel Jackson has lost.
He has lost love. Again.
He and Vala Mal Doran had shared fifty years of happiness, and Teal’c mourns that they are not aware of that fact.
They had made each other happy and whole for a lifetime, and now they are in separate rooms angry and fractured. The last mission had not gone well. Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran had scowled and clashed with each other. The words they had said could not be taken back, and both were still suffering the aftereffects.
Vala Mal Doran is currently sparring in the gym with Col. Mitchell, and Teal’c is sure the Colonel will have more than a few bruises to show for it tomorrow. Vala Mal Doran is quite the opponent when she wants to be. She punches her anger out, when she can’t stand to hold it in anymore.
But Daniel Jackson is losing himself in papers. He hids his feelings inside, developing like a virus that eats at him. Buried like the cultures he looks to uncover. There are very few people with whom he lets the levee break, and one of them is the reason why he’s submerging himself in his work.
Both are miserable and angry. On the ship when they had fought it had been similar, but every night they would sleep in the same quarters and the next morning (or morning after, depending on the fight) they would be Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran again, not the angrier, colder versions that had roamed the ship. Teal’c never knew the particulars of their reconciliations, and never really cared to know, his friends just always seemed to find their way back to each other. Bound in a way that he accepted and didn’t need to understand. They understood, and that was all they needed.
But now….
Now, he watches as they push away from each other, and unlike on the ship, they ignore, fight, and deny the pull that binds them together. Now, they distract themselves from it. They spar and play basketball, they work on mission reports and translations, they banter, bicker, and shop, and they try to ignore what Teal’c can see so clearly. What he saw for fifty years.
After their return from the time dilation field, Teal’c knows they all gained back a lot. But they lost as well. Yes, they lost much as well. Though in Teal’c’s opinion, none lost more than Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran. They had lost each other. Teal’c only hopes they are able to find one another again.
VI. Three months after the Odyssey
It is the day.
That horrible day full of tears. He knows that they don’t remember, but he does. He remembers what that day had done to them. He remembers Vala Mal Doran’s pain all too well.
It had happened in their fifth year. It had been a shock. Nobody had expected it, it had all looked fine, but it had happened anyway. It had happened on this day and they don't remember. But he does. He remembers the tears and the despair. How Vala Mal Doran had barely left their room for a week. How Daniel Jackson had stayed with her the whole time, taking care of her.
And in return they had taken care of them. They had made sure they ate and slept and talked. It had been hard on all of them. Despair had permeated the ship on that day and the following weeks. He remembers helping Col. Mitchell fix his room. He remembers sitting with Col. Carter, who cried for what had been lost, for what she had not been able to save. He remembers Gen. Landry holding a picture of Dr. Lam by the window as he looked out at their creeping death. But nothing could fix or soothe Vala Mal Doran and Daniel Jackson.
In the following years they had always honored that day- for themselves, for Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran, for what had been lost. The ship had always been quiet on that day, this day, much like Gen. Landry’s day would later become.
Today is that day. This day. And he honors it still. He is quiet and observing- it is a good thing that people don’t see much difference in his demeanor.
He watches Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran. They are happy and smiling at each other. He watches as an excited Vala Mal Doran moves forward to caress one of the gleaming statues. He watches as Daniel Jackson moves to intercept her, an arm goes around her waist. Daniel Jackson starts to explain something, smiling and lecturing all at once. The arm does not move. Vala Mal Doran nods and grins, her eyes roll, and they move to follow the guide. The arm casually drops. But they still smile.
It is the day. Teal’c remembers. They do not.
And for once he is glad. They can be happy today.
VII. Four months after the Odyssey
The night Gen. Landry had died, after Teal’c had escorted Col. Carter back to her room, he had then gone back to the General’s room. None of them had wanted the General to be alone for his last moments. Arriving, he had found that Col. Mitchell was already there.
When the General had been confined to his bed, Col. Mitchell had begun bringing their weekly chess games to him. But Gen. Landry could not longer play. Too weak. Too tired. So Col. Mitchell would then just sit and speak quietly to a man that he had grown to respect and love almost as much as his own father. That night Teal’c had stood silently by the door and watched as Col. Mitchell sat quietly for the end moments of the General’s life.
The following days, weeks, and months they had all mourned. Together. Apart. A team. A family.
The General had died in their twenty-first year.
Teal’c also remembers how the very next day after the General’s death, when he had gone to the bridge, he had found that Col. Mitchell was already there. Watching. In their last years Col. Mitchell had taken up the General’s post. Every morning just as the General had, Col. Mitchell would look out the wide windows to their impending death. On their last night he had been there too. Both men had died old and honored. Teal’c honors them still.
Now Teal’c watches an almost reverse of the situation. Col. Mitchell lays immobile on an infirmary bed. In protecting a bystander, he had subjected himself to several gunshot wounds that had shredded his insides. They had brought him back as fast as possible and had watched as Dr. Lam fought relentlessly to keep him alive. But the wounds had been severe and the Colonel had lost much blood. Teal’c knows Colonel Mitchell will not give up so easily, but he is also aware that in this life they got back, the odds of his friends living long and happy lives have been lessened exponentially.
On the ship they sat, waited and watched Gen. Landry die. Nothing more could have been done. Now they sit, wait and watch for Col. Mitchell to live. Nothing more can be done.
In the viewing room above Colonel Mitchell’s room sits General Landry. The man is quiet in his waiting. He waits for the young man to live. This will not be the Colonel’s time. This is not the Colonel’s time. None of them believe it or accept it.
The rest of the team sit and wait as well. Col. Carter holds his hand. Daniel Jackson tells him to fight. Vala Mal Doran alternates between goading him into waking up, demanding him to wake up, and just sitting. Teal’c himself, sits and waits like the General. He also reminds Col. Mitchell they have a rematch waiting in Madden.
The day Colonel Mitchell wakes up it is only General Landry and Dr. Lam in the room. The doctor has barely left her patient and the General uses that as an extra excuse to be in the room. When SG-1 gets to the room, Colonel Mitchell is already trying to charm his way out of the bed. He smiles at them, weak but alive. They smile back, relief flowing through them all. But Teal’c feels the biggest relief of all. He was not willing to lose his friend a second time. Not this soon.
They still had much to do. Much to live.
VIII. Five months after the Odyssey
There had been something, someone, missing in all the years on the ship.
Teal’c will not deny that he felt the lack of Jack O’Neill in those fifty or sixty years.
In some ways Jack O’Neill had been the one who brought this mismatched family together. He had given Daniel Jackson and Samantha Carter a place where they felt they belonged, when they had felt so out place everywhere else. He had inspired Teal’c to leave everything and join a fight that he had once thought to be futile. He had brought General Landry into the SGC. He had presented Cameron Mitchell with an opportunity that had changed his entire life. He had even given Vala Mal Doran the nod of approval, which only Teal’c knew about because O’Neill had taken him aside and asked how he saw hers and Daniel Jackson’s emerging friendship after the events with the Ancient device and the stones. Both had approved.
On the ship they had all missed Jack O’Neill a great deal. Some more than others.
When they return and O’Neill hears about the events of the Odyssey, he calls right away and asks if they are all okay. They all reassure him, but he still asks about the years none remembers but Teal’c. O’Neill’s lines of questions are as probing and amusing as Vala Mal Doran’s and Col. Mitchell’s, but Teal’c will not answer them either. Honestly, he rather enjoys evading certain questions. Knowledge is indeed power.
Sitting across from him, O’Neill takes a bite out of his pie and narrows his eyes, “It’s been five months, can’t you just at least tell me if that thing that I asked about before happened?”
“I cannot, O’Neill. You know this.”
“Know, shmoe… I know nothing.” O’Neill waves his fork at him and takes another bite.
Teal’c looks at his former SG leader and friend, and smirks, “I can tell you one thing…”
O’Neill’s brown eyes rise in anticipation for this news; he is probably looking forward to holding it over certain people’s heads.
“You were greatly missed.” Teal’c says, brown eyes meeting. His tone lets his friend know just how important his words are.
In front of him, he can see how his friend tries not to let the information overwhelm him. He just swallows and nods, before he takes another bite.
“I miss-would have missed you guys too.” Teal’c knows that O’Neill won’t allow himself to say anything more, but he also knows that his friend just said everything that needed to be said.
IX. Six months after the Odyssey
They are off base when they get the message. They are having lunch at Samantha Carter’s favorite Italian restaurant. They are smiling and laughing, like a family. Teal’c remembers many breakfasts and dinners similar to this.
Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran sit next to each other. He is next to them. Samantha Carter and Cameron Mitchell across from them. They joke about Col. Mitchell’s latest loss of his pants. They talk about Col. Carter’s progression with the cello. Daniel Jackson mockingly scolds Teal’c about buying Vala Mal Doran rollerblades; she smacks Daniel Jackson on the arm with a laugh then loops her arm around Teal’c own with a grin. She loves her new rollerblades.
Teal’c has come to realize he still has his family with him; they are just a bit different.
Then the message comes. They head back to the base with haste.
At the base they get the news.
They are in the briefing room and Gen. Landry stands in front of them. A father in front of his children. His eyes stay a second longer on one of them before he speaks, “SG5 just radioed in, they say they have encountered an Ori defector.” Teal’c can sense his family’s tension as if they all know what is coming next. Gen. Landry continues, “They say his name is Tomin.”
Next to Daniel Jackson, Vala Mal Doran takes in a deep breath, while Col. Carter and Mitchell’s eyes drift to her. Teal’c is infused with the knowledge that a new battle is about to begin. A new chapter in their lives has begun.
But Teal’c is also aware that they’ll get through it together. Like a family.
To be continued in The Ark Of Truth… Dun dun dun!
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AN: Who knows if it will really be sixth months from “Unending” to Ark of Truth, and who knows how Tomin really comes back in the picture, but I hope you all enjoyed. Teal’c got his family back and now they all get on an adventure! Yay!