AN/ This is to just clarify a couple of things. Timeline is ten years after Departure for Roswell and between 7-8 for Stargate. BEFORE Jack is a General, which I think spelled the doom for everything. Jack does not belong shakled to a desk. Umm...wait, a minute, enjoying a visual. Okay, I'm better now. Anyway, that is the timeline. Other things that I should have explained in the summary are as follows. Everyone but Liz left that day in the pod chamber. They all still felt that Alex killed himself but Liz discovered later that it was Tess but she couldn't really prove this to anyone since no one was left to tell. Her parents are gone, that will be explained later as well as the whole SPOT thing. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it. Remember I am a fb junkie so enjoy!
Chapter One
Heaven bend to take my hand
And lead me through the fire
Be the long awaited answer
To a long and painful fight
Truth be told I've tried my best
But somewhere along the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer
And the cost was so much more than I could bear
Though I've tried, I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...
We all begin with good intent
Love was raw and young
We believed that we could change ourselves
The past could be undone
But we carry on our backs the burden
Time always reveals
In the lonely light of morning
In the wound that would not heal
It's the bitter taste of losing everything
That I've held so dear.
I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...
Heaven bend to take my hand
Nowhere left to turn
I'm lost to those I thought were friends
To everyone I know
Oh they turn their heads embarrassed
Pretend that they don't see
But it's one missed step
One slip before you know it
And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed
Though I've tried, I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...
-Fallen: Sarah McLachlan
AN: There is a reference to a castle in this chapter and if anyone was interested this is what we are talking about. It is also the inspiration for Disney's Cinderella Castle in Orlando. ANyway, before anything else I would like to thank my WONDERFUL beta KiaraAlexisKlay. Thank you so much for your help. As always I look forward to feedback...it is my drug. I hope to have next part ready for you all next week. Now on with the show.
http://www.castles.org/castles/Europe/C ... C-792F.jpg
CHAPTER ONE:
General George Hammond entered the conference room knowing exactly what he had to do and hating every minute of it. After all his years of sending good people into the fray, he would have thought that it would have gotten easier. It never did. If anything, it had gotten harder over the passing of the years as the bonds of friendship grew stronger. This is why most military appointments were only a matter of a few years but the Stargate program had special consideration. He had been here seven years longer than he had intended, and the people that worked for him had become his family.
“All right people. Let’s get started. SG-6 failed to make their scheduled rendezvous from PX6-346. There has been no contact in over 36 hours. I would like for SG-1 to go through and find them and bring them back.”
Jack sighed. “Sir, what was their last known position?”
“About seven miles from the gate. They reported that they had found what they believed to be some ruins that merited further investigation and that’s the last we heard from them.”
“What sort of ruins?” Daniel asked his natural curiosity piqued.
“Unknown, Doctor. “ General Hammond glanced around the table at his flagship team. “All right. Prepare to move out. You leave in an hour. And SG-1?” General Hammond paused as he looked around the table at his premiere unit. “Watch your six.”
****************************************************************************************************
Max Evans, King of Antar and former resident of the planet Earth was having a bad day. He was never really very good at politics, a skill that would have served him well given his current station in life. He knew he should have been paying attention to this meeting but all he could think about was finding her and killing her once and for all. Max had never thought himself as a violent man, at least he never used to. But in the ten years that he had been on Antar all of that had changed, he had changed. He now had more enemies than he had friends. He was scared to sleep at night for fear of assassination attempts. Although he was the rightful heir to the throne and was beloved as the king, Khivar still had his supporters, many of whom Max felt resided in the palace.
He knew it was the glowering form of Michael Guerin that kept them at bay, for as much as they hated Max, they feared Michael. They remembered Rath and the way he could instill fear just by a glance. But not even Michael could stop the attempt that was made on his own wife. Maria DeLuca-Guerin now lay in a semi-comatose state. Nothing Max or Michael tried to do seemed to make a damn bit difference. She barely recognized those around her, only her daughter Ellie seem to register any emotion with her and because of that Michael had been on a suicide mission to find Khivar, just as Max was on a similar one to find Tess. If only he had listened.
“Max, are you listening to me?” Larek asked from his seat opposite from him. Larek sighed deeply, he knew that Max had a lot of his mind but sometimes he just seemed lost. He had been like this on and off since his arrival on Antar ten years ago. He knew he missed his home, his family…
her. Larek could barely bring himself so say her name, but that Earth girl had ruined everything. That was why Tess had been forced to betray him; she just couldn’t live with the ghost of Liz Parker, nor the fact that Max inadvertently marked Liz as his queen instead of Tess. No wonder his sister deserted them and joined forces with Khivar and Nicholas. Larek himself had been on the verge of war with Antar after that, but the alliance proposed between himself and Isabel proved to be too fruitful to pass up. But it didn’t mean he liked or trusted Max any better. It just meant if he wanted to keep Isabel happy he would keep the peace no matter what that meant. But his loyalty to her could only stretch so far.
“Sorry, Larek.” Max slowly responded. “Um…can we reschedule this meeting? The trade delegation isn’t due for another two weeks. That’s plenty of time to decide what to do.”
“Fine.” Larek grumbled getting to his feet. “I suggest you try and pull yourself together, Max. My sister will not be found till she wants to be found. Only then can you two discuss reconciliation.”
“Recon…You think I want her back?” Max asked incredulously. There was no possible way her could ever take her back; not after everything that had happened.
“Of course, she’s your queen.” It was apparent to Larek that there was little of a king residing in this man. His sister had tried to explain it but he hadn’t fully understood until he saw him for himself. He just couldn’t fathom why Zan would take this course instead of being with his wife. Together Max and Tess would be unstoppable
“According to you, she’s not.”
“That is hardly Tess’s fault. Besides, it’s not like you will ever see your little Earth whore again.” Larek said very condescendingly as he smiled coldly in his attempt to elicit a response.
“Watch it!” Max said in a voice that carried his authority. He stood to his full height and looked angrily at Larek. “I know you don’t care much for me or for my former home. But since you are married to Isabel, that makes us family, and I will not have you speaking ill of the people I…”
“That you what?” Larek asked incredulously. “Love? Too bad you couldn’t spare a bit of that for my sister.”
“Do you have any idea how many she killed just to get her own way?” He hadn’t learned the full length of what Tess had truly been capable of until right before she had run off into the night with Khivar. She had revealed that Alex had died at her hand and not of his own.
“She did what she had to do. If you were half the ruler she would have been you’d understand that. You’d understand that everything she did, she did for you and for Antar.”
Larek grabbed his cloak and stormed out the door, leaving a fuming King Maxwell behind. The idea that Larek expected him to reconcile was preposterous. Tess had destroyed everything that had mattered to him. She took him from the only home he had ever known, killed and tortured his friends, and left him with nothing but memories of a young girl with chocolate eyes who once loved a king.
“Your Highness?”
Max turned abruptly, hand outstretched ready to defend himself against the possible threat. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he hadn’t heard the door to the great hall open. He came face to face with one of the only true allies he felt he had left, Serena. Serena was the lead scientist in charge of research at his court. She gasped a bit when she saw her greeting but it was not unexpected. She had heard from the hallway the exchange between Max and Larek. The pair had once been friends. In fact it was Larek that had introduced Max and Tess in their former lives. But that friendship seemed to have died along with Zan.
“Serena, I’m sorry. You startled me.” Max apologized as he lowered his hand.
“That’s quite all right, Your Majesty.” She even managed to muster up a smile. “I just thought you should know that the Circle has been activated again.”
“Again?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Serena, how many times do I have to ask for you to call me Max?”He gave her a quick, rueful smile.
“At least once more.” She blushed at the thought of using his Earth name. It sounded so intimate to her even though she knew he meant nothing by it. “What do you want me to do?”
“Send a team of guards. Bring me whoever came through the circle.” He demanded through clinched teeth. The last thing he needed was some new enemy knocking on his door.
Serena nodded and turned to leave only to be stopped by Max’s soft voice.
“And Serena, make sure you tell them I want them alive, they have a tendency to be a bit over zealous.”
***************************************************************************************************
Jack shifted uncomfortably on his feet as he stood outside the ruins waiting for Daniel or someone to report to him about what they were looking at. The ruins were supposedly the last known location of SG-6. Jack had walked around the encompassing area at least twice and found very little in the way of evidence to show they were here. No equipment, no gear left behind, there was nothing. It was as though they had never been here.
“What do we got, Carter?” Jack called out to Sam as she made her way over to him.
“Not sure, sir. It looks like there was some sort of conflict on the east side but that’s really all we have. Teal’c is scouting the perimeter now.”
“Great. What about Daniel and Parker?”
“They are still checking out the carvings to see why this place was of interest to SG-6.” Sam explained as she tucked a stray blond hair back into her hat.
“Figures. Daniel and his carvings.”
Daniel Jackson sat on the floor of what at one time was a vast structure, drawing the carvings in his notebook. Liz sat back about four feet away from him taking some soil samples to be tested when they got back to Earth. She was never quite sure what the purpose of the soil samples was, but who was she to argue with standard operating procedures? But as far as she knew, not once had any team found anything of note in the soil samples. She glanced sideways at Daniel and tried to suppress a smile. He had been her teammate for going on a year now and she was still trying to figure him out. He was a walking contradiction. He hated guns but was an excellent shot, he was cerebral but one of the most impassioned men she had ever met. He was a mystery to her and one she would love to get the chance to unravel. It had been a long time since she had any real interest in a man, that aspect of her life had always been difficult.
“Colonel O’Neill.” Teal’c’s deep voice resonated from the wall where he was positioned. “I believe we have company.”
“What now?” Colonel Jack O’Neill grumbled, as he went to the south wall of the ruins where Teal’c was standing with half a dozen armed and angry looking men. Jack sighed as he nodded to Teal’c to hand over his staff weapon. “Oh, Hi.”
Jack glanced back over is shoulder where Sam, Daniel and Liz were joining him. All three were glacing around trying to find the best escape route. “Daniel, you’re the diplomat here, so go diplomate.”
“Uh…hi.” Daniel ventured as he took off his hat and nervously toyed with it. His eyes kept darting over to Jack to garner some clue on how he wanted him to play this but as usual Jack was little help. “Um, we’re looking for some friends of ours, maybe you’ve seen them? They would have passed this way about two days ago? They would look a lot like us.”
“You will accompany us back to the palace.” One of the armed guards commanded stiffly. He was obviously the leader of the guard and he reveled in the authority that he could wield with it. Jack knew his type all too well. Power was all consuming especially for those that strove to possess it.
“Oh, there’s a palace? I just love it when there’s a palace.” Jack snarked sarcastically and didn’t miss the way that Sam tried to suppress a smile. It still thrilled him that he could elicited that kind of response.
The guard that stood directly in front of Jack didn’t appear to be equally amused.
‘Great,’ Jack thought. ‘Another planet with absolutely no sense of humor.’
The guard just glared. “The King will to see you.”
“Well, who am I to argue with a king? Lead the way.” Jack stretched out his hand toward the guards indicating for them to lead the way, instead they were flanked on either side and escorted towards the castle. SG-1 walked in relative silence until Sam just couldn’t stand it anymore and felt compelled to speak her mind..
“Sir, not that I’m questioning you, but are you sure this is the best course of action? There are only six, we could have easily have overpowered them if it came to that.” Sam said as she glanced around at the armed guard at her side.
“Did you notice their weapons, Carter? They have ‘zats’ and they’re not Goa’uld or Jaffa. It’s just not right.”
“It could be that this is the civilization that the Goa’uld acquired that technology from, O’Neill.” Teal’c offered as way of explanation.
“Besides,” Jack continued. “At the moment they are the best chance of locating SG-6. I haven’t noticed any other civilizations around here, have you? If they captured us, isn’t it likely that they may have captured SG-6 as well?”
“Yes, sir.” Sam replied automatically. “It just seems a little bit too easy.”
“You worry too much, Major.” Although she does have a good point, he amended to himself.
The castle that stretched out before them had a fairytale like quality about it that almost seemed surreal; tall columns pushed their way into the sky and were encircled by the clouds that floated above. Sunlight glittered off the gold embossed surfaces to give it a luminescence that took Liz’s breath away.
“That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”
“Looks almost Austrian in nature, doesn’t it? Kind of like Neuschwanstein” Daniel said as he reached for his notebook. “I wonder if they…” Daniel stopped talking when he noticed the look of annoyance that crossed Liz’s face.
“What?”
“Do you even have an ounce of romance in you? I tell you how beautiful something is and you proceed to pick it apart.”
“That is what I do. And I will have you know I am a very romantic guy.” He defended himself as he slipped his pencil back into the spine of the notebook.
“That is something I would like to see.” Liz hadn’t intended it to sound like an invitation or a challenge but she realized that that was exactly what it sounded like. Luckily before anything else could be said they were taken through the main gates and into a great hall of the castle. They guards left them in the room without saying a word. They didn’t lock them in, which Liz supposed was a good sign. She walked slowly around the room looking at the portraits that lined the walls. A wave of dizziness washed over her suddenly, and she tried to maintain her balance. Daniel was there in an instant to help steady her.
“Liz, are you all right?” His brow furrowed in concern, a slight frown puckering his lips downward.
“I’m fine. I just forgot to eat this afternoon.” She realized as she brushed away his concern that she felt strange; as if an awareness was trying to reach forth and awaken in her that which she thought was long dead.
“Okay, so it seems we’re not
technically their prisoners. I guess we just wait here?” Jack turned and looked at his team. They all appeared as confused as he did. They had been brought here at gunpoint and left alone in a room, usually there was some armed goon standing over them to prevent them from leaving. Jack went to try and exit the room to search for some answers only to discover firsthand the reason why there was no door. There wasn’t one needed. The moment his foot came in contact with the doorway a force field slammed down knocking Jack off his feet and effectively locking them in the room.
“Okay, not one of my brighter moves.”
“I have to say, Colonel.” Sam offered up cheekily as she helped Jack to his feet. “With SG-1’s penchant for getting captured, this is one of the nicer places we have been locked in.” She smiled as she took a bite from a large, juicy piece of fruit that was sitting on the table amidst a rather large bowl.
“Careful, Major, you know what happened to Snow White when she bit into one of those.”
Sam smiled at the Colonel’s comment as she watched from her spot as Teal’c gazed anxiously out the window.
“Well, Teal’c?” Sam asked waiting for Teal’c to tell her of his findings.
“It is well fortified. An escape will be difficult.”
“No one needs to escape, you are not prisoners.” The man who had spoken from the doorway was an impressive figure and his smile belied no warmth. Daniel quickly noted that this was a man who, despite his age, had seen and suffered far beyond his years.
The hairs on the back of Liz’s neck stood on edge. Even before turning around she knew that voice, it belonged in her past and not standing in the same room with her. It was the voice of Michael Guerin. Her most fervent and worst nightmare had finally happened as she always knew it would. Her luck had run out; she was on Antar. She glanced nervously over at Jack O’Neill who within moments would have more questions for her than she had answers willing to give. She hated keeping secrets from the people she loved; it seemed to be on ongoing pattern in her life that she was helpless to stop. She tried to hide in the shadows for as long as possible, prolonging what was to come. Who was she kidding? That was Michael Guerin that was standing mere feet from her, not some overly pompous militant. There would be no place for her to hide.
“I am Rath, second to the king.”
“Hi, I’m Daniel Jackson.” Daniel began the introductions. At some point in his career with SG-1, this had become one of his duties. “This is Colonel Jack O’Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Teal’c. And that’s Dr. Elizabeth Parker. We’re from the planet Earth.”
“Liz?” Michael said so softly that Liz wasn’t sure he had actually said it. She reluctantly stepped forward and saw Michael visibly pale. He stormed toward her and she could tell by the presence that was immediately at her left that Teal’c thought that Michael was going to attack her. Instead he stopped in front of her, not speaking a word; he didn’t trust himself to. He gently reached out his hand and touch Liz’s hair as if to make sure she was real, then he gathered her up in a strong embrace. She was caught off guard but surprised herself by returning the hug in earnest, when, in that moment she realized that she missed him. How much she missed everything that Michael represented.
“I never thought that we would see you again.” Michael said as he pulled back from her. “You look the same.”
“You always were a good liar, Michael. How are they? Maria, Kyle and Isabel?” She thirsted for news and information on her friends, her lost family.
Michael sighed. He didn’t fail to notice that Liz willfully omitted a name or two. He really couldn’t blame her. As great as Liz and Max had been together in the beginning, that was how awful they were in the end. It was a shame really, because what made them so right together is what made them all wrong.
“Isabel married Larek a few years ago. I think they’re happy; I really haven’t spoken to her in a while. Things are strained between her and Max, but then again that is nothing really new. Maria and I got married right after we go here. In, it was the first official bit of court business. We have a little girl, we named her after you. Elizabeth Amy Guerin, we call her Ellie.” Michael gave an uncharacteristic soft grin as he thought of his girls, his family.
“A little girl, Michael? Can I see her? Can I see Maria?” Liz asked realizing just how much she had missed her friend. When she and Kyle had left in the Granolith along with the others Liz had distanced herself as much as she could from all the emotions she felt surrounding it. It was just too much for her to deal with, too much to face the reality of being the only one left behind. She had gotten really good at dealing with only the things she thought she could handle at the moment. The only real problem with that is that you never really deal with anything that way. But knowing that Maria was here, now, and she was close enough that Liz could see her, talk to her and hold her… Liz knew this was really something she had never gotten over missing.
“I’m not sure, Liz. I mean, I want you to see her, I think it would do her good. It’s just…”He trailed off not trusting himself to finish his train of thought. It may have been nearly a decade since Liz had seen Michael but she still could tell when he had something he wanted to say that he really didn’t.
“What happened, Michael?” Liz asked looking suddenly very young. Too young, like the girl they had left behind all those years ago.
“Several weeks ago the palace was attacked from the inside. We were betrayed, and Khivar got in and attacked her. He, um…” Michael could barely bring himself to choke out the words. They tasted vile and raw in his throat. He had been doing everything in his power to do what could for his wife but there were some things even he couldn’t do. Some days, it was all he could do to keep the rage from consuming him and running off and dealing with Khivar in any manner he saw fit. But seeing Liz standing before him looking just as he remembered her was a balm to his aching soul. If anyone could help his Maria it was her.
“Khivar.” Liz growled. “Did he…”She couldn’t bring herself to say mind rape but Michael understood the implication.
“Yes.” It was the truth. “Max healed her body but her mind and her spirit are another matter. I think you might actually be able to help her but first I have to take you and your friends to Max.”
Michael cast a rather weighing glance in her companions’ direction as if he hadn’t just had a private conversation with one of their own. One he felt sure they had all heard.
“You don’t ask much do you, Michael?” Liz managed to smile. “Um, I don’t know if I can do that.”
“Unfortunately there is no choice. It will be all right, Liz.”
“Uh, Parker, can I speak to you over here for a moment?” Michael cocked a brow and smirked at the familiar epitaph, as Jack O’Neill waved her over as he interrupted what appeared to be some sort of family reunion. Jack had a really bad feeling about all of this. For the first time Liz Parker was not all that she seemed to be, and that left him with a very uneasy feeling in the bottom of his stomach.
“Yes, sir.” Liz started to walk over to Jack when Michael gently grabbed her by the arm speaking in a very hushed tone. “They don’t know about you, do they? About what you can do?”
“No.” Liz whispered realizing the implications of what he just said. “But how do you know?”
Michael didn’t answer her as she left his side and made her way back over to SG-1, followed close behind by Teal’c who Liz was sure heard the whole conversation. He was there the entire time at her side, a silent observer into her past. But she knew she could trust him unless it became evident that what she knew would put his friend’s lives in peril and that was the last thing that she wanted to happen.
‘Think, Parker, how the hell are you going to explain this?’
“Parker, do you care to explain this?” Jack asked mimicking her thoughts as he folded his arms across his chest looking every bit the disappointed father figure he tried so often to present.
“Yes, sir, but I can’t, at least not yet. Not without General Hammond’s okay.” Liz made a decision she was not going to lie to her team, her new family, any longer.
“Hammond?” Jack asked in surprise.
Michael walked over to them, his authority blatant in his eyes. “I’m afraid whatever questions you have for ‘Liz ‘will have the wait. The king is expecting us and if there is one thing I have learned in all my time here is to not keep the king waiting.”
“Very well.” Jack replied but not before looking back at Liz as though he had never seen her before in his life and the feeling cut into Liz’s soul. Jack had come to mean so much to her. In all her time with SG-1 he had taken the place of her father in her eyes. He was always there, it seemed, to make her laugh just when she needed it or to listen to her when she needed to talk. Unfortunately a lot of what she really needed to talk about could never be said so instead it was hidden within stories of friends long gone, and of parents long dead. “This isn’t over, Parker. “
“No, sir.” Liz sighed in agreement as she watched as Jack, Teal’c and Sam follow Michael out of the great hall. Liz couldn’t seem to will her legs to move knowing what was waiting for her.
“Liz, are you coming?” Daniel asked from the doorway. He had been watching her in silence since the man called Michael practically crushed her. He could tell that whatever was going on between them, it was intense. He also recognized pain and fear when he saw it, and right he wanted nothing more than to help ease that pain and fear, and the idea caught him a bit off guard. It wasn’t that he wanted to comfort a team mate or a friend; it was he wanted to comfort someone who was slowly worming their way into his heart. He did have questions though, like who were these people to her and how did she know them?
Liz weakly smiled at him as she tried to quell the fear that had settled into her bones. She felt as though she was being sucked back into the nightmare she had fought so hard to escape.
“This is so bad, Daniel.”
“What is?”
“This is the one thing I never wanted to happen.” She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath to steady herself.
“Liz.” Daniel sighed. “I don’t pretend to know what is happening here but…”
Liz shook her head, willing herself to get this over with. She also knew that if she stayed a moment longer she would end up telling him the whole sorted story and this wasn’t the time or the place to open up those floodgates.
“Never mind, Daniel, this was inevitable. Let’s go before I change my mind.”
Sam gazed upon the rich, thick fabrics of blue and gold adorning the walls. The opulence amazed her, yet it was strikingly similar to the image she had formed in her mind of castles and kings. She may have grown up in a man’s world with guns and fighting but she was still a woman, and as a woman she loved fairy tales and happily ever afters and this place just screamed that. The man seated on throne couldn’t have been more than thirty and that might have been pushing it. He looked out of place among this grandeur, though his dress was that of a king, he bearing was not. He was handsome, that much was obvious. He smiled as they entered the room but his eyes seemed lost.
“Michael.” He greeted his friend and second.
“I brought the ones that were found by the old ruins. This is Colonel Jack O’Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Teal’c and…” He looked around to find that both Liz and Dr. Jackson were missing from the group. He guessed he really couldn’t blame Liz for trying to avoid this for as long as possible.
“We seem to have lost two of our team.” Jack mumbled, annoyed.
“Teal’c?” Max questioned, as he came forward off his throne. “You are Jaffa, are you not?”
“Yes.” Teal’c bowed his head in respect which caused Jack to glance sideways at his large friend. “I was once First Prime of Apophis but have since aligned myself with the Taur’i, the people of Earth.”
“You are from Earth?” Max asked astounded. That was the last place he ever expected anyone to come through from. To his knowledge, Earth just didn’t possess that kind of technology. Things seemed to have changed in the last ten years. But what was apparent is that the people standing before him were military and he wasn’t overly fond of the Earth’s military.
“Yes, your Majesty.” Samantha Carter said removing her hat and holding in her hand. “We are from a program called the Stargate. We are explorers looking for allies against our fight with the Goa’uld.”
“Please, call me Max. The Majesty thing is still relatively new and I am still not completely comfortable with all the titles that come along with the crown.” He absently adjusted the small circlet that adorned his head. His traditional jeans and pullover shirts had been long replaced by tunics and ornately embroidered overcoats. He still longed for the simplier days.
“Max?” Michael said as he laid his hand on Max’s arm and led him away from SG-1. “There is something I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
At that moment Daniel and Liz entered the throne room. Liz, in an unconscious effort to quiet the pounding of her heart, reached out and took a hold of Daniel’s hand. She needed the extra support, as strong as she thought she was, she didn’t think she was strong enough to make it through this without a little bit of help. She knew that Daniel would support her without asking any question, he would just be there.
“Liz?” Max said in wonderment as he saw her enter the room. It was like she was walking into his dream, the one he had had practically every night since coming to Antar. He made his way over to Liz in silence missing the grimace that Michael wore as he reached her. His hands reached to grasp her shoulders gently as if testing to see whether she would break. He then pulled her roughly into his arms as if afraid that if he let go she would fade into nothing more than insubstantial mist. Liz held onto to Max gently with little emotion she was so numb; she was uncertain as to what exactly she should be feeling. Her left hand was still encased in Daniel’s, holding on as tightly as she could. In her silence she was speaking to him to not let go for fear that she would drown.
Jack and Sam just stared at each other in confusion as Teal’c’s one eyebrow shot out in appraisal.
“For crying out loud, is there anyone on this blasted planet that Parker
doesn’t know?” Jack grumbled, his frustration rapidly rising to the surface. “This is ridiculous.”
“Colonel, try to stay calm. Wait until we have a chance to talk to Liz about this.”
“Oh, Major, you can bet she and I will have words before all this is said and done.”
Max pulled back from Liz hardly trusting himself to speak. His time with her seemed like another lifetime ago and in a way it was. But to now find her standing here, in front of him on Antar, was almost too much for him to comprehend. What was she doing here? Why was she here?
“Uh, hi, Colonel Jack O’Neill here. I really hate to break up this touching moment and all, but we are in fact here for a reason and not so everyone and their brother can hug a member of my team.” Jack knew he sounded irate but he really didn’t care, he was. The situation was rapidly approaching surreal. It was one thing to go to worlds and find Goa’uld that they had had past contact with but for Liz to find old friends was just another story altogether. “Four days ago one of teams came through the Stargate and they have not been heard from since then.”
Max never took his eyes off of Liz as he heard the Colonel speak. “I am sorry, Colonel. But I have not seen anyone in this area, in sometime.” Max just stared at Liz, he couldn’t tear his eyes off of her. She was just as beautiful as she was the day he healed her. Same dark brown hair: same chocolaty eyes. Only now they were filled with apprehension and confusion. He didn’t miss the way one of her hands held onto the man next to her.
“Well, this was useless.” Jack muttered. “All right. Everyone, let’s pack it up.”
“What?” Max turned quickly to look at the imposing man giving the orders. “You can’t leave, not yet.”
“Why not?”
Max didn’t answer. He had no real reason to keep them here and he was not in the habit of taking prisoners that was something he would leave to his ex-wife. Thinking of her chilled him, even though he realized that if anyone of this planet had the missing members O’Neill spoke about, it was probably Tess and Khivar.
“Look, Colonel O’Neill. I may know where your friends are and if I am right, it is going to take a lot more that the four of you to get them out.”
“Five.” Liz corrected as her hand finally dropped from Daniel. To his surprise he missed the warmth of it. He really shouldn’t have been too surprised though; if he were honest his feelings towards her were not all that professional and hadn’t been for several months now. Not that he would ever do anything about it. But she had a way of breezing into his office smelling of coffee and chocolate that literally made his heart jump into his throat. He had found himself coming up with excuses to just drop by her lab and when she had taken his hand in an effort to calm herself, he liked the way that it gave her strength and help to steady her. But what was between her and this alien king though? The whole situation bothered him and he was loath to admit to himself why.
“I believe your friends are most likely the unwelcome guests of my ex-wife. We’re embroiled in a bit of a civil war at the moment, and if you are going to attempt a rescue, it won’t be pretty.”
“Why? What’s going on?” Samantha Carter asked as she walked closer to where Max and Liz were standing.
“Tess has teamed up with my greatest enemy and they seek to destroy me more or less.”
“What did you do to piss her off?” Jack asked and Daniel snorted at his usual tactlessness.
“I love the wrong girl.” Max answered, looking back at Liz. “Several weeks ago they staged an attack on the palace. A very methodical and surgical attack. Tess, Khivar and his Lieutenant, Nicholas attacked during the night. They only brought with them about two dozen of their Armada, and believe me when I say, that that is just the tip of the iceberg. Their aim of this mission was not to kill all of us as we slept in our beds or to rid my throne of me. The aim was to demoralize and to let me know that I could be gotten to. Khivar attacked Michael’s wife leaving her damaged in a way that even I can’t heal. Tess herself killed another member of my court knowing how it would affect me. Many others were wounded before Michael’s forces were able to subdue them. If Liz had been here she would have been the first to die.”
“Why is that?” Teal’c asked looking around the vast room and noticing the lack of military presence, which would have no doubt, been needed after such an attack.
“Tess hates her. She would stop at nothing if she knew Liz were here. Tess blames her for everything that has happened.”
“Why would she blame her?” Daniel asked, speaking for the first time since entering the room.
“Because she knew I never loved her like I did Liz.” Liz closed her eyes trying to ignore the fact that her past was on display in front of the people she cared about the most.
“So, they only attacked people that were close to you?” Liz asked, trying to bring the focus off her and onto something that had been bugging her since her talk with Michael.
“Yes.” Max answered not meeting her eyes. Even ten years later, he could tell where her thoughts were going, and just like ten years ago, he had a hard time denying her the information she sought.
“Who was killed, Max?” Liz asked him, scared to know the answer. Something in the pit of her stomach already told her but she needed to hear it from Max.
“Liz, I…”He didn’t want to say the words and be responsible for breaking her heart again. He didn’t want her to blame him for yet another friend dying.
“Who. Was. Killed. Max?” There was that same look in her eye the day of Alex’s wake when she called the group meeting. The day she had practically accused one of them of killing Alex. It turned out she was right.
“It was Kyle, Liz. Kyle’s dead.” There was such defeat and misery and the life seemed to drain with the admission.
Liz squeezed her eyes tightly shut trying to guard herself against the onslaught of pain she knew was coming. She would not allow herself to break, not here, and not in front of him. She would push it aside to compartmentalize it until she was better equipped to deal with it. This was something she would deal with in the privacy of her own home. She would call the sheriff after they returned to Earth and tell him how his son died.
‘Good job, Parker. Way to rationalize your priorities,’ her inner voice snarked almost condemningly.
“Liz.” It was the quiet voice of Michael that ended up saving Liz from the waves of grief she was fighting so hard against. “He saved her, Liz. If it wasn’t for Kyle, Maria would be dead.”
Jack watched Liz in silence. He could see the fight going on behind her eyes and knew that the best thing for her would be to get her the hell out of here at least long enough for her to catch her breath and for him to get some answers. “Okay, lets go back to the SGC and come back with reinforcements. We need to get our people back. And Max, I’m going to need logistics, and whatever information and support you can provide.”
Looking at Liz with regret. “Whatever you need.”
“All right, campers, let’s move out.”
They sat in an uncomfortable silence around the long conference table. Liz knew what was coming; there was no escaping it. She would have to tell them her story. The walk back to the Stargate from the palace had been silent with a tension completely different from other time they’d been escorted from it. Colonel O’Neill sat in his customary place next to Sam glowering at Liz. She knew he wanted answers. Hell, she wanted to give them to him. She only hoped that he would be satisfied with the ones she had. It was possible it would raise more questions than it answered.
Teal’c sat next to Liz at the end of the table, his eyebrow raised as he watched while Liz wrung her hands unconsciously. He recognized the raw will it was taking her not to give into the shadows of her past. He respected her for that.
“LizParker, I am sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you, Teal’c.” That came out of nowhere, Liz blinked into paying attention to her surroundings.
“Liz?” Daniel spoke in a quiet voice that sounded so warm and inviting. “If you need to talk or anything I just want you to know I am here, day or night.”
“Thanks, Daniel.” Liz smiled, wondering how she managed to do such a feat in the face of everything that had happened today.
General George Hammond entered the room looking over his team. It was obvious that something had happened and just as more obvious that Jack was pissed off.
“All right, report.”
“Yes, sir.” Jack responded automatically. “We arrived through the Stargate and proceeded to the ruins. There was no apparent sign of SG-6. Upon arriving at the ruins we met up with half a dozen armed men who politely requested we accompany them to the castle.”
“Castle?”
“Yes, sir.” Jack answered, keeping his voice unusually even despite the interruption.
“Continue.”
“From this point, I think I should let Dr. Parker finish the debriefing, sir. She seems to know a lot more than I do. And besides, I am interested to know what she has to say.” Jack turned his chair slightly so he could get a better look at Liz and then nodded to her to begin her tale. He was being unfair but at this moment he really didn’t care.
“Doctor?” General Hammond looked expectantly at her.
“Sir, before I do could I have a word with you in your office?”
General Hammond looked over at Jack who just shrugged in his general direction.
“Very well, doctor.” General Hammond got up from his seat and walked purposefully into his office. Liz stood and followed him.
“This is ridiculous.” Jack mumbled once Liz and the General were ensconced in his office. “What is with all the secrets?”
“I don’t know, sir.” Sam said. “But I think you should hear what she has to say.”
“You’re saying that I’m over-reacting, Carter?”
“I’m saying that you need to at least listen to her,” She deflected.
“I agree, Jack.” Daniel cut it.
“Of course you do. What exactly is going on between you and Parker? Don’t think I didn’t notice that little hand holding thing back on that planet.” Jack waggled his fingers and eyebrows in emphasis.
“Nothing!” Daniel defended himself. “She’s my friend, that’s all.”
“ColonelO’Neill, I too, concur that we need to hear LizParker’s story.”
“I will. Has it ever occurred to you that I might just be trying to help her out? I am not as stupid as I look you know. I saw what was happening to her, she was drowning. Right now she needs someone to hate, to push her and as her commanding officer that responsibility falls to me. But that doesn’t mean I am not mad as hell right now. I hate secrets!”
Liz Parker slowly made her way back to her seat followed by the solid footsteps of General Hammond. “All right, SG-1, I know of the circumstances in which Dr. Parker is going to brief you about. I have released her in order that all of you may be informed.”
“General Hammond, what is this about?” Sam asked looking between Liz and General Hammond.
“Major Carter, Colonel O’Neill, Teal’c, Dr. Jackson, I am going to allow Dr. Parker to conduct the rest of the debriefing. What she is going to tell you I was made aware of over two years ago.” General Hammond looked at Liz. “Doctor?”
“Thank you, General.” Liz took a deep drink from the cup of coffee in front of her wishing desperately that there were something stronger in it than caffeine. She could have used a bit of liquid courage about now. “My story is going to sound a bit like a fantasy but I promise you all of it is true.”
“All right, Parker.” Jack nodded, his voice more gentle than it had been since they came back from Antar. He recognized raw fear when he saw it. “Tell us what happened. Who are those people to you?”
“Those people were my family. Let me start at the beginning. When I was sixteen I was working in my parent’s café, The CrashDown. It was the popular local hangout for teenagers in Roswell, New Mexico.”
“Roswell?” Sam asked surprised. She realized that after all the time they had spent together, all the coffee’s and the shopping sprees, maybe there was still a lot about Liz Parker that she didn’t know.
“Ironic, I know but true. But if you had told me before that day that aliens were real I would have thought you were nuts. Maria and I used to make fun of the crackpots that believed, but that was before I was shot.”
“Shot?” Jack exclaimed, looking extremely upset.
For two hours Liz spoke. She told them what happened when Max had healed her. She spoke about Michael and Isabel, about Maria and Alex. She told them about Riverdog and Atherton, about Michael’s strange illness. She tried not to leave anything out; she wanted them to know everything. She wanted it to mean something.
“You could actually see into each other’s minds without the use of technology?” Sam asked incredulously when Liz told her about how they had found the orbs. A small smile tugged at the corner of Sam’s lips. She considered herself a capable woman in the Air Force, willing to go one on one against a Goa’uld, but there was a part of her that was very much a girlie girl. It was that part of her that saw the romance in Liz’s story and, for lack of a better word, liked it. She even managed to glance at Jack stealing a quick smile from him.
“Yeah, I always assumed that it was the orbs doing something to us that made that happen.” Liz said managing to glance over at Daniel. “But now I’m not so sure.”
“What do you mean?” Daniel asked.
“Well, about a year after they returned to Antar, strange things began to happen to me. But I’m getting ahead of myself.”
Liz continued her tale, telling them about Topolsky’s return and the arrival of Nasedo and Tess. No one in the room could have missed the venom Liz had every time she said her name. Then her tone grew softer and darker as she told of her abduction by Nasedo and the consequent capture of Max by the Special Unit. The entire group watched in silence as she told of their rescue of Max and the holographic message left by their mother.
“So, the Special Unit is gone then?” Teal’c asked. If they went to such lengths over a sixteen year old alien boy, he could just imagine what they would do now.
“With Pierce being gone we all thought they disbanded.” General Hammond offered in ways of an explanation. “They merely reorganized and became NID.”
“Just great,” Jack mumbled, even more unhappy with the answers than he had with the questions. “I can’t believe you went through all of this.”
Liz almost smiled at this. “Well, there’s more.”
“Of course, there’s more,” Jack rolled his eyes.
“Colonel,” Hammond chided.
Liz continued her story; the second half was decidedly more difficult to speak about than the first half had been. She told them of coming back from Florida determined to let Max go. She even got a job with Congresswoman Whitaker in an effort to not see Max as often. Of course the fact that the Congresswoman was dating Pierce, or rather Nasedo, made that increasingly difficult. Then she told SG-1 of the big turning point in her life, that of Future Max, the Granolith and what she had done to make him stop loving her or more precisely what she and Kyle had made Max believe.
“What is a Granolith?” Sam asked her scientific curiosity piqued and running on all cylinders as she struggled to understand what it was.
“It is a lot of things. I’m not even sure they even know all of what it can do. The Future version of Max used it as a time machine. They used it as a ship when they left. Khivar was willing to kill for it. I don’t think anyone really knows what it is truly capable of, or meant for.”
“What is the power source?”
“Some sort of crystal technology. Look, Sam, I know you’re interested in that and I would love to be able to tell you but I really don’t know that much. Whatever it was, their journey home destroyed it.” Liz paused for a brief moment before continuing with her story. She spoke of the Skins and of Laurie Dupree, of Kyle and Alex saving the day and of Max’s trip to New York for the summit meeting and how she was able to warn him of the impending danger.
“How did you do that?” Jack asked, interested despite himself.
“Um…at the time I thought it was Isabel, but later she said I got away from her.” Liz glanced around the room briefly before continuing after catching their no-nonsense stares. “Alright, I was going to save this part for the end but since you brought it up. After they left strange things started happening. I’d started to get flashes of things to come. My skin would crackle with what looked like green electricity. When that went away I thought that everything else did to but instead I discovered more. I could blast things across the room and then some. I can feel other people’s emotions and I can affect what they see, and before you ask I refuse to use them. In a very real way Max turned me into Tess.” The self-disgust and loathing was very clear in her voice at what she had inadvertently become.
“How is that possible?” Jack asked again.
“Well, the way that Michael explained it, their powers were not from their alien side but from their human side. Only the human brain hundreds of years from now. I think that Max awoke the sleeping part of my brain.”
“It makes sense, sir.” Sam explained, jumping in, getting excited with what she thought was the plausible theory. “We only use such a small percent of our brain’s potential. We’d be able to tell better if we did an MRI or a PET on her.”
“The her is sitting right here and she says no thanks, been there and done that. Dr. Frasier has all the information you need. Anyway, let me finish my story or I’m never going to get this out.”
Liz took a deep breath and continued with the final leg of her story. The worst leg in her opinion. She told them how she and Max had slowly been making their way back to each other but it had all ended abruptly just after the Prom, the day Alex died. She told them how no one, not even Maria believed that his death wasn’t an accident, no except for her. She knew that Kyle believed her though. He was always there for her, never saying much but offering a quiet support. Without Kyle she never would have made it through those initial days. Finally she had discovered that Alex had been killed by an alien even though they never found out who that was. And then she was left alone. Everyone that she cared for left that sunny day in the Granolith. Max, Michael and Isabel took with them her remaining family. They took Maria and Kyle. It was then that she ran away from Roswell and never looked back.
“So, that’s it. That’s pretty much the whole sordid tale. When I was approached by the SGC there was enough record of what happened with the Special Unit that I had no recourse but to do a full disclosure. General Hammond was the only one who knew and now the four of you.” She glanced uncomfortably over at Jack. “I guess what happens from here on out is your decision, Colonel?”
“General, I request that SG-1 go back to Antar along with reinforcements and bring back SG-6.”
Jack’s disregard of her apology, for that’s what it was, stung.
“All right then.” General Hammond glanced around the room at the team. “SG-1, you have a go. Ship out tomorrow at 0900.”
General Hammond nodded briefly to the team before standing up and leaving them alone. He knew that in order for them to continue to function as a team, Jack would be the deciding factor.
“All right, you heard the General. Let’s head home and try to get some rest. We head out in the morning.” Jack stood and walked over to Liz. “I need to know if you can handle this. I mean, you’re not exactly going to be objective here.”
“I know I’m not, sir. But if we end up going up against Tess Harding, I might be of some help. I know her, I know how she worked, how she thinks, and if she tries to mind warp us I know how it feels. I will know the difference.”
“Good enough. Get some sleep, Parker.” And just like that, she was back in the fold. Suitably chastened but still a part of the team, not apart from it.
“Yes, Colonel.”
Liz turned and left the room intent on getting to the locker-room and showering before anyone else got there. But as soon as her feet hit the corridor she knew that she just had to get the hell out of there. She felt the cold, grey walls closing in around her. Telling her team about what happened had been a little easier than he though it was going to be. However, it had brought long buried feelings to the surface.
She hadn’t told them how bad things had gotten between her and Max, there was not real point. It really wasn’t relevant no matter how confusing things were now. All her thoughts were now turning towards Kyle and Alex. She needed to get home and call Sheriff Valenti; he deserved to know about his son. At least Jim would have that comfort, something that to this day had been denied to Alex’s parents. They still thought that their son had taken his own life.
Liz’s feet began to move faster and faster, her boots echoing loudly on the cold floor. When she finally came to a stop she was topside without any clear memory of how she got there. She was on autopilot; she felt…that was the problem at the moment she was not feeling at all. She was completely numb and running on instinct. She hadn’t cried yet for Kyle and now that we was free to mourn him, the tears would not come. She just felt cold. Liz methodically walked over to her car, a vintage Jaguar that Sam had talked her into buying not long after joining the SGC. She opened the door and sped off into the darkness with absolutely no idea where she was going.
