Work Text:
VITAL MEMORIES
by Bethany
“Besides,” Sam Carter began again, as she sipped at a raspberry ice crush, “If you think about it too much, how the hell did we get a message from 2010 when we had not already gone down the path that lead to those events?”
“How the hell? Yeah, you’re right…” Jack spooned oat meal around and around the bowl of breakfast he had in front of him. “If you think about it too much, how come they never get this stuff right???”
“Because our future also seems to act like an ESP strand, governed by our intentions, our instincts, the statistics… But not set in stone.” Daniel came to sit next to them, nibbling on a handful of biscuits-to-go, but wanting to stop by to see Jack and Sam.
“That’s why my oat meal tastes foul?” Jack gave him that look.
“Morning, Teal’c!” Jonas said, as he passed the Jaffa in a corridor.
"Good morning.” Teal’c nodded. “What do you have planned for today?”
“Nothing much… Thought I’d go and see Dr. Kyran at the Air Force Resettlement Home by the Base. Sometimes, he doesn’t even recognise me, but I’m feeling optimistic today!” Jonas told Teal’c.
“I am glad.” Teal’c stated genuinely.
“Do you have any plans yourself?” Quinn asked him.
“We only have today to do with as we please, so I do not really have sufficient time to visit my family.” Teal’c said. “I plan to spend at least several hours of the day in meditation…”
"Hope it’s fun!” Jonas smiled brightly, and was on his way.
“Hey, T…!” Jack called, as he saw Teal’c coming out of the Mess Hall area.
“O’Neill?” Teal’c stopped instantly, and turned to his friend.
“Haven’t you done enough Meditation for today? You’re not gonna go back in that lair of yours, are ya?” Jack asked.
“What else is there to do, O’Neill?” Teal’c patiently waited to see if his friend could answer.
“Golf!… Yeah, come on! How about some golf???” Jack thought happily, play punching his friend in the chest.
“Are you not busy?” Teal’c looked around, as if they were two truanting school children.
“Neither are we!” Sam Carter made the boys jump, because she had sneaked up on them from around the corner, and she had Daniel Jackson in tow.
Jonas Quinn looked at his mentor. “Dr. Kyran…?”
“Jonas! Jonas, my boy, what are you doing here???” The infirm doctor of the sciences spoke excitedly, as if he had just seen his prize apprentice walk through the door.
Quinn had been sitting there for two hours.
“Jonas, I am glad I have come to this new world…” Kyran said simply.
“I am glad, too, Professor!” Jonas smiled warmly.
“Will you help me with this?” Kyran indicated a puzzle. “I’ve been asked to put it together by our Government’s Resistance Cell… I think decoding it could be extremely important!”
“Sure, Professor…” Quinn frowned, but looked upon the man with great patience and affection.
“Jonas… Hey, Jonas…!” Daniel Jackson called after the scientist. “We’ve just had some lunch,”
Jack interrupted. “And now we’re gonna go play some golf… Wanna come???”
“What’s golf?” Jonas was perplexed.
O’Neill looked at him in utter alarm, and then, he raised his hand to his face and covered it in disbelief.
“Don’t worry! We’ll teach you…!” Carter kindly reassured him.
Teal’c ran to the driver’s seat side of O’Neill’s corvette… He turned, waiting for O’Neill to throw him the keys.
“I knew I should never have put your name down on that darn form!” He pointed a cautionary finger at his friend.
“You can drive?” Jonas asked, catching up.
“Oooh, boy… You shoulda been there…!” Daniel smiled, sounding a little like Jack.
“You got in the car with him?” Quinn looked at Daniel in astonishment.
“Jack paid me to…” Daniel grinned at the memory.
“Hey, I’ll have you know Teal’c had an Instructor well versed in the art that is driving…!” Jack defended his friend.
“Yeah… Me!” Sam Carter chimed in.
Jack looked at her.
“It was me who was brave enough to take him on the motorways!” She reminded O’Neill.
“Or mad enough…!” Daniel teased Teal’c, who was looking on at the unfolding scene in front of him.
“And the Vette had mysteriously disappeared that night!” Sam suddenly remembered, eyes sparkling.
“I shall teach you to drive, if you would like?” Teal’c ignored it all, and told Jonas.
Daniel sat in the back of Jack’s car, next to Sam, who sat next to Jonas. “Did I show you lot the new photos Lucy sent me?” He fished around inside his jeans pocket for the latest photos his sister had sent.
“Let’s see!” Sam said keenly.
Daniel handed them over. “The top one’s the latest of my niece, Georgia-Ruth… The next one is Lucy with her friend from the Orchestra, then there’s one of the family home in San Francisco.
“Why is it so many of you have similar names?” Jonas asked. “You’ve all told me of another Jonas, then there’s the fact that you’re Jack,” He nodded toward O’Neill from where he sat, “And your name is Jackson…” He indicated Daniel. “Then, we have General Hammond, and now your niece,” He nodded at Daniel again…
“… And everyone from your planet, Teal’c, you all have names beginning with ‘c…” Jonas pondered.
“How are things going with your sister?” Jack asked, after all he had shared in Daniel’s most fragile memories of his younger sibling.
“Alright…” Daniel began. “I don’t think she knows what to make of me…”
“That’s understandable…” O’Neill stated in his own brand of sarcasm.
“But I’ve got you lot, right?” Daniel tried to lighten the mood, not sure that he should have brought up the topic.
“Sure!” Sam squeezed his hand.
“Absolutely!” Jack said brightly.
Our on the Green, at the 17th hole, his driver in his hand, Teal’c hit his golf ball into the horizon, which was a better place for it to be than in the lake, where O’Neill had lost his last.
“Shame you didn’t have your fishing line with you, eh, Jack?” Daniel laughed openly.
“Watch it, Archaeologist…!” Jack warned good naturedly, pretending to begin an almighty swing of the club at Daniel.
Daniel backed away. Hands up in surrender.
He and Jack laughed like schoolboys.
The group continued on to the last hole of their single game.
“So, how’ve you enjoyed golf?” Sam walked alongside Jonas companionably.
“The Green is far more relaxing than the actual game…” Jonas grinned.
“Just count yourself lucky that your introduction into golf wasn’t given to you by Jacob Carter…!” Sam smiled warmly.
“Your father?” Quinn asked.
“He took me on the golf course not long after Mark, my brother, left home… I think he wanted to see if I had the Carter Golfing Gene…” Sam thought back fondly. “That’s supposed to be a good thing, by the way…!”
“I’d say you do…!” Jonas Quinn said genuinely.
“Thank you!” Samantha Carter beamed at the praise. She patted Jonas on the shoulder with gratitude, and they continued to walk alongside their comrades.
THE END…