Mind's Eye

Title: Mind's eye
Author: Venom_69
Summary: What the mind sees
Season/sequel: Set during The light.
Date: Saturday 24th August 2002

~*+*~

Carter walked down a long corridor, her weapon at her side. Being a realist, she knew that she didn't really need it, Lauren had said that the complex was empty, but she felt safer knowing that if trouble arose, she had something to protect herself with.

Since they were trapped in the Go'auld pleasure palace for three weeks, at the least, while their addiction to the 'light' wore off, SG-1 had decided to explore the rest of the facility, in the unspoken hope of finding some technology that they could use.

Lauren hadn't explored the palace much, but he knew that it was empty. When his parents were still alive, before their addiction began, they had told him not to wander off too far, not knowing what was inhabiting some of the rooms. Since he was still a teenager by Earth standards, he had done as he was instructed and stayed in his room and the area near the Stargate, which meant that no one knew exactly what they would find.

Carter had guessed that they would be better off staying inside the palace for at least the first week and a half, to ensure that they didn't wander of too far and have their withdrawal symptoms cause them to attempt to commit suicide. Again, as in Daniel's case.

Turning to the left, Carter clicked on her torch and shone the beam of light around the corridor. There were at least eight doors, four on either side, and they had no obvious marks to indicate what was behind them. Raising her weapon to sit comfortably in her hands, Carter opened the door closest to her and shone the torch in.

A bright blue light radiated from the room, and engulfed her in it's colour, surrounding her body and pulling her into the room in a trance-like state.

~*+*~

"Push!" The nurse ordered, standing between the panting woman's legs.

Carter stared at the scene before her. She was obviously in a hospital, maternity ward to be exact. There was a blonde woman lying on a bed, her legs spread out. Her swollen stomach and pain induced cries indicating that she was in labour.

There was a maiden standing next to the woman, wiping her sweaty forehead with a damp cloth. While another, the one who had ordered the woman to push, was standing between her legs, carefully making sure that the birthing was going as planned.

"Where is he?" The woman demanded, scrunching up her face as a contraction hit in full force. When neither maiden answered, she glared at them both.

"You husband will be here Mrs. Carter, but you have to push!"

"Call me Liz." The panting woman joked, smiling. "I want Jacob here, I will not push until he get's here!" She told them, adamantly.

Studying the events playing before her, the realisation finally dawned on Carter and she choked back a sob. "Mum." She whispered, recognising the woman laying on the table, wondering what was happening. Was her mother still alive and giving birth to another child? Had she traveled back in time and was witnessing her birth? Or the birth of her brother?

The doors to the small room opened and Carter saw her father walk in, running to his wife's bedside to grasp her hand. He looked at least thirty years younger than he did now, even with Selmak's ability to keep him alive for another hundred years or so.

"You made it." She heard her mother pant, breathing through the tail end of another contraction, before smiling at her husband.

"I wouldn't miss the birth of our daughter for the world." Jacob returned, and Carter guessed that she was witnessing her own birth, which led her to believe that she had traveled back in time.

"Push!" The maiden ordered again.

Elizabeth Carter used all of her remaining strength to push. She gripped Jacob's hand and squeezed, allowing him to feel a small amount of the pain she was feeling. "Breathe." Jacob commanded gently, wiping the hair from her forehead.

"I am fucking breathing!" Liz returned through gritted teeth. Carter had to stifle a giggle, her hand going to her mouth. Her mother had never used obscenities like that in her presence throughout Carter's childhood. A gut wrenching scream came from the woman lying on the bed and followed by that was a loud wail that echoed throughout the room. The midwife smiled, and tied off the umbilical cord. Another woman stepped forth to deliver the after birth, while the first cleaned off the wailing baby.

Wrapping the new-born in a pink blanket, the midwife brought the tiny bundle over to the new proud parents. "Here's you beautiful daughter. She's perfectly healthy. Congratulations." She smiled, handing the infant over to Jacob.

"Is Mark here?" Liz asked, accepting the bundle that was offered to her. Carter walked closer to the bed and stood behind her parents, who were holding . . .her. It seemed strange, to watch yourself being born, but it was something that she was glad that she was seeing. If only to see her mother for a few moments.

Jacob nodded and walked out of the room, returning a few minutes later with a child, no more than five. His brown hair was tousled from sleep, and his blue eyes were alight with curiosity. "Come and meet the newest member of our family." Jacob told him, assuring the boy before handing him over to his mother.

"It's a girl!" The boy groused, sitting on the bed next to his mother.

"Yes Mark, you have a sister. Samantha Elizabeth Jean Carter." Liz beamed, and Sam found that she had tears streaming down her face.

The blue light that had pulled her into the room, engulfed Carter once more. "No." She whispered, wanting to stay with her family.

Her eyes slipped shut.

~*+*~

After a few moments, Carter opened her eyes again to find herself outside of the door that she'd just entered, curled up in a ball, tears still running down her cheeks.

She pulled herself up and stood, staring at the now closed door. Debating weather or not to try another door or return to the others, Carter chose the former and walked across the hall to another door.

Wiping the tiny droplets of moisture from her face, Carter opened another door and let the light, which was now green, engulf her once again, and she closed her eyes.

~*+*~

Opening her eyes again, she looked at her surroundings. There was a large man sitting behind a pine desk, his suit remarkably pressed. A young girl, no older than fourteen, was sitting across from him, her arms folded, with an irritated expression gracing her features.

Carter remembered this day, being in the principle's office, arguing with him. "Why won't you let me?" The girl demanded.

"Samantha. . ." The man started.

The young girl spoke to him. "I'm sorry Principle Jefferson, but I'd prefer Sam."

"Sam." He amended. "You can't join, simply because it is an all boys baseball team. There are other sports that you are able to participate in." He told her.

"Just because my reproductive organs are on the inside instead of the outside, doesn't mean that I can't handle playing baseball!" She exclaimed.

Carter stood in the corner and groaned, suddenly realising that she had used that same line when she first met the Colonel. Watching the scene unfold before her, she waited for the principle's response, which she knew would come. "I'm sorry, Sam, but it's the way things are." He shook his head.

Her young self stood and walked to the door, opening it. Before she stepped out, Sam turned to look at the principle, unaware that her future self was standing behind her. "You do realise that I can play better than half of the imbecile's on that stupid team!" She returned, stomping out of the room and slamm ing the door behind her.

Grinning to herself, Carter followed the teen as she stormed out of the school grounds. Once she was a fair distance from the school, the young girl stopped and dug around in her bag, searching for something.

"Oh, don't tell me! Thank god I give that up in a few weeks!" Carter exclaimed, watching as Sam lit a cigarette and continued her walk home, taking long puff's of the smoke as she went.

"Hey!" A guy from behind called.

Carter mimicked Sam and turned, watching as the boy ran up to her, stopping a few feet from her. "Hey." He smiled. Sam returned the smile and took another drag of her smoke and offered it to him. "Thanks." He murmured, also taking a drag.

"Can I help you. . .?" Sam asked, realising that she couldn't remember his name.

"Jonathan O'Neill. Most people call me Jon, or Jack." He smiled, extending his hand. Carter nearly choked on her tongue. This was her CO! She remembered how this walk ended, and it was a memory that she carried with her, even now, and it had almost been twenty-five years since this day happened for her and she remembered it even now.

Sam shook his hand and took back her cigarette. "I'm Samantha Carter, but most people call me Sam." She returned.

"I'm sorry about the baseball thing. I've seen you play, you're good." He grinned.

"Thanks. I shouldn't be rejected because I'm a girl for crying out loud!" Sam exclaimed, clearly irritated.

"For crying out loud?" He questioned, amused.

"It's a song by Meatloaf." Sam explained and Carter grinned, knowing that the Colonel had picked up that saying from her.

"I like that, I'm gonna use that one. Anyway I just wanted to tell you that you should have been allowed on the team. You're better than all of us put together." He shrugged.

Carter felt her heart flutter, and knew that Sam was experiencing the same feeling. "Thank you." The girl smiled, blushing a little. She looked down, and tossed the cigarette onto the ground, putting it out with her foot.

Jack leaned forward and touched his lips to her's. Carter watched as Sam received her first kiss from the man that would become her CO. She remembered her first kiss, but she had known him only a short time then, and when they had met at the SGC, Carter had never associated his face to the man who had kissed her that day.

The green light that had pulled her into the room, engulfed Carter once more. "No." She whispered, wanting to stay on the sidewalk, as her young self experienced something wonderful.

Despite her wishes, Carter's eyes slipped shut.

~*+*~

Carter found herself once again laying on the floor outside of the door that she had entered. This time, however, there were no tears, only a warm feeling in her heart as she thought of her first kiss.

Deciding that she wanted to see more, Carter rose to her feet and walked back across the corridor and opened the door that was next to the one that had shown her birth.

She opened the door and let the light, which was now yellow, engulf her once again, and she closed her eyes.

~*+*~

When she opened her eyes, Carter wasn't sure what to expect. So when she saw the coffin being lowered into the ground, she sank to her knees and felt the rain fall against her body.

On the other side of the hole, Carter could see herself standing there, her brother and father at her side. Various other family members and friends also stood there, watching as the body of Elizabeth Carter was slowly lowered into the Earth, where it would lie for eternity.

One by one, all of the people who were standing around the now lowered coffin began to walk to the right side of the burial plot. A large vat of rose petal's were near the edge of the hole and everyone picked up a small handful and scattered them onto the coffin.

Carter, slightly unsure if she could even touch them, waited until everyone had walked away before going over to the petal's and picked up a handful. Glad that her hand didn't pass right through the delicate silk, she walked to the edge of the hole.

"Goodbye Mum, I love you." She whispered as she dropped the petal's into the hole.

Watching as the picture of the coffin turned into a yellow light, she closed her eyes and let the next part of her journey begin.

~*+*~

Carter found herself once again laying on the floor outside of the door that she had entered, fresh tears forming in her eyes at the memory of her mother's funeral.

Deciding that she still wanted to see more, Carter rose to her feet and walked back across the corridor and opened the door that was next to the one that had shown her first kiss.

She opened the door and let the light, which was now orange, engulf her once again, and she instinctively closed her eyes, curious as to what she would see next.

~*+*~

Opening her eyes, Carter realised that she was in her old house in Washington. The house that she was sharing with Jonas' at the time. She saw herself packing a suitcase full of clothes, excitement mixed with fear on Sam's face.

Carter remembered this event too, she was leaving to go on the mission through the Stargate to Abydos. Daniel had just figured out how to open the 'Gate and they were going to go through and see what was on the other side.

Sam was packing hurridly, not bothering to check if all of her clothes were folded, and unusual thing for her. She was a compulsively clen person by nature, but at this moment in her life, she just wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

The sound of the front door opening brought Carter out of her recollection. "Shit." Sam swore throwing a few more things into the bag before zipping it closed.

"Sam?" Jonas called, and both woman could hear the sounds of the door close followed by footsteps heading up the stairs, coming towards the direction of the bedroom.

A few seconds later, Jonas walked in, carrying a bunch of flowers. "For you, I'm sorry about the fight." He smiled and handed her the flowers.

Carter watched the internal battle that Sam was having with herself; stay with Jonas who was charming at the moment, or go through the Stargate and leave him behind, knowing that his charm wouldn't be around for long. Carter hoped that this was an exact memory of hat happened, otherwise her other-self might be tempted to stay with him and then she'd never get to go through the Stargate, and her life could be irreversibly changed.

Jonas kissed her cheek and began to strip off his uniform. Carter groaned and covered her eyes, she'd seen that man naked enough times to last her a lifetime. "What's with the bag?" He asked, standing before Sam.

"I've been transferred to Colorado." She told him, laying the flowers on the bed next to her bag, which she picked up.

"So reject it." He shrugged. Sam stared at him for a long minute, amazed that he could be so flippant about this. Jonas knew what the Stargate could mean for the human race, and he knew how much of a career advancement it could be for her, but he would do anything to keep her with him, he seemed to be a naturally possesive man.

"I can't do that Jonas, I won't!" She exclaimed, shaking her head and walking out of the bedroom.

Sam got as far as the stairs before he caught up with her, his hands wrapping around her's in a vise-like grip. Carter unconsciously touched her own arm, feeling the tell-tale signs of a 'phantom' pain from the pressure that Jonas was putting on Sam's arm.

"You and I are getting married, Samantha. And now you want to walk out on me?" He asked incredulously, his voice low and dangerouns.

"Stay away from me." Sam told him, pushing him away from her before pulling his engagement ring off her finger and threw it at him.

She turned to walk down the stairs when Jonas got up and went to grab hold of her again but his hand slipped and collided with her shoulder blade, sending the woman tumblling down the stairs.

Carter winced as she watched Sam roll down the stairs and then hit the floor, unconsious. The orange light appeared again but Carter refused to look at it, intrested to see what happened after she had hit the floor.

Jonas walked down the stairs to stand beside Sam's unconsious body. "Guess you aren't leaving, huh?" He grinned and walked over to the phone.

Dialling 911, he waited and sat on the bottom step. "I need an ambulance, My fiance's fallen down the stairs and she's not moving." He told whoever as on the other end of the line, feigning concern.

Watching as he gave Sam a kick inthe ribs, Carter turned back to at the orange light emanating from the corner of the room, allowing it to pull her into it's light.

~*+*~

Carter found herself again laying on the floor outside of the door that she had entered, still feeling the phantom pains from Jonas. Deciding that she still wanted to see more, Carter rose to her feet and walked back across the corridor and opened the door.

She opened the door and let the light, which was now purple, engulf her once again, and she instinctively closed her eyes.

~*+*~

Carter studied Sam, standing before her in her dress uniform, in the SGC. She was walking through the corridor's that Carter now knew well.

Sam headed towards the infirmary, and Carter followed. "I'm here for my pre-mission physical." She told one of the nurses. At this point, the infirmary wasn't much, but they ould be capeable to handle any medical emergencies.

"Come this way." One of the nurses usshered her behind a curtain to sit on a gurney.

A Doctor came in to sit in front of her. "Captain Carter, I'm Doctor Nenziki, okay. . ." He muttered, glancing over her medical records. "It says here that you missed out on the first mission because of an accident?" He asked and Carter snorted.

Sam looked down at her hands. "Yeah, I fell dwn a flights of stairs." She laught nervously.

"Wake up Sam, you were pudhes by that moron we were going to marry." Carter retorted, glad that they couldn't hear her.

Carter stood back and watched as the Doctor examined Sam and the cleared her to go throught the Stargate. She followed he into the briefing room, watching as she waited in the door for the perfect opportunity to make her prescence known.

"Where's he transferring from?" She heard the colonel ask, and Carter followed Sam into the room.

"She is transferring from the Pentagon." Sam told him, standing behind one of the chairs. "I take it your colonel O'Neill?" she asked.

"No, he's Mickey mouse." Carter deadpanned.

"Captain Samantha Carter reporting sir!" Sam announced, saluting enthusiastically.

Carter walked around behind the colonel and looked at his hair. "No offense, sir, but you look better with grey." She muttered and the purple light washed over her once more.

~*+*~

Carter found herself once again laying on the floor outside of the door that she had entered, a smile touching her lips as she though of her first encounter with the Colonel. Actually, she reminded herself, that was your second meeting.

Rising to her feet, Carter walked back across the corridor and opened the door that was next to the one that had shown her 'fall' down the stairs.

She opened the door and let the light, which was now pink, engulf her once again, and she instinctively closed her eyes, curious as to what she would see next.

~*+*~

"Push!" The Janet ordered, standing between the panting woman's legs. Carter briefly wondered if she was going in a loop of all the things she had seen, but common scence told her to look at her surroundings before he jumped to any conclusions.

Carter stared at the scene before her. She was obviously in the SGC's infirmary. There was a blonde woman laying on a bed, her legs spread out. Her swollen stomach indicating that she was in labour. There was a nurse standing next to the woman, wiping her sweaty forhead with a damp cloth.

"Where is he?" The woman demanded, scruntching up her face as a contraction hit in full force.

"He will be here Sam, but you have to push!" Janet told her and Carter stared at her in disbelief. She was going to have a baby? It had to be a future event, she'd never been pregnant before.

Suddenly a loud voice was heard echoing throughout the infirmary. "Where's my wife?" Carter walked around from behindthe curtain to see the colonel glancing frantically around the room, covered in mud.

"Jack!" Sam called as a contraction hit.

He rushed to his wife's bedside to grasp her hand, leaving a track of muddy footprints in his wake. Carter walked back around to stre at the couple. "Your all muddy." Sam complained as he kissed her forehead, leaving mud on her damp hair.

"Hate to tell ya' this Sammy, but you don't look so good yourself." He returned and Carter smiled while Sam glared at him.

"Bastard." She muttered.

"You love me anyway." He teased.

"You know I do." She managed to get out before the next contraction hit.

"Sam, The head is crowning, on the next contraction I want you to give a very big push and we'll get the shoulders out, okay?" Janet asked.

Carter walked aroung to stand behind Janet, and she could see the head of her future baby crowning. "Holy Hannah!" She wispered, and stood rooted to the spot as she watched, fascinated, as Janet delivered her daughter.

"It's a girl!" She announced proudly, tying and cutting off the umbilical cord, handing the tiny infant to a waiting nurse. "Okay, Sam, time to deliver you next baby." Janet told her and Carter watched as the process was repeated, bringing forth another little girl. "You have another little girl." Janet smiled.

Carter watched as she and the Colonel were each handed bundly, kissing each other before turning their attention back to their daughters as they began to argue over names.

Carter heard Sam threaten to send Jack back to the 'addiction' planet where their daughters were concieved unless he stopped teasing her.

The pink light began to engulf her and she was tempted to ignore it, and watch how the scene in front of her unfolded, specifically more about the 'addiction' plnet, which SG-1 were now on, but she decided to see what else she would see.

~*+*~

Carter found herself once again laying on the floor outside of the door that she had entered, rising to her feet, she walked back across the corridor and opened the next door.

She opened the door and let the light, which was now red, engulf her once again, and she instinctively closed her eyes, curious as to what she would see next.

~*+*~

Sam rubbed her protruding stomach, a hand on the small of her back. Carter stood next to her, wondering exactly how many children she would have with the colonel. "Hello love." A tall man whispered his thick English accent alarmed Carter somewhat. The unfamiliar man walked up behind Sam, his arms going around her.

Carter stared at her future self and wondered about the man behind Sam. Did she and Jack break up? Was she having an affiar in the future? Carter had often wondered what a life with the Colonel would be like, and the implications of this scene wasn't filling her with confidence. The little admission that they had shared because of the Goa'uld made her certain that things would eventually work out bewteen them.

"Hey, is Mum home?" The woman asked and Carter immediately knew that it wasn't her.

"I'm here Charlie." Another woman replied, stepping into the room.

Cater stared at the other woman, surprised. She looked like her, but older. That's when Carter understood, she was seeing her daughter, grown up and pregnant. And she was also seeing herself, at least twenty five years into the future. Not that she wanted to appear vain, but she looked good in this time.

"Is Dad home yet?" Charlie asked, still rubbing her stomach.

"He's still with your sister. You know, Julie has worked so hard to earn her degree, Jack wanted to be there to help her through the proceedings." Sam sighed.

"I can't believe that the board is investigating her for someone else's mistake, for crying out loud!" Charlie exclaimed. "I had hoped that she would have her gynocologists degree by now, I wanted her to deliever our baby. Huh, Brian?" She turned and lightly kissed her husband.

"Definately." He agreed. Carter looked at the people in front of her, intrigued to note that Charlie looked a lot like her, althout it was obvious that she had her father's eyes and sence of humor, but she could live with that.

"We'll know soon enough." Sam commented and as if on cue, a device on the wall started beeping. Sam held up her hands and crossed her fingers, an action that the other two emulated and they all walked over to the device that was still beeping madly.

Lifting a lid on the device, a picture of JAck cam up and Carter walked over to it, amazed that he still looked fairly young too. "Hi honey." He greeted, waving at them.

"How'd it go?" Charlie asked impationatley.

"Well, she in the ladies at the moment, I think she's crying. . ." He sighed.

"Oh no." Sam whispered, her hand flying to cover her mouth.

"Oh yes, she couldn't stop the tears of joy when the immediately granted her the degree that they said she'd earned!" He exclaimed, smiling proudly.

"You tease! I though you were going to say they blamed her for the docto's misake!" Sam exclaimed.

"Sorry sweetie." He apologised, not sounding sincere. "The board said that it was ridiculous that she was being investigate for the woman's death, and it was the doctor who screwed it up, not her. They also said that she would probably be one of the best gynocologist that the world has ever seen." He finished, grinning.

Sam gave a triumphant cry of joy and Carter noticed that all too familiar light that began to form.

~*+*~

Carter found herself once again laying on the floor outside of the door that she had entered, a smile touching her lips as she though of how her daughter would become a gynocologist, and her other daughter would get married and have a baby.

Rising to her feet, Carter walked back across the corridor and opened the last door.

She opened the door and let the light, which was now white, engulf her once again, and she instinctively closed her eyes, curious as to what she would see next.

~*+*~

When she opened her eyes, Carter couldn't see anything, she was standing in a white room. Looking around she could see that the room she was in was completely white, with no way to tell where the walls ended and the floor began.

Suddenly an elderly man appeared in front of her, his gery beard touching the floor. Carter immediately raised her weapon and aimed it at his throat. "You do not need that child." He told her and waved his hand.

Carter looked down as her P-90 disappeared, her hands still in the position that they were in when she was gripping her gun. "Who are you?" She asked, widening her stance a little, in case she had to fight.

"I am here to tell you what you have seen." He replied criptically, and she glared at him, wary.

"I know what I've seen, I don't need you to tell me." She told him and he smiled a little. Carter closed her eyes and concentrated. Not sencing a presance in the man, she was slightly relieved when she realised that he didn't have a Goa'uld.

"Oh. . .but you do." He smiled and waved his hand again. A gold piece of paper appeared in her hand with black writing on it, in a strange language that she couldn't desipher. Carter only hoped that Daniel understood it.

She closed her eyes.

~*+*~

Opening her eyes again, Carter saw the she was back at the entrance to the corridor her weapon and the paper that the man had given her laying on the ground.

Bending down, she picked them up and ran back to the Stargate, which was engaged. Hammond was obviously sending through some more supplies for their stay.

"Hey Sam, back already?" Daniel asked, walking over to her.

"How long was I gone?" She asked, confused.

"Approximately eight minutes." Teal'c replied and Carter was glad that he was alway so precise. She stare at him for a moment, confused. Judging by her body clock, Carter had guess that she'd been gone for at least a few hours.

"Find anything interesting?" Colonel O'Neill asked, walking over to her, to stand next to Daniel.

"Yeah, this. Daniel, can you translate it?" She asked hopefully and he took the paper, studying it for a moment.

Carter listened as he sounded out a few words, most of which sounded like gibberish until he grinned at her. "It says, 'You have seen the events that shaped the person you were, the person you are and the person you shall become. Use this information wisely.' What does that mean?" He asked her and she finaly understood.

"It means that my future will only happen if I instigate it." She explained, and both Danile and Jack stared at her, confused.

"Which means. . .?" Jack asked.

"This." She replied, and pulled his head down, her lips meeting his.

Carter pulled back after a few moments and stared into the deep brown eyes of the man who would be her husband. "What was that?" He asked, a little breathless.

"Come on Jack, we have twin girls to go and conceive." She grinned and dragged him into the room that was designated her sleeping quarters, slamming the door behind her.

~*+*~

The End

Duct tape is like the force, It has a light side and a dark side and it holds the universe together.